A WDWNT reader sent the following tweet our way yesterday…
Disney survey asks guests how they would feel about $15/night resort fee to cover DME, MagicBands, FastPass+, EMH pic.twitter.com/KYteMjQGD0
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) March 9, 2016
Apparently, Disney is surveying guests to see what they think of a nightly fee that would “cover” resort guest amenities such as MagicBands, Magical Express, Extra Magic Hours, etc. Of course, these are all things that have always been complimentary with your resort stay, so it would be interesting to see Disney market these items as a $15 charge every night in addition to what you are being charged for your hotel room.
I personally doubt any guest surveyed was OK with this, but Disney is at least thinking about implementing this charge in the future.
Isn’t it kind of true that when Disney thinks about these things, more often than not they implement them?
I have never been able to afford a deluxe resort. Barely can afford a value resort. Disney keeps raising their rates and now a $15/night charge. They are out of my price range. Disney is so money hungry they are pricing them selfs right out of the budget of the common man.
The non fees is what keeps them ahead of the other resorts and hotels. If they are going to charge that fee like everyone else, they will lose one of their advantages.
If $15 for a Disney fee for MagicBands, Magical Express, Extra Magic Hours comes to pass, it wouldn’t bee too long until the fee is raised to $25 per night ($35 on weekends? $50 during peak season?). In addition, parking at Disney resort hotels will also have to be added as a separate charge for guests. How about a pool fee, too?
I think you are absolutely right. I think paying $450 a night for a parking lot view for a deluxe room is enough of a fee to cover fastpasses and magic bands! There would probably then be another fee if you are there during a holiday. They are becoming ridiculous.
Don’t kid yourself. It has never been complementary. I don’t like Disney treating us like we are stupid. Raise the rates and leave it at that. Otherwise make it a la carte, since I don’t use Magical Express, resort entertainment, or have children.
This would drive me to stay at a $65 a night off property hotel. What they want to charge you for is the reason you spend the money to stay on property.
I just assumed that these charges were baked into the pricing, which is why Disney Resorts are so much more expensive than off-site hotels. I KNOW I’m going to pay more, but it’s because of these benefits. There’s something that rubs me the wrong way about a specific line item for this stuff. Unless they are going to lower the nightly rate by the $15 they are ad…ha ha. I couldn’t even finish that sentence and take myself seriously.
Ding…ding…ding. We have a winner. Exactly right, that is why there prices are already higher than almost ever off site resort by a decent margin. A moderate resort type off-site hotel is probably $80-$100 cheaper a night and usually you can get more spacious rooms off-site as well. So Disney please don’t get greedy because I believe and hope you drive a lot of business away if you do this because it is a splurge to go to Disney as is. I know it would push me to another resort. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!
It’s so nice of Disney to allow us to pay for Shanghai without affecting their profits, which were how many billion this past year? Unless of course they know they are already in cost overruns they dare not admit.
That would be $150 extra for a 10 night stay. Getting a little ridiculous don’t you think? Park prices up way high during peak season and holidays, resort stays are raised at that time. I thought the reason Disney implemented magical express, magic bands, etc was to keep guests at the resorts. It’s making it easier to now stay a few days a Universal. What? What did I just say… And now dining plan prices going up as of today. Not fair. They need to warn guests they are doing this. I am booked for August and was saving to pay for the dining plan.
I suppose this is an indicator that Disney feels their services could be better, and with just a bit more money would improve the current offerings? Bwahahahahaha!
Something is just really off as of late. Service is slipping, run Disney is a mess and this rumor? ….. Slow down the growth and move forward with confidence a few projects at a time not 5000 at a time
All these complaints. Ugh. No one is forced to stay at a Disney resort. No one is forced to go to Disney World to begin with. Disney resorts maintain some of the highest occupancy rates in the industry. 80%. And the parks increased attendance last year.
Disney is a company. It is there to make money.
You’ve missed the point. We know Disney will raise prices, that’s not the issue. The issue is how they present it to the public. A fee will not show up on room price quotes. They’re like those hidden fees in car rentals, where you don’t know the real cost until you get to the counter. Unsavory practice in my opinion.
Then, add in the fact that these fees will be there to cover items that are already in the room cost not for anything new. The prices will not drop if they add the fees, in fact they only know one direction.
