Disney to Begin Charging to Park at Resorts if You're an Offsite Guest

[halfpintpeggy]

And my point is that Disney probably won't miss you."

Perhaps they will not miss ME when I choose to stay offsite rather than at a DVC - but they'll surely miss the millions of visits to their restaurants & shops from all of the others that will be deterred.

 

[Marionnette]

Perhaps they will not miss ME when I choose to stay offsite rather than at a DVC - but they'll surely miss the millions of visits to their restaurants & shops from all of the others that will be deterred.

Disney will only miss you, and the "millions of visits" by offsite guests who park at their resorts, if there isn't someone else to take their place. And like it or not, as crisi has already stated, there are a lot of others who will fill that ADR that you aren't making. With Disney, it's all about the Benjamins. Parking problems at the two "test" resorts have been a major complaint from guests who stay at those resorts. Big enough that Disney is exploring how to rectify it.

 

[crisi]

Not quite - Florida Residents Free after 6:00 pm with proof of residency at Citywalk Garage...and it's obviously also free for all of their AP holders (which Universal makes highly attractive to have based on their pricing structure).

This means that no one usually going only for Citywalk is paying for parking. If you're stopping by, you are usually a Florida resident or an AP. If you are on a single or double day ticket, you probably were in the park that day and staying to hit Citywalk at night.

So in an better than equivalent move, Disney could give free parking at Disney Springs (the CW equivalent) to Florida residents (after six), AP holders and onsite guests, and charge offsite guests for both Springs parking and hotel parking - since Universal charges at their hotels. An AP wouldn't be as attractive at Disney (Universal APs are really low priced), but the resorts would have free parking for onsite guests, which Universal doesn't have.

They would still solve the issue of people parking at the Springs or the resorts to avoid the parking fees at the theme parks - which is the biggest part of the problem they are trying to solve.

 

[TwoMisfits]

They could...if they thought Disney Springs could compete 1-1 with Citywalk for entertainment and food value and if they haven't made promises to all of their 3rd party vendors about parking or guest volumes. Disney also needs to support more businesses in Disney Springs than Universal does at Citywalk, so they truly need more people. And unfortunately for Disney, Disney Springs is hugely less convenient for Disney patrons that Citywalk is for Universal patrons. At Universal, you can walk or boat there from the resort hotels and you literally walk through it to get to the parks on your way in and out of the parking garage. You have a captive audience that needs to put zero effort in reaching their destination. Conversely, people have to actually get on a bus or drive from a hotel or a theme park to get to the Disney Springs location (except for a few rare places). The traffic on the roads to Disney Springs in the evening is abysmal, the parking is still subpar, the buses are already problematic, and the need for ADRs at most sites is restricting. When faced with these 2 scenarios, what will most folks who are not trapped in the Disney bubble choose? Disney can't have them choose Citywalk...especially since Citywalk actually has more reasonably priced experiences and food overall...

 

[TwoMisfits]

And, unlike Universal, whose parking is an all-in-one, if you now lay in a charge for Disney Springs, you'd now need to set up booths to take fees (or some other "person-manned" way to charge for in and outs) at all entrances since you would have to distinguish between those who have to pay and those don't...it would be a money-losing proposition in more ways than one...and Disney isn't about losing money...

Not too mention, they've been walking a tightrope between alienating off-siters while rewarding on-siters...won't take much more to fully fall off and lose a large segment of the off-siters with Universal right next door waiting...

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Disney will only miss you, and the "millions of visits" by offsite guests who park at their resorts, if there isn't someone else to take their place. And like it or not, as crisi has already stated, there are a lot of others who will fill that ADR that you aren't making. With Disney, it's all about the Benjamins. Parking problems at the two "test" resorts have been a major complaint from guests who stay at those resorts. Big enough that Disney is exploring how to rectify it.

So losing lots of $$$ from millions of visits to retail and quick service locations would be okay with Disney so long as ADR's are full? I think not, makes no sense business wise. BTW, we're DVC owners & spend a lot of time on and off property. We're just not the type of Disney visitors who feel entitled to have the resorts & restaurants all to ourselves as so many others seem to do.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Disney does hate to leave $$$ on the table, but even I can't see them making the resort parking fees double what it costs at the main parking lots. I imagine it will be the same, maybe a few dollars more. If this is the case, I am parking at the Contemporary EVERY time I'm going to the MK. If I can skip the main parking lot in a valid way by paying a parking fee, I'm going to do it. I won't do it at the Epcot resorts, because they are not any more convenient than parking in the main Epcot parking lot, but it will be a benefit when it comes to the MK.

