Crowd Outlook

[Aluminum Falcon]

only thing i want but cant really get is homecoming, i can get it, but not until 10pm. too late for me.

my fault for not booking 60 days out.

Yeah we got super lucky and found a cancelation 2 days after we made our initial reservations

 

[ChipnDale79]

Yeah we got super lucky and found a cancelation 2 days after we made our initial reservations

we got back last night. we were in the parks saturday, sunday (party), and monday.

I wouldnt say it was packed to the gills or slow on saturday. Sunday, no idea, because we did the party, sold out though. Monday...totally different story. i didnt realize saturday was the 100th anniversary of the Disney Company, or that the local schools were on fall break. Monday was freakin insane, even the cast members were shocked by it.

in regards to dining...i happened to check what was open Monday night around 5. i could get basically anything i wanted for that night in epcot, and did notice there were open slots of Ohana on the same night.

 

[Upatnoon]

we got back last night. we were in the parks saturday, sunday (party), and monday.

I wouldnt say it was packed to the gills or slow on saturday. Sunday, no idea, because we did the party, sold out though. Monday...totally different story. i didnt realize saturday was the 100th anniversary of the Disney Company, or that the local schools were on fall break. Monday was freakin insane, even the cast members were shocked by it.

in regards to dining...i happened to check what was open Monday night around 5. i could get basically anything i wanted for that night in epcot, and did notice there were open slots of Ohana on the same night.

Monday was a teacher planning day in some Florida school districts, thus the chance for a 3-day weekend.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

we got back last night. we were in the parks saturday, sunday (party), and monday.

I wouldnt say it was packed to the gills or slow on saturday. Sunday, no idea, because we did the party, sold out though. Monday...totally different story. i didnt realize saturday was the 100th anniversary of the Disney Company, or that the local schools were on fall break. Monday was freakin insane, even the cast members were shocked by it.

in regards to dining...i happened to check what was open Monday night around 5. i could get basically anything i wanted for that night in epcot, and did notice there were open slots of Ohana on the same night.

I can only speak for myself, we did HS Mon and it was definitely busy but pretty manageable I would say like 7/10. Saturday we did F&W and I couldn’t breathe it was so busy. I really do think it comes down to where you are and when. I find it super interesting to compare stories because everyone has vastly different experiences for the same day

 

[ChipnDale79]

I can only speak for myself, we did HS Mon and it was definitely busy but pretty manageable I would say like 7/10. Saturday we did F&W and I couldn’t breathe it was so busy. I really do think it comes down to where you are and when. I find it super interesting to compare stories because everyone has vastly different experiences for the same day

oh im not saying it was dead, that it for sure was not. Saturday we were at AK by 715 for rope drop, and we were gone by noon after doing Flight of Passage, Safari, Everest, Dinosaur twice, back to Everest, lunch, and then Navi.

The lines were long for things in MK, we bought Genie plus and used it to the best of our ability saturday evening.

Monday, F&W was insanity.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

oh im not saying it was dead, that it for sure was not. Saturday we were at AK by 715 for rope drop, and we were gone by noon after doing Flight of Passage, Safari, Everest, Dinosaur twice, back to Everest, lunch, and then Navi.

The lines were long for things in MK, we bought Genie plus and used it to the best of our ability saturday evening.

Monday, F&W was insanity.

Sounds like the day we just had today haha

 

[ChipnDale79]

Sounds like the day we just had today haha

hope you're having a blast!...(my feet are recovering after walking 33 miles in 3 days)

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

hope you're having a blast!...(my feet are recovering after walking 33 miles in 3 days)

It’s been awesome so far! My 4 year old is really making it happen for her mother and me. Hope yours was just as memorable!

 

[wabbott]

Just saw this WSJ article. Probably best belongs in this thread.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/consume...hbo04mh23gl&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

It’s Getting Too Expensive to Have Fun
Prices for concert tickets and amusement-park entries have ballooned

By Robbie Whelan and Anne Steele
Updated Oct. 17, 2023 10:38 pm EDT

The rising cost of fun is becoming a drag.

Ticket prices for live entertainment events, from Taylor Swift concerts to National Football League games and high-season Disney theme-park visits, rose at a startling rate this year, triggering a phenomenon that analysts have dubbed “funflation.”

