All FP machines to be removed from Animal Kingdom by next week and....

[Jennasis]

Citing rates for the absolutely most busy times of the year is as silly as looking at ride wait times at the busiest times of the year and saying that that is what it's like all the time. Same with last minute airfares.

People with DVC can get accommodations at deluxe resorts for about 30% of what you would pay for the same room without DVC if you translate the upfront cost and annual dues into dollar equivalents.

The poster asked a question and I answered. She asked when are rates that high, and the answer is...see my above post. Nowhere did I suggest that rates are always that high. THAT would be silly.

 

[btk2333]

My sister is booked at AKL the week next week (arriving on the 26th) and paying a shade over $600 PER NIGHT for the room. Standard view at BC that same week is $660 (checked online just now).

Those rooms are rack rate without discount at the most expensive time of the year. One of many reasons to avoid wdw that week.

 

[btk2333]

Citing rates for the absolutely most busy times of the year is as silly as looking at ride wait times at the busiest times of the year and saying that that is what it's like all the time. Same with last minute airfares. People with DVC can get accommodations at deluxe resorts for about 30% of what you would pay for the same room without DVC if you translate the upfront cost and annual dues into dollar equivalents.

Not to mention at most times of the year you can book deluxe accommodations at least 30% most of the time 35-40% with general public room only or annual pass holder discounts. I can't remember the last time I booked a room at rack rate on property and that includes two trips that were planned only a week in advance

 

[btk2333]

The poster asked a question and I answered. She asked when are rates that high, and the answer is...see my above post. Nowhere did I suggest that rates are always that high. THAT would be silly.

Yes I did ask that ( I'm a guy by the way- pic is of me and my wife). I would never spend that much on a Disney room especially over Christmas. However Disney has plenty of people that do.

My point is that 95% of the time you can get substantial discounts of rooms at Disney- $600 per room is insane but $250 -$300 with the added benefits of staying on property is not insane for us. That being said we rarely stay deluxe, so we usually pay much less than that

 

[morethananyonex]

It doesn't have to be peak season to be that expensive. Regular rooms at a deluxe? Yes, probably peak season or GF, but when you have more than 4 adults (because really, who wants to sleep on a little daybed?) you're talking that much money for a suite or DVC rentals. All of the deluxe options we looked at for our value season trip were in that price range, and we looked at everything from 1 & 2 bedroom DVC villas, club level suites to 2 regular rooms. All the rack rates are in that range, with some being tons more.

Now, actually paying that much is a different issue. Obviously there's tons of discounts out there and point rentals if that's your thing, but it's not hard to find rack rates that much, even in off seasons. Fact is, when you don't fit or don't want to fit in one regular room, rates get crazy fast. You need to reaaaaaally want that onsite room to not be swayed over to house or condo rentals.

Since people have mentioned it, I could never get the DVC point rental numbers to be that much different than the discounted Disney rates. Sometimes they were worse. The numbers always came out similar for us, and going with Disney gives you the reassurance of knowing you're not relying on a 3rd party. For example, a BCV 2 bedroom is $6188 for our dates ($14 a point at a rental company), and renting it from Disney with the 35% they offered for our dates is $5,395.

 

[FlipHipster]

gonna try to peak in on AK times today when I can.

Right now looks pretty slow, no lines to speak of really, Dinosaur 20 mins everything else under.

You can still get a FP for TSMM if you run....
65 min wait and 8:00pm-9:00pm return time already according to http://www.easywdw.com/waits/?park=hs

 

[Tozer]

I could not agree with you MORE.

Anyone who thinks paying $600, $700, or more a night at WDW and getting what they are getting is some kind of "deluxe" experience is delusional at best and has no idea what a deluxe experience actually consists of.

Like paying $300 at McDonalds somehow elevates the dining experience. Not.

Examine your options. And in the process of doing so, you'll find that there are many others. Heck, it only took me a few minutes to figure out that for the same amount of money I could stay at a better resort and eat dinner at the Capital Grille.

Check it out.

I guess you miss the irony of this post given what you wrote two posts ago about moving out and stop talking about onsite vs offsite and focusing on FP+ wait times at AK. Too funny.

