Prices just hit my threshold :-(

[3DisneyFanz]

While I'm sure that people were always slobs, have you ever seen pictures of those early visitors to DL? They were wearing dresses and their "Sunday best". Something tells me that they were far more likely to be respectful of the property in Walt's days.

(And I'm not negating the cutbacks in staff...I think it's just a combination of both. Cutbacks in staff + an increase in folks who are disrespectful.)

True but go back and read the stories of Walt monitoring how far people would carry trash before littering. Dressed nicely of not they still made messes. The difference was he didn't simply think guests were slobs he looked at ways to correct the problem.

 

[KristinU]

Everyone has to put their own value on things. So annual passes went up by $100 but I see people on the Budget board talking about $250 slipper shoes, or I see how nuts people go over the Dooney and Bourke Disney handbags for hundreds of dollars, or what about most suburban families that don't think twice about dropping nearly $50 for a family of four at Panera or Chipotle for a quick meal. But $100 a person over the course of a year has us all in a tizzy. If it isn't a value or priority to you, then time to vote with your feet and your pocketbook but in the big picture I still consider WDW a pretty decent value for us.

 

[mummabear]

Stockholders, however, have a right and an entitlement to expect performance from a company they invest in- and if that means raising prices to offset expansion, new construction, etc.- then so be it. Many WDW attractions are outdated, and it costs money to replace/update them. What we on the boards might think about price increases is irrelevant to the corporation and it's stockholders. Stockholders do not care how someone feels, or how much they love Disney, or how disappointed they are about price increases. Stockholders care about one thing- and one thing only- profit margins.

Except that most businesses understand that there are times of investment where there are smaller profits.
Especially when you haven't been maintaining your assets.
You can't as a business offer less that customers and tell them to pay more because you are making expansions for other customers in the future, you need to make the expansions first then charge more.
Profits sometimes to a dip so they can make a peak.

 

[amylevan]

For those currently planning trips, are you just buying tickets now? I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get the tickets before any changes to prices occur.

We are going in February, and I plan to grab my tickets from UCT as soon as I get my fall coaching check. (Lump sum paycheck that isn't in our normal budgeting.) It's usually here by the end of October. Crossing my fingers to not see ticket hikes or the demand pricing changes before then.

 

[momof2n2]

For those currently planning trips, are you just buying tickets now? I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get the tickets before any changes to prices occur.

DH & I are discussing this.
Amazingly the UCT prices are a few dollars less today than they were three mos ago when I looked.

 

[Nigel Channing]

Is this really the defense of the poor food quality? I am intrigued. Is this the reason that they give? Speculation, or based off of facts?

I've seen both allergies and free dining as a reason for the food quality going downhill and neither make sense. There are thousands of great restaurants in this country that seem to handle food allergies while providing excellent service. As for free dining, how does a promo that lasts around 2-3 months account for a decline in food quality?

 

[Nigel Channing]

There are so many great places to vacation in this country besides Disney, get out there and see them if you don't think Disney is providing enough value for your money. It is why Disney is a one every 2 to 3 year trip for us.

 

[KristinU]

There are so many great places to vacation in this country besides Disney, get out there and see them if you don't think Disney is providing enough value for your money. It is why Disney is a one every 2 to 3 year trip for us.

Very true!

 

[jsmla]

There are so many great places to vacation in this country besides Disney, get out there and see them if you don't think Disney is providing enough value for your money. It is why Disney is a one every 2 to 3 year trip for us.

We actually travel quite a bit-to the beach, the mountains, out west and this year Germany and Amsterdam. DH is NOT a Disney fan so we only go together once a year. I make a lot of either solo or girlfriend trips and it's getting harder and harder to justify the expense when it's just me.

 

[lugnut33]

It makes no difference to Disney or it's shareholders either way- go to WDW, don't go to WDW- the bottom line is financial accountability to stockholders, and there is no empathy involved- only dollars and cents. '.

As a customer I want them to think of me. If they don't then my bottom line is I no longer go.

BTW, I'm putting my money where my mouth is, I am sending in the paperwork tomorrow to put my DVC points up for sale.

 

[Cactus-butt]

It's a weird thing .. pricing.

We always want more ... but complain when prices increase because more was provided (like the consumers asked). I mean no one wants to pay more, but in general in the world .. you get what you pay for.

