Hello there, Dennis! Thanks for dropping by planDisney to ask your question. Are you getting so excited about your Walt Disney World vacation? It's right around the corner, I bet the countdown is on!
Dennis, my family and I always drive to
Walt Disney World when we go. It's a relatively short 8-hour drive that is about 3 roads and it's a piece of cake to get there. Because of this, a few years ago, we started driving ourselves to the Walt Disney World Theme Parks instead of using the complimentary transportation and I love it! It's nice to grab some breakfast to enjoy in the car on the way to the theme parks in the morning and provides a lot of flexibility. Lately, I've been going to the Walt Disney World Theme Parks about once a month and we are early park-goers so I have plenty of experience on how the
parking lots are working right now. Dennis, when we drive ourselves, I always plan for us to be right at the parking lot gates about a full hour prior to the park opening time. This positions us pretty much always one of the first few cars in line in the morning. With a ride-share, however, I don't know if you will want to do this because we do always have to wait. So what usually happens is a line starts to form typically right after we get there, so about the one-hour prior mark, but the gates don't typically open until 45 minutes prior to the park opening time. However, every park can be a little bit different. If there is getting to be quite a line and all of the Cast Members are ready I have seen the gates open for parking 50 minutes prior but then sometimes, especially at
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, they seem to always be right at 45 minutes prior mark. I don't know if the ride-share service you will be using charges a lot more for sitting in the line waiting for the parking lots to open. I think if you plan on being at the theme parks exactly 45 minutes prior to the scheduled park opening, you will be good to go.
I hope this helps plan your mornings a little bit better, Dennis. If you have any other questions before your trip, please come back and
ask me. I'm happy to help. Have fun!