PLEASE SHARE -What is it like to resort park now?

[1GoldenSun]

had a thought this morning, in relation to how the resort knows who has a car, and who doesn't. How does Swan/Dolphin know who has a car, and who doesn't? We have stayed there but we didn't have a car, so it wasn't an issue. I can't remember if they asked us or what. We arrived by Uber, otherwise, that's all I know.

They don't ask if you have a car, but if you park your car in their parking lot, you can't get out without paying.

 

[meghanb133]

I’m staying Saturday night at All Star sports just overnight. I got a great deal last minute with my AP. We live about two hours away, so we could make the drive home be needed a little getaway. I’m not super happy with the parking fees considering I know a ton of people probably break the rules or get around it somehow, but it is what it is.. the conveniece of the buses just makes staying on property our preferred choice.

 

[AngiTN]

They don't ask if you have a car, but if you park your car in their parking lot, you can't get out without paying.

Ah, so not part of the hotel charge, but separate fee you pay as you leave. That's how hotels in our downtown do it too.

 

[KrazeeK120]

They don't ask if you have a car, but if you park your car in their parking lot, you can't get out without paying.

Can you have it added to your bill if you want? At hotels where I’ve paid to park, the parking fee has been added to my bill and the hotel gave me some form of validation to use when leaving.

 

[n2mm]

Can you have it added to your bill if you want? At hotels where I’ve paid to park, the parking fee has been added to my bill and the hotel gave me some form of validation to use when leaving.

Yep similar to universal resorts. You have to pay or show you paid in order to exit the parking lot.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Ah, so not part of the hotel charge, but separate fee you pay as you leave. That's how hotels in our downtown do it too.

Disney could do it this way at their resorts. Similar to city parking, instead of having the guard manning the entrance, have them at the exit. On the way in, people could scan their magic band, or if they don't have one they could take a ticket. Then, if they spend a minimum amount at the resort, they would be validated for, say, up to three hours. On the way out they would again scan their magic band (or produce their ticket). If ticket or band had been validated by a shop, restaurant, spa, or other service, and they had been in the lot no longer than three hours, they would exit for free. Otherwise, there would be an hourly parking rate. If the rate were something like 4 or 5 dollars an hour, I don't think anyone would mind paying that to take a look around a resort, but it would prohibit people from using resort parking as a means of avoiding paying parking fees at the parks.

Of course, I still think people staying at the resorts should park for free.

There are probably all kinds of problems with this that I'm not thinking of. Primarily, Disney wouldn't make as much money. But it would solve the problem of overcrowded resort parking lots, and make parking lot usage fair.

When I went to lunch at the Grand Floridan on Easter, I would have been happy to have paid for the extra time I spent resort-hopping, as well as for an hour of parking at the Wilderness Lodge. Ok, ok....I wouldn't have been "happy" to pay it, but $12-$15 would have been quite reasonable for an afternoon's entertainment and it would have felt immeasurably more fair than being expected to pay for parking at my future resort stays.

 

[DISNEY1975]

They don't ask if you have a car, but if you park your car in their parking lot, you can't get out without paying.

And sometimes you cant get out even after you pay! I hated that swiping machine!

 

[NicoleLarson]

We were staying at BCV this past weekend. We are DVC so we don't pay for the fee but I did notice that the guard asked my DH what kind of car we were driving. He marked something on a sheet then told us where to park. I found that very odd. I drive a VERY common car so it wasn't like he was asking because I drive a Tesla or something cool and wanted to know what it was. Nothing was said to me @ check in about the parking, nor did I notice anyone being asked/told about parking.

 

[TammyC]

Just adding my recent experience... We were passing through Orlando last Tuesday and decided to stop at the Boardwalk for lunch. DS really likes the pizza window (which I think is just average). Told the guard we were there for lunch and he asked if we had an ADR. I told him we were just grabbing pizza. I believe he used the term "hard closure" and said he could let us in for two hours and we were directed to the lot in the back. He asked to see my drivers license but only gave it a quick glance. We only stated about an hour but not sure how they may have been keeping track.

