News Walt Disney World to resume complimentary parking at its resort hotels

[MrPromey]

Disney has never been a good hotelier…it was always a burden/necessary evil to them.

They just built some expensive, unique stuff.

People are shocked to see this stated. But it is the truth. There is a constant “wrestle” internally that Marriott doesn’t have to deal with.

Which is why the stripping of on-site perks over the last few years was so puzzling.

They were charging more than everyone else and removing people's incentives to pay it, THEN, adding parking into the equation and in the end basically saying "You're staying 1.8 miles closer to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. That's worth a 60% premium, right?"

 

[Smiley/OCD]

You know…I did manage in resorts for a time…

…it’s such an unwieldy mess. It really is. The labor is hard, it’s unattractive which drives the costs up…it unreliable…and their guest to worker ratio has always been off the charts…straining the goal of the on property hotels in the first place.

I can only tell you that they used to rock a staff of 800 in housekeeping alone in a 2000 room hotel - mostly because of complete stupidity in design - and that is bonkers.

I’m sure that has reduced - some - but you can’t put a bandaid on a severed limb

How many keepers you think a 5 story holiday inn express is rocking?

You managed resorts for a while…hmmm, you have Hilton family blood in you…I KNEW IT!! Lol

 

[dreday3]

I can’t help thinking back to those hilarious room security check threads where all those people were convinced Disney housekeepers were all thieves, spies or perverts.

And everyone was just so irresistible to security, security wouldn't be able to control themselves!

 

[MrPromey]

As far as I can tell they’re all still here complaining.

Actually, those were the ones almost bragging about it for some weird reason.

They're the ones always telling us Disney has some legal/moral obligation to underpay their cast and overcharge their guests while providing the most minimum bare bones experience possible.

You're on here enough, you should know who we're talking about.

Mysteriously, I haven't seen any of them step into this thread... wonder why.

 

[Lilofan]

You know…I did manage in resorts for a time…

…it’s such an unwieldy mess. It really is. The labor is hard, it’s unattractive which drives the costs up…it unreliable…and their guest to worker ratio has always been off the charts…straining the goal of the on property hotels in the first place.

I can only tell you that they used to rock a staff of 800 in housekeeping alone in a 2000 room hotel - mostly because of complete stupidity in design - and that is bonkers.

I’m sure that has reduced - some - but you can’t put a bandaid on a severed limb

How many keepers you think a 5 story holiday inn express is rocking?

I’d like to be part of that $8K tip Russell Westbrook left to housekeeping when he left after the NBA bubble finished. One way some of the NBA ballers dealt with the isolation was smoking a lot of that MaryJane in the resorts they were staying in. If I was confined to a place I could not leave I would find some stress relief too.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

It's not just you, we all feel this way inside, but what harm is there in trying to be positive? I don't see anyone here as being foolishly ecstatic. For WDW to basically admit that charging for parking was a mistake is a start. We can only hope they start to reassess the damage they've inflicted upon the brand and roll back some of the many poorly guided decisions made.

Sure, it's positive, but the reaction seems, to me at least, to be high on the praise factor. This doesn't represent an improvement, it just represents things being better than they were yesterday, but not as good as they were in the past.

Personally, I can live without housekeeping. I can make my own bed. I certainly don't vacuum my own bedroom or clean my own bathroom on a daily basis. The lack of it should be reflected in the pricing however. The gift card was a win win. They value the consumer but cost Disney very little (how much did they really pay to manufacture the t-shirt I paid $50 for with my gift card, for example).

Magical Express is the one thing I would like to see come back. Not because of the cost, but because it felt like one of those special extra things that set a Disney vacation apart from many others. How much goodwill did it generate relative to the actual cost? There was something "magical" about being in the Disney bubble right from the start.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I’d like to be part of that $8K tip Russell Westbrook left to housekeeping when he left after the NBA bubble finished. One way some of the NBA ballers dealt with the isolation was smoking a lot of that MaryJane in the resorts they were staying in. If I was confined to a place I could not leave I would find some stress relief too.

