A secret 'bout that $9 fee some limo companies add.

[Kimberle]

Our limo driver told us this.

Sometimes limo companies are charged a $9 fee when they return to pick up the departing guest. As a WDW guest, you're entitled to free parking. If this happens to you, obtain the receipt from the driver & go to guest services. They will REFUND you the $9.

Our driver said that most of the time they are not charged the fee, but they follow this procedure when they are so they do not have to pass the cost to the client. The money has always been refunded.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

I am not trying to dispute anything that you have posted. You are only posting what was told to you by the driver. But......
The driver's statement doesn't make sense to me that "sometimes limo drivers are charged a $9 fee". That would mean that the gate personnel at the entrance to the MK have authority to either charge or not charge limo drivers based on personal opinions, wouldn't it?

Many knowledgeable people have posted the rules about the gate fee charged to limo drivers, other than Mears, which does not pay a gate fee. Other posters have indicated that limo drivers show the gate personnel guests' reservations when entering the MK resorts and there is no charge at that time. Otherwise, the limo drivers pay, when empty, to take the guest back to the airport, for example. Could it be possible that this limo driver was wrong?

Anyone else have an opinion, Tyler?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by WDWisTheBest
The driver's statement doesn't make sense to me that "sometimes limo drivers are charged a $9 fee". That would mean that the gate personnel at the entrance to the MK have authority to either charge or not charge limo drivers based on personal opinions, wouldn't it?

Well, if a driver has already made a pickup earlier in the day, they already have a parking pass. As such, they do not need to pay the fee a second time.

On a related note, the security kiosk on Vista Blvd has been closed. Traffic may flow freely now. This also meens Towncar and Limos can get to the MK Resorts without paying the fee.

Personally, I think they need to re-do the MK Toll Plaza, and make a dedicated lane to World Drive North, and have the Toll Plaza feed soley into the parking lot. This would cut down on traffic, and eliminate the parking fee for Towncar companies. (Which is ridiculous, IMHO)

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by Kimberle
Our limo driver told us this.

Sometimes limo companies are charged a $9 fee when they return to pick up the departing guest. As a WDW guest, you're entitled to free parking. If this happens to you, obtain the receipt from the driver & go to guest services. They will REFUND you the $9...

The WDW guest is entitled to free parking. The limo company is not.

And since the parking fee for cars is $7 and town cars/limos pay $9, it might be kind of difficult explaining to Guest Services how you managed to rent a limo to drive for your vacation from National or Avis.

 

[seashoreCM]

Could it be that:

1. The limo driver who had been there before on that day flashes his parking receipt and the gate attendant waves him on most of the time?

2. Some limo companies surcharge the customer the $9.00 regardless of whether the driver succeeds in doing #1?

3. Some limo companies build into their fare the average amount of tolls to MK resorts regardless of the resort the guest is going to?

4. While bypassing the toll to get to MK resorts is as easy as dedicating the rightmost toll lane for that, WDW (Mike Eisner) is quietly thinking of a way to charge the limo companies the $9.00 for going to any resort?

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Isn't it great that we can always count on Tyler to give us the latest and straightest correct information on transportation in and around WDW.

Thanks, Tyler.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by WDWisTheBest
Isn't it great that we can always count on Tyler to give us the latest and straightest correct information on transportation in and around WDW.

Thanks, Tyler.

I try, but I can't take all the credit. Y'all provide some great information too!

 

[DaveH]

The towncar services I was checking into for my trips charge more upfront for MK resorts. If he is just saying this is why, that is what I was told by the folks I called to make ressies.

 

[crystalb]

On a related note, the security kiosk on Vista Blvd has been closed. Traffic may flow freely now. This also meens Towncar and Limos can get to the MK Resorts without paying the fee.

Just trying to piece together the information -- is this something recent, or awhile back? What kind of time frame?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by crystalb
Just trying to piece together the information -- is this something recent, or awhile back? What kind of time frame?

Just the other day.

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by Chip 'n Dale Express
...On a related note, the security kiosk on Vista Blvd has been closed. Traffic may flow freely now. This also meens Towncar and Limos can get to the MK Resorts without paying the fee....

Wow, hard to believe Disney has cut back on security.

I wonder how long it will take them before they build a tollbooth there to collect the parking fees for people coming in that way?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by GoldenOldie
Wow, hard to believe Disney has cut back on security.

I wonder how long it will take them before they build a tollbooth there to collect the parking fees for people coming in that way?

The kicker is that they were replaced with cement bollards.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

On a related note, the security kiosk on Vista Blvd has been closed. Traffic may flow freely now. This also meens Towncar and Limos can get to the MK Resorts without paying the fee.

I am the pits with street names, only know: go left, go right, etc.
Which one is Vista Blvd? Is that the one that goes by that camping area? And, what is a cement bollard? TIA.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by GAIL HAYDEN
I am the pits with street names, only know: go left, go right, etc.
Which one is Vista Blvd? Is that the one that goes by that camping area? And, what is a cement bollard? TIA.

Vista Blvd is indeed the one that goes by the Campgrounds. It's the "back way" into the MK Resort area.

Bollards first made thier appearance in the bus load zones. They're the red cement poles at the start of every load zone. Over the past few months, they've been installed as barriers at all the theme parks and the TTC.

 

[lawgs]

tyler,

does that mean that this "back way" is no longer available ....

is the road closed off completely to traffic flow

we have used this way to get to the campgrounds and to wilderness lodge before

what if you are going for PS at contemporary etc ...are you now required to pay a parking fee just for that privilege..????

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Vista Blvd IS open. The security stop has been closed, so the road flows freely now.

 

[lawgs]

thanks for you quik posting of information tyler..

smilawgs

 

[DVC-Don]

Originally posted by Chip 'n Dale Express

On a related note, the security kiosk on Vista Blvd has been closed. Traffic may flow freely now.

Thanks Tyler. This past August a guard almost did not let me through there. We were traveling from OKW to the GF for High Tea. Been going that way for years to the VWL & the other MK resorts. He seemed pretty upset I'd try to go that way. We were always waved through with our resort parking permit before. Course I can remember when that kiosk was unmaned prior to 9/11/01.

 

[seashoreCM]

Historical question:

Would anyone know or recall whether Vista Blvd existed and was usable as a way to Magic Kingdom from Rte 535 (Hotel Plaza / Apopka area) way back in the 1970's?

My first visit to WDW (all there was was MK and its neighboring monorail hotels), in spring of 1975, I stayed at a hotel on 535 and went all the way down to 192 and World Drive which was the one and only official entrance.

I never looked for a shortcut which Vista Blvd. would have been, just wondering whether I could have.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I cant answer that for sure... BUT... I'd imagine it was there, as an access way to the Disney Village Marketplace.

(BTW, when I first started working for Disney, that's the route I used to get to work, before I realized I could cut through 535/536)