Disney: Paying more and getting less!!!

[blackacex2]

We can't afford to pay for Disney at "average" prices. However, I'm a bit of a wheeler dealer. Consider our next trip and prices being paid:

Two round trip flights from long island to orlando- Free, all we did was sign up for the southwest rewards visa

Two nights at the Swan= Free, all we did was sign up for the starwood rewards american express. Resort charge and parking fee for the two nights= $60

Rental Car for 8 days- Free, used left over southwest rewards point

5 nights at the boardwalk inn- Travel Agent Rate, because I work part time as an official travel agent for Disney and the cruise industry. This rate saved us about $625 vs the current spring room rate promotion.

One 6 day magic your way park hopper + water park ticket- $180 Travel Agent offer

One 6 day magic your way ticket- $285 from undercover tourist using mouse savers newsletter link.

Money spent at Disney World- 5% off EVERYTHING, because we are purchasing Disney gift cards at target using the target red card. This also saved us 5% off the boardwalk inn.

Now we usually save even more money by paying about $90 per night at bonnet creek for an 850 sq ft 1 bedroom with full kitchen, laundry, and jacuzzi tub. Bonnet Creek on Disney property and is a beautiful, clean resort. We decided to pay a little more to experience WDW "inside" the magic this year.

Had we paid full price for our park tickets, our hotel room, our rental car, and did use disney gift cards from target to save 5% our vacation would have cost around $1800 MORE than we are paying.

People who buy a magic your way package, pay full price for the dining plan, don't use a credit card point deals for flights, stay at a deluxe or mod without at least a PIN code are getting TAKEN. There is no reason to punish yourself by paying those prices.

 

[mm1971]

We have been going to disney yearly for the last 7 years, we live in NJ. We (especially me) have loved our trips there. However, I do believe we will skip this year because of the price increases and the extraordinary crowds that disney has been getting. I just can't justify spending so much money to go and wait in long lines for more money that we have ever spent before. Is anyone not going or taking some time off? I am really going to miss our yearly trip but hopefully we will enjoy other vacation destinations.

Have gone every year for about the last 6. Will be going again this summer and then most likely will skip a few years. Kids are getting older and we wanted at least one more vacation to Disney before they refuse to go anywhere with their parents. We will also have college to plan for and plans to go to the Dominican next February so the budget will be tightening some.

I still think you get your money's worth. The problem is the amount of money it costs. I do agree it is a LOT of money, especially now that the whole family is an adult (10+) by Disney standards.

 

[coconutprincess]

I would agree. I really don't know how people afford it - I guess I am one of the lucky ones. We'll keep going back though. However, I also just got my rental agreement for the beach. We stay in a 1 bedroom condo (not a house). For 4 people to stay there, I can easily make a trip to Disney, including park tickets, the regular dining plan for 2 and a 1 year old staying at a moderate for 9 days.

 

[deanimal]

Is Disney "worth it?" We'll, for me it's yes and no. In general, I do think that it's getting harder and harder to find good value, and many things that used to be decent value are no longer worthwhile. Everyone's definition of value is different, but for me the basic breakdown is:

On site accommodations: No. We recently split a lovely three bedroom condo with another couple and the price came to $60 per family per night. It was beautiful and spacious and a 12 minute drive from the MK parking lot. Compare the price of Disney hotels, especially the deludes with what you can buy almost anywhere else and in my mind its a ripoff, lovely theme inn and all.

Onsite dining and DDP: No and No. Yes, there are many lovely restaurants, but anyone living anywhere near a major urban centre should have access to much better quality for a much lower price. If I want a $100 Moroccan meal, I'll go downtown and be blown away with an awesome authentic meal, rather than go to the Morocco pavilion at Epcot. Access to reasonably priced food is another good reason to stay offsite for me.

Many extra experiences like BBB and special tours : a big fat no.