Families coughed up large sums saved during the pandemic to attend live events and parks this year. Friends treated themselves to memorable performances. Mothers took their daughters to stadiums packed with friendship-bracelet-clad concertgoers to see Swift’s Eras Tour.

Now, some Americans are feeling tapped out.

Angela Wentink, 48 years old, recalls going to concerts regularly as an essential—and attainable—part of what she describes as a lower-middle-class upbringing in Massachusetts. It didn’t break the bank to see Bon Jovi.

Trying to give her children some semblance of a similar experience feels impossible. The San Antonio resident was laid off from Amazon in January, and received her final severance check around the time Swift was headed to Houston.

Do I do something that feels really irresponsible and take this check and make my daughter’s dreams come true?” she remembers thinking. Wentink, who has since started working for an ad agency, said she couldn’t stomach paying thousands for nosebleed seats.

Nearly 60% of Americans say they have had to cut back on spending on live entertainment this year because of rising costs, according to a Wall Street Journal/Credit Karma survey of about 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted at the start of September. Some 37% of respondents said they can’t keep up with the rising price of events they want to attend, while more than 20% of Americans say they are willing to take on debt to continue to be able to afford their favorite entertainment activities.

Roughly 26% of respondents said they don’t spend any money at all on live entertainment, up from 16% before the pandemic, the survey found.

The cost of admissions and fees rose faster than the prices of food, gasoline and other staples in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey. Those rising costs have continued this year.

“Anything live, anything experiential is just going through the roof,” said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, a Bank of America analyst who labeled the dynamic as ‘funflation’ in a September research note.

The latest retail-sales report on Tuesday showed spending at stores, online and at restaurants rose a stronger-than-expected 0.7% in September from a month earlier. The data show that consumers are still spending on goods and experiences, including cars and restaurant meals.

Americans were on track to spend about $95 billion this year on tickets to spectator amusements including movies, live entertainment and sporting events, according to August data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is up 23% from all of last year, and 12.5% higher than the $84.4 billion spent on the same entertainments in 2019, the last year before the pandemic shut down most spectator events.

Spending at theme parks, campgrounds and related services is on track to hit $79.9 billion this year, up 3.4% from 2022 and 6.2% from 2019.

Live music in particular has undergone supercharged ticket-price increases because of strong demand from some consumers who are still willing to pay up. Music executives attribute this to the marketing power of social media and the globalization of pop music thanks to streaming, with acts such as Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny and Korean girl group Blackpink filling stadiums across the globe during recent tours.

“We’re seeing record attendance everywhere,” Ehrlich said. “Everything is sold out.”
The average ticket price for North American tours hit $120.11 this summer, a 7.4% increase over last year and up 27% from 2019, according to Pollstar.

Fans shelled out for big-ticket shows, especially as more acts tour in stadiums. For the first time, the top five touring acts globally—Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Styles, Elton John and Ed Sheeran—each racked up more than $100 million in sold-ticket revenue during the first half of 2023. Over the past two decades, there were usually no more than one or two artists at that level, according to Pollstar.

Some consumers have cut back on the total number of events they attend, saving their money for one or two big-ticket attractions this year, or have stopped splashing out for entertainment entirely.

For the June quarter this year, the average face-value ticket price for a Swift show was $254, according to Pollstar, with the listed range before taxes and fees running from $49 to $449. The Eagles notched a $239 average price, with Springsteen just below at $226. Phish tickets averaged $206.

The hottest tickets of the summer ran much higher on the resale market. The average price for Swift tickets sold in the U.S. on ticket marketplace StubHub was $1,095, with the best seats going for thousands of dollars. Beyoncé and Styles ticket sales averaged $380 and $400, respectively. After Lionel Messi joined Major League Soccer, the price of tickets to Inter Miami CF matches shot up to $255 apiece, from $30.

A data analysis from Facteus for the Journal that examined credit-card spending at 16 common entertainment vendors, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats and a host of theme parks and cinema chains from early 2019 through July, found that the share of consumer spending going to ticketed entertainment has essentially recovered to prepandemic levels.

---

The percentage of cardholders who buy tickets to live events, however, has fallen more than 10%, suggesting that fewer people are spending on in-person events than in the prepandemic period.

