DVC Should Pay for Mears Transportation

[Brian Noble]

I've written this before but I think the parking fees are a way to discourage guests who live within driving distance in favor of those who have to (or prefer to) fly to get there. The fact that it penalized rental cars was more or less a bonus. The parking charges were instituted over three years ago now. (Time flies!)

 

[Chuck S]

Why would Disney care if someone within driving distance paid to stay in their hotels instead of cross country travelers?

 

[going/again]

I've written this before but I think the parking fees are a way to discourage guests who live within driving distance in favor of those who have to (or prefer to) fly to get there. The fact that it penalized rental cars was more or less a bonus. The parking charges were instituted over three years ago now. (Time flies!)

The parking fees are a way for Disney to make more money, nothing else.

 

[DisneyMomof4_86]

I’d like Disney to pay for my flight as well please.

Me too !

 

[Bearval]

The parking fees are a way for Disney to make more money, nothing else.

It is just not Disney, alot of hotels/motels now charge for parking and it is not listed in their posted rates along with their " resort " fees. How do you think I am getting to you hotel? Walking? And the wifi , coffee isn't complimentary if you are charging me a resort fee, I am paying for it.

 

[going/again]

It is just not Disney, alot of hotels/motels now charge for parking and it is not listed in their posted rates along with their " resort " fees. How do you think I am getting to you hotel? Walking? And the wifi , coffee isn't complimentary if you are charging me a resort fee, I am paying for it.

I'm aware of that, my post was in response to earlier post saying it was a way to discourage guests who live within driving distance.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm aware of that, my post was in response to earlier post saying it was a way to discourage guests who live within driving distance.

You are right of course. But they could have done that in a number of ways…including just raising the room rate. They did it this way instead. Some of that was to hide it in room rate searches, but that could be done by a “resort fee”.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

You are right of course. But they could have done that in a number of ways…including just raising the room rate. They did it this way instead. Some of that was to hide it in room rate searches, but that could be done by a “resort fee”.

lol - it was already in the room rates and they did also increase the rates around the same time. This just was an increase to income.

 

[Heather07438]

I wonder if WDW was already thinking about kicking DME to the curb when they instituted the parking fees 3yrs ago?

The direction I see WDW going is they are making everybody pay one way or another. Any hacks people had for doing it cheaper or getting better experience than average, WDW is right behind closing cost gaps or upselling the privilege for that better experience.

The biggest concern is average guest spending per day. And they can see clearer than ever who is spending what.

 

[Brian Noble]

lol - it was already in the room rates and they did also increase the rates around the same time. This just was an increase to income.

Yes, I understand that. I must not be explaining myself well.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yes, I understand that. I must not be explaining myself well.

That it allows them to keep the "lead price" lower in advertising than it actually is? That's what I took from your post but just mentioned that they both added the parking fee "as it's the norm in the industry" and they increased the price of the rooms. It gave them a double increase. Of course their main product is priced so high vs most local competition that I don't know that it really matters.

 

[Brian Noble]

No. My point was there are many ways to add the marginal revenue that parking provides. Some of those ways also keep the lead price low. This is the one that specifically dis-incentivizes people with cars (vs. those without). If you drive to a cash resort, your price to stay there is about 3-5% more per night than someone who does not, give or take.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

No. My point was there are many ways to add the marginal revenue that parking provides. Some of those ways also keep the lead price low. This is the one that specifically dis-incentivizes people with cars (vs. those without). If you drive to a cash resort, your price to stay there is about 3-5% more per night than someone who does not, give or take.

It was at the time but with the discontinuing of ME it changes and just adds even more revenue. I also doubt Disney hotels actually was looking to dis-incentivize anyone. They likely would have been more happy if everyone drove and that's what it's more or less going to.

 

[Castillo Mom]

Using that argument, do we expect any place we stay to foot the bill for getting us from the airport to their hotel? Not trying to be snarky, I just truly don't understand the expectation. We vacation outside of Disney and never has any resort covered transportation cost outside of a shuttle to points of interest within the city limits.

 

[Matty B13]

Using that argument, do we expect any place we stay to foot the bill for getting us from the airport to their hotel? Not trying to be snarky, I just truly don't understand the expectation. We vacation outside of Disney and never has any resort covered transportation cost outside of a shuttle to points of interest within the city limits.

The expectation was set by WDW when they introduced the ME and Luggage Service as part the all inclusive packages they were selling at the high prices they get, many assumed that the price included these service and they weren't free. Now they have taken away these services, but haven't lowered their prices.

 

[DonMacGregor]

The expectation was set by WDW when they introduced the ME and Luggage Service as part the all inclusive packages they were selling at the high prices they get, many assumed that the price included these service and they weren't free. Now they have taken away these services, but haven't lowered their prices.

