Are Disney prices too high?

[Minniesgal]

As far as I'm concerned, definitely not "everyone" should get to Disney! That's what is so hard about writing about this! Because Disney is such a wonderful place and is "special". And I love your second sentence! Awesome!! Good for you! Smart people, smart with their money!

That's the caveat! It's not that its "expensive" that gets me. It's because they are gouging their guests.

Because we have been going for years there, we know how things have changed. We own a property in the area and for our purposes, we have created a book which shows prices of "everything" for our guests. If I showed you the prices from 2005, compared to now, you would be amazed.

People like you (and me) work hard for their money. We make sacrifices for our "wants". When I see a business like Disney, charge people many times over what is reasonable, it gets my ire. I apologize to anyone if they find that a problem but really, they are exploiting their customers, plain and simple.

Yes, we should pay more for a great experience. But for a business to raise the price to the breaking point, is not sound business. Oh, it may bring great profits now but in the long run, it will eventually do them in.

Congratulations on paying your mortgage down! Good for you!

Disagree. Not such thing as breaking point. Prices go up as well as down. At the moment attendance is up almost too high so rising prices makes sense. Once that peaks the steep discounts will come back and attendance will climb again. Price increases will not do Disney in they will adapt and survive to any response from the general public that's why they are successful. The fact you no longer find value in them doesn't mean they are doomed

 

[epcotty]

I think the main thing is it's nowhere near as affordable as it used to be when compared to inflation. The gradually worsening increases over the past 10 years likely have many close to the breaking point and if they push things too far past inflation attendance will decline

 

[5kidsmommy]

I think the main thing is it's nowhere near as affordable as it used to be when compared to inflation. The gradually worsening increases over the past 10 years likely have many close to the breaking point and if they push things too far past inflation attendance will decline

Disney is a luxury good, inflation really doesn't matter when it comes to luxury goods, they are in a whole different market. And Disney has plenty of market analysts and actuaries working for them, they have the data and won't risk profits, they do actually know what they are doing.

 

[flicx]

Disney is a luxury good, inflation really doesn't matter when it comes to luxury goods, they are in a whole different market. And Disney has plenty of market analysts and actuaries working for them, they have the data and won't risk profits, they do actually know what they are doing.

Now that's an opinion, not a fact. Some would venture to say the 2 billion on MME was bad one! Excluding more and more people by pricing them out may not be the best of financial decisions.

 

[wilkeliza]

Look I grew up as a kid who couldn't afford to go. Funny thing is we never thought it was Disney's fault that mom couldn't afford to take us on a trip with one income below the poverty line. The only way I got to go as a teenager was busting my but in JROTC and getting sponsored for a trip to San Diego that included a stop in Disney on our way back. Now as an adult I bust my butt to go. Yeah it is expensive but as I said before I hear the same argument about the theater here in NYC where I live. Try spending $400 for a 3 hour experience. Then water is $5 a bottle and a pack of skittles is another $5. If you are lucky you'll end up at a good show that still has seats for less than $400 but right now the best seats in the house are going for 250-400 and like I said that is for 3 hours. At least at Disney you pay 100 for 12-16 hours. I couldn't even imagine what it will cost for us to come back to NYC once we move out. Looks at a hotel that isn't even that nice for this weekend for family and everything was 200 or more a night.

 

[bc7ate9]

Disney is not extracting every last cent from my family. It's not even taking up our entire vacation budget. So far in 2015, we've spent a week at Disneyland, 3 weeks in Japan, and 5 days at Disney World (and have another 5 days planned for December.) We don't think it costs too much at all. I'd accuse them of price gouging if they charged an exorbitant price for a poncho when it started to rain or raised the price of a bottle of water when the temperature went up.

 

[RedAngie]

Look I grew up as a kid who couldn't afford to go. Funny thing is we never thought it was Disney's fault that mom couldn't afford to take us on a trip with one income below the poverty line. The only way I got to go as a teenager was busting my but in JROTC and getting sponsored for a trip to San Diego that included a stop in Disney on our way back. Now as an adult I bust my butt to go. Yeah it is expensive but as I said before I hear the same argument about the theater here in NYC where I live. Try spending $400 for a 3 hour experience. Then water is $5 a bottle and a pack of skittles is another $5. If you are lucky you'll end up at a good show that still has seats for less than $400 but right now the best seats in the house are going for 250-400 and like I said that is for 3 hours. At least at Disney you pay 100 for 12-16 hours. I couldn't even imagine what it will cost for us to come back to NYC once we move out. Looks at a hotel that isn't even that nice for this weekend for family and everything was 200 or more a night.

