Theme Park Parking Fee Increase Tomorrow (update in first post)

[Minniekins]

Oh shoot! We have moved since we for our APs in November. Let me ask you this...we upgraded our tickets that were already on our MBs, so our APs were automatically attached to our MBs from our stay...does this mean we won't get a set with AP cards. Also, if for some reason we son't receive these new cards, can we still use the ones we got in Nov (green with a character)?

I got my bands early Nov I think, used them on our early Dec trip. I upgraded to AP's on the trip. When I heard they were sending bands to guests with AP's, I checked my MDE and sure enough, I could set up and order new bands! We have two sets from our Dec stay, since we had a split stay, (our last day we had to move, but they still had us set up a new band for the one night), so we each have two different colors. So, we will order these bands in another color! Color coordinating, right? Lol. And, yes you can use any of the bands you have from your trip, you can change everyday if you want, they are all linked to your info.

I am wondering if when I put my ressie dates into MDE that I have rented DVC points for in early Dec, if they will have me set up another set of bands?

 

[NYDisneyKid]

apparently I can get a cab for around $17 from down town Disney to MK.
Kirsten

Round trip $34 hmmmmm

 

[Zeebs]

Round trip $34 hmmmmm

No not a round trip, the plan would be to take our time use Disney transport to visit a resort we haven't seen before, then use a bus to head to DTD.

So therefore only paying the $17.00 + tip one time.

Kirsten

 

[RainbowWit]

I have to pay $20 to park in downtown Chicago all day for any reason.

Heck. It's 4.40 to park for just 2 hours for dinner.

$18 to park for more than an hour at navy pier.
$18 for soldier field

I can go on and on.

Add free parking as another perk of staying on site for us.

 

[kbelle8995]

I think that depends on where you live. Apparently up north you get charged heavily.

In big cities too here due to lack of space. New Orleans, and Atlanta. Here where I live, I only see charges for parking at football games or big events. And our library does charge for parking but no where near $17.

 

[CandleontheWater]

I don't think $2 is going to break anyones bank, but I do think its the trend that is worrisome. At the rate they are going its going to be $50 per day to park by the end of the decade (which is exactly what I paid for a one day entrance to the park in 2002- which was not all that long ago!).

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I don't think $2 is going to break anyones bank, but I do think its the trend that is worrisome. At the rate they are going its going to be $50 per day to park by the end of the decade (which is exactly what I paid for a one day entrance to the park in 2002- which was not all that long ago!).

It's not so much the extra $2. It's the fact that if you are staying off site and you want to drive each day for a 10 day trip, it's $170. If this rate continues, who knows how much parking will be in another year or two. We have AP's so we don't pay for parking (thankfully) but if you start to add up all these extra costs, it might be worth it for a member of the party to purchase an AP (by the time you add up the ticket, parking ect)

 

[Disney_Princess83]

apparently I can get a cab for around $17 from down town Disney to MK so would this mean I wouldn't need to worry about the getting from the Ticket and Transport Centre to the gates or do the cabs drop you off at the TTC?

if they drop you off at the gates we could then just take our time in the afternoon head to the poly for a look around and then take a bus from there to DTD?

Kirsten

If you're going to taxi it, ask them to take you to the Contemporary. Avoid the TTC and therefore the monorail or boat. You can walk to and from The Contemporary. At night, you can walk to the Contemporary and get the staff there to arrange a taxi pick up

 

[morethananyonex]

No not a round trip, the plan would be to take our time use Disney transport to visit a resort we haven't seen before, then use a bus to head to DTD.

So therefore only paying the $17.00 + tip one time.

Kirsten

While this may work for you because of your specific plans to visit DTD and the Poly, under most circumstances it really isn't a money or time saver. I'm still not sure it is under yours.

