Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[Lynne M]

Folks, I'm trying to keep this thread open, but with all of the off-topic personal arguments, it's well on its way to a closure.

Again:

Attack Disney all you want. Don't attack each other.

 

[Klismania]

I think when I saw that the cost of parking for five nights in front of a Fort Wilderness cabin was the same as an annual Amazon Prime membership, and I actually GET something for that Amazon Prime for a whole year, that might have been the Narcan being administered.


I'm not going to try to convince others. All I can do is be happy that I'll be keeping those tens of thousands of dollars in my own pocket to use for other things and wish them well on their own journeys.

 

[OKW Lover]

Wondering how long it will be before Disney's introduces "free parking" deals similar to the free dining offers.

 

[amylevan]

Your post makes me very curious as to how many parking spots each resort has. And what percentage are typically in use.

It’s actually building code. You must have a certain number of parking spaces for each hotel room. So the number of parking spaces should be proportional to the size of the hotel.

 

[GDUL]

What bothers me the most about this fee is the inequality of it. Charging overnight guests while not charging day guests? And still making us compete for parking spots? Really?

Sounds like Disney is actually selling "hunting licenses" - hunting for parking spots ............

 

[DeborahA]

When I first heard about this new policy, I thought maybe they were finally cracking down on the people who go to the resorts for a breakfast and just leave the car there all day while they go to the parks. Or the people who go to a value and hop on bus. I know folks that do that all the time. But to not charge day guests puzzles me.
We have been passholders for nearly 10 years now and one of the reasons we always go up to the next level of passes is because of the added “free parking”. It is worth the extra money to get the parking. Now I wonder if parking at resorts will be a part of the passholders pluses. I may be dreaming.

 

[Disneylover99]

Good for Disney. It's about time everyone starts to pay for parking. If you don't want to pay Disney rates, Park offsite, I am sure it is cheaper. Drop your luggage, food and other items off at the hotel. Use all the free transportation available to you bus, monorail, boat. I bet 90% of all the people on this board have been to Disney a gillion times. Relax, enjoy your vacation the extra minutes to get where you are going is not going to kill you. Plus with less cars on the road, the bus transportation will become more efficient, thus your wait times will decrease. FLAMEON

Except, everyone doesn't. Day guests could potentially park at the resorts all day for free if they wanted to.

 

[johnsgrl]

Official info straight from a Disney CM RE: Guests with Disability Parking Placards

To avoid the fee for the parking, you can register your car with security or front desk. You must have a valid disabled parking placard to park in the accessible parking areas. As long as you do this, there will be no parking fee charged to the guest(s).

If the guest doesn't qualify in their state for the disability parking placard and have it on their person at check-in or the security gate, which it should be hanging on the mirror or evident on the car's tag, then the guest will be charged the parking fee. It's that simple. Not to say that other folks with disabilities shouldn't necessarily have the same rights, but at the same time, guests with disability placards are already, typically, not absorbing every single handicap spot in the parking lot on a daily basis either.

Well that is an interesting development, I am not sure how I feel about that since now many will "borrow" a placard to get free parking and this will make it more difficult to secure a spot in the limited HC parking at the resorts.
We always drive down because I have my ECV in a carrier on the rear of my vehicle and I literally had just written to Guest Services with a complaint/question about accessible parking at EPCOT. Short story on that, was there 2 weeks ago and parked at EPCOT at 0830 and they were parking all vehicles with a placard/ HC plate in the overflow spots which are NOT accessible for anyone using a ramp to unload mobility equipment.
The lot with the accessible spaces in front of us was virtually empty, maybe 4-5 cars in it with dozens of empty spaces, but they insisted I needed to park in the overflow. The CM and I had a nice long discussion about it and I ended up being allowed to park in an accessible space, but it should not have come to that.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Well, I sent them an email. I know, it probably won't do anything, but this just irks me. As a person that's been staying onsite a long time, the point of diminishing returns was reached long ago. Having to budget extra for parking may be the final straw. (I live 90 min away. Flying and using ME is not an option.)

I would use the facebook, more people read facebook. That will make a heavy impact for even first time visitors. All the extras they force people to pay is outrageous. If people would stop paying for all this WDW would get the hint. But this is mho.

 

[bluejasmine]

Because we are allowed our opinion just like you. sorry but, just because people disagree, does not mean the are belittling you.




Sorry...but maybe it is time for you to change to a cheaper option like Dollywood. Not everyone can afford a BMW.....it now seems that not everyone can afford Disney. Not belittling you...it is just economics



For every one person who stops going, there are 10 who will gladly pay the fees. Crowd sizes go down...profits for stock holders stay up. Seems like a win win to me.

Good Grief...This reply makes me very sad...

 

[DISNEY1975]

Except, everyone doesn't. Day guests could potentially park at the resorts all day for free if they wanted to.

