Resort Parking Charges

[CaptainJackNO]

This is an absolute cash grab. I just left WDW yesterday after 6 days. My car sat idle for 6 solid days, and there were ample spaces, so it was not in any way a space issue. While 78 dollars pales in comparison to the other money the trip cost (And I received solid value for every single dollar spent), all except for that last 78 dollars. It's ridiculous and an absolute cash grab, and don't tell me "other resorts offsite do it." Big deal. There is no reason to charge to park in a parking lot that is not nearly filled. Had a blast on my trip, but I felt totally hoodwinked being required to pay 13 dollars a night for use of a 6 ft by 10 foot space in a place where there is ample parking and the property is completely owned by the resort.

I'll pay 50 bucks for QS burgers and fries, I'll pay 200 bucks to eat at Ohana. I get value and a one of a kind experience for this, but this parking fee is absurd and an overt cash grab.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I can’t argue with this.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is an absolute cash grab. I just left WDW yesterday after 6 days. My car sat idle for 6 solid days, and there were ample spaces, so it was not in any way a space issue. While 78 dollars pales in comparison to the other money the trip cost (And I received solid value for every single dollar spent), all except for that last 78 dollars. It's ridiculous and an absolute cash grab, and don't tell me "other resorts offsite do it." Big deal. There is no reason to charge to park in a parking lot that is not nearly filled. Had a blast on my trip, but I felt totally hoodwinked being required to pay 13 dollars a night for use of a 6 ft by 10 foot space in a place where there is ample parking and the property is completely owned by the resort.

I'll pay 50 bucks for QS burgers and fries, I'll pay 200 bucks to eat at Ohana. I get value and a one of a kind experience for this, but this parking fee is absurd and an overt cash grab.

This is factually incorrect. 100% wrong. Disney doesn't care about your $78, their goal was to get you to leave the car at home. Their goal is not "cash grab via small parking fee," their goal is "much larger cash grab from a captive guest who doesn't have a car in the first place so they spend more on merchandise, food, beverage, and recreation."

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This is factually incorrect. 100% wrong. Disney doesn't care about your $78, their goal was to get you to leave the car at home. Their goal is not "cash grab via small parking fee," their goal is "much larger cash grab from a captive guest who doesn't have a car in the first place so they spend more on merchandise, food, beverage, and recreation."

Well, then it did no good because his car sat idle for 6 days.

 

[elcheapo]

This is factually incorrect. 100% wrong. Disney doesn't care about your $78, their goal was to get you to leave the car at home. Their goal is not "cash grab via small parking fee," their goal is "much larger cash grab from a captive guest who doesn't have a car in the first place so they spend more on merchandise, food, beverage, and recreation."

Ok. So let’s say I live 5 hours away or less. And I want to stay on site. How do you propose I get there. Your reply makes no sense. It’s a total cash grab. I would rather they raise the room price $13 a night I wouldn’t even think twice about it.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Ok. So let’s say I live 5 hours away or less. And I want to stay on site. How do you propose I get there. Your reply makes no sense. It’s a total cash grab. I would rather they raise the room price $13 a night I wouldn’t even think twice about it.

Although I have to believe the fact that they did not bake it into the cost of the room is exactly why it is an incentive to leave your car at home if possible. If it really was just to increase Revenue than they would have done exactly what you just said in my opinion. At least that way they would have reaped the revenue across the Spectrum rather than only from people who had cars.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

This is factually incorrect. 100% wrong. Disney doesn't care about your $78, their goal was to get you to leave the car at home. Their goal is not "cash grab via small parking fee," their goal is "much larger cash grab from a captive guest who doesn't have a car in the first place so they spend more on merchandise, food, beverage, and recreation."

I disagree. Providing transportation to the parks, DME, are aimed at keeping you on property. If someone goes to WDW with the intent of going to Universal, Sea World, Medieval Nights, Etc, 13 dollars a night will NOT keep them from leaving property or force them to fly and keep them on property. Ever hear of Uber, Lyft, taxis?

