News WDW Resorts to add fees for parking

[wannabeBelle]

I'm DVC, I don't pay them.

Yet. I do agree it doesn't look likely that this will change in at least the short term. We will see what comes though. Given some of the recent cost increases of all types, it wouldn't shock me. Marie

 

[larryz]

I'm DVC, I don't pay them.

Well, when you add up the yearly maintenance fees and the cost per point, I'll bet you've already paid them.

 

[LAKid53]

Well, when you add up the yearly maintenance fees and the cost per point, I'll bet you've already paid them.

I have, that's why DVC isn't being charged...and we're owners, too.

 

[21stamps]

As a financial investment DVC sucks, but I bought in for vacations, But when your so called reservation is nothing more than a worthless piece of paper.

During 2017 marathon had a points "reservation" for a GV, First could not find then Desk insisted that we cancelled reservation, upshot was we ended up with 2 standard rooms in GF. Decided to sell immediately after this experience. Life is too short to deal with that kind of garbage

Ok wait.. I don’t have to own DVC to know that any timeshare is not a good financial investment. That’s a well known fact across the board.

A good financial investment would be to actually buy a vacation/rental property. Can’t blame Disney for what timeshare is/is not.

 

[LAKid53]

Yet. I do agree it doesn't look likely that this will change in at least the short term. We will see what comes though. Given some of the recent cost increases of all types, it wouldn't shock me. Marie

Disney would have a real problem since we own an interest in the resort and are already paying for such things as parking through our annual fees. You think the pitchforks are out now, just wait if they started charging DVCers.

 

[monothingie]

I'm just going to leave this here (emphasis mine):

 

[disneyflush]

As to the 'Guest Recovery'

The accomodations were in no way similar and I had to cough up 2,500 bucks for a suite at the Marriott Grand Vista for the ones who would not fit in the room(s) as we had some extended family with both couples the GV sleeps 12 and the GF rooms slept 4 and we had 10 people total. To top it off Disney charged the same as they did for the Grand Villa mainly because the way it was put to me was take the rooms or forfeit the points

No one in the party of 10 people had any details or confirmation information about what you had booked? ("Hey guys, just in case you need to know this or if you need it to book a spa trip or something these are the details for our big group vacation....) For the costs, my family would have had 8 out of 10 people with specific folders for fast pass times, dining reservations, park operating hours, etc. That said, this would have been a once in a lifetime trip for my 10 but if you had 800 points then I assume you were doing this pretty frequently with large groups in expensive resorts.

 

[LAKid53]

No one in the party of 10 people had any details or confirmation information about what you had booked? ("Hey guys, just in case you need to know this or if you need it to book a spa trip or something these are the details for our big group vacation....) For the costs, my family would have had 8 out of 10 people with specific folders for fast pass times, dining reservations, park operating hours, etc. That said, this would have been a once in a lifetime trip for my 10 but if you had 800 points then I assume you were doing this pretty frequently with large groups in expensive resorts.

If all of his guests were staying in one of the Grand Villas at VGF, they'd all be on the reservation, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get into the room. And the reservation would show up in their MDE account. Plus Housekeeping might have reported a room that had only 6 reserved guests, but 10 in the room.

If, and I mean IF, that had happened to me, I would have been on the phone with DVC member services, demanding to know what happened. They would have moved heaven and earth to accommodate my party. That's why I'm calling his story bogus. Absolutely none of it rings true. And I'm DVC.

 

[larryz]

Ok wait.. I don’t have to own DVC to know that any timeshare is not a good financial investment. That’s a well known fact across the board.

A good financial investment would be to actually buy a vacation/rental property. Can’t blame Disney for what timeshare is/is not.

The thing that gets me (and kept me from joining DVC) is the time-limited nature of the "ownership." It's more like "lessorship."

 

[LAKid53]

The thing that gets me (and kept me from joining DVC) is the time-limited nature of the "ownership." It's more like "lessorship."

It's a leasehold

 

[Dave B]

So I have a question, sorry if its been answered I didn't have time to go thru all 198 pages of this thread.

How will they know you have a car? I know you have to enter when you go thru security at the gate, but how do they know you have a car that will need the parking? I guess if you are driving up it will be obvious, but what's to stop from saying I am just having dinner or visiting the resort, which I understand is still free?

