How much has the Cost of your Trip increased ? Have you adjusted ?

[kydisneyfans]

DVC here so room costs are mostly protected from increases:

Disney budget:
fuel costs down, flight costs not(Disney isn't the only one doing this)-no savings

tickets-buy from 3rd party-eliminated hoppers but added an additional day for a few more dollars-no savings

food-now have wegoshop head to the store for us. All breakfasts are in the room, we get some chicken/beef delivered. Never buy soda onsite, only water. Only time we are eating outside the room is a QS meal with water inside the park. This is where the a good chunk of cost savings is coming from.

experiences-not really doing much extra-there's plenty included in the ticket price that we don't need expensive hairdos and a dessert during fireworks.

gadgets-last 2 trips to Disney Springs I didn't buy a thing. Not interested in overpriced sunglasses that I can get in any mall in the US. Beach towels were bought from Kohls online during a special, they ran about $6 delivered. We spend next to nothing for "stuff" onsite.

To keep Disney in the same price ballpark, food is our go to place to cut.

 

[smiths02]

Well, we have made more money every year since our first trip in 2003 (we were in our early 20s then and not established in our fields). That trend won't continue dramtically, so we will take a Disney break for a time.

Our biggest cost is that our family has grown from 2 adults, to 2 adults and one child, to 2 adults 1 child 2 toddlers and this year 2 adults 1 junior 2 children

This trip we added a night, but we cut out some of the buffets...
We won't go for a few years, and my best guess is we will stay off-site or go fewer days. Definitely will eat more off site since we drive

We bought annual passes and TiW last June before the price increase and will use again this year. We bought the 3 year olds their tickets for this year ahead of the latest price increase. I upgraded just my AP in Feb,which was cheaper than buying Memory Maker for this trip

 

[mousefan73]

We usually book a nicer room catagory such as preferred, river etc.. but are sticking with standard, will save us about 300 which we say we can use then for the Halloween party
In the future we will most likely cut the number of nights we stay.

 

[Dis703]

We have done things so differently in the past 5 years it's kind of hard to even compare. When we took ODS at 2 we stayed mod and only paid for park tickets and most of dining for the two adults. Then we splurged and did deluxe and club level when we went for the first two times with our twins. Also paid part of grandmas trip as well. We got annual passes that year for those two trips so I have no idea what our ticket costs would have been otherwise.

Last year all five of us needed park tickets so we went down to mod. Skipped park hopper, which was no loss, and stayed the same length of time. So we spent the same overall just did it differently. We still do 1TS meal per day.

This year DH doesn't want to go back so I'm planning on at least 3 separate short trips just me and one of the boys at a time. Staying value and I have an AP. Still planning on one TS per day as well. Spending less this way than the family trip would have been.

 

[winterwhite]

When we original went, we stayed off site - then my husband started insisting that we stay onsite. This coming trip (we have two this year) will be split stays off and onsite. Onsite to appease him and offsite to appease me. The room rates for Disney rooms are patently ridiculous EVEN DISCOUNTED. I travel a lot for work and paying 3x what a very nice Marriott room would cost me pains me deeply. I could stay at the Ritz for what I pay for POR. I prefer to drive to the parks anyway so transportation offers me nothing. We eat offsite mostly, not because of the pricing but because of the quality - every Disney restaurant I've been to has been commercial quality microwaved junk.

We do pay for hoppers, we aren't ride people and there isn't enough to do in a given park to occupy a full day for us.

So our costs have gone up, but really only by the ticket price increases. We did one expensive trip before we got married because we were checking out the beach club and boardwalk for a wedding, which we ended up not doing.

This upcoming trip we are taking a day in siesta key, a day in St Augustine, and 4 days in the parks. More than enough Disney for me.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

When we original went, we stayed off site - then my husband started insisting that we stay onsite. This coming trip (we have two this year) will be split stays off and onsite. Onsite to appease him and offsite to appease me. The room rates for Disney rooms are patently ridiculous EVEN DISCOUNTED. I travel a lot for work and paying 3x what a very nice Marriott room would cost me pains me deeply. I could stay at the Ritz for what I pay for POR. I prefer to drive to the parks anyway so transportation offers me nothing. We eat offsite mostly, not because of the pricing but because of the quality - every Disney restaurant I've been to has been commercial quality microwaved junk.

This part kills me. I'm trying to get my husband into rental homes near property. Many of them are no further than the disney hotels from the parks and we drive our car regardless, because my husband hates the bus. My husband is all about charging snacks to his magic band though and he wants "magic" for our toddler. I don't think it matters much, but he believes it does. If our family keeps growing, we will definitely be moving off site.

