Are Disney prices too high?

[DisneyPrince1982]

I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? Disney is not spending anywhere close to $1B+ on FP+.

MDE (the bulk of which was MB and FP+ and all that other junk).. it's already been documented that the expense exceeded $1B.

 

[10-4 Good Buddy]

I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? Disney is not spending anywhere close to $1B+ on FP+.

How much have they spent?

 

[flicx]

Well given all the issues with the website, missing FP+ reservations, missing dining reservations, and the occasional inability to link everything, I think judging now is the better way to do it while maintaining the right to reverse your judgment if Disney is somehow able to get their act together.

I agree. I just wonder how long will it be till all these "hidden" extra's that the whole MDE thing are gonna happen? It's been what now 2 going on 3 years already?

 

[flicx]

MDE (the bulk of which was MB and FP+ and all that other junk).. it's already been documented that the expense exceeded $1B.

Actually many peg it a over 2 billion!

 

[DisneyPrince1982]

I agree. I just wonder how long will it be till all these "hidden" extra's that the whole MDE thing are gonna happen? It's been what now 2 going on 3 years already?

After Star Wars, lol

 

[flicx]

After Star Wars, lol

Oh No, not that long 2025 is long way away!

 

[JACKNAG]

I'm guilty , captive audience, over paying , and love Disney

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Walt was in business to make money- not to spread magic around for free. He would have been thrilled to see how much money WDW (and Disney overall) was raking in.

I don't think he'd mind the profits but he might not be a fan of how they're being achieved.

 

[StuckInKS]

For us, Disney has went from less than $2,000 for hotel/tix/food in 2010 (using Kids Play, Stay, Eat Free promo) to $6,500 for the same (using Free Dining promo) in 2013. It has been a combination of Disney's prices rising as well as our family expanding. This year was the first year all of us needed a ticket, and tickets alone are close to $3,000 (for 10 days with PH. It is just not cost effective for us to go less than 10 days). But even just the last few years prices have skyrocketed. We did MNSSHP and MVMCP in 2013 and paid $375 per party (not included in the $6,500 mentioned above, that was strictly for the FD package), but this year even the cheapest party night is $600 or $1,000 if we want to do a dessert party add on. We do have to buy two additional child tickets this year, but that is still a big increase for 2 years. It IS getting very pricey to experience EVERYTHING, but (thankfully) there are still ways to make the basic WDW vacation affordable. Every time Disney ups the price for one thing, we just find another area to cut back on. This year we stayed offsite utilizing timeshares rented off of Ebay (a whole week in a 2-bed at WBC for $450!) and only did one TS meal (Sci-Fi since we've been trying for years to get a reservations and finally lucked out). We probably won't be able to do onsite hotels, TS dining or even hard-ticket parties again anytime soon, but at least we will still be going and that's what matters to us. We are just glad to be there and all that other stuff is just icing on the WDW cake.

 

[Jawolf]

Travelling from the UK, Disney has become more expensive especially as we started to visit 20 years ago and have been almost every year. I don't feel they have gone massively out of proportion and we forget the effect of the inflation, just Disney's is slightly higher!
For me, it is the airfare cost that cripples me. Flights during our school holidays can be 7 or 8 times that of an out of season flight. My flight costs have gone up by 5 to 6 times what i used to pay 20 years ago and is by far the biggest single cost for my family.
Having just arrived back from my first trip with a dining plan for a while, I was pleasantly surprised how much i didn't spend! Only spent 3/4 of my budgeted amount and that included 2 table service meals.

Also I guess that our McDonalds meals are equivalent of $7 for a basic meal, so Disney prices are not massively up on this and far better!

 

[Davey Jones II]

We're leaving soon for a California trip, including DLR, of course. This will be our most expensive trip yet. Part of that is the unfavorable U.S./Canada exchange rate, but another problem is that all the hotels near DLR seem to be more expensive than before. They all seem to have ratcheted up their prices to take advantage of the 60th anniversary of Disneyland.

In this case, I do feel that we've been the victim of price gouging, to a certain extent. When we planned this trip, we had no idea that the hotels would have an unpleasant surprise for us. It goes to show you that Disney aren't the only ones trying to milk the tourist cash cow.

 

[kiford]

Spending 3.50 for a free commodity is a foolish waste of money .

Water is not a "free commodity" where I live. We pay for our water consumption and some places, like San Francisco, pay significantly more than we do. I don't drink bottled water myself, I realize that you can get water for free at Disney and it's always cheaper to drink from a tap than buying bottled water, but in most places, water is not actually free. Even if you drink the tap water from a hotel, it's built into the cost of the room. Basically, my point is the same as others have pointed out: one person may consider the costs of various items to be unreasonably expensive, but others may find it quite comparable to where they live or vacation. We recently spent 3 days in London (UK) at a very nice hotel. Dinner for two people (admittedly including pre-dinner drinks, dessert and wine with dinner at a nice steakhouse) cost about $300. A 15-minute taxi ride was $40. So $50 for dinner at Boma's isn't terribly outrageous in my opinion. Dinner at a reasonably high-end restaurant in downtown Toronto can run $300. And I find that there's plenty of choices at WDW for food and accommodation as well as outside WDW to appeal to many different tastes and budgets.

 

[JoeA]

I'm a Denver Bronco's season ticket holder and a game day is more expensive than a "Disney day". And we didn't have to pay for a PSL, which is in a whole new league when it comes to costs.

So yeah - expensive, but what isn't these days? People are lining up to pay and exec's need their bonus!

 

[Anna114]

We own DVC and the pricing has made us change the way we do things. We use to eat a nice meal almost every night but it's getting too expensive. We use to go down twice a year but now it's only once (I know that's sounds bratty but my point is that we changed the way we do things) Breakfast is an english muffin in our room.