Sorry, you're incorrect. This was an easy, untapped profit source that required ZERO investment. By your argument, if I fly to WDW, and I don't have to pay to park, will a 40 dollar lyft fee discourage me from going to Universal or Sea World? Probably not. If anything, I will drive my car, pay 78 bucks for the week, that way I at least have my car, would rather pay 78 to have my vehicle available all week for just 20 to 30 dollars more than paying for a Lyft, Uber, or Taxi, and still go to Universal or Sea World, or wherever. The only way you can keep someone from leaving property is to provide the exact same experiences at WDW as you can get anywhere else, and they CANNOT do that. It's a Cash Grab, sorry.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Ok. So let’s say I live 5 hours away or less. And I want to stay on site. How do you propose I get there. Your reply makes no sense. It’s a total cash grab. I would rather they raise the room price $13 a night I wouldn’t even think twice about it.

Of course you have that option, but it's Disney's Plan B, not Plan A.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I disagree. Providing transportation to the parks, DME, are aimed at keeping you on property. If someone goes to WDW with the intent of going to Universal, Sea World, Medieval Nights, Etc, 13 dollars a night will NOT keep them from leaving property or force them to fly and keep them on property. Ever hear of Uber, Lyft, taxis?

Sorry, you're incorrect. This was an easy, untapped profit source that required ZERO investment. By your argument, if I fly to WDW, and I don't have to pay to park, will a 40 dollar lyft fee discourage me from going to Universal or Sea World? Probably not. If anything, I will drive my car, pay 78 bucks for the week, that way I at least have my car, would rather pay 78 to have my vehicle available all week for just 20 to 30 dollars more than paying for a Lyft, Uber, or Taxi, and still go to Universal or Sea World, or wherever. The only way you can keep someone from leaving property is to provide the exact same experiences at WDW as you can get anywhere else, and they CANNOT do that. It's a Cash Grab, sorry.

I don't care if you disagree. You're wrong. It's been confirmed by insiders here and elsewhere.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

Although I have to believe the fact that they did not bake it into the cost of the room is exactly why it is an incentive to leave your car at home if possible. If it really was just to increase Revenue than they would have done exactly what you just said in my opinion. At least that way they would have raped the revenue across the Spectrum rather than only from people who had cars.

14.99 for a school cafeteria hamburger and fries, and an additional 4 bucks for a soft drink in any Disney owned QS resort food court? You think they're not evenly dragging revenue across the spectrum?

Or how about this? Maybe they decided the cost of Disney's Magical Express is too great. Why not stop offering that service and let customers pay for Mears like they had in the past? That way, it's not across the spectrum.

Cash Grab

 

[elcheapo]

I don't care if you disagree. You're wrong. It's been confirmed by insiders here and elsewhere.

If Disney wants an $13 a day from Me I would gladly give it to them for a better product. Don’t cut park hours, parades etc and then raise ticket prices and then get a quick cash grab. The next they’ll do is charge people not staying on property if they want to visit a resort

 

[CaptainAmerica]

14.99 for a school cafeteria hamburger and fries, and an additional 4 bucks for a soft drink in any Disney owned QS resort food court? You think they're not evenly dragging revenue across the spectrum?

Or how about this? Maybe they decided the cost of Disney's Magical Express is too great. Why not stop offering that service and let customers pay for Mears like they had in the past? That way, it's not across the spectrum.

Cash Grab

With all due respect, you have no idea what you're talking about. DME is not a service, DME is marketing expense disguised as a service. They happily bear the cost because the per capita guest spending of a captive guest is significantly greater than the per capita guest spending of a guest with a rental car.

The fact that they continue to offer DME is proof that your theory is garbage.

The next they’ll do is charge people not staying on property if they want to visit a resort

I hope so. The Cousin Eddies who show up to gawk at a resort they're not staying in is extremely off-putting to the people who actually paid to be there.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

I don't care if you disagree. You're wrong. It's been confirmed by insiders here and elsewhere.

Well this outsider says your insiders are wrong, and if that was Disney's plan, they're morons.