We literally paid close to the same price for weekends at AOA family suites as we did for our suite at the Bellagio on our honeymoon. Guess which was a much more luxurious experience!!

 

[PrinceOfPeace]

Our trip goes up each year, that is something we expect. We work hard all year and value our one long vacation. If we have to spend $500-$800 more every year for now we just accept it. We will book a hard ticket event, tour, or desert party if we see one that we are interested in. We don't nickle and dime souvenirs, if our kids want something (within reason) they can get it.
Over the last several years we have done some things that have helped with the budget. We stopped using the DDP and started getting Disney gift cards at Target. This way all meals were still prepaid but we save hundreds this way. We also take snacks and water into the parks, this way we aren't paying $3.00 for a bottle of water. We also bring food for a quick easy breakfast in our room.

Do Disney cards provide a discount? How do you save hundreds with that?!

 

[katt789]

In Sept 2011, 4 of us friends went, so we split hotel cost by 4, our TOTAL trip, including flight, tix, hotel, free dining, and photopass was $853 each
This past Feb 4 of us went and I spent around $1670. (guestimate)
On that trip we did way less TS, stayed at an All Star Resort (even with a CM discount....).
-Less meals in the parks
-Brought a reusable water bottle & refilled it, never bought water
-More trips off property for food
-Bought groceries at Walmart on the way in
-Cut down the number of days
-Utilized EMH & such for max park time in little amount of days
-Have stayed offsite in the past year
-Split QS meals between 2 people
-Stayed at less expensive resorts

It really has gotten to the point that I can't even consider going unless it's a value resort, and I bring as much as I can with me in terms of food. It's still more worth it to get an AP (if you go more than once a year) but the one time cost of said AP is WAY more than it used to be, and makes us spend more in the long run.

 

[Lothlórien]

We have pretty much cut out table service meals other than 1 per trip and drastically reduced the amount of souvenirs we purchase. We used to purchase a crazy amount of souvenirs and now we get a few pins and 1 ornament.
For everything else, it has stayed the same.

 

[Lothlórien]

Is it bad to admit that I'm just too lazy to really look into how that works? For some reason it confuses the heck out of me when I try to research it, so I just give up, haha! Don't get me wrong, though - I still super love AllStar Movies, it's just on my bucket list to ride the monorail in my Disney PJ's!

The appeal of DVC is not riding the monorail in PJs. It is the money you save if you are a frequent visitor. Nobody becomes an owner to ride the monorail. By your 3rd or 4th visit on points, it is basically paid for. You will never be able to say that staying on cash.

 

[glassslippergirl]

We tour differently than most on this forum-- mostly weekend trips. We've never seen the value of staying onsite. We try to spend as much time in parks as possible and really just need a place to sleep and shower. We know the rate that we're willing to pay for a room and book in that range. So lodgings have stayed consistent for us, but only because we bypass Disney.

Ticket prices have become the big variable. In 2009 and 2010, we had premium annual passes. The passes included a 20% discount on merchandise and some dining, so the upgrade from regular AP to PAP easily paid for itself. And PAP included water parks and Disneyquest. An AP with the same access today is literally hundreds of dollars more. Now we just go four days a year, so we pay less but get far less. On each trip with APs, we also tried to do something we had never done before-- new restaurant, tour, etc. Both because we've drastically cut our park time and because of rising prices, we maybe try one new thing a year.

In part, making comparisons to prices in 2009-10 is just setting oneself up for disappointment. The economy was bad, and Disney was offering deals just to get people in the parks. With a better economy now, deals, especially on ticket prices, aren't necessary for the hot commodity of admission. I doubt I'll ever pay for the upgrade events, just make do with the tickets I have. So, I guess to answer the original question, we are actually paying less but also getting a lot less because of our adjustments.

 

[Anal Annie]

How have we adjusted? We don't fly on ALL of our trips anymore. For our longer trips (summer) we started driving. My guys HATE the drive (from the DC area) but DH has a hybrid now so that makes it CHEAP and almost a no-brainer to at least drive 1x per year. We bought into DVC when we went to plan our 3rd trip back in 2006 because we realized that Disney was quickly pricing us out of our hotel accomodations. (We started out in a deluxe at AKL with a package the first year it opened then the next year we dropped down to a moderate package and stayed at CSR. By the next year we saw that we were quickly being forced to consider values and knew that before long we wouldn't even be able to do those.) That's when buying DVC made sense for us. BUT having DVC means we generally plan 2 or 3 trips per year (usually 3x if we have active AP's). It really has started to add up to keep up with going this many times. The price of the AP's even with our DVC discount has increased a lot and the cost of MEALS has really gone up a lot. We don't eat out a LOT at home (we do mainly take-out to save on costs) so we enjoy eating out on vacation. I rarely order alcohol with my meals at Disney but DH likes to get beer if we're not in MK (MK is the cheapest park to eat in because BOG is the only place that serves alcohol)!! Even though we have the TIW card I started ordering a cup of water rather than ordering soda or iced tea once the prices went over $3. We also use the refillable Brita water bottles. I fill them at night and freeze them over night so we start out with a cold water. Then when they need refilled or the water gets warm we get cups of water from any CS location to refill them. With DVC we always eat all of our breakfasts "in" to save money. Breakfasts are way overpriced at Disney. We don't rent cars - if we fly we use the free DME and we get a grocery delivery to include some beer for DH so we don't always pay Disney's prices. We also bring our snacks into the parks with us and rarely splurge on things like Mickey Bars or Dole Whips or popcorn.