Please. There has been no missed point here: you’re complaining about a cost increase. I’m quite sure you will know the full price of a booking before you submit that Disney Visa credit card number and hit enter. And, it’s a moot point if it was “free” items before or not. If they choose to charge for them now, that’s that. You’re burnt about a cost increase and you don’t want to face the fact that you have only one choice. Pay the higher prices or skip the visit.
If you choose to see only one side of the coin, that’s fine and a reflection on you. Please don’t assume you know anything about me or anyone else posting with your uni-directional point of view.
When will it end they already are overcharging for everything from dining to tickets. I hope people revolt and start staying off world.
Just up the price…no one would be the wiser and it would largely go unnoticed
Lets talk about the biggest failure here magic bands and the billions it cost them. Old tom saggs did not see smart phones coming there is a reson no other parks have them. So it’s either shareholders or guests who get to pay for this and we all know what that answer is……
Disney seems to believe that they are so wonderful that they can get away with anything. I always stay in the “value” resorts because I don’t want to pay a lot for what to me is a bed and a shower. I run the numbers, for my last trip (January) the price of a similar room off Disney, plus the 20$ fee to park, was the same as staying in the Pop Century, so I stayed on Disney. Add a 15$ resort fee, the math changes. I always have a car because Disney transportation sucks.
I agree that Disney is becoming too expensive for middle class families, and the experience is not as enjoyable as it used to be. I hate the my magic plus app because I don’t want to schedule every minute of my day when I am on vacation. All the dining reservations are gone months before you get there. Fastpass+ is idiotic, Fastpasses are gone months before you get there. They are turning the whole experience into a very expensive rat race.
I have been to Disney about 30 times over the last 30 years. (both World and Land) my last trip was easily my least enjoyable. I don’t know what is going on at Disney, but the parks were dirty, cast members unhappy, and service wasn’t as good as in the past.
My wife and I were so disappointed with our Disney World vacation, that we extended our vacation by a few days, checked into a off Disney hotel, and went to Universal for a few days. We had a better time at Universal. (Universal Orlando is not quite as good as Universal Hollywood though)
I think that it will be many years before we consider Disney World again. I don’t need to be “strip mined” for every nickel in my pocket while I get a less enjoyable experience.
Disney seems to be alienating the people spend the most money on movies,trips and merchandise, soon it will be only for the rich and that is sad. We are taking our 11 trip with our kids, it maybe the last if costs keep going up.
If a fee cannot be avoided, then it should be part of the advertised base price. I could say that my rooms are free, but there will be a $15 usage fee, $50 access fee, and $35 staff fee every night. How would that go over?
Are you kidding????!!!!???? This price should be incorporated of staying on property!!! I’m going to spend $2k, 3K, 5k, 10k for a vacation, and then Disney says… oh BTW you owe us another $15 per night… HEY DISNEY you can only P*SS off people for so long!!!! I LOVE Disney but doing something like this… I may be out.
Why wouldn’t they just up the nightly price of the room per night? Ohh, I know, so they can put the resort fee in the fine print and not on the online quoted price that doesn’t include taxes and fees. I am staying at a “value resort” when I go this year, I refuse to pay huge amounts for a bed and a shower and don’t plan on spending much time at the pool, so it seemed logical. I also looked at staying off property but priced out parking and resort fees at other nearby hotels and thought between savings on the Disney Dining (now I know that’s a joke after more research), and EMH I’d be better off in value resort than staying for free off hotel points at a nearby Marriott property. If they add a resort fee I’m absolutely staying off the property if I ever go again.
I wonder if the reason is anything to do with the Disney Vacation Club. They are limited to the amount annual dues can be increased each year but maybe this new charge could be imposed on owners. Have to check my contract to see exactly what it states annual dues include.
My daughter is 10 and we have been going since she was a year old. I see the changes each year we go and not for the better. when we first stepped foot in disney world I truly felt the magic. The cast members went out their way to make you feel special. I had been to many amusement parks in my life but Disney was top notch. Now they are starting to become a regular amusement park without the thrill rides such as six flags. I am happy I had a chance to enjoy the true Disney in past years. RIP Disney World
The hotels have paid for themselves at this point. They are making money or else they would not offer you tickets for 10 days at almost the 4 day rate…the longer you stay the more you spend…by taking more money out of the pocket of the customer they will reduce stay time and end up losing what they pick up in resort fees…
When people are inside a park 15 bucks is not a huge deal, but when planning a 10 day trip they see it bc they are comparing…so let me see 5,000 for 10 days here with resort fee vs this off site place for 1,500 with no resort fees….i will deal with the hassle….