Scenario 1: You drive to MK in the morning, pay to park, visit MK, monorail/boat to the Poly for a visit, walk back to TTC (or monorail, but that will take longer), take a tram to your car, drive to DTD. Total cost = $17

Scenario 2: Drive to DTD in the morning, find parking (hopefully it isn't awful early in the morning), find a cab, pay cab fare plus tip. Ride to CR because only a Disney bus can drop you off at MK gates, walk from CR to MK, or ride to TTC and take monorail/ferry to MK (like you would have had to before if you parked). After MK, monorail/boat to Poly, wait for DTD bus (could be anywhere from 0-20 minutes), ride to DTD possibly stopping at multiple resorts on the way. Total cost = $17 plus tip

In both scenarios, you're paying roughly the same, with scenario 2 slightly higher. Scenario 2 is far more time consuming IMO, even assuming you're already planning on heading to Poly and DTD. The reason Disney has free parking at DTD is because (1) they don't want to discourage people from shopping and (2) it is a royal pain to try and use it to get around paying for parking at the parks.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

If you're going to pay for parking, I would Valet at the Contemporary. It's $20 + tip but you can walk to and from the resort to collect your car. You don't need to be a guest or dining there if you pay the fee (unlike if you use the Tables in Wonderland card)

While this may work for you because of your specific plans to visit DTD and the Poly, under most circumstances it really isn't a money or time saver. I'm still not sure it is under yours.

Scenario 1: You drive to MK in the morning, pay to park, visit MK, monorail/boat to the Poly for a visit, walk back to TTC (or monorail, but that will take longer), take a tram to your car, drive to DTD. Total cost = $17

Scenario 2: Drive to DTD in the morning, find parking (hopefully it isn't awful early in the morning), find a cab, pay cab fare plus tip. Ride to CR because only a Disney bus can drop you off at MK gates, walk from CR to MK, or ride to TTC and take monorail/ferry to MK (like you would have had to before if you parked). After MK, monorail/boat to Poly, wait for DTD bus (could be anywhere from 0-20 minutes), ride to DTD possibly stopping at multiple resorts on the way. Total cost = $17 plus tip

In both scenarios, you're paying roughly the same, with scenario 2 slightly higher. Scenario 2 is far more time consuming IMO, even assuming you're already planning on heading to Poly and DTD. The reason Disney has free parking at DTD is because (1) they don't want to discourage people from shopping and (2) it is a royal pain to try and use it to get around paying for parking at the parks.

 

[Zeebs]

While this may work for you because of your specific plans to visit DTD and the Poly, under most circumstances it really isn't a money or time saver. I'm still not sure it is under yours.

Scenario 1: You drive to MK in the morning, pay to park, visit MK, monorail/boat to the Poly for a visit, walk back to TTC (or monorail, but that will take longer), take a tram to your car, drive to DTD. Total cost = $17

Scenario 2: Drive to DTD in the morning, find parking (hopefully it isn't awful early in the morning), find a cab, pay cab fare plus tip. Ride to CR because only a Disney bus can drop you off at MK gates, walk from CR to MK, or ride to TTC and take monorail/ferry to MK (like you would have had to before if you parked). After MK, monorail/boat to Poly, wait for DTD bus (could be anywhere from 0-20 minutes), ride to DTD possibly stopping at multiple resorts on the way. Total cost = $17 plus tip

In both scenarios, you're paying roughly the same, with scenario 2 slightly higher. Scenario 2 is far more time consuming IMO, even assuming you're already planning on heading to Poly and DTD. The reason Disney has free parking at DTD is because (1) they don't want to discourage people from shopping and (2) it is a royal pain to try and use it to get around paying for parking at the parks.

Yes it certainly wouldn't be a way to save money or time and I certainly wouldn't be doing it all the time, I just thought for one of the days it would be something different to do.

Kirsten

 

[NYDisneyKid]

No not a round trip, the plan would be to take our time use Disney transport to visit a resort we haven't seen before, then use a bus to head to DTD.

So therefore only paying the $17.00 + tip one time.

Kirsten

So you parked your car at DTD?

