Disney Parks Price Increases-What is your breaking point?

[Pink Partridge]

https://wdwnt.com/

At what point will you stop going to the parks?

My children are grown, so it is just the two of us we have to pay for now. It is still doable. But I don't think I could afford to go if we had to pay for an entire family to go Disney World.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

https://wdwnt.com/

At what point will you stop going to the parks?

My children are grown, so it is just the two of us we have to pay for now. It is still doable. But I don't think I could afford to go if we had to pay for an entire family to go Disney World.

We own DVC so we won't stop until the contracts are sold or they expire. But we are doing more resort days instead of 8 days or more in the parks. Too many walls, too few attractions open either due to refurbs, breakdowns or permanent closures. We are cooking in the villa a little more often rather than doing table service every night, or we are ordering Uber Eats.

 

[Nayan]

I have been priced out for awhile now. I went to Epcot on Mother's Day because my friends were in town and I wanted to spend the day with them (they don't come down often). After paying for parking, my ticket and food/drinks I spent close to $400. For one person that's quite a hunk of change and while I can afford it, to me it wasn't worth it. I won't be going back.

 

[Pink Partridge]

I spent close to $400. For one person that's quite a hunk of change

For one day!!

 

[tony67]

Long past my breaking point, I stopped going many years ago.

I used to go 2-3 times a year with an AP or a 10 day non expiring ticket.

They got rid of the 10 day non expiring hoppers and they priced the AP to make it not worthwhile.
On top of the the whole AP reservation system is a scam IMO.

Disney has been on a downward trajectory for me since 2005 or so IMO.

Last time I went just to see how things were and epcot was all construction walls - they are gone now but really not much as far as Improvements for all the expense and removing the fountains.

Now the other 3 parks are all construction walls - even with a free ticket I am not sure I would waste a day there - I have better things to do.

 

[Kennywood]

That point came a long time ago.

 

[_19disnA]

Yup, for us too it is already past that point. Disney over the years has continued to raise prices much faster than inflation, so we now choose to vacation elsewhere. None of their hotels are worth $500+/night, so the value just isn't there anymore. The last time we were there a few years ago some of the parks were wall-to-wall people (even during the week) and Disney has done a terrible job of doing even simple things like widening walk-ways over the years to handle the larger crowds. They don't have enough ride capacity to handle the current level of crowds, so it takes at least 2x as long to do the same number of rides/shows as in the past. We have ZERO intent to pay yet another fee to be able to do more rides when the problem is lack of ride capacity. Just not a place we currently have any intentions of returning anytime soon.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We're in the Twighlight zone at this point. I bought two AP's for October but my parents are going into assisted living so we've been 24/7 trying to help them get that done. At the same time, we're completely finishing off another room and remodeling another so.... We cancelled this year and son and DIL are coming to NH instead.

We've got 13 nights booked in the spring and another 6 in the fall plus we'll add another 7 to that. Those AP's can be validated in May and we'll use them in October as well getting almost 4 weeks out of them. These were the $75 gift card deal AP's. I am now glad I bought them! I have another 1K in Dis GC's bought with cash back, etc and stays are DVC, flights on points, so those four weeks won't break us.

DH wants to retire early 2027 so I know future trips will have to be thought through and not as lavish. We'll see what living on retirement funds will be like yikes!

 

[soccerdad72]

I don't know. It's been a long time since we've done a WDW-only trip. We've been to the parks a few times in recent years when we've been in the Orlando area for other things (conferences, meetings, etc.) so I haven't priced a vacation package out in a while. When we look at vacation options, I occasionally quote out a WDW trip, a Universal trip, a cruise, etc. and we decided what the best choice is, value and interest wise.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I just got back from a WDW trip. It was just me, since my boyfriend, Bob, passed away in Jan of 2024. We had a trip planned for June of 2020 but then covid shut everything down. I decided to stay at Fort Wilderness Campgrounds, in an RV, which I booked thru O’hana Camper Rentals. I was even able to bring my dog, Molly, with me! Cost-wise, with the cost of the campsite and the RV, it cost about the same as a cabin. I did not want to stay in one of the cabins because I don ‘t like their location in the campgrounds. If you want to go to the Meadows recreation area or the marina area, you really need to rent a golf cart. The RV was amazing! We were in loop 1600, which was walkable to the Meadows recreation area. Because we were in Fort Wilderness, I only got a 3 day hopper pass because I felt that would give Molly & me time to enjoy Fort Wilderness. Because we were in an RV, I was able to cook most of my meals! I even had smores, which I hadn’t had in a long time. An added plus…most of the campers decorated their campsites and golf carts for Halloween! It was really pretty at night when they were all lit up! I estimate my total cost of this WDW trip was around $3500, that included the travel to and from. We stayed in Columbia, SC going down and coming home.

 

[PaladinButters]

Depends on the hotel deals and what the total package cost would be but I suspect we are far from even considering not going again. A five dollar-ish increase on park tickets is exactly the kind of low level creep on pricing people are unlikely to really notice.

 

[sam_gordon]

For one day!!

Even assuming a ticket is $150, I don't think $400 for a person in a day is "normal" (not saying it can't be done, but I wouldn't budget that much).

I mean, $350 $250 in meals for one person seems extreme to me. Maybe the $400 counts souvenirs, but that's also subjective.

