For those that rent cars, does the new increase in parking change that??

[drwadadli]

This is more of a curious question than anything else since I don't rent a car when we go to WDW. We use the DME and the WDW transportation system to get our way around. We have been doing that for the last 9 trips to WDW and had never come across any problems.

With Disney providing transportation, I personally never understood why then renting a car. If I need a car for some reason, I would rather just drive in to begin with instead of paying for a rental and the resort parking.

So back to the question:

With the new increases in resort overnight parking fees, does this change your ideas of renting a car? Like I said at the beginning, I am more curious than anything else since most of what I have read on here is people renting cars just to drive from resort-to-parks or resort-to-resorts (and back) so as to not relying on Disney's transportation system.

 

[Alesia]

We drive down and the only effect the parking fees have had is keeping me from staying onsite. Paying for parking on top of the already inflated room cost is crazy to me when I can get a whole house for less than $100 per night

 

[drwadadli]

We drive down and the only effect the parking fees have had is keeping me from staying onsite. Paying for parking on top of the already inflated room cost is crazy to me when I can get a whole house for less than $100 per night

I have heard that renting a house for big family is cheaper than staying on property. We are a family of two (DINK or CFBC -- whichever abbreviations you use) so staying in a Moderate resort works for us.

Thank you for your response.

 

[Magical2017]

From what I have read on these boards, some feel that driving is faster or more convenient, especially if they have day trips or plan to visit US. Others don't like the Disney transportation system. Some drive to WDW and have their own cars.

Our family uses WDW transportation when staying onsite. I am looking forward to trying out the gondolas in the future. For our offsite stay, we rented a car for under $140 from Alamo including gas and taxes and also paid to park at Disney parks. Since we were comparing a one bedroom onsite to off, our offsite stay saved us thousands of dollars. The few hundred in car rental and parking fees were a drop in the bucket. We prefer not to drive when on vacation, so if we stay offsite again, we would consider Uber or Ltft. All in all, the savings paid for a 7 day cruise for four, ocean view, plus gratuities.

 

[Magical2017]

To answer your question, if I already preferred not to use Disney transportation, the increase in parking fees would not deter me. Prices for almost everything have increased though, it seems.

 

[Brer Chump]

We have been to WDW several times so now we hate being “held captive” on property. We like exploring the entire area and go to both the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts to get a break from the parks. We have mainly stayed at POP in the past but now the parking fee has only driven off offsite. We have a 3BR 2BA house with a pool in the backyard for about $100 a night after fees.

 

[drwadadli]

I thank you for your responses.

I guess I need to redefine some points about the questions. I understand if people have day trips or want to visit Tampa or Miami or even go to other parks then a rental would make that much easier and a must. For @Brer Chump and @Alesia it sounds like the increase parking fees (along with some other factors) has made you look for off-site stays (like a house).

For thousands of people on this forum that use a rental even if they are ONLY staying on property and not traveling around the area or other parts of the state, does the increase in fees deter you from getting a rental car or does most force you to look for off-site stays?????

 

[JimMIA]

I doubt if the recent increase of $1-$2 per night would change anyone's mind.

BUT...the change from $0 not too long ago to $25 per night now is certainly a factor for us! We live close so we only stay 4-5 nights at a time, but that's still $100-$125 for absolutely nothing.

We actually prefer offsite -- for the same reasons others have mentioned, plus better, more varied, less expensive dining choices. But if we flew in and stayed onsite, I'd use a combo of Disney buses and Uber. I can get a ton of Uber rides for $100.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We drive down and the only effect the parking fees have had is keeping me from staying onsite. Paying for parking on top of the already inflated room cost is crazy to me when I can get a whole house for less than $100 per night

This is us as well. We stayed onsite the first 10 trips but had toyed with the idea of renting a house or condo offsite as our kids are not willing to share a bed. When the parking fee came along, it was going to cost almost the same to park overnight at a moderate resort as it was to park at a theme park for a day. It wasn't the reason we moved offsite but it was what made our decision. Since we drive down, we have no way to avoid the parking fee.

The first 10 trips we stayed onsite; the first 8, we were completely happy with WDW transportation (never used DME, as the only time we flew down we booked a towncar to get to and from the airport). The last 2 onsite trips, we felt that the service had gotten worse, waits were longer, etc., and we started driving our car everywhere except MK and found it to be much faster.

I personally feel they started charging for resort parking so people would not rent cars and solely rely on WDW transportation, but then since transportation is not what it once was, people are a lot more likely to use an over priced MinnieVan.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm claustrophobic about resorts, LOL.

Much as I love WDW, I would simply hate not having the option to go off-property any time the mood struck me, and I know from experience that Orlando, FL is not best navigated without your own vehicle, especially when time is money.

 

[Brer Chump]

I think I can answer the question fairly.

If I was renting a car and only staying on WDW property the increase in parking fees WOULD NOT impact my decision to stay on property or to rent a car.

However in reality, the actual cost of the rental car would deter me from getting a rental. Unless the rental price was really cheap I would not get a car for use on WDW property even with 0 parking fees.