At its theme parks, Disney has figured out ways to maximize how much cash each visitor spends, including by offering extra features in its smartphone apps that allow guests to skip some lines for their favorite attractions. Those extra costs, in addition to the steadily rising price of food, toys and souvenirs inside the park, have turned off some fans who are already struggling to pay for high-price flights, gasoline and hotel rooms.

Disney said Wednesday that it was raising some prices at its Disneyland park in California. Walt Disney World in Florida separately increased the price of parking and annual passes.

Before the pandemic, Julie Gibbs, a 52-year-old mother who works in university administration in Indiana, traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida twice most years. Sometimes her extended family would gather at the resort and in its theme parks for special occasions.

But after 2019, prices for tickets and costly add-ons that help visitors navigate the parks began to rise, and she and her family decided to cut out their annual theme-park vacation. They now gather several times a year at a condo in the beach town of Destin, Fla., and spend about half of the typical $6,000 price tag of their previous trips to Disney.

“Quality time with friends and family is really important, but prices have increased on so many things that I feel like we have to be better stewards of what we spend,” Gibbs said. “With Disney, they have their hand out and they just want more and more from me, and I hate that feeling.”

Last year marked the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s biggest year for attendance, with more than six million guests, said Paul Baribault, chief executive of the nonprofit.

The starting price for a one-day pass to the zoo has risen from $56 in 2019 to $69 this year—mainly a result of wage inflation and the cost of materials such as animal food, Baribault said. Many fans became members of the alliance to reduce the cost of each visit.

The zoo now has 28,000 higher-level memberships, nearly four times as many as in 2019, and the average membership-holder visits the zoo five times a year, compared with under four times a year in 2021.

“We’re in a competitive marketplace—we have Disneyland, SeaWorld, Legoland and others right in our backyard,” said Baribault, a former Disney executive. The zoo tries to increase prices carefully so that it doesn’t spook visitors.

“If we were priced on the wrong side of the spectrum, you wouldn’t get that feel-good experience,” he said.

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com and Anne Steele at anne.steele@wsj.com

 

[SL6827]

Destin is my new Disney as well. Hoping that it doesn't go in the same direction with pricing if others feel the same.

 

[RivShore]

Just saw this WSJ article. Probably best belongs in this thread.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/consume...hbo04mh23gl&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

It’s Getting Too Expensive to Have Fun
Prices for concert tickets and amusement-park entries have ballooned

By Robbie Whelan and Anne Steele
Updated Oct. 17, 2023 10:38 pm EDT

The rising cost of fun is becoming a drag.

Ticket prices for live entertainment events, from Taylor Swift concerts to National Football League games and high-season Disney theme-park visits, rose at a startling rate this year, triggering a phenomenon that analysts have dubbed “funflation.”

Families coughed up large sums saved during the pandemic to attend live events and parks this year. Friends treated themselves to memorable performances. Mothers took their daughters to stadiums packed with friendship-bracelet-clad concertgoers to see Swift’s Eras Tour.

Now, some Americans are feeling tapped out.

Angela Wentink, 48 years old, recalls going to concerts regularly as an essential—and attainable—part of what she describes as a lower-middle-class upbringing in Massachusetts. It didn’t break the bank to see Bon Jovi.

Trying to give her children some semblance of a similar experience feels impossible. The San Antonio resident was laid off from Amazon in January, and received her final severance check around the time Swift was headed to Houston.

Do I do something that feels really irresponsible and take this check and make my daughter’s dreams come true?” she remembers thinking. Wentink, who has since started working for an ad agency, said she couldn’t stomach paying thousands for nosebleed seats.

Nearly 60% of Americans say they have had to cut back on spending on live entertainment this year because of rising costs, according to a Wall Street Journal/Credit Karma survey of about 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted at the start of September. Some 37% of respondents said they can’t keep up with the rising price of events they want to attend, while more than 20% of Americans say they are willing to take on debt to continue to be able to afford their favorite entertainment activities.

Roughly 26% of respondents said they don’t spend any money at all on live entertainment, up from 16% before the pandemic, the survey found.

The cost of admissions and fees rose faster than the prices of food, gasoline and other staples in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey. Those rising costs have continued this year.

