Although some of the glamour of parking atDisneylandhas gone away as the park expanded, the necessity is still essential to the park-going experience. Yes, you no longer pass under the iconic Disneyland sign and pass by the park’s towering structures on your way to a nearby lot, but there is still a fun build-up as you get closer to Disneyland Drive.
Where to Park at Disneyland
Toy Story Lot
While theToy StoryParking Lot isn’t as close to Disneyland Resort and California Adventure, it is arguably the more popular option. Head down Harbor Boulevard past Disneyland and the parking lot is just a few blocks further.
As with any Theme Park Parking Lot, there are color-coded and numbered zones that you should take note of. These zones are also themed based on a different Disney character, in this case, Toy Story. They are:
The Disneyland mobile app includes a useful car locator option that uses asmartphone’s GPSto track where you parked, but you’re able to also enter the information manually. After a long day in the parks, the last thing you want to do is walk up and down aisles trying to locate your vehicle.
Transportation from Toy Story Parking Lot to Disneyland
After parking at the Toy Story Parking Lot, there are two options for getting to Disneyland and California Adventure. You could head out of the lot and onto Harbor Boulevard and walk, or you could take advantage of the free buses to the park. Depending on how busy the day is and your arrival time, it may be worth it to skip the bus and walk, but Disneyland staffs plenty of buses, and they run constantly before the park opens and for one hour after the park closes.
Heading over to the bus loading area (circled in blue), you’ll first have to pass through a security checkpoint that includes bag and stroller check, as well as a metal detector. No matter how you plan to enter Disneyland or California Adventure, you will need to pass through one of these security checkpoints, so getting them out of the way now is helpful.
From there, get in line and hop on the next available bus, which will shuttle you to the Esplanade (the big open area between the entrances of Disneyland and California Adventure), and then it’s off to the parks.
Transportation to Toy Story Parking from Disneyland
At the end of the night, there will be a set of lines with Cast Members guiding you back to the buses for the Toy Story Parking Lot. Upon exiting Disneyland, the bus loading is to the left or to the right if you are exiting California Adventure. It’s the same process as before, except without the security checkpoint. Wait in line until a bus is available, take a seat/stand, and shuttle back to the lot.
While getting to the parks can be a little less cramped, the nighttime shuttles are typically packed. If your legs can take it then walking is still an option, but just be aware that there will most likely be some waiting until you get near the front of the line and on the bus.
You can take the shuttles back to the Toy Story Parking Lot at any point of the day if you leave early or need something from your car.
Mickey and Friends & Pixar Pals Parking Structure
The other parking option for Disneyland and California adventure is the Mickey and Friends & Pixar Pals parking structure. Basically, a set of two parking structures, there are a lot spaces here as well with the main difference being floors instead of zones in a lot.
Each floor on either theMickey and Friendsor Pixar Pals section is color-coded and themed after a different character, with numbers and letters to indicate specific rows. For reference, the Mickey and Friends parking structure is the northern one and the Pixar Pals is the southern one. The floors are labeled:
After paying for parking upon entry, a series of cones will guide your car to one of the levels for parking. It is all dependent on which lane you are in for the pay station – some cones lead to different floors. From there you will follow a series of cones through the structure until a Cast Member points out where each car should park. In the morning, it’s only a matter of following the car in front of you and parking in the next available spot.
Later in the day, the cones will still guide you to a specific floor, but from there you will have your pick of rows. The structure has helpful signs above each row that indicate how many free spaces are available and there are lights above each parking spot that glow green to indicate they are free. When occupied they glow red.
Once again, we recommend using the Car Locator in the Disneyland mobile app to set a reminder of where you parked and then head down. There are escalators and elevators in a few central locations within the structures, with signs that indicate where to go for the parks.
Transportation from Mickey Parking to Disneyland
Upon reaching the ground floor, you will head through a security checkpoint where they will check any bags or strollers, and you must pass through a metal detector. From there, head to the series of lines marked off by guardrails, these correspond to rows on the tram.
The trams can hold roughly 4 adults per row, but the front row of each car has a set of benches that face each other and can fit a larger family. This row is perfect for groups that might have a stroller and need the extra space, but keep in mind you need to collapse the stroller before boarding.
There are ADA accessible sections of the tram at the front with a raised boarding platform.
Once on board, it’s a short tram ride through the behind-the-scenes section of Disneyland before being dropped off on the East side of the Esplanade. As with the Toy Story buses, the tram will continue to pick up and drop off guests throughout the day.
Transportation from Disneyland to Mickey Parking
The process for getting on the trams at the end of the night is a bit of a free-for-all all because there are no separate lines for each row on the cars. Instead, there are chunks that correspond to a full car, with guests basically funneling into the rows as each tram arrives. It can be chaotic, especially if you are hoping for one of the front rows, but the trams will continue to run until one hour after the parks close.
Downtown Disney District Parking (Simba Lot)
Parking for the Downtown Disney District is available in the Simba Lot, but this is not parking for either Disneyland or California Adventure. Think of it like paid parking for a mall, where the price is based on time and there is validation available based on purchase value and shop. Stopping in to buy something valued at $20+ will get you 3 hours of parking with the $10 parking fee, whereas dining at a restaurant will get you more time.
Downtown Disney has an array of restaurants and specialty shops for people who want to brush up against that Disney magic without entering the parks. If you want to buy some Disneyland merch, for example, there is a World of Disney store that carries a lot of the items sold in the parks. There are also some popular restaurants and quick-serve locations like Jazz Kitchen and Salt & Straw.
All the hotels around Disneyland offer parking for guests staying on their premises. The price depends on the hotel and how close to the parks you are. Disney offers three hotels that are considered on-property: The Disneyland Hotel, The Grand Californian, and Pixar Place Hotel. For these hotels, there are loading zones for dropping off guests and luggage as well as valet parking options in addition to self-parking.
Best Place to Park at Disneyland
Personal preference will come into play, but our pick for the best place to park is the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure. At times the Toy Story lot shuttle pickup can be crowded, but most won’t want to make the walk and put extra mileage on their legs before/after walking around the parks all day. Mickey and Friends is closer and there is a shorter walk back to the structure if the shuttles are full. It’s also a bit easier to get a collapsed stroller into the rows than the buses.
Either way, guests should plan to spend at least 20-30 minutes getting through parking and making their way to the park. If time is of the essence, it’s important to make a plan and choose the parking setup that best suits your group size and needs.
