Walt Disney World Resort Hotels to Charge Overnight Parking Fees

63 thoughts on “Walt Disney World Resort Hotels to Charge Overnight Parking Fees”

• The worst part about any hotel charging parking is the fact that it’s basically an unavoidable fee charged to a captive audience. What are you supposed to do? Walk to the hotel? Maybe if you’re single going on a day trip (but then you wouldn’t need a hotel). Anyone with kids knows without a car you can’t bring most of the stuff they need to a hotel. It’s nothing but fraud.

• Whats next? Toilet paper fees, this is getting ridiculous.

• In case there was any doubt at all, Disney *does not care* about anyone. They have no shame. They will dig into your pocket and take every penny you have. Then they’ll knock you down and pick your carcass of every scrap of meat. They will only stop if you stop them.

• The Orlando Sentinel quotes a Disney spokesperson as stating this new charge for resort parking “brings WDW in line with industry standards.”
  Hey. Remember when Disney WAS the industry and set the standards? You know, before all the others.
  So much has been hard to justify these past few years, putting me on the fence instead of being able to support.
  But truly, this is it. An indefensible, no excuse money grab.
  Thanks for all the wonderful memories, WDW.
  I’m done.

• It’s absurd to charge for it because there is absolutely no reason to charge for parking, except as a means of generating profit.

  WDW property is massive, so it’s not like parking space is at a premium. The parks have never been more profitable, so this isn’t like when airlines started charging for bags to make up for oil prices.

  As others have alluded to, this is far from the last up charge coming, and it is why we stopped going to WDW. If you want to show Disney your displeasure, the only way to do it is by not buying their product. Begrudgingly buying something still shows up in fiscal reports the same as happy customers.

• Last year we stayed off site for the first time ever due to Fort Wilderness being closed because of damage from Irma. We loved our off site resort. Free breakfast with Mickey waffles, a full kitchen in our suite, beautiful pool and free parking. And it was $1000 less than staying at the Fort.
  The only reason we were looking at staying onsite with our next trip was because of the extended FP window and not wanting to pay $22 a day to park onsite.
  But now that $22 is only $3 more than if we stayed at a moderate (and cheaper than if we stayed at a deluxe).
  I don’t want to cancel my trip but it is making more and more financial sense to stay offsite. Especially since we learned on our last rip how nice so many of the off site resorts are.

  • The previous analysis conclusion was true before the parking fee. There were ways to about parking charges and a vacation home is both 1/3rd the cost of a ftw cabin and bigger and nicer with more amenities like a washer and dryer and in some homes an attached pool.

    It’s bad math to say that an additional $19 per day would be the amount that makes you stay off site when you yourself said it was already about $1,000 less to stay off site already before the new parking charges.

    $19 is 5% of $350. If the government imposed a new tax on everyone, but if somehow was only in the Disney World area, I doubt people would be as quick to say they wouldn’t stay or pay.

    It’s purely emotional and the level of pissed a parking charge makes people that is driving the desire to avoid the new parking fee.

    What were you doing thinking about spending thousands of dollars more on Fort Wilderness than an of site home in the first place? And if reasons like sooner Fastpass and other perks where the reason why is a slight 5% increase going to push it Out Of Reach?

    • We drive because we are 7 hours away and adding a flight would price us out, but we use Disney transportation. We just park our car on day one and don’t touch it til the last day except for one trip to universal. This is aggravating if it is to push people to use their transportation as we do that anyway.

  • Its not the cost per say, but the perception. Most hotels/restaurants that score high on customer satisfaction, know that they can make a favorable impression on customers by giving them freebies that actually cost the business very little. The opposite is to start charging for things that were free for no other reason then “we’re copying our competitors” (e.g., airlines). In addition, the majority of non-Disney hotels do not charge for parking except large cities (i.e., parking garages), or those nestled up to Disney. Also, if they were trying to like everyone else (why?), what about points for staying, like *all* hotel chains?

    The only hotels I know that have tight parking are the Epcot hotels. I’m sure there is a better solution than charging parking fees at Pop Century that has acres for parking.

    Tangent point – Universal. I dislike that their hotels charge for parking, but they always have, and as a seasonal pass member, I have to pay to park whether I do general parking or park at the hotel. As a WDW passholder, it is now better for me to park for free at the parks.

