Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[Tink-osophy]

I agree. As a matter of fact, I've been thinking Disney should just give up the pretense of calling us "guests". They are no longer acting like we are valued as the "guests" we once were. Just call us customers* & be done with it.



Or chumps, suckers, cash cows. Whatever word Iger prefers.

I've been thinking the same! And especially not Guests with a capital G!!

Your alternatives -

 

[DISNEY1975]

As with many others; I'm outraged by the additional fees-my main issues being:
A pricing structures according to resort levels is simply deplorable.
Charging us guests and not uk bookings at the same time is a very strange concept.
Day guests not being charged is bewildering..

YES, YES ALL OF THAT !!!!

 

[SmithSmith]

I received the same email but then got another email that said this:
Dear Linda,



Thank you for contacting us regarding the Walt Disney World Resort.



We appreciate the time you took to tell us about your disappointing experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Much like Walt Disney once stated, "Disneyland will never be completed," the Walt Disney World Resort will never be completed as we are always coming up with improvements based on feedback from dedicated fans - just like you - who have a passion for the Disney brand. Please know that we have shared your feedback with appropriate Leadership.



I am available Thursday through Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET at 407-934-7389 should you have any questions.


We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us.



Best Regards,



Brianna Turner

Guest Experience Services

Walt Disney World Resort

407-934-7389

I did not receive a call from anyone and I gave them my phone number in my email. This trip was my first in 16 years. It sounds like you have been there at least 5 times. Or it could be you have more serious complaints. I know at other companies they know all about you when you contact them. They treat customers based on perceived levels. It may not be money. It may be loyalty and how many times you go. I just remember another thread where people got different things from guest services for the same issue. Many people think it is random. I don't. That has not been my experience with other corporations that treat customers differently. As most have now realized Disney is just another large corporation that doesn't care about all of its customers the same way.

Thanks for sharing that. The only difference between that email and ones I’ve received is an extra line saying when I should expect their call.

Disney definitely knows all about who contacts them. Based on conversations with GS, I can definitely say they have a SmithSmith dossier filled with info like past visits, future reservations, emails, and recordings of all my phone calls with them. It’s kinda creepy.

 

[lambdabeta]

Thanks for sharing that. The only difference between that email and ones I’ve received is an extra line saying when I should expect their call.

Disney definitely knows all about who contacts them. Based on conversations with GS, I can definitely say they have a SmithSmith dossier filled with info like past visits, future reservations, emails, and recordings of all my phone calls with them. It’s kinda creepy.

It may also be the reason you receive a phone call every time and I didn't receive one.

 

[mrsclark]

I just read about this announcement on Thursday and was (and am) very unhappy - we generally stay 9-10 nights at a Deluxe on our annual trips and this just seems silly. They have plenty of space in Florida for parking (as opposed to DL in CA) and this is purely a revenue generating move with absolutely no benefit to the customer ("guest"). One thing that made me unhappy in the past about staying at Universal was paying through the nose for self-parking at the Loews hotels. Now that Disney has put themselves on the same level, we may consider less time at Disney and more at Universal as the parking "benefits" are now equal.

I also wrote an letter to the Bobs and George about my unhappiness and disappointment at this decision.

 

[edweg]

In this thread alone, there are dozens of people who have realized that there are off-site options that will fit their needs as well, or better, than Disney's options[/QUOTE]



I am one of the people that has now realized that I have been ripped off for many years. There are many free parking resorts with much bigger suites at much lower prices. I am having a hard narrowing them down to only a few.
Hey Disney, your greediness is going to save me a bundle!

 

[SmithSmith]

It may also be the reason you receive a phone call every time and I didn't receive one.

I was going to agree but then I realized that can’t be it. The thing is I didn’t have a MDE account when I first contacted GS. Everything was booked under my husbands account. At that time, they would’ve had no record of me.

This is really making no sense.

 

[Takket]

I wrote a letter to Disney, as I usually do after each trip, and let them have it about the parking fees at the end........

So, let me add one last thing before I wrap up. I’ve read in recent days about the new resort parking fees you are implementing. We’ve seen prices go up and up at an accelerated rate now that the economy is doing so well. But, we understand how it is. Inflation and all……. And it is a Capitalist society we live in. Things are worth exactly what people are willing to pay for it. So we save a little more and absorb the cost increases.

Disney has always made a point of being all inclusive. Stay with us and we cover everything but your food, pretty much. But this new parking fee thing…. This is just going to far. This is greed for the sake of greed and is leaving a VERY bad taste in the mouth of many life long Disneyphiles. At Disney it is always expected that you pay a cost in exchange for the Disney experience. The parking fees are cost in exchange for nothing. I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you about Disboards. There is a thread there about this topic…. 1600 posts long…. And it does NOT look good for you. There is even a poll asking if this will have any effect on their future Disney vacationing plans. Only 30% said no effect. The other 70% were considering canceling all together, or staying off site. You can’t possibly be making enough money off the parking to offset those kind of numbers.

