New Overnight Parking Fees for Disney World Hotels
Walt Disney World has announced that it will charge hotel guests for overnight parking. Rates will vary by resort tier, with Vale Resorts charging $13/night, Moderate Resorts will be $19/night, and Deluxe Resorts $24/night. Valet parking at Deluxe/Villa resorts will increase to $33/night. Disney Vacation Club guests staying on points or paying cash at Deluxe Villas will not pay for overnight self-parking.
Note that this does not impact free parking for Annual Passholders at the theme parks, nor does it impact those visiting a resort hotel for dinner or shopping. (Although we wouldn’t be surprised to see purchase validation soon required for resort visitors.) Guests staying at campsites in Fort Wilderness will not pay for overnight parking. It’s presently unclear whether drivers with valid disability parking permits will be charged (we’ll update the post later about this once we receive clarification).
The new Walt Disney World parking charge applies to guests who book reservations on or after March 21, 2018. The one positive in this news is that if you book a reservation today or in the next week–even for a trip in December–you won’t be subject to the new parking cost. So that’s at least one way to postpone the sting of this new fee for a little while longer.
Walt Disney World has indicated that this change is to bring their Florida hotels more in line with industry standards. Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels, the Swan & Dolphin, Universal Orlando on-property hotels, and most Orange County Convention Center area-hotels charge for overnight parking.
During our recent stays at the Disney Springs hotels, we noticed pricing around $20/night (+/- $5), which was fairly surprising given the surplus of space. The swamps of Florida are not exactly San Francisco or New York City, where the space is limited and has a high per square foot real estate value.
Known for its “blessing of size,” Walt Disney World fans have long thought that there are certain lines Disney wouldn’t cross, with parking and resort fees being one. We can empathize with the many fans who are frustrated by this, but to them we’d also say that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is basically a license for Walt Disney World to print money. We’ve said that before, but perhaps it needs to be reiterated. It will draw historic crowds to Florida, many of whom will be first-time visitors or lifelong Star Wars fans willing to pay just about any price to live out childhood dreams. As demand is about to soar, you can expect prices for just about anything at Walt Disney World to increase.
This is particularly true with supply-limited items, such as hotel rooms, parking, and theme park capacity (tickets). Obviously, we’re not fans of paying more to visit Walt Disney World, either, but it’s a reality we all must face.
While we’ve historically been quite averse to Walt Disney World’s various cash-grab up-charge offerings, we’re actually becoming a bit amenable to them, as they represent optional ways to pay more, rather than necessary ones that impact all guests equally.
If Disney management has certain revenue projections that they are attempting to hit (and they certainly do) through a mix of optional and mandatory price increases and upcharges, we prefer the ones we can avoid. This is sort of where we’re at with the parking fee: it makes us cringe, but at the same time, if it’s in lieu of an across the board hotel rate increase of, for example, $10/night, we’ll take it.
Since Walt Disney World operates by the same laws of supply and demand and consumer price sensitivity as every other business, it stands to reason that this fee will impact both future rate increases (slowing them slightly) and guest behavior (pushing more people off-site or causing them to skip rental cars). The latter means a decline in hotel demand–but that will be more than offset by the coming increase in demand once Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens.
As such, we’re sure there are still significant hotel price increases coming between now and 2020, but minimizing those to the greatest degree possible via optional fees (in other words, not resort fees, which are anti-consumer and really should draw more scrutiny from the FTC) would be our preference.
We’ve written articles (here on page 2 and here) that delve into the current hot economy and its impact on Walt Disney World, so we won’t rehash those here. Suffice to say, record-high consumer confidence and new projects that will be huge guest draws is a perfect storm for higher prices at Walt Disney World.
Interest in those additions is unlikely to subside until well after Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary in 2021, but the same cannot be said for the economy. That cooling off has its own set of negative ramifications for guests, but one silver lining is that it will also cool off Disney’s pricing trends.
Other than that, we don’t really know what else to say about this news of overnight parking fees for Walt Disney World guests. It’s understandably frustrating, especially for long-time fans who have experienced a noticeable shift in policies and practices. While Disney has always been a business, there’s was a time when it felt like a responsible one that tried to balance shareholder interests with guests ones, adding value that was commensurate with added costs. Maybe that was never the case, and maybe it still is.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the new overnight parking fees at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Just tell them at the front desk when you check in that you don’t have a vehicle. Since they no longer make you put that stupid parking permit in your windshield they can’t prove you have a vehicle. “I was dropped off” or “I Uber’d in” is all you need to tell them. People need to start putting that foot down with all the nickel and dime’ing Disney sticks to us. If you are doing online check in, you will need to call them from your room or stop by guest services at some point during your stay and tell them you didn’t drive. And make sure you opt out of housekeeping if you don’t need it. You get a $10 gift card for each night you opt out after your first night’s stay. Stick it to ’em like they do with their guests.
