Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[brockash]

Someone posted they will leave their room for someone richer. I wonder if this is Disney's goal? To try have the WDW for those who really have the money to burn. Certain class of folks will spend top dollar on food, parties you name it. While some are very budget conscious.

I 100% believe this is their intended park guest and those that are more budget conscious are not worth it for them. I believe this has been Disney's opinion for at least the last 5 years or so.

 

[DISNEY1975]

20% tip is standard for good service at all restaurants across the US, not just at Disney.

Its 15% here. 18 for good service, 20 for exceptional.

 

[smallworldnh]

This makes me sad. I am so close to being priced out of staying at a Disney Resort on my next visit. All the incentives for staying there, like FP and free dining are either going away or not making much of a difference. it doesn't seem to matter whether you can book FP+ at 30 days or 60 days out, most times you can't get it at all. Reservations for some places are becoming darn near impossible to book at 120 days out. Now you have to pay extra to experience things or watch fireworks or whatever at areas that used to be free and first come first served. They seem to make more available to those who can pay the extra prices on top of the expense to stay there at all. To me, if i can't take advantage of these things and have to take a ton of time trying to get reservations,etc., it makes more sense to save the money and stay off site to get the same results.

 

[DISNEY1975]

What I’m wondering is how they’ll keep track of who booked prior to March 21 and who booked after. I have a stay booked in October and I expect not to be charged for parking.

They have all that in their system. Its not difficult to keep track. Even on my reservation it states when I booked. Also, the dates of each payment made. Im not 100% sure that is what they are going to do..charge for the pass...but that is my best guess.

 

[Krandor]

Not happy with this. I’m in Atlanta. Makes more sense to drive then fly. I normally don’t touch my car fir durations.

I’m still set for dark side but for dopey 2019 I had planned to stay on site. Now I’ll look at other options. May still go on site but it isn’t a given now like it was before.

 

[CynBeth]

What I’m wondering is how they’ll keep track of who booked prior to March 21 and who booked after. I have a stay booked in October and I expect not to be charged for parking.

I wonder that as well. We are booked and all paid off for our Thanksgiving trip. We always rent a car because we do some other area attractions.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that not every disability may be a physical one. I have some experience with PTSD and for a long while, crowded public transportation upset me to the point of severe panic attacks (although I was not on any Disney trip during this time period). Would someone not consider that person as having a disability of some sort?

The question now is why they will require parking payment for non-mobility-related disabilities. Which don't have anything do to with parking. I think the exact question was "if I have a disability that precludes me from using the resort transportation, because of crowding, etc., my parking should be free too."

The sole purpose of handicap parking is to get the eligible person out of the flow of traffic as quickly and safely as possible.

I couldn't find any condition like this for Florida, but in Massachusetts, persons with HP plates/placards are generally exempt from paying at parking meters. Maybe Florida has a similar condition and this is how Disney is complying?

 

[DISNEY1975]

Unfortunately, the person who gets hurt in this scenario is the server who has to live off tips. Disney will not feel this, but their workers will.

Its me or them. Maybe they will be fed up enough to find another waitstaff job that pays $130 - $160K a year.

 

[thegales]

What I’m wondering is how they’ll keep track of who booked prior to March 21 and who booked after. I have a stay booked in October and I expect not to be charged for parking.

From Disney's website:
"Effective for reservations made March 21, 2018 and thereafter, standard overnight self-parking is available to registered Guests for a fee that will be applied to their hotel folio upon check-out. All parking fees include applicable tax."

Depending on how you read this, they may mean for Reservations made FOR March 21 and thereafter. Or they mean for Reservations made PRIOR TO March 21 and thereafter.

If it is the prior, they may be charging everyone after March 21, and they don't need to track when you made your reservation.

 

[danielocha30]

What I’m wondering is how they’ll keep track of who booked prior to March 21 and who booked after. I have a stay booked in October and I expect not to be charged for parking.

you will get charged. Is not only for booking, they are starting to charge on the 21th, at least you still have time to cancel your reservation and take your money somewhere else. Unlike those who are probably stuck with reservations out of their free cancellation time frame.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Maybe they will increase the amount of free dining to keep encouraging people to stay on property?

They may have to do that at some point if they price a segment of the population out of visiting there. They have a lot of hotel rooms and dining seats to fill, and we all know the economy fluctuates.

