A little perspective on the Disney cost increase frustrations.

[Tonka's Skipper]

Touring Plans twitter feed just loaded a photo of a special pricing ad they just got from Disney for stays in October, $147 per night plus tax at Value resorts and $202 per night plus tax at Moderates. Seems reasonable to me..... NOT!

Most moderate hotels run from 180 to well over 200, depending on where and when,. So considering your on property..........location, location, location... these are not expensive! Try getting these rates in any big toursit city!

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Folks, Yes WDW is expensive...definitely! However with what they provide, it is not all that bad. look at UNI, they are going up fast as well, go to a ball game...a family of 4 ............200 to 800 depending on the sport and team. Concerts, 50 to hundreds, plays on Broadway...........80 min and over 200 sometimes, and this is 3 hours, not a whole day. Restaurants in NYC make WDW meals look cheap!


We can go on and on........the prices will stop when the crowds go down and the crowds will not go down until they can find something better (no not out there, not at the level of entertainment WDW provides).


Our family loves Disney, the Magic and pixie dust is worth the money. However we go when we can, maybe every 2 years or sometimes every year. We enjoy other things as well, my girlfriend in the Avatar (yes there is a real Tonka ), camping, nascar whatever.


AKK

 

[dfb]

Understandably, there's been a lot of stress recently on this board about the cost increases at Disney.

I happen to be a huge soccer fan, and the summer will be an important international soccer competition here in the US.

I like apples better than oranges!!! Sorry, there is no comparison.

 

[revdon64]

And I think the fact that many people don't feel too secure traveling abroad right now has a lot to do with the low cost of going over-seas.

I understand that people have a fear of traveling overseas right now, but I just did a six day trip in Israel and the West Bank and never felt unsafe, not once.

 

[maranara]

We've been talking about this a lot in my house lately. We had thought about spending a week at the beach...and couldn't find a hotel room for under $200 a night. We used to go to baseball games on a regular basis but my family can't go for under $100 anymore. Entertainment & vacations are EXPENSIVE. The thing that I think has really changed? How people view a Disney vacation. Growing up, a trip to Disney was something you got to do once or twice. That's once or twice in your childhood - not once or twice a year. I live 10 minutes from where I grew up - so the same basic area - and now Disney is an every year or every other year trip. The cost of Disney when you only do it once every 5-10 years is far more reasonable then when you consider doing it on the regular.

And...side note...I believe that families viewing Disney as an every year or every other year trip vs. once or twice in a childhood trip is a big reason for the increased crowds. We're planning our trip for January and trying to wrap our brains around being their during the lightest crowds of the year and still having to wait an hour for some rides.

 

[TAK]

I have to say that all the talk I keep seeing about how awful it is now with cutbacks and lack of Magic really have me rethinking our trip this summer. I love Disney but I want to have great memories of it and if it's become just "another theme park" along the lines of Six Flags with chipped paint and all (and no more towel animals?! Is that true?) then it isn't my Disney anymore. Sad panda

Don't be. Not everyone feels that it's awful.

 

[Poppybeach]

We started going to WDW when my son was 2 and Disney was perfect for us. Safe, clean and tailor-made for children. We have gone every year for 5 years and have watched prices creep up with getting less for our money. But, we were willing to pay it because it fit our vacation needs at the time. We would get a package with hotel, tickets, DDP and ME and not worry about a thing....it's a great, easy way to vacation. Now my son is almost 8 and we signed on for one more trip in November. That will be it for us for awhile. He is interested in travelling overseas and we are going to focus more on those trips with our first one to Ireland. Airfare, house rental, car rental and figuring on spending money....it's cheaper than our upcoming Disney trip. For us, Disney served its purpose and we still love it but now, we aren't so willing to pay those prices and continue to see the cuts. Each family has to decide what is right for them. Each family has it's own threshold. But for us, these price increases/cuts have got us pulling away for awhile to see what else is out there for our family trips.