DS is now in (private) college so our budget is different now in a lot of ways than it used to be. I buy a Disney gift card every week and bring a stash to pay for our room charges. My GOAL is to bring enough to cover all of our expenses but I'm finding each trip is costing about $75-100 more than the last one so it's harder to keep up. I bought no souvenirs for myself on the last trip and on the one before that only a $20 insulated coffee cup ($18 with our DVC discount) to replace one I had dropped and broken. DH and DS will usually spend more (DH has a thing for shirts and DS likes hoodies). I really want a new Disney watch and "almost" bought one on each of our last 3 trips - but I knew our gift card stash that I brought was running out so I passed each time. It's looking like it's not going to happen on our June trip either because I'm no where close to having enough gift cards stashed yet (used up more on our January trip than I expected). I think I will pass on even looking at them this next time. I do not want to run up credit cards on these trips. We come too often to do that. Using credit cards at Disney is a deal breaker. I usually wait until the last day or two of the trip before buying any souvenirs - just to add up our tab first & see where we stand. Our next trip will definitely have more CS meals than on previous trips. The TS dining costs have gone out of control and we won't eat a TS meal at any place that doesn't accept TIW (aka Skippers Canteen or La Hacienda or Teppan Edo or Yak & Yeti etc).

 

[gorkt]

It is tough to compare. I know that every family trip has been more expensive than the last as the kids get older and start paying kid and then adult prices. My room price has been about the same for all the trips maybe increasing slightly. This years airfare was more expensive than any other trip by about $500. Park tickets are about $200 more. All told, I think this trip will be $1000 more than my last one. We aren't really changing anything to compensate, although due to the resort we are staying at, we will likely eat most breakfasts in the room, which should offset some of the huge food cost increases since 2013.

 

[agavegirl1]

Unfortunately, my recent trips are not comparable but I did price out a duplicate trip of my fall 2014 vacation and it was 18% higher. Two years and with the same tickets, resort, dates etc, 18%! This does not even include meals which vary quite a bit. With three price increases in as many months for food and beverages, I can easily see this being higher. My adjustment was to wait until 2018 when there's new offerings and I can save longer.

 

[pa. dad]

Unfortunately, my recent trips are not comparable but I did price out a duplicate trip of my fall 2014 vacation and it was 18% higher. Two years and with the same tickets, resort, dates etc, 18%! This does not even include meals which vary quite a bit. With three price increases in as many months for food and beverages, I can easily see this being higher. My adjustment was to wait until 2018 when there's new offerings and I can save longer.

I think your point hits to the heart of the matter. 18% in 2 year is like 9% a year average then. Some have said 10% and I think those and your estimates are very accurate.
I go to some places for business every year and some every year a few times and some every few years. No doubt the costs go up all the time but over the course of many years, no one goes up FASTER than Disney. Most places might average 3 or 4% a year jumps for hotel rooms and meals and incidentals.
So that is where a lot of people get really annoyed. When the price hikes at one place are double and triple what the price hikes are everywhere else, it stands out like a sore thumb.
Last night, I go out to dinner at a place we go every so often and I noticed one of the things I get a lot went up from $9.50 to 10 bucks. When this place opened up 3 or 4 years ago, it was $9.00. So in 3 or 4 years, there has been an 11% increase of the price of my most regularly ordered entree- maybe 3% a year or so. That's common and it's typical. So why does Disney need to charge 30% and 40% more over the same time span then? It is when we take the time to compare that their price hikes come out as excessive.

 

[aretha30]

Do Disney cards provide a discount? How do you save hundreds with that?!

No we save hundreds because we don't use the DDP anymore. We used to use it because we liked the convenience of it being prepaid. We wasted so much money because we don't eat dessert or drink soda with every meal. You do receive a 5% discount if you purchase the Disney gift cards at Target with your Red Card or Debit Red card. Between the 5% and no longer using the DDP it's $500-$600 (or more) in savings each trip.

