Cost of Fuel Poll

[theoarn]

THis is a short poll concerning how people think the cost of fuel and Airline tickets will effect the amount of people visiting DVC and DW.
Theo

 

[GEB@okw]

The cost of fuel is such a small amount of the total cost of driving that I can not see it making much difference. It's also such a small cost compared to the total cost of visiting Disney that I can not see it making any difference. Just my 2 gallons worth.....

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I think that the cost of fuel will indeed impact people coming from far reaches of the country, but I think many more people in driving distance (train for me) will opt to take the short drive as opposed to traveling across country to some other destination or risking the hell of flying somewhere far away. I voted no change.

 

[stopher1]

Personally I believe that in the coming year, if fuel prices continue to rise, occupancy at either Disney resort (WDW and DLR) may drop a bit by the folks that live farther away, but overall not greatly. Folks that are closer won't be affected as much. Many people (at least here in Indiana) are beginning to make choices about what they do and where they go and whether they fly or drive...but everyone that I know that "does Disney" for their vacations is opting to keep with Disney and drop something else from their plans. That's what we're doing - less weekend getaways, and keeping the traditional family trips to Disney. Some friends of ours (avid campers) just got rid of their travel trailer and are looking at doing one big trip like Disney vs. lots of summer-long weekend camping trips.

 

[mikron]

Most people fly, the fairs are not that much higher then last year you need to look deeper. Once you are at Disney you travel on there fuel.

 

[DisFlan]

Most people fly, the fairs are not that much higher then last year you need to look deeper. Once you are at Disney you travel on there fuel.

Not if you rent a car. And airfares are going nowhere but up. Way up, and probably for a very long time. It's a good bet that fewer people will be flying to WDW in the near future, and many will be put off by the cost of driving, too. We'll continue to go until the price of getting there becomes prohibitive for us. That point is different for everyone, but for many of us out here in the hinterland, it may not be far off.



DisFlan

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Yes, I think there will be some impact. For us, flying was a luxury, as flying a family of 4 is not cheap. For the last 3 or 4 trips, we've flown just because the gas prices keep rising, and we can get great rates out of Columbus ($200 per ticket out the door).

Disney's not a cheap vacation, though, so by the time you add in an additional $300 - $500 for gas, food and possibly lodging if you drive, I think it will reduce the number of times people visit or cause them to choose another vacation distination a little closer to home.

 

[mello]

Yes, our airfare will go up. We fly from the west coast, so we could be looking at a pretty hefty increase in our vacation budget for a family of 5. If that was the only thing in our lives impacted the price of fuel, it wouldn't really significantly alter our vacations.

However, in our everyday lives, our monthly gasoline budget has tripled, our food costs have gone up substantially, our home heating bill has doubled, and we're noticing increases across the board in goods and services as a result of increasing shipping costs, etc. Depending upon how much these things continue to go up, many people will find that larger and larger amounts of their discretionary funds are going to necessities, with less available for vacations. This could most definitely impact tourism in general if it continues.

 

[Pennyguy23]

Nevermind

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Yes, our airfare will go up. We fly from the west coast, so we could be looking at a pretty hefty increase in our vacation budget for a family of 5. If that was the only thing in our lives impacted the price of fuel, it wouldn't really significantly alter our vacations.

However, in our everyday lives, our monthly gasoline budget has tripled, our food costs have gone up substantially, our home heating bill has doubled, and we're noticing increases across the board in goods and services as a result of increasing shipping costs, etc. Depending upon how much these things continue to go up, many people will find that larger and larger amounts of their discretionary funds are going to necessities, with less available for vacations. This could most definitely impact tourism in general if it continues.

I don't think it will effect DVC much, but will probably effect non-DVC owners decisions to travel to WDW.

 

[mikeandkarla]

Yes, our airfare will go up. We fly from the west coast, so we could be looking at a pretty hefty increase in our vacation budget for a family of 5. If that was the only thing in our lives impacted the price of fuel, it wouldn't really significantly alter our vacations.

However, in our everyday lives, our monthly gasoline budget has tripled, our food costs have gone up substantially, our home heating bill has doubled, and we're noticing increases across the board in goods and services as a result of increasing shipping costs, etc. Depending upon how much these things continue to go up, many people will find that larger and larger amounts of their discretionary funds are going to necessities, with less available for vacations. This could most definitely impact tourism in general if it continues.

I agree 100%

 

[bnlbebes]

I was discussing a similar idea with my family this weekend.

I was wondering if the rise in Gas prices has even a little bit to do with the number of recent mortgage foreclosures.

I know that in my household, credit cards that I am used to paying off month after month are now carrying a balance, and one reason for that is the slow but steady increased costs of regular gas fill-ups. Perhaps the same will happen with Disney trips. The cost of fuel will cause expenses to go up, but rather than have number of visitors decline, the balances on their credit cards will increase.

