Parking, Directions, and Transportation
Walt Disney World is located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, just outside of Kissimmee, and about 20 miles southwest of Orlando and Orlando International Airport.
From the airport you'll want to follow the directions to FL 417 and take that west until you have passed Interstate 4 and see signs for your destination area. Alternatively, you may consider exiting the airport and taking FL 528 west to Interstate 4, and then follow its exit signs for the Disney destination you want to visit. Note that both FL 417 and 528 are toll roads, and between the airport and the Resort there are both toll boths where change is available and cashless options. Be aware that some roads in Central Florida have transponder or bill-by-plate cashless tolls only. If traveling by rental car, be sure to know how your rental agent charges for cashless tolls. Anyone can purchase a Florida Sunpass portable transponder and load it with value to use on Central Florida tollroads. Read about it at
SunPass.com and you can also find the transponders sold at some Central Florida drug stores like CVS and supermarkets like Publix.
Parking at Walt Disney World is different depending on what you are doing. Standard Parking at Disney Springs is free. Parking is also free at the two water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, and the golf courses. Complimentary standard parking is available to guests staying at Campsites at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort (each campsite provides a parking space for one motorized vehicle).
Designated parking areas are available throughout Walt Disney World Resort for Guests with disabilities. A valid disability parking permit is required, as are any applicable parking fees.
Starting in 2018, registered hotel guests at Disney hotels are charged a standard overnight parking fee applied to their hotel folio at checkout. The rates are based on Resort Category. As of January 2020, the rates, including tax, are:
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Disney Value Resorts: $15/night
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Disney Moderate Resorts: $20/night
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Disney Deluxe and Deluxe Villas Resorts: $25/night
Disney Vacation Club Members staying at DVC Villas (whether using points or cash), are not charged for standard self-parking. Members staying at Walt Disney World Resort Hotels on a vacation points reservation likewise are not charged, but those paying cash for those rooms are subject to the standard rates.
Valet Parking is available at some Disney Deluxe Resorts and Disney Deluxe Villas for $33/night (tax but not gratuity included). Valet Parking is also available at Disney Springs for $20/day (tax but not gratuity included). From time-to-time, Disney Springs also offers a paid, preferred parking option (look for posted signs).
"Day Guests" visiting a hotel for select dining, shopping, entertainment, and recreation experiences receive complimentary standard self-parking.
Each of the four theme parks has its own parking lot. Standard parking is provided at no additional charge for registered guests of the on-property resorts and annual passholders (cast members at toll booths often scan MagicBands, Annual Passes, and/or Key to the World Cards and may ask for matching Photo ID to prove eligibility, so have those ready). As of January 2020, standard parking for cars and motorcycles is $25/day (including tax) and for oversized vehicles (shuttle, limo, camper trailer, RV, bus, or tractor trailer) is $30/day (including tax). Preferred parking for cars and motorcycles is available for $45-50/day (including tax, varies by date); registered resort hotel guests and Passholders may upgrade to Preferred by paying that day's difference between the Standard and Preferred Rate.
ChargePoint electric vehicle charging stations are now available in parking lots at select Disney Resort hotels including Disney's Coronado Springs and Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Arriving Guests may ask a Cast Member for directions to these charge ports, which are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional charging stations are available at the theme park parking lots and Disney Springs. Guests need a credit card or a pre-ordered ChargePoint card—available at chargepoint.com. The stations cost $0.35/kwh, with a minimum service amount of $1.50. Charging will stop once the vehicle’s battery is fully charged. ChargePoint will “ping” the users to alert them when their car is ready.
Guests considering parking in disability parking should note that courtesy trams do not serve those sections of theme park parking lots. Courtesy wheel chairs are available in those sections for assisting guests in reaching wheelchair and ECV rental desks inside the parks only. For those with the ability to walk short distances and climb aboard a tram, Disney suggests that they should park in the main theme park parking lots and request a space from the cast member directing traffic in the lot that is at the end of a row closest to the courtesy tram pick-up/drop-off location. However, the distance from tram drop off to the park gates has increased in recent years, as the "entry experience" of each park has undergone modification to accomodate modern security screen (and some of that construction is still on-going as of January 2020, with courtesy trams at Magic Kingdom's parking lot dropping guests off before the underpass at Seven Seas Drive and the entrance to TTC security screening). Courtesy wheel chairs may be the better option for those guests who can only comfortably walk a short distance.
