Paid parking is coming to WDW resorts March 2018

Will the new resort parking fees impact your travel (planned or future)?

  • Not at all

    Votes: 234 28.6%
  • I might consider staying off site

    Votes: 245 30.0%
  • I will keep my currently booked trip, but will not stay on site after that

    Votes: 161 19.7%
  • I will cancel my booked trip and stay off site instead

    Votes: 37 4.5%
  • I will not be returning to Disney parks in the foreseeable future

    Votes: 79 9.7%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 61 7.5%

  • Total voters
    817
If you haven't watched Tuesday's DIS unplugged podcast on this subject, please do. Pete makes the case for families like mine who drive, and Ryno goes even further, bringing everyone to tears. It made me feel better knowing there are others who are not just angry about this, but sad about the direction Disney is going. I am not ready to let go completely, but I know that unless WDW dedicates itself to the quality experience it once was, my future trips are going to be planned with the rose-colored glasses off.
 
Last edited:


Shame on Disney, for making a profit? Really? Of course they are trying to make a profit, just like every other company. No one says "shame on Microsoft" or "shame on Apple"....why is Disney any different?

I think some people forget that. I see people say what would Walt say if he saw this and honestly I think his pockets would be too full to care. I do belief though Walt would have made improvements a lot faster.
 
Shame on Disney, for making a profit? Really? Of course they are trying to make a profit, just like every other company. No one says "shame on Microsoft" or "shame on Apple"....why is Disney any different?

Sure, make a profit all you want. I've said it before, TWDC is not a charity or a non-profit. However, they are really playing the Scrooge McDuck role a little too hard now. What about paying your employees a living wage with some of those profits? What about making sure staffing levels are appropriate for crowds and cast member sanity? What about ensuring that top notch level of guest experience? What about making sure the rides don't break down all the time (and it's not just the weather)? It's because the same thing that ails all publicly traded companies now: short term profits. It's all about this quarter and at most this fiscal year. The DisUnplugged episode from Tuesday hit the nail so squarely on the head. They are not gonna improve until they hit rock bottom.
 


I think some people forget that. I see people say what would Walt say if he saw this and honestly I think his pockets would be too full to care. I do belief though Walt would have made improvements a lot faster.

No doubt Walt had no problem making money from his ventures, but he also made darn sure the quality was up to his extreme standards. People would have less to complain about if their money was reaping equal quality.

They aren't even trying to suggest a parking fee is going to go to anything beyond the bottom line.
 
Sure, make a profit all you want. I've said it before, TWDC is not a charity or a non-profit. However, they are really playing the Scrooge McDuck role a little too hard now. What about paying your employees a living wage with some of those profits? What about making sure staffing levels are appropriate for crowds and cast member sanity? What about ensuring that top notch level of guest experience? What about making sure the rides don't break down all the time (and it's not just the weather)? It's because the same thing that ails all publicly traded companies now: short term profits. It's all about this quarter and at most this fiscal year. The DisUnplugged episode from Tuesday hit the nail so squarely on the head. They are not gonna improve until they hit rock bottom.

I'm in Atlanta and go to six flags here often. I pay about the cost of a 1 day ticket at disney for a season pass. However, I get what I expect for that cost. Ride operations not fast. Employees that don't care. Maintenance not taken care of, etc.

However, at the cost of a disney park ticket there is no excuse for any of those situations to exist.
 
No doubt Walt had no problem making money from his ventures, but he also made darn sure the quality was up to his extreme standards. People would have less to complain about if their money was reaping equal quality.

They aren't even trying to suggest a parking fee is going to go to anything beyond the bottom line.

I agree. I don't think Walt would have allowed HS to be such a bad park with so much closed. He wouldn't have liked to see so many construction people on property all at one time.
 
Shame on Disney, for making a profit? Really? Of course they are trying to make a profit, just like every other company. No one says "shame on Microsoft" or "shame on Apple"....why is Disney any different?

Easy target taking his quote out of context. Nobody begrudges any of these companies for making a profit, I sincerely hope they are successful. But as Roxy so eloquently stated they are clearly prioritizing short-term profits over long-term customers. So if tomorrow they announce that each resort will now include a $100 resort fee should we all just sit back and say "ok Disney is for profit and that's just them making that happen". Or what if that fee is now $200?

So regardless of how much price difference when you start charging more for your product while not increasing the value provided AND you give your CEO a huge financial package and your company is raking in startling profits, yeah the optics look pretty bad. It is understandable that people who care about your product are going to be unhappy. They have two choices: begin to deliver on the higher prices or just rake in the profits for a while and allow competitors to eat away at their market share.
 
However, by Christmas, which is when the PP was talking about, things could be different. I'm also thinking that pretty soon, they'll start charging day visitors, at least unless you spend a certain minimum amount of money.
Already have had my say on this topic way back on page 41... but to your comment about charging day visitors at least until they spend a certain amount...