Disney is not doing this because they care about resort guests parking woes, nope, they don't care about you at all. What Disney cares about is $$$, and they see that people are beating the system by parking at the resorts for free. I'm betting that the parking fee at the resorts is going to be the same as the main parking lot, not as a deterrent, but as a way to catch that revenue that is currently slipping by.

 

[Marionnette]

Disney does hate to leave $$$ on the table, but even I can't see them making the resort parking fees double what it costs at the main parking lots. I imagine it will be the same, maybe a few dollars more. If this is the case, I am parking at the Contemporary EVERY time I'm going to the MK. If I can skip the main parking lot in a valid way by paying a parking fee, I'm going to do it. I won't do it at the Epcot resorts, because they are not any more convenient than parking in the main Epcot parking lot, but it will be a benefit when it comes to the MK.

Disney is not doing this because they care about resort guests parking woes, nope, they don't care about you at all. What Disney cares about is $$$, and they see that people are beating the system by parking at the resorts for free. I'm betting that the parking fee at the resorts is going to be the same as the main parking lot, not as a deterrent, but as a way to catch that revenue that is currently slipping by.

And this is why they need to charge a very high parking fee. The whole point is to discourage the very practice that you intend to adopt.

 

[disneysteve]

And this is why they need to charge a very high parking fee. The whole point is to discourage the very practice that you intend to adopt.

How much do you think would be an appropriate charge for a guest to have to pay to come to a Disney resort?

 

[Marionnette]

How much do you think would be an appropriate charge for a guest to have to pay to come to a Disney resort?

$40 with a $15 resort credit. The final OOP is the same as it takes to valet park
your car and the resort credit expires at the end of the day, which ensures that you're actually there to spend money at the resort and not just use it for convenient parking. The fee is enough to encourage outside guests to either use a cab or park in the theme park lots.

 

[disneysteve]

$40 with a $15 resort credit.

So even if I'm coming to eat, shop, and do other activities (boat rental, etc.), I'd still have to pay $25 to park. No thanks.

 

[Marionnette]

So even if I'm coming to eat, shop, and do other activities (boat rental, etc.), I'd still have to pay $25 to park. No thanks.

You could pay $20 to park in the theme park lots and take a resort bus to your destination. Or you can always park for free at Disney Springs and take a bus to the resort you want to visit. That is, you can park for free until enough people take advantage of that loophole and Disney starts to charge for parking there as well.

 

[seashoreCM]

I still think it is best to collect a parking fee up front. I think it is fair for guests not staying at the resort to jump through a few hoops to reduce or eliminate the final cost of parking, as a means of reducing the overall cost and effort of managing and enforcement.

The actual refund process should have at least one required final step performed at the guard shack exit in order to prevent gaming the system.

 

[disneysteve]

You could pay $20 to park in the theme park lots and take a resort bus to your destination. Or you can always park for free at Disney Springs and take a bus to the resort you want to visit.

I'm not wasting an hour or more of my day taking Disney buses to get around. I won't even do that when I'm staying onsite. Plus, what happens when we want to rent boats at Poly in the morning and then head over to AKL for lunch? We'd spend a good part of our day riding buses. It's not worth doing at that point.

Speaking of which, would parking at one resort give you a pass to park at others for free the same day or at one of the parks? I certainly hope so. If I had to pay $20 to park at Epcot, spent the day there, then had to pay $25 more to have dinner at Wilderness Lodge, that would suck.

That is, you can park for free until enough people take advantage of that loophole and Disney starts to charge for parking there as well.

And how long do you think that would take? I bet under a month before paid parking exists everywhere. Otherwise, they won't have fixed the problem.

 

[kristenrice]

I find a common theme running through this thread...people who are NOT GUESTS OF A RESORT feeling as if they should be entitled to a FREE parking space.

For a moment, put yourself in the vehicle of the person who IS a guest of that resort...perhaps you have just spent the morning at the parks and would like to get your restless toddler down for a nap. You enter the parking lot and it is full....very full...COMPLETELY full...you have to continue circling the lot because there is NOWHERE to park your car. Your kid is crying, your spouse has to pee, and you are getting more and more frustrated...after all, YOU are paying hundreds of dollars a night to stay here and now you cannot even park your car! Surely ALL of the parking spaces are not being taken up by registered guests...these are the folks who decided to park there and use the resort facilities/restaurants/etc. How would you feel?

