Please help me to not hate Disney!

[Thrif-t]

Oh people are complaining! There is a hundred page thread on the disboards about it. Everybody is up in arms. People have been emailing Disney and complaining. Most see this as a final straw! They're increases on tickets, resorts, cutbacks on staffing, is all contributing to dissatisfaction.

Disney is calling people back, mostly to try and appease people, but no-one thinks they are going to rescind this fee.

I can't say this affects us. We stay off site. We also have old tickets that don't expire until you use all the admissions, you can't buy those types of tickets anymore. So for us Disney is a pretty cheap destination with the great deals we can get on off site condos. After our very first visit, when we didn't know any better, we've never stayed onsite since.

The parks are so crowded so if this helps alleviate the masses and provides for a better experience, I'm all for it. But I doubt it, there are new Disney customers born every minute. Until we have another recession, nothing is going to keep the masses away. Vacations have gotten to be a 'right" with many.

[disneysteve]

I just heard that Disney World Resorts is charging hotel guests $13 to $24 a night for parking. Now I can see charging park goes who are not staying at the hotel for parking but charging hotel guests for parking is beyond me.

I bet DS can come by and give better details on just how this effects regular visitors.

QMM is correct. They are starting to charge for parking for overnight guests. This change has NOT gone over well, as Thrift-t mentioned.

So let's look at this from both sides. Virtually every hotel in any major city or resort area charges for parking. Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Chicago, etc. We were in Louisville, KY a few months ago and paid $30-ish/day for parking. So the idea of a hotel charging for parking is incredibly common. Universal Orlando has been doing it for many years, possibly since they opened. So it's not like Disney just happened to come up with this idea on their own.

That said, Disney has always promoted their onsite hotels as having certain perks - free parking being one of them. They charge a significant premium - 200-300% - for those hotels because you get things like free parking, free onsite transportation, in recent years free transfers to and from the airport, extended park hours on select days, etc. Now they've started to chip away at those perks. Several non-Disney offsite hotels now have the extended hours available to them too. Free parking is now going away. But the hotels are still charging that 200-300% premium and people are well aware of that. What's the point in paying that premium if you're no longer getting the perks? You can pay 1/2 or 1/3 as much and stay at the Marriott offsite and save more than enough to cover a rental car to get you to and from property.

Even though an extra $90-$170 for a week's vacation isn't a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, the principle of it is really upsetting people, understandably so. We'll see if it actually happens but many people are saying that this is the last straw that will get them to stop coughing up that big premium to stay onsite.

I'm waiting to see how they handle day guests like us, people who aren't staying at the hotel but just come by to walk around, shop, have a meal, or get a drink. The wording of the new policy is kind of vague regarding whether or not we will have to pay for parking as well. If we do, that will absolutely change our behavior and we will be much less likely to visit the resorts. We're not going to stop by for lunch if we have to pay $24 to park.

The problem is that there are always people with deep pockets willing to pay whatever Disney charges so Disney keeps upping the costs knowing that. It prices out average folks little by little but attendance keeps rising anyway. When it might backfire on Disney is when we hit the next downturn in the economy. Another 2008-style recession and all of these new up charges may come back to bite them.

[disneysteve]

The parks are so crowded so if this helps alleviate the masses and provides for a better experience, I'm all for it. But I doubt it

This will do absolutely nothing to alleviate the crowds.

The only way Disney can reduce the crowds is to cap attendance each day and close the gates when the pre-determined number of people have entered. That's never going to happen. I mean it happens on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve but I don't think we'll ever see it happen on a routine basis. And even on those days, the point at which they close the gates is after the park is wall to wall people. They will never cap it at what most guests would agree is a reasonable number.

[bennkar]

That said, Disney has always promoted their onsite hotels as having certain perks - free parking being one of them. They charge a significant premium - 200-300% - for those hotels because you get things like free parking, free onsite transportation, in recent years free transfers to and from the airport, extended park hours on select days, etc.

You know I thought on this and wondered if they are going to sell this as a way to have a more immersive experience. Think about it...they are going to have the Star Wars hotel, and try to do everything to make it immersive while you are there, and even at the parks. But if you take your car you could still worry about your car, you could drive off the Disney Reservation (I'll trademark that ) and lose that "all in" feel. Now if they know you are coming to stay at the Star Wars hotel, you could be picked up at the airport by a Stormtrooper, you'll never leave Disney, be constantly referred to a part of the Star Wars universe, and then taken back to the airport by the same Stormtrooper (or Rebel - whatever floats your boat). It would give you that Star Wars feel 24 hrs a day for 7 days. Hey I know its about the $$$$, but they could try to sell it that way.

[disneysteve]

You know I thought on this and wondered if they are going to sell this as a way to have a more immersive experience.

you could be picked up at the airport

That might appeal to a very niche crowd who is coming strictly for the Star Wars experience but beyond that, it wouldn't make sense. If you are flying in, staying at the Star Wars hotel, which isn't even going to exist for a couple more years, visiting Galaxy's Edge, and then going home, you could be immersed the whole time. But 99.9% of guests aren't doing that.