That amount will have to be awfully high! Considering spending THOUSANDS of dollars to stay at the resort still incurs a parking fee now!

:rotfl2:
 
No doubt Walt had no problem making money from his ventures, but he also made darn sure the quality was up to his extreme standards. People would have less to complain about if their money was reaping equal quality.

They aren't even trying to suggest a parking fee is going to go to anything beyond the bottom line.
I agree! I wish that there was someone at Disney that cared about the guest experience like Walt did. He wanted an experience the whole family could enjoy together. With all of these upcharges, it is getting harder and harder for the average American family to go to Disney. The quality of service has declined dramatically the past few years while prices continue to go up. I questioned renewing my AP this past year. It may not get renewed again. Disney is losing the magical feel that guests used to experience and I think Walt would not be happy with that. Neither am I:worried:
 
I'm in Atlanta and go to six flags here often. I pay about the cost of a 1 day ticket at disney for a season pass. However, I get what I expect for that cost. Ride operations not fast. Employees that don't care. Maintenance not taken care of, etc.

However, at the cost of a disney park ticket there is no excuse for any of those situations to exist.
I live in the Atlanta area, too, and have stopped going to Six Flags altogether. Sure, it’s super cheap, but it’s just not a fun experience any longer (due to the reasons you mentioned).

I am afraid that, in its quest for industry standard, Disney follows Six Flags (except it won’t be super cheap). Ick.
 
I agree! I wish that there was someone at Disney that cared about the guest experience like Walt did. He wanted an experience the whole family could enjoy together. With all of these upcharges, it is getting harder and harder for the average American family to go to Disney. The quality of service has declined dramatically the past few years while prices continue to go up. I questioned renewing my AP this past year. It may not get renewed again. Disney is losing the magical feel that guests used to experience and I think Walt would not be happy with that. Neither am I:worried:

What's sad is many people at TWDC probably do care about the guest and customer experience, but because they are front line employees or behind the scenes sadly they are not in the position to make those choices. It happens in so many companies where employees give 110% every day and are not rewarded or recognized. I hope if people are still going to at least do cast shout outs on twitter (if you use it) or at least try to compliment a cast member if the interaction is positive. I am personally going to be much more proactive going forward on this upcoming trip and others. I challenge others to do the same.
 
Already have had my say on this topic way back on page 41... but to your comment about charging day visitors at least until they spend a certain amount...

That amount will have to be awfully high! Considering spending THOUSANDS of dollars to stay at the resort still incurs a parking fee now!

:rotfl2:
To the bolded not really.

At Aulani for instance here is how validation is structured:
upload_2018-3-22_15-36-37.png

We ate at Ama Ama and hitting $35 wasn't too too difficult and we had 4 hours total which we took to explore part of Aulan and we bought a picture display from there too. Seriously when you look at the structures there you can tell that Disney is giving a break to those who want to eat at Aulani, who want to purchase items at Aulani, or who want to take part in a spa treatment.

It's fairly easy to translate that to the theme parks since a Day Guest should only be there for amenities at the Resort such as spa, merchandise purchasing, dining and NOT as a substitute for parking in the theme park parking lots.
 
What's sad is many people at TWDC probably do care about the guest and customer experience, but because they are front line employees or behind the scenes sadly they are not in the position to make those choices. It happens in so many companies where employees give 110% every day and are not rewarded or recognized. I hope if people are still going to at least do cast shout outs on twitter (if you use it) or at least try to compliment a cast member if the interaction is positive. I am personally going to be much more proactive going forward on this upcoming trip and others. I challenge others to do the same.

That's a good point, the lacking in customer service I have described the last few years isn't due to poor cast members. I will say that Disney still has some of the best front line employees of any place we go, for anything. However, they can't help lack of buses, limited staffing/maintenance on rides, lesser hours, etc. It's pretty clear the issues originate higher up the food chain.
 
You know, I wouldn't complain once about any of these charges if I still got the quality of service that I used to get. They could charge me a lot more and I would gladly pay. But I question continuing to pay more for so much less - and by less I don't mean fewer rides, I mean a poorer experience overall.
 
Does that mean they’re going to start charging day guests then to “align” with their other properties? You can’t park for free at the CA hotels as a day guest, even in your have an ADR. That would fix the packed parking lot problem for some of the hotels during the day, but it is weird they wouldn’t lead with that charge if they were doing an “alignment.”

Yes you can. You can get validated for 3 free hours at the Disneyland hotels with an ADR. But JUST three hours. You get a time-stamped ticket when you pull into the lot, it gets scanned when you leave by a human in a booth. If you exceed the free hours, you have to pay $10/hr.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top