Free Parking??

[newarknut]

Are DVC members granted free parking at the parks?

I know we get free parking when staying at a resort. Everybody does. We just got back from FL on Friday. We had checked out of BWV a few days prior. We spent our last day at MGM and I flashed my DVC card at the parking attendant. He said that I wasn't entitled to free parking as a DVC member. It was only if I was staying at a resort. I told him we had recently checked out and he let us in with no problem.

Please clarify for me.

Thanks!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

That is my understanding. You are entitled to free parking from the day you check in through the day you check out. If you are visiting for the day, even if you are a DVC member you have to pay. But I have never tested this so don't really know what would happen if I were just to show my card.

HBC

 

[newarknut]

So the benefit is the same for anyone staying at a Disney Resort? It's not really a "DVC benefit".

Anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

[DebbieB]

That's correct, free parking is not a DVC benefit but a WDW resort guest benefit. Do you have an AP? AP holders get free parking.

 

[newarknut]

Ah, the AP comes through again. Thanks!

 

[CarolMN]

When you check in to your on site resort (including the DVC resorts), you are given a paper "parking permit" to place on your dashboard. It has the dates of your stay and is good until midnight of check out day. That permit is what the park attendants are looking for to see if you qualify for free parking at the parks. The MGM attendant was very nice to let you in with only your DVC card. If you have a car during your stay and do not get a permit, you should ask the front desk for one.

 

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by CarolMN
When you check in to your on site resort (including the DVC resorts), you are given a paper "parking permit" to place on your dashboard. It has the dates of your stay and is good until midnight of check out day. That permit is what the park attendants are looking for to see if you qualify for free parking at the parks.

Just wondering why they haven't made a designated lane or 2 for this. The wait into MK was long in Feb. behind all the paying and question asking people.

 

[Tinkrbell]

If you are staying in a 2/br will they give you 2 parking passes?

We will be driving there with 2 cars and I wondered how that works.

 

[InstImpres]

An extra pass is no problem, I misplaced ours and got a replacement no problem. I'm sure 2 up front is fine in a 2 BR if you just ask

Honestly, I'm not sure why they don't just take down the plazas and save the employee cost and not charge. Tickets are expensive and it justs seems more logical to include parking.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

If you are staying in a 2/br will they give you 2 parking passes?

The size of the unit has no bearing the amount of parking passes you can receive. They will be happy to provide you with what you need, you will, however, have to inform them.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Honestly, I'm not sure why they don't just take down the plazas and save the employee cost and not charge. Tickets are expensive and it justs seems more logical to include parking.

Good point, but, what about the folks that do not take their cars into the parks? Their passes would include the price of parking, which they would not need. Or..the folks that buy the passes after they park.

At the approx. amount of what a CM makes, it only takes 1 car to pay for each hour of CM time. The first 8 cars pays that day's wage. It is a profit making deal.

 

[lawgs]

does this mean if you are "not" staying on site and want to use Valet parking .... you will be denied it....???


we have not had problems using our DVC card for parking in the past at the theme parks even when we were not staying onsite......is this a new policy....or just a policy they did not enforce up until now....

does anyone have the "lowdown" on this...


getting the feeling there are less and less reasons to visit "actual" disney businesses when staying off site

 

[Chuck S]

Your member card is good for Valet parking at the DVC resorts that have Valet parking, even if you are not staying on-site.

Free parking at the theme parks was never a DVC perk, but is a perk for all on-site guests and AP holders. It is NOT a reduction of services.

 

[msdis]

Since this has turned into a general parking post, have a question that I have never needed the answer for. DH and I have AP's. We will be traveling with family in 2 sep. vehicles. We will be off site for 2 nights(never stayed off site before) but will go to the parks 1 day then check in the next at BCV . Can we get free parking if one of us is in each vehicle or will the drivers each have to show AP's? We will be on site after that so not a problem, now if they would just come out with the resort ap rates this wouldn't be an issue at all Thanks!

 

[lawgs]

chuck s

as i said....we have always used it and never once have we been denied...most of the time they just waved us through when we held up the card ( thus to us it is a reduction ) whether or not it has ever been a "perk" ... do not even know why we started to use it for parking, but vaguely remember being told we could when we purchased back in 1991 ( other wise would never have thought about using it )

when we visit the contemporary, grand floridian or wilderness lodge as we often do when we are staying off site, we usually do not have any problem entering the "magic kingdom compound" either through the main gate or back entrance near fort wilderness by showing our DVC card

when compared to valet parking ...parking at a theme park is not as labour intensive as "valet parking" is ( at least to my thinking )

am just looking for the rationale behind the seemingly "new " , to us at least, policy ( if and when it has been implemented )

are they that afraid that DVC members will abuse or have abused "complimentary parking" that it is not allowed unless you are staying on site

we go to florida several times a year *( we stay both on site and at other time shares when we are there) lately we have found it less and less attractive to go to disney theme parks ( sometimes we only go for a couple of hours, thus having to pay an additional 7$ on top of the park admission cost is not really cost effective ) ...

 

[Beth]

lawgs

Just wanted to agree with Chuck S... We've been members since 1997, and free parking at the parks has not been a DVC benefit as long as <i>we've</i> been members.

If you've been "waived thru" in the past - it was probably just a CM who didn't know any better. That, and they probably suspected that you "were" staying onsite.

We go over a lot on day trips, and only have SP's - so we have to pay to park on those days.

 

[Chuck S]

lawgs

The CMs at the gate in the past let you "slip through" and get free parking, even though it is NOT something we were entitled to as DVC members. So, now that you may encounter a CM that knows the policy and may not let give you free entry, even though it is not, nor has ever been, a DVC perk, you consider it a reduction of services?

There is no "rationale" or hidden agenda, it is something you were NEVER actually entitled to in the first place. The CMs that let you in previously "goofed", they are human. The "lowdown" is that this is NOT a new policy, nor is the enforcement of it new...you simply got lucky in the past.

If, as you state, you go to FL several times a year, an AP will solve your parking problem, especially since you also state you sometimes only go to a park for a few hours...unless you already HAVE an AP then you've "wasted" a day on a park hopper. 8 or 9 park days and the AP pays for itself...plus you can sometime get great AP discounts on rooms if you don't want to stay on points.

 

[lawgs]

Yes chuck,

we are immoral for having been "waved" through having "slipped one" over on the CM...we have been doing it now for over 10 years

all i was asking was the lowdown on "what the policy" is , there must have been some "abuse" to have had this, all of a sudden, placed as a front "burner" issue with CM at the gates of parking areas

......a lecture from you is not what i expected...

being a DVC member used to feel like being a member year round no matter if you were staying onsite or not, that you had a "stake" in the enterprise rather than being a $ sign in the eyes of walt disney company...

would almost afraid now to even try visiting other DVC hotels like boardwalk or beach club or villas at wilderness lodge when we are in florida but not staying on site...we might be considered as taking advantage of our membership

a travel agent once said to me.....and it seems to ring true...that if walt disney were to appear at the gates "today" he would probably have to pay to be admitted

perhaps it is a "perk" that DVC might consider to offer.... or would we "DVC" members abuse it so badly

sorry for expressing my concerns and sorry we are not as HOLY as thou

 

[spiceycat]

just leave the parking permit you received at check in - in your front window - the gates guard have yet to check the date on them. (okay they are in hurray and there are a bunch of cars behind us - but still....)