 

[ucfknight]

It certainly would be nice if the parking lot tram service was improving as the price for parking keeps going up. Unfortunately, it is exactly the opposite. The tram system is completely broken and the service continues to decline every year.

It used to be the tram would pull up, give about 30 seconds to load, then take off. They would give a safety spiel on the way and then you'd get there. When one tram left, another would be there within a minute or two.

Now they often run only 1 or 2 trams in each parking lot. The trams sit at each stop for 5 to 10 minutes doing nothing. Then, the cast member at the back of the tram has to walk the entire length of the tram to make sure the doors are closed. Then they have to play a 45 second pre-recorded bi-lingual message. If anyone gets on the tram during this time, they have to play the same 45 second message again. It is absolutely absurd.

Just out of curiosity, I actually timed this whole process last week at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was mid-afternoon when we were leaving and we were parked in the next to last row of the parking lot. My kids were very tired from vacation and asked to take the tram. We begrudgingly said yes. As we walked to the tram pickup, there was not a tram there and about 1/3 of the rows had people waiting. I pulled up the stopwatch on my phone and timed it:

7 minutes 47 seconds: Time it took for the tram to finally arrive (during which time the entire queue area completely filled up)

4 minutes 52 seconds: Time the tram sat there after arriving before they started the safety message, even though it took maybe 35 seconds for the tram to fill up from the queue

43 seconds: Time it took to play the safety message.

31 seconds: Time from when the safety message ended until the tram started moving

Total time from arriving at the tram station until the tram started moving:
13 minutes 53 seconds


This is just one instance of this occurring. It is very common these days. We often only take the tram at the Magic Kingdom because of this just because of how far it is to some of the lots.

They need to:
1. Run more trams
2. Do away with the ridiculous safety message
3. Keep the trams moving. Pull up, load, and go. Don't sit at each stop for 5 - 10 minutes.

 

[Zeebs]

So you parked your car at DTD?

yes

 

[rockiesfan]

Just back yesterday and the toll collectors are scanning MBs as you enter. We stay onsite but drive, so we get free parking. At the TTC, DHS and AK toll booths (didn't go to EP) we had to scan a magic band and wait for the CM to verify that we were currently staying onsite. I guess this is to close the loophole of off-siters with MBs getting waved through with free parking.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

yes

That scheme that people do will cease to exist

 

[Lehuaann]

Just back yesterday and the toll collectors are scanning MBs as you enter. We stay onsite but drive, so we get free parking. At the TTC, DHS and AK toll booths (didn't go to EP) we had to scan a magic band and wait for the CM to verify that we were currently staying onsite. I guess this is to close the loophole of off-siters with MBs getting waved through with free parking.

Does the resort not give out the paper parking passes (for dashboard) anymore?

 

[*disgal*]

$17 is outrageous and frankly another way to get money from offsite visitors. When I was arguing that offsite does often spend quite a bit, I forgot about parking fees.

I love having a car even if onsite but this is a big chunk of change if you drive one for a week.

I agree.

But when I think that I am getting a 3 bedroom at Bonnet creek and saving over $800 compared to one room at POR, I'll pay the $17!! We're only going to the parks 2 days but even if we did 7 days, that's still a savings of close to $700. Cha-ching!

 

[*disgal*]

So you parked your car at DTD?

yes

oh my word. Do lots of people do this? Is this why we could never find parking at DTD? Ok, honestly? I wouldn't mind if disney started charging parking at DTD so this stuff stops. If I'm spending the day or night shopping there I want to find a place to park. Ugh!

I wonder if they will charge for the parking garage when it's done.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

oh my word. Do lots of people do this? Is this why we could never find parking at DTD? Ok, honestly? I wouldn't mind if disney started charging parking at DTD so this stuff stops. If I'm spending the day or night shopping there I want to find a place to park. Ugh!

I wonder if they will charge for the parking garage when it's done.

They should just allow a shop or restaurant to validate your parking fee. If you're shopping, you can park free. If you're not, you have to pay.