Has anyone who made reservations PRIOR to March 21st and modified them after the Free Dining promotion been charged for parking at the resorts? I keep trying to ask Disney if we’ll be charged- over the phone, reps say no. However, via email they say…”The parking fees are effective for reservations booked after March 21, 2018. If your reservation was booked before that date and has not been modified, the parking fee will not affect your booking.” It’s the “has not been modified” part that has me worried.
We can’t speak to this specifically, but we have had rental cars parked for a few hours in the parking lot and been accidentally charged for parking a couple of times, and when we went to the front desk, they removed the charges without hesitation–it literally took 30 seconds.
Point being: I’m guessing that there’s something of a ‘grace period’ right now, and the front desk has a lot of latitude in removing the charges. If you are charged (which very likely will happen), just go talk to someone and try to get it removed.
Good to know. Thanks, that helps!
I agree with you. Just booked for Jan. for a week and heard about the new parking fees at our value hotel. Parking used to be included+ a perk. This was just so frustrating to me. It just seems wrong. This will be our last Disney trip…for sure. We can spend our cash at Universal.
Good for you I agree it’s getting ridiculous. From thier changes in policy and procedures, increase in ticket prices, and hotel parking fees. That doesn’t include other increases over the past five years such as Increases in food and beverage. It’s becoming unjustifiable. Even if you try your best to play devils advocate On the other hand universal Loews Hotels have always charged For parking they have a lot less space there landlocked. And it’s always been Lowe’s policy to charge for parking no matter where they’re located in whatever state. Disney has never charged for parking until recently. That’s just greed. I’ll stick with universal Thank you very much. Not to say they won’t raise their prices also but so far they’ve been pretty good. Including their POLICIES and procedures. I think at this point Bob Igger has outlived his usefulness. Time for a new CEO. and possibly new board members.
Universal charges for overnight parking too. Not saying Disney isn’t expensive, or that the fee is justified. But the “alternative” you mention isn’t really one
yes i agree Disney is getting greedier by the minute I been going every year since 1992 I am a fl resident ad buy the annual pass also go a least 3 times a year it getting very expensive I know a least 5 families that will not be returning because of this parking fees good by Disney hello sea world and Busch gardens.
I agree with you. Just booked for Jan. for a week and heard about the new parking fees at our value hotel. Parking used to be included+ a perk. This was just so frustrating to me. It just seems wrong. This will be our last Disney trip…for sure. We can spend our cash at Universal.
We got back from our (final) Disney trip a few weeks ago. Stayed at two disney deluxe resorts as a big bang last stay thing (used DVC points). They did check our ID at the parking lot before letting us in to register. I agree ID should be checked (we paid A LOT of money to stay there and parking was tight as it was at 8am). They should not be charging parking, it’s ridiculous. Give registered guests an in car tag to display on the dash as an amenity. Pay a parking meter guy to go around and check cars. If the car doesn’t have one it’s fined and/or towed. Possibly these parking fees are helping to fund their new transportation (gondola), monorail replacement cars. That’s my guess. The people running disney are no longer disney park lovers, they are businessmen looking at spread sheets. There is a complete disconnect. There’s expensive…and then there is gouging. $8 for a bottle of water at the Beach Club store is gouging. I didn’t even need a water and it still made me mad. Listen, we aren’t the 1% with thousands to throw around. Disney is officially marketing to International travelers. Who else would pay 8 bucks for a bottle of water? We slipped in under the parking fee wire. The resorts are beautiful, but the price point is insulting.
I agree! Annual pass holders who live in Florida are the customers who are getting the shaft from Disney. Airplane or taxi/Uber fares are too expensive to offset the 2 hour drive costs. May need to rethink that if you stay for several days and have to pay for parking.
Somewhere and somehow we changed from those who experienced the magic of Disney to those who financed the magic.
I can no longer afford to be your wallet. With tears in my eyes I have to say this will be the last year we will be annual pass holders. I am a disabled 67 year old man that has always dreamed of being an annual pass holder. I worked years to retire to Florida and saved to buy a mobility scooter so I could enjoy the magic.