The parks are slammed now. They’re having no trouble filling their hotel rooms, albeit they have a lot of rooms out of inventory for construction at CSR and CBR. It won’t always be that way though.

I don’t see Free Dining coming back to the level it was when I went 2008-2010. We stayed at Pop Century with four Disney “adults.” Had to buy a minimum ticket of only one day. We got the Magical Express and the regular Dining Plan. All this for $82 per night.

Can’t imagine ever getting to close to that ever again.

 

[blondietink]

We stay on DVC points so this charge does not affect us. However, we now planning our first trip for October after a 4 year absence. Why? We have found there is more to life than WDW, such as Aulani (no parking fees for DVC there either) and 2 trips to Disneyland in California. I see this move as pure greed. Ticket prices are way up, crowds are terrible (from what I hear) and the magic is gone. But we are trying it one more time before we decide for sure. We won't eat at any of the sit down restaurants (no tips), we will take our food into the parks and only purchase snacks, we will cook in our villa, we will visit ..... Universal Studios!

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Why is that?

Why is that?

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.

Just the way that people abused the use of wheelchairs to get in front of the line they can borrow a placard to save money.

Years ago when you would stay at the Contemporary you couldn’t find a parking spot because people used to park there and go to the Magic Kingdom. Miraculously, it would empty out come the late afternoon and the resort guests could park their car. It took years before Disney clamped down on the abuse.

When we stayed at the Y&BC we always had a hard time finding chairs at the pool because locals and people from the other resorts came over to swim in Stormalong Bay, finally they built a fence around it and you had to show your room card to get in.

I can go on...lol

There will always be people looking to take advantage and find a way to work the system.

So it wouldn’t surprise me that once it’s known that you can save on parking fees by having a placard, many more vehicles with handicapped placards are going to show up in the lots.

 

[DISNEY1975]

They may have to do that at some point if they price a segment of the population out of visiting there. They have a lot of hotel rooms and dining seats to fill, and we all know the economy fluctuates.

I doubt they care about filling the dining seats. Less and less on property restaurants are actually owned by Disney. For the dining plan people, they give these 3rd party vendors a flat rate for each credit used and still pocket some cash in the process.

 

[KrazeeK120]

you will get charged. Is not only for booking, they are starting to charge on the 21th, at least you still have time to cancel your reservation and take your money somewhere else. Unlike those who are probably stuck with reservations out of their free cancellation time frame.

That’s not what it says on Disney’s website...where did you get that info?

 

[KrazeeK120]

From Disney's website:
"Effective for reservations made March 21, 2018 and thereafter, standard overnight self-parking is available to registered Guests for a fee that will be applied to their hotel folio upon check-out. All parking fees include applicable tax."

Depending on how you read this, they may mean for Reservations made FOR March 21 and thereafter. Or they mean for Reservations made PRIOR TO March 21 and thereafter.

If it is the prior, they may be charging everyone after March 21, and they don't need to track when you made your reservation.

It says for reservations MADE March 21 and thereafter, not reservations OCCURRING March 21 and thereafter. I’ve already MADE my reservation.

 

[Clawdius]

I don't think I have any new opinion that hasn't already been expressed in this thread, but I want to share that I really dislike this new parking fee. It's a money grab. Disney is not providing me any added benefit or added enjoyment to my vacation in exchange for paying this fee. I'm already booked for Oct 2018 and Jan 2019 at WDW, so I may be off the hook for the charges for those trips, but I still think it's terrible.

 

[DCpoohfan]

Considering how much Disney is now saving because of the tax cut, how can this be justified?

 

[MisterBubbles]

When we were in Hawaii this summer we visited Aulani to check it out. We found out at that time that we had to pay to park just to visit for a bit. Also saw that DVC members do not pay to park, but other guests staying there do pay. At the time the large water playground that makes up most of their pool area was being worked on and was shut down. Many parents complained since this was a big draw for staying there. We learned that some of the parents were given free parking!! We thought that was funny, they were providing complimentary parking for something that should have been complimentary anyway and they thought they were getting a deal. Water park still wasn't available and I am sure the kids were not thrilled about the waived parking fee.

 

[disneydreamer781]

"Everyone else does it"? I've stayed at plenty of hotels and don't pay for parking. Yes, maybe in NY or Boston where you have to use a garage but that is not the case in WDW. I'm a DVC member but if I don't have points left, I guess I may reconsider going to WDW. I guess there is a legitimate reason for that Minnie van after all.