Now resort parking fees??

magicofdisney;2512062 wrote: This IRKS me to no end right now!

I'm right there with you and we don't even bring a car!

I couldn’t believe this when I read it. I already have my reservations made so I won’t be charged, but this may be my last trip. I have been going to Disney since 1972, and have been a die hard fan, but between this and other Disney views, and this blatant money grab, I do believe I’m done. At some point we have to say enough is enough.

I couldn’t believe this when I read it. I already have my reservations made so I won’t be charged, but this may be my last trip. I have been going to Disney since 1972, and have been a die hard fan, but between this and other Disney views, and this blatant money grab, I do believe I’m done. At some point we have to say enough is enough.

We always rent a car as we do some other area attractions. Not happy about this. Luckily we are booked and all paid off for our Thanksgiving trip.

The Hitchhiking Ghost;2512017 wrote: We must have been reading from the same source, as I just posted in rumors. I didn't see the fee structure. That is completely ridiculous. We are generally POR guests. We tend to fly in, use ME to get to/from the airport and resort, but often will rent on property to have access to quicker and immediate transportation.s Parking is never an issue at POR, why charge? Talk about a money grab.

So what is the impact? We still go, and will now put more pressure on an already over burdened and aging bus system, that people already complain about.

What next, charge you if you want to bring bags into your room?

What's next? PREFFERED parking rates for 30% more that regular parking rates. The Greediest Place on Earth.

The Hitchhiking Ghost;2512038 wrote: I'm thinking we have one more trip in us, then will stop using the Disney Visa and earn different rewards. Once Star Wars opens, its going to be open season on price gouging, I shudder to think what they will do.

Easy way to charge more for the resorts, that many people won't catch until they arrive. Disney is becoming a bygone memory to me.

Yes, they will charge for expelling ceo, having luggage, using the bathrooms, using the toiletries.

Since they were already testing the waters with towel service, that will be next.

Yes, when SW opens.. it'll be an all new cash grab.

This makes no sense. It feels like they are shooting themselves in the foot. The free parking at the parks is one of the justifications for staying inside. If people don't want to pay to park, then there are going to be more people on the buses. And the Magic Kingdom bus is already way too crowded in the morning. $19 for a moderate? So excessive!! But at least at the moderates, the parking is generally near your room. My recollection is that at the Deluxe resorts, the parking is further from your room, so you will be paying more for a worse "amenity". Parking is only an amenity when there isn't any, such as in the city. What happened to Walt's dreams about plenty of land in Florida?

buckethead501;2512060 wrote: I have already sent my email complaint to WDW guest relations about this....and I am guessing they monitor this site as well as other FB group pages that discuss all things Disney. All I have seen is negative about this. It may not seem like much, but add $100 here, another $100 on ticket prices, food prices slowly increasing...and most of us won't be able to go anymore.
And why do the deluxe resorts cost more? I understand why the rooms cost more. Are the spaces bigger? Are they covered spaces? Will they change our oil? Will our cars be pampered and get a deluxe car wash while it sits in the lot? Moderate resorts get a moderate wash, maybe a good wash and spray on wax but not hand waxed or buffed. And at the values it gets sprayed with a garden hose....

This made me laugh. The only good thing to come out of this bad news.

The Hitchhiking Ghost;2512038 wrote: I'm thinking we have one more trip in us, then will stop using the Disney Visa and earn different rewards. Once Star Wars opens, its going to be open season on price gouging, I shudder to think what they will do.

I pay for the Premium Disney Visa, and I think I need to start planning my future with a new card after my next trip. Really, I need to do it before my last trip, no sense in earning points during my last vacation that I won't use on another one.

The problem that Disney is having right now is an issue of customer service versus profit. Their marketing has done such a great job that there almost isn't a slow time anymore. When demand increases, companies naturally raise their prices. With the increased crowd levels, providing that magical service becomes more of a challenge and requires additional labor to provide.Recently, Disney has actually been experiencing a slight downturn in attendance at the parks, yet they are still raising prices - including this new resort parking fee.

What I think is actually going on is that Disney is trying to raise prices to help control crowding and still balance out a per cap ($'s spent per person entering the park). Per cap is a way that a lot of retail and especially amusement entities measure 'success'. If they can keep the per cap at the same rate, or even find ways to get a higher per cap with less crowds then it becomes a win-win situation. Less crowds means fewer employees which means a huge reduction in payroll overhead. Less crowds means less wear and tear on the attractions/facilities - translate less maintenance overhead. This all boils down to profitability for them. If they can reduce crowds by 2%, get an increased per cap to cover the difference, and save 5% in overhead, they will do it in a heartbeat! It's just smart business.