 

[wannabeBelle]

Disney would have a real problem since we own an interest in the resort and are already paying for such things as parking through our annual fees. You think the pitchforks are out now, just wait if they started charging DVCers.

Agreed and I hope that I am wrong on this one for sure. My DVC friends would NOT be happy if this turns out to be right. I just hope the annual fees don't go up more than the usual. If it goes much higher than that I'd suspect that the "parking fee" is being collected just not being called that. Is there a limitation on the amount that can be raised per year? Marie

 

[LAKid53]

So I have a question, sorry if its been answered I didn't have time to go thru all 198 pages of this thread.

How will they know you have a car? I know you have to enter when you go thru security at the gate, but how do they know you have a car that will need the parking? I guess if you are driving up it will be obvious, but what's to stop from saying I am just having dinner or visiting the resort, which I understand is still free?

I imagine they will start giving you the old dashboard parking permit again - one to designate resort guests and one to designate ADRs. GF has a seperate parking lot for visitors - that's where people with ADRs only are directed to park.

I'll be there in 3 weeks so I will report back - staying at Copper Creek.

 

[LAKid53]

Agreed and I hope that I am wrong on this one for sure. My DVC friends would NOT be happy if this turns out to be right. I just hope the annual fees don't go up more than the usual. If it goes much higher than that I'd suspect that the "parking fee" is being collected just not being called that. Is there a limitation on the amount that can be raised per year? Marie

That I cannot answer - I've never attended any of the condo association meetings. But we should all get some type of disclosure letter if they go this route for owners.

 

[larryz]

So I have a question, sorry if its been answered I didn't have time to go thru all 198 pages of this thread.

How will they know you have a car? I know you have to enter when you go thru security at the gate, but how do they know you have a car that will need the parking? I guess if you are driving up it will be obvious, but what's to stop from saying I am just having dinner or visiting the resort, which I understand is still free?

If you drive up to the security gate, and you're on the arriving guest list, they'll know you have a car.

If you drive up and you're NOT on the arriving guest list, you'll be logged as a day guest (and thus NOT charged a fee despite taking up a parking space that some parking-fee-paying guest might need).

 

[Minthorne]

Agreed and I hope that I am wrong on this one for sure. My DVC friends would NOT be happy if this turns out to be right. I just hope the annual fees don't go up more than the usual. If it goes much higher than that I'd suspect that the "parking fee" is being collected just not being called that. Is there a limitation on the amount that can be raised per year? Marie

I'm a DVC member. They cannot add parking fees for DVC members staying on a reservation where DVC points were used to book the accommodation. Both DL and Aluni have charged cash guests for parking for years, yet do not charge DVC members.

If folks cannot believe all the DVC members who have obsessed over their contract wording; believe the reality. If Disney could have charged the DVC members at those places all the years, don't you think they would have? The same holds true at WDW. If not, why exclude DVC when they added the parking fees?

And the Dues that members pay are not arbitrary, they have to be based on actual expenses, and highly regulated by state law.

 

[Minthorne]

If you drive up to the security gate, and you're on the arriving guest list, they'll know you have a car.

If you drive up and you're NOT on the arriving guest list, you'll be logged as a day guest (and thus NOT charged a fee despite taking up a parking space that some parking-fee-paying guest might need).

Unless you take an Uber/Lyft.

 

[Dave B]

If you drive up to the security gate, and you're on the arriving guest list, they'll know you have a car.

If you drive up and you're NOT on the arriving guest list, you'll be logged as a day guest (and thus NOT charged a fee despite taking up a parking space that some parking-fee-paying guest might need).

Unless you don't indicate you are staying on property and you tell them you are visiting?

 

[LAKid53]

If you drive up to the security gate, and you're on the arriving guest list, they'll know you have a car.

If you drive up and you're NOT on the arriving guest list, you'll be logged as a day guest (and thus NOT charged a fee despite taking up a parking space that some parking-fee-paying guest might need).

They've been restricting day guests for several years now, especially at the MK resorts.

 

[Dave B]

They've been restricting day guests for several years now, especially at the MK resorts.

That is not 100% accurate, maybe restricting, based on traffic, but I have NEVER been turned away from a resort when we go to resort hop and visit, NEVER