Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[DisneyDude71]

If you dont do a Downtown Disney Rate Access this comes up for the Hilton Orlando @ disney Springs.
Daily Resort Charge will be added to the room rate and includes: Guest internet access; Disney Parks shuttle; Disney Extra Magic Hours; 2 daily sun-care products; float lagoon access; DVDNow rentals; $5 discount on one attraction ticket; local/toll-free/domestic long distance calls.

and so far 3 out of the 7 disney resorts have no availability for my november travel dates!

snd this is what i found for the fourth
23 Nov 2018 - 24 Nov 2018 :$345.00

24 Nov 2018 - 25 Nov 2018 :$350.00

25 Nov 2018 - 30 Nov 2018 :$1,725.00

Resort charge:$210.00 $30 dollars a day NOT including a $10 Overnight Parking.

Taxes:$328.75

Total for stay:$2,958.75 then add $10 a night for parking.

So it would make no sense for me to change from CBR to that when my room is only costing 2621. add in the 140 if i had a car there it would still be less.

 

[nkereina]

I have never paid to park at a hotel in my life.

Really? While I don't agree the parking fees should be instituted at Disney, I've paid to park at plenty of hotels unless I'm staying in the suburbs somewhere. Universal has also been charging for a while too.

 

[FSU Girl]

No, this was not the seasonal rate fluctuation. Normally, in July, Disney would release the rates for the following year, with all the different seasons included. Once they set & released those rates, they did not change. But a few weeks ago, without any announcement, the rates listed were increased. For all the different seasons & at all the resorts. Ex: the exact same stakes & room I have booked at the YC CL is now listed at $18 more per night than when I booked it last December. That mid year rate increase has never happened before. Has nothing to do with seasonal rates.

I had no idea they increased their rates. That makes this even more annoying. They raised their rates and now tack this onto the stay per night. I was considering taking a break from Disney when my annual pass expires and I think I will. Maybe when the Star Wars land opens and its been a few years the hype will die down and Disney might come to their senses when way less people are flocking to their gates.

 

[gillep]

That sucks. At the DVC tours they always talk about how you should buy now because the price will go up next year but you get to keep the lower price. Not surprised, though. :/

The DVC guide is likely talking about the per point purchase price for each resort. There are two main components to purchasing DVC, your per point purchase price and your annual dues. Annual dues are paid every year by every owner, based on the resort that you own and the number of points that you have, our annual dues pay for things like maintenance, transportation, staffing etc., if those costs increase year over year our dues increase to cover those costs (and they are delineated by category and costs paid on our annual dues statement). The per point purchase price for each resort is something that you pay once, when you purchase, so in relation to that cost the DVC guide was correct, if you purchase today you will pay today's price, if you purchase next year, you will pay next year's price, which may be higher.

 

[macraven]

Really? While I don't agree the parking fees should be instituted at Disney, I've paid to park at plenty of hotels unless I'm staying in the suburbs somewhere. Universal has also been charging for a while too.

Universal has charged since I started going there and staying onsite

Can remember paying g $5 at
Hrh in 1998

 

[Karebear]

Is that exemption listed somewhere? And does that include people who book travel agent deals that are booked convention rates but aren't attending an onsite convention?

I don’t know if it is listed anywhere but it is true according to the agent that I spoke with.

 

[DebbieB]

That sucks. At the DVC tours they always talk about how you should buy now because the price will go up next year but you get to keep the lower price. Not surprised, though. :/

DVC annual dues do not have a charge for the use of parking, it includes a charge for the maintenance of the common facilities, including the parking lot. I doubt a guide said that dues will not increase. Just like your own home, prices go up.

 

[wishinon3stars]

I think the people who say they use disney transportation and don't drive a car there are not being affected by this are fooling themselves.
While it is not affecting their pocketbooks, I do think it is going to make their travel on disney transportation that much worse and less enjoyable starting from minute 1 when the Magical Express lines are even longer and the wait for the next bus is longer and then the busses to the parks are more crowded and arriving less frequently.

We have a trip planned in a couple weeks. We love disney but like others have said, we will definitely be looking to go elsewhere for our vacations.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I"ll believe the 5000 people an hour claim when I see proof. That number is dubious, at best.

It should, at least, be better than the buses, though. Hopefully...

 

[Tink-osophy]

A little OT, but I gotta ask—which is the hotter topic? Dog friendly resort rooms? Or this one—free parking going away?

For me, both changes and the way they are being implemented come from the same new-and-not-improved Disney attitude. That's the hottest topic!

 

[disneyholic family]

so now overnight resort guests pay to park their cars, while day guests continue to park at the resorts for free?

so last august, i would have had to pay an additional $576.00 to park our rental car at SSR during our stay?

i really thought the more than $12,000 we paid to stay there for 24 days was more than enough.

perhaps disney has finally managed to reach my tipping point...

