Anyone see their yearly WDW vacations ending???

[IrishNYC]

Oh I have to disagree Irish. I know when I am getting less for my money. when you cut back on staff so that my room isn't up to psr, that's not comparing the good olé days, that's lousy service.
When you raise the price of an item consistently while giving less, that's not the "good olé days". HS isn't about me "losing the magic", its about the park not being worth the cost of admission.

Personally people who go annually usually have more "magic" because we find the "joy" in the little things. we are lucky, if we don't ride Soarin, its cool because we know we'll be back. when we ride Soarin and the film is old and skipping that's poor quality

But someone who doesn't go annually won't compare the price of a dole whip from year to year, or know that there is less staff now. To someone that goes once or twice in ten years it's still worth every penny.

Eta: the price of a one day admission increased 1100% between my only two visits so far. Inflation certainly didn't. We'll be back again next year.

 

[dsdeleon]

Sadly, Disney is in no danger of losing me as a customer. Every year I freak out about the increases and move some of my money to Universal (Uni AP renewals are the best deal in Orlando) but Disney still gets my family onsite and still gets a cruise or two. I do spend a lot of time maximizing savings in order to justify the ridiculous sums of $$ I give to the mouse, but if I am to be honest with myself, I am in way too deep to simply "walk away" anytime soon.

 

[mindeola]

We have never gone every year. We like to vacation in other places to and I can't swing Disney every year( the way I like to do Disney) and still take other vacations. The wonderful military discounts are what allows us to go every few years. So thankful that those keep it within our budget.

 

[Hibiscus]

Just reading about the price increase - no, it won't make a difference for us as we don't go every year.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

We have been going to Disney yearly for approx. 10 years. We have had great times and our vacations have been memorable. I think after this year's trip (going in August for 10 nights, bounceback), we are probably going to start exploring other destinations. We used to feel Disney was a great value and great vacation but it has definitely gotten less attractive in the past 3 years or so. It's more crowded and has definitely gotten more expensive. The price of tickets for a 10 day trip is around $2K for our family, and that's just to visit the parks. We will take some years off and see how we feel. I will miss WDW but maybe it will feel more magical when we return.

I don't ever see another 12 month stretch like this one happening again. After April we will have been 5 times on this AP. We won't be renewing our APs though and I doubt we will be back until December 2017 or April 2018. If it were up to DW and I we'd go every weekend but that's just not in the cards

 

[OhMari]

We cut back from the parks 3 years ago. We still go down to Disney, but we are at the pont in our lives that we do not have to hit every park every year. This year we enjoyed The Wilderness Lodge and Camp Wilderness. We only went to the Magic Kingdom this year. The other 3 parks are under so much construction, it is not worth the ticket.

We went golfing, did bow and arrows, rode horses, kayaked, fished and hiked and lounged by the pool. Resort prices are getting expensive, but if you plan right, we rent points and pay half the price.

 

[Yarbogash]

We have been going to Disney yearly for approx. 10 years. We have had great times and our vacations have been memorable. I think after this year's trip (going in August for 10 nights, bounceback), we are probably going to start exploring other destinations. We used to feel Disney was a great value and great vacation but it has definitely gotten less attractive in the past 3 years or so. It's more crowded and has definitely gotten more expensive. The price of tickets for a 10 day trip is around $2K for our family, and that's just to visit the parks. We will take some years off and see how we feel. I will miss WDW but maybe it will feel more magical when we return.

Mentioned this in another thread but it fits here:
Our family has already reached our tipping point with WDW. We traditionally visit Florida for 2 weeks every year. Next year for the first time in a long time we will not visit WDW (already booked a RC cruise, then a rental in Naples). The crowds and cost have just gotten out of hand IMHO. We are going this spring because we got a week free from my parents trading a timeshare. But this will be a sort of last hurrah.

 

[robinb]

Yes. We have been going 1-3 times a year for nearly 20 years and I am being priced out. My DD will be a Senior in HS for our next NYE trip and that will likely be our last for a while. She'll be off to college next summer and she plans to swim while there so Christmas break for her will be a training trip somewhere. Plus, once she's gone to college my DH and I can start taking trips during the school year. Do you know you can take a non-DCL repositioning cruise for less than $50 per day? Take a cruise one way to Europe, hang around for a week or two and fly home. How cool is that?

 

[stitchfan75]

We have only been once so far to WDW. In the excitement of the trip we thought we would go every year but our budget says different. We will be going back in 2017 but that may change depending on finances (dh has decided he needs to quit his job and look for something else...considering last time he was unemployed for 5 years I'm not holding hope). At the least I hope we can go when dd graduates in 2020.

 

[BeerMe]

We are probably older than most here and we still enjoy the parks immensely. This year we will make three trips on our current APs,

 

[momimouse27]

I like this topic. You get to see how differently everyone vacations and how they spend their money, and that's interesting to me.