Here's another solution....if you are staying at a WDW resort, you are FREE to park at ANY resort...but you will automatically have a $20/night resort fee tacked on to your reservation, even if you don't have a car. How would that go over? Not well...

So I guess I do not see a problem with Disney charging people to utilize facilities (i.e. parking lots) when they are not registered guests of a resort.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm not wasting an hour or more of my day taking Disney buses to get around. I won't even do that when I'm staying onsite. Plus, what happens when we want to rent boats at Poly in the morning and then head over to AKL for lunch? We'd spend a good part of our day riding buses. It's not worth doing at that point.

Speaking of which, would parking at one resort give you a pass to park at others for free the same day or at one of the parks? I certainly hope so. If I had to pay $20 to park at Epcot, spent the day there, then had to pay $25 more to have dinner at Wilderness Lodge, that would suck.

Do people who currently valet park their cars at one resort get to park for free when they valet at another resort the same day? Or when they head to a theme park? The answer to both would be no.

And how long do you think that would take? I bet under a month before paid parking exists everywhere. Otherwise, they won't have fixed the problem.

It depends on what you perceive to be the actual problem. If it's overcrowding at the resort lots, then it does solve the problem by directing traffic to either the theme park lots or to Disney Springs (where they have brand new garages with significant capacity).

However, if you perceive the problem to be the loss of free parking at a resort that you're not staying at, then it creates a problem where none existed before.

 

[eliza61]

Perhaps they will not miss ME when I choose to stay offsite rather than at a DVC - but they'll surely miss the millions of visits to their restaurants & shops from all of the others that will be deterred.

LOL, don't worry about whether or not Disney will miss you halfpint.

Here's my take in a nutshell. IMO over the last few years (say 5) Disney has been on a steady stream of rising prices, fee-ing the consumer to death and offering a mediocre product. finally two years ago we decided the value to the vacation was just no longer there. HS is a ripoff, Epcot is sad , food is mediocre, price increases are constant. I finally sold one of my dvc memberships, still have one.
Lately my family has done other vacations. our first cruise, Paris, canada. You know what, we love it. we've had just as "magical" vacations and not one has been significantly more expensive.

This year for our winter break no one even suggested Disney, we're thinking about doing the Florida Keys. I'm happier and feel my vacation dollars are being better spent.

Once in a while I think about doing another long family vacation and I think of these type of fees along with the stupid increase in AP cost plus nothing in HS and I get over it.

So for me, I don't care if they have 10 people waiting to replace me. for the foreseeable future, except for a retirement celebration I'm going to, I'm taking a break.

 

[disneysteve]

put yourself in the vehicle of the person who IS a guest of that resort...You enter the parking lot and it is full

So have the majority of the lot reserved for resort guests where you need to swipe your Magic Band or card to enter and have a small area of the lot open for visitor parking. There are hundreds of places that do just that.

It depends on what you perceive to be the actual problem.

I think the problem is people parking at the resorts to avoid the $20 fee at the parks. If you start charging at the resorts but not at DTD, you don't solve the problem. You just move it to a different place and it will then be impossible to get a spot at DTD if that remains free.

 

[disneysteve]

I remember when riding Disney transportation (except for the monorail) was for resort guests only. They would ask to see your resort ID before you got on a bus. When did that change? Now anyone can get on a bus to get around property. It's even being encouraged in this thread. Why is that okay? Why should non-resort guests have free transportation? How come nobody complains about that?

 

[TwoMisfits]

I remember when riding Disney transportation (except for the monorail) was for resort guests only. They would ask to see your resort ID before you got on a bus. When did that change? Now anyone can get on a bus to get around property. It's even being encouraged in this thread. Why is that okay? Why should non-resort guests have free transportation? How come nobody complains about that?

Probably b/c Disney has all guests subsidize the buses, does not have the road infrastructure to support people driving to and from all the resorts and Downtown Disney, and yet Disney needs everyone there to eat at the restaurants and buy their stuff...and Disney does not feel like paying their drivers extra or more likely, putting an additional person on each bus designated to deal with ticket/non-ticket issues who is multilingual, customer service savvy, and yet enough of a presence to bar people who shouldn't enter from boarding a bus...I mean, no way can only a driver be expected to deal with all of that stuff...so, you double the personnel cost of each bus (and remove a possible seat) or you just encourage all to use them as a sign of goodwill (that actually helps you keep costs down)...