Waiting is a typical part of any theme park experience. You probably expect to wait in lines for rides, food, or merchandise, but there may be a wait you haven’t thought about.

60 minute wait for Tower of Terror

If you plan to drive to Disney World, you may anticipate simply parking your car and walking into a Disney Park. Easy peasy. But if you want to be inside a Disney Park as quickly as possible, there’s a wait you might not have considered.

On a visit to Magic Kingdom this morning, we waited in line before even entering the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Depending on the time of day you arrive to a Disney Park, you may find a long wait to park. Mornings tend to have a longer wait than other times of day.

So far away

It took us 30 minutes JUST to make it to the Magic Kingdom toll plaza. It can feel extra frustrating to sit in traffic with the excitement that you’re SO close to a Disney Park. A wait like this is often impacted by the morning crowds, so you may not experience this if you arrive later in the day. You may also see this kind of traffic on a holiday, but not always! But it is something to be prepared for in advance.

Closer, yet still so far

And if you’re driving and have a dining reservation, you probably want to factor in the wait time just for getting into a parking lot of a Disney Park in order to make your reservation on time. Disney will generally give you a 15 minute grace period for dining reservations and you can explain your situation upon arrival. They will do their best to assist you. You may be able to reach out to guest services to see if they can transfer you to the restaurant so you can let them know that. you are running late. But this can be a hassle and you may encounter long hold times.

See a list of useful Disney World phone numbers here. 

Are we there yet?!

When you consider parking, walking to the Transportation & Ticket Center (since parking trams are still not operating), getting through security, and then waiting for either the monorail or the ferry boat just to get to the Magic Kingdom entrance gates, the time can add up. Generally speaking, the wait times and crowd levels tend to be higher in the morning.

We made it!

While this kind of traffic buildup doesn’t always happen, those of you driving into Disney World may want to plan for some wait times for parking lots just in case! Stay tuned to DFB for all your news and tips for all things Disney World!

Read more about Disney World dining reservations here!

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Have you ever had a long wait to get into a Disney World parking lot? Let us know in the comments!

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