how much are you willing to pay before you say enough

[dana0069]

Sorry, i totally disagree with all of you who defend the high prices that disney chg.
I don't know how or who is responsible for the mass brain washing, but it certainly got a hold on alot of you,maybe you just like to be followers, and not leaders? i don't know but....
I can't quote this word for word but;
Mr Walt Disney(bless his soul) had a dream, his dream was to create a magical place, that was AFFORABLE for all family and childen,of all ages,races.
Well, thanks to the people running disney now, they certainly have short changed his dream.

you people who support these high costs, should be ashamed of yourselves..all your doing is fueling, and filling another greedy board of directors pockets. Your not making things better, give your heads a shake.....oh if mr walt disney could see the tru greed that his parks have become, it would it make him sick.

 

[chvyman411]

dana,

i believe that 15000 number is a bit of an exageration. now, while wdw is far from inexpensive, let me break things down.

5 people staying in por alligator bayou is aprox $160/night= $960/6 nights (assuming 2 adults and 3 children)
5 day php passes are aprox $266/adult $215/ child
2 adults and 3 children=$1177
food for 5 people for 7 days @$100 per day= $700
driving-gas, hotel, food for 3 days would be aprox $600
total for trip before =$3437 before souviners and extras.

this is far lower than the $15000 you suggested.

 

[dana0069]

I didn't ask them what they spent each day, or on what.I ask them when all said and done ,what was the total cost? they said $15000.00 CANADAIAN dollars, which is probably around $12000.00 U.S. dollars. they went for a total of 10 tens, rented a taxi for 2 days, stayed a pop century for 7 days, had ultimate hopper passes,stayed ofsite for 3 days and went to universal for 2/day 2/park tickets. they don't have a breakdown individually as they went thru a travel agent.
And from what i am reading on FOOD costs alone..they got away CHEAP...!!!!!!

 

[crisi]

So, when Walt was alive, Disneyland and all the rides were free?

You might want to compare historical ticket prices and compare it against the inflation in energy costs. If you are worried about Canadian dollars, don't forget the exchange rate.

What you will discover is that Disney ticket prices (its hard to get an exactly accurate comparision, given that Disney used to use the A,B,C,D,E ticket system) have gone up approximately the same as energy prices since 1962 (which was when I could find ticket prices for). Given that back then, the Matterhorn and Pirates were flagship attractions - there was no Space Mountain or Splash Mountain - and there certainly was no Tower of Terror of Mission Space, I think Disney prices have remained comparable to what they were when Walt was alive.

When I was growing up, we were middle class. We took a single once in a lifetime trip to WDW, which my parents thought was far too expensive (twenty years ago). My "rich" cousins went 30 years ago or so - for a once in a lifetime trip - back when they still had ride tickets - and it was expensive. If there was ever a time when Disney was an affordable middle class yearly vacation, I'd like to know when it was.

And you might want to read a negative biography of the sainted Mr. Disney - cooperator with HUAC, union buster and accused anti semite. Who died a very wealthy man off the profits he made from his company. I think he did great things, but there is a middle ground that captures the man somewhere between saint and devil.

 

[lc1965]

This is a really interesting discussion & I'm glad there's a place like DisBoards for it.

Since I seem to be the same one who started the firestorm, I feel I ought to chime in again (to mix my metaphors).

I maintain that Disney is a business and has a right to target whatever audience it wants. I certainly would not go to WDW annually (which I try to do) if the parks were so densely packed I was uncomfortable. Having the prices on the high side of average keeps the density down. Again, that is the high side of AVERAGE -- but the quality is so much higher than almost any of park I've ever been to. I work hard for my trips to WDW. It's a choice I make. As a middle class person, I feel WDW is well within my reach. If it were not, I would not go. I have been ACHING to go Hawaii, but I know how expensive it is & am saving for it. In the meantime, I need a vacation very badly & wish to go to WDW BECAUSE THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE LIKE IT, incl the other Disney parks. What you're getting is a unique product -- in the literal sense of the word: i.e. one of a kind. How do you put a price on a one of a kind item? I don't own a Van Gogh, which I would dearly love to do, because the going price for a one of a kind like a Van Gogh painting is waaaay out of my price range, even w/ economizing. But, a Disney vacation is not.

All I'm saying is: it's a choice to spend extra money on a unique experience & Disney has no obligation whatsoever to make it affordable to anyone. They are making it by the truckload & are happy enough with it. I, as a consumer, am also happy & do NOT feel I am being swindled, coerced, or otherwise bullied. Anyone who feels that a Disney vacation is out of his price range will not go. That's so simple. Disney will not suffer because some people feel that way when so many others feel so differently.

