Overnight parking charges to increase at Walt Disney World Resort hotels June 2019

Clamman73

Well-Known Member
I mean at this d23 they better be saying new Electrical parade coming and we're in-contract for a new monorail fleet or something....
 

NelsonRD

Well-Known Member
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 agree with you, but not 100% because Disney is not lenient with this fee. When I pull in with my full size SUV with NY plates on a 7 night stay, we are not renting a vehicle, and even if we spend a day at universal or legoland, the majority of our stay defines our loyalty. It would be good if they were flexible with the fee for longer stays and out of state registered vehicles, but they are very strict in collecting it. I have not heard of anybody getting out of it.
 

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
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 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.

So where do folks who are not renting cars, but are actually driving to WDW, fit into this calculus?
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Any bets on how much longer Magical Express is free?
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.

So where do folks who are not renting cars, but are actually driving to WDW, fit into this calculus?
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.
 

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
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.
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.
 

John park hopper

Well-Known Member
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.
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.
Disney's money grab has me rethinking going back in the near future.
 
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devoy1701

Well-Known Member
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.

Agree. There should be some sort of exception for either Passholders or FL Residents...or a discount...or credit...or whatever. But WDW has always been terrible at providing any perks or accommodations to this segment of their guests. Before we left FL, we went from spending 12-15 nights on property a year to 3 (usually at Ft Wilderness where we got the biggest bang for our buck by renting a cabin there).

Anyway...we moved to Texas and we definitely have a void from not being able to take our kids to WDW every few weeks. Camping has replaced our weekend WDW trips (which are significantly cheaper, mind you...). When it comes to full-on vacations, WDW more expensive than real experiences...and you can usually get much better accommodations. I feel like the longer we're away, the harder it'll be for us to pay that WDW Premium. We'll probably be switching to Disney Cruise Line for our Disney fix.
 

"El Gran Magnifico"

Mr Flibble is Very Cross.
Prime properties in major cities charge a boatload for parking. I've seen in excess of $50 a night. I see Deluxe's approaching the $40/$50 mark nightly within the next few years and I also see the introduction of the "Resort Fee". They'll tier it and make it sound reasonable at first, then they'll gouge our eyes out with the increases.

I fear a day where you'll see a combined $75/$100 a day added to a hotel night with the combined fees. Heck, the Swolphin is at $55 combined right now. You know Disney is going to want to outdo that.
 
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cmb5002

Well-Known Member
While I do not have to pay the fee, I do feel for those that do. There's no reason for the fees at a resort that has "an abundance of space.". It's just another way to increase their profits, because replacing their parking lots doesn't get that much more expensive.

With parking fees and resort fees appearing everywhere and becoming a universal traveler annoyance, I think we'll see legislation ending these "fees" soon. It should all be rolled into the room rate, like it used to be.
 

KRW101

Member
Eventually someone will build a long term parking lot near WDW and undercut them on the prices. They can have shuttles that take you to your resort. Kind of like the offsite cruise parking at Port Canaveral or long term parking at an airport. We always drive, cheaper than flying and my husband hates to fly. I really wonder how long Disney can sustain these increases across the board and not have any loss of guests.
 

Alice a

Well-Known Member
I've been trying to figure out how to post this for months without WDW killing the loophole, but we avoided paying for parking at Coronado this past February and May.

We drive down from Charleston, SC because it's a nice 5.5 hour drive and if we flew, it would cost substantially more, we wouldn't have the freedom to change things on the fly, and I can shop to my heart's content.

I also book all employee travel for my company on my expedia account, so we try to get last-minute deals for WDW hotels and then pay the bill in points.

We weren't charged for parking for either Coronado stay. I'm the kind of person that accounts for every expense. The first time we thought it was a fluke- construction, etc. but twice signals a trend to me.

I enjoyed getting away with it- I understand charging for parking downtown in cities or at the Crescent Lake and Magic Kingdom area resorts, but to charge at values and moderates is obscene. Those are huge lots.
 

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