Am I the only one?

[Dallas_Lady]

I am not going to pay those prices for any resort anywhere. The moderates are plenty nice enough for me!

Agreed. Especially since we spend so little time in the rooms anyway. We are staying at the WL this Thanksgiving but only cause we got half off rack rate through UK Expedia. Otherwise, we stay moderates or offsite.

 

[Brittmarie04]

Nope, not the only one. While we LOVE our deluxe resorts, we will only stay there with a good discount. There is always a good deal to be had, you just have to find them. We are at BC this summer for $198/night. Can't beat that IMHO.

Wow I wish I knew how to get those prices. I've paid more than that for a mod

 

[FutureMayor]

One thing to remember in all of the different types of analysis people are doing is conditioning. Disney has consistently raised prices over the past several years well above anyone's normal view of inflation. "Discounts" are available many times during the year, but the discounted levels are still higher than the rack rates of just 4-5 years ago. If you take a look at Disney's financials, you will see how profitable the theme park portion of the business has become.

As for the DVC, while you do lock in a room rate of sorts, you have a fixed upfront cost PLUS a variable annuity due. You also give up optionality (forgive the finance jargon but maybe you'd like to vacation somewhere else, or maybe you'd like to do something else with your money). DVC makes a TON of sense for Disney... If I could 'sell' my house to 52 different people to live in for a week at a time and charge each of them maintenance I would do it in a second. Think about what a week costs you, multiply it out by 52 and you'll get an idea of what Disney makes off each unit.

To the original poster, I agree that the costs are getting ridiculous. Until people decide to stop coming (and Disney recognizes it) prices aren't coming down. You will have to decide how you want to spend your vacation $$$ - unfortunately for both you and Disney, that might mean you decide to go somewhere else. I hope you can find a way to enjoy a trip to WDW that makes sense financially for you and your family.

 

[Ravenne]

If you're interested in the cost of rooms, be sure to check out this article on Micechat (hope it is within the rules to post!)

Thank you for the article, it was an interesting read.

This part stuck out to me: $62.80 to ride all of the E rides in 1975. Adjusted for inflation in 2014: $273.03

 

[Lisa LSR]

I am blown away by the discounts everyone has mentioned on this thread. I never seem to get discounts, except for an occasion pin for 30% off at a time I never go to WDW, or free dining last year. I'd love to stay in a moderate, but can't afford it or justify the cost.

 

[gjrusse]

Lisa, Orbitz actually had another 20% off the 30% discount that ran for a couple months I believe. Now, that wasn't 50% and the full discount only applied to Deluxe, but think of it this way....OKW Villa normally $550. Disney runs a special for 30% off. That gets you to $385 a night. So a week's stay in this example would normally run $3,850 (plus taxes, etc). With the Discount, that lowers it to $2,695. Now add the Orbitz discount and you are at $2,156.

So, you just knocked your nightly stay frmo $550 to $309 a night and saved $1,694. Now you start nickel and diming them. The Vacation Packages are almost always rip-offs, but they have certain things itemized such as free 1 or 2 days of tickets when you buy 5 days, 30% off Memory Maker. At this point, you call Disney and talk to a CM, give them your confirmation number to prove you are on-site, and they usually will match the ticket special, memory maker discount, etc. I never tried the meal plan, but don't get me started on the silliness they charge for food At the end of the day, you have to work for it, but that is why you have people on Disboards, TouringPlans, Micechat, Mousesavers, etc.

 

[jecon]

We too enjoy our deluxe stays but I have never and would never pay rack rate. This summer we're staying at the GF for 9 days and we got the room at just over 50% off. In October, we're going back and staying at the YC in a CL room and getting close to 44% off. Like others have said, you have to be diligent and seek the discounts.

Wow and I thought I was good at finding discounts!! how did you get these rates??

 

[Amy&Dan]

There will be people that pay that believe it or not. Not everyone knows about discounts. Even with the commercials that advertise great deals at WDW there are people who go online for that once in a lifetime trip, book it, and don't look at another piece of information until the cm at check in gives them their packet.

We had friends who went a few years ago. They booked rack rate at CBR with the DDP and lucky for them they had a friend named Amy who let them know that free dining was about to be released and they were able to save a huge amount of money (two rooms and a total of six people).

They truly had no idea and they thought they had done their research by scouring Disney's website at the time of booking (eleven months before their travel dates). They knew what resort, restaurants and rides they wanted to experience but they had no clue that way down on the bottom was a "check out our special offers" link that would have given them their first clue that deals could be had if you just knew to keep checking. They actually thought that they were getting the best deal possible since they were booking eleven months out.


