Effective September 1st 2007 Walt Disney World has raised the price to park autos, RVs, trailers, and buses at its theme parks by one dollar.
Old New
Auto/Taxi/Limo/Shuttle/Motorcycle $10 $11
Camper/Trailer $11 $12
Bus/Tractor Trailer $14 $15
Operating these parking lots is like printing money for the mouse.
I don’t know about you, but I think they’ve passed what is reasonable to charge for a day without an extra services about five bucks ago. The labor costs to run these things is small. Also, there isn’t incredible demand as the parking lots seldom if ever close (the theme parks usually close first). So this is purely something Disney is doing because they can. There is simply no other reasonable way to get to the parks if you’re not staying on property or at a hotel with an approved shuttle (and those are not always reliable due to limited operating schedules).
Disney has you over a barrel on this one and they know it. It’s sad really, that the first taste of Disney a day guest gets is being ripped off for parking in the vast concrete expanse that can sit 20-30 minutes away from entering the theme park gates, and sometimes at the end of a long row where the walk to the tram is longer than the tram ride. (Donald Duck, J’accuse!)
I feel your pain. Try walking all the way to Pumba lot at the resort in Anaheim at 3 in the morning.
Looooong and creeeeeepy.
You could always park at the Wedding Pavilion to go into MK and the Boardwalk or Fantasia Mini Golf to go into EPCOT…
If anything, it would encourage people to take advantage of Disney’s free shuttle service running to the parks from all of the resort hotels and Downtown Disney, and therefore, spending more money on Disney property!
A lot of what they do these days is to encourage guests to stay on-site. I am not saying a guest is going to make a decision based on just the parking fee, but every little thing adds up. Free parking for on-site guests is just one little thing.
I agree that the parking price is getting out of hand. As kaz says, I think it’s just another way to get guests to stay on-site rather than drive. $77 bucks just to park your car every day for a week, and add in the cost to rent the car ( if you flew in ) and it could very well be enough for tourists to say “we’ll just stay on-site and enjoy the perks that come with it”.
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