Anything you no longer do/buy at Disney due to price?

[BriarRosie]

I am not willing to pay the current price for the Candlelight Processional dinner package. We got the package in 2001 and 2002, and back then you also got a 15% merchandise discount at Epcot on the day of your dinner package.

I remember that, because that was the one and only time I've done the Candlelight Processional dinner package. I thought it was an excellent deal, especially when they gave that 15% merchandise discount. I would hit Mouse Gear (or was it still Centorium back then?) for all my souvenirs that day. I have done "walk bys" for the CP in December, but I won't buy the package or wait in Standby.

I agree with others about buffets, especially character buffets. You're pretty much being charged for the character experience. If that's important to the guest experience, avoiding long waits for characters outdoors, I can see the value. I did go to Tusker House for lunch in December. It was my first visit there since they've changed to table service, and I was impressed with it enough to go back again. I think other than the Captain's Grille or Fresh (at the Dolphin) for buffet breakfasts, those are my only exceptions. (I only went to Cape May last July because I had the dining plan.)

As for merchandise, I buy next to nothing these days. Tshirts are priced too high, and the quality isn't good. I stopped buying pins for the most part about 5 years ago. I pick up a couple pins for special things like the Food and Wine Festival. I remember when there was a lot of resort-specific merchandise. It was always interesting to visit a different resort just to see what merchandise was offered. Most of it is gone, but I did notice some of it did return. Not consistent enough among the resorts, though.

Speaking of Food and Wine, I am someone who will pay for the special events. But I'm paying for myself only. If I were paying for myself and another person, it would price me out of a lot. I am finding that the raised prices of some events do exceed my limits, but I'm still willing to do the French Regional Lunches and other events that are just below the $100 mark.

On the flip side, I am not willing to pay for the Magic Kingdom dessert party with the Wishes viewing area. I don't think it's worth it. And I won't buy MNSSHP or MVMCP tickets anymore, either. I pick and choose what I'm willing to spend money on, and I'm usually choosing Food and Wine vs. special parties.

 

[Cap.Steamboat Willie]

I have stopped buying a great deal.

Rarely do I find something unique to the park or resort specific.

I think that this thread along with the other thread/segment on Teresa's children enjoying the park without spending additional money should be studied together as a way to send a fiscal message to Disney about getting quality and class infused back into their products.

 

[WaltD4Me]

This one really got to my DD-15 this trip. She found a sweatshirt she really loved - until she looked at the price tag. It was $75! Sorry but she didn't love it that much. She didn't need any convincing from mom and dad to realize that was a crazy amount of money for that item. We might have paid $40 or even $50 but certainly not $75.

$75 is ALOT, but I probably would paid it if it was for a really nice quality embroidered sweatshirt. I say this because in 1998 I found a gorgeous sweatshirt at AK ... I loved it, but it was $60. I didn't buy it and then decided I had to have it and couldn't find it anywhere else. I had to go back to AK to get it. $60 was alot of money almost 15 years ago, but I still love and wear that sweatshirt. It never shrunk, washes well and still looks almost new. To me, I more than got my money's worth and would do it again.

 

[shellyminnie]

One of the things that I don't buy anymore due to price is a snack item, or used to be a snack item . . .

Goofy's Candy Co. (in DTD) has a "make your own treat" that includes either a stick of marshmallows, a large oreo cookie, a Gingerbread man, three big pretzel rods, or a candy apple. These can be dipped in milk, white, or dark chocolate and covered with candy bits including m&m's, crushed butterfinger, crused oreo's, and many others.

Now, up unitl about a year ago, each one of these (except the candy apple) counted as a snack credit on the dining plan so they were all priced lower than $4, which to me was a great deal!! In fact, living only an hour away, I have been known to drive over just to go to Goofy's for a treat. Not anymore. Today, these treats have doubled or almost tripled in price and are no longer a snack credit on the dining plan. For example, I used to get a stick of marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate, covered in m&m's, and drizzled with milk chocolate for $2.25! Now, these are $4.95!! The three big pretzel rods are now $8.95 which means they have more than doubled in price. I haven't gotten anything from Goofy's in over a year because I refuse to pay these higher prices.

