News WDW Resorts to add fees for parking

[21stamps]

So what happens when we’re eventually paying for FP? It’s probably sooner than we’d like to think. As you said, everyone else is doing it, so why wouldn’t Disney follow suit?

Parking fees are just one more added expense to a WDW vacation. This one’s not even affecting me since I’m DVC, but I’m still concerned. I always thought I’d be buying more points now, but instead I’m getting ever closer to selling what I have. Fortunately we have discovered other vacation options that provide a better value in our opinion.

As of now, they aren’t charging for that.

You’re likely right, it just seems that @21stamps is using free FP as justification for higher ticket prices. I’m just pointing out that may all soon change.

If you add the cost of paid FL/Express, the cost is not less... And if you look at what you get at Disney, not just the ‘free FP’, but the parks in general, then I don’t know how anyone couldn’t see the justification in base ticket prices being higher than other major amusement parks... And Disney is comparable to Universal.

 

[Touchdown]

To the person who states you can’t do Cedar Point w/o fast lane you are doing Cedar Point wrong. I go multiple times a year and even on October Saturdays (their busiest days of the year) I’ve never needed fastlane to ride the rides I want (Fright Lane for the haunted houses however I’ve picked up a few times.) If you are a Platinum Passholder ($216) or a CP resort guest you get early entry 1 hour before opening, so long as you knock off Steel Vengeance, Maverick, MF and then line up to hit TTD at park opening during that first hour you will have no problem the rest of the day getting the other major coasters done.

A two years ago I did a financial analysis on a college sports price per hour of entertainment of a day at a national park, US beach resort, Cedar Point, Universal, Disney World and attending a college football game as I had visited these places in that year. In order to figure out the total cost I used the price of a one day ticket to each park (no discounts, no multi day/)face value of the ticket, parking fee, and my hotel cost (I stayed at RPR and WL.). Divided per hour here was how the costs broke down from cheapest to most expensive:
-Day at National Park
-Day at Cedar Point
-Day at Beach
-Day at Universal
-Day at Disney World
-Day at College Football Game

WDW is not trying to price match other theme parks, they are the industry leader, what they see is that Americans willingly spend large sums of money to attend sporting events and music concerts without complaints and has gambled that since we spend more at those places then we would at Disney presumably we would be willing to spend more at Disney. It’s good business, however I do despise added charges and wish the industry wouldn’t hide costs that way.

 

[21stamps]

To the person who states you can’t do Cedar Point w/o fast lane you are doing Cedar Point wrong. I go multiple times a year and even on October Saturdays (their busiest days of the year) I’ve never needed fastlane to ride the rides I want (Fright Lane for the haunted houses however I’ve picked up a few times.) If you are a Platinum Passholder ($216) or a CP resort guest you get early entry 1 hour before opening, so long as you knock off Steel Vengeance, Maverick, MF and then line up to hit TTD at park opening during that first hour you will have no problem the rest of the day getting the other major coasters done.

A two years ago I did a financial analysis on a college sports price per hour of entertainment of a day at a national park, US beach resort, Cedar Point, Universal, Disney World and attending a college football game as I had visited these places in that year. In order to figure out the total cost I used the price of a one day ticket to each park (no discounts, no multi day/)face value of the ticket, parking fee, and my hotel cost (I stayed at RPR and WL.). Divided per hour here was how the costs broke down from cheapest to most expensive:
-Day at National Park
-Day at Cedar Point
-Day at Beach
-Day at Universal
-Day at Disney World
-Day at College Football Game

WDW is not trying to price match other theme parks, they are the industry leader, what they see is that Americans willingly spend large sums of money to attend sporting events and music concerts without complaints and has gambled that since we spend more at those places then we would at Disney presumably we would be willing to spend more at Disney. It’s good business, however I do despise added charges and wish the industry wouldn’t hide costs that way.

Late June/early July is the only weekends we can go. It’s not a day trip for us, and any earlier or later is tied up with sports during the weekend, so that time of year I’ve found it is mandatory.

You’re basically saying the same thing that I have been saying.. the cost of entertainment has risen dramatically over the year, far outpacing inflation. The convo started because it was pointed out that Disney is rising higher than inflation, Yes, they are. So is almost anything else in the entertainment industry. The same complaints can be found in each area.. not just Disney.

 

[NelleBelle]

To the person who states you can’t do Cedar Point w/o fast lane you are doing Cedar Point wrong. I go multiple times a year and even on October Saturdays (their busiest days of the year) I’ve never needed fastlane to ride the rides I want (Fright Lane for the haunted houses however I’ve picked up a few times.) If you are a Platinum Passholder ($216) or a CP resort guest you get early entry 1 hour before opening, so long as you knock off Steel Vengeance, Maverick, MF and then line up to hit TTD at park opening during that first hour you will have no problem the rest of the day getting the other major coasters done.

