Charging Resort Guests for Overnight Parking

RunDMV;2512211 wrote: She has to face the public anger while
Iger and Chapek are hiding under their desk counting their stacks of cash.

Ultimately, the only action that will truly be persuasive is not adding your own money to those stacks of cash. Even then, it doesn't matter what you and I do, it matters what the marketplace as a whole does (but the power of the marketplace is unleashed when enough individuals decide they've had enough).

It doesn't matter if you hold your nose while paying somebody, only that you pay them. Until the marketplace is unhappy enough with something that they keep their money, or give it to somebody else instead, there is really no pressure to do more than token gestures. If you decrease your other spending on resort by the new cost of parking, they still get your money in the end. What that would probably do is earn a bonus to the "pay for parking" wizard and take money away from some other group. The only real power is in not giving them anything. I like writing them to let them know how their new policy incentivized you to alter your economic behavior, but I doubt that is found persuasive until they experience true negative economic impact.

Looks like Mickey turned over the reigns to Scrooge McDuck!!!! It may be a while before we go back. It is very rare that Disney backs down from a bad decision. I am curious to see if public outcry changes their mind this time. I am not holding my breathe though.

Just spoke to someone. I think the summaries above are pretty accurate. I certainly wasn't mean to her because that would be stupid. She did not make the decision, and clearly she's been put in the hot seat. She was very nice, sympathetic, said that the decision was made to bring Disney inline with it's other properties that charge for parking, Disneyland, Aulani. I pointed out a few things that I asked her to share, 1) space is at a premium in those locations, it isn't at WDW; 2) People are paying for large packages at WDW with hotel, park tickets, dinner shows, Memory Maker, etc. and it was a black eye for WDW to charge for parking on top of that; and, 3) It's enough of a cost that it could scuttle someone's vacation, maybe they'd just saved enough to do this, and can't afford the additional cost. No, I did not get the impression they're even thinking of backing down on this, but yes I am glad I added my voice. You never know how many people are calling and what effect it will have, so never think that adding your voice won't make a difference. But, realistically, as Tekneek pointed out, enough people have to vote with their $ to make a difference.

Cinderelley;2512192 wrote: You will choose which button to use based on whether it is liquid or solid waste and be charged based on how much water that particular flush takes. Then you will be charged per square of toilet paper.

I would imagine that a majority of people fly in for their visit to Disney World, so this isn't an issue for them.

Or if you want to grab a rental car, instead of rely only on disney buses.

Well, I'll have to use the bushes and grab a bunch of disney maps.

Send those emails!!! I sent to: Robert.Chapek@disney.com----got a call today. They are listening, he said they are having an overwhelming response to this decision and will be looking into it. Not saying it's going to change, but if everyone keeps complaining and possibly stop going, they will listen eventually. Bombard them with emails.

For a blast from the past, checking out this thread where parking fees were rumored to be on the horizon for Value Resorts back in 2010.

It took 8 years for the memo to be approved.

eeyoremom;2512231 wrote: Send those emails!!! I sent to: Robert.Chapek@disney.com----got a call today. They are listening, he said they are having an overwhelming response to this decision and will be looking into it. Not saying it's going to change, but if everyone keeps complaining and possibly stop going, they will listen eventually. Bombard them with emails.

Chapek and the rest of those $45 million+ a year money grubbers are hiding under their desks. They will pop their heads up only when the smoke clears so they can count their million dollar bonus checks for creating a revenue stream out if nothing.

Tough guys have hourly employees dealing with the backlash.

texas211;2512228 wrote: Or if you want to grab a rental car, instead of rely only on disney buses.

Well, I'll have to use the bushes and grab a bunch of disney maps.

The construction walls might give you more coverage. Don't get drunk and fall asleep behind them though. You may get walled in like the guy in Vegas.

Just emailed this entire thread to Iger.

paragon;2512247 wrote: Just emailed this entire thread to Iger.