What shows are you seeing that cost so much? Paying scalper prices?

 

[wilkeliza]

What shows are you seeing that cost so much? Paying scalper prices?

Hamilton is currently that much for premium seats. Like I said it does range but I was quoting top prices since Disney is the top of the theme park industry. Still center orchestra at most theaters is going for over 150 now a days.

 

[bryanb]

I can understand the frustration. It feels like gouging -- although it's not considered gouging because demand is "elastic" (meaning that consumers can stop vacationing there if they don't like the value).

I wonder how much more they can increase prices before profits start going down -- instead of up. As I've said before on here, I'm sure that Disney has done the math. There would be a point where that would happen, but I'd imagine we're not there yet given the crowds and hotel occupancy rates (even in the off season).

This is bad news for those of us who wish the place was cheaper, higher quality... and less crowded at the same times. When prices and crowds are so high, that feels terribly contradictory to the magical, dreams-filled wishes we have. But we want to keep going, so we call it "gouging" even though we could spend our savings elsewhere.

It's good to see so much passionate debate about Disney prices on here. Obviously, affording a WDW vacation is a first-world problem. I only hope that some of the passion on here is also reserved for greater outrages in the world, such as the skyrocketing cost of education, the bankers who destroy value while enriching themselves, and the wasteful government spending that cost people much more than what they pay for a trip to see Elsa and Anna.

 

[RedAngie]

Hamilton is currently that much for premium seats. Like I said it does range but I was quoting top prices since Disney is the top of the theme park industry. Still center orchestra at most theaters is going for over 150 now a days.

Yikes!!! That much for Hamilton? And I thought $200 for Book of Mormon a few years ago was outrageous.

 

[wilkeliza]

Yikes!!! That much for Hamilton? And I thought $200 for Book of Mormon a few years ago was outrageous.

Yeah they are doing what Disney currently is haha. When it first opened those seats were about $200 but when the second round of seats opened up it was at $400. I mean you can sell for that much when your first block sold out in hours. It was very hard and is still very hard to get a ticket to Hamilton and there are mostly only premium tickets left for days that are actually available through the venue. I just looked for the one day highlighted as yellow in the nearest future (Feb 2016) and a premium seat is 367 so a little under the 400 I thought.

I'm glad to have seen the show 4 times and to have not spent that mucho on it. We went to previews so tickets were only 150-200 during that time.

 

[Planogirl]

WDW was very affordable at one time. It has become less and less so for some people and of course it bothers them. Why is that so hard to understand? I don't think that Disney owes anyone a trip either but it's still hard to take the constant price increases while IMO quality goes down.

I'm truly happy for people who can afford several trips and find everything to just be wonderful. It's not like that for everyone. I'm grateful to be finding less and less to enjoy because I'm literally weaning myself off of WDW. I want to see the world and much of it costs less.

 

[happypaws]

I used to think Disney hotel prices were fairly overinflated. That is until I recently booked a room for an upcoming conference in Boston in October. Granted it's a big city, but the cheapest room I could find using a conference discount (out of 20 affiliated hotels) is more expensive than my entire upcoming December stay at AKL plus park tickets. And the only animals outside my room in October are the Red Socks fans

 

[momof2n2]

WDW was very affordable at one time. It has become less and less so for some people and of course it bothers them. Why is that so hard to understand? I don't think that Disney owes anyone a trip either but it's still hard to take the constant price increases while IMO quality goes down.

I'm truly happy for people who can afford several trips and find everything to just be wonderful. It's not like that for everyone. I'm grateful to be finding less and less to enjoy because I'm literally weaning myself off of WDW. I want to see the world and much of it costs less.

Yes. I can still afford it, but the ROI has slipped so far I can't stomach it. Way too many other fun places to go.

 

[Pirate Jeff]

They reached that point once before and it's taken them 25 years to have record attendance which was barely above where they were in the 90s. The previous leadership worked hard to rebuild consumer trust and get people coming again and the current group is making the same mistakes that nearly split the company in the 80s.

