Paid parking is coming to WDW resorts March 2018

[cruiser21]

The fee is for "overnight" guests (for now anyway). They'll probably check the lots overnight.

I'm sure they'll have some way of enforcing it. Blue parking passes for overnight guests, green for visitors....or maybe we'll have to scan our magic bands to get into the parking lot.

 

[BWallaceKY]

Why I think it stinks, I think there is more at play here than just standard nickle and dimeing. I think we have to take a look at why Disney offers both DME and resort transportation. It is not provide guests a perk. It is to keep you on property and limit your ability to leave the resort and spend your money elsewhere. It used to be to force you to both dine and shop on property, but with the growth of Universal, Disney has to be looking to combat people leaving WDW to head over to Universal either for a day or split their stay. By charging for parking, it continues to make this a more expensive proposition. I really think that they are looking at forcing people who stay on property to stay on property their entire vacation. The flexibility of renting a car becomes more expensive and less attractive and therefore the temptation to split your stay becomes less. Those of us who drive to WDW, I think, are collateral damage in the bigger Universal-WDW war.

Good point, though honestly I think it's going to backfire in our case. We have gone 7 times in 7 years and have always stayed on Disney property for 8 days. This is making staying off property much more attractive to us and if we stay off property, we will split our stay between Disney and Universal or maybe even do a mini beach trip.

 

[mshanson3121]

I got the voicemail and email reply but I'm at work and I'm still pretty angry and I should probably cool down before I call and tell them that they all majorly suck for this blatant cash grab.

I did get an email reply just a few minutes ago from Iger's office (!) Asking if I could please give her a time that would be convenient for her to call me.

 

[mousehockey37]

I agree 100% with this. If I give free advice people usually value it as nothing, however if I charge them $75.00/hr for exactly the same information they will listen & be far more likely to do what I tell them. That's why I as a rule don't give free recommendations (and the fact I had to pay for college to gain the knowledge).
The bigger question is why would Disney do this? You know darn well they have marketing out the wazoo that probably suggests just this. Why not slightly raise room costs rather than do it this way?

I'd imagine it would have to do something with locals and weekend warriors. If they can hit those people up who may only stay 1 night or a long weekend, they may see an opportunity there.

 

[mshanson3121]

I told him to go online and read some message boards and social media comments and he'd have more than enough feedback.

FWIW, I did not include my phone number in the email either.

I'm on another very active group elsewhere, somewhere around 100K members, and about 99.9% of respondees are upset and many are downright livid. Some have even called up and canceled their reservations, others have said they just will no longer book with Disney. Some because of the money, others, just because of the principle of it.

 

[BWallaceKY]

Hmmm...I see another opportunity for an additional fee. Reserved parking! Pay an extra $5 and you can park closer to your resort.

Don't give them ideas! My ten year old just said "Are they going to make us pay to use the water fountains next?"

 

[cruiser21]

@DLgal - You made some great points! I didn’t get the “in line with industry standards” line - maybe I preempted it with some of my comments about already paying a huge premium to be on-site...

When DCL stopped letting customers bring on their own alcohol they used the" in line with industry standards" line Of course they did it so people would spend more money in the bars. It does become harder to justify the disney premium cost when they keep taking away perks.

 

[BWallaceKY]

I'm on another very active group elsewhere, somewhere around 100K members, and about 99.9% of respondees are upset and many are downright living. Some have even called up and canceled their reservations, others have said they just will no longer book with Disney. Some because of the money, others, just because of the principle of it.

For us it's not the money. It's absolutely the principle of it. I picture them all sitting around a table asking "What do we just give away that we can start charging good money for?" And I do worry about what will be next once Star Wars is open. Whatever. We will seriously just stay off property and share the love (our money) with other Orlando area attractions as well.

 

[charlesredmore]

(What I posted on the comments section of the news... its worth repeating lol)

I have a vacation booked in September, its paid for, I'm ready to go but this years news has me ready to cancel and go somewhere else.

-Raising the price of tickets
-News that they may be artificially increasing lines to justify the raising of prices
-Strong arming CM's during union negotiations by threatening to withhold money
-And now, blatant money grabbing by charging parking fees for no additional service.

I want to feel good about the companies I patronize. Not feeling good about Disney right now.

 

[DLgal]

I don't even have a pony in this race, so to speak. This won't affect our trip in July since we already booked. But we ARE renting a car and the thought that it will effect us "next time" got my blood boiling. Not to mention all the other people this will effect who don't need or want to fly into Orlando.

In fact, in my email and again on the phone, I let them know that the reason WHY I feel the need to rent a car in the first place was their asinine Water Parks Bus Transportation policy of needing to transfer buses. I mentioned how that took us by surprise in August 2016 and we ended up using Uber instead. I said it is a double whammy to punish people for choosing to bring a car in order to try and avoid their own poorly run transportation system. I mentioned the increased bus waits, bus sharing among resorts, and frequent monorail breakdowns. The guy said he would pass that feedback along to those departments and executives so that they can "look into what factors may be causing people to bring cars on property and address any shortcomings of the transportation system." Again, he was like, "that's interesting that your experience visiting the water parks in 2016 caused you to reevaluate your need for a rental car going forward." I had told him that we never rent a car (when we come as a family) and this year will be our first time doing so.

