News WDW Resorts to add fees for parking

[wannabeBelle]

Yeah I don't think they were prepared for the amount of pushback that they are getting and probably will continue to get. Disney is definitely not cheap by any standards however the nickel and dime thing is just not cool, especially for people who are paying a good amount of money for a premium vacation experience. Marie

 

[SoupBone]

Yeah I don't think they were prepared for the amount of pushback that they are getting and probably will continue to get. Disney is definitely not cheap by any standards however the nickel and dime thing is just not cool, especially for people who are paying a good amount of money for a premium vacation experience. Marie

Just as an aside, I paid for "preferred parking" to several of the resorts last week, and for $45, there is little value. For example, when parking at the Magic Kingdom, we saw the regular parking groups streaming in only a very short distance from where we were parking, walking just a slightly longer distance than we were, and there was almost no value added to the experience. Water bottles? No thanks, I carry my own.

Disney, MUST, be able to demonstrate what the added value is to upcharging for services, or for adding things like overnight resort parking, or people will resist those changes. If you add overnight parking charges, which also do not allow freeloaders to park in my deluxe or moderate resort and take my buses to the parks, ok there's value in that. As it stands, this is just an added cost with no benefit at all.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Just as an aside, I paid for "preferred parking" to several of the resorts last week, and for $45, there is little value. For example, when parking at the Magic Kingdom, we saw the regular parking groups streaming in only a very short distance from where we were parking, walking just a slightly longer distance than we were, and there was almost no value added to the experience. Water bottles? No thanks, I carry my own.

Disney, MUST, be able to demonstrate what the added value is to upcharging for services, or for adding things like overnight resort parking, or people will resist those changes. If you add overnight parking charges, which also do not allow freeloaders to park in my deluxe or moderate resort and take my buses to the parks, ok there's value in that. As it stands, this is just an added cost with no benefit at all.

Great observation. Marie

 

[asianway]

In many ways DVC was the ultimate expression of the old Disney ethos, create a unique place and experience maintain the hell out of it and it will become both beloved and a licence to print money.

But now games are played with DVC inventory so that desirable properties are unavailable at 11 month window.

Or the new trick 'the disappearing ressie' where suddenly your reservation is cancelled because 'room is unavailable for maintenance' or better still 'cancelled by guest' Hey your vacation just went 'poof' because Disney needed it for a VIP or it could be sold for a higher price by CRO. Hope you bought travel insurance or had refundable flights..

Try to prove you did not cancel it, hey Disney refunded your points so its all good right, right???!

Its stuff like this thats going to pop the DVC bubble. Not a downturn because DVC sales were strong even through the 2009-10 recession mainly because then DVC was a solid value proposition.

The reason theres no availability at 11 months is due to commercial renters scooping up prime weeks. This is what they need to go after...

 

[mikejs78]

, MUST, be able to demonstrate what the added value is to upcharging for services, or for adding things like overnight resort parking, or people will resist those changes. If you add overnight parking charges, which also do not allow freeloaders to park in my deluxe or moderate resort and take my buses to the parks, ok there's value in that. As it stands, this is just an added cost with no benefit at all.

That's the thing. I have zero problem with most of the up charges at Disney because a) they are completely optional and b) they often provide some value. Maybe not for me, but for others. This parking fee is not optional for those who need to drive and it adds zero additional value.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Just as an aside, I paid for "preferred parking" to several of the resorts last week, and for $45, there is little value. For example, when parking at the Magic Kingdom, we saw the regular parking groups streaming in only a very short distance from where we were parking, walking just a slightly longer distance than we were, and there was almost no value added to the experience. Water bottles? No thanks, I carry my own.

Disney, MUST, be able to demonstrate what the added value is to upcharging for services, or for adding things like overnight resort parking, or people will resist those changes. If you add overnight parking charges, which also do not allow freeloaders to park in my deluxe or moderate resort and take my buses to the parks, ok there's value in that. As it stands, this is just an added cost with no benefit at all.

Also the people who drive to a resort then take a bus to the parks, all they have to say is that they are having lunch at the resort, checking out the resort for a future stay, shopping in the gift shops. During the day I doubt many people would be caught, so I don't think this will have a major impact on the number of people taking the bus system from a resort they are not staying at. I agree if that was the case I can see a value in it, but I don't think thats it. Marie

 

[asianway]

Didn’t know where else to stick this and didn’t want to start a new thread. And this is not a joke, but it definitely falls under nickel and diming.

At the Grand today and saw the fire pit going with the marshmallows roasting. We happened to walk right by and saw that they are actually charging for this activity! Now, I am most definitely in the pixie dust category, especially within the rank and file of this site. That being said, even I will admit that this is ludicrous. Can’t a guy get a free marshmallow at least?

Because of the Orlando locals who invade the resorts for free resort activities? No issue with charging

 

[wannabeBelle]

Because of the Orlando locals who invade the resorts for free resort activities? No issue with charging

Check room keys/Magic Bands to make sure they are a resort guest. Problem solved. Marie

 

[ford91exploder]

The reason theres no availability at 11 months is due to commercial renters scooping up prime weeks. This is what they need to go after...

The weeks we chose were hardly prime and it was not that the whole week was unavailable it was usually a single day or two in the middle of the week. But of course needed that day unless one was willing to gamble on a waitlist which over the past couple of years had also been increasingly unreliable.


Now I can see where if a whole week was unavailable its the commercial spec renters. But a tuesday or wednesday with all other days available strains credulity. Especially since I was usually after a 2br or GV.