I'm not saying I like the parking fees because I actually hate it. I wonder what that is going to do to the ability to 'resort hop' for people looking to just take in the sights. Are they going to charge them a $13-20 fee just to park at the resorts to look around? (I thought that the parking fee would be an attempt to stop people from parking at the resorts to avoid paying for parking at the parks....but people staying at the resorts already park for free at the parks)

As a Disney purist, I hate the increased prices. As a business owner, I understand the strategy.

Disneyfun;2512101 wrote: The problem that Disney is having right now is an issue of customer service versus profit. Their marketing has done such a great job that there almost isn't a slow time anymore. When demand increases, companies naturally raise their prices. With the increased crowd levels, providing that magical service becomes more of a challenge and requires additional labor to provide.Recently, Disney has actually been experiencing a slight downturn in attendance at the parks, yet they are still raising prices - including this new resort parking fee.

What I think is actually going on is that Disney is trying to raise prices to help control crowding and still balance out a per cap ($'s spent per person entering the park). Per cap is a way that a lot of retail and especially amusement entities measure 'success'. If they can keep the per cap at the same rate, or even find ways to get a higher per cap with less crowds then it becomes a win-win situation. Less crowds means fewer employees which means a huge reduction in payroll overhead. Less crowds means less wear and tear on the attractions/facilities - translate less maintenance overhead. This all boils down to profitability for them. If they can reduce crowds by 2%, get an increased per cap to cover the difference, and save 5% in overhead, they will do it in a heartbeat! It's just smart business.

I'm not saying I like the parking fees because I actually hate it. I wonder what that is going to do to the ability to 'resort hop' for people looking to just take in the sights. Are they going to charge them a $13-20 fee just to park at the resorts to look around? (I thought that the parking fee would be an attempt to stop people from parking at the resorts to avoid paying for parking at the parks....but people staying at the resorts already park for free at the parks)

As a Disney purist, I hate the increased prices. As a business owner, I understand the strategy.

.....I think you may be over-analyzing the situation and their motives for this maneuver. Which ...is of course ....your prerogative. I too own a business (my wife owns two) ....and as such, particularly in today's short memory world, you are, as we engineers put it, "Only as good as your last screw-up"! (I cleaned that up a little to be more PG rated). It's almost as if you'd tell Taco Bell to make their food a bit less appealing so that they would reduce their lunch time peak demand and thus need one less counter person.

.....at POP last August we had the most un-magical stay due to miserable housekeeping, deteriorated room conditions, malfunctioning air-conditioning that took 3 days to remedy, and truncated pool hours due to staff reduction of life-guards. This was a trip in which we had 7 family members come along with us. Four of those persons were WDW first-timers ....to whom we had always preached about the wonderful WDW experiences we had in our previous 11 trips. I almost felt embarrassed as the problems occurred ...and felt compelled to apologize to those persons, in particular the first-timers for the lack of expected services / amenities.

.....this is nothing less than a blatant money-grab, fostered by an attitude of "We can do what we want, and get away with it because of our brand name".

.....their customer service industry smarts have been sorely lacking for a while, and it's likely that this move is going to leave a mark. I for one, certainly don't want to be driving 1150 miles to WDW, paying gas and tolls on the way, which is still more affordable than flying for us ....and then be told that there is a parking fee.

.....what's next, a $5 charge per item to have goods you bought in one of the parks brought back to your resort?

Well, i think a WDW experience is like drugs. They know everyone is addicted, and going to keep coming. So service and price. Not a big problem when they know people will come. They have the numbers and research. I bet a couple of hundred more a trip, won't keep most people from coming. Plus, they want to encourage you to be dependent on their transportation and be a captive audience.

House wins.

It's like a very popular restaurant with great food that turns away diners every day just because they can only serve so many people per day. Let's say they charge an average of $20 per meal, but at the end of the day there's still hundreds of potential customers that couldn't get in because every table was full all day. If they can raise their price to $30 per meal and and the restaurant still fills every table everyday, why wouldn't they? Sure, the customers who were used to paying only $20 may complain and stop coming, but the new customers who couldn't get a table before will gladly step up and pay $30 for a seat at a table. That's where Disney thinks it is anyway. They may be right, and if so, they can just raise prices until the demand stabilizes. But if demand continues to increase, they have no reason to not raise their prices.

Nothing but a blatant money grab. Resort prices have been way out of line for perceived value (at least for me) for a long time. We haven't been since 2004 and will probably never go back.

magicofdisney;2512061 wrote: Maybe I'll just leave my vehicle in the theme park parking lot (since it's free for now for pass holders) and just take the bus back to the resort...

Or leave it in a garage at Disney Springs where it will be monitored by Disney security 24/7...

You can bet the charges to use the parking garages at DtD is coming soon !!!