T

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Have not followed all of this thread so apologies if out of context with the discussion...but just passing along our experience last weekend.

Stayed one night at AoA last Sunday. Reservation was made after the paid parking cutoff date.

Drove up to the guard house, said we were checking in. She checked ID and waived us through.

Had not received room ready text so stopped by front desk. During check-in, the CM at one point asked us if we had a car. We said yes. She gave us a piece of paper to put on the dash. No mention of parking fees.

The next morning when we got the room charges/folio e-mail, the parking charge was on there, as I expected.

If I'm being picky - while I knew about the parking fees and it was part of the fine print when I booked - it probably would have been nice for the CM that checked us in to mention it again when she asked if we had a car.

We then stayed the balance of the week at AKL on a reservation made pre-parking fee - was not charged there, as expected.

Anyway - FWIW!

 

[DISNEY1975]

Just adding my recent experience...

T

Have not followed all of this thread so apologies if out of context with the discussion...but just passing along our experience last weekend.


Anyway - FWIW!

Great info, worth a lot! Thank you!

 

[twoolle]

Have not followed all of this thread so apologies if out of context with the discussion...but just passing along our experience last weekend.

Stayed one night at AoA last Sunday. Reservation was made after the paid parking cutoff date.

Drove up to the guard house, said we were checking in. She checked ID and waived us through.

Had not received room ready text so stopped by front desk. During check-in, the CM at one point asked us if we had a car. We said yes. She gave us a piece of paper to put on the dash. No mention of parking fees.

The next morning when we got the room charges/folio e-mail, the parking charge was on there, as I expected.

If I'm being picky - while I knew about the parking fees and it was part of the fine print when I booked - it probably would have been nice for the CM that checked us in to mention it again when she asked if we had a car.

We then stayed the balance of the week at AKL on a reservation made pre-parking fee - was not charged there, as expected.

Anyway - FWIW!

I wonder what would have happened had you not gone to the front desk?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I wonder what would have happened had you not gone to the front desk?

I wondered the same thing. Of all the times to NOT get the room ready text!

 

[msk]

We just arrived at YC this afternoon. The guard took my name and scanned my magic band. We had not received a room text so we parked and went to front desk. No one asked about a car and later I went back to the front desk and asked if I needed a ticket or paper to put in my car window. The CM at the front desk said no. We’ll see what happens when I check out. I booked this trip last spring.

Meanwhile I’m sitting on my porch, drinking a. Ice glass of wine and enjoying life.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Ah, so not part of the hotel charge, but separate fee you pay as you leave. That's how hotels in our downtown do it too.

We are just back from Dolphin and I was asked if I had a car at check in. I said yes. I was told there was a $20 plus tax per day fee. When I checked out it was on my bill. I just used my room key to exit.

 

[1GoldenSun]

We are just back from Dolphin and I was asked if I had a car at check in. I said yes. I was told there was a $20 plus tax per day fee. When I checked out it was on my bill. I just used my room key to exit.

Interesting. We stay at the Swan/Dolphin quite a lot, and I don't think I've ever been asked that before. I know DH has paid the parking in advance at checkout, but I wasn't aware that you had to. I'm fairly sure I've paid for my parking as I exited before, but my memory is not what it used to be (actually it was never that good!).

I was there for a conference last year and they were all booked up so I ended up at the Caribbean Beach (in a pirate room all by myself, yo-ho-ho!). I took the bus to avoid paying to park at the Dolphin, but I had friends who drove up from Tampa every day, and they had to pay to park. I wonder if they were able to pay at the exit, or if they had to pre-pay at the check-in desk. They wouldn't have had a room key to get out. Hmmm... if you need a room key to get out, I guess you end up taking it with you when you leave. That seems like a waste.

