In this post, we discuss having a car at Walt Disney World Resort, including parking at Disney World, reasons to have a car, alternatives to having a car, and how having a car can impact your strategy for visiting the parks. If you’re wondering whether it might make sense to have a car at your next Walt Disney World trip, read on to get an overview of all the factors you need to consider.
Basics of Having a Car at Walt Disney World
We’ll start with an overview of what you need to plan for if you have a car at Disney World. If you’re undecided, our next section will discuss how you might evaluate the pros and cons of having a car.
Renting a Car for Walt Disney World
The most obvious way to rent a car for Walt Disney World is to rent from an agency at Orlando International Airport. Alternatively, you might want to rent a car from an agency on Disney property. This is especially worth considering if you just want a car for a short period to go off-property. WDW Prep School has a lot of information on renting cars at Disney World.
Disney World Gas Stations
There are a few gas stations at Walt Disney World, and even more off property. Here are a few:
Magic Kingdom Speedway (you can get here easily when parking at Transportation and Ticket Center, or you can get there by going around the parking lot via World Drive to Seven Seas Drive to Floridian Way)
Epcot Resorts Speedway (located just off Buena Vista Drive at Epcot Resorts Blvd)
Disney Springs Speedway (located by Disney Springs)
The Magic Kingdom Speedway is next to Car Care Center, an independently run auto body shop. We’ve used this body shop before for routine maintenance and found it to be a fine option. They usually offer rides to TTC for guests who drop their cars off.
Disney Parking Fees (Resorts)
Parking at Disney hotels is once again free for guests of those hotels! Guests of other hotels should check with their hotels about parking rates.
Disney Parking Fees (Parks)
We discuss driving to parks and the Disney parking fees for those in much more detail below, but for now we want to note that Disney hotel guests and most annual passholders will not pay for parking at the parks. Other guests will have to pay at least $30 for standard parking at the parks. Note that if you park hop, there is only one charge of $30 per day.
The parking fees for the parks (as of January 2024) are:
Preferred parking: car or motorcycle – $45-$55 per day (varies by season)
Standard parking: car or motorcycle – $30 per day
Oversized Vehicle Parking: Shuttle, Limo, Camper Trailer, RV, Bus or Tractor Trailer - $35 per day
Cash and credit card are accepted for payment. Those prices include taxes. And it’s not a park or resort, but general parking at ESPN Wide World of Sports is free for most events.
Tips for Navigating Disney World
Google Maps is great but imperfect. We recommend using Google Maps to navigate Walt Disney World, but you should know that because different areas are accessible to different groups—Cast Members, security, regular guests, etc.—you’ll need to also keep an eye on the overhead highway signs to make sure you’re going the right way.
Follow the Purple / Blue Signs. If you stick to following the overhead purple signs, you’ll never leave the Disney World campus. This might not always be the fastest route to your destination, though. (Note: The purple signs are being replaced by blue signs. The point remains—follow the distinct Disney design.)
You can’t drive directly to Magic Kingdom. As discussed more below, guests are not allowed to drive directly to Magic Kingdom, even just to drop someone off. You’ll have to utilize the Transportation and Ticket Center.
Should I Rent A Car at Walt Disney World?
Now that we’ve covered what will go into getting and having a car, lets cover why you might want to have one or what you could do without one.
Reasons to Have a Car at Walt Disney World
Besides driving to theme parks—which we cover as a separate matter below—there are a few reasons you might want to have a car at Walt Disney World. Let’s discuss some of them.
Your hotel doesn’t have (good) transportation. This is the most obvious, but if your hotel doesn’t have good transportation to the parks or to the airport, you may want to get your own vehicle.
This is mostly an issue for guests of non-Disney hotels, where you’ll probably be relying on scheduled shuttles, at best. These usually won’t get you to the park early enough for a good rope drop experience.
Disney’s larger moderate resorts (Port Orleans Riverside, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs) have their own transportation issues, but they’re generally better than the non-Disney hotels.
Save on ___ by going off property. From meals to merchandise, you can save money if you take the time to use your car to shop off Disney property. Be realistic though. At most, you’re talking tens of dollars, and you might not actually be likely to spend any time off-site once you arrive, even if you planned to.
Visit other theme parks (or other attractions). The most notable nearby theme park resort is Universal Orlando, but Busch Gardens is also a moderate drive away. Central Florida has several tourist destinations you might want to visit as part of your trip.
Getting between hotels. You’ll benefit from having a car if you have meal reservations at different hotels. While Uber/Lyft and Minnie Vans are also good options, the free option of taking Disney transportation between hotels usually requires a lengthy trip with a transfer at a theme park.
If you don’t have meal reservations, know that you may sometimes not be allowed to park at another hotel you’d like to visit. For example, the Boardwalk area has many good bars and restaurants, but the Disney World parking lots at the hotels over there are often closed to non-guests because of limited capacity.
Alternatives to Having a Car
Guests of Disney hotels have access to free transportation to all major destinations on Disney property. Since Disney has ended their Magical Express shuttle service from Orlando International Airport you’ll have to find your own way from the airport if you’re flying in.
