Anyone else feeling priced out of disney?

[gracie1]

I'm with you on this as well. I have to say that I am shocked when I hear that going to Disney costs the same as all vacations. We went 3 years ago and I was just pricing going for christmas for 5 days and it costs more to stay for 5 days than it did for my 12 day vacation 3 years ago (staying at Pop - where we stayed the last time). I can't justify spending that kind of money for Disney, although I would love to see it atleast once at Christmas!!

 

[gracie1]

I completely agree! We are trying to go in December of this year with a family of 6, the youngest being 12. We are going to have to live like...like I don't even know what if we are to save enough to go debt-free. We may have to sell one of the kids!

I loved that, to go debt free you may have to sell one of the kids

 

[pens4821]

We're waiting to see if FD is offered before we make a decision. We figure it'll be around $700 more to stay on property, but for 4 adults 1 child the FD will make up for this. If not, then we're going to stay offsite. As someone else mentioned, the place offsite has a free breakfast, and bedrooms/kitchen.

We usually go to the beach when we're going to Disney, and it's going to be about 2-3 times the price when you factor everything into both trips.

 

[M2B]

I figure our trip this year will be both our first and last. A week at WDW is twice the expense of our normal week long vacations. We plan to make the most of it.

Same here. I try not to think about how much this is costing us and focus on the fact that it's supposed to be a fun family vacation.

 

[Brer Shay]

We're certainly finding this. After going once a year for several years, we skipped last year because of the expense. We are going back this summer and absolutely looking forward to it, but I don't see us getting back to every year. Disney has upped prices overall, but what has particularly hurt us was the closing the price gap between children and adult tickets, drastic price increases in the YES tickets, and our all of kids becoming Disney adults.

 

[toystory1130]

We were priced out this year. After seeing Gina Gina Bo Bina's trip report staying at the Residence Inn at Seaworld we checked it out and booked it. Seaworld is offering some great deals! $1100 for 5 days in June including tickets to Seaworld, (free quick que) tickets to Aquatica~FREE dining both days. Free breakfast at the hotel and transportation. Plus it's a 2 room suite WITH a kitchen. Good grief WHY would we pay Disney prices to cram us all in those tiny tiny rooms???

 

[pixie921]

We definitely feel this way. We went at least once a year, every year from 1998 through 2010, and then we didn't go at all in 2011. We did 7 nights last year, and now I don't know when we'll be able to go again. Not crazy about the Values or Moderates, as the resort is a big part of our vacation, so it will take a good long time of saving up and then a big discount to get us back again.

 

[E-P-C-O-T]

Yes! We are also rethinking our APs

 

[blessedby3]

We have just adjusted our way of "doing" Disney. We have stayed at all levels of their onsite resorts. We love onsite, for the "everything Disney" aspect, but not the cramped quarters. We got some great discounts in the past (buy 4, get 3 free...Poly) (45% off room only...BLT), but those seem to be a thing of the past.

Our last trip was an offsite at Bonnet Creek. We loved the space and the closeness of of BC to the parks. We got YES tickets and it worked out well for us. Now they have changed the YES program and you dont get as great of a discount, and not for the whole family.

This just means (for our family) that we need to be more frugal when planning our next trip. It will be our longest (2 weeks), but since we have discovered offsite we save TONS. We are checking into Windsor Hills which will be even cheaper for the 2 week stay. We will get our tickets through Undercover Tourist and get basic 10 day non park hoppers.

We have never been huge TS eaters, so we save money that way. We find CS to be crazy expensive for our family of 6, so on our last trip we would leave midday and go off property to eat or eat at the condo. More savings.

We love WDW so much and cant see giving it up, so we choose ways to make it work for us, thankfully. This is our year off....it happens occasionally, but we just went this past Oct and are heading to Hilton Head for our summer vacation. Next trip is June 2014 and we have a good amount of time to save for it

 

[bigmamimia]

I think the reason that the hotel prices are so high is so that when they have a discount, like the spring discount of 30% off, everyone starts freaking out because the prices are so cheap.

 

[DisneyBill]

I loved that, to go debt free you may have to sell one of the kids

She really can't sell one of the kids because she'd have to change her screen name if she did.

 

[Junebugwv]

I am thankful that we home schooled when the prices were lower and we were able to take 2 or 3 10-day trips every year in the off seasons. Everything has gone up....except for the amount of days in the value season.

 

[twe1vestone2]

I am a huge wdw fan and I feel like every time we go (often enough) it's higher and higher. Food portions smaller and smaller as well.

Such is life Iguess.

Agreed. I went in January and I felt my portions were getting smaller .


Also (not Disney's fault) but I just bought our flights for this coming September. Normally 180/person roundtrip from upstate NY to MCO comes to high 300's/low 400's.....cheapest I could find was 300/person. OMG. That hurt. All I could think was "well....looks like we're eating some table service dinners this time around.." lol! UGH!!



This thread reminded me of the scene from Jurassic Park when they're all sitting around the table talking about their opinions:

Donald Gennaro: And we can charge anything we want, 2,000 a day, 10,000 a day, and people will pay it. And then there's the merchandise...
John Hammond: Donald, Donald... This park was not built to cater only for the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals.
Donald Gennaro: Sure, they will. Well, we'll have a, a coupon day or something.
*both laugh*


I do so ever love WDW and everything Disney, but I could SO totally see a few execs doing this around a big Mickey table lol.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I just want to know if it's me, but I have always been able to swing a weeks trip in a value hotel without feeling that I wasn't getting value, but pricing with all things (tickets/room/food) has left me bewildered!...Of course I expect a bit of a price increase, but am finding the room rates hard to reason, and am looking at Downtown Disney hotels to save $40 or so a night so we can eat something.