You destroyed my dream. I cannot afford your schemes to take money from those most faithful to you. This will be my last food and wine festival. Last year I paid extra to see the Christmas show at Magic Kingdom. I went into an area roped off for those who were handicapped.
What happened? During the fireworks and the parade the family members stood in front of those on EVC and wheelchairs and blocked their view!!! Cast members stood by and did nothing. I very rarely cry but that night I did. The kicker. I paid extra to see these spectacles. It didn’t happen. Disney got their money and forgot about the rest of us.
I still live Disney. I will cherish my last year as an annual pass holder. From now on all I have will be memories.
Absolutely disgusting. It seems like a direct kick in the face to Florida residents. They have the space, it already exists. They don’t need to build parking lots. If half the guests at one All-Star brought a car, Disney is making $6000 a night for parking. They aren’t paying attendants to park you like at the parks. It’s pure profit. Disney “ magic” has been slowly fading over the years. This is just another nail in the coffin. I am a Florida resident, I have been going to Disney since it opened and have seen first hand every change, both good and bad. This is a bad one. This is just plain wrong. What’s next? Charge for pool towels, pay to take the free transportation, internet surcharges? Stop and think Disney. WWWD? What would Walt do? Not this, I can tell you. Money is great, I own Disney stock! But I’d much rather have the magic that made Disney the one place you could go to forget the outside world for just a few days?
I disagree with Disney charging a parking fee if you are staying at the resort. However, I think they should charge for parking if that is not the case. It is well know that people would stay off site, park at a resort for free, and than take the bus to their destination. This unfairly can overcrowd the busses for those of us who are paying to be at that resort. If this is a deterrent than I’m all for it.
I agree with you, but some people using the buses just say that they are registering, park in the lot and drive out at the end of the day. Not being registered means no charge for them and crowded buses for us.
We just returned from WDW and they have implemented changes. We stopped at the guard gate and security didn’t just ask if I was checking in, he typed my information from my driver’s license and was able to see our reservation, then let us in. This slowed things down slightly, but we were able to sit down on every bus on Thanksgiving week, and the pools at the Allstars music resort were not crowded either. The magic kingdom was crazy crowded, so I know that the empty buses and pools were the results of security doing a good job checking reservations.
When you first arrive at a resort they either scan your wrist bracelet or check your ID. Where you are staying is on your bracelet. They can check IDs against the guest list. Those not registered at the resort can be turned away.
Signs can be posted notifying the public that those that are not guests at the resort will be denied entrance. Problem solved. It can’t be that difficult.
It’s seems to be easier for them to find a way to make money than do the right thing.
We are retired annual pass holders for the last 5 years. We normally stay in the Allstars resorts except when not available, and come to the parks 5 or 6 times a year, 20 plus days, and have Never had my license compared to any list. I’ve never been questioned beyond my comment about registering, and nor have any of our families or friends. What list would they check against if you just went cold during the off season knowing that a room is available most of the time.
How can Disney with any good intentions dream up the “ keeping up with commonly charged hotel standards” as a reason to slap your customers in their face. Who ever came up with this money making scheme should be fired and kicked to the street. Walt would be fuming mad if he were alive. My wife and I have been annual pass holders for 4 years and I am giving you one year to see if you come to your senses and do the right thing. You already charge extra for nights to watch the holiday light shows what’s next? Charges for ECV to use bus transportation. Charges for strollers on bus transportation. No coolers allowed into the parks or a fee for the coolers. Extra charges for Fast Passes for popular rides or no Fast Passes for popular rides?
Where does it stop. I want to know. I am sure I’m not the only one. I’m not a 1 percenter that can continually absorb your continually additional charges as well as your rising prices. It may come to the point the only way I can enjoy Disney is on YouTube.
i agree – I find this unbelievable! – and I will stay off site going forward….im a new annual pass holder – so I cant ever catch free dining – because you have to buy tickets for that – so I have no reason to stay on site anymore
Tried staying at the condo near Universal, allowed us to save a little bit of money for food but cost approximately 1hour travel time each way. When the park’s employees change shifts it’s like driving in Manhattan.
I agree we already pay more for our hotel stay and this was a benefit of staying at a wide resort.
If people are parking and saying they are checking in and using things for free than yes let us scan our wristbands. Stop gouging everything. Disney already over charges everything..
