Premium Parking coming to Walt Disney World's parking lots?

Mar 10, 2016 in "Magic Kingdom"

Posted: Thursday March 10, 2016 11:40am EST by WDWMAGIC Staff

It looks like guests will soon be able to pay a premium to park their car in special lots.

Located at the front of the parking lot closest to the main entrances, premium parking will begin testing soon. It is speculated that the cost to park in a premium lot will be $15, in addition to the existing $20 parking fee.

Although all parking lots are within walking distance to the main entrances, some can be a 15 minute walk, and many guests prefer to use the tram service. The new premium locations put the walking time within just a few minutes.

Disney has in the past offered premium parking for AAA members and Disney Dining Experience members. Both were eventually discontinued.

TTC Parking

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RSoxNo1Jun 07, 2016

Yeah I'm not buying this at all. They may have asked for ID though which is more or less the same thing.

GoofyernmostJun 07, 2016

Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your superior lifestyle. No matter, that is what you heard and not what you experienced and my long lifestyle tells me that is hardly dependable information. Thanks anyway, for taking time out from your super important life to inform and respond. I will now crawl back into my hole and do penance for being the brainless loser that I apparently am.

DisneyJeffJun 07, 2016

I don't know the specifics of this case, but I have a situation where this would apply. My DW and I made a trip in December and brought our nephew. We knew we had a trip already planned for August so we decided to get AP for the three of us. My nephew's parents will be traveling with us in August, but they will not have APs, just your standard Multi-Day passes. Because he has the AP, they would (should) be entitled to the "free" parking if he is in the car. The only problem that may come up is the ID issue. I believe they may ask for the ID of the AP holder. If it can't be provided, then they may not allow the "free" parking.

maxairmikeJun 07, 2016

I have plenty of other things to keep me busy besides this forum (actually this place is last on my list of sites to visit lately, below even Monoprice and BestBuy.com), and I thought some might find what I had heard of interesting, but had no desire to check back in frequently. You may note I also said "I really hope that's not what happened," because while I feel very confident in one of the incidents I heard about (as @brent2124 mentioned), the other two were much more "distant" voices, and I felt it could have been a single CM that may have misunderstood a lot capacity message/was new. I also understand that Guest Relations upheld at least the "child AP doesn't include parking," again from what I heard on that issue. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some cables to buy and music to play. Oh, and yes, Twitter did have a mini blow up over the topic, but it was pretty early for Sunday and people's attention was elsewhere.

CircusPeanutsJun 07, 2016

Up until the recent annual pass changes to include parking you would see it with Seasonal Passholders - they would purchase one annual for their child and get free parking for the rest of the year. You still see it with folks who have longer stay tickets and feel that the difference in cost for one child to have the cheapest annual will cover the difference in parking for their stay. You also see the "friends kid has an annual" when they have 4 day Florida resident passes, etc.

ford91exploderJun 07, 2016

That's perfectly legitimate. And nowhere on the Kids AP does it say 'PARKING NOT INCLUDED'

FoodRockzJun 07, 2016

"Meh, didn't it eat yesterday?"

DisoneJun 07, 2016

Are they not going to feed the child they borrowed to get the free parking? Would that not offset the benefit of the free parking? I guess if it's a family of AP holders traveling with non-AP holders they would spread out the AP holders to the different cars.

FoodRockzJun 07, 2016

A story of "I borrowed someone's kid for free/cheaper parking."

ford91exploderJun 07, 2016

I'm guessing AP holding family perhaps brought Grandparents along for the trip and grandparents have the kiddo that day. while parents relax at the spa for the day. No knowledge of the actual situation but this is one that is logical to me at least.

DisoneJun 07, 2016

It strikes me odd that this is a very common occurrence. Why would a car have a passenger that has a child AP and in that same car there is not an adult AP holder? What's the story behind that scenario?

CircusPeanutsJun 07, 2016

DAK parking has not filled to capacity (premium or regular) since premium parking started. There would not be a point where "just premium parking was available" - that is not in the plan or design for premium parking. Not to say that it couldn't change in the future - but it hasn't been talked and I highly doubt that it would be. Someone with just a child AP is entitled to the same parking privileges (and upgrade to premium) as someone with an adult AP. That is a *very* common practice that the cast see many times each day. It's either a made up story, or a brand new CM who was confused.

GoofyernmostJun 07, 2016

@maxairmike has had plenty of opportunity to clarify, but, hasn't. I have been familiar enough with WDW to feel pretty certain that the parking lot at AK did not fill up. Also, the very nightmare for Marketing for something like that to happen when they only want to make their life easier, is just hard to believe. Even if they would have had to park them in the "ripoff" parking area, they would have a really hard time justifying it or, with no warning, not honor an AP.

Biff215Jun 07, 2016

That's not how I understood that post, but I don't have any info myself. It seems unlikely that AK standard parking would be full, but you never know. Perhaps @maxairmike can come back and verify?