That's probably the best "argument": that these services may have been "complimentary" to guests, but they weren'r free to Disney, so someone was footing the bill and that was likely the guest through those "complimentary" costs being baked in to the room rates/resort fees/etc. Now Disney isn't footing the bill, but the room rates and resort fees haven't been lowered.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

And then they'll see if they can keep the same number captive onsite or if people will leave Disney property and branch out to more or Orlando on some days of their trip.

Exactly, but I think Disney already has a pretty good idea how cancelling the DME will impact their business. Disney isn't just making a decision like that willy-nilly. They have loads of data to be able to determine how ride shares and the current environment of "at your fingertips" travel options are affecting their business. I have zero doubt Disney knows how cancelling DME will affect their bottom line, including the number of guests that will truly "branch out" instead of staying at Disney for the entirety of their trip. And quite honestly, if guests were already doing that anyway then why wouldn't Disney cancel DME? I know the DME "disciples" are upset with the decision to cancel DME and think that Disney will be severely and negatively impacted, but the truth is that the number of those that are truly upset to the point they will boycott Disney or make it a point to go off site is probably pretty low compared to the overall guest population.

 

[Chuck S]

Using that argument, do we expect any place we stay to foot the bill for getting us from the airport to their hotel? Not trying to be snarky, I just truly don't understand the expectation. We vacation outside of Disney and never has any resort covered transportation cost outside of a shuttle to points of interest within the city limits.

On the other hand, there are a lot of hotels that do provide airport service for free, I know Palace Station in Las Vegas has a free shuttle, I've used it. A lot just depends on the area, some places do, some places don't.

One thing DME did for me was justify the cost of flying vs. driving. It's a long two day drive from the San Antonio metroplex. But the cost of a car rental made the long drive worth it, even after a hotel night on the road. Now for solo trips (or maybe two person trips) I'll likely still fly and pay for a shuttle or whatever replaces DME, but for larger groups, we'll be more inclined to drive. That said, with driving, we're likely to spend a couple more days at Disney, and since we'd have a car, venture to some other local attractions. When we used to drive every trip, that is what we did. We'd enjoy Disney several days, then spend a day seeing something local, like the now defunct Cypress Gardens and Splendid China. Still on the to do list is Gatorland and Weeki Wachee Springs, as well as Harry Potter at Universal.

 

[crisi]

It is just not Disney, alot of hotels/motels now charge for parking and it is not listed in their posted rates along with their " resort " fees. How do you think I am getting to you hotel? Walking? And the wifi , coffee isn't complimentary if you are charging me a resort fee, I am paying for it.

Parking lots are surprisingly expensive to build and maintain. Ramps are even worse. They also use valuable real estate and are an eye sore. Disney wants to have more rooms, but they don't want more parking - Simple economic solution, decrease parking demand by increasing parking price.

It probably doesn't have anything to do with the decision to drop the Mears contract. I think that was simply an expense on their budget that in their Covid recovery belt tightening, they didn't think they needed - as was said, with Lyft/Uber they weren't getting the benefits they got at first

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Exactly, but I think Disney already has a pretty good idea how cancelling the DME will impact their business. Disney isn't just making a decision like that willy-nilly. They have loads of data to be able to determine how ride shares and the current environment of "at your fingertips" travel options are affecting their business. I have zero doubt Disney knows how cancelling DME will affect their bottom line, including the number of guests that will truly "branch out" instead of staying at Disney for the entirety of their trip. And quite honestly, if guests were already doing that anyway then why wouldn't Disney cancel DME? I know the DME "disciples" are upset with the decision to cancel DME and think that Disney will be severely and negatively impacted, but the truth is that the number of those that are truly upset to the point they will boycott Disney or make it a point to go off site is probably pretty low compared to the overall guest population.

I would be doubtful this is one that they can truly know or estimate. And I do always chuckle a bit that Disney doesn't make decisions willy-nilly as there's been some big "oh - that's not what we expected" type things over the years that get reversed or just don't achieve anywhere near what they intended. Until the day that DME is gone they won't know how many they will lose to offsite activity as it will differ. More and more I see posts of "we're going to check out Universal for a couple of days and then go to Sea World where we haven't been in over a decade or more". All anecdotal of course. Disney shows a bit of conceit at times so I'll put this in a wait and see mode. There's a lot of factors beyond DME. The surge pricing of tickets. The higher additional day costs. I'll assume AP's will be back but if not then there's that. The loss of substantial extra park hours when staying onsite. The higher room cost and adequate but rarely awesome hotel facilities. There's been a lot of big, beautiful resorts built very close to Disney during the time that DME has been operating too. Universal has added 2 or is it 3 resorts in the time, a new water park, etc. etc.