Walt Disney World Parking Fee now $9 dollars

[DancingBear]

Somebody else could give a better answer on this. I know the coupon books each had a general admission ticket; not sure but I assume you could buy just a general admission ticket pretty cheap. I believe all of the ticket books were eliminated in 1982.

 

[Another Voice]

Fuzzy memory without my notes - but I think Disneyland started charging for parking after opening, but more than half the money went to the family that had owned the original orange grove (and whose son would later become President of Disneyland).

Disneyland offered plain "general admission" from day one (for $1) all the way through the day they stopped using ticket books. People would buy G/A for shopping or just to spend the day. Since ride tickets never expired, you could occasionally collect enough tickets to where you didn't need to buy a full book - or you could buy individual tickets inside the park. This option wa especially helpful to families with small children becasue you'd never use up all the expensive "E" tickets. I know WDW also offered General Admission as well, but I can't recall the price.

For a long time, Disneyland had offered "mix-in" parties during normal operating hours. The park would sell "passports" to large corporate or organizations that would let you on any attraction (they looked like large luggage tags and you'd wear them on your shirt). They then started to offer this kind of ticket through the old Magic Kingdom Club - the discount program for local companies (previously they sold books of Magic Key tickets that could be used for any ride, pitty the kid who wasted them on a "C" attraction).

These proved very popular. So Disneyland and WDW began offering them to the general public. For a short time you could choose between general admission, ticket books, or the more expensive "passport". But few people stayed with the ticket books. First WDW and then Disneyland went to the "unlimited" tickets.

I don't have anything against charging for parking. Personally I beleive the more they discourage automobiles on property the better the place will be. But I also think it's important to know what they're really paying for and why they're paying for it.

 

[YoHo]

AV, I believe you are right, the original Disneyland Parking Fee was to cover the "Rent" as it were of the land.

I also agree it isn't that I'm against a parking fee. DB is right, it's SOP, but then a Disney Vacation is hardly the same as a trip to the Football game.

At DL, I think the fee is $10 right now. I don't like it, but then I don't pay it (directly) either.

It's inflated because of location. Same as any major city's down town parking garages. If the price were low or zero, you'd have people parking there and commuting to non-Disney locations.

Of course also like WDW, DTD parking is free for like 2 hours or with Validation or some such. And is much closer to the park.

 

[Aintdisablast]

Thank you, that's the kind of info I'm really interested in reading about.

 

[CarnotaurDad]

I'll give Disney credit, though, for throwing out a small bone. They at least give their resort goers, AP's and DVC members free parking.

We live near Cedar Point and I hate having to shell out for my season pass and then shell out more money for a parking pass. Arrrgghhh.

 

[TSR6]

I don't have anything against charging for parking. Personally I beleive the more they discourage automobiles on property the better the place will be. But I also think it's important to know what they're really paying for and why they're paying for it.

What your parking fee is paying for:

-Parking Tram - It runs on diesel fuel. Diesel fuel costs money. The tram keeps you from walking 3 miles to your car. The parking person(s) driving the tram and the parking person on the back reminding you that you parked in Goofy, and that the tram only goes from the MK parking lot, to MK - they both probably make around $7(+) an hour.

-Parking lot Security - they drive around and make sure all is well. The guy/gal driving probably gets between $8 to $14 an hour to drive around. The Security van probably gets about 12-15miles per gallon. Gas costs money, so does labor.

- Parking lines - MMmmmmm..... when you have a parking lot that is bigger than the Magic Kingdom Park itself, I'm sure there is a lot of paint laid down to indicate parking spots. For some reason, I think they re-paint those quite often.

.... feel free to ad to my list.

 

[Another Voice]

Again - my local shopping mall provides all of these services (trams and all) AND they've just added two giant parking garages all without having to charge me a dime. How come Disney can't?

Disney charges for parking not because they have to, but because they can. It's because people will pay for the convenience of parking close the theme parks. Therefore, what's wrong with some one parking at Downtown Disney and taking the bus to a park? All I'm doing is accepting some inconvenience and saving money.

In fact - I'm the one saving Disney lots of money. The fewer people using the MK parking lot, the less paint they'll use to paint all those stripes!

 

[Aintdisablast]

AV, if your local mall started charging for parking, you'd simply drive to the next mall. Now, if all the mall owners put their greedy minds together and said we're all going to charge, you'd be pissed for awhile, but in time you would'nt even give paying it a second thought.

And as others have said, you may not be paying for parking as a direct out-of-pocket expense, but it is included in the price of the products you buy in the mall. But of course we all know that if malls started charging for parking we would'nt see the shop owners drop their price.

WDW was the first to arrive in Orlando. From day one they charged for parking. Every park that opened afterwards charged for parking. It became SOP for the industry.

Disney pays a lot of manpower to operate a parking lot. Drivers,security,toll takers,people that direct you to your parking spot,people that clean up the lot at nite, people that maintain the rain water run off canels, fix lite fixtures, landscapers,etc. Repaving,line painting,trams,vans,electricity,gas,etc all cost money. A parking lot is not a minimal expense. I don't believe a parking lot should be a profit center, but it should be self sustaining and not a drain on the parks - Disney has ABC for that.

Disney also uses that parking fee as a marketing and sales carrot. Buy an AP, don't pay for parking. Stay on property, don't pay for parking. Buy DVC, don't pay for parking.