This new parking fee is ridiculous
This is so disheartening . Wdw is making it more and more miserable to stay on site, eat on site and visit in general. I doubt this is the vision Walt had in mind when he dreamed of the parks, I’ve personally spoken to people and staff at Disneyland who worked with and knew him. Wdw is becoming all about $$ and less about the people and kids who enjoy it. We usually spend a night on site every year at a moderate resort (it’s a kick off to our vaca) but it’s overpriced, you don’t even get enough coffee for the people staying in your room, you have to pay for anything extra…wht happened to good old customer service? A friend has a home which we stay in afterwards (more space for 6ppl) we get 10 day passes and book several meals in Disney and at resorts it now makes it miserable to eat at a resort bc I then have to move the car after breakfast taking time away from the parks or move the car from the park before dinner to park at the site of dinner. They won’t even let you pay to park at the resort if you aren’t a guest. This is only more incentive to stay off property and eat off property. What ashame. So much for a yearly trip to wdw, my family will be finding new places to visit, who actually care about our business and not just the value another dollar.
This new fee is particularly inappropriate because it punishes some of Disney’s Best customers – annual pass holders who live in Florida and have no other option than to drive to the resort. I was charged parking in May for the slot next to my cabin in Ft. Wilderness. Who else would possibly park there? Everyone needs to bombard Disney with complaints about this. The hotel rates are way above market already. Free parking was supposed to be a perk of staying on property. No more. I can stay at a very nice Hilton or Marriott property for half the cost, and if they don’t address this fee, I will.
Vistana Villa Resort…a 3 minutes ride from Disney Springs has a (2) bedroom villa we booked for $145/night..that’s 1,025 square feet with (2) bathrooms..kitchen..living room..a patio and no resort parking fee. Excellent food and drinks half the price of Disney
Stayed there 3 nights last year…this year…5 nights which leaves 5 nights at the Disney French Quarters.
Next year I can see us staying (7) nights at the Villa eventually working in a few night stays at Universal where they do charge for overnight parking but the room rate are quite a bit less.. .leaving a trip to the MK of maybe (2) nights.Disney loses
This place sounds good, but do they have shuttle service all day? When my family converge on Disney we need to be able to get back and forth for baby naps, etc and we can’t all fit in the car. I can make multiple trips to the airport, but can’t do the same with the parks. I’m thinking that the free bus from the airport, and the constant bus trips between parks and hotels will make the parking fee unavoidable for those in my predicament.
My trips to WDW have never included a WDW hotel stay as I think it is way overpriced. Have breakfast and dinner off site and bring our own drinks most of the time. Agree that Walt would turn in his grave over pricing. New overnight hotel car parking prices sound ridiculous.
Going to switch to Universal Florida residents plan
Just came from universal where parking the farthest away is 22 dollars while my Florida pass was 43 dollars. This is much worse ratio than Disney.
We have stayed at Vistana and on property and it’s true that the transportation at an on-property hotel was much better for our purposes. We had a multi-generational trip last week and when the grandparents had, had enough we did not feel badly letting them head back on their own knowing they could get a bus, or at times a boat, to get back to the disney resort. It was a significant reason we chose both for our split stay. Unless everyone brings their own car to disney parks from Vistana it’s not good for different schedules. Just my two cents. Happy travels whatever you decide.
Can anyone help with some info? We booked in January, I was told we would not have to pay for parking because we booked early, just wondering if anyone eles did this and have already had you trip? How did it work? Did they question you? Do you pay when you get there or is it in your bill? Also we have many dinner reservations, will we have to pay to park at the diffrent resorts? Thanks for any helo!!
If you booked your trip after May 21 in 2018 then you will be charged to park at your resort and it will be added to your Final resort bill. With a credit card on file the parking charges will be charged to that credit card.
If you have reservations to dine at other resorts you will not have to pay for parking to dine. Enjoy your trip !
Thank you! We booked January 2018 so I assuming we wont see the fees
Hi. We just got back from our trip and also had booked in January. We checked in and parking was never charged on our bill. We also had dining reservations at other resorts and told the attendant who we were when coming in and were not charged for parking then either. Our first time in our resort lot we showed an ID and provided our last name, after that we scanned our magicband each time we entered the lot. You should be good to go. We will do a final check of our bill, but the only charges we had were some food purchases with our magicband. Have fun! I am glad I dodged that fee.
I hate to see Disney adding on so many fees – if the parking is being abused by those not staying there perhaps they could give just a one or two hour pass for those visiting to eat or shop– if the pass has expired by the time they leave charge them per hour. This would keep those abusing the system from being able to stay all day taking the buses, yet allow those who truly are there to shop or eat continue to do so. When they say other hotels in Downtown Disney have parking fees, it is not the same as those hotels offer steep discounts and do not charge what you pay to stay in a Disney hotel in addition they offer packages with waived parking fees.