A two years ago I did a financial analysis on a college sports price per hour of entertainment of a day at a national park, US beach resort, Cedar Point, Universal, Disney World and attending a college football game as I had visited these places in that year. In order to figure out the total cost I used the price of a one day ticket to each park (no discounts, no multi day/)face value of the ticket, parking fee, and my hotel cost (I stayed at RPR and WL.). Divided per hour here was how the costs broke down from cheapest to most expensive:
-Day at National Park
-Day at Cedar Point
-Day at Beach
-Day at Universal
-Day at Disney World
-Day at College Football Game

WDW is not trying to price match other theme parks, they are the industry leader, what they see is that Americans willingly spend large sums of money to attend sporting events and music concerts without complaints and has gambled that since we spend more at those places then we would at Disney presumably we would be willing to spend more at Disney. It’s good business, however I do despise added charges and wish the industry wouldn’t hide costs that way.

Curious which beach or how you came to rate going to the beach over going to a national park or cedar point?

 

[21stamps]

Curious which beach or how you came to rate going to the beach over going to a national park or cedar point?

It looks like he’s including accommodations.. and a couple of them may be driving distance from him, without needing an overnight stay..that’s the only way I can figure it.
We frequent a park called ‘Kings Island’, it’s close to home, but last Easter/opening weekend we stayed at a Great Wolf Lodge next to the park, for 3 nights.. if I compare that “per hour”, or even overall, to visitis when we don’t stay at GWL then the difference would be drastic.

I wonder how it would change if he would have figured his actual per day price of a Disney park on whatever multi-day ticket they had.


I think it also depends on what you do when on a beach vacation. We snorkel, do sunset cruises, eat a ton of seafood, visit museums and other area attractions.. paid parking at most, which brings my personal beach vacays to a very similar total out of pocket as our Disney trips..including accommodations.

 

[disney4life2008]

Disney should get into the car rental business. Provided the guest has a room at one of their resorts, why not offer them a vehicle at a *magical* daily rate?

If i recall they used to and still may. I remember when booking a package you could make it magical by adding a car and airfare. Both were more expensive than booking separately.

 

[disney4life2008]

I remember as recent as January 2009 i got a pin code for January 2009 that i paid 40 per night at sports, room only. I think now sports is running 120 per night even with a discount.

 

[Touchdown]

The costs were hotel, parking and tickets not food not transportation to the location. The National Park was Great Smoky Mt National Park (HGI Gattlinburg.) I stayed at the Embassy Suites North Myrtle Beach, which is part of the Kingston Plantation. The reason the beach was more expensive was the cost of the hotel as I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Sandusky and for the football game.

The reason I didn’t factor my costs traveling to a location is specific to where I live, the further away you are from a location the more expensive it is.

 

[VaderTron]

So what happens when we’re eventually paying for FP? It’s probably sooner than we’d like to think. As you said, everyone else is doing it, so why wouldn’t Disney follow suit?

Parking fees are just one more added expense to a WDW vacation. This one’s not even affecting me since I’m DVC, but I’m still concerned. I always thought I’d be buying more points now, but instead I’m getting ever closer to selling what I have. Fortunately we have discovered other vacation options that provide a better value in our opinion.

Sell while you can. DVC is just a game of musical chairs. When Disney deflates the value so low you can't even sell except at a loss you'll be the one without a chair when the music stops. Since very few are really doing anything except complaining about these parking fees (not many are withholding their business, and there were crickets when I suggested a letter campaign) you can bet Disney is ready to fire a few more shots at their base customers. They know now they can get away with blatant money grabbing tactics. Disney will claim they are trying to keep with "industry standards" and charge for Fastpass+ as you said. Then they will not let you bring any food or drink inside at all claiming "industry standard" again...So on, so forth.

 

[Touchdown]

I could run Universal, Cedar Point, Smokies and WDW again as I’ve done those in the last year. However my costs for tickets would be very skewed as I’ve had/have a Annual/Season Pass to all those theme parks (I have a Cedar Fair pass every year, I rotate having a WDW, Universal, and DL AP every year)

 

[NelleBelle]

The costs were hotel, parking and tickets not food not transportation to the location. The National Park was Great Smoky Mt National Park (HGI Gattlinburg.) I stayed at the Embassy Suites North Myrtle Beach, which is part of the Kingston Plantation. The reason the beach was more expensive was the cost of the hotel as I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Sandusky and for the football game.

The reason I didn’t factor my costs traveling to a location is specific to where I live, the further away you are from a location the more expensive it is.

Makes more sense now that I know there was a hotel stay involved

 

[Touchdown]

I didn’t want to include any day trip locations to standardize the costs, it’s not a fair comparison if you don’t have to pay for lodging one place but do at another.

 

[21stamps]

I could run Universal, Cedar Point, Smokies and WDW again as I’ve done those in the last year. However my costs for tickets would be very skewed as I’ve had/have a Annual/Season Pass to all those theme parks (I have a Cedar Fair pass every year, I rotate having a WDW, Universal, and DL AP every year)

For me personally, if I compare a Great Wolf Lodge Easter Weekend.. with paying for the “not included” rides at KI, the food, drinks, snacks at park and hotel.. to the same weekend at Disney.. having platinum passes to both.. Disney wins overall in terms of “value”. But value is extremely subjective.