While Disney transportation can be time consuming, it saves you the cost and hassle of having a car.
Guests of other hotels will have to check with their hotels to see what their transportation options are. And always read hotel reviews to see what guests say about the transportation.
Additionally, if you’re thinking about bringing a car, consider whether you’d be better off using Uber/Lyft or Minnie Vans for your purposes. We have a guide to using Uber at Walt Disney World. We’ve also used Minnie Vans plenty of times, particularly for getting to Magic Kingdom.
Driving to Parks at Walt Disney World
One big perk of driving to Walt Disney World is that you can drive to and from the parks. Parking at Disney World parks costs $30 for standard parking and $45 to $55 for preferred parking.
Guests of Disney hotels enjoy free theme park parking as a perk of their stay. Most Disney World annual passholders also get free parking.
A few years ago I was a real sass about bus transportation at Walt Disney World. I still think it's far from perfect, but at least in my experience it has improved significantly. That said, you'll still occasionally see horror stories (including from me) about incredibly long waits.
What's more, transportation problems are sometimes unavoidable. If you’ve ever tried to take the bus to a park about 45 minutes before open, you might notice the bus line goes from zero people to multiple busloads in just a few minutes.
The bus stops only accommodate one bus at a time. In mornings, you’ll usually have at least one mobility scooter per bus. It winds up taking a while to load these buses and get them to the parks.
In our experience, the parking lots at the parks open at least 30 and often an hour before the park opens to the first guests (e.g. an hour before Early Entry most days).
For these reasons, having a car makes it much easier to control your arrival time for rope drop at Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. Relatedly, on most days these parks have pretty efficient operations at the end of the day, so you shouldn’t have an awful time getting out of the parking lot.
As for Magic Kingdom...
Driving to Magic Kingdom
Not all guests will be able to avoid driving to Magic Kingdom, but guests of Disney hotels have the option of taking a bus to the park, and we usually recommend they do that.
Magic Kingdom is a mixed bag when it comes to driving. It’s the most popular park, which means you'll have the longest bus lines. This will particularly be true at the value resorts, which cater most heavily to families.
But, as we’ll discuss in more detail below (after the park hopping discussion), parking at Magic Kingdom requires you to use a remote lot, take a tram to Transportation and Ticket Center, and then take a boat or monorail to the park.
This extra transit time can be the difference between walking right onto Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and waiting 30 minutes for it. If you’re early enough, this is no problem, to be clear. I’ve transited through Transportation and Ticket Center on dozens of successful mornings at Magic Kingdom.
And of course, if you’re counting on your hotel bus then you’re probably going to need to be extra cautious and wake up a little early anyways. So while on balance we prefer taking the bus to Magic Kingdom in the morning, it’s not a slam dunk.
Midday it will make much more sense to take the bus. You can check the My Disney Experience app for bus wait times and just plan to catch the next bus, getting dropped off right at the front of the park.
Park Hopping With a Car at Disney World
Can you park at Magic Kingdom and go to Epcot? Or park at Epcot and go to Magic Kingdom? Yes. For all the combinations of parks, the answer is yes (provided that you have park tickets that include hopping).
As we noted above, your parking fee covers all four parking lots if you park hop, so you’re free to drive from one park to another without paying another fee.
Bringing your car with you as you park hop is the easiest thing to do because you don’t want to reach the end of the day, forget about your car, and get it towed. The parking lots will close shortly after the last guest leaves the park, and if you’re at Magic Kingdom at midnight when Hollywood Studios closes at 9PM, your car at Hollywood Studios will be towed.
Bringing your car while park hopping is also usually going to be the fastest way to get between two parks. But this point bears a little more discussion on a park-by-park basis.
Getting To/From Magic Kingdom. As we’ll discuss more next, when you park at Magic Kingdom you use a lot far from the park that requires some transit to get you to the park. For this reason, it could make sense to just take a bus (or monorail, from Epcot) to Magic Kingdom. In most cases, though, Magic Kingdom is open later than the other parks and you probably don’t want to have to go back to your car early at another park.
Getting To/From Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is only connected to the other parks by bus. With the exception of Magic Kingdom (noted above), it’s always going to make sense to drive to another park instead of waiting on the bus.
Getting To/From Disney Hollywood Studios & Epcot. With Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom covered above, we’re left with Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
You can get between Epcot’s World Showcase entrance and Hollywood Studios in about 20 minutes by boat, foot, or Skyliner. Using Epcot’s World Showcase entrance, these methods will be faster than going to/from the parking lot at the front of the park. If you’re planning to go through the front of the park, though, you’ll be faster served by driving.
With these two parks often having similar closing times, this is the case where it makes most sense to leave your car behind when park hopping.
Parking at Disney World Parks
Let’s start with one common question before discussing the specific parks (only one of which is any interesting).
Is preferred parking worth it at Disney World?
In our opinion, preferred parking is definitely not worth it at Disney World parks. You’re usually saving yourself around five minutes of walking with preferred parking. The $15-$25 premium is not at all worth it.