“Anything live, anything experiential is just going through the roof,” said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, a Bank of America analyst who labeled the dynamic as ‘funflation’ in a September research note.

The latest retail-sales report on Tuesday showed spending at stores, online and at restaurants rose a stronger-than-expected 0.7% in September from a month earlier. The data show that consumers are still spending on goods and experiences, including cars and restaurant meals.

Americans were on track to spend about $95 billion this year on tickets to spectator amusements including movies, live entertainment and sporting events, according to August data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is up 23% from all of last year, and 12.5% higher than the $84.4 billion spent on the same entertainments in 2019, the last year before the pandemic shut down most spectator events.

Spending at theme parks, campgrounds and related services is on track to hit $79.9 billion this year, up 3.4% from 2022 and 6.2% from 2019.

Live music in particular has undergone supercharged ticket-price increases because of strong demand from some consumers who are still willing to pay up. Music executives attribute this to the marketing power of social media and the globalization of pop music thanks to streaming, with acts such as Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny and Korean girl group Blackpink filling stadiums across the globe during recent tours.

“We’re seeing record attendance everywhere,” Ehrlich said. “Everything is sold out.”
The average ticket price for North American tours hit $120.11 this summer, a 7.4% increase over last year and up 27% from 2019, according to Pollstar.

Fans shelled out for big-ticket shows, especially as more acts tour in stadiums. For the first time, the top five touring acts globally—Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Styles, Elton John and Ed Sheeran—each racked up more than $100 million in sold-ticket revenue during the first half of 2023. Over the past two decades, there were usually no more than one or two artists at that level, according to Pollstar.

Some consumers have cut back on the total number of events they attend, saving their money for one or two big-ticket attractions this year, or have stopped splashing out for entertainment entirely.

For the June quarter this year, the average face-value ticket price for a Swift show was $254, according to Pollstar, with the listed range before taxes and fees running from $49 to $449. The Eagles notched a $239 average price, with Springsteen just below at $226. Phish tickets averaged $206.

The hottest tickets of the summer ran much higher on the resale market. The average price for Swift tickets sold in the U.S. on ticket marketplace StubHub was $1,095, with the best seats going for thousands of dollars. Beyoncé and Styles ticket sales averaged $380 and $400, respectively. After Lionel Messi joined Major League Soccer, the price of tickets to Inter Miami CF matches shot up to $255 apiece, from $30.

A data analysis from Facteus for the Journal that examined credit-card spending at 16 common entertainment vendors, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats and a host of theme parks and cinema chains from early 2019 through July, found that the share of consumer spending going to ticketed entertainment has essentially recovered to prepandemic levels.

---

The percentage of cardholders who buy tickets to live events, however, has fallen more than 10%, suggesting that fewer people are spending on in-person events than in the prepandemic period.

At its theme parks, Disney has figured out ways to maximize how much cash each visitor spends, including by offering extra features in its smartphone apps that allow guests to skip some lines for their favorite attractions. Those extra costs, in addition to the steadily rising price of food, toys and souvenirs inside the park, have turned off some fans who are already struggling to pay for high-price flights, gasoline and hotel rooms.

Disney said Wednesday that it was raising some prices at its Disneyland park in California. Walt Disney World in Florida separately increased the price of parking and annual passes.

Before the pandemic, Julie Gibbs, a 52-year-old mother who works in university administration in Indiana, traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida twice most years. Sometimes her extended family would gather at the resort and in its theme parks for special occasions.

But after 2019, prices for tickets and costly add-ons that help visitors navigate the parks began to rise, and she and her family decided to cut out their annual theme-park vacation. They now gather several times a year at a condo in the beach town of Destin, Fla., and spend about half of the typical $6,000 price tag of their previous trips to Disney.

“Quality time with friends and family is really important, but prices have increased on so many things that I feel like we have to be better stewards of what we spend,” Gibbs said. “With Disney, they have their hand out and they just want more and more from me, and I hate that feeling.”

Last year marked the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s biggest year for attendance, with more than six million guests, said Paul Baribault, chief executive of the nonprofit.