 

[FireDancer]

I don't buy nearly as many souvenirs as I used to. Looking at my last two trips the only souvenirs I left with were two finisher's medals (Wine & Dine half and WDW Full) and one "2011 Disney World Marathon Finisher" shirt. I didn't buy a single souvenir on PCC 1.0.

 

[HillPete]

We stopped getting the dining plan when older DS turned 10. It is absolutely insane to charge that much for a person who is not going to eat anything on the adults menu!! It's much more realistic for us to get a Visa gift card for $500 or so and just use that to pay for what we order off the regular menu. If they instituted a junior level of pricing (and portions), we might consider it again.

Ditto what everybody else said about the generic souvies and cheap-quality shirts. We saved a ton of $$ on our last trip because none of us (even my 8 year old!) was willing to pay those prices for that junk!

--Hillary

 

[disneysteve]

We stopped getting the dining plan when older DS turned 10. It is absolutely insane to charge that much for a person who is not going to eat anything on the adults menu!!

Way back when, there used to be 3 admission categories: child, junior and adult. I don't recall how that affected dining but it at least acknowledged that a child doesn't instantly become an adult at a certain age, and certainly not at age 10. My DD is 15 and had several meals off the kids menu the past 2 weeks. No way would I pay for something dining-related at Disney that classified her as an adult. That's another reason we don't do buffets anymore.

 

[DSNY4ever]

We just don't go as much . It has been almost 4 years since our last WDW trip, and to be honest we only went on that trip because a very generous person just gave us their DVC points that were going to expire. We hope to go again in maybe 2013.

If we do go, we'll have to do less sit down meals and no souvenirs to make it happen.

 

[kevrab]

Our family used to go every year but with the rising Disney costs and the economy we just can not afford it.

 

[lablady]

We don't go as often, and when we do I really don't buy souvenirs! It's not that I don't have the money, but i'm not interested in the stuff they are selling! Most of it is Wal-Mart quality, and usually pretty garish and cheap looking. I used to just love looking over all the beautiful collectibles and clothing, but now the choices seem to be : cheap junk for $$$, quality stuff for $$$$$! No real in between. My youngest DD will always pick a stuffed animal, and my oldest DD usually finds a purse or hat or something and that's pretty much it for us.

We always loved Crystal Palace and Hollywood and Vine, but we don't go there anymore, since the girls aren't really into the character thing anymore, and the prices are absurd. It's unfortunate, because I love the inside of CP.While it can be loud, it's always cool and pretty. It's just not worth it to spend that much on lunch!

My DSIL and I are going on a cruise in Feb, and I would book a few days in WDW, but the park tickets are crazy! So much is under construction or repair at this time of the year that I don't find it worth it. We are just flying in 2 nights ahead and will probably hang out at DTD for a day.

It's really too bad that they don't quit for awhile with all the prices hikes. When a price quote makes me gasp, being an avid park fan, it's getting out of hand.

 

[312.Duck]

The whole concept of outlet stores has changed. There are now outlets every few miles it seems and they manufacture merchandise strictly for the outlet stores rather than having one or two stores in the whole country where they sold off excess stock and seconds.

+1

Well put.

 

[MomofKatie]

We have cut down on many of the same things as others:

1- Staying onsite. We can find comparable accomodations for much less offsite, and it takes us less time to drive to the parks than wait for the Disney busses.

2- Eating at Disney TS restaurants. As soon as DD turned 10, it became a bad deal to eat at any buffets/family style restaurants. Prices seem to go up more than once a year, while quality and variety has diminished at the restaurants overall. We have started eating offsite more and more in the past few years.

3- Hard ticket events. The prices have gone up so much since we started attending them, that we can't see spending the extra $$.