I live 10 hours away. Driving cost me about 300 bucks, round trip. Flights for my family would have cost 1000 dollars, minimum. So, a 13 dollar a night fee (Amounting to 78 dollars) will make me decide that paying 700 dollars more to fly will be a better decision, so Disney has helped me decide that it makes more sense to pay 700 dollars more to fly than it does to pay 78 dollars for the week, then I will be less likely to leave property, so they made me spend 700 dollars extra to fly, and now I can't afford to leave the resort??? Really???

Did you ever look at the Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, etc license plates??? Did you ever think why those folks drove instead of flew? Has nothing to do with parking fees or leaving property. It has to do with flying being expensive, and driving is 1/4 the price of flying (family size dependent, of course), so the whole idea that someone will decide to fly instead of drive over 100 buck parking charge is insane. There's not a parent alive who would rather drive 12 hours yelling at the kids for fighting, having the 4 year old spill a soft drink on the new back seat, the smell of the teenager taking off their shoes, bathroom stops every 30 minutes, siblings fighting over the one working IPad charger, and a steady diet of quarter pounders and Cracker Barrel, rather than fly for an hour and a half. Either you're wrong, or Disney's execs are so out of touch that they should be able to sleep on Mars tonight.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

With all due respect, you have no idea what you're talking about. DME is not a service, DME is marketing expense disguised as a service. They happily bear the cost because the per capita guest spending of a captive guest is significantly greater than the per capita guest spending of a guest with a rental car.

The fact that they continue to offer DME is proof that your theory is garbage.


I hope so. The Cousin Eddies who show up to gawk at a resort they're not staying in is extremely off-putting to the people who actually paid to be there.

With all due respect, DME is a service. People need transportation from the airport to resorts. The cost of DME is rolled into resort nightly costs. Disney provides transportation to the resort. That is a service. Customer has need, business meets need; therefore, service provided. Just because cash is not directly exchanged does not make DME not a service. If it's not a service, and I want a ride to a Disney resort, even if I don't have a reservation or paid vacation, will Disney still let me ride to a resort for free? Nope. It's a service. A reservation number approves payment, rides is the service.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Well this outsider says your insiders are wrong, and if that was Disney's plan, they're morons.

I live 10 hours away. Driving cost me about 300 bucks, round trip. Flights for my family would have cost 1000 dollars, minimum. So, a 13 dollar a night fee (Amounting to 78 dollars) will make me decide that paying 700 dollars more to fly will be a better decision, so Disney has helped me decide that it makes more sense to pay 700 dollars more to fly than it does to pay 78 dollars for the week, then I will be less likely to leave property, so they made me spend 700 dollars extra to fly, and now I can't afford to leave the resort??? Really???

Did you ever look at the Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, etc license plates??? Did you ever think why those folks drove instead of flew? Has nothing to do with parking fees or leaving property. It has to do with flying being expensive, and driving is 1/4 the price of flying (family size dependent, of course), so the whole idea that someone will decide to fly instead of drive over 100 buck parking charge is insane. Either you're wrong, or Disney's execs are so out of touch that they should be able to sleep on Mars tonight.

So much wrong here, but I'll boil it down to two:

1. This decision wasn't about you or guests like you. No s**t a parking fee isn't going to change the calculus of whether to drive versus fly. The parking fee is targeted at people who have already decided to fly and are deciding whether or not to rent a car.

2. The license plates from all those states has almost nothing to do with people driving from those states. You see those license plates because the car rental companies have their vehicles licensed all over the place. It's not like Florida rental cars have Florida plates. Most of them don't. The number of people who drive from outside of Florida is extremely small.

 

[KrzyKtty]

They want to stop people like me who left my Resort for two days last vacation to go to Universal instead. That was a lot more Revenue lost to them then they will recover in parking fees.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

So much wrong here, but I'll boil it down to two:

1. This decision wasn't about you or guests like you. No s**t a parking fee isn't going to change the calculus of whether to drive versus fly. The parking fee is targeted at people who have already decided to fly and are deciding whether or not to rent a car.