If you’re a hardcore rope drop fan you might wonder if preferred parking is worth it to get you to be first in line, and here the answer is still no. If you’re one of the first cars in the lot, the time from car to queue for your first ride has plenty of opportunity for you to catch up to the very few guests paying for preferred parking at this hour.
Preferred parking makes the most sense at the peak of the day, from about noon to 3PM, when you’ll be filling the farthest spots. Sometime after 3PM (probably closer to 5PM), they’ll actually start letting guests fill any available spaces, which leaves little reason to pay for preferred parking.
Magic Kingdom Parking
We covered this a bit above, but Magic Kingdom parking is the most complex situation at the resort because the parking lots are not directly attached to the park.
Instead, you’ll park in a lot, take a tram (or walk) to Transportation and Ticket Center, then take a monorail or ferryboat to the park. This equates to roughly 30 extra minutes of transit time.
So if you wanted to be at Magic Kingdom at 7:30AM (for an 8AM open), you’d probably want to leave around 6:45AM from most Disney hotels if driving. The thing is, most days the bus won’t have any sort of line 75 minutes before the park opens, so it’s usually going to be easier to take the bus to Magic Kingdom.
At night, leaving Magic Kingdom is awful whether you’re taking the bus or driving. Drivers have to pack into huge lines for the ferryboat or monorail, while bus riders will be left waiting in long lines for buses.
Epcot Parking
Standard Epcot parking costs $30. Preferred parking goes up to $55 on peak days.
In contrast to parking at Magic Kingdom, parking at the other three parks is quite straightforward. Almost every time we’ve driven to the parks, we’ve been close enough to walk to the parks. If you don’t want to walk, the trams run frequently and quickly as well.
Surely on peak days (Christmas, New Year’s Eve) if you arrive late enough you’ll wind up with a longer trip one way or another, but nothing will ever compare with the lengthy trip required on any day at Magic Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom Parking
Standard Animal Kingdom parking costs $30. Preferred parking goes up to $55 on peak days.
Hollywood Studios Parking
Standard Hollywood Studios parking costs $30. Preferred parking goes up to $55 on peak days.
Parking at Disney World Water Parks
Parking at Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, the two Disney World water parks, is free. The lots are small enough that all spots are walkable to the park entrance.
Parking at Disney Springs
Parking at Disney Springs is also free. There are multiple parking garages at Disney Springs. If you are visiting for something specific, you’ll want to consult the map to pick your parking garage. (Valet parking is also available for a fee.)
Do I Need a Car at My Disney Hotel?
Hopefully the above gives you a good idea of whether you need a car, but I’ll give one last factor. Let’s talk specifically about some hotels and whether you’ll want a car at them.
Port Orleans Riverside and Coronado Springs are huge and the buses take forever, but you can park close to your room. A car is a good idea if you’re staying at one of these hotels. Old Key West and Saratoga Springs are similar. Caribbean Beach is also huge, but the Skyliner stations are pretty convenient for midday travel. Fort Wilderness is an entirely different beast, and in most cases you’ll want a car there.
The All Star Resorts rely on bus transportation and often share buses, which can cause problems. Depending on your room location, you might be significantly closer to a parking space then to the bus stop. A car can help with the problems here.
Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Contemporary, and Wilderness Lodge have good transportation to Magic Kingdom but less great to the other parks. Animal Kingdom Lodge and Port Orleans French Quarter relies on bus transportation to all four parks, but it’s pretty reliable. A car can help with the difficulties from these hotels.
Pop Century and Art of Animation usually don’t share buses and have Skyliner access to two parks. A car is not needed at these hotels.
Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk Inn have walking/boat access to two parks (Epcot and Hollywood Studios). Driving to Magic Kingdom isn’t super helpful anyways. So a car is only much help for getting to Animal Kingdom. You don’t need a car at these hotels.
The Bottom Line
Whether or not you have a car at Walt Disney World is heavily circumstantial. There’s really no clear cut evaluation that will apply to all families.
Top Reasons To Have a Car at Disney World
Gets you to and from the parks easily (except Magic Kingdom)
Gets you to and from other hotels (if applicable)
Easy access to spots off Disney property
Top Reasons Not To Have A Car at Disney World
Rental costs (if applicable)
Hotel parking costs (if applicable)
Theme park parking costs (if applicable)
Alternatives To Having A Car at Disney World
Free transportation provided by Disney and/or your hotel
Uber / Lyft / Minnie Vans
Personally, we draw the line at rental car costs, and we very rarely drive to Magic Kingdom from the hotels. When we have access to a car in Florida, we’ll use it for Disney World trips. We find the hotel parking costs to be worth the convenience of getting to Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, along with any meals at other hotels.
But if we’d have to pay for a rental car, we just don’t find it to be worth it. If you use Uber/Lyft or Minnie Vans for urgent transportation and just “bite the bullet” with free transportation otherwise, you’ll usually be able to find a sweet spot of convenience and price.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.