how much are you willing to pay before you say enough

[Juliet25]

O.M.G. Would you look at this...... it's now 125.00 If only our icome rose as fast as the prices..... makes the 'frogs in hot water' analogy all too real lol

Isn't that the truth! Mine's gone down.

 

[sheetz]

I find this look back in history to be incredibly fascinating.

I just saw an article that the MOMA in New York (Museum of Modern Art) is raising their admission prices to $20. I happen to like Jackson Pollack and I think $20 for a day of Modern Art makes $55 for Disney look like a bargain.

I just checked and the current admission fee at MOMA is $25, a change of +25% over 12 years.

Other numbers (2004/2016, percentage increase):
Median US New Home Price: $209,500 (Jan '04)/$278,800 (Jan '16), +33.1% https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MSPNHSUS
Movie Ticket Price: $6.21/$8.70, +40% http://www.statista.com/statistics/...-at-north-american-movie-theaters-since-1980/
WDW Ticket Price (1 day adult base): $54.75/$105 to $124, +92% to +126% http://allears.net/tix/tickethistory.htm

 

[Minniesgal]

I don't think there is a daily number at which we would call it quits.

For us it will be more a case of do we have the disposable cash to go this year and do we still want to go yes we go no we rent our points and go next year.

 

[Marionnette]

For me, it's not a matter of how much because we have certainly spent more for other vacations. It's more about the value for the money spent on a Disney vacation. There's the latest cost-cutting measures (reducing the number of CMs, eliminating some positions entirely, less and less entertainment, closing attractions without replacing them or without plans for their replacements - hello Epcot! I'm talking about you!). Add the price increases while offering less. And now the latest round of money grabs. It's all left a sour taste in my mouth to the point that I don't want to give Disney another dime of my money.

My brother wants me to go to F&W with him in the fall. I have a ton of Southwest RR points, an unexpired AP and a TiW card that is good until the end of November. He has a THV reserved with his DVC points and is asking for nothing in return. I could do that trip very cheaply but I'm not going to go.

We have a conference in December. It's at the GF and the rate is phenomenal. If it weren't for the fact that this conference provides a wonderful continuing education opportunity, I'd be skipping it. As it is, I have no intention of going into any of the parks while we are there, nor will I be scheduling any spa treatments or tours.

I've considered selling my DVC contracts but for right now, I'm just going to rent out the points in the hopes that things will turn around. If I haven't developed a better attitude about the Mouse by next year, those contracts will be gone. Disney won't miss me and someone else with pixie dust in their eyes will become their new cash cow.

 

[kathy884]

It's really hard for me to say or answer that. For a daily admission to a park, a show, or a tour, I try to stick to things that are under $150 pp these days. So if I had to answer the question for us, for this year, this time in our life, and our current financial situation, I would say $150 is the most I would pay for a one day admission.

For vacations, I have an annual vacation budget of about $10,000 for my family of three and I usually do one main trip to a western national park or something like that (usually nature based) and then another more budget mini trip (WDW/Orlando often being a popular choice). We do relative visits too and that's separate money, but if we do a NYC or Chicago stay combined with a trip to see relatives, that extension part comes out of the vacation budget. We skipped WDW/Orlando for a mini trip this year and in 2015 -- did big city extensions in NY and Chicago instead this year and last year. Next year 2017, my mini trip is LA/Disneyland and will cost me about $3500 in total. It will include two days at Disneyland parks (California Adventure for the first time and my first trip as an adult to Disneyland) at somewhere around $100 pp per day for the tickets. // When you only do one or two park days a year your overall cost isn't that bad, but your cost per day is pretty darn high. But I've been to the Disney theme parks what seems like a zillion times and a day or two a year is fun, but for Disney for me it's a mini trip, not something I would want to do as a full week vacation. For people who like to do lots of days per year at a theme park, those multi park tickets certainly have a lower cost per day. // What all this means is that I'm willing to spend higher than most on a park ticket, but am spending less dollars overall than many at Disney. Oh and I always stay offsite -- think onsite is too expensive for what you get.

 

[hsmamato2]

I've considered selling my DVC contracts but for right now, I'm just going to rent out the points in the hopes that things will turn around. If I haven't developed a better attitude about the Mouse by next year, those contracts will be gone. Disney won't miss me and someone else with pixie dust in their eyes will become their new cash cow.

WOW...... This is the type of posting that the company should be paying attention to.... as a wise man once said "If you have a dedicated audience,who loves the subject you're presenting,and you start to lose their interest...then YOU'RE really doing something wrong!" This is representative of a long term 'cash cow' type of customer, the kind that you'd *think* Disney would want to keep and keep happy!
Those of us who visit 'randomly' as in we have no real cash in the game, we're more variable, but a DVC owner with all those AP options thinking that way is not long term planning for a company that needs to continue brining in revenue IMHO-
I think Marrionette is not alone either....