Actual tickets to the parks: a qualified yes. If I can got for more than a week, then the per day cost start to become quite reasonable. Also, if I lived close enough to use an annual pass, than I could make that work. But each year they announce the increases and it gets harder and harder to justify the cost. In 2003, a single day ticket was $50. In 2009 it wàs $75. Now it's $89. Check out this link.

http://allears.net/tix/tixincrease.htm

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

The increases in the cost of trips to WDW has changed the way we vacation in a lot of ways. For our first trip in 2000 we purchased a package at rack rate through a travel agent and ate ever meal on WDW property. That was the last full price trip we ever took.

Over the years we have stayed mainly in WDW monorail resorts, but have slowly started to spend more nights in other places, mainly the Swan/Dolphin resorts. This past summer we actually rented a house and stayed offsite. In the past, and without the high resort rates, that would have never happened.

As far as dining, we have also cut down the number of sit down meals that we eat onsite. We usually have 2 or 3 ADRs for a 7-10 day trip. We always visit a grocery store to buy food and drinks for the room. We also eat offsite regularly.

These are all caused directly by the price increases over the past several years. I refuse to pay $500 per night for a hotel room and DH refuses to pay WDW prices for food every day, lol.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Thank you! The summer of '99 was awesome and so were the gas prices. Everything has gone up in the last 10 years+!

Yes, "everything" has gone up. And when you average how much "everything" has gone up, "everything" has gone up much slower than the cost of a WDW vacation. Other things have gone up faster than that average, too. Health care costs and college costs are two that come to mind.

Yet even as the price of a WDW vacation has gone up faster than the overall rate of inflation, many things have been cut back. That is the topic of this tread: "paying more and getting less". I challenge anyone to detail how they are now paying less for a WDW vacation and getting more.

And don't give me "oh well our family just feels more extra special magicalness than we did in the past." I'm talking about specific services.

 

[6disneykids]

We are DVC members, and are heading to WDW again, however this March will be our first mostly park trip we have done in almost 4 years. Last year we had a 5 day getaway, we went to EPCOT one day, other 4 days were spent going to the pool, enjoying the boardwalk and DTD. June 2011 we had a wonderful 9 day stay with only 1 park day again. My 2nd son who was 11 at the time, said he really enjoyed that trip.

For our family we will probably continue to go to WDW every year, but we don't always plan on our trips to be all about the parks.

Not only that, but until some of our kids decide not to come on family vacations, it costs us more to go many places because we are a family of 8.

 

[meggiebeth]

My big issue is the Disney Dining plan. In 2011, we got the free regular DDP and paid just over £400 ($600) to upgrade to deluxe for a week. We are looking at costs to upgrade our regular DDP for this October/ November trip (11 nights) to the deluxe DDP and the cost to upgrade has almost DOUBLED, in just two years. In 2011 it would have been around £700 and now, in 2013 it is about £1200.

I think this is greedy. If Disney's prices increase this rapidly then we won't be coming back anytime soon. We are from the UK so this is a very special trip for us. We have had to save up for the past two years. Disney's high prices are really putting us off. If they get any higher, than they will probably lose some loyal guests.

I know Disney World is amazing and magical, but they are ripping people off in many ways. I feel a little taken advantage of- the prices are just far too high.

For the record, we love the DDP. We love it when it is free and it is a treat to eat out so much. I wouldn't say the food is mediocre, much of it is good, not spectacular, but decent. That said I would not pay OOP the outrageous menu prices for a meal.

Disney seems to be sneaking in the cutbacks pretty quickly... I was disappointed when I heard evening EMHs had been shortened from three hours to two hours. That was one of our favourite perks. There are so many other places for us to visit, many cheaper than WDW. And we will most likely be going elsewhere if Disney does not make its prices more reasonable and competitive.

Meg~ Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[akadada]

Yes, "everything" has gone up. And when you average how much "everything" has gone up, "everything" has gone up much slower than the cost of a WDW vacation. Other things have gone up faster than that average, too. Health care costs and college costs are two that come to mind.

