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
I was shocked to go to Vegas and see that most major hotels are charging for parking now. I remember when you would go from casino to casino driving everywhere for free. Now you have to stick with the property you choose and only go to those hotels owned by the same company. The days of free parking our coming to a close.
 
The least they should do is only apply it to new bookings - anyone with a preexisting reservation gets a voucher.

I sure hope so. We have a 19 day onsite trip coming up this summer and we're planning on driving down to Disney. If they start charging roughly $20 a night to park, our trip costs will increase by almost $400. We don't really go off property and almost always use Disney transportation once we are there, so it may work out to be cheaper to fly.
 
Everyone is already paying thousands of dollars to stay on site. Charging for parking is OK by me just fit into cost of resort, parks, food package so I don't see it. Lol
 
I haven't been in almost 2 years but don't they scan your magicband before letting you enter resort area like they use too? If so then how are people parking at resorts instead of parks? How they getting past guards?
 


I was shocked to go to Vegas and see that most major hotels are charging for parking now. I remember when you would go from casino to casino driving everywhere for free. Now you have to stick with the property you choose and only go to those hotels owned by the same company. The days of free parking our coming to a close.
If it's on the Strip I would expect it. The Strip is heavily pedestrian walked. And with the Monorail and The Deuce,etc there is not much of a reason to drive from casino to casino and the traffic can be quite bad. While it can take a while you can walk from one end of the Strip to the other. You wouldn't walk the same in regards to WDW.
 
Just in case Disney is dropping in on this thread to gauge the outcry, I will add my voice of displeasure. This will definitely negate one of the benefits for staying on site for us. We frequently drive down for long weekends (AP holders from Atlanta) and adding any cost for parking at the hotel would be far more likely to push us offsite. Though it seems Disney is trying to push out the middle class with many of its targeted premium offerings, so maybe that's their goal. Make more profit off of fewer guests and then have lower overhead (fewer housekeepers, etc). We would be much more likely to stay at Disney Springs, Bonnet Creek, or in a private home somewhere and drive in during the day to park for free at the parks. I'm already having a hard time justifying the price of staying on site - add insult to injury and make me pay to park to eat at a resort, and you'll find me eating elsewhere. To be honest, that's the price barrier that's kept us from leaving Disney property to go enjoy Citywalk in past years, and that was just a few dollars for parking after 6:00. Universal now offers FREE parking after 6:00 (to encourage dining, presumably) so I can't believe Disney is moving in the wrong direction on this. If it becomes $25.00 to pay to park to eat, that's going to be a hard no from me.
 
I don't think Disney transportation is up to the task of busing everyone. If this fee really does cause a change in people's habits (renting/having a car on property), I don't think Disney can keep up with it.

I know people will have had other experiences, and not all my experiences with the buses are bad...but when people are already having to wait 2 or 3 buses to get to MK for a park opening, then charging for parking at the resorts is a jerk move. Last trip we were going to a Halloween party at MK and we were at the bus stop at 2:45. We didn't make it to the park until 4:15. Those buses cannot handle more people.

At least they haven't banned Uber yet, so I can still use that service instead of their own highly inflated car service.
 


I don't think Disney transportation is up to the task of busing everyone. If this fee really does cause a change in people's habits (renting/having a car on property), I don't think Disney can keep up with it.

I know people will have had other experiences, and not all my experiences with the buses are bad...but when people are already having to wait 2 or 3 buses to get to MK for a park opening, then charging for parking at the resorts is a jerk move. Last trip we were going to a Halloween party at MK and we were at the bus stop at 2:45. We didn't make it to the park until 4:15. Those buses cannot handle more people.

At least they haven't banned Uber yet, so I can still use that service instead of their own highly inflated car service.

And I just had an idea to use Uber even more... Here's the work around. Pay to park at an MCO "Park and Fly" - $5.99 per day. Take their bus to MCO, use DME or Uber to get to your resort. Use complimentary transportation while at your WDW resort, and take DME back to the airport to pick up your car (or Uber). Save $20 per night on parking, less the cost of your Uber ride (if any, hence the DME option if you are long on time but short on $$$).
 
I wonder if they will start charging at Disney Springs garages now?

I think they would be foolish to try. I'm not sure how well charging people to park to shop would work. I don't think the locals would go for that.

