Paid parking is coming to WDW resorts March 2018

[Brandon B]

This new parking policy is another punch in the face from Disney to the public. It's a policy that is ONLY detrimental to resort guests and ONLY a positive for the Disney company itself. It shouldn't really be surprising, as the corporate mentality is all about $$$$ - and giving little to nothing in return for it. This parking policy is just so utterly beyond stupid that as much as I love Disney, I really and truly hope it comes back to bite them hard. Normally I don't care that I'd fly in and use Magical Express to/from Disney, but this basically forces me to have to stick with that plan. Now, I would never want to drive down and park if I have to pay even MORE than the already exorbitant amounts I'm already paying for my vacation......just to park my car. Who in their right mind would want to stay in a hotel that charges their guests to park in their parking lot? THEIR OWN FRIGGIN' GUESTS. Not me.

 

[dlavender]

Well I have to fess up.

We ditched our hard rock plans and are staying at the boardwalk tonight.

I was peeved that they now charge $35 for valet, but no charge for self.

Perhaps they saw my complaining, but we got upgraded to a club level garden suite. Pretty awesome room.

But I still am not happy about the looming parking fees.

 

[parkluvr]

I haven't read every comment on this thread, but it seems that not many people are talking about the unwanted side effect that this new policy will have on the Disney transportation system. I usually rent a car when I am at WDW, just because the Disney transportation system is so inadequate. The monorails are broken more often than they are running, the buses are not monitored well so they come at completely random intervals ranging from 2 minutes to 50 minutes or more. If you choose to use the buses during peak times you can always expect to have to wait for multiple buses and then be stuffed into one like a human sardine. I think that with this additional charge, people like me may choose to forgo renting a car and these problems will only get worse.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

I haven't read every comment on this thread, but it seems that not many people are talking about the unwanted side effect that this new policy will have on the Disney transportation system. I usually rent a car when I am at WDW, just because the Disney transportation system is so inadequate. The monorails are broken more often than they are running, the buses are not monitored well so they come at completely random intervals ranging from 2 minutes to 50 minutes or more. If you choose to use the buses during peak times you can always expect to have to wait for multiple buses and then be stuffed into one like a human sardine. I think that with this additional charge, people like me may choose to forgo renting a car and these problems will only get worse.

That has been mentioned a few times but not to worry. I will still drive to the parks but it will be from offsite from now on...unless it's a DVC stay.
It also seems as though the mass venting that was taking place on this thread has slowed down considerably. I wonder if that means we as a group have accepted this ridiculous cash grab and moved on as many have predicted.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I haven't read every comment on this thread, but it seems that not many people are talking about the unwanted side effect that this new policy will have on the Disney transportation system. I usually rent a car when I am at WDW, just because the Disney transportation system is so inadequate. The monorails are broken more often than they are running, the buses are not monitored well so they come at completely random intervals ranging from 2 minutes to 50 minutes or more. If you choose to use the buses during peak times you can always expect to have to wait for multiple buses and then be stuffed into one like a human sardine. I think that with this additional charge, people like me may choose to forgo renting a car and these problems will only get worse.

It was brought up a few time and also at least some of the people that had conversations/followup calls from disney mentioned this fact

They were told that it would be monitored on a resort by resort basis :|

 

[Aron1012]

I haven't read every comment on this thread, but it seems that not many people are talking about the unwanted side effect that this new policy will have on the Disney transportation system. I usually rent a car when I am at WDW, just because the Disney transportation system is so inadequate. The monorails are broken more often than they are running, the buses are not monitored well so they come at completely random intervals ranging from 2 minutes to 50 minutes or more. If you choose to use the buses during peak times you can always expect to have to wait for multiple buses and then be stuffed into one like a human sardine. I think that with this additional charge, people like me may choose to forgo renting a car and these problems will only get worse.