Hey, don't do that. They may charge me for those maps.

Besides, I'm sure they have rules/filters and none of these emails are making to them. Even if so, not being read. I'm sure like most people, he already gets hundreds to thousands of emails a day.

I agree w/ the above. Nothing is going to change. They know they don't need to.

Well I received my call from Disney this morning, which was a surprise to get on a Sunday morning at 9:00am. The call was someone from "The Executive Office of WDW Guest Experience" and lasted 29 minutes 48 seconds.

After the call, my armchair evaluation of this decision was that it was not made oblivious to the blowback that was going to occur. The person I spoke with seemed well-versed in the company answers to a wide variety of points that I could bring up regarding this fee. She opened the conversion with her primary talking point, after which the conversation was led by me and the Disney rep was definitely well prepared and I did not get the impression that Disney was ill-prepared for the backlash.

First, the good news.

My phone call with Disney wrote:
[/GOODNEWS] :nono:

Now for everything else...

Excuses for the fee:

1) Bring WDW policy into consistency with other Disney properties, including "Aulani, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris"

2) Be in line with the hospitality industry at large

3) "Almost all" hotels in the greater Orlando area do it

4) Allow them to better manager limited parking "particularly at Deluxe Resorts"

5) Bring WDW into the same policy as other Disney properties (my duplication is intentional)

I began by focusing on how for me, as a non-user of Disney's Magical Express, I was infuriated that I am forced to "pay" for DME despite not using it while now being slapped with an additional fee to park my car. Her quick response was that "DME users are not taking up a parking space" which provoked me to cut her off for the only time in 30 minutes that either of us did so. I asked her if she was claiming that DME service cost Disney nothing, or if she was claming that parking lots cost Disney more to operate than DME? Her response was "certainly not" and then she went into two reasons why cars were bad and DME was good.

1) Parking at Deluxe resorts has become a large problem for those resorts

2) Substantial investments have been required in road infrastructure to support demand, and was needing even more to support new lands, including Toy Story and Star Wars.

My response was to #1 was that they could have better-managed the parking situation at Deluxe resorts without adding a fee, and as a matter of fact they have done the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of addressing the Deluxe parking problem by charging the people staying at a Deluxe resort a fee to park at their home resort, and going out of their way to "stick it to them" by NOT charging a fee to day guests, who are the ultimate cause of the Deluxe resort parking problem. Her response was that they "will be partnering with a software company" to better manage day guests and to enforce limited parking, including towing of vehicles overstaying their time. I asked if this meant there was going to be dedicated parking areas for day guests in order to manage their time, and she said no and went back to how they were going to "use our new partner software" to manage both overnight and day guest parking. At this point I said "good luck getting a parking spot at Disney Springs" with people trying to leave their car there, to which she said they would be towed after 3am, as well as towed away from theme park parking if left overnight, and she specifically urged me to "pass along to anyone on social media expressing a desire to do this that they will be towed." I also asked if this new policy meant the end of direct-to-room for drivers, and she said no that the software would add it to their folio when they scanned their band at the security gate. I told her my hunch is that there is no way Disney was actually going to start checking 1000+ cars at Pop Century to see who isn't registered each night, and that ultimately it will be another example where the liars will get the last laugh (people who claim to be day guests but are actually overnight guests). She reiterated that the software would address these problems, but that she "didn't have the details on specific resorts in order to comment on how things will be handled at each resort."