 

[arminnie]

Originally posted by crisi
If there was ever a time when Disney was an affordable middle class yearly vacation, I'd like to know when it was.

Me too.

It's only been in fairly recent times that a yearly vacation trip anyplace was an affordable middle class option.

 

[crisi]

BTW, to clarify, Disney doesn't target only wealthy people. If they did, they wouldn't have put in the value resorts. But they target upper middle class people and Disney fans for repeat visits, while targeting the lower middle class for the "once in a lifetime trip" hoping to turn them into Disney fans who will make repeat visits.

A lot of business analysts, by the way, think Disney made a strategic error with their value resorts - lowering the value of the brand, while overbuilding hotel rooms right before a tourism crash (that they couldn't have predicted, but which was happening even before September 11). I think it shows an effort on Disney's part to recognize that they should at least try to make a once in a lifetime trip affordable to almost everyone who wants to go.

 

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

I think the value of Disney's admission is good; especially when compared to other types of events. I enjoy NASCAR races but the cost of attending one race (staying the weekend) can be as expensive as going to WDW.

I think the ultimate factor of determing the prices is set by the marketplace. A $55 ticket isn't inexpensive but it probably will not be changed as long as enough consumers are paying this price. Everyone would like to pay less but a free economic market will dictate prices.

As Crissi stated earlier, Disney has developed options that can make the experience more affordable. You can choose to stay at the All Star Resorts for a modest price or you can stay offsite. Park Hopper tickets drive the average daily costs below $55. It isn't cheap but there are alternatives that can place this vacation within reach of many people.

 

[perdidobay]

Needless to say, it's been 33 years since WDW opened. I bet costs for insurance, utilites, taxes, employees and all other misc things have increased dramatically. Can you imagine the costs for lawyers alone in this sue-happy society??!!!! Not to mention there are 4 parks plus 2 water parks now. Dare I venture that your money gets you much, much more than it did % wise 33 years ago????

And last but not least, vacations are not a necessity of life, so the cost WDW charges is not a crime, they do not "owe" anyone a cheap vacation. I guess too many people have a entitlement mentality these days. Pay or go somewhere else. I sure would like to do one of those 20K per person luxury cruises. But since I balk at paying that, I don't go. I don't whine and complain that the cruise line is a big meany company trying to keep out poor riff raff.

Rant over

 

[Dchef]

Hold on a minute! I just have to chim in here in response to Dana suggestion that we might all be just followers of an Evil Cult which is Disney. I did my own research because frankly, I have a true fondness in my heart for Walt Disney World. My family went twice the first year it opened and never thought about how much it might hurt them finacially. They knew that every Sunday night we were enthralled with The Wonderful World of Disney and my parents wanted us to have a piece of magic. It had such an impact on me as a child that magic of it all--that to this DAY..I can still remember those trips we had taken: Now for my research I just wanted to see the comparison between the prices at other "parks" and we all know what you get at those and what you get at Disney: Here you go:Each is in A=Adult and C=Child

Busch Gardens Tampa -A$53 C-36
Busch Gardens Williamsburg- A$47 C$40
Cedar Point - A$38 C$25
Dollywood - A$43 C$33
Kennywood Park - A$29 C$8
Knott's Berry Farm - A$43
Paramount's Kings Dominion - A$36 C$30
Paramount's Kings Island - A$43
Six Flags Elitch Gardens - A$37 C$25
Six Flags Over Georgia - A$43 C$26
Six Flags Over Texas - A$42 C$25
California Adventure - A$49
WALT DISNEY WORLD- A $55

So, I don't know about you--but for my money...I am going to get more out of disney. Now granted..most people go for more than one day...but most people plan their year around a family vacation.
I have been to many of these and if you are talking about day vs day admission...DISNEY has them beat hands down HANDS DOWN!!!! And you have a choice too YES, you can go and spend 10,000 dollars easily or you can budget wisely and spend far, far less than that--it is your choice FREE ENTERPRISE you either love it or you don't. Everyone makes their choice. And I want my kids to experience this once in their life while they are young and could care less about the fast fast scary rides--One day I will be able to get by with maybe less expensive vacation because that's all they will want to do--but for now, they are 5 going on 6 and they believe in Santa and disney and magic and fairytales and this is something I can give them to treasure always....So GEEZ enough and go out and LIVE YOUR LIFE!!!!!

