Disney Valet Parking

[Dean]

Valet Parking at the Walt Disney World® Resort

As of July 16, 2001, there is a charge for valet parking at all Walt Disney World® Resort hotels ($6.00 per day) that offer this guest service. However, Disney Vacation Club Members will not be charged for valet parking at Disney's BoardWalk Resort and Disney's Wilderness Lodge, regardless of where they are staying. Members will be charged for this service at any other valet parking operation at the Walt Disney World Resort. Disney Vacation Club Members must show their DVC Member card or Walt Disney World Resort ID indicating "DVC Member" when leaving their vehicle to be parked in order to receive this service at no charge at either Disney's BoardWalk Resort or Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Whether or not you are charged to valet park, gratuities are still appropriate.

Look what I found when looking on the member website.

 

[DebbieB]

Wow! I could see them charging if you were not staying at a WDW resort, because some people staying offsite use the resorts to get around the parking fees at the parks. They encourage people to valet park in order to leave spaces open for resort hotel guests, but this will force people who have PS into the self park. $6 plus a tip is too much.

 

[KNWVIKING]

will be the valet's. When Atlantic City casinos were required to start charging $2.00 to park in the garages- a city tax,not a casino fee- people either didn't tip at all or reduced the size of the tip. I doubt WDW is going to give the $6.00 to the valet's. I know that if I had to pay $6.00 to valet park I would not tip. I wonder if WDW is counting on people NOT valet parking thereby allowing them to reasign these people to other areas of simply lay them off.

 

[Lesley]

Interesting take on this KNWVIKING. Personally this won't effect me much because I only plan to valet park at BWV or VWL anyway....BUT

I don't see where this is a great thing for Disney to do, as they are actually taking away what used to be a perk of being a WDW hotel guest. At a time when they probably have to be competing even harder to keep visitors on-site this takes away a tiny part of the feeling that everything is perfect and may leave on-site, non-DVC guests feeling even more "nickel and dimed" by our favorite mouse.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I wonder if you pay your six dollar fee at the resort your staying at, then head out to diner at a resort that offers valet parking,do you pay another six buck there also ?
Assume $2.00 to be the average tip coming & going. You check into your resort,valet park,pay $6.00 & tip two. Head out to diner,pick up car, tip $2.00, arrive at resort, pay $6.00,tip $2.00. Get car after diner,tip $2.00, head back to your resort, tip $2.00. Cost $20.00 to park your car. That's way more then "nickel & diming" me to death. Of course I'm glad my DVC resort are still NC but you wonder for how much longer.

 

[LarryM]

Im with you KNWVIKING very glad that DVC members won't pay. But I just read in newsweek where attendance is down 8% in WDW and Universal its no wonder with people being nickle and dimed. It also seems like a rotten way to increase revnue after charging cash paying guests 300 anight and up.

 

[Lesley]

Agreed....

It's 6 bucks here, 2 bucks there......perhaps the phrase should be updated to "five and tenning".....

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what WDW guests will have to pay for next? Parking? Transportation? Or is this not going to be a trend?

And how much of this will we be immune to as DVC members? Is there anything in our contracts that will prevent free valet parking from being taken away? What about the other stuff?

Not worried too much, just sort of wondering...

I do believe that there has always been a valet parking fee for non-WDW resort guests, but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[Disnydad]

I believe non-WDW parkers at the BWV were charged for valet parking after a certain time. (5 or 6PM?)

 

[CarolAnnC]

Yes Disnydad, the policy of charging in the evenings to park at BWV for guests who are not registered at BWV Resort has been in effect for several years. From my observations, it did not deter people from using the service as the valets were still extremely busy even while having to collect $6 to park.

 

[KNWVIKING]

LarryM stated attendance was down 8% at WDW and Universal. In most business, when things slow down you don't often raise your prices,rather you cut them to entice people to buy your product.Maybe WDW is assuming that the people staying at resorts with valet parking just have SOOO MUCH money that they won't mind paying another 6 bucks a day.i can't wait to ask the valet's how they like this new policy. I'd be curious if they are allowed to give guest an honest answer.

 

[cibflower]

I had the whole valet issue down, they change it up. I was one of the people who never used valet parking. I figured I could park myself and never had a problem. This past trip in April, we had a 15 passenger van, so we used valet parking, and it was wonderful. We decided to tip well because of how prompt and wonderful the service was.

Now if Disney is going to gouge other vacationers $6, I agree the tips will decrease... won't that cause the service to decline, too?

On a side note, while we were waiting for our van one evening, a manager came over to me and asked if I was pleased with the valet service, if they had used my name, asked if I needed anything, etc. Do you all think this is related? As in maybe a "fact finding" mission for whether (the now affected) people would pay the $6?

 

[LauraS]

This is really too much. I mean, honestly, how much more money can they eeek out of us? This won't affect me at the BWV, but my DH and I use valet parking lots when visiting other resorts for dinners. I'll tell you one thing, if I get charged 6 bucks every time I go to the Contemp or GF for meals, the valets will get nada out of me tip-wise. I know, I know...it's not their fault right? They work for tips....yada yada. But that will be the way that I send my message to the mouse.