 

[GreatLakes]

MDE (the bulk of which was MB and FP+ and all that other junk).. it's already been documented that the expense exceeded $1B.

No, the entire MyMagic+ project is about $2 billion. MDE and FP+ are not anywhere near the majority of that project. MyMagic+ is an infrastructure and data mining project and that is where the majority of the costs are. The actual bands may not even be part of that $2 billion total, only the technology enabling them behind the scenes.

MyMagic+ is like an iceberg. The public will see a very small portion of it while the vast majority of it's capability will be seen by the people looking at the data behind the scenes.

 

[DebbieB]

It may also include the update of the room keys to magic bands, lots of locks to change! There's also the new feature of photo pass where your ride pictures automatically link to your bands and MDE. Those Magic Bands do more than FP+.

 

[Nancyg56]

It may also include the update of the room keys to magic bands, lots of locks to change! There's also the new feature of photo pass where your ride pictures automatically link to your bands and MDE. Those Magic Bands do more than FP+.

I really like this aspect! WE had a blast with our photos!

 

[TakeMe2DisneyNow]

A lot of your prices listed here are higher than reality, so there's that. I was just there in May and am going back next month. Even if your prices were accurate, why would you pay for anything you don't want? Disney can be very affordable with effort. Here are my tips: annual passes allow you to book 2 (or more) trips in a 365 day period. By choosing one week for the beginning of your pass and then go a week earlier the next year, you save money over booking 2 separate trips. A pass is cheaper than buying 3 day park-hoppers for 2 trips. We threw in a third trip since we take 2 vacations per year. With the passes, it made it cheaper to go to Disney in the spring than to go anywhere else. Because of our pass, we got a discount on our room in the spring (my first time staying on property) and paid $85/night for the room. Because of the Magical Express and transport services, we did not have to rent a car. For the first trip on our passes, we stayed off property bc we had an amazing deal. Parking is included in the pass. We also have a Tables in Wonderland card and get a discount on table service meals. For our last trip, we purchased the dining plan (I did the math given our plans and it saved us about $200). We always take snacks into the park with us. We carried bottled water in the fall and took filter bottles in the spring and filled them with free water. We carry a cooler bag on the bottom of our stroller and take everything we need for our family of 4.

For our upcoming trip, we are staying on property and got a free dining plan. In addition to that, we are doing a couple of extra table services meals, including a dinner show, the last Halloween Party, the first Christmas Party, and my daughter is paying a visit to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We do A LOT. How much is this all costing? Our full budget, all in, including all of the above, Memory Maker, and additional spending money, comes to $75 per person per day. This includes the percentage of our annual passes that we will use on this trip since I consider that our ticket cost. Sesame Place costs us much more and is about 5% of the fun. When you put in effort, Disney CAN be affordable. For our annual passes, our ticket costs have come out to $26/day. It all depends on how much you want it and how much work you're willing to put in to have the vacation you want.

I will leave you with this: Before Disneyland, what small theme parks did exist did not charge admission at all. People told Walt that by charging admission (I think it was 10 cents when they opened?), he was ensuring that Disneyland would be a huge failure and he would lose his shirt. They were clearly wrong. People are packing in to Disney and the park already reaches capacity some days. If prices were super cheap, it would do so much more often. It would be much more expensive to pay to travel to Disney and then not be able to get in at all. If tickets were $20, no one would be able to get in by 10am. If you don't want to pay the prices, don't. But don't get mad that other people see value in it that you don't. You are entitled to do what you'd like with your money, the rest of us can do what we'd like with ours, and Disney, as a business, will price for profit. I'm sure their stockholders appreciate it.

 

[Pageantprincess]

Examples:

Bottled water $3.26
Turkey leg $9.25
Dessert Party $50.00
Hotdogs $8.50
BOMA dinner $45.00 plus
1 day ticket $100 plus
Dining Plan $70.00 plus
Lunch and dinner menus the same price
Refillable mugs $18.00 only 4 refills in 90 minutes lol
Alcoholic beverages $10 $15 plus
Resort pricing exorbitant
souvenirs exorbitant

I think Disney needs to reevaluate their pricing strategy.

It also seems like the quality has gone down too. Anyway these are just a few things. What are your thoughts?

Brunette

In many cases, I think their prices are too high. When we buy something at home that is very expensive, we say, "Oh, we're just paying Disney prices!"

WDW is our favorite place, so I am willing to pay those higher prices. That is why we only can go every couple of years. When we go to Cape Cod, I can save up for it over a couple of months, but WDW is a year-long minimum of making sacrifices in order to save up the money to go. We now will only stay Deluxe, which makes it more expensive as well.

For those that are unwilling to pay the high price of going to WDW, I'm sure there are many other vacation destinations that are a lot cheaper. It is their choice to go there.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

No, the entire MyMagic+ project is about $2 billion. MDE and FP+ are not anywhere near the majority of that project. MyMagic+ is an infrastructure and data mining project and that is where the majority of the costs are. The actual bands may not even be part of that $2 billion total, only the technology enabling them behind the scenes.

MyMagic+ is like an iceberg. The public will see a very small portion of it while the vast majority of it's capability will be seen by the people looking at the data behind the scenes.

Regardless in the realm of guest experience it was still a useless program. Even if you want to go to the extreme of 300 million for an E ticket attraction that's still nearly 7 new major attractions that could have been built. You could manage crowds a lot better by distributing those among the parks than implementing a ride rationing system and a way to sell ride photos. Their ability to track my spending (whether I link a credit card or not) and ride preferences means even less than whether or not Scuttle talks or they can magically find me at BOG.

There is nothing in that project that from a guest/consumer perspective that is even worth 10% of the cost.