    This is very disappointing. I’m sure they will continue to fill rooms, but it won’t be with me. And I was staying there 4-6 times a year.

• Wow!!!! Awesome comments?!!!

  Love it.

  Usually I’m criticized for negativity on this site. People are Finally getting it and unafraid to complain.

  What’s funny is that This is like ATM and airline bag fees in magnitude. People just hate fees. It’s so dishonest and bait and switch. Most commenters wouldn’t care about the prices going up in rack rates. Everyone knows that’s just happening. But people HATE fees assessed at the last minute ESPECIALLY when they don’t expect it.

  This, to me, is more to do with seeming more competitive in online comparisons (before fees) but still raising prices.

  For comparison sake: Parking fee practices are generally similar by area:. Hotel plaza blvd, bonnet Creek, swan/dolphin, and the big resort complexes like Gaylord, Marriott, Hilton etc.. (and convention center area). These are all areas where you pay for parking.
  Family hotels and the cheap places on 192 have free parking.
  Vacation homes and condos = free parking…

  The worst is paying for parking twice.
  For example, Once at bonnet Creek and once at the theme park lot (not everyone is a passholder).

  This isn’t the end of the world and shouldn’t really affect the SUPER fans who already have a lot of stuff figured out.

  It definitely hurts people who like to rent a car or have a car and avoid Disney’s horrible bus transit but stay at a moderate hotel the most.

  Look for more discounts and specials to be available after the backlash.!! They won’t just stop charging the fee.

  Maybe everyone should just say they’re disabled and their emotional support peacock needs a free parking space.

• Disney parks/resorts don’t care. They don’t need the money from bottom 85% of the population. They figure they can keep shareholders happy, and make a huge profit by just catering to the top wage earners of the country. So if the middle and lower class people boycotted WDW that would probably make the vacation, of people that can still afford to go, more enjoyable and Disney wouldn’t even bat an eye.
  Don’t worry Disney will still gladly take our money too. (By means of mass marketing at almost every retail store in the country)

  • Exactly right.

• So instead of staying at yacht club for location I can stay at an offsite resort for $300 less a night and drive to yacht club every day and park my car there for free since I’m not staying overnight? Am reading this correctly? It seems very backwards to charge the guests paying to stay at that location and not the ones who are just parking there for the day.

  • This is the proverbial straw breaking my love affair with WDW Orlando. I hate the Disney bus system, the crowds are insane at all times of the year. The only way to enjoy WDW anymore is to pay more and more fees to price yourself out of normal human contact. Want to actually ride 7DMT, pay even more money to get into the park early, or get a rogue VIP tour guide to circumvent the FP plus system. Or go concierge for more money and after that more money is paid, pay $150/day per person per day to get more fastpasses…. 4 day minimum! Sorry Mickey, the kids are older and they prefer Europe and Hawaii now. Bonus, its a cheaper trip!

• Disney has to remember if anything happens to your car when you park it they will be responsible because you are paying for a service. If someone breaks in they pay. If someone steals it they pay.
  Maybe this needs to happen and Disney can payout big time.

  • Most hotels charge a parking fee, and they all include language in the room agreement at check-in that clearly states that they are not responsible for your vehicle. Nice try, though.

    • A disclaimer has no legal authority whatsoever. None.

    • They’re sort of responsible to some degree now for thefts regardless of a fee or not.

      By the way, I’ve personally been there witnessing the aftermath of car break-ins on 192 West of main gate along with a strong of store burglaries the previous night as well.

      All break-ins were Texas plate pickups.

      The thieves were probably looking for guns stored in the vehicles. And I overheard one gentleman tell the hotel front desk that a handgun was stolen out of his vehicle. (Texas plates on a pickup).

      By the way, the front desk clerk at very cheap hotel on 192 had absolutely no empathy concern or ability to offer the victim any kind of help or compensation.

      Anecdotally, I’ve not heard any stories of break-ins in a Disney hotel parking lot. Security at Disney is enough better than security at easy targets off property that I think that Disney probably doesn’t have that much trouble with crime in gated hotel parking lots.

