Anyone else feeling priced out of disney?

[manning]

I am a tightwad at heart, so it is kind of hard for me. I have also been waiting to go to Disney World my whole life. So has my mother, she wanted to take us when we were young but always felt that she couldn't afford it. We have also never been on a family vacation, so it is time. With the limited time my husband has for vacation right now(his company is being bought out, and he needs to make sure he is a busy beaver to impress the new owners) driving 20 hours each way is not feasible, especially when the flight is less than 3 hours. We have the money to do this, but since I am a tightwad, I do not see myself doing it this way again. The Dining Plan will probably also help me not obsess about every penny spent while there, which I have a tendency to do. In fact, I get anxiety when my grocery bill is too high or when we make large purchases. I hope I can get past the anxiety that the prices of my Disney trip is causing me.

Tightwads in general seem to be the ones who survive. My grandmother used to say..."spend a little, save a little, by all means save."

Overspending tends to get us in trouble.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

If you don't mind me asking, how much are you saving by staying in 2 standard rooms instead of a suite?

We stayed in a family suite at All Star Music for our last trip (it was nice) but we want to have a new resort experience for this upcoming trip so we decided to get two standard Pop Century rooms and that option fits our budget at this time. I would have liked to stay in a suite at AOA but staying there would increase our package price by $456 (not happening at this point). We have been to Disney before and know what we want to accomplish on this upcoming trip and don't expect to spend a great deal of time at the resort anyway to justify that price difference for this particular trip; but that may not be the case for you and your family. This is your family's first WDW trip and it may be your once in a lifetime trip. With it being your first trip, the theming of the AOA resort and the convenience of being in a suite and having the dining plan may be what works well for you for this trip even if it is not the most cost effective way. On our first trip our two oldest children were under 10 years old and still at "child" prices and our youngest child was 2 years old at the time, so things were less expensive for us then on top of the fact that we had the kids stay and play free promotional discount for that trip so our total package price for the family suite, 8 day base park tickets and the quick service dining plan was awesome! I thought it was nice having the dining plan for that trip because WDW was a new experience for us and we were so focused on figuring out what worked and didn't work for us and learning our way around that it was nice not having to be preoccupied with what we were spending on food and keeping track of every receipt. Now we are going on our second trip and feel comfortable doing things differently because we know what we want to do, we have an idea of how much time we expect to spend at our resort, and we know where and what we want to eat for meals and don't feel nervous being without the dining plan this time around. Once you've been on your first trip you have a better idea of what your preferences really are based on experience and you have a point of reference to work from to figure out how to financially make another WDW trip happen again. Hope you have a magical trip!

 

[Planogirl]

WDW has completely priced us out of deluxes and the regular price of the moderates is also too high for what you get IMO. Luckily you can still find good deal and hopefully that will continue.

We eat offsite more too. The food tends to be better (depending on where you go) and is certainly often a better value.

 

[ilovemk76]

OP, I am right there with you.

There is a limit as to what I will pay for something regardless of whether I can afford it or not.
For example, soda. If I was very thirsty and really wanted a soda and it cost $2 a can, I would drink water.

Disney has slowly eroded to that point with me.

Their dining costs have risen so high we refuse to pay it. We rarely dine on site.

We own DVC so we are immune to the cost of rooms (not dues though!). At least we can eat there.
Plus the food at Disney is not that good. No great loss!

Next to go will be the parks. The price of admission is so high. Once our Annual Pass and non-expiring passes are used up,
we will probably not even bother to go into the parks any more.
The parks are so much more crowded. No great loss!

The bean counters at Disney are really pushing their luck.

If they are pushing their luck then why are the parks so much more crowded? Your logic is flawed. They have figured out a price point where they keep the parks full and make the most profit.

I would not own DVC and pay to fly to FL to not go in the parks. Why even go to Disney? You can rent a condo or stay home if all you are doing is cooking your own food and staying at the resort? I can swim lots of places, including my backyard.

 

[ManyMinnie]

There is a limit as to what I will pay for something regardless of whether I can afford it or not.