The starting price for a one-day pass to the zoo has risen from $56 in 2019 to $69 this year—mainly a result of wage inflation and the cost of materials such as animal food, Baribault said. Many fans became members of the alliance to reduce the cost of each visit.

The zoo now has 28,000 higher-level memberships, nearly four times as many as in 2019, and the average membership-holder visits the zoo five times a year, compared with under four times a year in 2021.

“We’re in a competitive marketplace—we have Disneyland, SeaWorld, Legoland and others right in our backyard,” said Baribault, a former Disney executive. The zoo tries to increase prices carefully so that it doesn’t spook visitors.

“If we were priced on the wrong side of the spectrum, you wouldn’t get that feel-good experience,” he said.

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com and Anne Steele at anne.steele@wsj.com

Most interesting thing that jumped out at me - it now costs $69 to go to a Zoo (and a non-profit one at that)!?! That is not all that much less than the daily rate for a WDW 5-7 day ticket. I'm not sure what that zoo offers but I would guess it doesn't come close to a park experience that can keep you entertained from 8 AM to 10 PM. Why is it we only see headlines about Disney fun-flation while all the rest gets ignored? At least this WSJ article brought some of it to light.

 

[Brian Noble]

Why is it we only see headlines about Disney fun-flation while all the rest gets ignored?

Because this is a Disney-centric discussion board.

One thing I did notice about the WSJ article is that it mostly focuses on high-end options within each category. Taylor Swift concerts are not at all representative of a "typical" concert. The San Diego Zoo is not "just a zoo" despite its non-profit status. That place is huge and incredibly impressive. It's easily the best zoo I've ever been to.

 

[Suger Mag]

Most interesting thing that jumped out at me - it now costs $69 to go to a Zoo (and a non-profit one at that)!?! That is not all that much less than the daily rate for a WDW 5-7 day ticket. I'm not sure what that zoo offers but I would guess it doesn't come close to a park experience that can keep you entertained from 8 AM to 10 PM. Why is it we only see headlines about Disney fun-flation while all the rest gets ignored? At least this WSJ article brought some of it to light.

easily spending a WDW park ticket worth to go see Cirque Drawn to Life on this trip (or really any Cirque show), and that is also a much shorter time than a park day. Saved it for a trip with my daughter only.

Whatever brings you joy...

 

[ChipnDale79]

Just saw this WSJ article. Probably best belongs in this thread.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/consume...hbo04mh23gl&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

It’s Getting Too Expensive to Have Fun
Prices for concert tickets and amusement-park entries have ballooned

By Robbie Whelan and Anne Steele
Updated Oct. 17, 2023 10:38 pm EDT

The rising cost of fun is becoming a drag.

Ticket prices for live entertainment events, from Taylor Swift concerts to National Football League games and high-season Disney theme-park visits, rose at a startling rate this year, triggering a phenomenon that analysts have dubbed “funflation.”

Families coughed up large sums saved during the pandemic to attend live events and parks this year. Friends treated themselves to memorable performances. Mothers took their daughters to stadiums packed with friendship-bracelet-clad concertgoers to see Swift’s Eras Tour.

Now, some Americans are feeling tapped out.

Angela Wentink, 48 years old, recalls going to concerts regularly as an essential—and attainable—part of what she describes as a lower-middle-class upbringing in Massachusetts. It didn’t break the bank to see Bon Jovi.

Trying to give her children some semblance of a similar experience feels impossible. The San Antonio resident was laid off from Amazon in January, and received her final severance check around the time Swift was headed to Houston.

Do I do something that feels really irresponsible and take this check and make my daughter’s dreams come true?” she remembers thinking. Wentink, who has since started working for an ad agency, said she couldn’t stomach paying thousands for nosebleed seats.

Nearly 60% of Americans say they have had to cut back on spending on live entertainment this year because of rising costs, according to a Wall Street Journal/Credit Karma survey of about 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted at the start of September. Some 37% of respondents said they can’t keep up with the rising price of events they want to attend, while more than 20% of Americans say they are willing to take on debt to continue to be able to afford their favorite entertainment activities.

Roughly 26% of respondents said they don’t spend any money at all on live entertainment, up from 16% before the pandemic, the survey found.

The cost of admissions and fees rose faster than the prices of food, gasoline and other staples in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey. Those rising costs have continued this year.

