Every time ticket price increases, I consider selling our dvc

[recmouse]

I think about it. We live in NY. For the DVC owners that live nearby and can go several times a year, DVC is definitely worth it plus buying an AP with the DVC discount. For those of us that can only go once a year... the tickets are a killer. Even when just my husband and I go the tickets are a lot. And yes - we like to spend time at the resort but we like going into the parks too! We've used our points at Vero and Hilton Head as well. Of course Hilton Head was in November because good luck trying to get in there 'in season'. And exchanging with RCI... only if you plan WAY ahead of time.

We're a blended family. If we took all 6 of our kids (ages 19 - 26) and bought 5 day park hoppers that's 8 adult tickets X $367 (if I bought them from UT today) = $2,926! We haven't driven or flown there yet and haven't eaten either! Consider adding the regular dining plan: 8 adults at $62/night for 5 nights = $2480. So just food and tickets is $5400.

Don't get me wrong... I love Disney and I'm blessed that my husband and I can go once a year. But I think for the 'average Joe' these prices are ridiculous. And yes - it's not just the parks it's the great resorts... it's just still a lot!

For this May we're all (8) going on a RC cruise... just more cost effective this year. No flying... just paying for the parking at the port!

 

[Anal Annie]

I can fly to Disney and stay a week in a studio cheaper than staying at Ocean City, Md.

YES!! This!! We often go on a 4-day ski weekend to WISP in Western Maryland in January with a bunch of other families from our neighborhood. But the rental houses & lift tix up there have gotten so expensive it was cheaper this year instead for us to fly to Disney for 6 nights than to go skiing!! I found flights for $146 pp round trip on Jet Blue (and got the free bags grandfathered in). We already had our AP's and lodging covered with our points so it was simply a matter of a few meals to pay for. And if we'd have gone skiing we'd have been taking a turn at making a dinner for 30+ so groceries there would've been huge too. Kinda sad to not go skiing BUT since we were at Disney we got over it.

 

[Sammie]

Never enters my mind. Everything increases, so I don't find this any different. We just budget more.

 

[chipndaleluver]

I can only go to WDW once a year, if I'm lucky. This year would be the first time they my DH and I would go twice, and that is not set in stone. Hoping to go to DL (for my first ever trip there) before Sept. 1. I hope to be at WDW at the end of July fingers crossed. I just looked at the DL prices now, for sure I am going on the Value days. I do think that more people will take their kids out of school now and go to WDW for Value days. I also think they will see a difference of when people go now.

 

[anna08]

I'm still really mourning the loss of non-expiring tickets. We actually are going to Universal and SeaWorld this year again because we feel like we are getting more value for our money there and the freedom of not having to schedule meals and rides. I think Disney needs to step it up to stay competitive with the regular visitors to Orlando.

 

[recmouse]

Oh me too... really miss those non-expiring tickets. I'll be using my last 3 days this April of a 10 day non-expiring I bought 3 years ago!

 

[lovin'fl]

Don't get me wrong... I love Disney and I'm blessed that my husband and I can go once a year. But I think for the 'average Joe' these prices are ridiculous. And yes - it's not just the parks it's the great resorts... it's just still a lot!

And they are constantly cutting back on what you get for the $$$. If their aim is to draw in the deep pocket folks than they better get the crane away from the castle, all the construction zones finished up and looking spiffy, pay their CMs more money so they can keep quality workers, have enough CMs to get the job done (no reason we have to wait 30 minutes just to get our bill at Ohana), stop cutting corners on food quality (again- Ohana), make sure rides don't break down, make sure their IT stuff works ALL the time...I could go on and on. But the 1%ers aren't going to put up with all the little snafus we put up with every trip. In Aug we had a room near renovations at BWV and it was beyond noisy from 9am to 5pm, unbelievably noisy and 2/3 elevators were down. I don't think the folks Disney is trying to cater to would tolerate that.

 

[robinb]

I don't think the folks Disney is trying to cater to would tolerate that.

The people that Disney is catering to is not the 1%. They are the middle class once-in-a-lifetime families. For them, it doesn't matter if there is a crane or a 30 minute wait for their bill. They are not planning to come back anyway. The beauty of WDW is there is a whole new group of families every year that plan their once-in-a-lifetime trip when their kids are the perfect age.

 

[DizBub]

Will not sell. We will continue to get APs and go 3 to 4 times a year, God willing. That actually gives value to the APs even though they are more expensive too.

We are fortunate that we are able to go whenever we want to and have enough points to stay DVC each time. We also drive so don't stress about airfare. With the price of gas these days it will be even cheaper to drive. Don't buy souvenirs and use any and all discounts we can muster. There is just the 2 of us, our trips are quite inexpensive.

I do feel that Disney is pricing out families and that is very sad. But crowd levels keep rising.....

