Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[CaptHomer]

Except, you have to provide a flight number to book DME.

Of course, I realize you're being facetious.

You can make up a flight number. You can just pick a flight off the flight schedule for an airline that is arriving when you are.

 

[Tash87]

This news makes me sad / angry

The DME will be so much more busy and after a 9+hour flight I do not want to be hanging around for bus.

Coming from the UK a holiday to WDW costs an absolute fortune ( I understand that it costly for everyone ) and with an extra $250 ish for parking it's disgraceful! This will definitely make us stay offsite in future. We already have a trip booked for October so hoping we won't be charged and then take our business elsewhere in the future.

*waves bye bye to my "free" $200 gift card*

 

[HauntedMansionGirl999]

I think its the constant fees and up charges that are getting to be too much. How much can regular middle class families take?

I feel like this is the start and as mentioned on the DIS weekly show:

• I could see them changing for fast passes in the future. They already have the test for club level rooms with the option to buy 3 more past passes for $50 per person per day.
• Maybe they might start charging a resort fee to stay on property.
• When the Star Wars area opens I am sure they are going to up prices again.

Also with all these raising fees they still can not pay cast members what they should be making.

I just dont understand Disney's end game.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I'm trying to follow this, they are exempting persons from the parking fee if they have an accessible parking tag for mobility-related disabilities. Which the holder can present at the resort to show that they have one.

The question now is why they will require parking payment for non-mobility-related disabilities. Which don't have anything do to with parking. I think the exact question was "if I have a disability that precludes me from using the resort transportation, because of crowding, etc., my parking should be free too."

But, a person who doesn't have a mobility related disability does not have a parking permit to present, the resort would have to take their word for it. The guest is also presenting the car as a tool they need to assist with their disability - when a person gets an accessible parking permit, it's just the closer or larger parking space they need, not the car itself. And it's up to each state who qualifies for a parking permit, not up to WDW.

I would have to wonder if the above poster could argue at the resort that the car is necessary to assist with her disability and she shouldn't be charged for it.

 

[yaya74]

When a new promotional code is applied to an existing reservation, will the "original" reservation date be changed to the time when the code is applied??

I have a current reservation that was made in Feb. I am waiting for the summer promotion to be released. If I apply the new discount to my current reservation, I wonder if my reservation would now be made "after" Mar 21 so the new parking fee would apply......

I just told this news to my DH who just shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes and said "oh well.. It's Disney." We drive to Disney to save $2000 worth of airfare. We don't go to Disney every year. Our last trip was 2016. After this trip, I don't plan to return until 2022 at least.... Let's see if Disney will charge us for toilet paper.

If this parking fee is used to get people to use Minnie Van or Disney busses, too bad this tactic does not work for my family because we will pay for the parking and drive to parks, until they start charging resort guests to park at theme parks.

 

[DJ!]

I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that not every disability may be a physical one. I have some experience with PTSD and for a long while, crowded public transportation upset me to the point of severe panic attacks (although I was not on any Disney trip during this time period). Would someone not consider that person as having a disability of some sort? I hope I am not being offensive here, that is not my intent, but more that a lot of people experience what are considered disabilities that aren't physical ones and don't warrant a disabled placard. I guess what I'm saying is, it can be a murky line to decide who is disabled enough to have the fee waived, and who isn't. I don't mean to delve into driving this off topic but I think it could be a point of contention. Maybe I am overthinking it, but I think it's not going to end well with Disney being the arbiter of who is "disabled enough."

Official info straight from a Disney CM RE: Guests with Disability Parking Placards

To avoid the fee for the parking, you can register your car with security or front desk. You must have a valid disabled parking placard to park in the accessible parking areas. As long as you do this, there will be no parking fee charged to the guest(s).

If the guest doesn't qualify in their state for the disability parking placard and have it on their person at check-in or the security gate, which it should be hanging on the mirror or evident on the car's tag, then the guest will be charged the parking fee. It's that simple. Not to say that other folks with disabilities shouldn't necessarily have the same rights, but at the same time, guests with disability placards are already, typically, not absorbing every single handicap spot in the parking lot on a daily basis either.

 

[patster734]

If Disney is using the excuse that other hotels charge it, does that mean Disney will also be starting a rewards program for frequent guest? Very doubtful?

 

[h&D3]

I would have rather had Disney keep the parking fee free for guests staying at the hotels (have an actual reservation and can prove it) and charge the folks coming in to park on a daily basis. That would cut down on people parking there and taking the transportation to the parks for free and not penalize the people paying already outrageous prices for Disney hotel rooms.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

• I could see them changing for fast passes in the future. They already have the test for club level rooms with the option to buy 3 more past passes for $50 per person per day.

It's been rumored.

• Maybe they might start charging a resort fee to stay on property.

Also been rumored. In fact, this one will probably happen sometime.

• When the Star Wars area opens I am sure they are going to up prices again.

Definitely count on this one.

 

[12jdc]

The added EMH given to some offsite hotels and tiered ticket pricing.

Someone help me what benefit is left for staying onsite?? I guess I will be enjoying my last stay onsite for awhile. That is a lot of benefits to dispose of giving out EMH and 60 FPP to offsite locations at DS and now charging for parking I really don't see why I should stay onsite.