As stated above .. look at mini-vans. These things cost a lot of money compared to when my parents had a mini van to cart me around.
Are the car companies trying to gouge us?
Not really.
Mini-vans are in high demand .. and with that high demand is the desire for tons of more options - power everything .. tv screens .. usb ports .. power seats ..power doors .. doors that open when you move your foot ... and they are simply LARGER.
So should we be shocked that prices have increased every year?

Same with Disney .. they have not only added 2-3 parks since a lot of us started going as children, but tons of hotels .. making our stay more convenient. They have extravagant night shows at all the parks (and adding another one at AK .. they are adding THREE new lands coming up .. plus a new (remake) Frozen ride. They've added special parties at all times of the year. They recently redid FantasyLand and added one of the most popular rides in the whole resort (SDMT). They also now have it where every guest in the park can skip 3 rides every day and added the convenience of the MBs (as your ticket and room key) and the MDE app that you can use in the park (with the FREE wifi throughout). They also have redone their entertainment/shopping district. Plus, people are coming to Disney like wildfire. It is in great demand.

There is more to do and see at Disney then there ever was (despite the few attractions that have closed at DHS and Epcot) and easier to do it with technology available (like it or not) .. Yet we are shocked and appalled when prices go up?

Well said. I don't mind paying extra for this year's mini-van when I know they will sell me an even better mini-van in six years. Honestly, the fact that this year's model doesn't have seatbelts doesn't really bother me. I don't buy a car for safety, it's just a bonus.

 

[crazyventures]

DH & I are discussing this.
Amazingly the UCT prices are a few dollars less today than they were three mos ago when I looked.

Just bought mine. Hooray for impulsive lunch hour purchases!

 

[saskdw]

1.) I strongly disagree with your first statment. Are you a DVC Owner? DVC is designed to encourage you to spend the maximum amount of time in WDW each year - I'd guess in many cases our visits outnumber non-DVC guests 2-1. And no matter where you slice it...time spent in DVC= increased profits for WDW. Trust me... my bank account agrees.

2.) Now you say it's "ok" if people feel their $$ is better spent elsewhere? Because past posts have most certainly simply stated your excitment in hoping that these new changes now kept the riff-raff away from your family while on your "well -deserved because you're hard working" vacation.

And...for the record. Have you ever taken a TRUE luxury vacation?? I have...it's not WDW! LOL, I love WDW... but banjo playing animatronic bears, all you can eat fried chicken, and coconut races amongst toddlers is NOT a luxury vacation. If it is to YOU...that's great. Drop $10K/year on the family skillet...hey, ask for ketchup while you're at it! It's luxury at its finest!

My $10K vacations will not involve rubber bracelets or anything that has the word "frontier" in it.

I'm guessing you live much closer to WDW than some of us?

All of our yearly WDW vacations cost $10k.

We come all the way from western Canada each December which means two things. Flights are $2000-$2500 and because it takes an entire travel day there and a day back combined with the flight cost it only makes sense to go if it's for 2 weeks. Not a few days at a time.

Flights $2500
Magic my way with FD at a Business Class room at CSR for 3 $6500.

We're at $9000 with "free dining" and we have factored in no other expenses yet.

So your opinion of what a $10k vacation should look like is not valid for most. These cheap little 4-5 day trips to WDW for those of you close enough to drive or fly for cheap don't exist as an option for many of us. We've priced out other vacations, there is not alot of "luxury" vacations out there for $10k that involve staying a full two weeks.

 

[saskdw]

Disney belongs to everyone, not just the wealthy middle/rich.

Says who?

By that logic everyone is entitled to stay at the Ritz Carlton for the same price as the Motel 8.

 

[hopemax]

While I'm sure that people were always slobs, have you ever seen pictures of those early visitors to DL? They were wearing dresses and their "Sunday best". Something tells me that they were far more likely to be respectful of the property in Walt's days.

(And I'm not negating the cutbacks in staff...I think it's just a combination of both. Cutbacks in staff + an increase in folks who are disrespectful.)

Why assume that? Walt's time saw the birth of the nationwide anti-littering campaigns. The first PSA, happened in 1956, Lady Bird Johnson adopted it as her "first lady" project. If these people were so "respectful" why did America need this? Walt insured DL was staffed appropriately, and there are those stories about making sure trash cans were spaced at a certain distance.

