Your Disney Vacation Possibly Just Got a Little More Expensive
Driving to Disney? Get ready to shell out more. 💵
Hang onto your mouse ears! As if you weren’t already spending enough money on your trip, Walt Disney World Resort just confirmed that guests will be charged a nightly fee to park overnight at Resort hotels. This new policy applies to reservations made after March 21, 2018.
As of now, Disney does not have this information available on their website, but we have confirmed with a representative that details will be live on March 21st. Information similar to the overnight parking fee policy originally stated on Disney’s website can be found WDWinfo.com.
The rates vary based on which Resort guests will be staying at:
- Value: $13 nightly
- Moderate: $19 nightly
- Deluxe: $24 nightly
Guests can also choose to use valet parking at select Deluxe Resorts for $33 per night.
However, if you’re a Disney Vacation Club member, you will NOT be charged standard parking fees when staying at DVC Deluxe Villa – a nice promo since you’re probably already paying through the nose with monthly membership and maintenance fees.
If there’s any happily ever after, at least the complimentary self-parking will remain for guests with disabilities, Cast Members staying as guests, guests traveling as part of a group or convention, guests staying at campsites at Fort Wilderness, and those who wish to dine, shop, enjoy activities, or visit a resort for the day.
Again, the overnight parking fees will go into effect for reservations made on or after March 21st, so you still have about a week to book your trip take advantage of free overnight parking for a future trip.
(Thanks for the heads up on this, Lisa!)
All this talk of MORE fees have you down? Check out some ways to save at Disney and when traveling in general!
this is unfortunate, really. One of the amenities I look forward to at Disney resorts is the free parking.
No kidding! Unless you’re ONLY going to Disney parks- staying at Universal’s Cabana Bay – a Sea World – or non -resort hotel makes the most sense anymore.
Im staying at Universals Cabana Bay in May, I’m glad we are flying because they charge $12 nightly self parking.
We really enjoyed Cabana Bay last year! Enjoy the pool slide! Have fun!
We haven’t been to Disney in several years. With a large family, it’s ridiculously expensive. We’ve always stayed on property, but the benefits of doing so are becoming fewer for sure.
We go to Disney about once a year, but we don’t stay on property. It’s always been easier with small kiddos to do VRBO. We can cook several meals, and it’s easier for the adults to relax and unwind once the tots are asleep. Yes, driving to the park can be a hassle, but the cost savings of cooking at least some meals is better for us.
Members of many online Disney groups are emailing or calling to voice their opinion and encourage reversal of the new policy. Here’s their info in case anyone wants it.
wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com
(407)824-2222
Thank you!
There is really no need for a car when you stay on Disney Property. It is also too expensive for me to want to leave while staying there. We usually do a mix of on and off-property to enjoy the surrounding area.
I am happy that we can still park for free to enjoy dining!!
We always have a car, as we enjoy dining off property and have saved money doing so. Plus, we park hop quite a bit. Having a car allows us to visit up to three parks in a day and be efficient traveling between parks. Our kids love breaking up the day by going to one of the Disney water parks mid-afternoon until closing. Then we head to whichever park is open late that night.
We live three hours away, so we drive there. What do you suggest for the hundreds of thousands of people who drive to WDW? What do we do with our cars sine there’s no need for them?
Been going to Disneyworld on average 1-2 times a year for about 20 years. Always try to stay on Disney property when rooms are available. Always have a car to eat off property and experience all the other great attractions in the Orlando area. Every year Disney raises ticket prices and room charges, I defend Disney saying It’s still worth it for all the things you can experience there. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. No longer will I defend their money grabbing policies to collect on any possible “perk” that they used to give for free. They are making staying off property at a much cheaper price, paying for parking at the park itself, and having more freedom a much better option. As far as missing out on “extra magic hours “, anyone who’s experienced at Disney knows you NEVER go to the park with extra hours. So no big loss there. REALLY hope they reverse this but won’t hold my breath.
We go to Disney every other year and I agree the parking may keep us from staying onsite in the future. But I disagree about the extra magic hours. Almost every time we have went during them, we rode so many more rides that we didn’t have fast passes for during original hours. Lines were short and in my opinion much better atmosphere.
I live four hours away so we would drive there and stay in the Disney resorts. We would save on gas and parking fees. But now there is no benefit for us to stay there. It is priced higher than other hotels and now a parking fee for every night. I don’t see any benefits staying in a a Disney resort anymore.☹️
Article is old….Disney has already rescinded the parking fees
Hi Nathan! They did remove the wording from the site but I chatted with them tonight and they confirmed that it WILL start on March 21st at which time their site will be updated. Hope that helps! 🙂
Nathan sadly they are not going away. Disneyland already charges them and staring March 21st Disney world will too. I know this because I actually check out on the 21st so it doesn’t effect me.
Disney Vacation Club members don’t have monthly membership and maintenance fees… they have annual dues. Obviously it pays for the maintenance fees (and taxes and whatnot), but I just wanted to make that clarification. You only have monthly payments if you finance your purchase… which then negates the savings of going the DVC route. Also, the amount in dues you pay depends on how many points you own and your home resort. For quite a few years, we only needed a small number of points because we went to Disney every-other year during off-peak times and we only needed a studio. So our dues were about $200/year. That’s not much more than what the parking fees would have been for our trips (we usually went for about a week). We recently bought more points because our family grew and we had school schedules to worry about, so obviously our dues will be more now.
Anyways, bottom line… if you go to Disney at least every-other year, prefer to stay on property, AND have enough savings to be able to buy points WITHOUT financing them (this is crucial), going the DVC route will definitely save you money in the long-run. You just have to look at it as pre-paying for your hotel for quite a few years. You can get DVC points resale for considerably cheaper if you don’t mind not having the fluffy perks that Disney tries to lure people in with. This is what we did. If anyone is curious about the program and wants truthful info from a real DVC member, feel free to email me at robyn {at} craftybargainista {dot} com. I don’t work for Disney or a reseller or anything like that… just offering to provide the help we didn’t have when we decided to take the plunge. 😛
Side note, I definitely disagree with Jay… going to the park for rope drop during Extra Magic is THE best time to go. For a whole hour you have little to no wait for all the rides and can get a lot done by lunch… at which point, we go back to the hotel for a nap. By the time all the people who slept in have arrived at the park (and it’s at it peak crowd level and heat level), we’re at our hotel having a siesta. 😉 Plus, if you have little kiddos like us, this is definitely the key to having a successful trip. Then you park hop to another park for the afternoon/evening. But lots of people don’t like this because they don’t want to wake up early on their vacation. This is understandable… but not a good way to avoid lines at Disney World. 😉
I emailed you
I emailed you as well. Thanks!
Yesssss we Love the extra magic hours. I agree with you, it’s a good way to avoid lines for the rides you want. Seems like a breeze in the park compared to the rest of the day lol. We also park hop!!
This is just ridiculous! 😡
Wow I couldn’t believe this … I called they said yes think this was a great thing. How much we all pay to stay here already and now this. Great wolf and places like that are looking so much better. Luckily we had booked this trip months ago so I don’t have parking fees this time. But I asked what if I don’t want to pay parking is there a spot you can park much farther away and no you get charged automatically with your room rate. Ooch Disney world you are getting greedy