Anyone see their yearly WDW vacations ending???

[k5thbeatle]

Good point. Certainly there are a lot of complaints, on these boards, about cuts in the quality of service, food, upkeep, hotel accomodations, etc. However, I would argue that Disney hasn't skimped on spending to build or refurb new attractions. Yes, they could have done better in that category, and built faster...BUT they have built $100 million rides and new lands that cost hundreds of millions. The DCA expansion cost over a billion. My guess is that the new Star Wars lands will cost about the same.

My comment referred to the cavalier attitude they seem to have when they lose loyal customers because of crowding and other factors, while they do everything possible to bring in ever greater crowds of first timers and tour groups. Also, upcharge events like dessert parties with reserved seating for the fireworks, leaving less quality viewing spots for the rest of us to fight over.

Good point! I agree.

 

[AnnaKat]

<<< still going every year and thinking of buying into DVC.

I do not like the price increases. But we will probably go again in 2017 & 2018, because with DVC, we can stay 2 weeks in a value studio. We'll do 2 trips on DVC-discounted APs. By our Nov.- Dec. 2017 trip, I anticipate a huge increase in the AP, as tiered multi-day pricing will be in effect. In 2013, we had Premium AP for $399(special DVC offer). For 2015, we paid over $550; thankfully we bought to book FP+, so we avoided the recent Oct. increase. Our APs could likely cost us $700 ea in late 2017(2-3 increases since Oct. 2015). As awful as paying double in just a few years' time will feel, we will NOT be priced out, due to owning DVC. For us,
our small DVC purchase has made the huge table service increases & loss of TiW discount(price has doubled) doable, as we pay no $$$ for our room. We love staying @ Jambo overlooking the Sunset savanna or the pool, on DVC points. Our 2015 stay was 17 nights; cannot imagine ever paying $500 per night($8500) for a savanna view!! Saving $7000/8000/9000 on our room each trip
makes the continual food & Tix price increases bearable. I feel for the families whom have to cut-back due to the high food & Tix prices.

 

[PamNC]

Went in 1994 - and every single year after that until 2008. Skipped two years. Went once in 2010. Then skipped until 2015 (last year). I will have to say the skipping in the latter years had nothing to do with price. But, now I can safely say I feel a disconnect between price and value with all the closings, outdated attractions (think Epcot), and the current state of DHS. The ticket and food prices are out of control in my opinion. Simple example - I skipped 5 years as you can see - 2010 - 2015. Used to love to go to Beaches & Cream - great burgers and about $8.99 for a burger and fries. I was astounded to see it was about $15.99 now - that's ridiculous. That's just one silly example. The resorts have gone way up but you can still get a value for your $$. I rented points at AKL last year and got a great deal and loved the whole experience. There is no way I can go every single year again...can't justify that. However, I would like to go soon to see the new stuff at AK - the evening show. Maybe a quickie trip. They are pricing normal folk right outta' there. Just my opinion.

 

[revdon64]

I think we're pretty much there too. We have been taking our kids every other year for the past six years or so. After our December 2015 trip we decided that we'd probably wait more like 4 years for another. With all the recent price increases and staffing cuts, well... we're not happy about paying more for less. Just not sure right now.

 

[Dis703]

I'm actually looking to increase my trips this year to 3 times this year. Possibly even 4. We've gone as a family once a year but I plan to add small trips with just myself and one of my boys this year as well. Just got back from the first one so I have at least 2 more to go.

 

[DVCcurious]

It does seem that Disney is marketing more and more toward upper middle class or wealthy travellers. As for the rest of us, our loyalty and repeat business over the years doesn't seem to be worth a damn.

I am an "upper middle class" traveller. Family income is about 215 and we're DVC members. We're exactly what Disney wants in a customer. We do multiple character meals and spend money on balloons and stuffed animals and even those stupid hats (goofy for ds and minnie ears for dd).
Unfortunately with kids in school our only travel dates are when school is out, and my job's peak is July and August. So we can only vacation in Easter break, second half of June, and Christmas. My wife wants to go to the beach so we do that in June which leaves WdW in Spring Break or Christmas.

Long story short with the new massive price increase during Easter plus airfare plus the "value" of our DVC points (which we could rent instead of use) I figure it's pushing $7,500 for the week even before adding character meals and Goofy hats.

Sure we can afford it. The question is do I want to pay that much, and more and more the answer is "no". $5,000 seems reasonable, but 7,500 is getting to be too much.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We went for the first time in 2003 and have went at least once (sometimes multiple times) every year since 2005. I told DH the other day that I felt like I was done with WDW for a while. Prices have gone up way too much for me, not just on tickets, but the price of food too. Of course I've said this before, I always seem to burn out when I get to the end of my APs but then am ready to go back in a year.

 

[NileNellie]

If my parents didn't live in Orlando, we probably wouldn't go yearly.

 

[OhMari]

Luckily, even with the new price change, my family and I can afford a Disney vacation once or twice a year. I'm actually happy they did increase the price because now it gives us a reason to try other destinations, outside of Disney. I personally think going to Disney every year is a ridiculous. I'd rather make a trip to WDW every 2-3 years.

I believe the price increase should help with the capacity issues. But at the same time, I'd like to see people give Universal a shot.

We did give Universal a shot, and the crowds are insane by Harry Potter. But the rest of the park was all walk on rides. Will I go back, yes with my dd's in a few years, but my dh said he won't go back for another 15 years. We went as a family in 2000. I went alone in 2011, or the year they gave away free tickets if you submitted your email during the Super Bowl.