MY DD loves Disney and, since I cannot drive, it has always been a wonderful option, but I never thought I'd need actual magic to get us there!

Anyone else feeling this?

Yes and no plans to go back. We havent been for almost 2 years after being regular visitors for over 12 years.
WDW has gotten to be , been there done that time , time to move on.

 

[twe1vestone2]

Yes and no plans to go back. We havent been for almost 2 years after being regular visitors for over 12 years.
WDW has gotten to be , been there done that time , time to move on.

Oh my god, I hope I never get to that been there done that point! My whole retirement is based on moving to Fl to be close to the mouse! lol

What pushed you to this conclusion? Was it the prices or were there more factors involved? Or could it be possible that somebody just plain got tired of Disney World?!?! (Yes I know it's possible, I'm just being silly )

 

[DawnM]

It has gotten more expensive. It hasn't priced us out yet, but we do things much more frugal than most. I do drive, which is a huge help. We stay in a SkyAuction condo for $250/wk.

We used to go down for a week at a time and go 2-4 times per year. We have cut that out. We now go for 2 weeks one time per year.

Dh has a conference down there the first full week of November so we go the last week of Oct to catch the last of the YES tickets, and stay through that first week of Nov while he is working.

His work pays for our gas and covers HIS food the week of his conference. It also covers a little bit more (last year about $200 extra).

We eat a lot of our own foods, even in the parks. I feel the quality of the food has gone down since they brought in free dining and some of it is just plain gross IMO. So, we stick to things like snacks/dole whips/mickey ice cream bars/things we know we like and spend our money on that, and eat the meals more with our own packed foods.

So, we are still able to afford going, but we have had to make some changes and we have had to budget more for the trip.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Oh my god, I hope I never get to that been there done that point! My whole retirement is based on moving to Fl to be close to the mouse! lol

What pushed you to this conclusion? Was it the prices or were there more factors involved? Or could it be possible that somebody just plain got tired of Disney World?!?! (Yes I know it's possible, I'm just being silly )

I've been going to WDW regularly since i was a little girl. Stopped going for a while during the college years and then started regular visits again when DS was a little shy of 2. He'll be 15 next month. DD 9.
We've gone several several times as a family and DH and i used to make a 2nd trip every year by ourselves for my birthday in November..
My kids still love Disney as well as DH. We spent a mint on a DCL last April. We had a wonderful time. Will I do it again? Nope!

My mom spends her winters in orlando and we could go down and stay with her for free if the urge arose.
I used to love Disney. I think its the changes over the years , less and less for more and more that started it. To me, its not even close to what it used to be.,
I still love the mouse and we will return again just not regular visits like we used to.,
Plus I want my kids to see more than WDW. There is a huge world out there and with WDW prices what they are now, two trips as in one to WDW and one somewhere else is not feasible anymore. So nomore WDW for a while.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

I have been going to WDW ever since there was a WDW (MK only)! Been there too many times to count. Our coming trip in May just might be our last for quite some time, unless we win the lottery! We're only going then because DGS is still under a kid's ticket. If DSis were not giving me her DVC points, we would have to be crammed into a value, and in that case DH wouldn't come.
Even with "free" accommodations, it's still a huge money hit now that I'm retired on a limited income.

 

[Marionnette]

I think the reason that the hotel prices are so high is so that when they have a discount, like the spring discount of 30% off, everyone starts freaking out because the prices are so cheap.

I don't think that 30% off a room that has a rack rate of $407-$430 (BC std. view in May) is something that I consider "so cheap". Even at $285/night, those rooms are overpriced. We have a trade convention that we could attend at the Contemporary for $185/night during Fall Season. That's more in my price range.

Like blessedby3, we have simply changed our way of doing Disney. But we bought small re-sale DVC contracts instead of going offsite. The initial cost for the contracts was similar to what we would have paid for 3 weeks in a deluxe resort with a decent discount. Yes, we still have annual dues to pay and no, they aren't enough points for a 7-night stay in a 1-bedroom unit each year. But we rarely stay more than 5 nights anyway and in the long run the cost will be much less than what Disney charges for a deluxe resort room. That's especially true with the way rack rates have been skyrocketing and discounts have been disappearing. I know that we could have just downgrade to moderates or values instead but it wasn't a compromise we wanted to make.

When it comes to food and tickets, there's room for us to cut back. We can drop hopping, spend a day or two not going into the parks and do some meal prep in our villa - no cooking, just breakfast foods and sandwiches. We're not at that point yet.

So I guess that I would say that we have not been priced out of a Disney vacation - yet. If ticket prices continue to spiral out of control, we will still be visiting Disney but spend less time in the parks and restaurants.

 

[Pigeon]

Oh my god, I hope I never get to that been there done that point! My whole retirement is based on moving to Fl to be close to the mouse! lol

What pushed you to this conclusion? Was it the prices or were there more factors involved? Or could it be possible that somebody just plain got tired of Disney World?!?! (Yes I know it's possible, I'm just being silly )

What pushed us is the pricing. It's just not worth it. The nickel and diming (or more like the $50 or $100) of Disney's policies I find sort of insulting. I have no problem with them making a profit, but when I think the profit has gotten out of line, they can make it off somebody else willing to pay that. Since there seem to be plenty of crowds, I'm sure they won't miss my business.

The final straw for me was that they charge more for food at "peak seasons." That's just gouging. The food doesn't cost them more and it's plenty overpriced already without the additional mark-ups.