I wonder if this is a new practice or if they've been doing this all along and I'm just remembering it wrong.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Interesting. We stay at the Swan/Dolphin quite a lot, and I don't think I've ever been asked that before. I know DH has paid the parking in advance at checkout, but I wasn't aware that you had to. I'm fairly sure I've paid for my parking as I exited before, but my memory is not what it used to be (actually it was never that good!).

I was there for a conference last year and they were all booked up so I ended up at the Caribbean Beach (in a pirate room all by myself, yo-ho-ho!). I took the bus to avoid paying to park at the Dolphin, but I had friends who drove up from Tampa every day, and they had to pay to park. I wonder if they were able to pay at the exit, or if they had to pre-pay at the check-in desk. They wouldn't have had a room key to get out. Hmmm... if you need a room key to get out, I guess you end up taking it with you when you leave. That seems like a waste.

I wonder if this is a new practice or if they've been doing this all along and I'm just remembering it wrong.

The problem with paying as you exit from the Swan/Dolphin is that you have to pay every single time you exit. If you’re only exiting once a day, it’s not a problem. If you get it put on your hotel bill, you get in/out privileges.

 

[Daphne]

Two years ago when were staying at beach club and my daughter and I wanted to go to WL because she wanted something in the gift shop. Pillows from there. When we got to guard house told him we wanted to shop he said “ you can’t just come in here and look around ,”!, at first we thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t he got very rude but then let us in. My poor daughter was in tears. We went straight to the front desk and told them what happened and they said they encourage people to come and shop and eat. They apologized but we were so rattled that my daughter said she didn’t want the pillows because it would remind her how rudely we were treated,
So sad! Been going to Disney for 20 years and now this is how we are treated.

 

[Deb & Bill]

They just need to charge everyone who parks at the resort and hourly rate until you hit the full night charge. If you are a registered guest or dine or shop, you get free hours based on your status. Dine at QS, you get half price parking for one hour. Dine at TS, you get two hours free. Stay the night, you get credited the entire fee. Shop, you get free hour for every $50 spent.

 

[kiford]

The only places I’ve had to pay for parking is in crowded downtown areas where space is extremely limited. I’ve never had to pay at a location that had plenty of space available (as Disney World does). And, at every single hotel where I HAVE paid to park, the hotel also charged an hourly rate for day guests or others who just wanted to use the parking facilities.

Except for in the big city’s I find that most places don’t charge.

I've parked in various hotels around where I live and there are different methodologies: everyone paid for parking; no one paid for parking; only overnight guests paid for parking and day guests had to park in an open visitor lot (which can't have overnight cars). And that's in the same city. It may or may not be related to size of parking lot, location/proximity to downtown, location/proximity to other amenities which have paid parking, general corporate policy, or other. I think that the only generality that I can come up with is that there is no generality when it comes to parking. And I can tell you that I don't live in anything I would consider to be a big city.

I work in a university building and pay monthly for parking. My parking lot is huge, is probably 10% filled due to our slightly remote location from the main campus and the partially empty building I'm in, and I got ticketed last week because I parked a rental car in it for 3 hours and forgot to put my regular parking pass in or pay for a daily parking pass. Corporate policy, money-making plan, fairness with other people who have to pay, deterence to those who shouldn't park there, bureaucracy...??... Regardless of where you are, any or all of these can be the rationale. It may not have anything to do with space available, size of city or proximity to a crowded downtown.

I don’t see why it matters if you ride the bus or not

I think that one of the original reasons for providing "free" transportation and luggage handling from the airport was to encourage guests not to rent a car (i.e., you are stuck on-site and eating and spending money over and above your room rental fees). So there may not be a stated you-may-not-use-as-simply-a-luggage-service policy, but it kind of defeats the purpose from their point of view if you are able to spend money elsewhere. I rather suspect that they see it as spending money to make money and less as a guest courtesy service to be used as you please.