Disney Resorts to start charging parking fees....

[BarbieGal457]

Disney is actually, in all of my travels, the only hotel/lodging I haven't paid to park at!

 

[msk]

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.

I also just received a call from George's office. The secretary was very nice and had obviously read my letter. We had a nice chat. I told her that I had been coming to WDW since before Epcot was built and I hate seeing the magic disappear. She never once mentioned industry standards but I also had mentioned that in my email. She hoped that I would be coming back soon. I told her that since the magic was being dwindled away little by little that I would probably take my vacation dollars elsewhere. She did say that they are getting a lot of calls and emails. I do feel like they at least have heard me, nothing may change on Disney's end, but they are listening.

 

[KenHutch]

I was going to call but after being advised on this thread, I sent an email this morning to guest relations. I have not heard back. I believe no one as actually had a written response provided. Someone could gladly correct me if I'm wrong

I did get an email asking if they could call me for whatever that is worth, I don't think they will enjoy the conversation.

 

[famsen]

I am getting annoyed with the people who are saying it's no big deal because it's just an extra $13-$24 a night. Who ARE these people and why do they think it's ok to belittle other's feelings? If they are so ok with the new parking fees and it's no big deal I will gladly allow them to pay for mine.
I try to SAVE money any way I can to afford to go to WDW, not try to find ways to pay more! We almost ALWAYS drive 18 hours from Chicago to WDW because I have a phobia of flying to the point that it affects my health. I do a lot of saving throughout the year to spend our hard earned money at Disney and I have no choice but to park our car. We like to stay at a deluxe if we've been able to save enough money. We rent a car to go down because we hate putting all that wear and tear on our own. In order to make the looooooong drive worth it we stay at least 7-10 nights. Now in addition to park tickets, room rate, rental car, gas, food, tolls I now have to budget to park where I will be sleeping and yes an extra $200-$240 IS a huge deal to us. It is the price of doing paid events like MNSSHP and Star Wars dessert parties. It's the price of a couple of meals at O'hana or Be Our Guest. It's the difference of a couple of extra days spent in the parks. I am shocked that Disney is doing this. I've made my decision and cancelled this year's trip because I honestly am appalled to the point that I will not give Disney the several thousand dollars per year I usually spend at WDW. To Disney a few thousand dollars a year is not a lot of money but if you multiply that times a few thousand families that may decide not to go this year, then maybe Disney will take notice.

 

[bloomcruisers]

If you are comparing parking in Manhattan to WDW, you are comparing apples to oranges. There is plenty of parking at WDW, not so much in NYC. I have relatives who work in NYC, and they pay $1400 a month in parking. And the only other time I paid to park was in Downtown Atlanta. I have never paid to park at Destin, Pensacola, Orlando, Key West, LA, Nashville, or Boston hotels.

This!
Saying it is industry standard is garbage unless you are talking metropolitan areas or areas where people would try to park for free so they could avoid the required pay parking nearby. But this will probably exacerbate that problem with more people “day visiting” the hotels for free and heading to the parks.
Also invalid is the comparison to universal hotels. Yes, you pay for parking there; but can walk or boat to the parks (no waiting for busses that might arrive on schedule and might have room for passengers at your stop). AND you also get free front of the line passes which cost a pretty penny if you stay offsite and have to buy them.

 

[UncleMike101]

I for one am super excited to go to Disney and have zero lines at attractions since everyone here is going to be vacationing elsewhere lol. Well worth $15-24 more per day.

That will only last until they have to close WDW due to lack of patronage.
A look at the past history of US businesses shows that when the patrons become jaded by price increases, quality drops, and perceived poor return for the dollars spent, those businesses close down.
A good example are the malls in the US.
They are shutting down over exactly those issues.
WDW is nothing more than a business that provides entertainment to the Public and when the Public feels ripped off they stop patronizing.

 

[maltdizzy]

Disney is actually, in all of my travels, the only hotel/lodging I haven't paid to park at!

Times are changing. A decade ago, free valet parking (not counting tip) was the norm throughout Las Vegas resorts. Now they charge $15 a day for self-park.

Plenty of free parking used to expected in the wide-open South and West. More recently, it's a lot of empty pay lots.

