I'm prepared for everyone to tell me how wrong I am, but I'm going to keep beating this drum. Disney does not want you to pay the parking fee, they want you to skip renting a car. They'd be thrilled if the "Resort Parking Fee Revenue" line went to zero because it means all of their guests are captive and reliant on them for transportation, F&B, merchandise, and recreation.
This isn't about a few extra dollars in fees, it's an attempt to change guest behavior.
I cant wait to see the price for #3There will be a bathroom fee in SWGE. $5 for #1; $10 for #2.
Any bets on how much longer Magical Express is free?
I agree to a point, but there is a substantial portion of guests who are there with their own cars, because they drive to Walt Disney World instead of flying. We have only flown to WDW once. Most of the time we have chosen to drive. There are many families closer than us who would never consider flying that distance.I'm prepared for everyone to tell me how wrong I am, but I'm going to keep beating this drum. Disney does not want you to pay the parking fee, they want you to skip renting a car. They'd be thrilled if the "Resort Parking Fee Revenue" line went to zero because it means all of their guests are captive and reliant on them for transportation, F&B, merchandise, and recreation.
This isn't about a few extra dollars in fees, it's an attempt to change guest behavior.
Forever. The strategy is not "charge for random things and collect fees." The strategy is "get guests to stay on property for their entire length of stay and spend all of their vacation money with Disney."Any bets on how much longer Magical Express is free?
Folks who drive from great distances are an extreme minority of guests. I doubt they were even considered.So where do folks who are not renting cars, but are actually driving to WDW, fit into this calculus?
My gut is telling me that you are really underestimating the number of people who drive to Disney. I think it is a more significant number than you think.Forever. The strategy is not "charge for random things and collect fees." The strategy is "get guests to stay on property for their entire length of stay and spend all of their vacation money with Disney."
- Charging for parking discourages rental cars and keeps people on property
- NOT charging for Magical Express discourages rental cars and keeps people on property
Charging for Magical Express would literally lose them money. It would swing people back in the direction of renting cars and there's no way they could charge enough for DME to offset the lost F&B and merch revenue of a captive guest.
Folks who drive from great distances are an extreme minority of guests. I doubt they were even considered.
Folks who are local but stay on property are "bad" guests from a profitability standpoint anyways so Disney doesn't really care about ****ing them off.
We are in the same boat no direct flights to Orlando from Charleston SC cheaper for us to drive. When they first started with the parking fee it was only matter of time before they increased it and sure enough they have. our last visit we drove stayed 8 nights and the truck never moved. I would like to see the stats on how many people drive and how often they drive off property. I looked around the parking area at POFQ and over half were not from FL.A lot of us don't have a choice. We live too close to fly there, and my main reason for going to Disney is the resorts so staying off-site sorta defeats the purpose. We're just taking a year off of Disney and trying to enjoy some other places in Florida to stay.
These parking fees really punish the Florida Residents who often come for the weekend or a few days and almost always drive. I really don't know why anyone would stay on property anymore. It just isn't worth it.
Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.