 

[dwight16]

I get happy everytime they raise ticket prices because I hope one of these times they will thin out the heards of people. This happens every year like clock work I don't know why anyone is surprised going anywhere on a nice vacation. Just priced out a non Disney cruise for my family of 4 and it was 4K plus if I did not want a tiny room. It's like we work for vacations and guess what they cost money!!!!!

 

[snowhyte]

With every ticket price increase my DH threatens to sell. I would be devastated if we really did.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I get happy everytime they raise ticket prices because I hope one of these times they will thin out the heards of people. This happens every year like clock work I don't know why anyone is surprised going anywhere on a nice vacation. Just priced out a non Disney cruise for my family of 4 and it was 4K plus if I did not want a tiny room. It's like we work for vacations and guess what they cost money!!!!!

Except it doesn't clear people out - just makes them more entitled because they are paying so much for the vacations. Really though, who expected them to be making such increases in the most recent year that well outpace COL. It wasn't their MO to make such large increases.

 

[chipndaleluver]

Time will tell with how this is going to affect the crowds. By next year they may see that it's not working and have to adjust accordingly. For a great majority of people this will change the way they look at Disney and go to Disney.

 

[dwight16]

Time will tell with how this is going to affect the crowds. By next year they may see that it's not working and have to adjust accordingly. For a great majority of people this will change the way they look at Disney and go to Disney.

No it won't bc the majority of people don't buy one day tickets. Disney said its like less the 10% I believe. Nothing will change with the price increase people get mad for a few days then it goes away. It's life prices go up every year just buy an annual gold pass renewals are now on par with a 7 day ticket.

 

[disneynutz]

We bought years worth of tickets and APs a few years ago by not eating out for a year. Now I'm glad we did.

Bill

 

[lovin'fl]

I wish we had grabbed up a few 10 day NE tickets way back when.

 

[nono]

I think we're odd-ball DVCers, because since the beginning, we've gone every year at least 1x, but have never done the 4 major parks more than 2 years in a row. One year, when our littles were really into food and dressing up, we played cards in the villa every morning while making a leisurely breakfast, spent the late morning - early afternoon at the pool, and then showered and dressed up and went to dinner (on property and off). Everyone still talks about that week as one of the best. Last year, we did LEGOLAND. Again. Because the year before we did it, and had so much fun that we postponed going back into WDW's 4 major parks for another year. For us, when we do activate an AP, we all go full-out in the parks, so we're not enjoying the resorts, the waterparks and all that as we do in those other "off" years. Still trying to fit in Showcase of Citrus....someday, we'll actually manage to fit that into our vacation!

Maybe you can approach your time in Orlando at DVC differently so that you still enjoy your DVC without feeling ripped off. But, if you do decide to sell, there's nothing wrong with that. It is wonderful to have a time share that's actually worth something in the aftermarket.

 

[recmouse]

I get happy everytime they raise ticket prices because I hope one of these times they will thin out the heards of people. This happens every year like clock work I don't know why anyone is surprised going anywhere on a nice vacation. Just priced out a non Disney cruise for my family of 4 and it was 4K plus if I did not want a tiny room. It's like we work for vacations and guess what they cost money!!!!!

Nice thought but the crowds will not thin out. Most families are not flexible with their vacation times and can only go when they can go. There is hardly a 'slow time' at Disney as it is now. I pretty much go to Disney every year but fortunately that is not my only vacation. My husband and I usually do another vacation with friends and another one with just the two of us. It's a big world out there. I can't imagine Disney being my only vacation every year.

 

[recmouse]

Time will tell with how this is going to affect the crowds. By next year they may see that it's not working and have to adjust accordingly. For a great majority of people this will change the way they look at Disney and go to Disney.

Unfortunately, once the price goes up they won't come down.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I can fly to Disney and stay a week in a studio cheaper than staying at Ocean City, Md.

This! We are only a couple of hours drive from OC, but the rooms are puny, it's over-commercialized, expensive and a difficult drive with the crowds. Sounds like I'm talking about WDW, doesn't it?

However, we can hop on a southwest flight for about $100 each way. We don't need park tickets every day as we don't go every day and we don't need water parks or park hoppers. So we don't overbuy the tickets. Stopped doing the dining plan because we buy snacks and breakfast ourselves (and sometimes dinner). WDW is still expensive - but it's less than we pay for other vacations with the hotel rooms being covered already - and the rooms we get at DVC are much nicer than rooms we get elsewhere.

Besides, my son is 12 and loves Disney. He'll be going with us until he's 18 at least. We have 4 friends who just had newborns and we will probably bring their kids to WDW once or twice. By then my son should be starting his own family and will undoubtedly want to take his kids to WDW as much of a fan as he is.

In short, I don't see us NOT going to Disney for the foreseeable future and it's more affordable with DVC than without.