I remember that time! I remember how things went when Disney the corporation neglected "Disney the brand"! And while some of the members here on this board will defend "everything" Disney does without question, those same folks will be scratching their heads when the profits Disney now realize, will diminish. Eventually, return guests (like myself) will be wondering exactly how to justify spending so much for so much less! I am quite confident, that I am not the only one who feels this way! Although, I admit, this is mostly my opinion.

 

[Pirate Jeff]

Disagree. Not such thing as breaking point. Prices go up as well as down. At the moment attendance is up almost too high so rising prices makes sense. Once that peaks the steep discounts will come back and attendance will climb again. Price increases will not do Disney in they will adapt and survive to any response from the general public that's why they are successful. The fact you no longer find value in them doesn't mean they are doomed

Please do me a favor then. When the prices start coming down, make a post about it so we know!

 

[wilkeliza]

What exactly less are people getting? Yes DHS is currently a mess but you can go and not go there. I've not had a single trip where I didn't feel like I got my money's worth. The one "bad" trip we had the parks and everything were great and management was amazing with the issue. Heck the CM who threatened my job (I was a season CM at the time) even called later once my family returned home to apologize. I keep hearing that Disney is declining but I just don't' see it. Maybe it is because I didn't start going until the late 2000s.

 

[GPC0321]

Hamilton is currently that much for premium seats. Like I said it does range but I was quoting top prices since Disney is the top of the theme park industry. Still center orchestra at most theaters is going for over 150 now a days.

Yep. And it costs around $100 per person for a ticket into one of the Disney parks for an entire day's worth of rides and shows. Which means a family of three could spend $450 on a three hour Broadway show or $300 for a full day at a Disney park. Factor in the expense of hotel, food, and transportation in NYC vs WDW, and I daresay you're getting much more bang for your buck at WDW. And this is coming from someone who loves NYC and Broadway shows, but it is EXPENSIVE to go there, stay, eat, and be entertained.

Disney and NYC are my two "go to" vacation destinations, and I don't get to go to either one very often. I've been to each a handful of times, with more NYC trips recently than WDW trips. I love them both, but if I'm going to shell out the money, I think Disney is a better deal. It's just more of a relaxing escape from the "real world". You're still very much in the "real world" in NYC, and it can be a little more work than I typically want to do on vacation. I love the Disney "bubble" that shelters guests from reality (for the most part) and I'm willing to pay for that advantage. It's the entire reason I choose to go to WDW at all. I'm not looking for world-class dining or hotel accommodations. I'm looking for a fun place to stay, eat, and play while immersed in a "World" that is unlike any other place on earth.

I assume after dozens of visits, people lose sight of how special Disney is. The magic wears off because they've been there so much that it's no longer a novelty. But speaking as someone who rarely gets to visit, I can tell you that it's definitely worth the cost.

 

[BugsDaddy]

I can understand the frustration. It feels like gouging -- although it's not considered gouging because demand is "elastic" (meaning that consumers can stop vacationing there if they don't like the value).

I wonder how much more they can increase prices before profits start going down -- instead of up. As I've said before on here, I'm sure that Disney has done the math. There would be a point where that would happen, but I'd imagine we're not there yet given the crowds and hotel occupancy rates (even in the off season).

This is bad news for those of us who wish the place was cheaper, higher quality... and less crowded at the same times. When prices and crowds are so high, that feels terribly contradictory to the magical, dreams-filled wishes we have. But we want to keep going, so we call it "gouging" even though we could spend our savings elsewhere.

It's good to see so much passionate debate about Disney prices on here. Obviously, affording a WDW vacation is a first-world problem. I only hope that some of the passion on here is also reserved for greater outrages in the world, such as the skyrocketing cost of education, the bankers who destroy value while enriching themselves, and the wasteful government spending that cost people much more than what they pay for a trip to see Elsa and Anna.

Exactly this. Good post.

 

[momof2n2]

What exactly less are people getting? Yes DHS is currently a mess but you can go and not go there. I've not had a single trip where I didn't feel like I got my money's worth. The one "bad" trip we had the parks and everything were great and management was amazing with the issue. Heck the CM who threatened my job (I was a season CM at the time) even called later once my family returned home to apologize. I keep hearing that Disney is declining but I just don't' see it. Maybe it is because I didn't start going until the late 2000s.

Two words: RIDE RATIONING