 

[Misha72683]

Our receng trip to Disney cost us around $500 a day. A day trip typically xosts us between $200-$300 and that's without staying in a hotel and usually without a sit-down meal. Add in those things and the costs are pretty close to similar and we got so much joy out of Disney. We loved the theming, loved the magic, thought the food was wonderful, etc. The experience was worth the extra cost, because e got more out of it. Nothing is cheap any more, anything entertainment wise costs a lot of money. You just have to decide what is worth it for you.

 

[limabeanmom2003]

And a lot of people can drive to National Parks but must fly to Florida.

I haven't checked recently but I have a hunch I can stay cheaper in the Old Faithful Inn than at the Wilderness Lodge. And it only costs $30 to enter the park for as many people as I can cram into my car.

To stay inside a national park can cost as much as or more than Disney resorts, depending on which park you are visiting. We stayed in Curry Village (I refuse to call it half dome village, ridiculous!) in a raised Girl Scout type platform tent in the summer of 2013. It was quite expensive, but that's the cheapest option unless you want to tent camp. The Ahwahnee starts at over $400 a night.

 

[StuckInKS]

When you look at this comparison, Disney AP is indeed high but when I think about, those other places to me are one and done or maybe every several years. Disney to me is several times a year and I never get bored and there is always something new for us. That makes the values in a Disney AP much higher for me. I have enjoyed being an AP holder and sadly it expires in June.

I totally get what the OP you replied to is saying, but I think Universal is a better comparison because they are probably the next best (and for some people, better) theme park next to Disney. They have immersive lands, are always adding new rides and experiences and are really trying to compete in Orlando. I think OPs original quote was $3190 for annuals for a family of 4 at WDW, but for Universal it would only be $960 for the annual Power Pass. I have never been a Universal cheerleader and I haven't been since I myself was a teen, but as my own children get older and I compare the annual prices of Disney vs Universal, I am starting to realize the value I'd be getting for my money on the other side.

 

[Misha72683]

We started going to WDW when my son was 2 and Disney was perfect for us. Safe, clean and tailor-made for children. We have gone every year for 5 years and have watched prices creep up with getting less for our money. But, we were willing to pay it because it fit our vacation needs at the time. We would get a package with hotel, tickets, DDP and ME and not worry about a thing....it's a great, easy way to vacation. Now my son is almost 8 and we signed on for one more trip in November. That will be it for us for awhile. He is interested in travelling overseas and we are going to focus more on those trips with our first one to Ireland. Airfare, house rental, car rental and figuring on spending money....it's cheaper than our upcoming Disney trip. For us, Disney served its purpose and we still love it but now, we aren't so willing to pay those prices and continue to see the cuts. Each family has to decide what is right for them. Each family has it's own threshold. But for us, these price increases/cuts have got us pulling away for awhile to see what else is out there for our family trips.

This is why Disney will get our vacation money for the next few years (and still only every 2-3 years) because right now it best fits our needs. I don't want to go to Europe with (soon-to-be) three small children. I think it sounds painful. But Disney is great for kids and has enough fun stuff to appeal to the adults and we really like the food, so it fits all our needs. It won't forever, but for now it does.

 

[starjazz]

We're planning our trip for January and trying to wrap our brains around being their during the lightest crowds of the year and still having to wait an hour for some rides.

Unless you're going over MLK weekend, there's absolutely no reason you should wait for an hour to get on anything in January. We go Jan/Feb every year, never wait over 30 minutes for anything, and even that is extremely rare. Typically 20 minutes is the cutoff.

 

[mom2rtk]

To stay inside a national park can cost as much as or more than Disney resorts, depending on which park you are visiting. We stayed in Curry Village (I refuse to call it half dome village, ridiculous!) in a raised Girl Scout type platform tent in the summer of 2013. It was quite expensive, but that's the cheapest option unless you want to tent camp. The Ahwahnee starts at over $400 a night.

I just checked prices for a random night (6/15) this summer:


Old Faithful Inn (Yellowstone), standard room with bath...... $185

Port Orleans Riverside, standard room with a bath ...... $207

Cabin on the north rim of the Grand Canyon with 2 queen beds..... $190

Plus once you are there, you don't have to spring for theme park tickets.