Citywalk at Universal is able to do it because their shopping/restaurant district is at the same place as the parks. But even they have free parking after 6 pm so the locals will come to eat and shop.
 
I can see why they are thinking about doing this...I've seen at least a half a dozen "can I park at a resort instead of the parks" threads of one type or another every week here on the Dis for years. No wonder Disney wants to turn that into a revenue stream.

I don't like the idea, especially since we get a rental car about half the time. Maybe we'll luck out and resort guests will still be free at the resort they're staying at, or there will be free parking for AP holders...but I'm not gonna hold my breath... :-)
Exactly. Except I would have said, it is certainly every week, if not a couple of times a week.

I can tell you that I would be pretty upset if I had to pay to park, and those trying to game the system were able to park for free.

All of that said, we live 7 hours away and we always drive to Disney and park at the resort. We also stay at DVC resorts on points, about 90% of the time.
 
I haven't been in almost 2 years but don't they scan your magicband before letting you enter resort area like they use too? If so then how are people parking at resorts instead of parks? How they getting past guards?

If you say you are there to go to one of the restaurants sometimes you can get in, depends on how crowded the lots are

So you could say you are going to eat at Capt Cooks to part at the Poly and then go to MK instead
 
Just in case Disney is dropping in on this thread to gauge the outcry, I will add my voice of displeasure. This will definitely negate one of the benefits for staying on site for us. We frequently drive down for long weekends (AP holders from Atlanta) and adding any cost for parking at the hotel would be far more likely to push us offsite. Though it seems Disney is trying to push out the middle class with many of its targeted premium offerings, so maybe that's their goal. Make more profit off of fewer guests and then have lower overhead (fewer housekeepers, etc). We would be much more likely to stay at Disney Springs, Bonnet Creek, or in a private home somewhere and drive in during the day to park for free at the parks. I'm already having a hard time justifying the price of staying on site - add insult to injury and make me pay to park to eat at a resort, and you'll find me eating elsewhere. To be honest, that's the price barrier that's kept us from leaving Disney property to go enjoy Citywalk in past years, and that was just a few dollars for parking after 6:00. Universal now offers FREE parking after 6:00 (to encourage dining, presumably) so I can't believe Disney is moving in the wrong direction on this. If it becomes $25.00 to pay to park to eat, that's going to be a hard no from me.

I would hope they would at least do it that if you show a receipt saying you spent $50 or whatever that your parking fee would be waved
 
As price increases go, this doesn't seem like such a big deal to me?

Don't get me wrong, I don't like it. But when they are raising tickets and hotel rates they way they are, this seems small in comparison
 
I mean I have tables in wonderland so I get free valet but it just really gets my goat. I hate all these stinking add on fees!

I hear you - and if we weren't already pushed off site (largely due to having at least 5 in our traveling party everything we fit in is pricey for on site vs a 2 bedroom condo offsite) I am sure I would be more outraged
 
We have young kids (5 & 6) that are the perfect age for disney. We can afford to take them to Disney at least once a year, so we do. They love it, we love it. However, the more I see prices increasing or new charges for services that were provided as a part of my hotel or theme park ticket, the more I think about other experiences that my family can enjoy.



We’re a “Disney family”, my wife and I went on our honeymoon 10 year ago, we’ve gone to Disney at least once a year almost every year, and some years we’ve done multiple trips. Since our honeymoon Disney has always been in our future plans. That tide is starting to change in my house, we’ll take the kids while they’re young, but im not sure we’ll be going back when they are older. These price increases have really gotten out of hand. I know, I know, we’re one family and Disney won’t miss our money.
 
Everyone is already paying thousands of dollars to stay on site. Charging for parking is OK by me just fit into cost of resort, parks, food package so I don't see it. Lol

It already is fit into the cost of the resort, now they are just going to start double charging people for it and people will say "its cool, other hotels do this anyway" ... Yes, but other hotels don't charge what disney does, its already built in to the price, you are now going to be paying twice.
 
As price increases go, this doesn't seem like such a big deal to me?

Don't get me wrong, I don't like it. But when they are raising tickets and hotel rates they way they are, this seems small in comparison

Well it depends on your length of stay and how much the fee is. It's looking like it could be the cost of a 10 day ticket for us if the fee is $20 or $25 per night as a few people have speculated. That's pretty significant.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
 

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