 

[Judique]

WOW...... This is the type of posting that the company should be paying attention to.... as a wise man once said "If you have a dedicated audience,who loves the subject you're presenting,and you start to lose their interest...then YOU'RE really doing something wrong!" This is representative of a long term 'cash cow' type of customer, the kind that you'd *think* Disney would want to keep and keep happy!
Those of us who visit 'randomly' as in we have no real cash in the game, we're more variable, but a DVC owner with all those AP options thinking that way is not long term planning for a company that needs to continue brining in revenue IMHO-
I think Marrionette is not alone either....

Read the DVC boards and you will find lots of disenchanted DVC members.

It's the little things.

I think we have to stop taking it personally and start thinking like the business does. Do we still like the product? If not, quit going, sell the points, move on to other things.

I've quit going to the super expensive Disney restaurants. Not because I can't pay my way but because I don't consider the food or the experience worth the price. Will I still eat a buffet dinner at Boma for about $50 per person? Yes, once in a while because I think the experience over all is worth it. I'll use a target churned Disney gift card to pay! Will I do sit down every day every meal? Absolutely not! Or, I'll go to Levi's or Landry's where I can figure out a 20% discount.

My DVC points do give me an edge on accommodations. I bought cheap and can get a room where I want to stay -if I plan at 11 months! I can bring and cook in my kitchen or limited food prep in my kitchenette.

Not a big rider of rides. I would say I am there mostly for the atmosphere and warmth away from the cold northern months. Always have a ride as I drive down - don't like to fly.

I don't give Disney the opportunity to track my spending as I don't charge to my room or use the MB for charging. As an older person it just irks me to be monitored by companies - ie - when I go to a website and then get a 'thanks for stopping by' email.

So, I choose to avoid all the things that irritate me and do Disney on my terms. I've long ago discovered the rest of Florida, the beaches and parks and other interesting restaurants.

So my Disney trips are now more 'Florida' trips with Disney as my base of operations. I bet they hate people like me, who may use my annual pass or just a one day no expiry ticket from when they existed - I have enough to do at least 15-20 years this way. I think I'm getting a good return on my investment.

My present options are not available to all because they are from my past planning and decisions. I would say that if I had listened to all the dissatisfied people when I was buying DVC or no expiry tickets, I would probably not still be able to go!

Now, I'm stockpiling park hoppers for future family trips. I want to take my present and future grandchildren and children and their spouses. I can make it affordable as I already have the rooms, can buy the tickets one at a time, and will not worry about restaurants as cooking can be done.

 

[Darcy03231]

WOW...... This is the type of posting that the company should be paying attention to.... as a wise man once said "If you have a dedicated audience,who loves the subject you're presenting,and you start to lose their interest...then YOU'RE really doing something wrong!" This is representative of a long term 'cash cow' type of customer, the kind that you'd *think* Disney would want to keep and keep happy!
Those of us who visit 'randomly' as in we have no real cash in the game, we're more variable, but a DVC owner with all those AP options thinking that way is not long term planning for a company that needs to continue brining in revenue IMHO-
I think Marrionette is not alone either....

She's definitely not alone. We haven't been back since 2013 and currently have no plans to go back.

WDW used to be an annual trip for us (and sometimes 2-3x per year). After our last trip we found we were really disappointed in the way things were going and didn't feel like we were getting the value for our money. While we don't own DVC, we are now DINKs (children are all adults now, just DH and I). When we vacation we don't go on the cheap. You would think we would be the type of guests Disney would be courting. They have our records and know what we spend on vacation. After 25+ years of annual vacations you would think they would be curious as to why we haven't come back, but I guess they're making to much money nickel and diming everyone to care.

For now we find we're enjoying other vacation destinations. We may go back when new attractions open up, but unless there's a major change I don't see us going back annually again.

 

[maggiew]

I haven't given up on the Disney pixie, yet. But I have changed the way we vacation there. The past couple of trips we have stayed offsite. We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in a 2 bedroom/2 Bath using Marriott points. We also stayed at Bonnet Creek in a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo that I got for $600 for a week. Some of this is because as my kids aged, we wanted more room rather than a regular hotel room and part is because the cost of the Disney hotels is just way too much for what they are worth. I've stayed in them recently for a day or two due to conferences in Orlando, etc. but not on my own dime for a family trip. We did stay arrival night (for both of those trips) at a Disney value hotel to get magic bands and to make Fastpass + reservations. But then we moved offsite.

We've also bridged out to offsite restaurants. We went to an offsite Hibachi place and a fantastic sushi place that I used restaurant.com certificates for. We still have some Disney favorites that we go to - like Kona cafe. But we don't eat exclusively onsite anymore. And we rarely eat at a sit down place INSIDE the parks. Most of the restaurants we like are outside the parks. We will do counter service in the parks - especially EPCOT.

Last trip we also went to Universal (oh the horror!!!). We had fun there too see the fantastic new Harry Potter things.

