Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[kaytieeldr]

This will be the talking point, and the response is that we have already been paying for parking, it was just lumped in as part of the room rate. If they want to make that argument, then unbundling the parking rate would mean a reduction in the underlying room rate. Who's expecting that to happen?

Exactly. As I said, there’s plenty of parking FOR RESORT GUESTS. If only resort guests were allowed to park at the resorts, there would be parking left over. It’s the shoppers and diners that cause the parking shortages, not the resort guests.

Not really. These drivers only stay a couple of hours. It's the off-site park-goers taking up the spaces.

Because a person can easily borrow and use someone’s handicapped placard to save on parking fees and how will wdw know if the placard really belongs to the person presenting it? I doubt they will ask for proof.

It's illegal.

Placards include the holder's photograph. Plates, well, how many up HP plate holders are going to loan their entire vehicle to a vacationer?

 

[Mamiamjo]

Since I am DVC member, it will not affect us as we drive some to WDW, but fly a lot. BUT, i think the main problem is people parking at the monorail/boat
resorts and not paying the parking fee at the parks. I think this precipitated a lot of this... People abusing the system.
I know at BWV, parking is hard to come by when we are staying there.. Always has been. So, it essence, the people that will pay for parking
can thank the "abusers of the system". At least I think that is partly the reason why they did this. I do agree with other posters that I think
Disney is becoming a "nickel and dimeing" to death..

DeerH

Has it been confirmed that this doesn’t apply to DVC?

 

[sbd78]

I think we should all boycott the Disney resort parking fee. Do whatever you have to to not pay it. If you drive and stay onsite, park at the airport for less and take the Magical Express. Look more closely at offsite options. Look at other destinations. If we speak with our wallets, maybe they will listen.

 

[rangerxenos]

We almost stayed offsite for our trip next month. This is the final straw, there aren't many perks left to staying onsite now, especially with the good neighbor hotels getting FPs at 60 days. They all run buses to the parks, too, and I can stay for at least $100 a night less, and not pay for parking.

 

[melana]

Not really. These drivers only stay a couple of hours. It's the off-site park-goers taking up the spaces.

It's illegal.

Placards include the holder's photograph. Plates, well, how many up HP plate holders are going to loan their entire vehicle to a vacationer?

Not all placards include this information nor are plates required. Kentucky placards do not have a photo attached anywhere nor on the official documentation from the clerk’s office. My mom has a placard but not the plate. It would actually be fairly easy for someone to do. I would never do it because, as you say, it is illegal and taking up a space for someone who really needs it.

 

[kittyab]

It absolutely is the goal. They don't care at all about the family that saves for years to go once or twice in their life. They care about the people that go every year, no matter what.

When I read this news today, my first thought they are trying to keep the families out that do not spend nearly as much as some. Those families are a waste of their resources and they prefer the more wealthy guests.

 

[kagmypts]

This is going to drive many who convince themselves that Disney hotels are worth the high cost, hang on by that magical thread, to indeed move offsite.

DS and I have been talking scenarios, this being one, but most who drive ... will not fly ... because it's economically not feasible, doesn't work with their plans (Universal or other offsite plans) and adding this fee won't change our travel plans. We are either 8 hours or 1.5 hours away. Even the 8 hour means more than that much time if we commit to fly, let alone the large increase in cost. But honestly, they are charging for something that costs them close to nothing, don't be surprised if ME becomes a shuttle fee each way to help recover those costs.

- Some will eat it and not care (small cash increase for Disney)
- Some will eat it and take it out of snacks or other budgets (no cash increase for Disney)
- Some (like me) will be fed up with being grossly overcharged for a product and stop booking onsite (large cash loss for Disney since this also will include dining, shopping, potentially the window to go to the darkside)


Do I think Disney cares? No.
They are in the DVC business now, I think the hotels are more a pain to them & the renovations, service and quality shows.

I agree with you. We are a 6 hour drive from Disney, and there is nothing Disney can do to entice us to leave our car at home. However, I think that is the goal of the new policy. Disney wants a captive audience. However, this policy has the opposite effect for us - it keeps us from staying on site.

Last night, we were in touch with a travel agent about an upcoming trip. We are traveling in May, and while we could book within the next week to avoid the parking fee, our dates are tentative at this point. We may need to shift our arrival/departure date by one day. I don't want a shifting in travel dates to incur a parking fee so we just extended our off site stay for another seven nights. I communicated to our travel agent that we would not be staying at BC because of the new parking fee policy. We love our off site accommodations so it's not a huge loss for us. I just think that this policy is extremely ill-advised.

I have said this before on other threads, but Disney is making several decisions with regard to short-term profit. I have no problems with a business making money, but Disney is losing sight of a customer's long-term satisfaction. With the economy booming, Disney can afford to turn off guests because other customers are waiting in the wings. However, when vacation dollars become scarce again, customers are going to have moved on to other destinations. I think that Disney is going to be hit extremely hard in the medium term.

 

[Disneylover99]

I have no problem paying for parking. But I'm one of THOSE people who will defend Disney to the death. Honestly, if I am paying thousands for a vacation, how can I complain about a few hundred dollars? Disney is a buisness with expenses just like any other business. And the crowds are increasing, which means more upkeep on the resorts.

A few hundred dollars here.....a few hundred dollars there.....it all adds up. Where do you draw the line?

 

[melana]

Although I am not pleased with this, I drive so I will pay. Just like anything else, people will pay. Will I email Disney to let them know I am not happy? Probably, but it won’t keep me from staying onsite. Just something else to budget for.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Has it been confirmed that this doesn’t apply to DVC?

