Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[Nole95]

What's to stop someone from saying they are doing an Uber/Lyft dropoff?

I can be driving down with my family. Prior to arriving at the resort, I could move DW to the back seat with the kids, pull up to the gate and tell the guard I am dropping off. At that point, I park my car and never move it again.

We used Uber/Lyft when there in January to resort hop for meals, and never once did the guard check for any kind of Uber or Lyft ID from the driver. Just let them through when he told them he was dropping us off.

 

[DisneyDude71]

Well just got another phone call from the office of George Kalogridis in resposne to the letter I sent. Surprised it came so quick. Again nice professional conversation with the gentlemen I spoke with. Standard in the industry, the resorts outside of our gates charge for it. Told him I feel we pay a premium to stay on Disney property already and with the reduction in value it was a breaking point to have to swallow another fee. In regards to it being the "standard in the industry" I just told him that when Disney World was first built Walt was the trendsetter. How about Disney continue to set the trend and not charge onsite guest parking at their resort just because others do it.

He didny have an answer for that did he?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

What's to stop someone from saying they are doing an Uber/Lyft dropoff?

I can be driving down with my family. Prior to arriving at the resort, I could move DW to the back seat with the kids, pull up to the gate and tell the guard I am dropping off. At that point, I park my car and never move it again.

We used Uber/Lyft when there in January to resort hop for meals, and never once did the guard check for any kind of Uber or Lyft ID from the driver. Just let them through when he told them he was dropping us off.

I guess it would depend on where you are "driving down" from. If you don't have a FL license plate, I don't think this is a logical strategy. Plus, I'm assuming WDW security will be monitoring the cars that are left there overnight. If the license plate number isn't tied to a registered, overnight guest, I would speculate they may tow the car. Why would you want to deal with that?

 

[davper]

Simple solution: Come over to the DVC forums and we'll help you buy a resale contract. Free parking for you! (Technically paid for in annual maintenance fees, but we can all pretend, right??)

Until they require you to purchase at least 75 direct points to get the free parking benefit.

 

[bluejasmine]

Thankfully our trips are already booked so according to the wording we shouldnt be charged for parking THIS time. Im angry and dissapointed, my entire life Ive been in love with Disney, I have spent thousands and thousands over the years just like a lot of you. I think our Sept trip will be the last trip for several years at least maybe even at all. I understand DIsney is a business I do, but its become incredibly greedy, which I guess I naively believed Disney had better ethics.

My heart hurts for those young families who struggle to get to WDW this just makes it harder. I know my family always stays a week at least and normally at deluxes so my stay should I had to have paid in Sept will be $168! thats a lot of money! Regardless of what other hotels and companies do Disney use to stand out among them for the free parking, the free fast passes. I see those free fast passes going away mark my words... The club level guests being able to buy them was a test, with ppl actually falling for it and buying them it opens the doors to charge for the entire service.

My husband has been asking for years to do other vacations he loves disney but wants to travel more and this just helped me make up my mind.
We were looking at staying at Alauni next Sept but now I rather stay at an outrigger reef resort or rent a condo for that money. We had talked about a cruise for DH birthday and DH wanted ROyal Caribbean and I had pushed Disney, we will now go with Royal Caribbean.

On another point does anyone else see this helping lead to the end of Free Dining? They have said for years they were going to be weaning Guests off the discounts that they had been created for during the recession.. With Toy Story Land opening this summer DIsney may think there is no need for Free Dining.

 

[ScubaCat]

Until they require you to purchase at least 75 direct points to get the free parking benefit.

It's not an incidental benefit. Rather, it's paid for as part of the annual maintenance fees that cover common areas. That's the only reason you don't pay the fee (again, technically) when you stay at a DVC villa.

 

[Gentry2004]

They say day guests don’t have to pay, but some people are being turned away from resort parking unless they have a reservation.

But resort dinner guests with ADR’s can park for free?

 

[bobbiwoz]

They foolishly believe their goodwill is neverending.

True.

Soon even people who really like Disney will realize there are MANY places to make wonderful memories with their family. There already are people who do not like Disney’s commercializing memories and would not step foot in a Disney park.

 

[KenHutch]

Not gonna lie, the quick change from the "i'd never stay outside the Disney bubble" folks to an off property exodus over a $14/night fee is pretty darn amusing.

