Hi Lindsey!
Welcome to planDisney.
Thank you for sending in this question about
parking/park tickets - and I'm happy to unravel all the details for you.
As you are staying at a Disney Resort hotel, self-parking is included at your hotel, and parking at all four theme parks is complimentary for Disney Resort hotel guests. In theory, you do not need a theme park admission ticket for Magic Kingdom Park or Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park if you are using their parking lots, but you will need park admission tickets for entry to all theme parks.
I am wondering why you would want to use a parking lot if you are not visiting the park? Would it be to transfer to Disney transport to make your way to another Disney Resort hotel? If that is the case you can visit and park at other Disney Resort hotels for free (subject to capacity) if you are a day visitor - for a dining reservation or any other reason, so you can drive straight there from your hotel.
For Magic Kingdom Park, the parking lot is located at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), from where you would normally take a monorail or ferryboat across Seven Seas Lagoon to the park entrance. You can also take a monorail from there to EPCOT and some hotels located in the Magic Kingdom Resort area.
At the Animal Kingdom parking lot, there is nothing else there except for Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. If you were planning to take a bus from there to Animal Kingdom Lodge (maybe for breakfast at
Boma, which is delicious!!) you can save yourself a lot of time and park at Animal Kingdom Lodge for your dining reservation.
In addition to complimentary parking at the parks and Disney Resort hotels, the water parks (Disney's Typhoon Lagoon and Disney's Blizzard Beach) provide free parking for all guests, but you will need admission tickets to enjoy all the water fun inside the parks.
Disney Springs has substantial free parking for every guest, and no admission ticket is needed to make use of all the shopping and dining on offer there.
Please come back and visit us if you have any further questions. We will be happy to help you plan your magical vacation to Walt Disney World! Keep your eye on the
Disney Parks Blog for all the latest official news and updates on events that may be happening during your stay.
Sue