Parking questions

[Albertan mom]

We are going to Goofys kitchen for brunch.
Where should we park?
Can we park at the Disney Hotel even though we aren't staying there?
Or should we park at Downtown Disney and walk?

On Disneyland.com it says parking is:
first 3 hours free, then $6 an hour after that, up to $30.
Could we really end up paying $30 for parking?
We will be there from early morning until after Fantasmic.

Any parking tips?
Are the parking garages cheaper?
But they are really quite far away aren't they?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[iceskatejen]

Use the Mickey & Friends parking garage--it's $10 per day--if you're going into the parks along w/brunch. Only use DTD parking if you're only going to be there for 3 hours or going to be there for 5 hours and are eating at one of the restaurants or seeing a movie (they validate for an extra 2 hours). If you're going into DL first, you can take the monorail into DTD or it's not too bad of a walk.