Resort parking passes being eliminated

[n2mm]

Another "green" initiative expands the versatility of Walt Disney World'sMagicBand technology while eliminating paper waste at resort hotels.

Disney is poised to eliminate parking passes distributed to resort guests at its resort hotels and Disney Vacation Club timeshares. Cast Members will instead scan guest MagicBands (or RFID-equipped Key To The World cards) upon entry at resort hotel and theme park gates to confirm parking privileges.

The first resort to adopt the new procedures is Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort which includes Disney's Beach Club Villas.

This project coincides with the debut of Disney's Direct-to-Room arrival procedure, allowing guests to skip visits to the resort front desk if they have received their MagicBands and completed the online check-in process.

Elimination of the paper parking passes will expand to other resorts in the coming weeks.

 

[drusba]

Ugh. That will likely slow park entry to a crawl. For the entry gates to the parks, what are they going to do with the lanes where you pull up to the booth with the passenger side of the car next to the booth? Is somene going to be standing in the street all the time to check bands of the drivers? And if the scanner breaks down, which I have seen happen often not just rarely, you could easily get a a huge back-up while everyone awaits a repair.

 

[rlovew]

Ugh. That will likely slow park entry to a crawl. For the entry gates to the parks, what are they going to do with the lanes where you pull up to the booth with the passenger side of the car next to the booth? Is somene going to be standing in the street all the time to check bands of the drivers? And if the scanner breaks down, which I have seen happen often not just rarely, you could easily get a a huge back-up while everyone awaits a repair.

I would assume all people in the room will have a resort designation on their band so unless the passenger is not in the room they should be able to get through just like a driver.

 

[nalajms]

And what about parking at the resorts? What's to stop someone from parking who's not a guest at the hotel and taking the bus into the park? I've never seen them tow cars while they've had the paper parking pass, but sometimes the parking lot is PACKED! Especially BLT! You can go down the line and see a bunch of cars without parking pass...and FL plates

 

[drusba]

I would assume all people in the room will have a resort designation on their band so unless the passenger is not in the room they should be able to get through just like a driver.

You incorrectly assume someone will be in the passenger front seat which for me and many others is often not the case.

 

[n2mm]

And what about parking at the resorts? What's to stop someone from parking who's not a guest at the hotel and taking the bus into the park? I've never seen them tow cars while they've had the paper parking pass, but sometimes the parking lot is PACKED! Especially BLT! You can go down the line and see a bunch of cars without parking pass...and FL plates

Maybe they will actually enforce parking restrictions. Only onsite guest and confirmed dining reservations. This could go either way. As someone who stays at BWV every October, I know how horrible the parking lots can get. It's only as good as the guards who enforce the rules.

 

[nalajms]

Will they be checking ID too? My brother's family have been carded every time they've gone this year. They are local and one person has the AP.

 

[supersnoop]

You incorrectly assume someone will be in the passenger front seat which for me and many others is often not the case.

Maybe drivers without a passenger will realize that they need to approach a booth to the drivers side. How have people who pay for parking been doing it all these years?

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Well you can't do anything if a system breaks down...I think this might speed up the lines at the parking gate booths. Long range scanners can pick up wristbands of everyone in the car no matter where they sit. This is just my opinion on how it will work, I akin it to the ezpass system. They will have scanners mounted over lanes, picking up all the magic bands in the car, if the system detects that any of the occupants are staying on site it will not charge a parking fee, if it doesn't it will charge the fee to the account. No need to stop and show a parking pass or magic band scan, simply drive through as you would an ezpass tollbooth.. And if you are wrongly charged you will simply go to the front desk of your hotel and have it reversed.

 

[Judique]

Maybe drivers without a passenger will realize that they need to approach a booth to the drivers side. How have people who pay for parking been doing it all these years?

I've never had to pay for parking because I either have an AP or I'm at an onsite hotel. I go to the booth with less cars, regardless what side it is on.

Have you ever heard of automatic windows? You use a button to make the driver or passenger side open. Then you interact with the gate person same as if you drove up on the driver's side.

I guess if you have roll up windows, you may want to consider approaching on the driver side.

 

[dismedvc]

And what about parking at the resorts? What's to stop someone from parking who's not a guest at the hotel and taking the bus into the park? I've never seen them tow cars while they've had the paper parking pass, but sometimes the parking lot is PACKED! Especially BLT! You can go down the line and see a bunch of cars without parking pass...and FL plates

There is a guard booth they need to go through in order to get to the BLT parking area, so even if they forgot to put the parking pass on the dash, the guard had to determine they were allowed to be in that lot.

 

[rlovew]

There is a guard booth they need to go through in order to get to the BLT parking area, so even if they forgot to put the parking pass on the dash, the guard had to determine they were allowed to be in that lot.

But in the past, if people were allowed to park for meals they had a time limit and if they overextended there stay then they could be towed- and I know during party time this is very necessary at BLT. I hope they make sure that people going to parties are not allowed to park there by going to a meal there first although to do that they may have to tell people to park elsewhere for meals.

