Interesting report about how expensive Disney is...

[nandojoe]

Just a litte bit about the news. You can go on https://investnews.com.br/the-wall-...a-caro-demais-fazer-uma-viagem-para-a-disney/ and ready the complete report. Just click in translate to english...

I´m going to Florida in september with my wife and two kids to Disney and Universal.
Next time, we gonna have to choose between Disney or Universal. Almost impossible to save money in Brazilian Real to spend in US Dollar to do Disney and Universal. And here is "the thing": the preference in my family is Universal.

Featuring content from The Wall Street Journal
Even Disney Thinks Disney Trips Are Too Expensive
Price hikes have put the happiest place on Earth out of reach for many Americans

Yvonne Kindell had been thinking about a trip to Disney World for years. In November, she finally got the chance to take her family of four.

The trip left Kindell, a bank compliance officer in Bear, Delaware, feeling discouraged about the expense — especially after recent price hikes. Two days of park tickets cost $1,123. Passes that let them skip the line at popular attractions: $208. A meal with costumed characters, including Donald and Daisy: $219. Two tubes of Mickey Mouse bubbles: $60.68.

“It was very stressful to think all the time about how much we were spending,” Kindell said — even though she and her husband, a warehouse driver, weren’t paying for it all themselves. Her parents covered the cost of lodging and airfare for the children, ages 10 and 4. Kindell spent a total of $3,000. She has no plans to return. The happiest place on Earth has long felt like one of the most expensive places on earth to many Americans — but the allure of a magical family vacation still draws visitors. So when post-pandemic demand soared, Disney accelerated price increases, putting a visit to its theme parks out of reach for many American families. Attendance growth has slowed in recent years, and even some families who were once regulars are canceling their trips. Adult single-day passes at Disneyland surpassed the $200 mark for the first time in October. They are now $206 on the theme park’s most popular days, more than $100 more than admission on the park’s cheapest day. Five years ago, FastPasses to skip the lines were free. Now, guests can choose from three different tiers of passes to get this privilege — the most expensive of which comes in at $449 per person per day. Giving up on this can mean spending an hour or more waiting in line for the most popular attractions, eating into guests’ fun time.

 

[barkley]

Next time, we gonna have to choose between Disney or Universal. Almost impossible to save money in Brazilian Real to spend in US Dollar to do Disney and Universal. And here is "the thing": the preference in my family is Universal.

our last trip was all universal. prior were wdw with a day or two at universal but my 'kid's' (young adults) really wanted to try universal as the primary destination. I offered to plan some wdw days in but in the end after one portion of a day there they had no desire to return (we were very low crowd season there but they just felt it was more of a chore to enjoy the place-either tons of planning to time out a ride or tons of wait time). universal reminded them of the wdw when they were younger and had smaller crowds and was more of a liesurly relaxed vacation day. were there lines at universal? YES (some brand new attractions had recently opened) but they felt it was more low-key in the lines. it had it's own kind of magic.

when I was in the planning stages I was amazed at how much less expensive the trip was. better quality rooms (we did a family suite and an attached extra bedroom), more park access (all access every day so they hopped around). I mentally figured food was going to run us about the same but it was at minimum 25% less expensive over the course of the entire vacation (food price vs food price, not figuring in that we used to do character meals and would not at universal). when I ran the lodging and ticket prices vs. what we would have paid at wdw I believe the grand total would have cost us almost 40% more.

 

[kathy884]

Having done a one day to the Magic Kingdom last week, I get the sentiments of the family interviewed for the article and can relate.

My last day in the Magic Kingdom prior to last week was back in 2019 before a cruise and before COVID. It was probably the most fun day I have ever had in a theme park. It was just so amazing and fun. I was with two 20 somethings acting like kids and we did all kinds of fun old lame rides, took Mainstreet transportation and waved at everybody, got our picture with the princesses, did the pirates scavenger hunt. It helped that as offsite visitors we could still rope drop and be ahead of the crowds. It was unbelievable how much fun my day was. We also weren't trying to do new attractions that had long lines.

