News WDW Resorts to add fees for parking

[beachlover4444]

The reason several properties offsite over by I drive started charging for parking was to keep people from coming in and eating a free breakfast and swimming in their pools. I understand the 10 bucks for that, they added gates and an attendant to combat the freeloaders from coming in. Disney shouldnt go after it's own guests for more money, what they needed to stop is people coming to the resort, lying about eating there and then walking to the bus to go to the park to avoid the parking fee. Same thing with the parking garages at disney springs. You watch, that will be next to add fees. To avoid this issue they could go to giving you a ticket with a time stamp when you park and then a time stamp when you leave. If its more than say 5 hours, then you pay a parking fee or validate tickets for people who show receipts from stores or restaurants. We began staying on property again because parking was free. I just hate being nickel and dimed with EXTRA charges and prefer one simple rate all inclusive but that isnt the way the travel world is going. if they can make a buck they are gonna do it as long as people still go and they will keep going. Even though we all complain about it. Best Tshirt I saw at disney world this week was "Most expensive vacation ever" while the kids shirts said best day ever. Made me chuckle in a sad way.

 

[Mainahman]

Do they charge you when. You park a car for cruise?

 

[Mainahman]

The reason several properties offsite over by I drive started charging for parking was to keep people from coming in and eating a free breakfast and swimming in their pools. I understand the 10 bucks for that, they added gates and an attendant to combat the freeloaders from coming in. Disney shouldnt go after it's own guests for more money, what they needed to stop is people coming to the resort, lying about eating there and then walking to the bus to go to the park to avoid the parking fee. Same thing with the parking garages at disney springs. You watch, that will be next to add fees. To avoid this issue they could go to giving you a ticket with a time stamp when you park and then a time stamp when you leave. If its more than say 5 hours, then you pay a parking fee or validate tickets for people who show receipts from stores or restaurants. We began staying on property again because parking was free. I just hate being nickel and dimed with EXTRA charges and prefer one simple rate all inclusive but that isnt the way the travel world is going. if they can make a buck they are gonna do it as long as people still go and they will keep going. Even though we all complain about it. Best Tshirt I saw at disney world this week was "Most expensive vacation ever" while the kids shirts said best day ever. Made me chuckle in a sad way.

I saw that same t shirt on our trip at the beginning of the month!

 

[wdwms]

Because I have nothing better to do, I have noticed the star rating for the wdw Facebook page keeps going down due to all the 1 star reviews about the parking fees. Maybe they'll give this scummy new policy a hard look if the social media outrage continues.

26k 1 star reviews on 3/15, as of tonight 3/18 70k

My major gripe in my email to them (i made 13 different points)

1. The fact that you are going to charge us to park our rental car makes me wonder, are you going to refund the cost of Magical Express since we don’t utilize that service? If not, what you are telling me is I get charged twice; once for Magical Express (both ways) that I personally choose not to use and then again to park the rental car. Is that fair? Magical Express can’t be cheap; busses, baggage delivery, flight check-in, boarding passes – it all takes staff, and staff costs money. But if I’m not using it, why are you charging me?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't understand why you are all so ungrateful.

You don't have to park! Me and my family however love to park, so for us this is a great new service Disney offers.

Oh well. Less people in my parking spot.

This is one of the most fantastic uses of the English language I've ever seen...
...but I've only been around for 4 months

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I saw that same t shirt on our trip at the beginning of the month!

They were rampant in February..."most expensive day ever"..."most expensive week ever"...

...but next to the moms that had "lost disney princess"

I actually found it a bit sexist (as in a lot because I'm neither politically sensitive or thin skinned)...due to the application and find it funny that you bother to passively protest and still show up and pay anyway.

 

[Nubs70]

Just got a call from guest relations, calling on behalf of George and Bob (I had emailed both Bobs and George). The guy was very pleasant and was calling to get more info and make sure he understood my concerns. It was a pleasant conversation, but I did pick up a few key questions and some info. He specifically wanted to know if my concerns were from personal experience, or something I read on the internet. He also was interested to know if I had believed parking costs were already included in the cost of the room. When I asked about the possibility of the fee being reversed he shared that Disney had made decisions in the past and changed them and that George and the Bobs were considering the large amount of negative feedback that they have received on the parking fees. He thanked me for my time and feedback, and also thanked him for the opportunity to share my concerns. We shall see...

On the personal experience question.

How could personal experience even be a consideration as the policy has only been announced on the internet and not currently in practice?

 

[Mainahman]

They were rampant in February..."most expensive day ever"..."most expensive week ever"...

...but next to the moms that had "lost disney princess"

I actually found it a bit sexist (as in a lot because I'm neither politically sensitive or thin skinned)...due to the application and find it funny that you bother to passively protest and still show up and pay anyway.

It made me chuckle. There was a couple that had that one.

Wife in the "best day ever"

Husband in the "most expensive day ever "

Made me chuckle

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

26k 1 star reviews on 3/15, as of tonight 3/18 70k

My major gripe in my email to them (i made 13 different points)

1. The fact that you are going to charge us to park our rental car makes me wonder, are you going to refund the cost of Magical Express since we don’t utilize that service? If not, what you are telling me is I get charged twice; once for Magical Express (both ways) that I personally choose not to use and then again to park the rental car. Is that fair? Magical Express can’t be cheap; busses, baggage delivery, flight check-in, boarding passes – it all takes staff, and staff costs money. But if I’m not using it, why are you charging me?

The problem there is they have never claimed that you pay for magical express in your room.

They've never claimed you actually paid for ANYTHING regarding your hotel. Nor will they.

This parking fee is the first time for a resort product that isn't considered an additional service.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

This is fantastically crafted.