 

[BWallaceKY]

I just got off the phone with someone from "The Office of George Kalogridis." Talked to the guy for almost 20 minutes. I made it very clear how I (And many others) feel about this. The guy was very sympathetic, listened, and actually agreed with many of my points. He reiterated that they really do value guest feedback, particularly from their most loyal guests. He gave me the "in line with industry standards" and I pushed back with "Disney is supposed to be better than the industry standard. You pit yourselves above the standard in all your advertising and promises of magical experiences. Doing something just because "everyone else does it" takes you down to their level and exposes this for what it truly is, a cash grab." I also pointed out that a hotel in NYC can get away with charging $50/night for parking because there is NO LAND in NYC and parking space is limited. But they own ALL the land at WDW so there is NO excuse for charging to park on lots that they own and operate as part of the hotel. He was like "that's a good point. You're right about that." I also said that this one is particularly infuriating because the guests gets NOTHING for this fee that they weren't getting before. It has no added value (unilke all the other cash grabs, which at least give you something in return). He agreed that was a good point too.

Honestly, the guy was super nice. He kept asking me to expand further and really seemed to want me to spill it ALL. LOL. I eventually had to go to pick up my kid at school but he basically gave me his number and said to call him back if I had anything further to add. I told him to go online and read some message boards and social media comments and he'd have more than enough feedback.

FWIW, I did not include my phone number in the email either.

Great responses!

 

[jsbowl16]

I just got a call from the office of George Kalogridis. The gentleman I talked to was very nice and calm as was I. He let me say my piece for about five minutes but did not offer anything other than a listening ear. He did not say anything about other resorts in Orlando doing this. He just let me voice my opinion and we ended the call with thanks for your opinion and that was that. I stressed that I along with many others are very angry about this change.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

1. If a DVC room is reserved on points you shouldn't have to pay for parking.

Is this said explicitly anywhere (wrt points rented from a member)?

 

[DLgal]

(What I posted on the comments section of the news... its worth repeating lol)

I have a vacation booked in September, its paid for, I'm ready to go but this years news has me ready to cancel and go somewhere else.

-Raising the price of tickets
-News that they may be artificially increasing lines to justify the raising of prices
-Strong arming CM's during union negotiations by threatening to withhold money
-And now, blatant money grabbing by charging parking fees for no additional service.

I want to feel good about the companies I patronize. Not feeling good about Disney right now.

Yep, I went there in my phone conversation too. I told the guy we are super loyal WDW fans. We got married at WDW, visit almost every year, have been Disneyland AP holders for 17 years and we LOVE Disney parks. I never complain. I prefer to give positive feedback, but this one put me over the edge and compelled me to complain for the first time. I told the guy I let a lot of things go, and I still give Disney my money. But this one feels different and has made me begin to question how much more I can let them get away with, and that makes me sad. I said "It will be a very sad day when I have to tell my kids that Disney will no longer be a part of our lives and I feel that day inching closer and closer with every new money grab. This is not the kind of company Disney used to be."

 

[BWallaceKY]

So, if more people opt to not bring a vehicle what will that do to bus waits? I mean, we are those weirdos who have preferred to drive ourselves to the parks (except MK) because we've always had a stroller and 3 kids. It's just been easier and faster to drive ourselves. I wonder if this will cause the buses to fun full more often?

 

[MamaDork]

Screamscape and WDWMagic are reporting Disney could roll out paid parking at its resorts in the coming weeks. No word on exact pricing possible yet.

Can you say....GREED!

 

[charlesredmore]

Yep, I went there in my phone conversation too. I told the guy we are super loyal WDW fans. We got married at WDW, visit almost every year, have been Disneyland AP holders for 17 years and we LOVE Disney parks. I never complain. I prefer to give positive feedback, but this one put me over the edge and compelled me to complain for the first time. I told the guy I let a lot of things go, and I still give Disney my money. But this one feels different and has made me begin to question how much more I can let them get away with, and that makes me sad. I said "It will be a very sad day when I have to tell my kids that Disney will no longer be a part of our lives and I feel that day inching closer and closer with every new money grab. This is not the kind of company Disney used to be."

Yeah, I don't feel like it's the same company anymore.

 

[j2thomason]

I just got a phone call from a representative of George Kalogridis office which was kind of weird since I didn't include my phone number in my email. So they apparently had to look me up in MDE! I let them know that as an AP who drives there 5-6 times a year I felt as if I were being punished for driving my car to the resort and that the day guests should be the ones paying the fee instead of resort guests. I also said that the cost should be a perk of being an AP. She was very nice and said that they have been swamped with feedback since the announcement and she did say that it was a test, which was odd because I have not seen that in print anywhere. It was impressive to actually get a personal phone call to acknowledge that they were aware of my concerns....and many thousands of other people! Hopefully, all of these emails, phone calls, and social media posts will change their minds!

 

[DLgal]

Forgot to mention this:

Funniest part of the conversation was when the guy said this "Thank you again for submitting your concerns via email and agreeing to discuss them with me. Without guest feedback, I'd be out of a job, so I really do appreciate it."

LOL! At least he was being honest!

 

[Lost Yeti]

Like many of you, I am more upset over the principle than the actual increase in cost and, as mentioned, Disney marketing should know better. We are AP holders and live about 2 hours away. We make a trip up at least once a month and have been considering 1 night stays since we have a young child who absolutely refuses to sleep in her car seat. I don't think we'll consider that anymore which means fewer trips and fewer $$$ we spend in the park.

I'll be sending a few emails tonight stating the same and that, as a 30+ year stockholder, I'll gladly sacrifice an increased bottom line to get rid of this poorly thought out policy.