I have a question, I know their is crowd control during Christmas, Easter, but do you think any changes are going to be made in general for crowds. We were there the first week in February and it was rated as 4's and I thought it was much busier, more like 7-8's.

 

[ayz75]

We intend to go probably once every 1.5 years. We can afford Disney trips but it's really not that much cheaper for us if I were to compare our other trips, mind you we live in Canada so it's not really driving distance (well, we don't want to drive 24 hours straight)

Just comparing to my recent trip to Europe.. Flying from Toronto, the difference in flight (Orlando vs. say Paris) is probably about $400 on average per person. So you add an extra $1.5k for flight for 3 (I'm expecting a 2nd one so in 2 years it'll be $2k) We don't do fancy hotels in Europe and I managed to keep the cost under 150 euros/night (that's much less than a mod resort) and I find restaurants costs similar to restaurants in Disney, sometimes even cheaper. Museums and sights are much cheaper! You're not going to pay $100 per person per day just to visit a couple of museums. Maybe add in the car rental, but we're talking about $100/day for car rental. So all in all, I find my trips to Europe end up costing the same as Disney. While I do enjoy and love visiting Disney, I think there are a lot of places in the world to visit. My daughter had so much fun at the Louvre back in January (DH used toddler-appropriate language to describe the art works, lol) and prior to the trip, she had listened to the song Champs Elysee about 100 times and was very excited to see this big street. I know for some people, it might be cheaper to do WDW every year, but I think we'll get bored (or more like my DH will get bored) if we went every year.. and plus there are a lot of cool cities elsewhere that I would love to visit. I know my daughter enjoyed Europe as much as she enjoyed her last Disney trip (and cruise), so I bet most kids will be equally excited anywhere they go! (until they are teenagers, of course)

 

[katt789]

2 weeks ago when I saw this thread title I looked at it and said "yup" and thought that because of the price hikes, the budget cuts, the Candian dollar SUCKING so much, the parks being more crowded, that I would only be making this one trip this year. (with also a trip to DLR in May)

Ask me now, and it's a complete 180.
I'm DEFINITELY going back for a quick Halloween trip in Sept, and might even do a nice solo trip sometime before summer. But that's also because it's just me, I'm not paying for kids or having to convince a husband into going again. The moment I stepped off the plane I knew I was home, and saying "see ya real soon" this go around was even harder than any other trip. It solidified that Disney is really where the magic happens, and even with all the above things, if something went wrong, we would laugh #thanksshanghai, shake it off, and find ourselves some pixie dust somewhere else. We brought the magic with us, and tried to spread it as far as we could, and that's what really helped us. But that's just us!

 

[Conan the Librarian]

We are finally getting back to our routine of going several times a year to a Dinsey Resorts, if not WDW.

We let our Annual Passes laps, due to the fact we sold our house and moved onto a sailboat. Then my wife got a job and couldn't take leave for the first 6 months. Now, she is past that, so, we have a DVC stay at HHI this spring and a two week trip to WDW staying DVC at the Poly this Fall.

With the advent of the sailboat, we'll probably go less and sail more, but, we can save up points and stay at the more costly DVC resorts with the point savings.

 

[asc]

they already ended.

our last trip was Oct. 2014.

there may be a trip to central florida that has a day at disney using our non expiring PH passes we have left but there will be no on property trips, dining other than incidental and no specific visits to WDW [any visit to central FL will be for other reasons, golf, universal or perhaps just on the way driving down further south] for the foreseeable future.

ironically, i am getting less and less email and mail from disney so they clearly don't care.

 

[scoutie]

I like to go other places, so while WDW will be included in my vacation plans every few years, it's never been a yearly thing for my family. Last year, we did Greece and Turkey, and we spent less on that trip then we did on Disney the previous year. This year, we will do Disney and Playa del Carmen. Next year, we will likely do Spain and Italy. There is a lot of the world to see, and my vacation money doesn't stretch to include Disney each year along with the other places I want to see.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

2015 was a big Disney year for us! DL family vacation in January, D23 Expo in August, followed by Disapalooza in December.

We decided to skip Disney in 2016. Too many construction walls at DL and expensive flights to WDW, so we are heading to Hawaii.

2017 should be a good year to return. Hopefully Pandora will open and we already have plans to return to D23 whenever and wherever it might be. We are returning to China in 2018 and plan a couple of nights at DL Shanghai.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

No us, we are already set up for 2016 and 2017. Disney is that special and magical to our family, its worth the money, even if we need to save a bit more.


AKK

 

[dcpkiddo]

My mom and I have been fortunate enough to go twice per year for the past two years. Prior to those trips, we had gone once in 2005, and once in 2012. Going to Disney so frequently recently has both been a blessing and a curse. The trips are awful expensive, especially when we're not utilizing any kind of frequent visitor discount (such as AP or DVC). However for our upcoming trip this November we shaved 2k dollars off just by switching from a deluxe resort to a moderate. While WL is our true Home away from Home, with all of the price increases happening it's simply smarter for us to stay moderate and not worry about breaking the bank. After coming home from every trip recently we discussed taking a break and not going back for a year or more. But after 6 months or so each time, all of the recent frustrations fade away and we find ourselves yearning for the magic again. I suppose we will stay on this pattern until we can't afford it anymore, or the urge for the magic disappears. But at the moment we've found small ways to save money here and there (2 less park days, spend those resort hopping instead, etc.)

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I'm actually happy they did increase the price because now it gives us a reason to try other destinations, outside of Disney.

I think we'd gotten too "Disney Comfortable." All the changes have forced us out of that comfort zone and into some new exciting things.

There is a lot of the world to see, and my vacation money doesn't stretch to include Disney each year along with the other places I want to see.

I feel the same way.