4- Hopping, waterparks & more, and no-expire options. The first year the MYW tickets were offered (2005), we added Hopping, WP&M, and no-expire to our tickets for approx $170 per ticket ($100 for 10 day no expire, $35 each for WP&M and hopping). The same options would cost us $335 per ticket today. That is DOUBLE the price in just 6 years!! Ridiculous- we aren't going to pay for it.

5- Souvenirs. We can't even find much of anything we'd WANT to spend $$ on in the parks anymore- most of it is such generic, badly made trash. Now, I might only spend $25 in a weeklong visit, where I used to drop more than $100.

 

[Gigi22]

The big thing for us is that we are going to spend 2/3 of our next trip to Orlando at Universal. We can stay onsite for a lot less than at WDW, and get FOTL privileges. We've never been to Universal, so we are really looking forward to it. When we do go to WDW, we are staying at the "Swolphin", another first--again a lot cheaper than a WDW hotel of comparable quality. Haven't stayed at an Epcot area resort for years, so we are looking forward to it. We have a number of non-expiring passes to WDW from previous trips, so no money on admission next time around.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

On my last trip in January, we spent a lot of time shopping or should I say looking! It was just me and a girlfriend and we went to the outlet malls, Cirque, DTD and Epcot for a day....just a quick relaxing trip. I was trying and trying to find something to buy, but the only purchased a few things. What I did purchase were more unique items, like the 40th anniversary mouse pad. I may have spent $100 at the most at Disney, and that included a replacement pair of croc flip flops because mine were about worn out and I wanted the Mickey ones.

One trip, the only thing I bought was a sweat shirt because I was so cold my teeth were starting to chatter. Had I been smart enough to carry my jacket with me when the day started out at 80 degrees, but dropped to the 50s at night, I would not have even bought that.

If Disney would bring back quality, unique items that I can't buy at Disney Stores or online (at a discount even!) or at "insert any discount or big box store name here" I would be more than willing to buy and spend money.

 

[cherokeemamma]

Disney is certainly on the way to pricing itself out for the average middle class American family. I can't think of a single item or experience that hasn't gone up in price and down in quality.

We have gone to MNSSHP five years in a row and every year it is more crowded, more expensive and has lost more and more magic each time. You used to get a free 5x7 portrait (per ticket holder; so a family of 4 received 4 portraits) with your MNSSHP ticket. They had a special place set up to do these portraits...they were not affiliated with photopass. Every ride was a walk on and the trick or treating was awesome and they actually gave candy that you would want to eat. It was easy to get a place to watch the parade and the fireworks...not so anymore; Disney seems more concerned with selling as many tickets as possible and less concerned with the quality of the experience. The last time we went was in 2009...sad to say it will probably be my last. Speaking for my familu. it is simply not that special and not a good value anymore.

The merchandise choices are terrible now. I truly hate the lack of interesting, unique and fairly priced merchandise. I feel the same way with the dining. I HATE the homogenizing of Disney. The prices are really out of control. Sometimes I think the things that drew my family to Disney is slowly being thrown aside and the magic is being replaced with greed. It makes me so sad because I love Disney, I LOVE visiting the parks and still have a great time but I cringe to think what it might be like in 10 years.

TTFN
Darlene

 

[sasquatch]

4- Hopping, waterparks & more, and no-expire options. The first year the MYW tickets were offered (2005), we added Hopping, WP&M, and no-expire to our tickets for approx $170 per ticket ($100 for 10 day no expire, $35 each for WP&M and hopping). The same options would cost us $335 per ticket today. That is DOUBLE the price in just 6 years!! Ridiculous- we aren't going to pay for it.

I'm considering cutting out park hopping on our next trip, whenever that might be. It is so compelling to have the flexibility to park hop, but our last trip, of six days, we park hopped once from Animal Kingdom to Hollywood Studios, to see Osbourne Lights. So, I reasoned I paid $208 for a family of four to see Osbourne Lights, which in my book, wasn't worth it.

My main determination in park hopping will be park hours. If we travel off-season during reduced park hours, we will likely not have the time to travel from park to park, so that expense can be eliminated. But, then again, there's always the lure of heading to EPCOT for Illuminations! Oh, the decisions!