I wasn't expecting anything to match that. Our day last week was perfectly nice, but pricier than ever. And I think we were just knowing how much we paid, knowing we had the MPLL, etc., wanting to try some new things we hadn't done before all in this one day , we were just trying to get so much (maybe too much) in. While fun there just wasn't that spontaneity that we somehow managed on our last visit, and we sort of exhausted ourselves a little bit too.

I'm sure I'll probably be back again, but I'm not in any big rush. There are lots of other fun things I can do for a lot less money that sound more appealing for annual visits to the central Florida area. I get to the area regularly to visit relatives.

Note: I'm not a big Universal fan -- just not into simulator ride and they have so many of these. My son and my nephew though as super excited about Epic Universe and I think will be trying that out.

 

[barkley]

While fun there just wasn't that spontaneity that we somehow managed on our last visit, and we sort of exhausted ourselves a little bit too.

Note: I'm not a big Universal fan -- just not into simulator ride and they have so many of these. My son and my nephew though as super excited about Epic Universe and I think will be trying that out.

I totally get you on this. one of my chief disappointments with my Disney experiences in the last decade or so has been b/c of all the upcharge line jumping mechanisms that create longer waits for those who don't spend for it an inability to have time during their day to just enjoy the parks. I used to love being able to balance out my days with some rides and still have plenty of time to kickback and relax, people watch, enjoy roaming entertainers (do they even have these anymore?-seems like it's all timed to the minute so you have to get there an hour or more ahead and snag a spot to even see). I'm not even comparing this to way back in the day (60's, 70's, 80's) when it was entirely affordable such that you would see very extended families with grandparents and toddlers coming along that would never venture on a ride but just enjoy the atmosphere and do periodic meetups with the riders in the family to snag a reasonably priced meal or snack. it wasn't unusual to sit on a bench and strike up a conversation over the course of an hour or more with another visitor.

to that end-i found that universal still has some of that appeal. we were much more relaxed there and apt to do down time in the parks. we were reminded of older times at Disney b/c we stumble upon roaming street performers/performances (Beetlejuice was great as were the Blues Brothers). i'm not a big coaster rider so I loved the little nooks and crannies of the parks there that I could wander with plenty of little seating areas and some smaller bites/drinks option that while theme park priced not as overpriced as I find disney's (and the food options just outside the entry I find to be extensive and on average with what I would pay elsewhere for comparable food). i also liked that we were able to pool hop at the universal resorts-it was entertaining to visit the other hotels and see what their vibe was like, take a dip in their pools and just relax.

 

[kathy884]

I totally get you on this. one of my chief disappointments with my Disney experiences in the last decade or so has been b/c of all the upcharge line jumping mechanisms that create longer waits for those who don't spend for it an inability to have time during their day to just enjoy the parks.

You nailed it on this one. We did watch the Dapper Dans, get our picture with Peter Pan, and recreate some old photos on Tom Sawyers island. But we didn't do enough of this spontaneous stuff -- pushed for virtual queue for Tiana, were checking on lengths of lines and what LLs were available, what was broken down and what wasn't, did more crisscrossing of the park that while not horrible meant it wasn't as fun as in the past. Yet not having been in five years, I get it that some in my party really wanted to try to get some new things in. And with ticket prices what they are, I was not going to be springing for a second day or onsite accommodations to get early entry when we can stay for free at my nephew's house.

I get what you are saying about some fun spontaneous things at Universal too. I remember waiting for others in my party for a simulator ride I didn't want to do and having a blast dancing with Gru and Minions in the street. Wish I had a video of that, The Harry Potter areas were so impressive and immersive too.

