Some season pass questions

This may be the first year I pick up a season pass and I am in debate about pulling the trigger. Since it is a 3 hour drive to the park I don't have the luxury or picking up the pass ahead of time and will have to get it in the morning of my visit.

-I like to park back in the soak city lot. Is there some sort of location the driver can temporarily park up front while I run in and get my pass before heading around to the back lot?
-I know you guys don't like to estimate but give me a rough idea of how much time I should allocate to picking the pass up and getting processed?
-Has anything changed this year with parking besides the slight increase in price? With their whole new premium parking thing are they still letting people park back in the soak city lot?

Thanks

I was at the park sunday for the sole purpose of picking up my pass. Usually when a member of my group needs to go to the season pass center, I park along side the pedestrian area in the drop off zone. ( you can't miss it, there is a gigantic allosaurus there now!). It probably is frowned upon by management but I've never had a problem and forgiveness is always easier to obtain than permission. If you are going on a weekday and not first thing in the morning the line should be short, usually ten minutes or less to pay, get a picture and get your pass.

You still can park at soak city and I agree that that is the smartest area to park.

The premium parking is currently most of the front area of the main lot. There are still about 5 rows of employee parking up by ocean motion which are available, though. I just prefer to park in the rear and enter by soak city.

I'm 36 and have had a pass for 20 years. My tastes in rides and entertainment have changed, but I strongly recommend getting one and couldn't make it through summer without!