Darlene

 

[dana0069]

geeez.you guys, stop defending the prices like it was some sacreligious monument..!!!!!!

your not even doing a fair comparison.
here's what the last poster compared;

Busch Gardens Tampa -A$53 C-36
Busch Gardens Williamsburg- A$47 C$40
Cedar Point - A$38 C$25
Dollywood - A$43 C$33
Kennywood Park - A$29 C$8
Knott's Berry Farm - A$43
Paramount's Kings Dominion - A$36 C$30
Paramount's Kings Island - A$43
Six Flags Elitch Gardens - A$37 C$25
Six Flags Over Georgia - A$43 C$26
Six Flags Over Texas - A$42 C$25
California Adventure - A$49
WALT DISNEY WORLD- A $55

well number 1..if you noticed disney is still more expensive than all the above.
number 2.....when you pay 43.00 for knotts berry farm, you see ALL knotts beery farm, NOT PART OF IT.
At disney for $55.00 your seeing 1 park 1 day or 12% of what disney has to offer.
Thats like saying a movie is $10.00 OR for $3.00 you can watch the first 30min of the movie!
Now do the math people..!!!!!!
Maybe if knotts berry farm broke their prices down per hour, it would then seem like a better deal lets say...for $4.30 you can go in for 1 hour.., what a great deal only $4.30 WOW...thats cheap.
OK, i just put a pot of coffee on, can anyone SMELL THE COFFEE???

 

[crisi]

If you spend a day at Knott's Berry Farm, you can see all of Knott's Berry Farm. If you spend a day at WDW, you will be lucky if you manage to see everything in any single park. In order to see EVERYTHING WDW has to offer, you'd probably need to spend more than two weeks there. You'd play 99 holes of golf, plus two mini golf courses, you'd go horseback riding and bass fishing. You'd ride in a NASCAR car. You'd see four amusement parks on the scale beyond Knott's Berry Farm. And you won't have managed to eat in every restuarant.

If you see 12% of Disney in a day, maybe they should sell multiday tickets to see the whole park. If you see 12% in a day, you'd need seven days to see most everything. Let's see, they could sell that ticket for $340 and throw in admission to the waterparks as well. Now we are getting in for $48 a day - and we get four trips to water parks or PI or the WWS complex - worth $100. Maybe they could come up with a clever name for them - like Park Hoppers.

Dana, if you don't find Disney a value for your family, if you think its a huge corporate rip off, or if you can't afford it, don't go. No one is forcing you to go. We spent a LOT more to take our family of four to the Minnesota State Fair for a day. Admission was cheaper, but not cheap - yet everything you did was another few dollars. We spent $24 going down the "big slide." Food was more expensive than Disney. (Our bargain was $.25 a child for them to try their hand at milking a goat). Went to San Francisco and paid $16 to tour Alcatraz - a Federal park - for two hours. If you are worried about Disney's business model and their future as a company, don't buy stock.

 

[Dchef]

OH Thank You Crisi! I don't think to read anymore this thread that keeps trying to burst my Disney bubble--But makes me want to go and spend lots of money even more!!!!!!!!

I am pretty sure we've all decided that it isn't cheap to take the family anywhere. Sure, disney is more expensive than the others but for about 15 dollars more you get the experience of a life time. Good grief do you really expect them to throw in all the parks for 55 a day and think that they won't backrupt themselves in the meanti
Having a choice--and WOW what a concept --WE DO, I would rather spend my money at disney. There will come other times in my life when I will want to go to Kings Island or Busch Gardens too. ITS EXPENSIVE...YES! But so is flying 1st class on an airplane or dining at the finest restaurant or staying at the best hotel.
And don't fool yourself...In the 1960's Walt Disney bought Thousands and thousands of acres of land in Florida--he layed out the scale well in advance and HE KNEW exactly what he wanted and what he wanted to do---He didn't do all of that for a small affordable amusement park--he wanted to create a NEW WORLD like no other and well, that takes some money.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by mickeymousefan
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.

At a 4% increase per year the price would be about $70 in about 7rs. I did 3% for the first year and then 4% for the next six years. Inflation has been going up about 3% per year so even though $70 seems like alot today if everything else, including wages, rises by that 3 to 3.5% you will be getting the same value for you money. Prices go up the only thing that will keep a price from not going up is when supply outstrips demand. The average price of a new car is $20K back in the 60s I am sure that $20K for a car was considered outrageous. good seats to a Red Sox game go for $75 and that is just for the seat. I live in a first ring suburb of Boston in what has been considered a "blue collar" city and going rate for a 3bed room ranch on a 6,000sq. ft lot in the "good part" of the city with a finished basement with an inground pool is $380K. These are prices that are out of control and are raising at a pace far greater than inflation so right now the price of a Disney ticket, and for that matter Sea World and Universal, does not seem that outrageous to me.

