Tiered parking

[RedAngie]

I suppose the next logical step is value, standard, and holiday parking rates. $20/$35 for slower days, $25/$40 for normal times, and $50/$75 for Christmas week.

When we went to a MNSSHP in October 2014, we were directed to that close-in Jafar lot. Second or third row. I'm not even sure I knew it existed before then. We would have had to walk further away from the TTC if we wanted to take the tram.

The far edges of the premium lot at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ are further away than some of the cheaper parking. But I've never seen the premium lot more than half full.

 

[cgattis]

Ugh--those are our choices? "Would you like to get over the head with this brick, or this big rock?" How about neither one?

Shame on you!! I nearly choked on a piece of cornbread when I read this. Well played, sir!

 

[Jing]

Another ridiculous move by Disney. I hope people are upset about it and Disney gets discouraged this "trial" period.

My response is I will not pay $35 to park instead I will go valet park and one of the hotels. I just hope that they are providing more busses to the hotels. I see this as an insentive for all the people that stay onsite and drive to now switch to take the resort transportation.

I know other parks do it, but it still bothers me. Also know that there are hotels that charge a resort fee, but there are also hotels that don't.

I kind of hope it's a hit and the increased revenue will feed the beast long enough to delay all the other fees they are considering.

 

[ellie05]

I kind of hope it's a hit and the increased revenue will feed the beast long enough to delay all the other fees they are considering.

Hardly doubt it that they would hold off on more increases. As long as International parks are loosing money they won't stop the price increases.

 

[Jing]

Hardly doubt it that they would hold off on more increases. As long as International parks are loosing money they won't stop the price increases.

I am the eternal optimist - it took nearly a year from survey to implementation of tiered ticket pricing. I am positive resort fees are coming (market trend, not insider knowledge), and I would love a delay until at least next summer.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I will continue to take the bus.

 

[J'Adore Disney]

This does not bother me. It is a choice one can make, so I prefer that over the resort fees we have been discussing.

Doesn't bother me either. Universal Studios has had it for years and I've never bought it. It's a simply an option, you either take it or leave it.

 

[loves to dive]

Another one it doesn't bother, we drive down, park our car and never get it in again unless changing resorts or leaving. I've always taken Disney transportation, for me it's just a lot easier than driving. We did drive to AK last week, our first time actually driving to a park in over 33 years. We were switching resorts, knew our room wouldn't be ready and that we would have to take a bus and the bus parking is far away anyway so decided what the heck. We got there about 30 min. before rope drop and we pretty close in the first lots for non-handicapped, which IMO was just about as far as the bus stop. We left pretty early and even though it wasn't crowded while leaving it was a pain to walk to our car and figure out how to get to our resort so we won't drive again.

 

[AnnaKat]

Wouldn't shock me one bit.

How much would people pay for ONE extra use anytime/anywhere fast pass per day? No need to schedule it . .just go on any ride at any time of day and just skip that line.

How much would people pay to just use Fast Pass lines ALL day .. no restrictions on time?

Considering how much people pay to stay at a Deluxe on-site resort, I'd gather a lot of people would pay for the option to skip more lines.

Yep, I could see guests paying to just use FP+ lines ALL day, with no time restrictions. IMO, Disney is creating this demand/need,
what WITH recent CM cuts resulting in rides running @ half-capacity, making stand by lines EVEN WORSE, Park entertainment being further cut, Tix prices soaring, etc.
KNOWing you could enjoy a day @ any of the Parks without enduring super long lines would be worth paying FOR. Right NOW, a guest pays & might only be able to experience 3 FP+ ride/attractions.

 

[book_junkie]

MK has a separate lot, so it shouldn't be an issue there. Not sure about Epcot. But the Amaze lot is huge, so even if they only release half the spaces to preferred parking and keep the rest handicap, then they will still be offering ~500 spots like at MK

I'm not planning on visiting Epcot until this weekend, but if no one reports back by then, I will try to update

When we were at Epcot last weekend (before all of this), medical /handicapped parking overflow was in Journey- first lot up to the left. We went Saturday, got there about 1ish and had to search for spots between non placard cars parked there, but we found some. I've never seen a tram stop there.

In MK, handicapped overflow has been Zurg, and if you can ride a tram they do stop at the end of it.

 

[PamNC]

This is ridiculous. But, again, there are alternatives. Take the buses - I never used to do that but this last trip we flew and had to take the buses. It wasn't so bad. In the past I felt like I just had to drive for "control" and ease but I'll be a-busing-it from now on.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Yep, I could see guests paying to just use FP+ lines ALL day, with no time restrictions. IMO, Disney is creating this demand/need,
what WITH recent CM cuts resulting in rides running @ half-capacity, making stand by lines EVEN WORSE, Park entertainment being further cut, Tix prices soaring, etc.
KNOWing you could enjoy a day @ any of the Parks without enduring super long lines would be worth paying FOR. Right NOW, a guest pays & might only be able to experience 3 FP+ ride/attractions.

They already have this, they've had it for a long time,vip tours.

 

[whiporee]

They only care about separating both of us from our money and that means monetizing every possible opportunity. Some may feel the changes more than others but I don't think that's the goal or the intent.

What do you base that on? Disney does a lot more than they need to in order to help customer satisfaction.

For example, we can all agree that waiting in a line sucks. But WDW has made efforts to make that wait as pleasant as possible. Other places don't do that. Disney puts on shows and fireworks every day -- not every place does that. Disney lets you bring in your own snacks and water -- not every place does that. may not keep it as immaculate as some say it used to, but the park is still much cleaner than most theme parks. They offer a diverse selection of eating places -- most amusement parks herd everyone into one or two food courts.