I’ve already given my comparison on YC vs Hotel Breakers for the same dates, with buying Disney tickets- the overall price will come out similar, for me.

Everyone vacations differently, but if you really compare all costs.. many will probably end up in the same ballpark...if you’re staying at similar accommodations in all of them. I’ve said it so many times.. Disney resorts are ridiculously priced, but so are many destinations.

Doing Disney and Key West in the same trip one year.. and Disney then SoFla then a cruise another year, I realized how similar each one is, once looking at all out of pocket costs. Disney would probably win out as being on the low end of the bunch on “price per hour” if I actually did that math.

YMMV.

 

[NelleBelle]

For me personally, if I compare a Great Wolf Lodge Easter Weekend.. with paying for the “not included” rides at KI, the food, drinks, snacks at park and hotel.. to the same weekend at Disney.. having platinum passes to both.. Disney wins overall in terms of “value”. But value is extremely subjective.

I’ve already given my comparison on YC vs Hotel Breakers for the same dates, with buying Disney tickets- the overall price will come out similar, for me.

Everyone vacations differently, but if you really compare all costs.. many will probably end up in the same ballpark...if you’re staying at similar accommodations in all of them. I’ve said it so many times.. Disney resorts are ridiculously priced, but so are many destinations.

Doing Disney and Key West in the same trip one year.. and Disney then SoFla then a cruise another year, I realized how similar each one is, once looking at all out of pocket costs. Disney would probably win out as being on the low end of the bunch on “price per hour” if I actually did that math.

YMMV.

This is why exactly why I've come to enjoy the disney cruises--comparable costs (if not less) but food and entertainment all included where as we usually end up spending way more on just lodging and park tickets for the same week. Our 11-nt disney transatlantic cruise this past Sept. was way less, including our hotel in Barcelona for 4-nts + excursions than our 11-nt WDW this June is ending up costing us!

 

[21stamps]

This is why exactly why I've come to enjoy the disney cruises--comparable costs (if not less) but food and entertainment all included where as we usually end up spending way more on just lodging and park tickets for the same week. Our 11-nt disney transatlantic cruise this past Sept. was way less, including our hotel in Barcelona for 4-nts + excursions than our 11-nt WDW this June is ending up costing us!

I cancelled a DCL cruise for the week after Thanksgiving in 2016.. still regret that.
I had to reduce our time away, and gave my kiddo the choice between cruise or parks.. he chose the parks.

That week in a 5A stateroom on the Fantasy would have been less than Black Friday thru the following Sunday at WDW.. staying at GF for 6 nights, and WL for the last 3 nights. But our specific accommodations, and the lack of discounts at Disney World were the main factor.

 

[Touchdown]

I was looking at cost/hour not value, value is subjective. The main point of me doing that exercise was to show how expensive it had gotten going to my college’s football games by comparing it to other forms of entertainment. WDW is usually a once in a lifetime trip, people go to football games all the time.

 

[Mouse_Trap]

I think I will go buy an empty lot nearby off property and start to offer a parking with shuttle service at half the rate disney will charge.

There's a derelict motel right on the 192 by Disney that would be perfect for that.
$20 for the first day and $5 for subsequent days. Provide a free return shuttle to & from anywhere on property.
Easy money.

 

[Goofyernmost]

There's a derelict motel right on the 192 by Disney that would be perfect for that.
$20 for the first day and $5 for subsequent days. Provide a free return shuttle to & from anywhere on property.
Easy money.

You'll have to be more specific, there is way more then one derelict motel right on the 192 by Disney!

 

[ford91exploder]

Sell while you can. DVC is just a game of musical chairs. When Disney deflates the value so low you can't even sell except at a loss you'll be the one without a chair when the music stops. Since very few are really doing anything except complaining about these parking fees (not many are withholding their business, and there were crickets when I suggested a letter campaign) you can bet Disney is ready to fire a few more shots at their base customers. They know now they can get away with blatant money grabbing tactics. Disney will claim they are trying to keep with "industry standards" and charge for Fastpass+ as you said. Then they will not let you bring any food or drink inside at all claiming "industry standard" again...So on, so forth.

I'd have to agree, sold our 800 points last year, with all the blatant money grabs its only a matter of time before the DVC bubble pops.

 

[monothingie]

Sell while you can. DVC is just a game of musical chairs. When Disney deflates the value so low you can't even sell except at a loss you'll be the one without a chair when the music stops. Since very few are really doing anything except complaining about these parking fees (not many are withholding their business, and there were crickets when I suggested a letter campaign) you can bet Disney is ready to fire a few more shots at their base customers. They know now they can get away with blatant money grabbing tactics. Disney will claim they are trying to keep with "industry standards" and charge for Fastpass+ as you said. Then they will not let you bring any food or drink inside at all claiming "industry standard" again...So on, so forth.

Except it’s not in Disney’s interest to deflate the cost of resale points. If anything there has been a concerted effort to raise the cost of resale along with elimination of “perks”.