 

[stormer]

But in the past, if people were allowed to park for meals they had a time limit and if they overextended there stay then they could be towed- and I know during party time this is very necessary at BLT. I hope they make sure that people going to parties are not allowed to park there by going to a meal there first although to do that they may have to tell people to park elsewhere for meals.

This is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

They were almost all doing this in January. occasionally, the MB wouldn't work. The guard would ask questions and then let us into wherever we were going. BTW, it's easy to unsnap and hand to the driver - this should not cause anyone stress. DVC members have had to hand over their member card for years for entry prior to checking in to OKW.

 

[Kimly]

They were doing this last week, but we also were given the passes too.

With the resorts, it always baffles me how the guards only ask to see an ID. Like what are they looking for? My ID doesn't say if I am up to no good or not. I joke with my husband that I should put a sticker over my face next time we go through a resort gate.

 

[supersnoop]

But in the past, if people were allowed to park for meals they had a time limit and if they overextended there stay then they could be towed- and I know during party time this is very necessary at BLT. I hope they make sure that people going to parties are not allowed to park there by going to a meal there first although to do that they may have to tell people to park elsewhere for meals.

What do you think that guy who's sitting in the booth is doing? They have cameras and can record your license plate and watch you park and walk away. I'm sure they're taking notes and will take action when necessary.

 

[nalajms]

But when is action necessary? When we were at BLT in Jan, every night the parking lot was packed from 5pm to 10:30pm, after Wishes. If we drove out for dinner, we're lucky to park in the BLT parking lot afterwards. One time we had to go over to the CR side because there were no spaces. If we're still up at 11pm, someone will go move the car and usually can snag one of the first 5 spots.

The guards rarely say anything to my brother's family when they come see us for the day. They do not even check ID. When they say "we're visiting family staying here" the guards occasionally ask for the last name on the reservation. Whereas, if I say I'm checking in, they'll ask for my ID.

 

[rlovew]

But when is action necessary? When we were at BLT in Jan, every night the parking lot was packed from 5pm to 10:30pm, after Wishes. If we drove out for dinner, we're lucky to park in the BLT parking lot afterwards. One time we had to go over to the CR side because there were no spaces. If we're still up at 11pm, someone will go move the car and usually can snag one of the first 5 spots.

The guards rarely say anything to my brother's family when they come see us for the day. They do not even check ID. When they say "we're visiting family staying here" the guards occasionally ask for the last name on the reservation. Whereas, if I say I'm checking in, they'll ask for my ID.

Thios to me is when it is necessary to start towing people not staying at BLT/CR. When we checked in on a Halloween party night and there were no spots in the lot at all - we checked both the BLT and Contemporary lots, I asked what we could do and they didn't really have an answer but the did call security about the lot problem. We left our car at the curb in front of BLT while we unloaded and took things to our room and during that time they found us a spot in the BLT lot. We did see tow trucks coming in as we were leaving to go to dinner that evening but to me this needs to be taken care of earlier than when there are no spots at all left for people parking at the resort.

 

[nalajms]

Glad to know they will tow when the situation becomes that bad!

But how would they address this issue when the parking pass is eliminated?

They'd have to restrict visitors or diners from parking, which I don't see them doing. There's no way someone's going to go through the security cameras to see who's a guest and who's not. That could take hours!

 

[TisBit]

I this thread is kind of humorous. First, I would think that as others have posted that if you need to use your magivc band to enter the park and there is no passenger you would either take the band off to hand to the guard or pull up to the driver side. Same as you would do with a paper pass or your AP, if you can't adapt to this new way of doing things there are bigger problems.

And the thorugh that the guards are logging in cars or watching where they park is sort of absurd. They aren't wasting that kind of man power and it would be an administrative nightmare. The guard sitting in the booth is usually taking a break and real time monitoring cameras for vandals, thiefs, etc. Yes, there are cameras's at the resort entrances, but not for this purpose and the video is only reviewed for serious problems, not to try to find out when you parked the car for dinner. Rarely do they tow vehicles adn what you might see more likely to hapne is a lots in those high demand lots being divided to a resort guest area that needs the magic band and a visitor lot where they could monitor it the same as they do on the streets where a time limit is imposed (marking tires, even a non paying meter for when you parked etc). But even that is not very likely.

Towing cars is not good for Disney in general. It only takes towing the wrong car once to create a customer service nightmare, not to mention fees associated with it that Disney would have to spend and the subsequetn complaints about how the guest couldn't go to a park because their car was wrongly towed. They do not want the image stuck in peoples minds that when you come to Dinsey you might get your car towed for parking in the wrong place or taking extra time to eat a meal, etc.

And if the system goes down at the entrance gate, it is a simple solution, they will take your word for it. Think about it, if 90% of the time they are scanning everyones magic bands to get parking....the time it goes down you won't have a ton of guests showing up saying they get free parking that don't. So they will waive you through.....and as for lines. Cash paying guests take a lot longer than scanning a magic band. You have to take their money, give them change, most of them don't know where they are going or have a bunch of other questions that AP holders generally don't.