And another datapoint. There's another guy on WDWMagic who works in Custodial. He says the MK custodial staff is the same size as the other parks. Despite having almost twice the attendance.

 

[Rip]

I've seen both allergies and free dining as a reason for the food quality going downhill and neither make sense. There are thousands of great restaurants in this country that seem to handle food allergies while providing excellent service. As for free dining, how does a promo that lasts around 2-3 months account for a decline in food quality?

It's not the free dining, it's the dining plan itself. The TS restaurants at Disney used to be some of the best in the Orlando area when we lived there. The decline and homogenization of the menus is directly correlated with the expansion of the dining plan.

 

[Cactus-butt]

Says who?

By that logic everyone is entitled to stay at the Ritz Carlton for the same price as the Motel 8.

Agreed. Obviously Disney had high-end clientele when they built their on-site hotels

 

[Darcy03231]

This thread makes me want to vomit.

Literally giving my stomach the rumbles; I feel like my planning my first (yet second) trip out to WDW is not even going to be worth it for the boyfriend and I.

Don't feel that way. I don't think anyone here is saying that a vacation at WDW isn't a great vacation. For some of us that are long time visitors we're just not seeing the value for our dollar. Your experience will be completely different from ours as everything will be new to you and you won't have anything to compare it to. For some people, even with the price increases and decreases in other areas they still feel that they are getting good value for their money, and as long as they feel that way it's still a great vacation for them. Each person/family needs to make that decision for themselves.

Personally, for our family, we don't think it's a good value for our dollar so we have started branching out and trying new vacation destinations and are finding that we're having fun in new locals. It doesn't take anything away from the fun we had at Disney, it's just time for us to move on to something different. Most likely we'll be back when some of the new lands open up.

I don't think anyone here is saying that they hate WDW. Quite the opposite. I think most of us love going and are a bit sad that we're just not finding the value in it anymore. For those of us that have done something new, I think we're a bit surprised to find out that we're not missing WDW as much as we thought we would. I know I was. Years ago I couldn't imagine being in the Orlando area and not going to WDW. As I said earlier in this thread we did 10 days there and didn't set foot on WDW once, even though we planned to at least hit DTD, and I really didn't miss it at all, which really surprised me.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm guessing you live much closer to WDW than some of us?

All of our yearly WDW vacations cost $10k.

We come all the way from western Canada each December which means two things. Flights are $2000-$2500 and because it takes an entire travel day there and a day back combined with the flight cost it only makes sense to go if it's for 2 weeks. Not a few days at a time.

Flights $2500
Magic my way with FD at a Business Class room at CSR for 3 $6500.

We're at $9000 with "free dining" and we have factored in no other expenses yet.

So your opinion of what a $10k vacation should look like is not valid for most. These cheap little 4-5 day trips to WDW for those of you close enough to drive or fly for cheap don't exist as an option for many of us. We've priced out other vacations, there is not alot of "luxury" vacations out there for $10k that involve staying a full two weeks.

But I'm sure you realize some of your costs are upgrades you choose. Business class at a moderate resort costs quite a bit more than a standard value room.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

True. Assumptions were made. When we buy APs, we expect to be able to use them when staying at our 'home away from home'. Now, we have to choose between paying a bit more but living with blacked out dates or paying a lot more and getting 365 days.
Please, come back here, in a few years, after paying a pretty hefty chunk of change to buy DVC, and let all of us know how you like the changes Disney makes. They have been myriad since I bought DVC. And all those changes have made my DVC experience less than it was when we purchased.


You have forgotten a very large group...those that love Disney, who have significant time and money spent, but who are disappointed in the way Disney is making changes. Yes, it's a business. No, not everyone can afford to go. We get that. And yes, we know things change. But.....when Disney increases prices, yet makes it a lesser experience, all while telling us they are making changes to provide their guests with a better experience? Yep. Some of us see through that, and are so disappointed in Disney. Many of us have been through this same type thing with Disney over the years. And most of the time, it has not been 'better'. I could give you many examples. I just don't have the time at the moment.

I am actually toying with the idea of buying DVC for the specific purpose of buying those tickets with the black out dates as my family will never go in either of those two time frames.