And they do. The monorail loop is the worst. Each hotel has a popular character breakfast and guests arrive, have their breakfast and hop the monorail for the MK. They dont return until dinner or when the park closes. I cant tell you how many times Ive returned from a park at closing, on the monorail to my resort, only to watch people get off and head straight to the parking lot.

That coupled with the popular dinners / dinner shows at the Contemporary and Poly and Ill even throw in GF because they have 4 TS dinner venues, with everyone hanging around to watch the fireworks/ water parade at 9, or going to the MK to watch up close, parking does not become easily available for overnight guests until after 11pm.

 

[Jennasis]

There is no altruistic "crowd lowering" " less cars on the road" "better for environment" "lowering traffic" reasoning for this. Its just to increase revenue. Period.

 

[Disneylover99]

And they do. The monorail loop is the worst. Each hotel has a popular character breakfast and guests arrive, have their breakfast and hop the monorail for the MK. They dont return until dinner or when the park closes. I cant tell you how many times Ive returned from a park at closing, on the monorail to my resort, only to watch people get off and head straight to the parking lot.

That coupled with the popular dinners / dinner shows at the Contemporary and Poly and Ill even throw in GF because they have 4 TS dinner venues, with everyone hanging around to watch the fireworks/ water parade at 9, or going to the MK to watch up close, parking does not become easily available for overnight guests until after 11pm.

Yep. I really think Disney screwed up royally with this decision. They targeted the wrong people.

 

[Tink-osophy]

... If it rains when the car is parked at the resort do I have to pay a car wash fee?

 

[Disneylover99]

There is no altruistic "crowd lowering" " less cars on the road" "better for environment" "lowering traffic" reasoning for this. Its just to increase revenue. Period.

Yep. Easy money.

 

[TACK]

I am one of those people who like to rent a car and drive to parks, shop, do day trips and I am not happy with the charges to parking. I sent my email so at least I can voice my opinion. I use to go the Disney World several times a year but I would follow strict budget by getting an annual pass, use airline points, buy food at a grocery store, etc. The last time I went in November I could not get my entire stay at the value resorts so I did book another hotel close by that was bigger and less expensive. This year I'm going to Disneyland and staying at a hotel within walking distance (ironically with free parking but I don't need it). That's the difference between Disneyland and Disney World, you can get to the parks much easier and within a decent amount of time (no waiting) and walk. I do understand why people are upset. Park, Hotel, ticket, event prices are going up - but as others have said, people are still going, so .....

 

[hertamaniac]

THIS!!
We are not renewing is may and putting AP money towards one overseas and one cruise a year .. over it completely..

We are also likely not renewing our AP this year; our money also is going to future cruises, etc. I think for the 50th is when we'll renew and let something like 3-5 new attractions make it worth it.

I also spent about 10 days in the UK (London, near Victoria Station). My company paid for the trip and I seem to recall it was about $4K for the entire trip (Virgin Atlantic out of MCO).

 

[Tink-osophy]

I would disagree on this as I think they will be losing more money from the backlash and people staying offsite or not going as much than the money coming in from the parking fees. They will make up for that money somehow. Most likely in some other new fee to charge the guest that gladly go along with Disney no matter what they do.

...This. Plus, it's hard to see they won't have to invest money in improving/expanding the bus system at some point soon.

If the parking charge revenue was going to be directed this way, they'd have made it clear by now, I'd have thought.

It's hard to see this as a serious profit-making scheme.

 

[Carl4628]

For us, we are definitely looking forward to going back to Europe, Hawaii, Caribbean, etc.

 

[deserrai]

Thank you all for posting the email addresses of the people responsible for this fiasco. I added my email to the litany(hopefully) people who have complained.

We just got annual passes for the family for Christmas so it seems like we are a captive to this(at least until next June). I already told the family I thought we should stay at the Contemporary this June but after that I feel like we will be staying off site. Its truly a shame, we normally stay Deluxe so the extra 24$ really isn't out of reach but its just beginning to get hard to justify.

In my email i told them that I understand Walt Disney World is a business and businesses are out to maximize profit. I am really down capitalism but this idea just seems to be a all around bad business decision. We normally stay deluxe as I mentioned and we being onsite we normally have 1 TS and 1 QS meal per person(4). I am a bit of a miser so we usually share a little here and there and we don't get alcoholic drinks so I usually budget 140$ per day for meals. Does Disney think we are going to continue to spend that if they push us offsite? Throwing away 140$ to try to gain back 24$? Not only that I also mentioned in staying offsite we would be saving money, maybe enough money to give Universal a try for a couple of days on our next trip? I am not a business man or financial guru but this seems like a very bad decision.

This is me too. We stay deluxe and an extra $24 per day is not going to break the bank, but I've been having a difficult time justifying the cost recently. I've been telling myself part of the higher price is they don't charge for parking or resort fees. Well, no more...