My response to #2 (the road infrastructure expansion) was that the new policy charging a fee to park-and-leave your car at a resort, but still allowing on-site guests to park for free at the theme parks did nothing to encourage the use of "public transit", and I kept going back to the costs of operating resort parking was far below the cost of DME or of the theme park parking lots, both of which remain "free". It was during this part of the conversation that I said this fee was nothing but a money grab that in the past Disney rose above, and that these nickel-and-dime fees are what made me never consider the Dolphin & Swan or any of the other "good neighbor" hotels. I added that now that Disney is just like the offsite hotels with parking fees, as well as the recent expansion of access to 60-day FastPasses, the value of staying onsite was greatly diminished for paying the premium cost for onsite stays, especially for drivers like myself. I reiterated my irritation that DME was free but parking was not, to which she replied "of course the cruise shuttle is not free, and I'm not sure why it is free for the airport but not for the cruises" but that it was-what-it-was. She also mentioned that "a large majority" of overnight guests arrive via air and that this policy did not affect a large portion of guests (she may have even gave percentages, but I can't say for sure).

At some point during her spiel about the "software" to be used to manage day guests, she went out of her way to talk to me about a firm change coming out of all of this. She said while it has always been official policy that anyone driving to another resort should only be allowed in if they have a meal reservation, Disney has very rarely enforced this policy. However, she was very firm that as the new policy comes into effect, there will be NO CAR allowed inside a resort's parking lot unless it's their home resort or they have an ADR at a restaurant within that resort. To make it clear how specific she was being, she gave me an example of how she personally enjoys eating at Mara's at AKL, and because Mara is CS and not TS that she would no longer be allow to park at AKL to go visit Mara, that she would have to park at the AK parking lot. She further talked about Pop Century, a resort I had talked about earlier with the 1000+ cars to check, was an example that because it did not have a TS restaurant, nobody would have a reason for ever going there as a day guest. I told her right away that I took exception to that statement, that I had in fact done just that once when I was staying at another resort but went to just look around the grounds (and another time where I was visiting family), to which she replied that "of course you could still do that by riding a bus from a theme park." So I said "so let me make sure I understand you fully, I have previously resort-hoped via my car to see Christmas decorations at WL and then the GF the first week of December (not peak times) as well as visited friends at the Cabins, and was waived on through the gate no problem, but now I will unconditionally not be allowed to do this?" Her response was "yes, that is correct".

I will give her credit that she NEVER rushed our call to come to an end, but after that last statement I had heard enough and I finally expressed my appreciation for the call and my disgust with the new policy, and that I planned on voting with my wallet. We said our goodbyes and ended the call, after which I felt a little cathartic for about a half-an-hour, but as I starting writing it all down that all melted away and now I am even angrier than I was to begin with. For the first time in my life I have Googled Universal Studios.

Thanks Goofy4TheWorld for sharing with us and kudos for only cutting her off once. Love the part about their new software, IT can't handle what they have now so I'm sure this will work :rolleyes:.

VWL Mom;2512278 wrote: Thanks Goofy4TheWorld for sharing with us and kudos for only cutting her off once. Love the part about their new software, IT can't handle what they have now so I'm sure this will work :rolleyes:.

I bet they start w/ that whole, give us your license plate jazz, when you check in. I hate when the rental car companies don't have that printed on their key tags.

Goofy4TheWorld;2512277 wrote: . . .
now I am even angrier than I was to begin with. For the first time in my life I have Googled Universal Studios.

“ Welcome to Universal Studios; where you’ve always had to pay for parking!”

Seriously, Disney should just tell us the truth:
“We are charging for parking at hotels because:
1) We can.
2) It will make more money for us.
3) We will still sell out our resort rooms.”

It’s not about managing the parking problem, or improving the infrastructure, etc.
We who don’t like it can either stop staying at WDW resorts, or . . . Well there’s no other choice, really. Because of #3 above, arguing about it, debating about it, or complaining about it is nothing more than spittin’ into the wind.
US: :beat:
WDW: :nopity:

texas211;2512267 wrote: Hey, don't do that. They may charge me for those maps.

Besides, I'm sure they have rules/filters and none of these emails are making to them. Even if so, not being read. I'm sure like most people, he already gets hundreds to thousands of emails a day.

I agree w/ the above. Nothing is going to change. They know they don't need to.

He may see how witty we are and hire us to Make Disney Great Again!