I completely agree. As shown by this and numerous other threads, Disney has gone over that limit for many people.

 

[ManyMinnie]

If they are pushing their luck then why are the parks so much more crowded? Your logic is flawed. They have figured out a price point where they keep the parks full and make the most profit.

I would not own DVC and pay to fly to FL to not go in the parks. Why even go to Disney? You can rent a condo or stay home if all you are doing is cooking your own food and staying at the resort? I can swim lots of places, including my backyard.

Goody for you.

You vacation how you want, others will vacation the way they want, without caring how you feel about their plans.

 

[LovesTimone]

I know that staying off site might seem a bit cheaper, but if you have a car they charge for parking around 15 to 20 a night, resort fee, we stayed at the Hilton 1 night, we got hit with a 20 dollar parking fee, and a resort fee of about 25 dollars, this was above the room rate, tax and resort fee that we already paid, and a wifi charge I think around 6 to 8 dollars. Once we added it up it would have been cheaper to just book and extra night at POFQ.

If you need to "beef" up the budget there are lots of ways to make extra cash, and cut down on some items, so that you can stay on site and enjoy staying in the magic, and have the benfits on staying on site, EMH, buses, and themeing.

Here are some of the ways, that I stash back some cash for our trips.

Saving change and have the kids help save change, when DD's where younger we had a jug, that we would throw change in all year, then we would have a change rolling night, put in a Disney movie, pizza/ tacos and roll change, we decorated the jug, so everyone was reminded what we were saving for.

Check out stores that will by your clothes for cash, I know that there are several that buy teen, kids, baby and women clothes, also consignment shops are a another resource.

Garage sale, Whatever the clothes for cash stores don't pick up use this in the garage sale, go through everything, drawers, closets. I normally make between 200 to 500 dollars. The last 2 years I have made right at 400 dollars.

You can ask for Gift cards for Birthdays, anniversary's, christmas, easter, valentines, and any other gift giving hoilday and save for your trip. The kids always like getting Disney gift cards that way they had their own money to spend. We drive, so gift cards for gas, fast food, cracker barrel are always on my list.

You can do surveys on line, I do them all year them cash out about 2 months before our trip, I used my pointsfor gift cards, this year walgreens gift card were offered, so I used them to buy disney gift cards.

Coupons for food, and anything else you might need.. every little bit helps. I have one friend who pay her self, in what ever she saves with coupons, If she save 10 dollars she takes that out and puts the disney account, and so forth, really works for them.

We take our own water,gatorade, soda, and lots of snacks to carry into the parks, or to take to the pool, or have breakfast or a late night snack back at the room, this was really imortant when my kiddos were little. YOu could also take a soft sided cooler into the park, rent a locker, to store it, and pack sandwiches, fruit, drinks and other goodies, but be careful of the heat, don't want anyone getting sick.

I put all this out there, because for us vacation is time to relax and really enjoy what you are doing, spend time with your loved ones. For us the extra effort and giving up maybe going out to eat or the movies to head to the most magically place is worth it for us.

 

[Marionnette]

I know that staying off site might seem a bit cheaper, but if you have a car they charge for parking around 15 to 20 a night, resort fee, we stayed at the Hilton 1 night, we got hit with a 20 dollar parking fee, and a resort fee of about 25 dollars, this was above the room rate, tax and resort fee that we already paid, and a wifi charge I think around 6 to 8 dollars. Once we added it up it would have been cheaper to just book and extra night at POFQ.

If you need to "beef" up the budget there are lots of ways to make extra cash, and cut down on some items, so that you can stay on site and enjoy staying in the magic, and have the benfits on staying on site, EMH, buses, and themeing.

Here are some of the ways, that I stash back some cash for our trips.

<snip>

I put all this out there, because for us vacation is time to relax and really enjoy what you are doing, spend time with your loved ones. For us the extra effort and giving up maybe going out to eat or the movies to head to the most magically place is worth it for us.

I understand your point but I think that what a lot of people are saying is that they no longer get the bang for their buck out of Disney. When that happens, you see less enthusiasm for taking the cost-cutting/dollar-earning measures that you outlined. Those people just don't see Disney as being worth that kind of effort any more.