 

[CaptHomer]

Would put money on "Resort Fees" coming next and the comments on the boards will be everyone else does it.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Seriously, it's this nickel-and-diming, cheap-out, upsell crap they've been laying on us gradually over the last few years that has really soured my feelings toward WDW. They've been slowly boiling our frog one degree at a time for years and I'm sick of it.

 

[BarbieGal457]

Official info straight from a Disney CM RE: Guests with Disability Parking Placards

To avoid the fee for the parking, you can register your car with security or front desk. You must have a valid disabled parking placard to park in the accessible parking areas. As long as you do this, there will be no parking fee charged to the guest(s).

If the guest doesn't qualify in their state for the disability parking placard and have it on their person at check-in or the security gate, which it should be hanging on the mirror or evident on the car's tag, then the guest will be charged the parking fee. It's that simple. Not to say that other folks with disabilities shouldn't necessarily have the same rights, but at the same time, guests with disability placards are already, typically, not absorbing every single handicap spot in the parking lot on a daily basis either.

I didn't say they were, and I really truly don't want to derail the thread. I do respect and appreciate your input but I think as a person with PTSD etc, I will refrain from further comment on the "what is a disability?" question. It's far too broad really for any online forum.

Regardless of that I still don't see this ending well.

 

[Farro]

Someone help me what benefit is left for staying onsite?? I guess I will be enjoying my last stay onsite for awhile. That is a lot of benefits to dispose of giving out EMH and 60 FPP to offsite locations at DS and now charging for parking I really don't see why I should stay onsite.

Location - walking to parks.

 

[DJ!]

I'm trying to follow this, they are exempting persons from the parking fee if they have an accessible parking tag for mobility-related disabilities. Which the holder can present at the resort to show that they have one.

The question now is why they will require parking payment for non-mobility-related disabilities. Which don't have anything do to with parking. I think the exact question was "if I have a disability that precludes me from using the resort transportation, my parking should be free too."

But, a person who doesn't have a mobility related disability does not have a parking permit to present, the resort would have to take their word for it. They're also presenting the car as a tool they need to assist with their disability - when a person gets an accessible parking permit, it's just the closer or larger parking space they need, not the car itself. And it's up to each state who qualifies for a parking permit, not up to WDW.

I would have to wonder if the above poster could argue at the resort that the car is necessary to assist with her disability and she shouldn't be charged for it.

I would think that the Bean Counter logic being applied here is that there are typically more than enough Handicap Parking spaces at any given resort or park on any given day. There is no need to limit access for those guest and it's a good will sort of gesture towards those guests. I am not saying that other folks might not also wish to make a case, just trying to potentially define the logic. If the point is to limit the glutted guest parking areas at the resorts, the one area that is not glutted there is the handicap spots, so no limitations are being applied.

 

[Iya]

Someone help me what benefit is left for staying onsite?? I guess I will be enjoying my last stay onsite for awhile. That is a lot of benefits to dispose of giving out EMH and 60 FPP to offsite locations at DS and now charging for parking I really don't see why I should stay onsite.

The only two I can think of are DME and dining plan.

 

[HauntedMansionGirl999]

I am sorry but a multi million-billion dollar corporation using an excuse of "well other people are doing it too". Is an excuse that a elementary school student would say when she got in trouble.

 

[KateP85]

I mean, I have my opinions on this. As a local, I'm glad they're not charging for day guests; we often stop in for lunch or to walk around a resort for a while, and I don't want to pay for that. I do think that change will come at some point though, although I would hope maybe you can get parking valeted if you eat at a restaurant or spend a certain amount in a shop.

However as someone who always brings a car when we do stay onsite, it's more than a little irritating. We do really love the off-site hotels though, a few of which are much better quality than the Disney product.

However my main feeling on this is that there is no point complaining because Disney simply DOES NOT CARE anymore. For every person that goes off-site, more will come along and happily pay this fee just because it's Disney. They know there is very little that they could do that would push a significant amount of people to stop coming anymore, so why does it matter? No matter what they charge for, it won't have a significant impact on their bottom line.

After reading some of these comments, I feel like Disney could position a Cast Member to stand at the entrance to each park and punch guests in the face as they enter, and people would still find a way to defend it - and people would still come.

 

[DopeyDame]

Location - walking to parks.

There are four hotels that can walk to a park. Out of 20+ onsite hotels. Even if you add in the other monorail hotels, it's still a small percentage of onsite rooms.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Someone help me what benefit is left for staying onsite?? I guess I will be enjoying my last stay onsite for awhile. That is a lot of benefits to dispose of giving out EMH and 60 FPP to offsite locations at DS and now charging for parking I really don't see why I should stay onsite.

Location. The resort transportation (a lot of people don't like the resort transportation though. I do.) There is even more non-bus transportation coming with the skyway being built.

Unless they start charging for resort guests to park at the theme parks, as long as you are not staying at a deluxe resort, it will still be cheaper to park at the resort than park at the theme parks.

After reading some of these comments, I feel like Disney could position a Cast Member to stand at the entrance to each park and punch guests in the face as they enter, and people would still find a way to defend it - and people would still come.

That's not even comparable, although it may feel that way. People are going to still come. It may not be the same people who always came before. Although everyone here would love to see attendance at the parks and resorts plummet because they're charging for parking now, that likely isn't going to happen.