It is true and it is happening. Walt Disney World is currently testing paid parking at its resort hotels and personal thought, but this is something that is long overdo and very much needed for Guests.
Image via Disney
The paid parking test was first reported at Disney’s Contemporary Resort the week prior to Christmas and word then was that there was a $25 charge to park if you weren’t a Guest of the resort or had a dining reservation.
Now, considering this is a test, the $25 may not be the final or even confirmed amount for all locations at this time.
WDWNT is reporting that the test is also now taking place at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn, and it’s going to likely branch out to others soon too.
Those that are Guests of the actual resort and those with confirmed dining reservations would not be subject to the parking fee. If you have Tables In Wonderland, you’d also get free valet parking at a resort with proof of dining there.
Disney is doing this to obviously help control the parking at resorts which has indeed gotten out of hand.
Many park at the different Walt Disney World Resort hotels (mostly on the monorail line) by saying they are going in to dine or just “look around.” They then park there, head to the parks, and then take up that spot all day.
Each theme park at Walt Disney World has a parking lot that does include a daily fee. Those staying at Walt Disney World Resorts do get free parking in those lots, and it’s a great incentive for staying on property.
One thing that is possible though is that Disney brings back the “time frame” parking at resorts. Guests wanting to just look around could do so without paying a fee, but would only have an hour or two. Disney could do this with parking passes or car stickers or something and make sure it’s enforced.
Expect MagicBands or even just park tickets to become a part of the process to park as they will likely end up being scanned every time you enter a lot.
Look for this to be something that continues and likely spreads out across Disney property.
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As FL residents, Season Pass holder, and DVC members I do NOT agree that we should have to pay to park in any DVC resort whether staying or not. We often drive in for the day to eat, drink, shop, meander every DVC resort. We’ve dropped quite a lot of $$ at each. My membership card should be all I need to get in.
o this is not nice. at christmas we love to visit the resorts to see the decorations and gingerbread houses. i understand what they are trying to cut out, but disney definitely needs to come up with some sort of short term parking for those who might come in to see and end up spending $$ anyway without being forced.
so crazy….why would i want to spend extra time riding disney buses from odd resorts? they also could be shooting themselves in the foot. some guests may be checking out their next “home away from home.”
this isn’t a test, it’s called a hard close, When parks are at peak occupancy to protect the Resort parking lots for Resort and dining guests the resorts can go into a hard close based upon the decision of the Management Team. That’s when all Self Parking is reserved for guests of the resort or those who can prove that they have dining reservations at the resort, with the new My Disney Experience app it’s very easy to prove that now, if they don’t have a reservation they are given the option to Valet, but they can not use the self parking, or they can park at the closest theme park and take transportation over. It wasn’t just Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian have also been on hard close since Thanksgiving since they are on the Monorail Beam as well. The Crescent Lake resorts go into hard close mode during the Epcot Festival Seasons, and during Christmas as well, it wasn’t just Boardwalk, it was Yacht Club and Beach Club too. This isn’t the first year this has happened, it’s just the first year that attendance has forced the Hard Close to be this extensive.