 

[kevrab]

I may get slammed for writing this but I think that, with some of the assinine decisions by the corporation, alot of the magic has gone out of visiting the Disney parks.

I've talked to friends and co-workers who used to love to plan trips and vacations around their visits to WDW and it's just not on their radar anymore.

 

[Julylady]

Disney is certainly on the way to pricing itself out for the average middle class American family. I can't think of a single item or experience that hasn't gone up in price and down in quality.

We have gone to MNSSHP five years in a row and every year it is more crowded, more expensive and has lost more and more magic each time. You used to get a free 5x7 portrait (per ticket holder; so a family of 4 received 4 portraits) with your MNSSHP ticket. They had a special place set up to do these portraits...they were not affiliated with photopass. Every ride was a walk on and the trick or treating was awesome and they actually gave candy that you would want to eat. It was easy to get a place to watch the parade and the fireworks...not so anymore; Disney seems more concerned with selling as many tickets as possible and less concerned with the quality of the experience. The last time we went was in 2009...sad to say it will probably be my last. Speaking for my familu. it is simply not that special and not a good value anymore.

The merchandise choices are terrible now. I truly hate the lack of interesting, unique and fairly priced merchandise. I feel the same way with the dining. I HATE the homogenizing of Disney. The prices are really out of control. Sometimes I think the things that drew my family to Disney is slowly being thrown aside and the magic is being replaced with greed. It makes me so sad because I love Disney, I LOVE visiting the parks and still have a great time but I cringe to think what it might be like in 10 years.

TTFN
Darlene

I agree with Darlene and many of the other posters.

1. Last year we stopped purchasing both MVMCP and MNNSHP tickets. Too crowded and noticeably less value for an increased price.

2. In the past we usually purchased several pieces of clothing during an average trip. Nice sweatshirts and polo shirts and sometimes even a jacket. It is not so much the price that stopped us but the style and quality. It seems like the clothing is now geared to teens rather than adults. We just don't find anything we would want to purchase.

3. We now regularly stay at the Swan or Dolphin during the F and W festival rather than Beach Club. Just can't justify the price difference.

4. We no longer attend the higher priced F and W festival events...just not worth it. We still do the $11 demos, but this might be the last year if they continue to use mostly Disney chefs that I have never heard of.

5. We did the Dessert Party just once. Never again. If the cost was $20-$25, I would do it each trip.

I sincerely hope Disney personnel are reading this thread. I don't mind paying higher prices when the quality of the merchandise or the experience is also increasing. But it really irks me when they charge more and you get less. And its OBVIOUS.

Donna

 

[disneysteve]

I'm considering cutting out park hopping on our next trip

This is something we've thought about the past few trips but haven't actually pulled the trigger on doing. This trip, of our 5 park days, we hopped on 2 of them. It costs an extra $50/ticket so $150 total for the 3 of us to have that privilege. Was that really worth it? It doesn't matter to Disney which park we go to which day or if we go to 2 or 3 or 4 parks in the same day. Why charge such a premium for the ability to hop? Cutting out hopping would save us the $150 and we'd just plan our days accordingly but have an extra $150 in our pockets. We already have our passes for next trip but after that, it might be time to cut out hopping.

 

[dmccarty]

MNSSHP we will not do again. The first and only time we went, we waffled over the price. It was the first trip for the kids, so we went. Waste of money. We could have go into MK on an EMH evening for free.

We have looked at returning to MNSSHP but the price just kept going up. For our next trip, I half heartily checked the price and that was that. Not happening.

We looked at some of the F&W events but the cost was outrageous. Not happening either. Listening to the podcast reviews made it more so.

We went on an Illuminations Cruise. It was expensive, but we had a party of six and a very special occasion, so we splurged. It was worth it for that one time but we certainly would not do the cruise every trip. I would guess one day there will be a special occasion and we would book the cruise but it is too expensive to do every trip.

We have cut back on our TS dinners as well.

Later,
Dan