A long troubling trend in travel has been keep base rates low but charge a fee for many of the add-ons that in the past had been considered part of the base price (those undisclosed resort fees are a killer right?). It’s called Incremental Income and there’s no avoiding it in the industry today. Disney has also been experimenting with a version of services for additional fees, but up until now, they’ve all been optional fees like preferred parking or special tours. Now for the first time the resorts are adding a mandatory fee for their guests.
Update 3/16: And now the changes with the parking fees is back on the web. So no reprieve for resort guests.
Update 3/15 6pm et: Note, Disney has now reverted their ‘Guest Services’ page that talks about parking back to the policy where hotel guests would not be charged for parking. We don’t know if this is a temporary change or if Disney has given up the idea of charging overnight guests for parking.
Guests who want to park their vehicles overnight at at Walt Disney World resort hotel will have to pay for the privilege. Overnight parking fees will be assessed on guests who book a reservation made after March 21st and will be charged to the guest’s room upon check-out.
Disney is charging a different fee based on the level of hotel (although there is no special service at the more expensive hotels and valet will still cost more).
- Disney Value Resorts: $13 per night
- Disney Moderate Resorts: $19 per night
- Disney Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts: $24 per night
Guests at Disney’s Fort Wilderness campsites will still get the one complimentary parking spot with each campsite. Disney Vacation Club members who are staying on points will be exempt from the new parking fees.
Disney won’t charge day guests who are enjoying shopping, entertainment, or dining at the resorts. But there is some speculation that parking validation will be required to make sure day guests actually do use the services of the hotel.
Valet Parking is available at select Disney Deluxe Resorts and Disney Deluxe Villas for $33 per night (sales tax included).
Adding a non-optional service fee for parking a vehicle at a hotel is fairly common in Orlando now (including the Swan & Dolphin on Disney property for years). So it’s not a total surprise to see Disney’s resorts try it out. They really don’t have the infrastructure to charge day guests at this point, but who knows if that will be coming one day soon?
What do you think of Disney’s decision to start charging hotel guests this fee?
I have booked a trip to Disneyworld April 6th-14th I had to make payments over time for this trip. Finally fully paid the trip off and was looking forward to the trip. Just this morning I see that Charges for Parking. I have been making trips to Disneyworld also made a trip to Disneyland on your anniversary. Pay to park at my resorts, REALLY ?? So tell me why I choose to stay on site at Disneyland?? Money Hungry!!! Well your nickel and diming your faithful Disney Fans. I will make this trip because it is already planned and booked. If I make another trip in the future to Disneyworld I see no benefit in staying On site anymore. It was a magical event to stay on site. Not anymore!!! I truly can see not making any more trips to Disney. There are many other options for vacations. Dare I say, I’m sure that Walt would not have agreed with this decision. Well you will get it out of me this time I really have no choice. At this point don’t think there will be another time. I think I’m done with Disney.
I know it is a business but it takes a family a long time to save the money to come to Disney I feel ones you pay to get into the parks that should be enough
Family’s spend a lot of money while they are in the parks as the children are always seeing things they want theny also have the expense of feeding the family while in the park again Disney has some great food
Please leave the parking alone
I think this is a money grab at cost of there Guest with this charge I will know longer stay at WDW Marriott dose not charge me for parking and the bus to Disney is free anyone who drivrs will stay off site so for $20 they lose $150 a loss of 130 per day. Makes know since hurt the people that help the bottom line.
We have two different upcoming reservations. We live disney, but if they are charging for parking we will not go back to the parks.
We currently have a trip booked for WDW this August and I’m thinking of cancelling it at this point. We save long and hard for our Disney trips and each year they raise the resort rates way too much that now with an added parking fee to stay at their resorts, I am finally done. This is a total money grab. Yes, lots of other resorts charge parking fees but their rates are much lower and the amenities are on par with Disney and even better. There are still many resorts that do not charge for parking and I will now look into them for any stays that I may make in the future.
I agree. The only way to get your (our) point across is through our “voting dollar.” I cancelled an upcoming trip and said I wanted them to note that the reason in the cancellation was this new policy.
This is a total money grab. Going to the “Happiest place on earth” and staying on property is a treat and already costs an arm and a leg. Now they are going to nickel and dime people to pay for parking?? The average person has to save up to vacation there. The food and beverages are good but they are way expensive. Soon the average person will not be able to stay at Disney. Seems like a cheap shot to get a extra money out of people who already pay big bucks. I guess Disney is trying to get rid of the average person for only those who have higher disposable incomes.
As a local who drives over for extended weekend stays, we will no longer stay on property. There are plenty of hotels nearby that do not charge parking fees.
In have been a Disney faithful since 1955. Hundreds of trips to Disneyland and now since we live in Kentucky, many Disneyworld trips. We even joined vacation club for ten years. And now you are charging guests for parking. We are DONE!!!
Doesn’t really affect me; we fly into MCO and use Magical Express to get there, then use resort transportation. The rare time we might leave the resorts, we might use Lyft. Honestly, I’m surprised Disney doesn’t charge a small fee for Magical Express already.
As for people cancelling their trips over parking fees, they need to figure out some way to thin the crowds with Galaxy’s Edge opening next year…
Disney world makes more than enough money where they do not need to charge for parking. You have already raised your hotel fees and ticket fees. You can charge day visitors for parking like they do for parking garages. Those you stay at the hotels can have a card for there car window to identify the guests. This will be my last stay here if they continue to gouge for the sake of more profits. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing for your guests.
Going this time because the reservations are already made and we’re exempt. I can’t say we’ll never go again, but this will definitely factor this in when weighing vacation choices. This is way over the line in my opinion.
We are taking our kids and grandkids (early Christmas presents) to WDW in November and 2 of the families are driving (from Texas!!) I made our reservations in Jan., 2018. Am I correct in thinking that we will be exempt from these ridiculous parking fees???? Please advise me if correct! This will be our 2nd Christmas present trip for us and can only hope that the unnecessary fee for parking will be discontinued! Come on Disney execs…..look a little harder to find other ways to pay your bills! Like so many other vacationers have written about, we too have worked so very hard to save the money to take our family to our favorite vacation spot!! Please don’t do this!!
You gotta love the people whining about parking fees. Disney has no “set” rates for rooms — it’s different almost every time you go online to book something — and no one would have batted an eye if the room rates were $13 a night higher than the last time they booked a trip. Now, crybabies are threatening to cancel trips over it. So long! We won’t miss you!
Think of it this way: No one NEEDS a car at Walt Disney World. You can go anywhere you want on property for free with Disney Transportation. All this new parking fee is doing is rewarding those of us who don’t bring a car to the resort, rather than raising the prices on us. If you absolutely must go somewhere else in the Orlando area, an Uber or Lyft a couple of times during a stay is cheaper than renting a car in Orlando for a week.
I just love how people whine and cry every time Disney raises the prices on things. The parks are TOO CROWDED, so anything that reduces crowd size is well worth the extra cost. Lest you think I’m some rich guy who can afford it all, I’m not. I’m solidly middle-class who struggles just like every other middle-class American does. We save money going to Disney by not renting a car — and now we’ll be saving money on parking in addition to saving money on the car. Total win for us!
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