For Magic Kingdom, parking is just the first part of the journey to the park itself. The parking lot is south of the Transportation & Ticket Center which is on the south shore of Seven Seas Lagoon. Since the park is on the north shore of the Lagoon, you'll need to take a monorail or ferry to the park. Occassionally, buses are also run from the TTC to the park entrance, depending on transportation operations and demand. A walkway around Seven Seas Lagoon, connecting the TTC to Disney's Polynesian Village and Disney's Grand Floridian Resorts has existed for many years. There is currently a bridge and walkway under construction that would finally connect that existing walkway with Magic Kingdom that would allow guests to walk all the way from TTC (or from either of those hotels) to the park. A completion date has not been announced.
Guests can also walk between Magic Kingdom and Disney's Contemporary Resort. Epcot has a "backdoor" entrance named International Gateway, and guests may walk between it and Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resort, Disney's BoardWalk Resort, and the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort. That same walkway among those Epcot Resorts also connects to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Once on property, there is a resort-wide system of free transportation options: Monorails, Watercraft, Disney Buses, and the Disney Skyliner gondolas. In 2017, Disney introduced private paid "Minnie Van" point-to-point transportation in SUVs and vans driven by Disney Cast Members and summoned within the Lyft app. Though offered at a higher rate than other ride sharing services, Minnie Vans can take guests to some on-property locations that other vehicles cannot (for example, Minnie Vans may pick up and drop off guests at Magic Kingdom's bus loop; other ride shares must muse the TTC across Seven Seas Lagoon). Minnie Vans also offer private Orlando International Airport pick-up and drop-off service options.
Back to the subject of free transportation: In addition to an Express Monorail that runs between Magic Kingdom and the TTC, and another Monorail that connects the TTC with Epcot, there is a Resort Monorail that connects Magic Kingdom with Disney's Contemporary Resort, the TTC, Disney's Polynesian Resort, and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, in that order before returning to Magic Kingdom.
In addition to the Ferryboat between Magic Kingdom and TTC, weather-permitting, smaller watercraft service often is provided between Magic Kingdom and Disney's Grand Floridian and Polynesian Village Resorts on Seven Seas Lagoon, and Magic Kingdom and to Bay Lake docks for Disney's Contemporary, Fort Wilderness, and Wilderness Lodge (sometimes guests must transfer boats at one of those docks).
Separate watercraft service travels a looping route from Epcot's International Gateway to Disney's BoardWalk and Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Other watercraft travel on seprate routes from Disney Springs to Disney's Saratoga Springs, Port Orleans (French Quarter and Riverside), and Old Key West Resorts.
Disney Skyliner gondola service "flies" from Epcot's International Gateway to Disney's Riviera Resort (where guests do not need to disembark) and on to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort where there is a hub station with an additional line to Hourglass Lake station between Disney's Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts, and a third line to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Each Disney hotel has one or more Disney Bus stops. Disney hotels run buses to Disney Springs, the theme parks, and water parks (though sometimes a change of buses is required to go to a water parks along the route). Theme parks also run buses to Disney Springs during posted hours (usually in the afternoon and evening), but there is no bus service from Disney Springs to the theme parks (likely to discourage the use of its free parking lots for playing in the parks). Unless using paid Minnie Vans or other rideshare services, guests traveling between Disney hotels that are not connected need to find their way to the Disney Springs bus loop and then take the bus to their desired location. The same can also be done with the theme parks themselves, but, however, be aware that there is no safe and legal way for a guest to walk from Epcot's International Gateway to Epcot's bus loop without a park ticket permitting the guest to enter and walk through Epcot.
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort are directly served by Disney transportation, though they are not Disney owned and operated hotels. While any guest can use Disney Transportation (though some modes may be limited to Resort Guests only during times of high demand), other on-property and/or good neighbor hotels that are not owned and operated by Disney run their own park and Disney Springs buses (though not all get to use the same bus loops as Disney Buses), including Shades of Green (its guests may also walk to Disney's Polynesian Resort), Disney Springs Hotel Plaza Blvd. hotels (those guests may walk to Disney Springs by connected pedestrian bridges), Four Seasons, Bonnet Creek, and so forth.
For additional information on getting around the parks with wheelchairs and ECVs see our Walt Disney World Mobility page. For further information about other available services for Guests with disabilities, you may call the Resort's Disability Services cast members at (407)560-2547 or email disability.services@disneyparks.com.
