Paid parking is coming to WDW resorts March 2018

[Joben]

Those resorts near monorail or boat, are patrolled. Guests not staying at those resorts get 3 hr parking limit or they’re towed. And depending on how busy they are guests wanting to park there may not be allowed unless they have an ADR.

Is this new? Our go to for food and wine was to drive to beach club tell them we were going to espn club to watch the game eating at Cape May and then walk over. Never had a problem with that

 

[MommaBerd]

Good idea, but whats to keep people from driving to the monorail/boat/gondolier properties park for free and clog up those parking lots. I think guests there would complain about all the Value Resort people taking their spaces when they get back to their hotel and can't find a spot

I would not expect it to be any different than it is right now.

 

[jlwhitney]

Umm me! I’ve gone to Universal and combine with SeaWorld for 10 day trips. Used to add in Aquatica, but that was before Universal built their own water park. Not all 10 days are park days, being on the west coast travel eats into 2 days. Don’t arrive till late afternoon, and leave usually by 1 or 2 for airport returning home. We also like our mid day breaks and have a relaxed touring plan.
Universal resorts are a step above WDW. Their value resorts are more like WDW moderates with nice pools with slides, lazy river...bowling alley, rooftop bar.
The moderate is like WDW deluxe, and their deluxe are really deluxe. We’ve stayed at Hard Rock and Portofino.
And their prices are lower. Even with paid parking.

We did portofino bay in sept and it wasn’t cheap and I would rather never stay their again. Room
Was clean and fine in size. Didnt like the pool area or the quick service food. Much prefer the Disney hotels.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Yes, that’s the one I’m referring to. Wasn’t really calling it a low end, maybe wrong wording. Just mean it’s probably the lowest room rate of all the DS properties. I did say the rooms looked a lot nicer than Allstars
How long of a walk is it to Disney Springs? I know it’s the furthest away. Is it walkable?

Definitely not the furthest away, it's closer than the B, the Doubletree, & the Best Western. It's VERY walkable...literally right there, a few minutes at best.

 

[Sue M]

We did portofino bay in sept and it wasn’t cheap and I would rather never stay their again. Room
Was clean and fine in size. Didnt like the pool area or the quick service food. Much prefer the Disney hotels.

It was a lot cheaper than GF. I just looked at a quote out of curiosity for my WDW dates in Aug/Sept and a Portofino water(bay) view room was $244. They are constantly running specials.
We enjoyed the Italian Deli, and thought the plaza area where the restaurants were was beautiful. Our last night we took our meal from deli out to sit at the tables on the piazza to watch the singers on the balcony off the lobby. We also liked the beach pool. I didn’t get a chance to look at the other 2 pools on the property.
Everyone likes different things, lots of people like BOardwalk Inn, and it doesn’t appeal to me at all. Or Coronado.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’m on a business trip now staying at Hampton inn which is owned by Hilton. I’m in New York State about 45 minutes from nyc. No parking charge.

It def. depends on location.

But even in Orlando cherry picking it here but according to Hilton's website under their entire umbrella of hotels brands (so Hilton, Hampton, Embassy Suites, etc) there are 36 listed when searching Orlando, FL and using filter of 'free parking' as well as 20mile radius. If you remove 'free parking' but keep the others there are a total of 54 matches. That means that 2/3 of Hilton-branded properties using Orlando, FL and 20mile radius offer free parking according to their website's filters

If I put in the parameters of Walt Disney World for location and 20mile radius there are 45 results that pull. If I narrow to 'free parking' 27 results pull up. That means that 60% of Hilton-branded properties using Walt Disney World, FL (Edited: corrected location) and 20mile radius offer free parking according to their website's filters

*Please note that overlap would have occurred between both examples just showing one with searching Orlando in general and one showing narrowing down to WDW area itself.

*Both examples are me just using filters on Hilton's website so don't use it as a scientific thing or me actually going through each location or looking at rates.

***Some of those places would also offer free shuttle to WDW and Universal so parking at the theme parks wouldn't be a given to include in comparison unless you were like my husband and I back in 2011 where we used a combination of free shuttle from the offsite hotel and driving ourselves with our rental car.