• Well I guess that changes my mind about my upcoming stay. Going with Hilton if I’m going to have to pay for parking at both. Get free breakfast there at least.

  • Plenty of nice hotels offsite that don’t charge a resort fee or charge for parking. I’m sure they’ll fill up the Disney room that I’m vacating, but it’s now worth it for me to drive the 15 minutes into the parks.

  • If you stay on site, even after this new parking fee, you’re still required to pay for parking at the theme park lots or have an exception like annual passholder.

    So if Hilton and moderate resort are same parking fee, but you’re not an AP or something…. You’ll have to factor in paying for parking at the theme parks.

    • @Ron: Disney hotel guests still get free parking at the parks.

• Universal may charge for parking….but their Hotels are significantly cheaper especially for a family of 6!

• Two thoughts: I wonder how this will impact the rental car companies and, as more people start using the Magical Express and the park transportation system, will Disney beef up capacity?

  • Beefing up capacity costs money, so I’m sure that’ll be a hard pass by the current leadership.

• I’m getting pretty tired of their pretending that the parks and resorts aren’t profitable. And the “it’s ESPN’s fault” excuse has worn out, as well.

  I’ve done Disney/Universal combo trips before where I stayed onsite at Disney and drove over to Universal, but the next one (after Galaxy’s Edge opens) will be the first time I do the reverse: stay at Universal and drive over to Disney. And in between now and then, I will have done at least one solo Universal trip, and maybe two.

  “But Universal charges for parking at its hotels too,” you may protest. Yeah, and you know what else they’ve been doing? Regularly adding significant value to both the hotels and the parks.

• Disney already charges $3 for a bottle of filtered tap “Disani water”.
  Folks … that is $72 for a case !!!
  I purchase the same water for my business at $3.69 per case and I would doubt that Disney pay more than $3.50 per case.
  What are they thinking ????
  Charging $24 to park at their $400 per night resort is CRAZY.
  I believe we should all BOYCOTT Disney until they come down to reasonable profit margins !!!
  I’ve been to Disney World 31 times in the last 15 years, own 600 DVC points, 12 disney cruises (mostly suites) plus DisneyLAND.
  They have gotten enough money from me !!!

• I don’t drive when I’m there- I bus or uber. But it seems like a bad move for Disney from a customer perspective. It’s not like the value and moderate resorts lack parking spaces. And the only deluxes that do are the ones near the parks- and its not the problem of those staying at the resorts, but rather day guests and those visiting the parks. Why not just raise hotel prices some? People are use to that. Parking just seems like a strange area to hit.

  • You’d rather they raise the prices for everybody than just for people parking? Brilliant. You’re really helping us all with that suggestion.

    • That was a bit aggressive. Yes, I would. I hate being nickled and dimed. I’d rather pay more in a hotel and not have to go through the all the math to add up the extra fees, many of which at different hotels aren’t stated upfront. You may disagree, but it isn’t a personal attack on you.

• One more reason to NOT stay at a Disney Hotel.

• Well, that’s just another reason for us to cross Disney off our list of preferred vacation spots. We usually drive down from Michigan to WDW, and even when we fly we rent a car because we like to sightsee offsite, too. We normally stay at POFQ, so now we have to pay $20 a night to park there? Clearly they’re trying to force people to use their transportation system, which we don’t enjoy using. Thanks, Disney, it was fun while it lasted.

  • You’ll be back.

    • Nope, I honestly don’t think we will. We used to go almost every year, and haven’t been back in almost three years because last time it was not only ridiculously crowded (at what was traditionally a slow time of year), but we felt like we had to be on a schedule since you have to make dining reservations and get FastPasses way in advance now. We’re older, and have no kids, and there are a lot of other places we put off visiting because we loved WDW so much. Funny thing is, we were just saying the other night we don’t really miss going. So no, I don’t see Disney World in our future any time soon.

    • It wasn’t a personal attack, I just thought it was a terrible suggestion. If they’re trying to discourage people from driving, why increase the overall hotel cost? Honestly they’re going to do both, so you’ll get your request.