When it costs a family of 5 over $1.5K for airfare just to GET to Orlando, and a roof over their head for staying onsite for the week is in the range of $2K, with another $1.5K for tickets and then $1.4K for food, they re-think their plans. This is especially true for repeat visitors who feel that costs have risen and quality has declined.

 

[mrsklamc]

I know that staying off site might seem a bit cheaper, but if you have a car they charge for parking around 15 to 20 a night, resort fee, we stayed at the Hilton 1 night, we got hit with a 20 dollar parking fee, and a resort fee of about 25 dollars, this was above the room rate, tax and resort fee that we already paid, and a wifi charge I think around 6 to 8 dollars.

No, it is a LOT cheaper, and the food is better. Just don't do it at the Hilton. A condo or townhouse is nicer than the Hilton, has no parking fee, and free wi-fi.

Like previous posters, we CAN still afford Disney, we just won't pay those prices.

 

[Southern Bell]

Two yrs ago we stayed at Pop resort/2 preferred rooms/ 4adults 1 toddler/with free dining(pin code) over July and spent about $6,000. Last October 2012 we stayed All star sports/standard room/2 adults/with free dining and spent about $1200. The fall is a great time to go and spoiled us! This yr we started out with a pretty good vacation fund and saw no problem reserving 2 rooms at any of the value resorts! How quickly things can change! I cancelled that because of the sequester affecting my husbands job (don't know how bad yet) and now we are going to be lucky to take the camper down for a week for everyone! LOL! I've always liked Fort Wilderness and have alot of good memories of vacations staying there, too! But....Its surprising just how good Fort Wilderness looks to me right now and I've told my husband we would just take our camper and camp! If I need to .... I don't have to have a hotel...or reserved dining.... or a golf cart.... or park hoppers! LOL! But if I do keep the golf cart and park hoppers I'm still looking at $5, 000-$6, 000 dollar Disney trip! $500 worth of gas to pull the camper, $40 one overnight stay in campground, $1,080 for camping 9 nights, $439 golf cart, $1800-$1900 tickets/4 adults 1 toddler, $1500 for groceries, eating out or whatever. So...yes I'm beginning to feel priced out of Disney!LOL!

 

[Muushka]

If they are pushing their luck then why are the parks so much more crowded? Your logic is flawed. They have figured out a price point where they keep the parks full and make the most profit.

I would not own DVC and pay to fly to FL to not go in the parks. Why even go to Disney? You can rent a condo or stay home if all you are doing is cooking your own food and staying at the resort? I can swim lots of places, including my backyard.

See below post, said so well I won't bother to say any more!

Goody for you.

You vacation how you want, others will vacation the way they want, without caring how you feel about their plans.

This

 

[granmanh603]

OP, I am right there with you.

There is a limit as to what I will pay for something regardless of whether I can afford it or not.
For example, soda. If I was very thirsty and really wanted a soda and it cost $2 a can, I would drink water.

Disney has slowly eroded to that point with me.

Their dining costs have risen so high we refuse to pay it. We rarely dine on site.

We own DVC so we are immune to the cost of rooms (not dues though!). At least we can eat there.
Plus the food at Disney is not that good. No great loss!

Next to go will be the parks. The price of admission is so high. Once our Annual Pass and non-expiring passes are used up,
we will probably not even bother to go into the parks any more.
The parks are so much more crowded. No great loss!

The bean counters at Disney are really pushing their luck.

That is exactly the way I feel, only you put it better. the bean counters took the joy out of Disney. Even with AP we spent less time in the parks last Oct. (and decided not to even go this March) so sad I know Disney has to make money to stay in business but I think they can do better. Went to the Fantasyland preview and what a waste of money that was and now these bracelets to monitor our everymove.... and we pay for all that with higher prices and less joy. I never thought Iger got Disney he just knows about business not people and what WDW is all about. JMHO

 

[DawnM]

We paid $35/night for a 2 bedroom condo. No parking fees, no wifi fee. The extra $14 parking fee for Disney was fine with us as we still ended up with about $50/day for parking and condo.