 

[gratefulfred]

This!
Saying it is industry standard is garbage unless you are talking metropolitan areas or areas where people would try to park for free so they could avoid the required pay parking nearby. But this will probably exacerbate that problem with more people “day visiting” the hotels for free and heading to the parks.
Also invalid is the comparison to universal hotels. Yes, you pay for parking there; but can walk or boat to the parks (no waiting for busses that might arrive on schedule and might have room for passengers at your stop). AND you also get free front of the line passes which cost a pretty penny if you stay offsite and have to buy them.

I’ve checked other theme parks who are in the industry and found they don’t charge for parking. Hersheypark’s Hershey lodge and hotel Hershey have free parking(even the valet parking is free at hotel Hershey which is rated 4 diamond), dollwood’s dream more resort free parking, cedar points hotel breakers guess what free parking. So what industry is Disney in? Must be the gouging industry. Of course if Disney is successful with this these other resorts may try it too.

 

[dansdad]

I am getting annoyed with the people who are saying it's no big deal because it's just an extra $13-$24 a night. Who ARE these people and why do they think it's ok to belittle other's feelings? If they are so ok with the new parking fees and it's no big deal I will gladly allow them to pay for mine.

I am pretty sure I've read every post (maybe I missed some) and I don't remember anyone belittling those who this does bother. Some posters truly don't think it's a big deal. Just like some guests don't think it's a big deal to drop over $2k per night for a Poly Bungalow. Those folks are entitled to their feelings also. We can have different feelings/opinions about this.

Having said that, I hate this even though it doesn't affect us because we don't have a car with us.

 

[megs1313]

I think what it comes down to is eroding good will towards Disney (the corporation) from its base. Many of us here have felt this increasing over the last five or so years and it's a matter of when, not if, this will finally hit them in patronage.

Personally, I was going to go back this year, but now? not without some added value since the prices have sharply increased across the board. I already chose not to renew my AP...

Edited to add:
they're going to have to discount a lot until SW: GE opens, IMO, anyway. Almost all of the casual disney-goers I know are "waiting" until it opens to do their family's once in a lifetime trip.

 

[scjo68]

Disney is actually, in all of my travels, the only hotel/lodging I haven't paid to park at!

I believe you. Obviously I know these charges do exist, I just haven't had to pay them. If you choose to stay where a parking fee is charged, or you have no choice but stay there, then you expect to pay for it. We must take very different vacations. Other than New York, I can't remember staying in a hotel or resort that charged for parking.

 

[cckp72]

Greed is not a good look, Disney.

 

[jimonb]

That will only last until they have to close WDW due to lack of patronage.
A look at the past history of US businesses shows that when the patrons become jaded by price increases, quality drops, and perceived poor return for the dollars spent, those businesses close down.
A good example are the malls in the US.
They are shutting down over exactly those issues.
WDW is nothing more than a business that provides entertainment to the Public and when the Public feels ripped off they stop patronizing.

I agree to a point, but I believe the mall closings are due more to Amazon and the like. I do not see a significant competitor to Disney’s product in the near future, not to say it will never happen, where as Amazon has the exact same product for a lesser charge. Did the online markets such as Amazon come into existence on its own or in direct response to the overpriced shopping malls? I don’t know. My comment was sarcastic to a point, but it seems every time Disney raises it’s prices, everyone here says they are never going again, changing their future vacation plans, etc. I am saying unless a significant competitor emerges, families like mine who can only sit and stare at a beach for 5 minuets before being bored out of our minds will keep coming back to Disney for vacations. Unfortunately, Disney knows this. The only significant competitor for this market is Universal, and they charge for parking at resorts.

 

[cckp72]

I think what it comes down to is eroding good will towards Disney (the corporation) from its base. Many of us here have felt this increasing over the last five or so years and it's a matter of when, not if, this will finally hit them in patronage.

Personally, I was going to go back this year, but now? not without some added value since the prices have sharply increased across the board. I already chose not to renew my AP...

Edited to add:
they're going to have to discount a lot until SW: GE opens, IMO, anyway. Almost all of the casual disney-goers I know are "waiting" until it opens to do their family's once in a lifetime trip.

I have a trip advisor review from 2008 or 09 where I said that I would never complain about the prices of tickets and the vacation as a whole because it was such good value with so much magic and happiness. I can't say that any longer Sad.

 

[SaharanTea]

If you are comparing parking in Manhattan to WDW, you are comparing apples to oranges. There is plenty of parking at WDW, not so much in NYC. I have relatives who work in NYC, and they pay $1400 a month in parking. And the only other time I paid to park was in Downtown Atlanta. I have never paid to park at Destin, Pensacola, Orlando, Key West, LA, Nashville, or Boston hotels.