 

[barkley]

They got rid of the 10 day non expiring hoppers and they priced the AP to make it not worthwhile.

those were great deals! we got them a few times and used them for YEARS-in fact my youngest got his last one when he still qualified for as a child, used a couple of days off it in his early 20's and STILL has one remaining day left (he's 28).

The last time we were there a few years ago some of the parks were wall-to-wall people (even during the week)

the last time we were in Orlando (late 2019) we did universal but decided to do one afternoon, midweek, traditionally LOW attendance day at Disney. it was a madhouse-way too many people. even as a kid I liked to spend part of every day in the parks just sitting back and people watching-could'nt even do that b/c you could'nt find any place to sit.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Long past my breaking point, I stopped going many years ago.

I used to go 2-3 times a year with an AP or a 10 day non expiring ticket.

They got rid of the 10 day non expiring hoppers and they priced the AP to make it not worthwhile.
On top of the the whole AP reservation system is a scam IMO.

Disney has been on a downward trajectory for me since 2005 or so IMO.

Last time I went just to see how things were and epcot was all construction walls - they are gone now but really not much as far as Improvements for all the expense and removing the fountains.

Now the other 3 parks are all construction walls - even with a free ticket I am not sure I would waste a day there - I have better things to do.

Same here...I enjoy smaller US parks and other vacations now.

 

[LuvOrlando]

If money is wasted any amount is too much but if money goes to a lovely experience, no such thing as too much.

WDW is much more expensive these days and while I don't think we can be "priced out" exactly the higher the cost climbs the more I scrutinize how I feel when I visit in a cost benefit sort of way. If we could expect to feel like we did back in the 90's when pixie dust was sprinkled on everything I suppose we'd pay whatever was asked and nothing would keep us from a yearly visit. We are currently in the midst of organizing a 2026 big family trip to Universal IOA & EPIC and the hope of a cheerful experience is driving me more than cost is a deterrent. Decision to go is with certain expectations based on a fall 2024 visit that we totally loved.

If I could expect an accommodated trip we would book one week at WDW and one and Universal with our dog and invite our adult kids to join as jobs allow. After our visit in 2023 we seriously considered DVC Villa for our family, for a while we did at least. We had a nice time on that trip and as a result it is still in the maybe column for our 2025 holiday Florida trip.

In the real world though there are deterrents other than cost such as my expectations of being accommodated as a disabled person who needs accommodations to manage walking at the parks and right now it seems possible that even a two day could be tough to manage never-mind 2 weeks, so the trips stay very small. For us our trips are no reflection of what we can afford but more of what we can expect as a return on investment. In the end if money is wasted any amount is too much but if money goes to a lovely experience, no such thing as too much.

 

[Nayan]

I mean, $350 in meals for one person seems extreme to me. Maybe the $400 counts souvenirs, but that's also subjective.

We did do Monsieur Paul for dinner, which was just over $200 with tax and tip. Add in F&G food booths and drinks...it added up. This was a total splurge day and I budgeted for it, but yeah it can add up fast.

 

[sam_gordon]

We did do Monsieur Paul for dinner, which was just over $200 with tax and tip. Add in F&G food booths and drinks...it added up. This was a total splurge day and I budgeted for it, but yeah it can add up fast.

Yea, I'd say that's a "splurge". And nothing wrong with it. I just didn't want people to read and think "I need to budget $350 $250/day/person for food?"

 

[MIGrandma]

I have no idea what the current one day park entrance fee is. Haven’t known that for a long, long time as we never go to a park and purchase individual tickets. We always book a trip that includes on site hotel and tickets/park hopper option. My last Disneyworld trip was a solo one last November. I spent about $4,000 for a week long stay at Port Orleans Riverside which included a dining plan, park tickets and hopper for 5 days, and airfare. I don’t think I would want to spend much more than that for a week. I’m 68 now too, and not even sure I will travel to visit the mouse again. DH isn’t all that interested, but if our family asked us to go we would probably go.

 

[kandb]

Yea, I'd say that's a "splurge". And nothing wrong with it. I just didn't want people to read and think "I need to budget $350/day/person for food?"

How do you get $350 for food? She said $400 minus ticket for $150, equals $250, not $350. Also, don't forget parking for $30+.

 

[pinkxray]

We are DVC members and I love my Disney trips. It will be a little while before we are completely priced out from going however our spending has changed over the last few years. We do less parks days and more resort days. We also hop to Universal (have seasonal passes which are an awesome deal) and Seaworld when they have free veteran tickets.

We are heading to FL for Thanksgiving, spending 8 nights. Originally it was going to be an all out WDW trip with multiple days in the parks, tons of table service and no going offsite. It ended up being 2 nights at Universal using our passes before the blackout and 6 nights at WDW. I just bought our tickets a few weeks(had a feeling prices would go up this month). Instead of the 5 day park hoppers I originally wanted we bought 3 day park hoppers. The ticket difference wasn’t the reason why it was what we’d end up paying for multipass/ single whatever pass x 4 people.

I also slashed a few table service meals since DS10 is now an adult. Just don’t want to pay $200 for ok food.

We took money from our Disney budget this year and added a quick trip to Dollywood next weekend (first time!). I also just booked the Holiday tour at Universal. Very excited about both of these things.