 

[Sue M]

Definitely not the furthest away, it's closer than the B, the Doubletree, & the Best Western. It's VERY walkable...literally right there, a few minutes at best.

Good to know, thanks. I think I was getting Holiday Inn location mixed up with Best Western! I think Holiday Inn used to be Marriott Courtyard? We stayed once at The Doubletree.

 

[jlwhitney]

It was a lot cheaper than GF. I just looked at a quote out of curiosity for my WDW dates in Aug/Sept and a Portofino water(bay) view room was $244. They are constantly running specials.
We enjoyed the Italian Deli, and thought the plaza area where the restaurants were was beautiful. Our last night we took our meal from deli out to sit at the tables on the piazza to watch the singers on the balcony off the lobby. We also liked the beach pool. I didn’t get a chance to look at the other 2 pools on the property.
Everyone likes different things, lots of people like BOardwalk Inn, and it doesn’t appeal to me at all. Or Coronado.

We def paid close to 700 for 2 nights before tickets. And that was with best rate we could fine at the time. It was Labor Day weekend. Could have done cabana bay cheaper but wanted the water taxi.

 

[Sue M]

We def paid close to 700 for 2 nights before tickets. And that was with best rate we could fine at the time. It was Labor Day weekend. Could have done cabana bay cheaper but wanted the water taxi.

Wow. And this year I put in dates that included Labour Day as that’s when we usually go to Florida and I got the $244 rate! When we went in 2014 it was late August and I paid $198! Sorry
The water taxi was nice! Some mornings we took the Pedi cab which was fun too. They were free except for the tip.

 

[Airb330]

No they are putting all the other fees they were planning to release over time but figured that why everyone is already pissed off the might as well hit everyone like a ton of bricks and hope everyone forgets about it over the weekend. Happy Friday from Disney

Friday night news dump? Ha that wouldn’t even shock me at this point.

 

[Rich M]

Friday night news dump? Ha that wouldn’t even shock me at this point.

Plus they are hoping for some extra tipsiness over the weekend with St Pattys Day too.

 

[jlwhitney]

Wow. And this year I put in dates that included Labour Day as that’s when we usually go to Florida and I got the $244 rate! When we went in 2014 it was late August and I paid $198! Sorry
The water taxi was nice! Some mornings we took the Pedi cab which was fun too. They were free except for the tip.

We didn’t book till a month out. But went and priced out some in august with Florida resident rate and portofino is still starting at 339.

Sure cheaper than GF but Gf is the highest priced at Disney.

 

[HopperFan]

Will the new resort parking fees impact your travel (planned or future)?
1. Not at all

I would be curious how many of these are "Not at all impact your plans" because you are already staying offsite.

 

[UncleMike101]

Who really thought this was a good idea?

These greedy half wits:

Robert.Chapek@disney.com

george.kalogridis@disney.com

robert.a.iger@disney.com

 

[Rich M]

Will the new resort parking fees impact your travel (planned or future)?
1. Not at all

I would be curious how many of these are "Not at all impact your plans" because you are already staying offsite.

I voted this way because I booked before so I get free parking and I am also staying DVC but even going forward it would only mean I wouldn't rent a car anymore

 

[Farro]

.. I emailed.

 

[Farro]

Will the new resort parking fees impact your travel (planned or future)?
1. Not at all

I would be curious how many of these are "Not at all impact your plans" because you are already staying offsite.

No, it won't for us. We only go every few years, and part of what we love is the resorts. But we will have to save, and if things keep getting more expensive....the longer we have to save for it....

 

[linzjane88]

 

[sunshine1]

Scrooge mcduck

Viva Scrooge McDuck!

 

[Euby]

I'm really curious of how (or if) they are going to give priority to the guests paying for parking spots vs day guests who aren't paying to park at a resort. Are they going to have numbered spaces? You get assigned a spot when you check in? If they do that, surely they wouldn't number it the same as your room number. That just screams security issue. Is there going to an area gated off that requires hotel guests to use their magic band to access it? Will they have day guests parking out in the farthest spaces? If a guest has to pay to park, they at least should have better parking locations than those just coming to visit for a few hours.

My upcoming trip was booked in Jan, so it won't be affected in regards to paying to park. However, it definitely is going to make me think twice about any future visits.