You know, I dislike Toy Story Land coming, barf. But I understand that others would like it. WDW's creative collapse is open to subjective debate.

But I'll never understand why these upcharges, price increases, decreased services find their staunch defenders. Customers applauding what are easily understood as money grabbing schemes.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You know, I dislike Toy Story Land coming, barf. But I understand that others would like it. WDW's creative collapse is open to subjective debate.

But I'll never understand why these upcharges, price increases, decreased services find their staunch defenders. Customers applauding what are easily understood as money grabbing schemes.

Full honesty coming warning:

Because many Disney fans - including on boards - just aren't mature enough to patronage the place and accept that it's cutthroat business and getting moreso.

They HAVE to swallow and defend the "magic" horsepoop...or they can't be happy all the time thinking about it at home. And that's an easy Freudian tie to inadequacy/disappointment with normal life.

It's Valuing it far more than is healthy.

The definition of pixie pounders.

 

[wdwms]

The problem there is they have never claimed that you pay for magical express in your room.

They've never claimed you actually paid for ANYTHING regarding your hotel. Nor will they.

This parking fee is the first time for a resort product that isn't considered an additional service.

Precisely..its time to be transparent, which was another line item I threw at them.. time to give us a line by line account of what we are paying for. The entire hotel/travel industry for too long has hidden fees and never exposed what you are really paying for.

 

[MuteSuperstar]

But I'll never understand why these upcharges, price increases, decreased services find their staunch defenders. Customers applauding what are easily understood as money grabbing schemes.

I've said before that I think there is this smug, strange aspirational pride some take in being able to gleefully fork over whatever Disney is demanding while the lessers complain. But really it's like any other luxury item I suppose. Always an element of snobbery in play. It's sadly a natural human trait that I am certainly not immune from. But when it comes to WDW, they've long since passed any level of sanity for me in terms of value and pleasure. It feels just as chaotic and unpleasant as work at times and I'm not shelling out thousands for that. But I will allow that it's not entirely the company's fault--a lot of my dislike of what is happening at WDW is the same as my dislike of where our general culture has been heading.

Part of my sadness for this place that I truly love (3 attraction posters framed prominently on my walls) is that Disney is pandering to this culture a lot more than creating things that people didn't know they wanted. Again, not entirely their fault. As much of a cliche as it is to say it, I think technology and social media and the nation's sad, ceaseless obsession with their phones play a role. Even if they hadn't yet nuked World of Motion and Horizons, can you imagine people's modern attention spans and tastes sitting still for those? No way.

 

[Clamman73]

Precisely..its time to be transparent, which was another line item I threw at them.. time to give us a line by line account of what we are paying for. The entire hotel/travel industry for too long has hidden fees and never exposed what you are really paying for.

I don’t like the idea of this fee b/c it’s just a slush fund for them. There’s nothing mentioned about why this is being imposed, and people who park in the lots during the day don’t have to pay.
If they said upfront we’re starting to charge $5/day resort wide for the improvement and upkeep of our parking facilities then I might be fine with it but they didn’t do that...just shoved down the throat.

 

[wdwms]

I don’t like the idea of this fee b/c it’s just a slush fund for them. There’s nothing mentioned about why this is being imposed, and people who park in the lots during the day don’t have to pay.
If they said upfront we’re starting to charge $5/day resort wide for the improvement and upkeep of our parking facilities then I might fine with it but they didn’t do that...just shoved down the throat.

Hence another point i made to them: "Why don’t you explain where the parking money will go: new buses, new monorails, new innovative transportation systems that will want me to forgo a rental car and stay with you 100% of the time?"

 

[tirian]

Full honesty coming warning:

Because many Disney fans - including on boards - just aren't mature enough to patronage the place and accept that it's cutthroat business and getting moreso.

They HAVE to swallow and defend the "magic" horsepoop...or they can't be happy all the time thinking about it at home. And that's an easy Freudian tie to inadequacy/disappointment with normal life.

It's Valuing it far more than is healthy.

The definition of pixie pounders.

The company itself calls those people “Foamers.” It’s not intended to be elitist or disrespectful; it’s an honest label because those superfans disturb everyone, including imagineers who bleed red, white, black, and yellow.

It’s the same as when a creepy fan stalks a celebrity and can’t separate a favorite movie character from the actor or actress who played the part.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The company itself calls those people “Foamers.” It’s not intended to be elitist or disrespectful; it’s an honest label because those superfans disturb everyone, including imagineers who bleed red, white, black, and yellow.

It’s the same as when a creepy fan stalks a celebrity and can’t separate a favorite movie character from the actor or actress who played the part.

I hardly ever snarf when I read something on a Disney board...with my battle hardened sense of humor...

I just did

 

[lazyboy97o]

You know, I dislike Toy Story Land coming, barf. But I understand that others would like it. WDW's creative collapse is open to subjective debate.

But I'll never understand why these upcharges, price increases, decreased services find their staunch defenders. Customers applauding what are easily understood as money grabbing schemes.

How else will people know how much better I am than them if I don’t have lots of additional charges to humble brag about paying?

 

[tirian]

I hardly ever snarf when I read something on a Disney board...with my battle hardened sense of humor...

I just did

Glad to be of service.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

How else will people know how much better I am than them if I don’t have lots of additional charges to humble brag about paying?

Yeah that manifests itself in the creepy "Stockholm syndrome" nonsense that is Club Level...biggest "money for little" scheme going...

"Look what I'm really overpaying for....

...no seriously, LOOK!...SAY MY NAME!"

Can I coin the term "Arrendale Syndrome"? That seems to fit.