To many people even $700 a night for that once in a lifetime trip is doable just as for others the $139 rack rate at Pop while high for that hotel is perfectly fine because unless they know where to research or know someone else who does, they know no different.

And believe me us disboarders know our Disney but we pay too much for other things in life other people are more well versed on and they'd laugh at us for doing it.

 

[jade1]

I believe those resorts (and we haven't stayed) are overpriced as well. IMHO you're not avoiding that disney mark up by staying at port orleans or pop. just my opinion.

I don't think that's just your opinion-I think its a fact.

But again, same thing, the only thing crazier than Disney charging $150 for Pop or $250 for a mod, is Disney charging $95 for Pop when they can get $150 or $150 for a mod when they can get $250. And when they can't get rack the offer discounts or packages.

By the way I rented a coworker a BCV studio for the cost of my dues for May-$90 a night and no tax.

 

[Mom2darlingboys]

Thank you for the article, it was an interesting read.

This part stuck out to me: $62.80 to ride all of the E rides in 1975. Adjusted for inflation in 2014: $273.03

I know... pure madness. They make us love them , then pull the proverbial financial rug out from underneath us! LOL!

 

[Adam H]

Another thing to consider is Annual Passes. We buy them and go twice in 12 months.

For our trip last month, buying APs and utilizing those discounts was $700 cheaper than Disneys best offer. If we don't make our return trip, we are still ahead of the game.

Before we left, we booked the Grand Floridian for November on a Bounceback offer and got that for $2600 for a week and now already have our tickets.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I would never pay $700 for a hotel room at Disney. I'd never pay that much anywhere, but then, I'm poor.

I'd really love to know where/how someone can get almost %50 off a resort.

 

[dansdad]

I'd really love to know where/how someone can get almost %50 off a resort.

There are some travel agency exclusive deals that come pretty close to 50% off.

 

[Princess Serendipity]

There are some travel agency exclusive deals that come pretty close to 50% off.

Is that the only way?

Count me in as well for wanting to know how to get 50%- it'd make it so much more likely that I'd finally get my long-dreamed-of Grand Floridian stay.

 

[dansdad]

Is that the only way?

Pretty much. The days of even 40% off General Public deals directly from Disney are long gone.

 

[Princess Serendipity]

Pretty much. The days of even 40% off General Public deals directly from Disney are long gone.

Shoot. They don't ever offer those discounts in early January (after New Year's) huh?

 

[Disneydragonfly]

There are some travel agency exclusive deals that come pretty close to 50% off.

What agencies offer those discounts?

 

[aacvacation]

What agencies offer those discounts?

I want to know as well!! Because most of the time when I look into agencies...they try to sell me by saying they are offering all these nice vouchers and other random things that sound (only somewhat) appealing, and then the last time I booked a trip directly from Disney, I realized all the things these people were offering- were just STANDARD!

 

[Grand Admiral]

I'll chime in here, because we are actually going to spend the money to stay at CR in a club level room with MK view.

Yes, it's going to be expensive, but here are some things that are important to us:

1) DS will be almost 3. It will be his first trip to WDW, so we're only going to MK. CR is the closest resort to MK, and we can take the monorail or even walk if we want/need to. The nightmare scenario would be having to wait for a bus with a 3 year old having a meltdown, and then have a 20 minute ride to a moderate resort.

2) We are getting the theme park view room. DS will probably not be able to stay awake long enough to stay in the park for Wishes, so DW and I will be able to watch the show from our balcony, or the lounge.

3) We will be making use of the food in the lounge. They serve continental breakfasts and snacks throughout the day and evening.

4) I've wanted to stay at CR since I was a kid. I've been to WDW at least 10 times in my life and have never been able to stay there. So there's a bit of wish fulfillment as well.

We have stayed at POR twice before, and probably will stay at moderate resorts in the future. But for this trip, we're paying for convenience and location. We are only staying 4 nights, and we'll be saving up our pennies from now until then.

Not everything can be summed up in raw dollars per volume. Some of what we're paying for is convenience, and some of it is for the experience of staying somewhere special.

 

[mommyrosa2]

There are some travel agency exclusive deals that come pretty close to 50% off.

This exactly! One thing to keep in mind is that their exclusive deal is for the mid-late August thru beginning of September timeframe which is not always an ideal time to go for many folks because of the heat. BUT, if you can do it, it really was the best discount I've ever been able to get. I then get additional savings (just shy of an extra 10% off) by paying my trips off using discounted gift cards that I buy at Target (a tip I learned a few years ago right here on the DIS ).