“Anything live, anything experiential is just going through the roof,” said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, a Bank of America analyst who labeled the dynamic as ‘funflation’ in a September research note.

The latest retail-sales report on Tuesday showed spending at stores, online and at restaurants rose a stronger-than-expected 0.7% in September from a month earlier. The data show that consumers are still spending on goods and experiences, including cars and restaurant meals.

Americans were on track to spend about $95 billion this year on tickets to spectator amusements including movies, live entertainment and sporting events, according to August data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is up 23% from all of last year, and 12.5% higher than the $84.4 billion spent on the same entertainments in 2019, the last year before the pandemic shut down most spectator events.

Spending at theme parks, campgrounds and related services is on track to hit $79.9 billion this year, up 3.4% from 2022 and 6.2% from 2019.

Live music in particular has undergone supercharged ticket-price increases because of strong demand from some consumers who are still willing to pay up. Music executives attribute this to the marketing power of social media and the globalization of pop music thanks to streaming, with acts such as Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny and Korean girl group Blackpink filling stadiums across the globe during recent tours.

“We’re seeing record attendance everywhere,” Ehrlich said. “Everything is sold out.”
The average ticket price for North American tours hit $120.11 this summer, a 7.4% increase over last year and up 27% from 2019, according to Pollstar.

Fans shelled out for big-ticket shows, especially as more acts tour in stadiums. For the first time, the top five touring acts globally—Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Styles, Elton John and Ed Sheeran—each racked up more than $100 million in sold-ticket revenue during the first half of 2023. Over the past two decades, there were usually no more than one or two artists at that level, according to Pollstar.

Some consumers have cut back on the total number of events they attend, saving their money for one or two big-ticket attractions this year, or have stopped splashing out for entertainment entirely.

For the June quarter this year, the average face-value ticket price for a Swift show was $254, according to Pollstar, with the listed range before taxes and fees running from $49 to $449. The Eagles notched a $239 average price, with Springsteen just below at $226. Phish tickets averaged $206.

The hottest tickets of the summer ran much higher on the resale market. The average price for Swift tickets sold in the U.S. on ticket marketplace StubHub was $1,095, with the best seats going for thousands of dollars. Beyoncé and Styles ticket sales averaged $380 and $400, respectively. After Lionel Messi joined Major League Soccer, the price of tickets to Inter Miami CF matches shot up to $255 apiece, from $30.

A data analysis from Facteus for the Journal that examined credit-card spending at 16 common entertainment vendors, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats and a host of theme parks and cinema chains from early 2019 through July, found that the share of consumer spending going to ticketed entertainment has essentially recovered to prepandemic levels.

---

The percentage of cardholders who buy tickets to live events, however, has fallen more than 10%, suggesting that fewer people are spending on in-person events than in the prepandemic period.

At its theme parks, Disney has figured out ways to maximize how much cash each visitor spends, including by offering extra features in its smartphone apps that allow guests to skip some lines for their favorite attractions. Those extra costs, in addition to the steadily rising price of food, toys and souvenirs inside the park, have turned off some fans who are already struggling to pay for high-price flights, gasoline and hotel rooms.

Disney said Wednesday that it was raising some prices at its Disneyland park in California. Walt Disney World in Florida separately increased the price of parking and annual passes.

Before the pandemic, Julie Gibbs, a 52-year-old mother who works in university administration in Indiana, traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida twice most years. Sometimes her extended family would gather at the resort and in its theme parks for special occasions.

But after 2019, prices for tickets and costly add-ons that help visitors navigate the parks began to rise, and she and her family decided to cut out their annual theme-park vacation. They now gather several times a year at a condo in the beach town of Destin, Fla., and spend about half of the typical $6,000 price tag of their previous trips to Disney.

“Quality time with friends and family is really important, but prices have increased on so many things that I feel like we have to be better stewards of what we spend,” Gibbs said. “With Disney, they have their hand out and they just want more and more from me, and I hate that feeling.”

Last year marked the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s biggest year for attendance, with more than six million guests, said Paul Baribault, chief executive of the nonprofit.