 

[agavegirl1]

In the same time period (2 years) our salaries have increased 3.2%. Disney is really pushing it.

 

[hdmichael]

This is a hard question because we do things a bit differently each trip. For years, we bought an annual pass and visited at least four times a year, but the price keeps going up. At the same time, the crowds keep increasing, we get less done in the parks, the quality of meals isn't on par with the price increases, ticketed parties are more crowded and we definitely can't ride as much or see as many characters, and there are more and more upcharges for views and activities that used to come with admission, so I don't feel that the value is anywhere near what it used to be or is at other places, which is influencing our decisions regarding Disney trips. We have actually traveled to Morocco and at another time to Paris, for less, including airfare, than we have spent on a comparable Disney trip for the same amount of time. This is why we took a four year hiatus from Disney and will not be back for at least three years: we are going to Vietnam and somewhere in Europe for the same amount it costs to go to Disney with less crowds and more perks.

As to cutting costs, I think we try to spend the same amount each trip, so we make cuts here and there depending on what we want to do. Last May, we bought annual passes for the first time in five years, which cut down considerably on trip costs this year because of discounts.

That trip, we enjoyed Star Wars weekend (which is no longer available), stayed at POR at a great rate, and got the DxDDP: this worked well because our son, whom we thought could not come, ended up joining us for part of the trip, and we were actually able to use up all the meal credits.

For Food and Wine, we cut our costs by staying at All Star Music and using TIW and spent our money on special meals and the Halloween party. We were disappointed in how crowded the party was and how long the lines were in comparison to a few years ago, but we thought our food and wine activities were a good value for the dollar. To cut down on expenses, we shared some meals.

At Christmas, we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, went to the Christmas party, and again lines were too long and it was too crowded, and had the deluxe dining plan. This was by far the most expensive trip we have taken in years- we had to change the dates at the last minute and couldn't get any good deals. We just didn't spend any extra money on this trip, for anything at all!

We are going at the end of May, and I got a code for a great rate at Animal Kingdom Lodge (for four nights, then we are moving to All Star Sports for a couple of days). We are using the TIW and decreasing the number of TS meals and taking our lunches to the park.

 

[winterwhite]

The appeal of DVC is not riding the monorail in PJs. It is the money you save if you are a frequent visitor. Nobody becomes an owner to ride the monorail. By your 3rd or 4th visit on points, it is basically paid for. You will never be able to say that staying on cash.

The math doesn't work if you weren't going to stay deluxe to begin with. For the cost of maintenance fees on a 75 point contract, I could stay 5-6 nights at Pop (rate we usually get is around $110/nt) or more offsite. That cost only goes up every year, and has nothing to do with the buy in.

Add in having to book no less than 7 months out, zero shot at any of the good times of year like Christmas or F&W, and the diminished benefits of resale contracts and its not a good deal for the average Disney visitor. Even a frequent one.

 

[Mikie]

Unfortunately, my recent trips are not comparable but I did price out a duplicate trip of my fall 2014 vacation and it was 18% higher. Two years and with the same tickets, resort, dates etc, 18%! This does not even include meals which vary quite a bit. With three price increases in as many months for food and beverages, I can easily see this being higher. My adjustment was to wait until 2018 when there's new offerings and I can save longer.

In the same time period (2 years) our salaries have increased 3.2%. Disney is really pushing it.

This is us almost exactly!! I like number crunching and hard facts to check whether my gut reactions are on target. I was not planning a 2016 trip but thinking 17 or 18. For purposes of this thread, I put a trip in my cart, estimated getting a similar room only % discount in 2016 (of course there's no guarantee of that, so it could go higher) and my trip was 17.5% higher!! Salaries also up 3.5% in that time.

Compared to our actual 2010 trip, which was substantially the same (substitute one value resort for another), our trip in 2014 was a 4.2% increase. Enough at the time to make me sigh and roll my eyes about climbing prices, but not outrageous.

Changes: I might have to cut my sister out of the trip! I kid. . . Sort of. . . I like the "Disney bubble" but she's pretty addicted to it. Really insists on on-site and the dining plan. It's close enough to the way we eat and allows us to do more character meals than we otherwise would so I go along. BUT we can't control tickets, only dining and lodging.

In order to recoup that kind of increase, keeping in mind I already assumed getting a RO discount, I'd have no choice but to stay offsite and skip the dining plan.

We'd eat breakfast and some dinners offsite and probably do fewer or no character meals. We wouldn't add the hoppers, upgrade resort or look for add-on events, as we had thought we might on our next trip due to our kids aging up.