Good lord, why is it so hard for anyone to understand that it cost a whole lot more to stay ONSITE than it does to stay OFFSITE?

Bingo. Period. Done. All she wrote. The fat lady sang. It's a fact.

Can we just move on now and try to figure out if FP+ is making people wait longer at AK or not?

Geeeez.

Let me just add this about what people pay for onsite vs offsite. It is more than a strict dollar vs dollar comparison for some when it comes to deciding to stay onsite. People do find worth in feeling like the onsite hotel is an extension of the park and being immersed in that. You cant just slap a dollar figure on what people value. Sure, they can stay offsite at an offsite hotel but would rather pay the extra for what they perceive is worth more to stay at a Disney property. And look at the Disney cruise line. It is more expensive than other cruises that people could choose. They could get a more "deluxe" experience at another cruise line but they choose Disney. It is demeaning to say that people that choose Deluxe onsite hotels at Disney do not know what Deluxe really is. They may just value different things than you do for their dollar.

as a simplified analogy: it is like why do people go to Starbucks to overpay for coffee. Why do people pay so much when they can get better coffee cheaper somewhere else. Does paying so much for coffee at Starbucks elevate the experience?

 

[jade1]

Good lord, why is it so hard for anyone to understand that it cost a whole lot more to stay ONSITE than it does to stay OFFSITE?

Bingo. Period. Done. All she wrote. The fat lady sang. It's a fact.

Can we just move on now and try to figure out if FP+ is making people wait longer at AK or not?

Geeeez.

I could not agree with you MORE.

Anyone who thinks paying $600, $700, or more a night at WDW and getting what they are getting is some kind of "deluxe" experience is delusional at best and has no idea what a deluxe experience actually consists of.
.

Well you did move on for 16 minutes.

 

[jade1]

Yes I did ask that ( I'm a guy by the way- pic is of me and my wife). I would never spend that much on a Disney room especially over Christmas. However Disney has plenty of people that do.

My point is that 95% of the time you can get substantial discounts of rooms at Disney- $600 per room is insane but $250 -$300 with the added benefits of staying on property is not insane for us. That being said we rarely stay deluxe, so we usually pay much less than that

Agreed-we paid $289 for BWI last spring, but have paid $800 for the POLY over XMAS.

Worth every penny.

 

[morethananyonex]

I could not agree with you MORE.

Anyone who thinks paying $600, $700, or more a night at WDW and getting what they are getting is some kind of "deluxe" experience is delusional at best and has no idea what a deluxe experience actually consists of.

Like paying $300 at McDonalds somehow elevates the dining experience. Not.

Examine your options. And in the process of doing so, you'll find that there are many others. Heck, it only took me a few minutes to figure out that for the same amount of money I could stay at a better resort and eat dinner at the Capital Grille.

Check it out.

We ARE getting a "deluxe" experience paying that much for a room. To us, a "deluxe" experience at Disney is walking 10 minutes and getting into the Magic Kingdom. I cannot pay for that at any other hotel, even if I wanted to. THAT is what we're paying for. I have never been under the impression that any Disney hotel itself even comes to close to what you pay that amount for in the real world.

When we go to Disney, our priority is not staying in the fanciest hotel we can afford. If it was, we would never be on Disney property. It's insulting to imply that people who pay Disney prices don't know any better. I am well aware what our money can get for us offsite, we choose to spend it onsite instead. Even with the discounts, many of our options were close to what you consider delusional level.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

We ARE getting a "deluxe" experience paying that much for a room. To us, a "deluxe" experience at Disney is walking 10 minutes and getting into the Magic Kingdom. I cannot pay for that at any other hotel, even if I wanted to. THAT is what we're paying for. I have never been under the impression that any Disney hotel itself even comes to close to what you pay that amount for in the real world.

When we go to Disney, our priority is not staying in the fanciest hotel we can afford. If it was, we would never be on Disney property. It's insulting to imply that people who pay Disney prices don't know any better. I am well aware what our money can get for us offsite, we choose to spend it onsite instead. Even with the discounts, many of our options were close to what you consider delusional level.