The more you reach into people’s pockets and nickel and dime them, the less attractive Disney is going to become. You are saying this is “industry standard.” That is EVERY reason why you SHOULD NOT be doing it. You are supposed to be above that. But if all I’m getting for the extra cost of a Disney hotel is “industry standard”, than you are no longer giving me any reason to stay at a Disney hotel. This is BAD policy and your most loyal customers see right through it, and your least loyal customers are just going to go elsewhere.

Let me just add too, that this doesn’t even effect me. I never rent a car. I stay on site every trip. But I know a bad deal when I see one and exploitive corporate practices. Cost for a service is worth something. Cost for nothing if theft. Please reconsider this new policy.

 

[little_orange_bird]

Well, for me, I don't understand the people who can only imagine vacationing at Disney. Different strokes.

Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough-my apologies. I vacation other places too. But I’m referring, specifically, to people who are going to, for example, quit Disney and try Dollywood. To me, that’s not quite a Disney replacement. I can’t speak to visiting other parks because I’ve only ever been to WDW, but WDW is a different kind of vacation. If that makes sense. It’s like...if I was excited for Disney trip and had to cancel for a hurricane (almost happened last year!) I’d still be so disappointed with whatever we replaced it with- because I had been looking forward specifically to Disney World. But if the replacement was our original vacation, I’d be excited for it, for its own merits.

I know that’s kinda convoluted, but hopefully it made sense!

 

[dachsie]

I wrote a letter to Disney, as I usually do after each trip, and let them have it about the parking fees at the end........

So, let me add one last thing before I wrap up. I’ve read in recent days about the new resort parking fees you are implementing. We’ve seen prices go up and up at an accelerated rate now that the economy is doing so well. But, we understand how it is. Inflation and all……. And it is a Capitalist society we live in. Things are worth exactly what people are willing to pay for it. So we save a little more and absorb the cost increases.

Disney has always made a point of being all inclusive. Stay with us and we cover everything but your food, pretty much. But this new parking fee thing…. This is just going to far. This is greed for the sake of greed and is leaving a VERY bad taste in the mouth of many life long Disneyphiles. At Disney it is always expected that you pay a cost in exchange for the Disney experience. The parking fees are cost in exchange for nothing. I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you about Disboards. There is a thread there about this topic…. 1600 posts long…. And it does NOT look good for you. There is even a poll asking if this will have any effect on their future Disney vacationing plans. Only 30% said no effect. The other 70% were considering canceling all together, or staying off site. You can’t possibly be making enough money off the parking to offset those kind of numbers.

The more you reach into people’s pockets and nickel and dime them, the less attractive Disney is going to become. You are saying this is “industry standard.” That is EVERY reason why you SHOULD NOT be doing it. You are supposed to be above that. But if all I’m getting for the extra cost of a Disney hotel is “industry standard”, than you are no longer giving me any reason to stay at a Disney hotel. This is BAD policy and your most loyal customers see right through it, and your least loyal customers are just going to go elsewhere.

Let me just add too, that this doesn’t even effect me. I never rent a car. I stay on site every trip. But I know a bad deal when I see one and exploitive corporate practices. Cost for a service is worth something. Cost for nothing if theft. Please reconsider this new policy.

Where is the poll? I want to vote.

 

[little_orange_bird]

THIS!! There is a big ok magical world .. outside of “ the world “ go see it ! Lol

There absolutely is. Totally don’t disagree, and I visit it!
I just feel like for me personally there’s no substitute that brings quite the feeling disney does

 

[Takket]

Where is the poll? I want to vote.

Here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/paid-parking-is-coming-to-wdw-resorts-march-2018.3670025/

 

[Colleen27]

I would think they would do it just like every other parking area. Either a manned booth to collect fees with a gate with a ticket when you enter. If you are shopping or eating at the resort they would validate your ticket for free parking and if you exceed the time limit you would be charged. Or just a gate system with use of your magic band to get in or out or still using a ticket that you insert and pay with a credit card when you leave if you don't have a magic band and are just a day visitor. I have been in many paid lots that do both of these things. In the resorts that have a lot of traffic they may have to have more gates or booths like they do in city parking lots.

But unless they significantly reconfigure the parking lots, they won't be able to do that. Most have a single point of entry/exit, so if they do move to a city-style system with booths or kiosks it will create a bottleneck entering and exiting. I don't think that's how they'll do it - I think it is far more likely that car/no car will become a booking or check in question and guests will be billed automatically. If they planned to put in parking checkpoints at the resorts, they'd be charging day guests too because they'd already have the staff and infrastructure in place to do so easily. The most likely explanation for why only overnight guests will be charged is that they don't want to invest in that staff and infrastructure and are only going for the low-hanging fruit of registered resort guests.