.

 

[dachsie]

54,000 RCI points, RCI fee $229 and $49 a day for parking.

Interesting. My RCI fee was only $199 but I got it for $169 the other day for my Sept Disney trip with that promotion they were offering.

But still your total bill with parking is less than what would be comparable at Disney and that was my point.

 

[peabody58]

First off, as a DVC member, this parking thing will not directly impact me and we drive every time (6 hrs).

Last year we went to US/CBBR instead of WDW. They charge parking and it is tiered to the specific resort. As a cheap skate it irritated me to pay $64 for parking. And for the record, we spent twice as much as a comparable WDW trip and had 1/2 the fun. At least US/IOA is off our bucket list.

I did however like the fact that I could get a spot, and I also liked the gate-controlled entry into the parking areas. I hope the resorts implement similar gate barriers, especially at BLT and BWV. I also hope they implement day-use charges (2-3 hr validated dining exception of course).

 

[gillep]

As an update. I just received a phone call from George Kalogridis' office. The woman I spoke with did not try the industry standards line with me, likely because I had extensively refuted that claim in my email, she mostly just apologized to me that I had such negative feelings over this, and wanted to let me know how much we are valued as WDW resort guests. I was very kind on the phone, but I was firm that this did not in any way make me feel valued, and that I would not buy any of the excuses that I have previously heard laid out. I was very clear that I feel that WDW properties lag behind industry standards in many ways, and that this was only diluting the overall product. It was nice to receive a call, and she let me know that my letter was extremely extensive and provided many thoughtful points. She said George reads all his correspondence and that she would also share this call with him. Not exactly satisfying, but I didn't expect to bring about change either.

 

[n2mm]

I think the people who say they use disney transportation and don't drive a car there are not being affected by this are fooling themselves.
While it is not affecting their pocketbooks, I do think it is going to make their travel on disney transportation that much worse and less enjoyable starting from minute 1 when the Magical Express lines are even longer and the wait for the next bus is longer and then the busses to the parks are more crowded and arriving less frequently.

We have a trip planned in a couple weeks. We love disney but like others have said, we will definitely be looking to go elsewhere for our vacations.

I agree and surprised to not see this thinking more. Plus what’s next. You force everyone to decide to take buses, then they start charging for ME, then add that fee for the use of their transportation.

 

[Jennasis]

This move is in no way an attempt to "thin the herd". Disney, like any company, would be dancing a jig if they were operating at full capacity every single day. One could argue that crowds diminish the guest experience (something they have shown little concern for lately)...and raising rates and tacking on fees doesn't? Come on. And frankly, I don't think this will thin the crowd. Think things are bad now? Wait until Star Wars Land opens. It's going to be ridiculous.

No, this is about shareholders, financial reports and exec bonuses.

 

[UncleMike101]

If I had not already bought $6000 in Disney gift cards I would cancel our trip in September. After this parking fee issue I did a little research. I found out we could go to Hawaii for cheaper than Disney. Stuck this year but next year we are going to Hawaii.

My Son discovered that last year.
They went to Hawaii.
This year they were thinking of returning to WDW.
When I told him about the parking fees he said that they would have to reconsider the WDW trip.
Disney's greed is destroying their loyal base of customers.

 

[gillep]

I think the people who say they use disney transportation and don't drive a car there are not being affected by this are fooling themselves.
While it is not affecting their pocketbooks, I do think it is going to make their travel on disney transportation that much worse and less enjoyable starting from minute 1 when the Magical Express lines are even longer and the wait for the next bus is longer and then the busses to the parks are more crowded and arriving less frequently.

We have a trip planned in a couple weeks. We love disney but like others have said, we will definitely be looking to go elsewhere for our vacations.

Yes, exactly! I addressed this extensively in my letter and on the phone, the representative of George K's office that I spoke with had nothing to tell me regarding how they would ensure that Disney was addressing this consequence of the parking fees.

 

[PrincessV]

I haven't been able to read the entire thread, so forgive me if this is buried in here somewhere...
Has anyone been able to get an answer from WDW about what happens if you book now for a trip that will take place after March 21 (so no parking fee), and then you change your reservation when (if?) discounts come out? Do we know if the reservation would be grandfathered in under the no parking fee terms, or would it be considered a new reservation booked after March 21 and subject to parking fees?

 

[Amanda999]

But, this is the first time they have ever increased rack rates during the year. The rack rates for the full year of 2018 were released in June of 2017. Then they raised the rack rates a couple weeks ago. This has never happened before. In the past, once the rack rates were release they did not change.

Yeah I just noticed that Pop increased about $4/nt. (I check standard and preferred, mid November 2018.) I used the rack rate from Disney's site (by date - you can get the detail when you click on the price at the room choice page - and add 12.5% tax for Pop) against mousesavers (which includes tax) for 2018.