How many times have you landed in Orlando absolutely buzzing with excitement to get to the parks, only to spend the next four hours dealing with rental cars, hotel check-ins, and waiting for your room to be ready while Magic Kingdom is literally right there mocking you?
It’s genuinely one of the most frustrating parts of any Disney vacation. You’ve been planning this trip for months, you paid a ridiculous amount of money for park tickets, and you’re wasting precious hours sitting in a hotel lobby because check-in isn’t until 3 PM and your flight landed at 9 AM. The whole time you’re thinking “I could be riding Seven Dwarfs Mine Train right now” but instead you’re watching your kids bounce off the walls in the hotel gift shop. Well, buckle up because we’re about to drop some knowledge that’s going to completely change how you do arrival day at Disney World. Turns out, you can actually bring your luggage straight to the parks and store it there while you ride attractions. Yes, really. Full-sized suitcases and everything. Most people have no idea this is even possible, which is why we’re here to spill all the details about how this works, what it costs, and whether it’s actually worth doing or just another Disney money grab disguised as convenience.
Yes, You Can Actually Roll Up With Suitcases
First things first: Disney parks will absolutely let you bring luggage through the gates. We’re not talking about just backpacks or small bags. We mean actual suitcases, the kind you check on airplanes. This isn’t some secret hack or loophole. Disney has legitimate procedures in place for this exact scenario.
When you show up at park security with luggage in tow, you’re going to get flagged over to a special search area. Don’t panic, this is completely normal. They can’t have people with giant suitcases clogging up the regular security lines, so they direct you to a designated spot where they can properly inspect your bags without holding up everyone else trying to get into the park.
The search itself goes one of two ways. Sometimes a security cast member will manually go through your stuff, checking to make sure you’re not trying to sneak in anything on Disney’s banned items list. Other times, they’ll bring over a specially trained search dog to sniff your bags for anything concerning. According to security staff we talked to, they actually prefer using the dogs when they’re available because it’s way faster and doesn’t put as much strain on the human security team, especially when there’s a bunch of families all showing up with luggage at the same time.
Your Storage Options Once You’re Inside
Alright, so you made it through security with your bags. Now what? You’ve got a couple different options depending on how big your luggage is and how much you want to spend.
The most obvious choice is renting a locker. Disney’s got three different sizes and they’re all priced per day, not per hour, which is actually pretty decent. Small lockers are 12 by 10 by 17 inches and cost $10 for the whole day. These work fine for backpacks or small carry-on type bags. Large lockers measure 15.5 by 13 by 17 inches and run you $12 daily. These can handle bigger bags or you can stuff a few smaller bags in there if you’re traveling with multiple people.
Now, if you’ve got full-sized luggage, you’re going to want a jumbo locker. These bad boys are 17 by 22 by 26 inches and cost $15 per day. But here’s the catch: they’re ONLY available at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. So if you’re planning to hit Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios first, you’re out of luck on the jumbo lockers.
The cool thing about the lockers is you can access them whenever you want throughout the day. Need to grab something? No problem. Want to stash souvenirs as you buy them? Go for it. You’re not getting charged extra for multiple visits.
What About Really Big Bags?
So what happens if your suitcase is too massive even for the jumbo lockers? Disney thought of that too, surprisingly. The Electric Conveyance Vehicle rental spots, you know, where people rent wheelchairs and ECVs, will sometimes hold larger items for guests.
The pricing is totally different though. Instead of paying based on locker size, you pay $10 per item no matter how big it is. Each bag gets a special yellow tag so they can keep track of whose stuff is whose. This works out if you’ve just got one or two giant suitcases that won’t fit anywhere else.
Here’s a pro tip for saving money if you’re working with multiple bags: store your huge suitcases at the ECV rental for $10 each, then cram all your backpacks and smaller bags into one large locker for $15. A large locker can usually hold three or four backpacks depending on how aggressively you pack them in. This way you’re not paying $10 per backpack at the ECV rental when you could consolidate everything for way less.
Let’s Talk About Whether This Is Actually Smart
Real talk time: this isn’t the cheapest way to handle your luggage. Your Disney hotel will literally hold your bags for free. Bell services exists specifically for this purpose. If you’re staying on property, you’re essentially paying money for something you could get at no cost just by going to your hotel first.
BUT. And this is a big but. The time you save can be absolutely massive. Let’s do some math here. Say your flight gets in at 8 AM. By the time you get your bags, get to your car or rideshare, and drive to Magic Kingdom, you could be walking down Main Street USA by 10 AM with your luggage safely stashed. Compare that to the traditional route where you check into your hotel first and your room isn’t ready until 3 PM. That’s five extra hours in the park. FIVE HOURS.
For a family that’s only visiting for a few days and dropped serious cash on park tickets, those five hours could mean the difference between riding everything you wanted to ride or missing out on half your bucket list. When you think about it that way, spending $20 or $30 on luggage storage starts to make a lot more sense.
This is especially clutch if you’re staying off-property or if you’re planning to park hop. Imagine you’re at a hotel on I-Drive and you want to do EPCOT in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the evening. Storing your bags at EPCOT means you don’t have to waste time driving all the way to your hotel and back between parks.
How to Actually Pull This Off
If you’re going to do this, timing is everything. Book an early morning flight that gets you to Orlando right around park opening or shortly after. This maximizes the benefit of going straight to the parks instead of your hotel. There’s no point in this strategy if your flight doesn’t land until 2 PM anyway.
Pack smart. Keep the stuff you’ll actually need during the day in an easily accessible spot. Sunscreen, phone chargers, medications, snacks, all that important stuff should be where you can grab it from your locker without digging through everything. Or better yet, keep those essentials in a small day bag you’ll carry around instead of storing them.
Think about which park makes sense for your luggage storage based on your plans. Got big suitcases? You need Magic Kingdom or EPCOT for those jumbo lockers. Planning to park hop? Store everything at your first park and grab it before you head to park number two.
Just Do It Already
Look, we’re not going to sit here and tell you that everyone should rush from the airport straight to the parks with their luggage. Some people genuinely want to shower and decompress at their hotel first, and that’s totally valid. But if you’re the type of Disney fan who wants to maximize every single second of your vacation, if you literally count down the days until your trip and dream about riding Space Mountain, then this luggage storage hack is going to change your entire arrival day strategy.
Book that crack-of-dawn flight. Pack your bags like a pro. Get yourself to those parks as fast as humanly possible and start living your best Disney life immediately. Your hotel room will be waiting for you later. The parks won’t. Stop wasting half your first day on logistics when you could be making memories instead. Trust us on this one.
The problem with this is transportation. You are not permitted to bring suitcases on the monorail. This article also differs from our experience. We were told by security that luggage could not go through security lines into mk. My husband was told his suitcase needed to be taken to a hotel and ticketed for storage.