 

[lambdabeta]

I was going to agree but then I realized that can’t be it. The thing is I didn’t have a MDE account when I first contacted GS. Everything was booked under my husbands account. At that time, they would’ve had no record of me.

This is really making no sense.

Where you listed under the same account with the same last name? Then they had a record of you.

 

[UncleMike101]

Where you listed under the same account with the same last name? Then they had a record of you.

Exactly..
You and all of your MDE "friends" are listed in your account and can be cross referenced.

 

[Kevin355]

Exactly..
You and all of your MDE "friends" are listed in your account and can be cross referenced.

WDW's version of the NSA...

 

[chelynnah]

I’m not saying they don’t have abilities. I’m just saying I really don’t think they’ll go through the effort of busting people. I don’t intend to find out. I’m just throwing out hypotheticals.

Ever hear of license plate recognition. I don’t know about there in the States, but it’s common here in in UK parking lots. If the computer doesn’t have you flagged as having paid (and there will be something in the system for short term day visitors vs on site stays associated with those plates you can bet) then you won’t leave the lot. Even our Macdonald’s restaurants use number plate recognition to get orders through faster. This is Disney, it mightntake a few months to get it into place, but I guarantee you this is the way they’ll be going.

I would hope that this will also help crack down on the parking at resorts and heading to parks. They could easily implement a maximum 3 hours. Anything over and you get the 24 hour charge for that hotel before you can leave.

I definitely think the parking charge is a step too far, but don’t anyone think they can’t easily enforce it. My only hope is that because of this they will also crack down on the cheaters, and then there should be plenty of parking for the legit day guests resort hopping or dining as well as the resort guests.

 

[lambdabeta]

I would think they would do it just like every other parking area. Either a manned booth to collect fees with a gate with a ticket when you enter. If you are shopping or eating at the resort they would validate your ticket for free parking and if you exceed the time limit you would be charged. Or just a gate system with use of your magic band to get in or out or still using a ticket that you insert and pay with a credit card when you leave if you don't have a magic band and are just a day visitor. I have been in many paid lots that do both of these things. In the resorts that have a lot of traffic they may have to have more gates or booths like they do in city parking lots.

But unless they significantly reconfigure the parking lots, they won't be able to do that. Most have a single point of entry/exit, so if they do move to a city-style system with booths or kiosks it will create a bottleneck entering and exiting. I don't think that's how they'll do it - I think it is far more likely that car/no car will become a booking or check in question and guests will be billed automatically. If they planned to put in parking checkpoints at the resorts, they'd be charging day guests too because they'd already have the staff and infrastructure in place to do so easily. The most likely explanation for why only overnight guests will be charged is that they don't want to invest in that staff and infrastructure and are only going for the low-hanging fruit of registered resort guests.

I'm sorry you misunderstood my post. I was just answering a previous post that had multiple questions about how it could look in different scenarios. I didn't say that was what they were doing right now. They don't have that infrastructure and they won't be installing it soon because that would cut into profits. However in the future that may be the way they go. I agree that this is just a way to increase revenue without any extra costs on their part.

 

[SmithSmith]

Where you listed under the same account with the same last name? Then they had a record of you.

Yes.
I don’t think so.

Exactly..
You and all of your MDE "friends" are listed in your account and can be cross referenced.

Everything was booked under my husbands account with his email and phone number. We shared one account. I did not have my own MDE until much later. I was only on the booking for that first stay in name-only.

When I contacted GS that first time I used an email address that was not associated with any MDE profile. I did not relate any info regarding my husbands profile, nor did I give any personal info besides my name and cell number.

I don’t see how they could’ve possibly connected me to that past stay or known I had been a guest.

 

[lambdabeta]

Ever hear of license plate recognition. I don’t know about there in the States, but it’s common here in in UK parking lots. If the computer doesn’t have you flagged as having paid (and there will be something in the system for short term day visitors vs on site stays associated with those plates you can bet) then you won’t leave the lot. Even our Macdonald’s restaurants use number plate recognition to get orders through faster. This is Disney, it mightntake a few months to get it into place, but I guarantee you this is the way they’ll be going.

I would hope that this will also help crack down on the parking at resorts and heading to parks. They could easily implement a maximum 3 hours. Anything over and you get the 24 hour charge for that hotel before you can leave.

I definitely think the parking charge is a step too far, but don’t anyone think they can’t easily enforce it. My only hope is that because of this they will also crack down on the cheaters, and then there should be plenty of parking for the legit day guests resort hopping or dining as well as the resort guests.

The only problem I see is Disney is notorious for not following their own rules. There are many easy ways to figure out who is over staying as a day guest and who are overnight guests they would just have to enforce it and they haven't had a good track record with that.