EXACTLY. We choose to stay on site in Deluxe accommodations for two simple reasons: (1) proximity; and (2) the use of Disney transportation so that we don't have to deal with driving/traffic. We are not morning people but we do get to the parks right at opening. It is so worth it to us to leave BLT and be at the gates of the MK less than 10 minutes later. THAT is what we're paying for. As they say in real estate, it's LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. I travel a lot for work, and I know that I am not getting the luxury accommodations that I would get for $600+ a night in a non-Disney location. But to me, on vacation, it is worth it to pay that amount to not deal with traffic. Simple. as. that.

 

[wisblue]

Since people have mentioned it, I could never get the DVC point rental numbers to be that much different than the discounted Disney rates. Sometimes they were worse.

I was not talking about renting points, I was talking about using points that we own.

With what we paid for the points up front, plus our per point fees, our points cost us about $6 each. Plus, at least so far, the annual increase on maintenance fees has been at a significantly lower rate than Disney's annual increase on room rates. So, the gap between our cost per night using our DVC points and what we would pay for the same suite otherwise is growing.

 

[Laketravis]

Well you did move on for 16 minutes.

I know - then Mad came along and got me wired up again.

Delete that for me, will ya?

 

[jade1]

I know - then Mad came along and got me wired up again.

Delete that for me, will ya?

I prefer all "keyed" up from Andy Griffith.

 

[jade1]

EXACTLY. We choose to stay on site in Deluxe accommodations for two simple reasons: (1) proximity; and (2) the use of Disney transportation so that we don't have to deal with driving/traffic. We are not morning people but we do get to the parks right at opening. It is so worth it to us to leave BLT and be at the gates of the MK less than 10 minutes later. THAT is what we're paying for. As they say in real estate, it's LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. I travel a lot for work, and I know that I am not getting the luxury accommodations that I would get for $600+ a night in a non-Disney location. But to me, on vacation, it is worth it to pay that amount to not deal with traffic. Simple. as. that.

Exactly-have said before you can have 5 BR 5 Bath gold faucets and all the chandeliers you want-we won't stay for free if it's offsite. Heck we won't even stay at Value/Mods and many Deluxe's anymore.

We even split with BLT and BC just to avoid as many wasted bus trips as possible. It's great to be in our room before getting to the bus stop after Illuminations or Wishes.

Some folks budget expensive cars, some expensive vacations.

Proximity is also immersion. Your balcony alone can be immersive.

 

[Mad Hattered]

I know - then Mad came along and got me wired up again.

Delete that for me, will ya?

Was it you who stole all my "smack"?

 

[morethananyonex]

I was not talking about renting points, I was talking about using points that we own.

With what we paid for the points up front, plus our per point fees, our points cost us about $6 each. Plus, at least so far, the annual increase on maintenance fees has been at a significantly lower rate than Disney's annual increase on room rates. So, the gap between our cost per night using our DVC points and what we would pay for the same suite otherwise is growing.

Okay, but point rentals are almost always suggested for people to save on Deluxe accommodations. I'm just saying that often times it doesn't really do much more than Disney (sometimes less) when Disney has discounts.

We've done the math, purchasing DVC is way ahead cost wise over it's lifetime, it's just a matter of pulling the trigger for us . It's hard to commit to Disney vacations for that long!

 

[jade1]

TSM FP's gone and 75 min, 80 min RNR, TOT 40, Soarin 70 TT 80.

EE 25 (been 10 min all morning)

Dino 10

Safari 10

 

[going/again]

I could not agree with you MORE.

Anyone who thinks paying $600, $700, or more a night at WDW and getting what they are getting is some kind of "deluxe" experience is delusional at best and has no idea what a deluxe experience actually consists of.

Like paying $300 at McDonalds somehow elevates the dining experience. Not.

Examine your options. And in the process of doing so, you'll find that there are many others. Heck, it only took me a few minutes to figure out that for the same amount of money I could stay at a better resort and eat dinner at the Capital Grille.

Check it out.

And there's me thinking that with your previous post you wanted to get back to what this thread is really about, FP+ at AK.

 

[morethananyonex]

Getting us (sort of) back on topic, I am very curious to see how this type of system works at the other parks. Watching wait times, AK never seems to be even close to as bad as the other parks. Obviously that's why they tested there first, but it will be interesting to see how it goes at the busier parks.

Anyone think we're going to see anything before January?