I know that staying off site might seem a bit cheaper, but if you have a car they charge for parking around 15 to 20 a night, resort fee, we stayed at the Hilton 1 night, we got hit with a 20 dollar parking fee, and a resort fee of about 25 dollars, this was above the room rate, tax and resort fee that we already paid, and a wifi charge I think around 6 to 8 dollars. Once we added it up it would have been cheaper to just book and extra night at POFQ.

 

[DawnM]

The food quality has gone down as well IMHO. I used to splurge on some of my favorite places and enjoy it.

I have stopped even bothering because often my PB&J with a can of pringles is better quality than the food I used to really like.

I will still get an afternoon coffee as that hasn't seemed to have deteriorated quite as much in quality, although last year I carried VIA packets and got free hot water and it was just as tasty if not better.

Dawn

.

Their dining costs have risen so high we refuse to pay it. We rarely dine on site.

We own DVC so we are immune to the cost of rooms (not dues though!). At least we can eat there.
Plus the food at Disney is not that good. No great loss!

Next to go will be the parks. The price of admission is so high. Once our Annual Pass and non-expiring passes are used up,
we will probably not even bother to go into the parks any more.
The parks are so much more crowded. No great loss!

The bean counters at Disney are really pushing their luck.

 

[ssawka]

Sorry, have not read the whole thread, but have any of you considered renting DVC points? Depending on the time of year, you can get a one bedroom apartment at a deluxe Disney resort for under $2K per week. The only catch is that generally there are no cancellations allowed.

 

[ilovemk76]

See below post, said so well I won't bother to say any more!



This

The post went right over your head.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I understand your point but I think that what a lot of people are saying is that they no longer get the bang for their buck out of Disney. When that happens, you see less enthusiasm for taking the cost-cutting/dollar-earning measures that you outlined. Those people just don't see Disney as being worth that kind of effort any more.

When it costs a family of 5 over $1.5K for airfare just to GET to Orlando, and a roof over their head for staying onsite for the week is in the range of $2K, with another $1.5K for tickets and then $1.4K for food, they re-think their plans. This is especially true for repeat visitors who feel that costs have risen and quality has declined.

THIS!!! DH and I have been going to WDW every year since 1993. Our next trip, August, 2013, will likely be our last for a long time. It has always been a splurge for us, but one that was worth sacrificing for and budgeting for. We don't feel that way anymore.

 

[danygirl]

There is a name for what you are feeling "diminishing marginal utility".

When you first started to go to Disney it was all fresh and new, and worth every penny. Now you have gone x additional times, and subsequently you are getting less excitement for your buck. Think of it this way (the way my econ 101 prof explained it) Say you looove donuts and are hungry. The first donut is worth every penny you paid for it - it smells great, looks delicious (if it is Krispy kreme) it might even be hot.... YUM! but by the third or fourth donut, well, the feeling isn't the same. Even if someone gave you that fourth donut for free, you probably won't want it. The value of each donut declines because you are already satisfied. That is what you are experiencing with Disney.

The thing is, the next guy in line hasn't had a donut yet, so he is perfectly willing to pay full price for that donut. As long as there are folks who haven't had their fill of Disney yet and will pay the price, then Disney can make money. Simple.

So I suggest going somewhere else for vacation once in a while, so you don't get burnt out on Disney. When you return it will seem fresh and exciting again. or go on a Disney cruise instead of the parks and get that excitement going. Disney offers a lot of options - Hawaii, parks in other countries, Disneyland and the World, Adventures by Disney - try one of them.

 

[gracie1]

I was thinking about this thread this morning, and thought to myself for the increase in prices, they could atleast upgrade the coffee that they serve

 

[ilovemk76]

I was thinking about this thread this morning, and thought to myself for the increase in prices, they could atleast upgrade the coffee that they serve

They did. They now have Starbucks, how did you misses all the complaining about the MS bakery? They have also replace Nescafé but I forget with what brand.