And more importantly, Disney could charge A LOT more if they wanted to. They have plenty of demand, and they could double the price of admission and still keep 2/3s of their visitors. They could do away with Magical Express -- the guests are already in Orlando, why do they need to pay for them to arrive from the airport? Or they could sell the unlimited FP for 200/day --or they could do away with Rider Swap, which helps them not at all. Or they could make all tickets Park Hoppers for an extra $50 a day. There are a lot of ways Disney could make a lot more money at the park than they do.

I'm not trying to say they are benevolent corporation only trying to make people's lives better. But the idea they are Mr. Burns, constantly pressing fingers together and looking for ways to take money from people isn't accurate. I think they try to make as much money as they can, but they also make an effort to make the guest experience the best it can be.

 

[DisneyWisher]

The difference is that Universal started out by price segmenting tickets, express pass, and parking, and Disney is just coming around to it now...wouldn't surprise me if Disney started offering something like Express Pass and I would happily pay for it - I value my vacation time at about $1/minute, so I'd pay and extra $60 to save an hour of waiting over the course of a day, maybe up to $100/day/person if it means it can be used at most/all attractions across all parks in a given day (think of the time saved at TSMM or really being able to stroll in and enjoy the parks)

I love Universal's FOTL pass/Express pass. We've only stayed onsite. Personally I like US hotels better. You cant beat FOTL/EP, but I hope Disney never goes that route, not sure they could. The loading areas for FOTL and standby are completely separate. You dont evenn walk by the standby line. Plus you also dont book 60 days in advance for rides. Compare Mummy to 7Dwarfs even if no one was in FOTL line standby still wouldn't load where FOTL does. I loved if staying at Hard Rock you could leave your room and within 10 minutes be in line for Mummy. Not still waiting for the bus. Aww good memories

 

[DisneyWisher]

I kind of hope it's a hit and the increased revenue will feed the beast long enough to delay all the other fees they are considering.

I doubt it....probably be like crack and theyll want more money for something else. Hotels are up 33% compared to last year, you pay more for park admission depending on the month of the year. Maybe the CS restaurants that have indoor and outdoor tables will start charging more for sitting inside?

 

[snayak]

I love Universal's FOTL pass/Express pass. We've only stayed onsite. Personally I like US hotels better. You cant beat FOTL/EP, but I hope Disney never goes that route, not sure they could. The loading areas for FOTL and standby are completely separate. You dont evenn walk by the standby line. Plus you also dont book 60 days in advance for rides. Compare Mummy to 7Dwarfs even if no one was in FOTL line standby still wouldn't load where FOTL does. I loved if staying at Hard Rock you could leave your room and within 10 minutes be in line for Mummy. Not still waiting for the bus. Aww good memories

Not sure why you're quote wasn't attributed to me, probably a software glitch.

I feel that Universal is 5-10 years behind Disney, that is, imagine Disney 10 years ago and that's about where Universal is now with regards to guest satisfaction, etc (I'm not talking attendance or ride technology, just overall customer satisfaction). Universal is creating nostalgia right now, where as Disney is cashing in their nostalgia by increasing pricing and all that. Eventually attendance will drop at Disney because all the kids going to Universal now will take their kids to Universal in the future and not Disney. Just my opinion anyway.

Using the extra hour in the morning & unlimited Express Pass, we were able to complete all the attractions we desired at USO and IoA by 2pm - then ride down the street in time for Frozen Sing-a-Long, TSMM, and TOT FP starting at 5:30pm and then snack around the world at Epcot to finish out the day. That was a good use of FP+ too!

 

[DisneyWisher]

Not sure why you're quote wasn't attributed to me, probably a software glitch.

Not sure what happened, sorry!

I'm a little sad that my grandkids won't experience the same Disney World their moms did (I have 3 daughters). Lol I can hear myself in a few years to come. "This isnt the way it was when I was your age". After they changed Alien Encounter to Stitch I started saving the maps. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of them someday.

 

[snayak]

Not sure what happened, sorry!

No worries - I was just thinking, man that looks like something I would write...oh it was!

 

[SureAsLiz]

Update on MK:

When you purchase the upgraded parking, the attendant at the booth puts a flyer in your windshield (yesterday it was red, it may change periodically) and then they direct you to the lot.
It was extremely empty. Maybe 2 rows at 2pm (so about 200 people). It was a rainy day, so MK was actually pretty empty overall. Not sure how that plays into the number of people who upgraded. [I didn't leave until about 1am, so the lot was completely empty by then. Not sure if more people came after the weather cleared up a bit]

The front part of the lot was still handicap parking along with Zurg across the road. I never noticed it before, but the front half of Jafar is actually painted for handicap (blue lined parking spots) and while they could paint over them, I highly doubt it will ever get to that without expanding the other lot.



I'm going to Epcot in a bit, so I will see what the situation looks like there

 

[SureAsLiz]

Epcot:

The front half of Amaze is handicap, and part of the lot across the road (Journey) is overflow

When I arrived about 10:30am, there were maybe 60 cars in the preferred lot. CMs were also giving out small bottles of water to those who parked in Amaze. Not sure if it's normal, but it happened.

When I left about 1pm, there was only about 150 cars in the lot

Same system as at MK - a flyer was put on the windshield that allowed them into the lot (today was green)

Epcot was extremely empty today, I parked at the front of Discover, and they were still loading Discover when I left. So the 150 cars may have been fairly proportional to the crowd, but it was still a very empty lot.


I also hopped back over to MK. Their lot was a little more full, but I noticed today they weren't loading the entire lot. There were cones cutting it in half along basically along the monorail beam. With that, the designated preferred parking was about 80% full when I left at 5:30, and there were still a few cars trickling in