Yeah I definitely shared that fact with the CM who called me and like Max said they indicated it would be something they would be monitoring going forward. But honestly does anyone have faith that will be the case? I mean what exactly is stopping them from monitoring an obviously weak customer service area now. I see the arguments constantly that their goal is to get us into the parks spending money. But that falls pretty flat when they suggest allowing 1-1.5hrs for bus service to a park less than 10 miles away

 

[firefly_ris]

I haven't read every comment on this thread, but it seems that not many people are talking about the unwanted side effect that this new policy will have on the Disney transportation system. I usually rent a car when I am at WDW, just because the Disney transportation system is so inadequate. The monorails are broken more often than they are running, the buses are not monitored well so they come at completely random intervals ranging from 2 minutes to 50 minutes or more. If you choose to use the buses during peak times you can always expect to have to wait for multiple buses and then be stuffed into one like a human sardine. I think that with this additional charge, people like me may choose to forgo renting a car and these problems will only get worse.

Yeah, I was on site last fall and I just didn't care for the bus. They overall do a good job but the whole thing... waiting in line, sometimes not fitting on the first bus, cramming in with a lot of other people... It's stressful and not "vacationy" to me. The gondolas will help, but I expect there to be bus rider increase after this parking fee implementation and it wasn't exactly roses before.

But no bother... I'll be off site next time with a personal vehicle.

 

[Ariel484]

I haven't read every comment on this thread, but it seems that not many people are talking about the unwanted side effect that this new policy will have on the Disney transportation system. I usually rent a car when I am at WDW, just because the Disney transportation system is so inadequate. The monorails are broken more often than they are running, the buses are not monitored well so they come at completely random intervals ranging from 2 minutes to 50 minutes or more. If you choose to use the buses during peak times you can always expect to have to wait for multiple buses and then be stuffed into one like a human sardine. I think that with this additional charge, people like me may choose to forgo renting a car and these problems will only get worse.

Same here. I swore we'd never rent a car while at WDW, but we have done it for our last couple of trips and it has been a total game changer. We love to do resort dining, and it's just so much easier to be able to drive to where we want to go, rather than bus > park > resort. I feel like we get so much time back! I don't miss cramming into an overly full bus at the end of the night (never felt safe to me), and as we're expecting our first kiddo, driving has gotten even more attractive to me because I think it'll be easier than finagling a stroller onto a bus...and I don't want to cram kiddo into the aforementioned crowded buses.

 

[SaharanTea]

That has been mentioned a few times but not to worry. I will still drive to the parks but it will be from offsite from now on...unless it's a DVC stay.
It also seems as though the mass venting that was taking place on this thread has slowed down considerably. I wonder if that means we as a group have accepted this ridiculous cash grab and moved on as many have predicted.

I guess there are only so many ways of saying the same thing.

Many of us have moved on. We've moved on to planning vacations somewhere other than Disney World. Instead of crunching numbers on a Disney trip in 2019, I'm now looking at cruises and finding a ton of attractive options at and mostly below the cost of a Disney trip. And we go relatively cheap.

As down on Disney as this thread has been, the parking thread on the Resorts board is worse.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

If you found out that more people went offsite and that EMH became much more manageable and could do most rides with a 10 min or less wait would you say that they value has returned and that the parking fees was worth that valuable time?

No matter what, Disney is not going to allow low room occupancy. They will find a way to fill those rooms.

Secondarily, if EMH regularly has low crowds, you will see that cut back even more, if not eliminated altogether. It has to add real value to Disney for it to continue - not to the guest.

 

[loveshak22]

Speaking of parking adding to continued rollbacks of perks, I saw the announced a summer vacation plan with free dining but only for kids 3-9.

I never travel to WDW in the summer, so is this a sign of things to come with FD packages now that they will only be offered to kids 3-9? Or is it an added perk to summer packages because it's usually high season and I don't recall that they've done FD in the summer before?

 

[loveshak22]

Speaking of parking adding to continued rollbacks of perks, I saw the announced a summer vacation plan with free dining but only for kids 3-9.

I never travel to WDW in the summer, so is this a sign of things to come with FD packages now that they will only be offered to kids 3-9? Or is it an added perk to summer packages because it's usually high season and I don't recall that they've done FD in the summer before?

 

[Aron1012]

I guess there are only so many ways of saying the same thing.

Many of us have moved on. We've moved on to planning vacations somewhere other than Disney World. Instead of crunching numbers on a Disney trip in 2019, I'm now looking at cruises and finding a ton of attractive options at and mostly below the cost of a Disney trip. And we go relatively cheap.