I have been to Disney about 25 times and the past few it is less and less magical, more crowded to the point you can’t enjoy the parks, poorer customer service, on top of more expensive every time. Please Disney, focus on quality…you are already overcrowded. I think if Walt were alive he would frown 🙁
The parking fee will apply to individuals such as yourself – DVC/Annual Passholders – IF you do not stay on a DVC booked reservation (points or cash). I am both and recently stayed on a AP discounted room at Yacht Club which obviously would have nothing to do with my DVC membership. I was indeed charged the hotel parking fee.
🙁
I don’t really understand why an AP gets free parking perk at the theme park now but not at the resorts.
I was very disappointed to see on my hotel bill parking fees for the hotel. I am a Disney passholder have been for the last 2 years since I moved to Florida. I have been a longtime supporter of Disney been coming since I was a teenager every year and continued on as an adult and with my children and now my grandchildren. The parking fee for the hotel I believe is so ridiculous. I read they are trying to come in line with other hotels. You are paying a high price for your hotel stay on grounds then the tickets to get into the park if I drive to the park as a passholder I don’t pay for parking. I will continue to find in the future different hotels to stay at because of this. As a passholder I come at least 13 times during the year for an average of 3 – 4 nights stay at this rate my fee would be 988.00 a year in addition to my yearly pass and my hotel accommodations. I think staying on the grounds isn’t going to be a priority anymore. Very disappointed in this decision to charge for parking at the hotel.
The biggest ripoff that Disney has ever come up with to gouge it’s patrons.My response is to boycott Disney hotels and book your own resort off site that. Is at least a quarter of the price you’re paying at Disney.I am also miffed that parking at the parks is now $20 and the way I got around that is to buy a season pass then parking is free. I’ve used this 2x in the last six months and both times we used 10 days.I doubt there will be a third but you never know as it expires in Nov.
We visit Disney about once a year, and we always stay in a Disney Resort. I find this new parking fee ridiculous. You already have to pay a fairly high price for the room. One of the reasons we have chosen to stay at a resort hotel is that we do not have to pay parking at the theme park. However, if they are just going to charge us a parking fee EVERY DAY anyway, why not stay at a lesser expensive hotel off of the Disney property?
My biggest frustration is that this information is not made obvious when you are booking a reservation. We stayed last month, and I booked my reservation online. They made it very clear that there was construction going on by putting the info at the top of the page, in red with an alert signal. I saw this alert on multiple pages.
However the brand new parking fee info was nicely tucked away under amenities – they were not going to bring any attention to that.
We also were not informed at check in when i paid the balance of our room rate, and thought we had everything taken care of. I had even inquired about a parking pass at that time. still no info.
I was not aware of this fee until arriving home and reviewing my bill. I called Disney customer service, and they were no help at all.
For this any many other reasons, Disney is slowing losing it’s magic……
I agree that the additional charge for parking is a lot for the frequent park goers that actually stay at the resort. Those that cheat the system benefit from the perks, then go home at the end of the day, not being charged anything for using the buses and pools. They pass the guard saying that they are checking in, but never do. They park their cars for free and ride the bus to the park. This is contributing to the overcrowding. Others use the same tactics to enjoy the pools without being charged. I have overheard people talking about doing this while sitting poolside, the latest was the cheerleader competition. There needs to be a charge for every car at the gate. Those who are guests will then use their wrist bands to reenter the resort. Making nonguests pay at the gate will detour the cheats and guests will not be any worse off since being made to pay anyway. This doesn’t slow traffic entering the parking lot and should elevate some overcrowding of the buses. We all know the parking fees are not going away.
I am a dvc member and also an annual pass holder. we have been coming to Disney world for a very long time. We come to Disney at least 3 to 4 times a year. The new park fee does not apply to me, but I think it is ridiculous to say the least, I have family members that come with us and rent a room and it is absurd that they now will have to pay parking fees along with the high priced resorts. sorry Disney but Walt would be furious. We are now planning on spending our money elsewhere. even tho we are dvc members, other places would appreciate us more,
We are already over paying for a hotel in WDW because this was one of the things it included.
I can clearly see one thing that will happen… people will feel resentful at the continued nickel and diming and cuts to experience. Next, guests won’t think twice at assuming a defensive position and exploit more loopholes in pricing where they find them.
When companies make employees mad, office supplies get stolen (according to studies).
When WDW gouges guests, guests will ‘get more creative’ in ways to save money.