You made my point already…those ozone machines to take out high grade smell don’t work all that well

 

[dreday3]

Sure, it's positive, but the reaction seems, to me at least, to be high on the praise factor. This doesn't represent an improvement, it just represents things being better than they were yesterday, but not as good as they were in the past.

Personally, I can live without housekeeping. I can make my own bed. I certainly don't vacuum my own bedroom or clean my own bathroom on a daily basis. The lack of it should be reflected in the pricing however. The gift card was a win win. They value the consumer but cost Disney very little (how much did they really pay to manufacture the t-shirt I paid $50 for with my gift card, for example).

Magical Express is the one thing I would like to see come back. Not because of the cost, but because it felt like one of those special extra things that set a Disney vacation apart from many others. How much goodwill did it generate relative to the actual cost? There was something "magical" about being in the Disney bubble right from the start.

None of these new things are particularly exciting for me, so my feelings are "hey, that's nice!".

I do think what it shows (obviously not just here but on social media) is that a lot people still want to want to go to Disney. So they do something small and everyone is like "hey, it's okay for me to like Disney again" as if they can cling to this for their reason to say "okay, now we can go back".

or not.

 

[dreday3]

I would actually be excited about the plans (supposedly?) for Universal to build a horror type experience in Las Vegas.
But then I think about the kind of crowds that would probably end up going and then I know it's not my scene and then I'm back to planning all-inclusive beach trips that would cost the kind of money we don't really have.

 

[note2001]

Magical Express is the one thing I would like to see come back. Not because of the cost, but because it felt like one of those special extra things that set a Disney vacation apart from many others. How much goodwill did it generate relative to the actual cost? There was something "magical" about being in the Disney bubble right from the start.

I'd love to have the inside info on the cost comparison of Disney's contract (old and revised but rejected) with Mears as $/room that used it VS the income Disney was making off the parking, again $/room that utilized it.

I'm not talking about the bag service - just the transportation itself.

 

[Rickcat96]

None of these new things are particularly exciting for me, so my feelings are "hey, that's nice!".

I do think what it shows (obviously not just here but on social media) is that a lot people still want to want to go to Disney. So they do something small and everyone is like "hey, it's okay for me to like Disney again" as if they can cling to this for their reason to say "okay, now we can go back".

or not.

It will take a little more effort for them to lure me back.

 

[Chi84]

Actually, those were the ones almost bragging about it for some weird reason.

They're the ones always telling us Disney has some legal/moral obligation to underpay their cast and overcharge their guests while providing the most minimum bare bones experience possible.

You're on here enough, you should know who we're talking about.

Mysteriously, I haven't seen any of them step into this thread... wonder why.

It’s because there are so few of them compared to the people who think Disney should pay CMs whatever is necessary to fully staff the parks and resorts while simultaneously holding the line on prices, increasing food quality and quantity while bringing back “free” dining and . . . what else . . . oh yeah discontinuing whatever events/products they don’t like and expanding on those they do.

 

[MrPromey]

It will take a little more effort for them to lure me back.

Same here but it's at least encouraging that the negative changes we've been seeing for a long time aren't just happening on a one-way street.

They didn't announce this as a promotion like a "free parking pass" or something. They took away a fee.

They can always add it back later but the optics would be worse than when they added it to begin with so it's likely a permanent(ish) change in the right direction.

It gives me hope they're willing to do at least some of what needs to be done.

Maybe it's the looming threat of Universal in 2025*, or the looming threat of a serious recession, or they really are seeing soft bookings and realizing that their years of neglect and squeezing are starting to show the first signs of consumer response to that.**


*They didn't take 'em seriously with Harry Potter so maybe they learned?