 

[barkley]

You nailed it on this one. We did watch the Dapper Dans, get our picture with Peter Pan, and recreate some old photos on Tom Sawyers island. But we didn't do enough of this spontaneous stuff -- pushed for virtual queue for Tiana, were checking on lengths of lines and what LLs were available, what was broken down and what wasn't, did more crisscrossing of the park that while not horrible meant it wasn't as fun as in the past. Yet not having been in five years, I get it that some in my party really wanted to try to get some new things in. And with ticket prices what they are, I was not going to be springing for a second day or onsite accommodations to get early entry when we can stay for free at my nephew's house.

I get what you are saying about some fun spontaneous things at Universal too. I remember waiting for others in my party for a simulator ride I didn't want to do and having a blast dancing with Gru and Minions in the street. Wish I had a video of that, The Harry Potter areas were so impressive and immersive too.

my favorite thing to do at Disneyland back in the day after they ditched the a-e tickets was to ride back and forth over and over on the old skyway from tomorrow land to fantasy land and just relax and get a birds eye view of the crowds. I also liked riding the train around the park because you got to see areas not visible walking around. both ate up time that most people wouldn't dare 'waste' these days due to the entrance cost alone.

I love that universal has characters that interact with guests-i have not seen that truly happen at a Disney park since my kids were little in the 90's. beyond the waving of characters in parades and the few minutes a kid gets at a high priced character event there's nothing like the free spirited guest interaction they had in years past (thankfully I have some old video of those days ).

 

[LKing]

my favorite thing to do at Disneyland back in the day after they ditched the a-e tickets was to ride back and forth over and over on the old skyway from tomorrow land to fantasy land and just relax and get a birds eye view of the crowds. I also liked riding the train around the park because you got to see areas not visible walking around. both ate up time that most people wouldn't dare 'waste' these days due to the entrance cost alone.

I love that universal has characters that interact with guests-i have not seen that truly happen at a Disney park since my kids were little in the 90's. beyond the waving of characters in parades and the few minutes a kid gets at a high priced character event there's nothing like the free spirited guest interaction they had in years past (thankfully I have some old video of those days ).

When was the last time you were at Disneyland? The characters still roam the parks and interact with guests.

 

[barkley]

When was the last time you were at Disneyland? The characters still roam the parks and interact with guests.

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I'm thinking.....I want to say 2010'ish and at that point they all had handlers(?) of some type (other cm's non character dressed who gave off a kind of security guard vibe-stood off to the side but presence was definitely known) so none of the skipping off with one from one area to another, playing tag and being chased by one. it just felt very much like they were held to staying within a so many square foot area and maintaining no less than so many feet distance from their (?) handler.

they may have always had these other cm's on scene but they must have blended in better b/c people def. noticed it and it felt off-putting.

 

[LKing]

I'm thinking.....I want to say 2010'ish and at that point they all had handlers(?) of some type (other cm's non character dressed who gave off a kind of security guard vibe-stood off to the side but presence was definitely known) so none of the skipping off with one from one area to another, playing tag and being chased by one. it just felt very much like they were held to staying within a so many square foot area and maintaining no less than so many feet distance from their (?) handler.

they may have always had these other cm's on scene but they must have blended in better b/c people def. noticed it and it felt off-putting.

I'm sorry you felt that way.

The characters with head coverings and visibility issues have escorts. They also need someone to talk for them. The escorts are not there to keep the character in one place or to keep guests away. In fact, many times, they tell guests that the character is taking a stroll and that guests can walk with them, but the characters aren't stopping in one spot.

Characters who can talk, such as Tiana, Peter Pan, Alice, Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, Bert, Pocahontas, Mirabel, Flynn Rider, Gaston, and the princesses, don't have escorts and can be found throughout the park engaging with guests.

 

[Minnie1222]

There are characters roaming at Disney World too. I don't like posting faces of guests on social media so I blur or crop them out, but the characters were indeed interacting with them.

Disney World is so big that it's easy to miss the roaming characters but they are there. It's also nice that they have many designated areas for you to meet the characters instead of blindly searching around the park.