I have seen it mentioned on the DVC forums here that our dues includes parking lot maintenance. Apparently we have always been paying for parking, whether we have a car or not.
From Disney’s web site:

Disney Vacation Club Members
Members will not be charged for standard overnight self-parking when staying at a DVC Deluxe Villa, regardless of whether they use vacation points or another form of payment. Members also will not be charged to park when using vacation points to stay at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I have no problem paying for parking. But I'm one of THOSE people who will defend Disney to the death. Honestly, if I am paying thousands for a vacation, how can I complain about a few hundred dollars? Disney is a buisness with expenses just like any other business. And the crowds are increasing, which means more upkeep on the resorts.

If the crowds are increasing, they are bringing in lots of revenue, no? All the crowds in the parks paid admission, and nobody is staying in resort rooms for free.

Most of the resort parking lots were constructed long ago, and the land itself was paid for by Disney long before then. They’d have to keep up the parking lots with or without any extra fees to guests.

 

[lelew]

Lol y’all crack me up. Several posters say “after this trip”. If it really bothered you that bad cancel this trip.

didnt cancel my up coming trip but will be staying ogg

Not gonna lie, the quick change from the "i'd never stay outside the Disney bubble" folks to an off property exodus over a $14/night fee is pretty darn amusing.

yea because there resorts are not worth it like they use to be.

 

[Iya]

I don't think how much money they make from Black Panther has anything to do with Parks and Resorts. Some of this is to get people to stay on property and lack of parking at some resorts like for instance, CRT & BWV. Also, the new Minnie Van is starting to make sense now. It's actually cheaper than parking at my deluxe resort of choice next trip.

Minnie vans are $25 one way.

 

[sbd78]

We almost stayed offsite for our trip next month. This is the final straw, there aren't many perks left to staying onsite now, especially with the good neighbor hotels getting FPs at 60 days. They all run buses to the parks, too, and I can stay for at least $100 a night less, and not pay for parking.

We were originally going to stay offsite at Windsor Hills for our upcoming trip but ended up switching because we found a TA deal for POR. Even with the TA deal, we are paying much more for our room than we would have for a townhome at Windsor Hills. Now that the onsite perks are going away, I think this will be our last hurrah to staying onsite. (It will also be our last hurrah to BOG since Disney is also apparently messing that up in the name of more revenue come July!)

 

[Iya]

I haven't seen a concrete answer for this question: If you stay offsite and only want to visit a resort for a few hours to look around and eat in the quick service food court, will there be a parking fee to do that?

No.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Not really. These drivers only stay a couple of hours. It's the off-site park-goers taking up the spaces.

It's illegal.

Placards include the holder's photograph. Plates, well, how many up HP plate holders are going to loan their entire vehicle to a vacationer?

Of course it’s illegal, but that doesn’t stop people from doing it.

Both of my parents were in wheelchairs and had handicapped placards. They lived in Florida and the placards had a number and an expiration date on them. No pictures.

 

[HopperFan]

I have said this before on other threads, but Disney is making several decisions with regard to short-term profit. I have no problems with a business making money, but Disney is losing sight of a customer's long-term satisfaction. With the economy booming, Disney can afford to turnoff guests. However, when vacation dollars become scarce, customers are going to have moved on to other destinations. I think that Disney is going to be hit extremely hard in the medium term.

Oh absolutely.

Perfect example of why Disney needs people like me. 9/11 no one wanted to travel let alone fly. Disney cancellations were off the chart. They had to drop prices on resorts. We booked staying in FW Cabins for less than $130 per night. Two cabins for a week, 10 people bought tickets. We drove. When things get tough whether it's the economy, the climate of travel, etc. .... those of us who can save money by driving or live in state, we are the constants that keep the bucket from going dry. For many years we were just about the only constants, we were the ones spending the money, we were the ones putting up with no new rides and ride breakdowns.

Disney needs that constant base for bad times in good, especially with so many resorts under construction in the area, with Universal likely building 2 more parks and expanding existing .................. just not a good idea to get greedy for something that isn't costing you anything extra (parking lots are required by law) ...........

When things get tough or maybe just folks having way more options and having to choose ......... Disney will likely see the result of their choices the last couple years.

 

[Iya]

Not really. These drivers only stay a couple of hours. It's the off-site park-goers taking up the spaces.

It's illegal.

Placards include the holder's photograph. Plates, well, how many up HP plate holders are going to loan their entire vehicle to a vacationer?

I’ve never seen a handicapped placard with a photo on it. Maybe in your state, but it isn’t the norm. You only need a placard to use accessible parking, not plates.

 

[Tonyz]

When I read this news today, my first thought they are trying to keep the families out that do not spend nearly as much as some. Those families are a waste of their resources and they prefer the more wealthy guests.

Yup. The people who will go no matter what they’re charging.

 

[lelew]

I agree with you, seems like charges continue to come while crowds continue to rise. People complain and get upset than end up going back, reminds me of what Pete says on the Podcasts, stop complaining if your just going to spend money on the product.

I do wonder what would really cause many guests to stop going.

I became hooked on Disney 10 years ago when my daughter was just 1. We have been finding ways to get there every year because of Disney magical experience that you can't find anywhere else, especially for kids. But now those magical moments are becoming less and less while the visit is becoming more expensive. For me it's much more than the money it's the customer service. The customer service is not like it use to be. Disney was #1 at this and now it fading away. I will not be visiting Disney every year like I use too. In fact I told my daughter this will be I'll last trip for a long time. We will have to find other things to do for our vacation.