 

[Brian Noble]

I believe cost of transportation will have an impact, but the Resort overall will still grow attendance. 2006 attendance was approximately 45.11M guests. 2007 was almost 47M guests---an increase of a bit more than 4.1%. I expect a smaller increase in 2008, but an increase nevertheless.

 

[theoarn]

I think the cost of airfare has remained fairly stable until recently because many of the carriers had long term contracts for the purchase of fuel. But there is no way that airfare can remain stable if the cost of fuel rises.
In the recent 10 years America has been very AIR mobile. I know people ho make $8 an hour who have been flying.
Actually the cost of flying has been very cheap in America compared to our wage. When I was kid flying was really a big deal. As A Kid in 1966 I remember having to dress up to fly to go see my dad graduate from flight school. In 1977 to fly from Fayetteville NC to Oklahoma City was more than half of a Privates monthly wage and than included my Jump pay. Now it is only about 25 percent.
I think Flying may roll back to what it was in the 70's.
But the cost of fuel will impact vacations more than just the cost of gas on a trip or airfare.
As the cost of fuel goes up so does every thing else. and as daily existence costs more there is less left for vacations.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Most people fly, the fairs are not that much higher then last year you need to look deeper. Once you are at Disney you travel on there fuel.

Try coming from Minnesota. Our air fares are high, and with the expected merger of NWA and Delta this week, they will only get higher.

I think it will effect things a little, but I think folks will still vacation, and since WDW is their destination of choice, I think they'll suck it up and pull out the wallet once again....Maybe just not for quite as long.

 

[Starr W.]

Not if you rent a car. And airfares are going nowhere but up. Way up, and probably for a very long time. It's a good bet that fewer people will be flying to WDW in the near future, and many will be put off by the cost of driving, too. We'll continue to go until the price of getting there becomes prohibitive for us. That point is different for everyone, but for many of us out here in the hinterland, it may not be far off.



DisFlan

With the rising fuels costs, hearing of the Delta/Northwest merger this week, which will probably be followed by United/Continental(CNBC airline talk this morning). Airfares are going to go up, because of fuel and the legacy carriers cutting domestic capacity(Delta and NWA have both separately announced cuts around 5%).

So for a lot of people it is going to cost way more and we will be faced with fewer flights to MCO. Look what Delta did last month.

 

[stopher1]

Once you are at Disney you travel on there fuel.

Even if you are traveling on "their fuel" once there - Disney is not a benevolent organization...they'll make up the increased costs of rising fuel themselves - and spread it out over the consumer cost in one way or another, be it resort increases for cash guests, ticket price increases, food increases, souvenir increases, etc. Factor all of these things together, plus the rising cost of everyday necessities as mello so nicely pointed out - and yes, more people are making choices in what they do and how often they do it vacation-wise. It's true that many people will just suck it up and go anyway, but for how long will they be able to do that? Our heating bills were amazingly less this winter than last, but our daily commuting costs only continue to increase totally negating the heating savings. The price of a gallon of milk locally has risen about 73% in the past year - and the current airfare price quotes I was reviewing just last week for our Oct. trip are up 28%. That's a bit more than just a little bit for a family of 5.

 

[Alexander]

The cost of fuel is such a small amount of the total cost of driving that I can not see it making much difference. It's also such a small cost compared to the total cost of visiting Disney that I can not see it making any difference. Just my 2 gallons worth.....

I don't know where you travel from, but when DH drove to Daytona in February it cost over $800 r/t. His truck is diesel and we're talking $4.35/gallon here in New York. Considering we have APs and our villa is paid for, the travel is the most expensive portion of our trip!

 

[DVCSAMNH]

Our local water company just got approved for an 18% increase! Wouldn't you like an 18% raise? Seems like everybody is starting to pass on their higher fuel costs. They have to. And if it hasn't affected people's discretionary spending it will eventually.

With DVC I won't be taking fewer trips because it's only the two of us. If I were having to buy plane tickets for 5 or 6 that might be a different story the way they are skyrocketing. Although from reading these boards lately it doesn't look like anyone is staying home. And when I was there in February everyone's daughters were all made up from Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and they had bags and bags of Disney goodies. It really looked like all was well.

 

[evaready51]

Gas Prices

Chicago (NW suburbs) - $3.49 (Where we live)

Grand Forks, ND $3.29 (our one son goes to school there)

Santa Barbara, CA $3.99 (our other son attends school there)

Gas and everything else just keeps going up. I think Chicago will see $4.00 a gallon gas by Memorial Day;

I have noticed that the airfares are getting quite high, SWA has especially raised their fares.