**It's going to be dark days ahead for the Disney Co. if this is the reason. Just like it would take a while for guest dissatisfaction to catch up with them financially since most people don't make annual trips, future soft bookings they may be looking at would be only the start of the drop which, even if they completely 100% course-corrected for it now (we're talking instant opening of e,d, c tickets they haven't broken ground on along with fixing all the other things wrong overnight), it would take years to come with guest sentiment out of it if they really were to have pushed things too far and of course, some are already going to be lost for good.

 

[mf1972]

The largest problem is that people are pigs, in the parks, in the resorts and maybe at home too?

this made me laugh. we normally keep things clean while staying at a disney (or any) resort. we know housekeeping is busy & we try to make things easier for them. saying that, i’ve watched people’s youtube videos & sometimes amazed on how their rooms look after staying there for a few days. looks like a tornado ripped through it. i wont get into guests cleanliness in the parks. that’s a different issue entirely.

 

[Chi84]

None of these new things are particularly exciting for me, so my feelings are "hey, that's nice!".

I do think what it shows (obviously not just here but on social media) is that a lot people still want to want to go to Disney. So they do something small and everyone is like "hey, it's okay for me to like Disney again" as if they can cling to this for their reason to say "okay, now we can go back".

or not.

Or they can just want to go to Disney and not give a crap about what anyone else thinks about it.

 

[dreday3]

Or they can just want to go to Disney and not give a crap about what anyone else thinks about it.

Well that's me, but everyone knows that.

 

[Chi84]

Same here but it's at least encouraging that the negative changes we've been seeing for a long time aren't just happening on a one-way street.

They didn't announce this as a promotion like a "free parking pass" or something. They took away a fee.

They can always add it back later but the optics would be worse than when they added it to begin with so it's likely a permanent(ish) change in the right direction.

It gives me hope they're willing to do at least some of what needs to be done.

Maybe it's the looming threat of Universal in 2025*, or the looming threat of a serious recession, or they really are seeing soft bookings and realizing that their years of neglect and squeezing are starting to show the first signs of consumer response to that.**


*The didn't take 'em seriously with Harry Potter so maybe they learned?

**It's going to be dark days ahead for the Disney Co. if this is the reason. Just like it would take a while for guest dissatisfaction to catch up with them financially since most people don't make annual trips, future soft bookings they may be looking at would be only the start of the drop which, even if they completely 100% course-corrected for it now (we're talking instant opening of e,d, c tickets along with fixing all the other things wrong overnight), it would take years to come with guest sentiment out of if they really were to have pushed things too far and of course, some are already going to be lost for good.

I seriously love your footnotes

 

[MrPromey]

It’s because there are so few of them compared to the people who think Disney should pay CMs whatever is necessary to fully staff the parks and resorts while simultaneously holding the line on prices, increasing food quality and quantity while bringing back “free” dining and . . . what else . . . oh yeah discontinuing whatever events/products they don’t like and expanding on those they do.

You're creating an imaginary false dilemma, here.

Disney has not been "holding the line" on prices at all.

Everything has been going up well faster than the rate of inflation in recent years while what they offer has been going down in quality, portions, standards, availability, etc.

That isn't standing still.

People aren't (as far as I can see) saying "Disney should stay cheap while fixing and improving all this stuff!"

Disney was never cheap (nor should it have been) and is currently more expensive than ever both in raw numbers and compared to inflation.

What they're saying is "Disney keeps raising prices and we're getting less and less back in return."

Do you not think that's a valid complaint?

 

[MrPromey]

I seriously love your footnotes

It's my half-hearted attempt at making my posts seem shorter.

For the record, I hope for them and me that it's just Universal's 3rd gate that's spooked them.

Responding to competition is, I think, the only thing that Wall Street will accept that won't be bad for the rest of us in the greater scheme of things (like a full on recession would be).

 

[HauntedPirate]

How many keepers you think a 5 story holiday inn express is rocking?

5? Just a guess based on several stays in various hotels over the past 2 years.