For us, I would definitely not stop going, but our trips will be scaled back. For example, last April/May we went for a week and had four day hoppers. We could have done it in three because we didn't spend an entire day in AK or in DHS. I am contemplating going back in September for a football game/truncated Disney trip and if so we will only plan to go into two parks for two days. We did this in Nov. '15 when my hubby had a national sales meeting. We did two day hoppers(special convention pricing) and then had a MVMCP ticket. One day/Epcot, One day DHS(for last Osborne lights) and the MVMCP. Honestly, the whole day for DHS was kind of wasted I felt. Kind of wished we had hopped back over to Epcot.

I remember the days when I could take my entire family-then three kids and hubby and me-for something like $250/each for a five day park hopper. Not happy about the increase or the tiered pricing, but you gotta pay to play. I'm a Disney lover at heart and that won't change. I'll just have to either save more, or change my vacations to suit my budget.

 

[amg35]

We don't go yearly. We do a long, deluxe trip every few years so we can save for it. We visit other places in between. I foresee us going until at least after we tire of the new lands. Although spaced out, we do want to invade Italy ...and we can only afford blowout trips every few years.

So this year Dollywood, next year the big Disney trip, year after Vancouver (which looking at the nice hotel we are looking at staying at for a good price really underlines the ridiculous cost of Disney deluxe ) and then who knows, the world is our backyard.....

 

[IrishNYC]

So this year Dollywood, next year the big Disney trip, year after Vancouver (which looking at the nice hotel we are looking at staying at for a good price really underlines the ridiculous cost of Disney deluxe ) and then who knows, the world is our backyard.....

Great comparison. Now that DD is old enough to appreciate Disney trips, we do plan to go every few years. But in between we will absolutely go other places. This year we are renting a house on cape cod. Next year a house in the Keys and a shirt Disney trip for MNSSHP. The year after maybe DLR and a trip up the west coast. Then a European cruise. Then, finally, a big Disney trip again - which I fully anticipate costing more than any of the other trips.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Nope

 

[valerie160]

I was seriously considering a trip in March 2017, but now may just push that trip to May 2021 for my dd1's high school graduation. I'm seriously considering doing a west coast trip next year instead of DW to expose my kids to everything else out there (SanFran/Portland/Seattle - not DL this time since we just went in Aug 2015), Aulani in 2018 for DH and my 15th anniversary, Italy/France/England in 2019 and Netherlands in 2020. I love disney, but I am starting to feel like with the constant and repeated price increases that I'm being taken advantage of.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We've never been annual visitors, nor have we ever had any desire to be. Too many other places to see

 

[connie1042]

We are going for 1 night in Oct. just to do some shopping and dinning at Disney Springs. Have gift cards we need to use. No parks this time. We are spending the week at the beach. There is to much construction and too many things closed. Maybe in 2018.

 

[Pattyinaustin]

Unfortunately, my son starting high school has brought an end to our mother/son annual trips. Before that, it was possible for him to miss a couple of days of school to head to Florida off-season. I am too scared of the busier seasons! I am hoping to squeeze in at least one more before he heads off to college!

 

[drquest]

We've gone every year since 2001, always fly in and several of those years were 2 trips. Last year due to my DD High School band marching at Magic Kingdom, we went twice and even did a Disney Land trip too. Our fun for going hasn't dropped, but the cost is just financially approaching insanity levels. We haven't crossed anything off the list yet, but have talked about only going to Disney Land this year.

We go around the same amount of days every year, and stay at Deluxe Resorts, and when I look at the past few years the costs continue to go up. We always took advantage of free dining when we could, and special offers and discounts, and the past few years that hasn't work out at all. No dining packages, and I've been paying rack rate. We still have a great time, but the crowds minimize the fun. My DS and I went to Star Wars weekends by ourselves in June 2014, and it was a wonderful trip. It was very annoying to see they have dropped SWW's.... The theme for the past few years at Disney seems to be take.... Take more money, take away rides, take away discounts, take away perks, take take take.... It's sad really... My kids have grown up going to Disney, and so have my wife and I it seems...

 

[drp4video]

We went every year when my daughter was in middle school, then in high school it was twice a year, and then sometimes 3 times a year. We had AP's. Then we started getting 10 day non-expiration hoppers during her junior year in college as we went back to once a year (although sometimes I went twice a year and met my mom there), and that covered three trips.

After college we were going once every two years, then once every three years because as much as I love Disney, the crowds just became unbearable and we decided to go to places like Paris, London, California...as there are so many other places to see at close to the same cost as Disney. I went last year (not a planned solo trip, but it ended up that way), and I have no plans to go back. My daughter is 28 and the last time we went together was three years ago.Do I miss it? Yes I do, but I won't go during holidays anymore, or school breaks, the crowds drain the fun, and it has gotten so expensive. FP+ requires too much planning and ADRs as well just make it too much like scheduling work events.

Sometimes I think I just miss the idea of Disney, and how it was without the crowds and the huge increase in expense that is so much more than the cost of living, and the spontaneous adventure of Disney. I feel priced out sometimes. Now, our trips are paid for with Disney Visa rewards dollars, and frequent flyer miles. So I save those, and then I go. Makes me sad, but with so many ride closures and park changes in progress, I expect I will wait till a lot of that is done. I know there is always something changing or new attractions in development, but right now it seems excessive, so I wait, and explore new places.