Latest Parking Rumor: Charging at Disney Springs (Unlikely)

[Hakunamatata]

Sounds like a nightmare since the existing garage and lots were clearly not designed with charging in mind.

Nah. All they would need to do is install the same tech that "pay by mail" toll roads use and you would receive a nice invoice or if you link your license plate with your MM+ account/credit card and auto charge.

 

[zooey]

I don't visit City Walk when I'm in Orlando because they charge for parking and I'll stop going to Downtown Disney if they start charging.

If you live in Chicago as your name suggests I would think you're used to paying for parking. It's so expensive to park anywhere downtown.
Paying for parking is so common I don't see an issue as long as they validated or gave first 2 hours free.

 

[thehowiet]

At first I was flabbergasted, then quickly remembered that they charge you to park to visit City Walk.
We don't go down there too much, maybe 5 or 6 times a year, but I'd hope our AP would let us park free.

I could see charging if they had kept the surface lots with limited space. But now that they went vertical, there will be plenty to go around.

Not making excuses for UNI, but if they want to charge anyone for parking, then it appears that they pretty much have to charge everyone for parking due to their setup. I guess my point is that if there were a theme park right next to DTD it would be more reasonable; however, that is not the case at WDW. IMO this is another great example of the evolution of the cash grab mentality of the modern WDC.

As someone else mentioned, I'd be curious to know what the tenants think about this. I can't imagine implementing a "pay-to-park-to-shop" strategy will help, but I guess time will tell. That's essentially what they do at Epcot so maybe they'll be fine....

 

[raven]

If they charge they'd be loosing out on a lot of day guests and locals wanting to pop in for a little Disney Magic without having to go to the parks. No one should have to pay to park at a shopping mall.

 

[alphac2005]

If you live in Chicago as your name suggests I would think you're used to paying for parking. It's so expensive to park anywhere downtown.
Paying for parking is so common I don't see an issue as long as they validated or gave first 2 hours free.

When you are paying to park in major cities, it's primarily because the cost of operation (mainly being the land cost and taxation) is being recouped, and that doesn't bother most of us. It simply isn't the case at WDW especially when your own company owns the incorporated city.

As also mentioned, Universal has the issue with their parking also serving for the theme parks. Quite honestly, when we didn't have Universal APs, we never visited when we had to pay to park to shop or dine. It's ridiculous. Greed knows no bounds.

 

[zooey]

When you are paying to park in major cities, it's primarily because the cost of operation (mainly being the land cost and taxation) is being recouped, and that doesn't bother most of us. It simply isn't the case at WDW especially when your own company owns the incorporated city.

As also mentioned, Universal has the issue with their parking also serving for the theme parks. Quite honestly, when we didn't have Universal APs, we never visited when we had to pay to park to shop or dine. It's ridiculous. Greed knows no bounds.

It's a form of crowd control and disincentivizes a particular demographic. Some may not go based on principle and would have otherwise spent lots of money there, but I'm sure Disney sees it as clipping off the customers least likely to spend anyway.

 

[wdwmagic]

In all the information released about the parking garages, Disney has always said it will be free to park. Things could obviously change, but I think in the case it will remain free. I have not heard of any changes.

 

[djkidkaz]

Not happening.

 

[s8film40]

I took a tour of the garage before it opened and was very specifically told that they could never charge for parking because of the way RCID funded it. It's a public garage funded with public money, there's a lot of obstacles for them to overcome if they limit public access to it. Not to mention this isn't Disney owned so it would be RCID charging and making money off it not Disney. RCID has plenty of money so I don't see the motivation for them.

 

[raven]

It's a form of crowd control and disincentivizes a particular demographic. Some may not go based on principle and would have otherwise spent lots of money there, but I'm sure Disney sees it as clipping off the customers least likely to spend anyway.

So in short, they would be discriminating.

 

[zooey]

So in short, they would be discriminating.

They do this already at Disneyland don't they?

 

[s8film40]

They do this already at Disneyland don't they?

Disneyland owns their garage, there's a big difference between a privately owned garage and one that's publicly owned. You really can't compare Disneyland. It would be more accurate to compare it to a city or county owned garage somewhere.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Disneyland owns their garage, there's a big difference between a privately owned garage and one that's publicly owned. You really can't compare Disneyland. It would be more accurate to compare it to a city or county owned garage somewhere.

Disneyland's garage is also mainly for theme park parking. There's a separate (small) lot for DTD - which is also paid for.

 

[monothingie]

I took a tour of the garage before it opened and was very specifically told that they could never charge for parking because of the way RCID funded it. It's a public garage funded with public money, there's a lot of obstacles for them to overcome if they limit public access to it. Not to mention this isn't Disney owned so it would be RCID charging and making money off it not Disney. RCID has plenty of money so I don't see the motivation for them.

Parking meters are a great example of how Public entities (towns, counties, state, parking authorities) have no restriction as to charging for public parking. In fact they usually establish a fixed rate schedule that all entities (public and private) can charge for parking in their respective area of jurisdiction.

 

[PhotoDave219]

In all the information released about the parking garages, Disney has always said it will be free to park. Things could obviously change, but I think in the case it will remain free. I have not heard of any changes.

Good, good. Hopefully this rumor will die a quick death then.

 

[s8film40]

Parking meters are a great example of how Public entities (towns, counties, state, parking authorities) have no restriction as to charging for public parking. In fact they usually establish a fixed rate schedule that all entities (public and private) can charge for parking.

The way it was explained to me was that part of the way RCID set it up they legally couldn't charge for parking in the future. If you look at most public garages they don't charge that much, usually around $2 - $5. I assume that's because they can't set an arbitrary amount and keep the profits, they have to actually account for why they need to collect the fee. I'm also not that familiar with how the bonds work but since this was funded with issuing bonds I would imagine that has to be accounted for if they charged for parking. That could very well be the reason they can't, I don't know though.

 

[NearTheEars]

Not making excuses for UNI, but if they want to charge anyone for parking, then it appears that they pretty much have to charge everyone for parking due to their setup. I guess my point is that if there were a theme park right next to DTD it would be more reasonable; however, that is not the case at WDW. IMO this is another great example of the evolution of the cash grab mentality of the modern WDC.

As someone else mentioned, I'd be curious to know what the tenants think about this. I can't imagine implementing a "pay-to-park-to-shop" strategy will help, but I guess time will tell. That's essentially what they do at Epcot so maybe they'll be fine....

City Walk is more about entertainment and restaurants than it is shopping right? I've only been a few times, but just to eat. Where as DS is mostly shopping. I think you're right, the tenants might flip if they asked people to start paying.

 

[NearTheEars]

So in short, they would be discriminating.

I think most shopping malls would love discourage the fresh new license, money-less teens from coming to hang out on their property. A parking fee would certainly do that.

If that's the demographic they were referring to.

 

[s8film40]

City Walk is more about entertainment and restaurants than it is shopping right? I've only been a few times, but just to eat. Where as DS is mostly shopping. I think you're right, the tenants might flip if they asked people to start paying.

If I were a tenant, especially at DS where Disney is taking I'm sure a large cut of your revenue I wouldn't sign a contract that didn't spell out the future parking conditions.

 

[DisneyNorthFan]

If they validate parking, unless the spend threshold was high, there would be very few people who wouldn't qualify for free parking. At least that's my guess. It would take so many resources to administer that it would hardly be worth it. If they don't validate, it would be like CityWalk for me ... a place that I don't visit that much.