I am not trying to make light of anyone's situation here, but man has this thread made me laugh!
To me, It freaking sucks that some families have been priced out. Who cares if they were on the "threshold" or not. The wonderful thing about our country is we can choose to live on any threshold we please.
I mainly feel bad that a lot of families may not be able to give their children the experience that got so many of us started on Disney to begin with. The way my girls light up when we pull onto Disney property, I wish all families could give that to each other, despite how successful they are. Do I think all families are entitled to go? No, of course not. But to preach the "work hard, life sucks" speech is just sad when we are talking about a place that is so darn magical to families. Sometimes a little bit of compassion goes a long way.
My family has not been priced out of Disney, and we are planning on going in December to see the Osborne lights, and will go again next year for a large family trip just before Christmas. The price increase doesn't even really bother me personally, besides the fact that I love saving money and it sucks when I know I will be spending more of it lol. But i definitely won't tell anyone here, whom I do not know, to work harder to afford the things that my family can afford. That is really sad. I am thankful every day that I am in the position I am, because I watched my parents work their hearts out, work overtime, cut corners, etc. just to make ends meet and I would NEVER wish that on anybody. HARD work alone doesn't equate success. Its a combination of work, education, and a bit of luck, with a whole lot of other crap mixed in. My point is Disney attracts ALL different incomes not because people feel they deserve to be there, but because they want to experience the same magic that they hear/see so many other families talk about. Obviously people on these boards have felt that magic at one point, and now feel it is being taken away from them. Sure, they could be thankful they got to go at all, which I am sure they are, but I don't think anybody here can say they would be ok with that feeling. Why would anyone want that experience to be more "exclusive"? Besides to benefit yourself and create shorter lines, I can't see the appeal of taking other peoples happiness with their families away. That freaking sucks and I am sorry it is happening to so many people (whether that number of people is significant to Disney or not) and I hope Disney listens to the complaints.
Also, I am in the same crowd of someone who prefers Disney to a Beach type vacation, but that doesn't mean I want Disney to become a luxury type vacation. It just means I enjoy an expensive, relatively clean theme park to a beach because I get bored easily.