2. The license plates from all those states has almost nothing to do with people driving from those states. You see those license plates because the car rental companies have their vehicles licensed all over the place. It's not like Florida rental cars have Florida plates. Most of them don't. The number of people who drive from outside of Florida is extremely small.

I enjoy the banter, and you are a fitting opponent, but I guess all those Texas, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio, etc cars that were driving north on I-75 with the little stick figure Disney families on the back windows are rentals? OK.

You did kind of make me feel bad to know that my car was the only non-rental on property, though. Who thought those thousand cars were all rentals???

And at least I got you to admit for some of us driving folks, the parking fee is a cash grab.


I believe this may be Disney's reason for "Saying" they were charging for parking, but the bottom line is it's a cash grab. If they are really interested in keeping everyone on property, they should:

A) Like mousekeeping, give me the option of not paying 13 dollars a night if my car does not leave property all week. (Can easily be monitored by security and magic band)

B) Charge Uber, Lyft, and Taxis a fee for operating on private Disney property

C) Charge a fee for all rental cars kept on property

Do these things, and it's not a cash grab.

 

[Kadiem]

I live in central Alabama. We primarily drive down to WDW due to airfare cost. If we can find a cheap flight, we'll definitely take it since it is a short flight. But, the majority of the time we save substantially by just driving on down. We'll go offsite to dine at a couple of our favorite places that we don't have locally. And, we'll make our pilgrimage to The Character Warehouse. However, we spend probably 90% of our time within the WDW bubble. Our car sits there at the resort for the most part.

Paying for resort parking is ridiculous. If I save money by driving versus flying, I have more money to spend on Disney souvenirs, Disney dining, etc. Don't penalize me with additional fees just because I chose to bring my car.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

1. This decision wasn't about you or guests like you. No s**t a parking fee isn't going to change the calculus of whether to drive versus fly. The parking fee is targeted at people who have already decided to fly and are deciding whether or not to rent a car.

If that's the case, it would be pretty easy to charge it to people who take the Magical Express and also have a car.

There's always room for a Florida Resident discount/waiver.

When we drive up from SoFla, we have no reason to rent a car, we have our own car with our own stuff in it, and we drive to the parks to avoid the Disney bus system, and drive to the resorts to eat.

We don't go off site to Burger King. The loss of time is not worth the few bucks you save. Haven't been to Universal in 15 years. If we do that, we'll stay over that way. If we have our own car, why not stay as close as possible to where we're going?

You know when we do end up eating off site (even if we don't intend to?) When we stay off site. And we are more likely to stay off site more often with this parking fee, and limit staying on site to event trips.

So they can charge me whatever it is to park at a moderate, which will encourage me to stay off site. Then they lose my hotel purchase, my parking fee, as well as some convenience meals. "Should be walk back to xyz for a QS before our afternoon break?" "Nah, we're already near the exit, we can stop at the place next door to the hotel or Publix on the way."

They don't gain anything by having an extra empty parking spot to match our empty hotel room.

 

[flynnibus]

This is an absolute cash grab. I just left WDW yesterday after 6 days. My car sat idle for 6 solid days, and there were ample spaces, so it was not in any way a space issue. While 78 dollars pales in comparison to the other money the trip cost (And I received solid value for every single dollar spent), all except for that last 78 dollars. It's ridiculous and an absolute cash grab, and don't tell me "other resorts offsite do it." Big deal. There is no reason to charge to park in a parking lot that is not nearly filled. Had a blast on my trip, but I felt totally hoodwinked being required to pay 13 dollars a night for use of a 6 ft by 10 foot space in a place where there is ample parking and the property is completely owned by the resort.

I'll pay 50 bucks for QS burgers and fries, I'll pay 200 bucks to eat at Ohana. I get value and a one of a kind experience for this, but this parking fee is absurd and an overt cash grab.

What does the lot being full or not have to do with it?
Empty lots still cost money to build and maintain...

The reasoning is entirely about 'not leaving money on the table' and justifying it with industry norms.