Well it may be amusing to you but its not to me. Because of family dynamics I have to pay for 2 rooms (and at KL that's a small fortune) and if they get away with this money grab are resort fee's far behind? With this money grab I can see some accountant thinking about his bonus check when he suggests well guests use our pools, use our busses and at AKL they look at our animals. We should charge an additional $50-$100 a day for resort fees. If they charge for parking this is going to come.

 

[hsmamato2]

I too find this a distressing turn of events..... I'm not sure why this particular thing has caused such an uproar, b/c I feel l like so much of what's happening in the past few years is uproar worthy... I dislike so much of the changes,but most especially the price hikes have gotten to me. I no longer 'feel' the same way I used to 'feel' when thinking about WDW. The parking thing was the straw that broke the camel's back IMHO. The ticket prices are HORRENDOUS. And they're predicted to jump 3X in the upcoming year, but no one seems to bat an eyelash. The room prices are HORRENDOUS,and no one notices much. The food prices are HORRENDOUS, but we all keep buying it while there. We've all been slowly adapting to all these things, while adapting to LESS EMH times,broken monorails,lines in parks running at lowered (intentionally) capacity,less workers to take care of needed park upkeep,poorly paid workers fighting for a living wage while the prices rise and rise and rise. You can add to the mix shorter hours, shows removed,rides not working properly....in all of this the NEED to plan what you want to eat and where 6 MONTHS ahead of a trip,and planning a ride 2-3 MONTHS ahead of a trip,and where EXACTLY you'll need to be and when..... none of this is calming,soothing,or what I consider a step in the right direction. the parking fee to have the "privilege" of staying 'onsite' is just what people are noticing, b/c it isn't "built into" the cost like the other things like a park ticket price hike. frankly it would have been a smart move for them to keep resort parking "free"rotfl: as if) and just charge that extra amount on each room per night. Then,I'm guessing no one would have even noticed. It just makes me sad.

 

[blondietink]

If this change affects the stockholders, there could be some changes made to it. However if the stockholders are still making money and the stock prices are increasing - it will be seen as a positive profitable move.

As a stockholder, I am still running at a loss since I purchased the stock a couple of years ago. And the dividend is lousy ... a whole $1.62 per share. Hardly worth the investment. Overnight the price dropped a dollar per share. We'll see what it does today. We purchased stock because a few years ago we liked the product. Not so much now and we just might sell in the near future. For all of the gains Disney has made in the tax cut deal, it hasn't filtered down to this shareholder.

 

[bobbiwoz]

As a stockholder, I am still running at a loss since I purchased the stock a couple of years ago. And the dividend is lousy ... a whole $1.62 per share. Hardly worth the investment. Overnight the price dropped a dollar per share. We'll see what it does today. We purchased stock because a few years ago we liked the product. Not so much now and we just might sell in the near future. For all of the gains Disney has made in the tax cut deal, it hasn't filtered down to this shareholder.

I did not “like” your post, because I am sorry you are losing money, but I do like your sentiments.

 

[kristenrice]

I'm going to take a middle ground approach on this....

In defense of Disney, yes, there was money on the table to be grabbed...but I believe they went about it all wrong.

This blatant money grab could have been better orchestrated if they had done it in reverse. Instead of charging resort guests, they should have started with charging day guests a flat-fee at the gate. If you are NOT a registered guest of the resort, you pay $35 right now or you don't come in, period. If you are here to dine or shop, then you can use your parking receipt for $10 off of the price of your meal or purchase. That way, if the day guest decides to leave their car there and visit the theme park, they are not actually avoiding the theme park parking fee *IF* they are legitimately there to dine or shop. If they were simply trying to park at the resort to avoid the parking fee, well, surprise! It's costing them MORE. This should help curtail those who try to park at resorts to avoid the parking fees while still providing Disney with revenue for those who still decide to visit the resorts without a resort reservation. It will also deter locals who decide to visit the pools for their own private pool parties. I'm sure this decision would have also met with backlash, but there would have been an equal or greater amount of support from those resort guests who drive and cannot find parking spaces due to the amount of day guests who park there just to visit. By FIRST charging day guests, Disney could have better acclimated people to the idea of a resort parking fee.

I agree that the product that Disney markets as "industry standard" is marked up well beyond the "industry standard" price and they have no business citing that as a reason to charge an exorbitant parking fee. A parking fee in and of itself is not completely unreasonable, but the amount that Disney is charging is beyond ridiculous, especially when you consider how much their room rates are already overpriced.