Laura

 

[Peggy Sue]

amazing!!! We use valet service all the time! We like to visit the other hotels for dinner, and always valet park..does this now mean we will have to pay $6. to park on top of our dining expenses? Seems a bit over the top to me! I guess we will start checking out the self park areas at all the resorts! $6. a couple a times a day is a bit too much for our blood!

 

[LIDisneyFan]

I'm with LauraS on this one - we use valet when going to other Disney hotels for dinner. Now, I need to pay $6 or walk from the outer parking lots (especially on those rainy Florida nights). ThenI'm supposed to tip my usual $3 or $4.

Now, I'm not a cheap peron on vacation, but this is getting out of hand. If I need to valet, I am ashamed to say I know where the $$$ will come from - the tips.

So, now there's one less reason to be a Disney resort guest.

...and we all thought them charging for package delivery was out of the question...this makes me wonder...

Maybe I'll go to CityWalk, since I', paying to valet anyway..............

 

[PamOKW]

the policy of charging in the evenings to park at BWV

All WDW resort guests were able to use free valet service at Boardwalk....only non-WDW resort guests were charged.

I think we can thank all those who "beat the system" and valet parked rather than using the theme park lots. If they won't pay to park there, Disney will charge them in the other lots.

 

[nickglover]

I think the way to send Disney a message is to not use their nice restaurants at the GF, the Poly, and the Contemporary as much. I plan to try some nice off-site steak restaurants instead.

 

[ParkFreak]

if I get charged 6 bucks every time I go to the Contemp or GF for meals, the valets will get nada out of me tip-wise. I know, I know...it's not their fault right? They work for tips....yada yada. But that will be the way that I send my message to the mouse.

I see your point, but unfortunately Laura, all that will do is cause a higher turnover in the labor pool. it will do nothing to send a message to the powers that be. What do they care if the valets complain about their tips dropping? What do they care if CM's quit? They're laying off left and right anyway! The only way to get your message out is to go directly to the mouse. Let guest services know at each resort, heck, even give your DVC guide an earful! Try driving up, and when they try to charge, just say, "Well, I was going to spend lots of money at your fine restaurants and shops, but if you're going to charge, I might as well go into the city," then just drive away . . .

Do you honestly think that if the suits, who made this policy, cared about how much the valets were making in tips, would start charging for a previously free service? This is just another middle finger salute to the CM's and Guests of WDW. The valets are not the enemy, please don't punish them!

(have you noticed that I'm really steamed over this issue? )

Seriously though, this is exactly the kind of thing that will make me want to go to WDW less and less, DVC membership or not!

 

[Lesley]

Pam, I don't quite understand your reasoning when you write:

"I think we can thank all those who "beat the system" and valet parked rather than using the theme park lots. If they won't pay to park there, Disney will charge them in the other lots."

Are you referring to other WDW guests or just to off property guests? WDW resort guests do get free parking at the parks, so I guess it would be off site guests? But the off site people can just as easily self-park for free. Perhaps all parking areas at WDW need to charge those not staying on-site for parking. Seems to me it would be a better solution than gouging those who are already giving Disney big $. I also think there needs to be a charge for parking at DD (ever try to find a parking space there?) because lots of folks park there for free and take the WDW busses to the parks.

I can't quite tell by this policy what the management of WDW is trying to accomplish, but it certainly doesn't seem to be an effective way of accomplishing any of the ideas that have been brought up in this thread......or at least not the most effective way. What it looks like it will do is just make lots of loyal WDW guests think twice about using the service (or the hotels/restaurants at all) or just upset them in general.

I know this board is an incredibly small sampling of WDW visitors, but I wonder how much backlash and outrage WDW is going to hear over this matter. If I were a regular guest at the Poly or the GF, I'd probably be pretty angry. And I thought the high prices for the rooms were covering those amenities like valet parking...silly me.

 

[Doctor P]

There is an intermediate position that I would not be surprised to see--validation at a resort restaurant or a credit on your restaurant bill if you paid for valet parking. I think it will take a while to work the kinks out of the system, but really all that they are doing is reducing the potential for abuse and increasing the incentive to use the Disney transportation system rather than driving. I won't say that I am happy, but I see plenty of options to avoid the fee through planning so I don't think the policy is going to be an impossible one for me to comply with.

 

[PamOKW]

I'm not sure what they are trying to accomplish either. Maybe they've decided to start charging since many deluxe hotels around the country (including the Swan/Dolphin) are able to charge guests for valet parking and they want to give it a try too.

Many people suggest the valet parking as a way to park for access to the parks. Whether it's for convenience or to save a parking fee, I'm not sure. In any case, maybe that is becoming so prevelant that it's a problem. Just like pool hopping by non-DVC guests seems to be increasing and creating problems.

I'm not too happy to hear of this fee but I'm just guessing it's a type of crowd control measure.

I think a lot of problems might be avoided if WDW would go back to being stricter on their transportation policies. I remember staying at CBR in the late eighties/early 90's that at least one person in the party had to show the resort ID to board the bus. You also had to show an ID to board the boat launches. I think this would help to insure that WDW resort guests are using the special amenities they pay for and would give those who are turned away an incentive to consider staying on-site next time.