Manhattan is smaller than Disney World, and it has over 1.5 million people living there, not to mention the gobs more working and visiting there each day. Huge difference.

 

[sgtdisney]

I’ve checked other theme parks who are in the industry and found they don’t charge for parking. Hersheypark’s Hershey lodge and hotel Hershey have free parking(even the valet parking is free at hotel Hershey which is rated 4 diamond), dollwood’s dream more resort free parking, cedar points hotel breakers guess what free parking. So what industry is Disney in? Must be the gouging industry. Of course if Disney is successful with this these other resorts may try it too.

Disney is following Universal's lead. Apparently, Universal is now the "Industry Standard". Nevermind, most of the time Universal Hotels are priced a little lower than comparable Disney Hotel. Who would have thought that Disney would be following Universal...

 

[kagmypts]

I mentioned up thread that we were in the process of finalizing a week long stay at Beach Club with our travel agent the night before this announcement became official. Since there is an off chance that we may need to shift our travel dates by one day (that change would occur after March 21), we decided to just extend our stay off-site. I communicated this to our travel agent, and I heard back from her today. She said that she is seeing 1) a lot of people switching their stays to Good Neighbor hotels, and 2) people rushing to finish their bookings by March 21. We will see how this plays out.

At the end of the day, Disney is in the service/entertainment industry. People are only willing to pay for the service that Disney provides. If Disney continues to erode the magic and make themselves like everyone else, people are only going to be willing to pay "industry standard" prices for a theme park. I can get an annual pass to my local Six Flags and White Water, the local water park, for $50 a year. As I have said before, Disney will not see the effects of their decisions when the economy is strong. When the economy starts to turn, the real impact of these decisions motivated by short-term profit will be seen. How will today's decisions affect long-term guest satisfaction? I think that Disney is going to be in for a rough time when the economy turns.

On a related note, people thought ESPN had too much of a claim on the sports market to turn people off. They were too big to "fail." ESPN wrongly assumed that viewers would accept whatever was thrown at them. What other options do viewers have? ESPN is now living with the consequences of those decisions. Disney is on the same path.

 

[fla4fun]

I'm just saying that an adult who travels and has never had to pay to park at a hotel blows my mind a little bit.

Why? When I am booking a hotel I take the time to read the fine print. If they charge a resort fee or parking fee, I just move on and look at another hotel. There are always options (in all price ranges) and I have always found a more than adequate hotel that meets my needs. Granted, I have no desire to go to Manhattan, Los Angeles, or Las Vegas as they just aren’t my idea of a vacation destination, but it’s certainly possible to be a traveler and not pay for hotel parking if that is what a person chooses.

 

[Carl4628]

I for one am super excited to go to Disney and have zero lines at attractions since everyone here is going to be vacationing elsewhere lol. Well worth $15-24 more per day.

Unfortunately, you will still have the same long lines. When revenue falls so does capacity, quality, customer service, and maintenance...Disney will protect the bottom line. They have already set shareholder expectations and will do anything to meet them.

 

[Carl4628]

I mentioned up thread that we were in the process of finalizing a week long stay at Beach Club with our travel agent the night before this announcement became official. Since there is an off chance that we may need to shift our travel dates by one day (that change would occur after March 21), we decided to just extend our stay off-site. I communicated this to our travel agent, and I heard back from her today. She said that she is seeing 1) a lot of people switching their stays to Good Neighbor hotels, and 2) people rushing to finish their bookings by March 21. We will see how this plays out.

At the end of the day, Disney is in the service/entertainment industry. People are only willing to pay for the service that Disney provides. If Disney continues to erode the magic and make themselves like everyone else, people are going to only be willing to pay "industry standard" prices for a theme park. I can get an annual pass to my local Six Flags and White Water, the local water park, for $50 a year. As I have said before, Disney will not see the effects of their decisions when the economy is strong. When the economy starts to turn, the real impact of these decisions motivated by short-term profit will be seen. How will today's decisions affect long-term guest satisfaction? I think that Disney is going to be in for a rough time when the economy turns.

I have been saying this all along. When the economy takes a turn, they will have to resort to promotions that are unthinkable today. I remember a promotion in the early 2000’s that you paid for 4 nights and received 3 nights free. I remember even booking a 7 for 3 deal. At that time the parks were in extremely poor condition because Disney cut maintenance and labor costs severely. Ride vehicles were not cleaned, trash everywhere, etc. It would be sad to see it get to that level again.