 

[EOD K9]

That got turned into the Holiday Inn suites pool resort hotel, and that's off of I-drive... (if we're thinking of the same hotel)...

That probably is then. The Caribe Royale is on the left and the (old) Nickelodeon Hotel would be on the left about two miles before the property.

 

[EOD K9]

So I guess there still is something free at WDW

And the Beverly

 

[Lets Respect]

In many ways DVC was the ultimate expression of the old Disney ethos, create a unique place and experience maintain the hell out of it and it will become both beloved and a licence to print money.

But now games are played with DVC inventory so that desirable properties are unavailable at 11 month window.

Or the new trick 'the disappearing ressie' where suddenly your reservation is cancelled because 'room is unavailable for maintenance' or better still 'cancelled by guest' Hey your vacation just went 'poof' because Disney needed it for a VIP or it could be sold for a higher price by CRO. Hope you bought travel insurance or had refundable flights..

Try to prove you did not cancel it, hey Disney refunded your points so its all good right, right???!

Its stuff like this thats going to pop the DVC bubble. Not a downturn because DVC sales were strong even through the 2009-10 recession mainly because then DVC was a solid value proposition.

Why would Disney want to do this? (not the VIP, the higher price) I thought that rental money goes back into DVC

 

[Biff215]

That probably is then. The Caribe Royale is on the left and the (old) Nickelodeon Hotel would be on the left about two miles before the property.

If you're coming in on World Center Drive from the airport, Caribe Royal is on your right, and then the old Nick resort (now Holiday Inn) is down on the left across from the Marriott World Center and right before the WDW gates. Definitely not the 192 motels that were being referenced here.

 

[nickys]

The reason theres no availability at 11 months is due to commercial renters scooping up prime weeks. This is what they need to go after...

By commercial renters, are you meaning the brokers who rent out points? Or owners who own over a thousand points, and rent most of them out?

Either way, the points all belong to someone. And since they made the rules, they have to live with the outcome. There's not much they can do now. They certainly can't "go after them".

Renting is permitted, unless you rent more than 20 times in a year, when it is then classed as "commercial". If that's who you're referring to, then fair enough. But I don't think there's that many of them to make a huge difference.

 

[nickys]

I am not sure if this has been added in the thread but a visit to a travel agents disney meeting has informed that UK visitors on packages will not be charged for parking. !!!

That's the deal Disney do with the UK travel agents. And to do with EU laws also.

In the U.K. (and anywhere else in the EU that have these deals), it is common for packages to be sold for the following year. So we can now book 2019 packages. And the agents have already cut deals with Disney for blocks of rooms for the next two years.

EU law says you can't change the terms of deals part way through the timeframe of the deal. Therefore, until the end of 2019, any packages sold for dates up until the end of 2020 must be honoured on current terms.

Now a package is two or more parts of a vacation, so anyone buying either flights + hotel or hotel + tickets from an agent are protected from the parking fees.

What I can't work out is whether buying direct from the UK site is also counted as a package that is protected. I think it probably is, since it is marketed specifically at U.K. residents.

Of course at the end of 2020, Disney can do what it likes with our package deals, since we won't have the protection of EU law anymore.

 

[EOD K9]

If you're coming in on World Center Drive from the airport, Caribe Royal is on your right, and the the old Nick resort (now Holiday Inn) is down on the left across from the Marriott World Center and right before the WDW gates. Definitely not the 192 motels that were being referenced here.

Yes, I misspoke, Caribe on the right and Nick on the left. I got ahead of myself. But yes, not Nick being referenced here.

 

[Disney Khi]

This is hilarious. Im so mad Im not going back......after my next trip.

I’m not sure why this is so hilarious. I’ve had this multi-generational trip booked for months. If I back out now, my whole family would be disappointed. We already have annual passes, so we don’t need to buy tickets. Our passes expire the week after our trip. We were on the fence about renewing, but after the announcement of the parking fees, we decided not to renew. And we are staying at Shades of Green for the first time, as we couldn’t fathom paying the current prices at Beach Club (usually our first choice).

Although, I am glad to see that marshmallows are still free.

 

[thomas998]

Just as an aside, I paid for "preferred parking" to several of the resorts last week, and for $45, there is little value. For example, when parking at the Magic Kingdom, we saw the regular parking groups streaming in only a very short distance from where we were parking, walking just a slightly longer distance than we were, and there was almost no value added to the experience. Water bottles? No thanks, I carry my own.

Disney, MUST, be able to demonstrate what the added value is to upcharging for services, or for adding things like overnight resort parking, or people will resist those changes. If you add overnight parking charges, which also do not allow freeloaders to park in my deluxe or moderate resort and take my buses to the parks, ok there's value in that. As it stands, this is just an added cost with no benefit at all.

Funny, when we did the preferred parking I saw the benefit of how much closer we were. At MK the preferred was right where the AAA Diamond parking used to be and was so close that it would have been a longer walk to go walk to a shuttle than to just walk to the front gate. Did you arrive late in the day? I only ask because it seemed few people were even using the preferred parking when we were there last fall which might explain why those spaces were so much closer to the entrance than regular parking.

 

[jakeman]

Why would Disney want to do this? (not the VIP, the higher price) I thought that rental money goes back into DVC

They don't. He's making it up.

 

[LAKid53]

Why would Disney want to do this? (not the VIP, the higher price) I thought that rental money goes back into DVC

(1) They don't. And (2) That's not how DVC works.

It's all fabrication on his part to support his bias against all things Disney. As I've posted before, if DVC was doing what he alleges, we owners would have grounds for litigation.