Considering all the people who park without paying and all the real expense to operate the parking lot, I really don't think Disney is increasing shareholder value by charging $9.00 to park.

 

[DancingBear]

Again - my local shopping mall provides all of these services (trams and all) AND they've just added two giant parking garages all without having to charge me a dime. How come Disney can't?

Disney charges for parking not because they have to, but because they can. It's because people will pay for the convenience of parking close the theme parks. Therefore, what's wrong with some one parking at Downtown Disney and taking the bus to a park? All I'm doing is accepting some inconvenience and saving money.

I agree with your first premise, Disney is charging because it can. But I don't think the second follows. Nobody's going to burn in Hades for using up the Downtown Disney parking and walking over to SSR to catch a bus, but it's certainly not what the system was designed for. And ultimately it will just lead to restrictions on Downtown Disney parking.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

What your parking fee is paying for:

.... feel free to ad to my list.

-- The purchase price and maintenance of the van

-- The utility cost to light the parking lot

-- The cost of the lighting hardware

-- The toll booth attendants

-- Toll booth maintenance

-- Trash collection/cleaning of the parking lot

-- Repaving

I'm sure there's more.

MG

 

[Another Voice]

Considering all the people who park without paying and all the real expense to operate the parking lot, I really don't think Disney is increasing shareholder value by charging $9.00 to park.

Well, as I said, most places in the country don't charge for parking yet they have all the costs that Disney has - and a lot more (taxes, purchase of the land, insurance, etc.).

So either the parking lot is a massive profit center for Disney - or Disney runs the most mismanaged, corrupt and inefficent lots in the world.

Which do you choose?

In any case, I'm all for parking at Downtown.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Well, as I said, most places in the country don't charge for parking yet they have all the costs that Disney has - and a lot more (taxes, purchase of the land, insurance, etc.).

The mall near me does not have trams, or seven employees showing me where to park. (I wish they did during Christmas season)

So either the parking lot is a massive profit center for Disney - or Disney runs the most mismanaged, corrupt and inefficent lots in the world.

Which do you choose?

It would be interesting to get some actual numbers.
How many paying cars per day? Actual cost to operate the parking lot?

MG

 

[TSR6]

And ultimately it will just lead to restrictions on Downtown Disney parking.

Don't worry. There are already plans on the table. Downtown Disney is about to go into a major construction phase. Put it this way: Parking is the #1 concern from guests who visit Downtown Disney, and it continues to be a challenge at DTD.

 

[DancingBear]

Come on, guys, A-V's correct about the expenses. Lots of shopping centers now have trams or buses. All have lighting, insurance, landscaping, maintenance (pothole filling and such), striping, periodic resurfacing, snow removal, cleaning, security, etc. Disney may have some marginally higher costs such as the folks directing traffic, but that's pretty minimal in the scheme of things. The parking is an additional revenue stream for Disney vs. your local mall.

 

[Planogirl]

Sure it's a revenue stream but all themeparks charge for parking so why would Disney choose to be different? Being unique appears to be of little importance to them nowadays.

I do think that $9.00 is awfully high though.

 

[CarnotaurDad]

While it is wonderful that malls, in general, don't charge for parking, the cost of maintenance doesn't disappear into thin air. The property companies that run the malls factor that into the lease agreements with their tenants. The tenants can then choose how best to factor that cost into the price of goods that we pay. For example, that mall shuttle might cost an extra 25 cents per slice of pizza at the food court.

Since Disney is both the tenant and the leasee in this case, I suppose they could just make parking free but that cost has to come from somewhere. Does the cost of tickets go up? Does the price of merchandise go up?

Now, there are some other economics at play. DTD was able to have free parking partly because many of the stores there have leases with Disney and they pay for the parking lot through their stores. Unfortunately, what was happening, is that people were parking for free and taking busses to Disney without ever going into the stores/restaurants to pay for the parking.

To discourage that, Disney first removed bus access directly to DTD from the parks, but this became a little self-defeating because it made it more difficult for guests without cars (which is becoming a higher percentage) to get to DTD after the parks closed. The next logical step, mentioned above, is to charge for parking at DTD and probably have a voucher system for shoppers.

 

[Planogirl]

To discourage that, Disney first removed bus access directly to DTD from the parks, but this became a little self-defeating because it made it more difficult for guests without cars (which is becoming a higher percentage) to get to DTD after the parks closed. The next logical step, mentioned above, is to charge for parking at DTD and probably have a voucher system for shoppers.

What kind of voucher system?

 

[CarnotaurDad]

Hi Planogirl,

This is pure speculation on my part, but something like "Spend $20 or more and get four hours free". That way, it will encourage shoppers and discourage those people who see it as a way to save $9 on theme park parking.

 

[YoHo]

But as was said before, Malls manage to cram those costs into lease fees which translate into a chunk of items you buy in the mall and those items are still cheaper then the average Disney World Item and Disney World rings up their cash registers just as often as the average mall. In short, that $9 is pure profit. They don't need to charge it. They do to keep their profit margins up.......To pay for stupid purchases like ABCFamily or even ABC itself.

I'd be more then willing to pay the fee if I saw some new construction to justify it. And no, one ride (E:E) doesn't cut it.

 

[CarnotaurDad]

YoHo,

Do you have a link to the numbers that show the parking is pure profit?

I am curious as to the cost to maintain the parking vs. the dollars it brings in.

Unfortunately, without the dollars, both sides of the discussion are at an impasse.