 

[OLT2004]

*I will stop going to Disney when and if the price hits $75.*

*Notes*
This is between the present and 2010

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We quit buying single day tickets in 1997. We went to Disney in December that year and budgeted for Fla Residents seasonal passes. Basically--we just have to visit the parks for 4 days total in one year and the passes are paid for.

Last year we bought the annual pass as we had committed to 2 trips over the summer to the parks with family who were choosing to go at that time. For the extra cost of the AP, we just had to visit twice during what would be the blackout period on the seasonal pass to justify the cost. And we enjoyed free parking for the year.

So whatever the cost was in 1997--that's when we said enough is enough.

I'm upset to be paying $8 for parking--I wish they would balance that cost over the tickets and have free parking. Arrrrggghhhh!

 

[ellyn2000]

Our local amusement park (Paramount's Carowinds) costs nearly $50 for admission and $6 for parking. The food is more expensive than WDW and it's not even close in quality. I find WDW to be a better value than our local entertainment and we enjoy the AS resorts. We always stay overnight in Savannah, Ga. on our way down and I got a "discounted" room for $105 ea.. Around here folks always go to Myrtle Beach, S.C. every summer and any decent room there is over $100 per night. Since we only get to go to WDW every other year or so I feel like we get a pretty good value. I think I'd be willing to pay more, but I'd still do it on the tightest budget possible and might have to stay off site. We got rooms @Courtyard by Marriott one year @WDW and paid $35 per night for Thanksgiving week. Now that's cheap!

 

[Shelby5514]

I work for a ticketmaster outlet and see the prices people pay for concerts. The average price for a concert is around $65.00. Now to me that seems like alot to spend for only 2 hours of entertainment. I much prefer to spend $55 and get a full day of entertainment.
Alabama just played in our town and the top ticket price was $999.00!!! Sure you got your pic taken with the band and a guitar. Big Whoop! It's still just ONE night. My sister & bil are big KISS fans and often pay $150-$300 for tickets to 2-4 concerts a year. That's not including transportation and lodging. And they think we're "Lucky" that we can afford a vacation every year! I told her that their concert fund would more than pay for a nice vacation!!
As DVC owners I will pay whatever the going rate is just to get away and relax at the happiest place on earth!!

 

[OLT2004]

dana0069
Welcomed Guest
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: nova scotia canada

"geeez.you guys, stop defending the prices like it was some sacreligious monument..!!!!!!"
******************************************************

Welcome to the Dis Boards!

As you have found out many many people on this board are true fanatics.
You are committing sacrelige(sp) and heresy(sp). You are challenging their belief system.

Disney is not just an amusement park and a vacation destination to them.

There is a great article on this subject on mouseplanet.com
It is titled The Disney Zone. It explains why so many people have such a deep and committed love for a very large Multimedia and Entertainment company.

Have a great day!

PS - I have been to NS several times on cruises - Halifax & St John - you live in a beautiful part of the world!

 

[crisi]

Originally posted by OLT2004
dana0069
Welcomed Guest
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: nova scotia canada

"geeez.you guys, stop defending the prices like it was some sacreligious monument..!!!!!!"
******************************************************

Welcome to the Dis Boards!

As you have found out many many people on this board are true fanatics.
You are committing sacrelige(sp) and heresy(sp). You are challenging their belief system.

Disney is not just an amusement park and a vacation destination to them.

There is a great article on this subject on mouseplanet.com
It is titled The Disney Zone. It explains why so many people have such a deep and committed love for a very large Multimedia and Entertainment company.

And some of us have business backgrounds and happen to think the theme park division is actually a pretty well run company that has done a good job setting prices. I won't defend what I see as dirtier bathrooms the past five years. Centralization of operations is, I believe, a huge mistake. I think Disney should take a good look at if their contract with Nestle (that sponsor's The Land in Epcot) is worth having really nasty coffee. That huge Epcot sign over Spaceship Earth ranks as the ten uglist things I've seen in my life (and I grew up with a grandmother fond of ugly kitch). And I think the decision to put non-Disney hotels on Disney property - and hotels tall enough to break up the skyline - was a mistake. Their entertainment division has been a joke since Katzenberg left - and maybe before - losing Pixar hurts alot. But I think the price point they have chosen for park admission is fair in comparision to the entertainment value and the market.

Some people seem to think Disney has an obligation to make their vacations affordable to all. It is a very odd argument - I've never heard anyone say Mercedes has an obligation to sell an affordable car under the Mercedes brand. I have seen arguments that pharmacueticals and health care be made affordable - profits be legislated in insurance and utilities, but Disney is the only company I've seen that sells a luxury item where people seem to think the company shouldn't be able to make as much money as possible (which is what most for profit companies exist to do). They do that by picking the optimum price point for their market and selling a quality product - which Disney does.