 

[Nikred513]

As a stockholder, I am still running at a loss since I purchased the stock a couple of years ago. And the dividend is lousy ... a whole $1.62 per share. Hardly worth the investment. Overnight the price dropped a dollar per share. We'll see what it does today. We purchased stock because a few years ago we liked the product. Not so much now and we just might sell in the near future. For all of the gains Disney has made in the tax cut deal, it hasn't filtered down to this shareholder.

That is awful, 1.62 per share. As far as tax benefits, i think that will plausibly impact next years dividend.

 

[lark]

We recently had a trip to AKL. It is neat there, but given the hassle of Disney transportation, we drove everywhere. My immediate thought was that with Swan and Dolphin and some neighborhood resorts now having extended fastpass timing, the hundreds of extra dollars really wasn’t worth it, but that was ameliorated a bit by having to pay for overnight parking plus parking at the parks. It’s mostly symbolic and psychological, and the monorail resorts still have some cachet but given the choice now between AKL or WL for several hundred a night or 10,000 starpoints for Swan, I cant justify it.

 

[Hisgirl]

I just sent an email (as I hope many of you do) to express the effect this has had on me.

Not just at the displeasure over the continued 'money money money' without the tit for tat 'product product product', but the principle of this move.

The effect it had on me was....last night I started researching where else we could take our vacation dollars that would be fun and family friendly. There were hundreds of other choices where we can have great food, a gorgeous hotel, fun and thrills and while we may have to pay for parking, we won't be paying the aggregate total of ticket + parking + swollen hotel prices + inflated food/drink costs + + + +. There are many, many vacation choices that will be considerably less and yet offer a huge bang for the buck.

I finally felt the freedom and the desire, yes, the actual desire, to seek out an alternative.

You finally did it.

You set me free.

 

[luvsJack]

I have no problem paying for parking. But I'm one of THOSE people who will defend Disney to the death. Honestly, if I am paying thousands for a vacation, how can I complain about a few hundred dollars? Disney is a buisness with expenses just like any other business. And the crowds are increasing, which means more upkeep on the resorts.

Because you should be aware of what and why you are spending that few hundred dollars even if you can afford it.

Do you seriously not think the upkeep of the parking lot was not figured in those exorbitant room fees to begin with? If not, someone did a poor job of figuring costs.

Of course they have expenses just like any other place. And yet other places aren’t charging as much, offering better deals and giving you as much or better quality.

 

[pmdeve]

We are AP holders and usually go 2 to 3 times a year. This year, we already have 2 trips planned and looking to book the third. I spent some tome last night looking at off site options. I havn't decided yet, but some of those resorts look great for the space and the money.

 

[Skippyboo]

Just got off the phone with Disney lady calling about my email. I asked if I booked a stay now for later in the year like in September now and then called to apply a discount code when released. They would use the initial booking date and not charge for parking. I told her that it seems like Disney is charging more and more and we are getting less and less. I mentioned I can get a room at Portofino Bay in September for $1700 with unlimited express passes while a deluxe room at Disney will cost way more and get me next to nothing. Mentioned that it took me 6 minutes to drive to Blizzard Beach but without a car would have to wait for 2 different buses via Disney Transport.

 

[Kevin355]

Seems ridiculous to say this is the last straw. But it is, for us. We have a 2 week trip planned for this August that we booked on a bounce back from last year. Our daughter is turning 16 and our son 10. We have been driving down every year, sometimes twice, for the past 11 years. I have seen prices increase, customer service decrease, and crowd levels become insane all year. For the room rates they charge, EVERYTHING should be included. This is just gouging people for every single penny they can.

This will be our last trip to Disney for a while. Were already planning a trip for 2019 to somewhere completely different. Maybe Yellowstone, Grand Canyon etc. It's time to give the mouse a break from our dollars.

Amen. I stay on site not because the resorts are so much better, but for the convenience. Yes, I could pay less for a better hotel/timeshare off site, but my wife and I like the convenience. Sometimes we fly, sometimes we drive...depending on if we are going to visit friends on the way down or way back home...but the quality of room you are paying for is nowhere near comparable to some of the off site lodging. We have to budget even more than we expected...mediocre food, waning customer service, and crowds.

Last year was the first year since 1999 that we didn't do Disney and we were planning to go back this year. Not now. I have zero problem with WDW making money, but for the cost involved, I do expect better benefits. The 3 FP's that I can get a day does not really mean that much to me since it is being offered to off site hotels now. And the EMH are of little benefit anymore.