    • Wrong person, sorry Linda

• Don’t mistake this for what it is: another reason to discourage rental cars to use to go to off-site parks and restaurants. They are investing millions in a new resort transportation system (with many more millions to come when they eventually need to fix the monorails) and this is how they are going to justify the cost: by forcing more people to decide to use it. Plus it has the advantage of putting more money into Disney’s pockets.

• Prediction: everybody freaking out about this will still continue to visit Disney and will still continue to stay on site. Especially when they look off site and realize they charge for parking and a resort fee. This is just another price gouge that well all have to absorb. Attendance will not drop because of this.

  • Windsor hills condo. Price of value/moderate but get a 2 or 3 bedroom.

  • We did our first off site stay last trip in 2017 and… it was fine. Extra Magic Hours have lost their luster as its just a busy then as during regular park hours.

    We also left the parks and at lunch off site. Again, not terrible.

• Certainly changes the onsite-offsite equation!

  And why do the prices vary by “resort” category? A parking space is a parking space.

  Next thing they’ll be charging for is Disney transportation.

• This really angers me. I hate it when hotels charge to park. I mean the car just sits there over night while you sleep. All hotels charge enough for your stay that to then charge for parking is just gouging the customer, in my opinion. And for Disney to do it . . . when you already pay a fortune to be there . . . that’s even worse. Not only does it have me considering staying off site, but just giving up Disney totally and we go every year. With the way they are constantly raising prices and adding extra fees for everything, it’s like they don’t want people to come there! I think I’d rather take my vacation dollars to Holiday World where parking is free . . . sunscreen is free . . . and drinks such as pepsi and mountain dew are free! They want to encourage families to come to their parks! Not make them have to sell a body organ to do it! I’m glad Walt isn’t alive to see this mess. Between the alcohol being sold all over his parks and the high cost for everything, I don’t think he would approve.

  • Well said 🙁

• This era of nickel-and-dime, cheap-out, upsell money-grubbing that WDW is doing has completely soured me on the product. I can’t tell you how many trips we’ve made to WDW over the years, because we were willing to pay a premium price for a premium product. But they’ve gradually shaved quality and increased costs to the point where I don’t care if I never go back.

  Our last trip was in June 2016 and we don’t have anything planned for the foreseeable future. The old saying “you can fleece a sheep many times but you can only skin him once” applies here, at least with me. I’m just sick of it.

  I guess they think there aren’t enough return visitors who know the difference and care to really matter. They’ll make their $ with newbies who don’t know any better and return visitors who don’t care enough to change their vacation habits. Good luck with that.

  /rant

• The tip of the iceberg. as they say. Won’t be long now ’til we see resort fees, wi-fi fees, ‘energy surcharge,’ and who knows what else.

  • Toll booths on World Drive.

• Wow! What’s next, a resort fee?

• Are they doing anything for people who are already booked? I may have rethought OKW had I known this prior to booking. $24 per night at a villa is ridiculous. For $10 per night, I can park at MCO and take Magical Express using a ghost flight reservation. For a 7 night stay, that saves me almost $100.

  • If you already have a resort stay scheduled, you will be grandfathered in. Any resort booking after March 21 will be charged the fees.

    • Thanks! The language was confusing. I figured they weren’t grandfathering people. I guess that’s nice of them?? Ha. 🙂

• We fly in, use magical express

  Have no need for a car…

  That being said, come on Disney – aren’t you making enough already?

• Disappointing for sure.

• Well, I guess my April stay will be my last stay at a Disney resort. And I usually (past tense) stay several times a year.

• Yeah, it will definitely have me looking, at least, at other accomodations. All the hotels are already quite overpriced, and the new stark look of some of the more expensive options already had me turned off….will have to see if resort fees at other places brings their prices in line with the disney hotels plus parking….,If they want to go there, I will certainly price shop.

• I wonder if this will be what tips the scale and has people who drive staying off site? We already pay a premium to stay at a value (glorified motel).

• This will drive people away from Disney info local hotels and villas. What’s the point of having free parking at the parks for resorts guests but then charging for them to park at the hotel. I’d leave my car in the TTC for three weeks and just use transport and then go to the TTC when I needed the car for my Longhorn trip.

  • I’m pretty sure they will tow you if they see your car camped out in the same spot every night.

• Will cabins have a complimentary space too or just campsites?

• what a bunch of bull…

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