Yet even as the price of a WDW vacation has gone up faster than the overall rate of inflation, many things have been cut back. That is the topic of this tread: "paying more and getting less". I challenge anyone to detail how they are now paying less for a WDW vacation and getting more.

And don't give me "oh well our family just feels more extra special magicalness than we did in the past." I'm talking about specific services.

Exactly.

Again...all great points.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

Yet even as the price of a WDW vacation has gone up faster than the overall rate of inflation, many things have been cut back. That is the topic of this tread: "paying more and getting less". I challenge anyone to detail how they are now paying less for a WDW vacation and getting more.

Oh let me be first! While prices have not gone down, the Fantasyland expansion is one place where WDW is providing more!

 

[Jadeey]

For us, being from New Zealand, the trip is one we can only make every couple of years because of airline costs but ignoring the flights it's comparable to other trips we take.

2 years ago we went to the Gold Coast in Australia for a week. Ignoring our flights it cost us $3000 (New Zealand dollars). It was a similar trip to a Disney trip because every day was spent in theme parks for us. The food in those parks was TERRIBLE - i'd take Disney food any day over that. Plus it was expensive. At Sea World we paid $15 per person for a burger and fries, the drink cost extra on top of that.

In comparison our December trip to Disney is going to cost us approx $6000 for 3 weeks not including flights.

Yes, we could go to a Pacific Island for much cheaper - and we have - but we don't have theme parks in New Zealand so for us that's what it is all about, heading to the parks.

 

[blackacex2]

Is Disney "worth it?" We'll, for me it's yes and no. In general, I do think that it's getting harder and harder to find good value, and many things that used to be decent value are no longer worthwhile. Everyone's definition of value is different, but for me the basic breakdown is:

On site accommodations: No. We recently split a lovely three bedroom condo with another couple and the price came to $60 per family per night. It was beautiful and spacious and a 12 minute drive from the MK parking lot. Compare the price of Disney hotels, especially the deludes with what you can buy almost anywhere else and in my mind its a ripoff, lovely theme inn and all.

Onsite dining and DDP: No and No. Yes, there are many lovely restaurants, but anyone living anywhere near a major urban centre should have access to much better quality for a much lower price. If I want a $100 Moroccan meal, I'll go downtown and be blown away with an awesome authentic meal, rather than go to the Morocco pavilion at Epcot. Access to reasonably priced food is another good reason to stay offsite for me.

Many extra experiences like BBB and special tours : a big fat no.

Actual tickets to the parks: a qualified yes. If I can got for more than a week, then the per day cost start to become quite reasonable. Also, if I lived close enough to use an annual pass, than I could make that work. But each year they announce the increases and it gets harder and harder to justify the cost. In 2003, a single day ticket was $50. In 2009 it wàs $75. Now it's $89. Check out this link.

http://allears.net/tix/tixincrease.htm

Who goes to Disney world and then drives to downtown Orlando for Moroccan food? If that is how far you go to save money then disney world is not the vacation for you.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

One of the rising costs - over the last five years- for us is the increased cost of getting to WDW- as in higher airfare or gas. Disney has nothign to do with that. (though actually...what I pay now is still lower than what it once cost to fly.)

One poster suggested we challenge to show where we are getting more. Well, when it comes to Disney park tickets-there was a big change when they added MYW tickets. Before MYW, EVERY WDW ticket day cost about the same.
We used to get four day WDW tickets, and one or two day Univiversal days. We'd also try to do one non-park day.

With the advent of MYW-the cost of days 5-10 on your park tickets is still only about $10 per day (for a while it was $5 or less). The cost of park tickets for those additional days is still way below what it costs to go to Universal or Sea world those days.

What about ME? Before ME all WDW guests had to get a taxi, town car, or rental car. Now they can take the ME bus. That is a huge offset.

I'm also going to put in a plug for Wishes, and the castle light show. Disney fireworks have always beena big plus of evenings at MK, but wow! It always amazes me that Disney more or less- does that show every night! In my home state, many juristictions have had to cancel July fireworks due to budget cuts.