As down on Disney as this thread has been, the parking thread on the Resorts board is worse.

Yeah I read a little bit over there and was surprised how positive (relatively) this discussion has been. But I did get a good laugh from the "What will Disney charge for next" thread. Sadly I'm sure many of those crazy ideas have actually been discussed by Disney employees at some time. I also have a friend who regularly uses another chat board and she said the discussion there was downright ugly.

 

[SgtTibbs]

I was somewhat on the fence already, but this pushed me over. I'll skip renting a car and Lyft my way around. It's now considerably less expensive given these new parking fees and really using a combination of bus, monorail, Lyft/Uber is better than having a car anyway.

 

[Ariel484]

That has been mentioned a few times but not to worry. I will still drive to the parks but it will be from offsite from now on...unless it's a DVC stay.
It also seems as though the mass venting that was taking place on this thread has slowed down considerably. I wonder if that means we as a group have accepted this ridiculous cash grab and moved on as many have predicted.

Like @SaharanTea said, I haven't accepted it, I'm just not sure what else to say about it. Still thinking long and hard about offsite options (yes, even if they charge for parking...because it'll still cost less than Disney's room rates + parking).

 

[Rich M]

That has been mentioned a few times but not to worry. I will still drive to the parks but it will be from offsite from now on...unless it's a DVC stay.
It also seems as though the mass venting that was taking place on this thread has slowed down considerably. I wonder if that means we as a group have accepted this ridiculous cash grab and moved on as many have predicted.

Eventually we all have to accept fact and move on but don't worry Disney won't allow us long to calm down, I am sure they will announce something else to poke the bears. I am sure this thread will get going now that doom day is upon us and people who book now will get a big dose of reality.

 

[Rich M]

Like @SaharanTea said, I haven't accepted it, I'm just not sure what else to say about it. Still thinking long and hard about offsite options (yes, even if they charge for parking...because it'll still cost less than Disney's room rates + parking).

Just out of curiosity and not to argue but hasn't the offsite always been a lot cheaper even before the parking? I know those parking fees will add up but it seems to me even when there was no parking fees it was still a big savings if you were willing to give up the on property appeal, EMH, and FP+. One other thing I factor in is the Disney work ethic. When I use to stay off property and ran into rude people working those hotels I would always say to them, "I see why your not working at Disney."

 

[PrincessV]

I wonder if that means we as a group have accepted this ridiculous cash grab and moved on as many have predicted.

I, as an individual, have. I don't like it, but I have vacation plans to be made and have accepted that the parking fee will be a factor in my considerations going forward. As I've mentioned somewhere in these 88 pages, this really doesn't change how I select a hotel: I'll still factor in all costs and go with the place that offers me the best price with my desired location/amenities. For my summer trip, the combination of high rates plus parking fees took WDW out of the running, so I'll be offsite. Other times of the year, it's possible WDW with an AP/FL discount could come out ahead - if it does, that's where I'll stay.

 

[loveshak22]

I was somewhat on the fence already, but this pushed me over. I'll skip renting a car and Lyft my way around. It's now considerably less expensive given these new parking fees and really using a combination of bus, monorail, Lyft/Uber is better than having a car anyway.

I wonder since Disney is testing their own internal Uber/Lyft type system if they'll start restricting Uber/Lyft on property? I don't think they could ban them all together but they could make them more inconvenient - like they can't get through the gated entrances at hotels and have to drop people off at the gate? Or they can't drop off close to the parks? So just tactics to make non-Disney ride share options less convenient?

I know at some airports they make you shuttle to a lot to pick up car ride services so it becomes inconvenient and you choose a cab instead because they are right outside baggage claim (not that the cab lines aren't still ridiculous) - or at least that is the case in NYC where the City regulates the cab industry.

 

[SgtTibbs]

I wonder since Disney is testing their own internal Uber/Lyft type system if they'll start restricting Uber/Lyft on property? I don't think they could ban them all together but they could make them more inconvenient - like they can't get through the gated entrances at hotels and have to drop people off at the gate? Or they can't drop off close to the parks? So just tactics to make non-Disney ride share options less convenient?

They have altered the bargain, I pray they do not alter it further.