 

[Splodge]

Hi - we live in the UK and for many years we used to get Fly/Drive holidays and stay off property for the same reasons as others —renting a home and having the space being more important to us. As the number travelling on holiday with us reduced so the attractiveness of staying on property increased I.e. with the perks, EMH for example. I have to say that I do consider the parking charges on property mean spirited. We were on holiday in May 2019 and for the first time did not have a hire car. We saved a fortune and I would certainly recommend the Magical Express from / to the airport and using Disney Transportation. On the occasion we did go elsewhere (eg Florida Mall) we used Lyft - also a very pleasant experience.

 

[spanishbilly]

Hi all,

The increase of a couple of dollars has not affected my renting a car however, the introduction of parking charges will affect me for the first time on my next stay which is in Animal Kingdom Lodge. I live in Spain so fly to Orlando and always hire a car. I have always threatened to use Magical Express and Disney Transport and forgo the car but in the past I have relented and hired a car in advance of the trip. This trip, I intend not to have a car for the first time for a few years. The cost of hiring a car for a couple of weeks plus the cost of parking on Disney and insurance to cover any excess needed if we get the car damaged will be well over $600 and I reckon that I can get an awful lot of alternative transport for that amount.

In my opinion, Disney's internal transport is very poor and the busses are often filled to such a capacity I think they are dangerous. This is especially so when you get people standing up while holding small children and trying to hold on to buggies and extremely large bags. I figured that I could use part of my $600 to get Uber or taxi's if I it that necessary and still be in pocket at the end of the day. Really, it is not so much about the actual cost of parking but more about the amount that the benefit of self-drive now costs in total. However, when push comes to shove, the convenience of my own transport could still make me hire a car.

 

[JimMIA]

The cost of hiring a car for a couple of weeks plus the cost of parking on Disney and insurance to cover any excess needed if we get the car damaged will be well over $600...

The parking charge at Deluxe resorts is $25 per day. If you stay 14 nights, that parking fee alone is $350.

 

[Alesia]

I have heard that renting a house for big family is cheaper than staying on property. We are a family of two (DINK or CFBC -- whichever abbreviations you use) so staying in a Moderate resort works for us.

Thank you for your response.

It doesn't just save money for larger families. Staying off-site vs staying at a value resort saves me and my husband around $1500. That's a fairly significant amount of money for us

 

[Sue M]

I rarely rented a car while in WDW. We fly into Lauderdale for a week stay and have a rental after driving to Orlando we return the rental after hotel check in. On rare occasions we’ve kept rental a couple of days before return, or had rental if WDW was mid trip.
Now with resort parking fees I absolutely won’t keep rental while on property. If we want to go off site to shop or dine in the area Uber is cheaper than daily parking fee plus rental cost.
If we had to have a car rental I would look offsite. Often Mousesavers has deals for free parking at the Disney Springs Hotels.

 

[ngtod]

This is more of a curious question than anything else since I don't rent a car when we go to WDW. We use the DME and the WDW transportation system to get our way around. We have been doing that for the last 9 trips to WDW and had never come across any problems.

With Disney providing transportation, I personally never understood why then renting a car. If I need a car for some reason, I would rather just drive in to begin with instead of paying for a rental and the resort parking.

So back to the question:

With the new increases in resort overnight parking fees, does this change your ideas of renting a car? Like I said at the beginning, I am more curious than anything else since most of what I have read on here is people renting cars just to drive from resort-to-parks or resort-to-resorts (and back) so as to not relying on Disney's transportation system.

we are staying at Grand Destino for 2 nights and renting a car because we have to get to the cruise terminal at Port Canaveral. The parking fees are just part of the cost of the vacation.

I would never just drive in. 17 hour drive is just WAY too much for me.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I thank you for your responses.

I guess I need to redefine some points about the questions. I understand if people have day trips or want to visit Tampa or Miami or even go to other parks then a rental would make that much easier and a must. For @Brer Chump and @Alesia it sounds like the increase parking fees (along with some other factors) has made you look for off-site stays (like a house).

For thousands of people on this forum that use a rental even if they are ONLY staying on property and not traveling around the area or other parts of the state, does the increase in fees deter you from getting a rental car or does most force you to look for off-site stays?????

I know my previous answer didn't answer what you were asking because we drive our own car.

IF we were flying in and staying at a WDW resort with no plans to go off property, yes, we would still rent a car. Our friends were onsite a large part of the time we were offsite last year. They used MDE and stayed onsite with no car. It took them quite a bit longer to get to the parks from POR than it did for us to drive from offsite all four times that we met up, leaving at the same time of the day. They said they noticed that the bus wasn't working as well for them as it had on previous trips but they were not willing to pay for a MinnieVan or Uber/Lyft because for them, a huge part of staying onsite was the free transportation.

 

[DebbieB]

I used to always rent a car. Typically could get a midsize at National for around $125 for a week. In the last few years, it skyrocketed to over $200. It’s been awhile. I’m DVC so the parking fee doesn’t come into play. We’ve started using Lyft or Uber a couple of times per trip to get to other resorts quick.

 

[_19disnA]

I doubt if the recent increase of $1-$2 per night would change anyone's mind.

BUT...the change from $0 not too long ago to $25 per night now is certainly a factor for us! We live close so we only stay 4-5 nights at a time, but that's still $100-$125 for absolutely nothing........

I agree. We were recently at Disney and price in total was about 2x what we can spend at various other vacation locations we enjoy just as much. Between the high cost of food/parking/park tickets/resort/etc. ..... it just isn't the value it used to be. The HUGE number of people in the parks also meant we couldn't do as many rides as in the past since the lines were so long.