 

[starjazz]

Suggesting you could do Paris or London for the price of Disney seems a tad silly to me. I mean, if you're talking about adults-only, or teenagers going along, great. But for a family with young kids, these trips are not exactly aimed at them the way a Disney trip is. No chance I'm taking my young kids on a 10 hour airplane ride these days. 2 hours to FL or 2 hours to CA to do something as magical as Disney for them? Sure.

Now, the wifey and I prefer a Mexico vacation, but that's when its just us.

 

[cabanafrau]

Yes, your prospective on this is going to vary greatly on how much you pay and get out of a Disney trip, too. We get a HUGE value for our money. We get free dining, some of the cheapest room rates of the year, and we get ample time on rides and in shows because of low crowds. Our young family of six does a week's trip for about $3500 (including the drive down) at a moderate resort in September. It's hard for us to do the same caliber of trip anywhere else.

It's really heartwarming to hear your enthusiasm. I'm genuinely glad there are families getting so much enjoyment out of visiting WDW anymore. I hope you will have many more wonderful times there.

I do wonder when your family of six isn't quite as young if you will have a bit of a different perspective on the value offered versus the costs. You may find yourselves a bit restricted to times you have available to visit as well, affecting the crowd levels you experience and how that will impact your experience.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's fabulous Disney works so well for your family at this point and I hope it lasts as long as you want it to. I'm just encouraging a widening of the scope of perspective to encompass why it may not be such a return of value for others who have been WDW fans.

 

[maranara]

Unless you're going over MLK weekend, there's absolutely no reason you should wait for an hour to get on anything in January. We go Jan/Feb every year, never wait over 30 minutes for anything, and even that is extremely rare. Typically 20 minutes is the cutoff.

I hope you're right. DH remembers going in October as a kid and riding Space Mountain 4 or 5 times in a row. And I remember going the week after New Years in 1998 and not really waiting for anything. I know that meeting characters will be high on my daughter's list of things to do...and I keep reading people's post that you have to wait 20 minutes even just to meet characters. I have fond memories of walking through the park and just happening on tons of characters - pictures with no wait!

 

[cabanafrau]

I just checked prices for a random night (6/15) this summer:


Old Faithful Inn (Yellowstone), standard room with bath...... $185

Port Orleans Riverside, standard room with a bath ...... $207

Plus once you are there, you don't have to spring for theme park tickets.

I believe Yellowstone has far fewer rooms available and a limited season of use, both factors which bump up those rooms on the higher price due to less supply scale.

 

[mom2rtk]

I believe Yellowstone has far fewer rooms available and a limited season of use, both factors which bump up those rooms on the higher price due to less supply scale.

I have no problem with those prices. When coupled with the cheap entertainment right outside the door, it makes for a very economical trip. And the show is quite remarkable. Stay at Old Faithful Inn, and you can walk the trail close by and see all sorts of geysers going off at various intervals, and perhaps catch some wildlife in the area as well.

 

[starjazz]

I just checked prices for a random night (6/15) this summer:


Old Faithful Inn (Yellowstone), standard room with bath...... $185

Port Orleans Riverside, standard room with a bath ...... $207

Cabin on the north rim of the Grand Canyon with 2 queen beds..... $190

Plus once you are there, you don't have to spring for theme park tickets.

I can't believe anything is available in the Summer at Yellowstone. They're usually sold out long in advance at Old Faithful.

 

[mom2rtk]

I can't believe anything is available in the Summer at Yellowstone. They're usually sold out long in advance at Old Faithful.

There aren't a lot of openings, but there are openings. We're planning a trip to Yellowstone right now and won't commit on a date until my son knows if he'll have an internship this summer. All you have to do is watch the site and watch for an opening. They can and do come up all the time. We've stayed in a bunch of different National Parks lodges. We never plan very far out. No, the calendar is not wide open. But we'll find what we need.