Lots of guests (like us) drive to Disney so they have a car with them whether they touch it during their stay or not, so now they're spending that extra money for parking. And even after the SW hotel is open, most guests will be staying in the 20+ other hotels Disney has. The SW experience won't be present there, or in the 3 other theme parks, the water parks, Disney Springs, etc.

[QuarterMillionMan]

The parking fees for hotel guests struck a nerve with me even though it will not affect me because I will not be going to Disney World or Disney Land. However, I can relate to the uproar about the parking fees because it is just plain greedy. Yeah I know it's about the bottom line but hotel guests will get hit with the parking fees as well, come on now Disney. The title of this thread explains it well, "Please help me to not hate Disney!" (lol)

[disneysteve]

Oh people are complaining! There is a hundred page thread on the disboards about it. Everybody is up in arms. People have been emailing Disney and complaining. Most see this as a final straw!

For those not plugged into the Disney fan community, here is just one example of a devoted guest who has had enough. There are thousands of posts like this since the announcement was made.

I have been traveling to Disney World for nearly 30 years now for family vacations with my wife, son and parents as well as alone trips with just my wife. In recent years we have been talking how it is a shame things have been changing, for the worse. Now comes this news, which has made our decision on future vacations for us. We will be looking elsewhere for our end of summer, 15-night family vacation. There is NO way I will be giving Disney $285 extra dollars to park my vehicle at Coronado Springs.

Fans complain every time prices go up but I think this particular change is actually going to affect people's behavior. I think they see it as being charged for nothing. When park ticket prices go up, at least you can point to new attractions and experiences to justify the cost, but having parking suddenly go from free to $24/day for absolutely no reason just isn't going over well.

[snafu]

Does the Disney Corporation have a 'special' relationship with the fire department to limit how many people are allowed on the grounds? There are acceptable density requirements like 10 - 15 people per 10 square meters space, to allow free movement for example.

[http://www.laeog.org/28.10.12/LAEOG_Density_V1.0.pdf]

Yeah, shareholders want to see those smart figures. No longer the 'Happiest place on Earth,' as joy dissipates significantly when children's main Disney memory is waiting in l-o-n-g lines for everything. Likewise, parent's main memory is cost of visit whose time was mostly spent waiting and coping with tired, disappointed, cranky children.

[Like2Plan]

Disneyland resorts have charged for parking for as long as I have ever stayed there (unless you are DVC staying on points). I don’t like additional fees — (at one time they had a resort fee, too- not sure it is still in place). But, real estate is tight in that area—and maybe you are more likely to have a car there...

Still, you would think the megabucks you pay for the hotel would cover parking...


Another aspect that I hope doesn’t happen at Disney world is that every surrounding hotel copies this.

[disneysteve]

Another aspect that I hope doesn’t happen at Disney world is that every surrounding hotel copies this.

The Universal resorts have charged for parking for years, whether you are staying there or not.

The Gaylord Palms has charged for parking since they opened I believe, again, if you are staying there or not.

I believe the Four Seasons Orlando charges for parking.

There may be other area hotels that already do this as well. I'm not sure.

Disney has really been the outlier in not charging for parking. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken them this long. As I said earlier, resort hotels charging for parking is a pretty standard practice.

[bennkar]

Another aspect that I hope doesn’t happen at Disney world is that every surrounding hotel copies this.

My GF had the same thought, but I really doubt it would happen. There is way too much competition in the area. A high percentage would have to do it simultaneously to have it stick. And then there are all the time shares in the area that would become lots more appealing if they tried to add parking fees. WDW can do it (probably) due to their unique advantage.

[disneysteve]

The Swan and Dolphin, which are on Disney property but not owned or operated by Disney, have charged for parking since day one. I think they charge $20/night.

Again, hotels charging for parking isn't a new concept. Disney not charging is what was really unusual and one thing that made them stand out. Now they are just joining the crowd. I don't like it but I don't like it anywhere else either.

ETA: The first sentence is incorrect. They didn't start charging for parking until 2005. When they first opened, there was no charge.

[Singuy]

I was listening to Disneyunplugged podcast and they said a group of researchers was trying to pinpoint why lines are so long no matter what time of the year it is. The Disney's crowd calendar used to work but now found the calendar to not sync up with reality by huge percentages.

So they timed the amount of people who can get through pirates at the exit and found that during peak seasons, pirate ride can accommodate 4500 guests per hour, but during non-peak seasons, it only reached 3000 guests per hour. They have concluded that Disney scale workers down during non-peak seasons which keeps the wait time the same. Another way for the corporate overload to appease to their stock holders.

[Like2Plan]

The Swan and Dolphin, which are on Disney property but not owned or operated by Disney, have charged for parking since day one. I think they charge $20/night.

I’ve seen this stated elsewhere, but we used to go to Gulivers Grill—no parking fee. I know of a person who parked there (for free) and then used Disney transportation to go to the parks. It wasn’t too long after (I heard about) that -they gated off the parking. The last couple of times we went over there (to Shulas)we had to get our parking validated.... But, I can understand why they did it.

[disneysteve]

I’ve seen this stated elsewhere, but we used to go to Gulivers Grill—no parking fee. I know of a person who parked there (for free) and then used Disney transportation to go to the parks.

My apologies. I just checked. They didn't start charging for parking until 2005. So it's been quite a while but not since "day one" as I said previously.