We have 5 day park tickets that are already purchased that we might use this year. But if it weren't for those, we might not go back until I have grandkids. I'm shuddering at the thought of what the cost will be then!!!

Maggie

 

[Aliceacc]

With us, it's not so much a matter of "how much is too much?" but one of "how much can we afford this year?"

Right now we're looking at college tuition in the fall. So I'm almost sure we'll cancel our upcoming WDW trip for this summer. (we do have 4 tickets on a local drawing. 1st prize is a $5000 WDW gift card. If we win, we'll go.)

Finances are a fluid thing. I treasure family vacations, but not to the extent that they'll cause a year's worth of financial and emotional stress.

 

[aprilgail]

We are going in April for the last time for years- college tuition coming up next year so that will put a halt to vacationing. We are going to Universal this year and its 450.0 for 2-one day park to park tickets with the one express per ride pass. That was a hard one to do because to me that is SO not worth it- I paid less than that for tickets to Discovery cove which is all inclusive!

 

[Darcy03231]

We are going in April for the last time for years- college tuition coming up next year so that will put a halt to vacationing. We are going to Universal this year and its 450.0 for 2-one day park to park tickets with the one express per ride pass. That was a hard one to do because to me that is SO not worth it- I paid less than that for tickets to Discovery cove which is all inclusive!

If you haven't bought the tickets yet, check out the annual pass options. We ended up getting them last year as it was less expensive.

We've done several trips to US/IOA (and during busy times) and have never found the need to buy the express pass and have not waited in line for anything for more than 20 minutes.

 

[Vijoge]

Considering the cost of tickets ($55.00 for a one park single day) and the rate at which the prices increase, how much are you willing to pay before you say enough.
I cant imagine I would ever spend more than $70.00 a day.

ROFLMAO We're all going to just keep paying. . .and paying. . .and paying. . .We all know it. Just admit it. lol

 

[leebee]

I find this look back in history to be incredibly fascinating.



I just checked and the current admission fee at MOMA is $25, a change of +25% over 12 years.

Other numbers (2004/2016, percentage increase):
Median US New Home Price: $209,500 (Jan '04)/$278,800 (Jan '16), +33.1% https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MSPNHSUS
Movie Ticket Price: $6.21/$8.70, +40% http://www.statista.com/statistics/...-at-north-american-movie-theaters-since-1980/
WDW Ticket Price (1 day adult base): $54.75/$105 to $124, +92% to +126% http://allears.net/tix/tickethistory.htm

And let's not forget that MOMA has free admission for ages 16 and under, discounted tickets for seniors, and is free for everyone on Fridays from 4-8. Not sure Disney can come close to that!

 

[kathy884]

No more than I'm willing to pay for Hamilton tickets. // My max of $150 per ticket means we didn't see this in NYC. Hoping for better luck in seeing it in Chicago perhaps. But just like Disney there is a limit and it may be year, but I'm sure it will eventually tour in my home city of St. Louis and have decent seats for under $100 pp.

 

[superme80]

For me it isn't how much I'm willing to pay, but how often will I go. Fiances are telling me to take a break. We are going to do some fun day trips around our area. I am looking at possibly Legoland in the next year or 2. We are in California, so Disneyland is our home park. We love it, but it is pricey. We are a family of 5, so next time I will have to pay for 5 tickets.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We found on our 2014 trip that the value wasn't there anymore, so we skipped 2015. That was the first year skipped in a long time. For 2016 we are doing Disney differently. Instead of a 10 day deluxe stay we are doing DCL 7nt eastern and 3 nights/3 days at GF/parks. It is a pricey trip since there are 6 of us, but since we skipped 2015 it is still much less than we would have spent if we did a trip in 2015 and 2016 like normal. I don't know what 2017 holds for us as DCL is raising rates at astronomical levels as well. It may be anther no Disney year or we may try to fly out to Cali and give DL a go.
As my husband says, we could take the same $10k and go to Hawaii for 10 days, using Hilton points. That may be the way of our future vacations.

 

[sheetz]

And let's not forget that MOMA has free admission for ages 16 and under, discounted tickets for seniors, and is free for everyone on Fridays from 4-8. Not sure Disney can come close to that!

Pretty much all the top museums have numerous discounts available or even free days. The Metropolitan Museum has a "pay what you wish" policy, so even though the suggested fee is $25 you can get in for just one cent!

I have a feeling Disney is in something of a price bubble. Their price increases are so astronomical that they simply can't be sustained. Just think if prices continue to double every 12 years in 40 years a one day ticket will go for about $1000!

 

[Vijoge]

I can see where those who usually go every year feel the price increases a bit more than we do. We've only gone four times in the past 18 years, so even though our upcoming vacation will cost twice what our two week Hawaii cruise did we know it's not going to become an annual expenditure. Taking ALL of our granddaughters to WDW is a bucket list item that will be crossed off in January-the last of them will have gone-and I suspect this may be our last trip to WDW as I'm not getting younger and there are still a lot of other places I want to experience.