The starting price for a one-day pass to the zoo has risen from $56 in 2019 to $69 this year—mainly a result of wage inflation and the cost of materials such as animal food, Baribault said. Many fans became members of the alliance to reduce the cost of each visit.

The zoo now has 28,000 higher-level memberships, nearly four times as many as in 2019, and the average membership-holder visits the zoo five times a year, compared with under four times a year in 2021.

“We’re in a competitive marketplace—we have Disneyland, SeaWorld, Legoland and others right in our backyard,” said Baribault, a former Disney executive. The zoo tries to increase prices carefully so that it doesn’t spook visitors.

“If we were priced on the wrong side of the spectrum, you wouldn’t get that feel-good experience,” he said.

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com and Anne Steele at anne.steele@wsj.com

someone posted on my neighrbood facebook page that they had 2 tickets to Jo Dee Messina for sale, they wanted what they paid for them. $150 for the pair.

I was floored, she's not a super star, she's good, but she was good many years ago. i guess thats how much concerts cost now?

its crazy how expensive things have got.

we did price out a return trip to disney next year, im waffling, its really expensive now.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Because this is a Disney-centric discussion board.

One thing I did notice about the WSJ article is that it mostly focuses on high-end options within each category. Taylor Swift concerts are not at all representative of a "typical" concert. The San Diego Zoo is not "just a zoo" despite its non-profit status. That place is huge and incredibly impressive. It's easily the best zoo I've ever been to.

San Diego Zoo? Agree 100%. Throw in the sister Safari Park, and we could vacation for several days!! A couple days SDZ, a couple days Safari Park, a couple days Grand Cali??? Perfect.....!

 

[Smugpugmug]

Most interesting thing that jumped out at me - it now costs $69 to go to a Zoo (and a non-profit one at that)!?! That is not all that much less than the daily rate for a WDW 5-7 day ticket. I'm not sure what that zoo offers but I would guess it doesn't come close to a park experience that can keep you entertained from 8 AM to 10 PM. Why is it we only see headlines about Disney fun-flation while all the rest gets ignored? At least this WSJ article brought some of it to light.

I went to the National Aquarium last weekend and tickets were $50 per person (plus you have to pay $20 for parking in the city). The aquarium was almost Disney level crowded so the high price wasn't deterring people from coming.

 

[BrianL]

I went to the National Aquarium last weekend and tickets were $50 per person (plus you have to pay $20 for parking in the city). The aquarium was almost Disney level crowded so the high price wasn't deterring people from coming.

And that's the deal - the price is a function of what people are willing to pay. If people are paying it, then there is no reason to lower it.

 

[ChipnDale79]

And that's the deal - the price is a function of what people are willing to pay. If people are paying it, then there is no reason to lower it.

it'll be interesting to see how long keep paying the inflated prices.

im starting to read things about people avoiding mid level chains like Outback and Olive Garden because they're so expensive now. people are going to fast food, or higher level places, and skipping out on the mid tier places.

i know we are, we used to eat out 2 or 3 times during a week, now its once, and only on the weekends. its really expensive for all 4 of us.

 

[Smugpugmug]

it'll be interesting to see how long keep paying the inflated prices.

im starting to read things about people avoiding mid level chains like Outback and Olive Garden because they're so expensive now. people are going to fast food, or higher level places, and skipping out on the mid tier places.

i know we are, we used to eat out 2 or 3 times during a week, now its once, and only on the weekends. its really expensive for all 4 of us.

I avoid those places too now. If I'm going out to eat, it's going to be a local place and not a Chili's.

 

[BrianL]

it'll be interesting to see how long keep paying the inflated prices.

im starting to read things about people avoiding mid level chains like Outback and Olive Garden because they're so expensive now. people are going to fast food, or higher level places, and skipping out on the mid tier places.

i know we are, we used to eat out 2 or 3 times during a week, now its once, and only on the weekends. its really expensive for all 4 of us.

There certainly is a tipping point, but who knows when we will reach it. I think for high-end experiences peopel are willing to pay anything.

Yeah, with restaurants, a lot of places have gotten so expensive for what you get. Even fast food is high, but there can still be a value proposition there. I tend to like fast-casual type places that are a bit chaper than the sit-down chains, but honestly typically have better food. I mean, it's not like Outback was ever spectacular or anything.