Is Disney becoming too expensive?

[disneysteve]

I agree that hotel prices are over the top all over. If the market will bear it the hotels will keep charging top dollar.

I guess the economy isn't so bad, rooms are booked solid.

I agree. I just booked a room in Reading, PA for next month. Reading isn't a real happening town and it's the dead of winter. The best I could find, with taxes, was over $100 for a decent hotel, nothing fancy. The nicest hotel in town, the Sheraton, was over $200/night. There is an EconoLodge but I didn't want to stay there as it is pretty cheesy, but that might have been cheaper.

I'd rather spend $120 for 3 nights in Kissimmee than $100 for 1 night in Reading.

 

[KirstenB]

That's true. It is definitely more economical to do longer Disney trips. They've made it so that a short trip isn't worth it, unless you can buy a longer non-expiring pass and use if for 2 or more visits.

I did compare the multi-day Disney rate to the single day rate at the other places because Disney is a multi-day destination and the other places aren't. I just wonder if the people complaining that Disney is too expensive still go to places like Great Adventure or Hershey or Dorney Park or the equivalent parks in other parts of the country.

Hey Steve, I'm one of the complainers. We do have platinum passes for Busch Gardens/Water Country. I think they're around $260 a person for adults, and they're good for 2 yrs. They also get us into all the other Anheuser Busch parks including Sea World and BG Tampa. We're fortunate to live close enough to Williamsburg to get there many times over the season.

 

[HelenePA]

I agree. I just booked a room in Reading, PA for next month. Reading isn't a real happening town and it's the dead of winter. The best I could find, with taxes, was over $100 for a decent hotel, nothing fancy. The nicest hotel in town, the Sheraton, was over $200/night. There is an EconoLodge but I didn't want to stay there as it is pretty cheesy, but that might have been cheaper.

I'd rather spend $120 for 3 nights in Kissimmee than $100 for 1 night in Reading.

Ooooooh but think of all the outlet shopping in Reading!! I VF Factory, but I'm only an hour away. We shop there often.

 

[disneysteve]

Ooooooh but think of all the outlet shopping in Reading!! I VF Factory, but I'm only an hour away. We shop there often.

We like the outlets, too, though I think Lancaster has a lot more to offer. At least VF is indoors so you aren't out in the cold as much as at Rockvale Square. We're actually going up for an event at Albright College, my alma mater.

 

[HelenePA]

We like the outlets, too, though I think Lancaster has a lot more to offer. At least VF is indoors so you aren't out in the cold as much as at Rockvale Square. We're actually going up for an event at Albright College, my alma mater.

Lancaster is a heck of a drive for me, I wish I could get there more often but between Hershey, Reading, and Tannersville I'm usually okay Have fun at your event!

 

[mareed]

Does anyone have historical ticket price info? I didn't know they had gone up that much. I'm curious now. I'll have to see if I still have the records of what I paid in 2005. I know we bought 10-day passes in '05 and again in '07. I guess I can check my credit card receipts.

We purchase Annual Passes, and those have definitely gone up. My brother, however, went with us Dec 2004, and his 7 day pass was $310. So, over $44 per day. We didn't need the plus options or hopper or non-expiring, but this was the only type of ticket available then. He's going with us again this Dec 2008 for 10 days, and his base ticket (don't need any of the options) will be $235. So, $23.50 per day. The new pricing structure of only paying for what you want/need works out greatly to our advantage with tickets for him being greatly reduced from 4 years earlier!

While I do think the prices of some things like meals is increasing very quickly recently with a decrease in quantity/quality, overall I don't think Disney is getting too expensive, and is still a great vacation bargain if you choose to make it that way!

 

[disneysteve]

Dec 2004, and his 7 day pass was $310. So, over $44 per day.

this Dec 2008 for 10 days, and his base ticket (don't need any of the options) will be $235. So, $23.50 per day. The new pricing structure of only paying for what you want/need works out greatly to our advantage with tickets for him being greatly reduced from 4 years earlier!

Thank you for posting this. I've said the same thing many times. The MYW tickets were the first time that I know of when Disney lowered prices, and pretty significantly. We've saved hundreds of dollars over the past 3 trips since they made the change. We went from buying a 5-day ticket for each trip to buying a 10-day ticket and using it on 2 separate trips. Big savings.

 

[douglisa]

Yes! I think this too. I wonder what Walt would think.
My folks have a vacation home in the Keys and are considering selling and going to Texas where most of their friends have gone because vacationing in Florida is more becoming for the rich. The key that they are on has the famous Key Deer. My mom said that the government "protects" them by not allowing current residents to build or rebuild on existing lots. Yet they go crazy w/ all the commercial building. That someday all it will be is resorts. That is hardly good for the deer.
It is sad, I remember going to Disney sometimes every year when I was young. I talked to my mom and told her aprox how much it will cost us next yr. She was floored and said that maybe we should consider something else. Our youngest is finally old enough to be able to make lasting memories w/ and I just want him to experience the magic. At these rates it may be something he will only see a couple times in his life.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Hey Steve, I'm one of the complainers. We do have platinum passes for Busch Gardens/Water Country. I think they're around $260 a person for adults, and they're good for 2 yrs. They also get us into all the other Anheuser Busch parks including Sea World and BG Tampa. We're fortunate to live close enough to Williamsburg to get there many times over the season.

We have the grandfathered platinum passes to SW/BG so I price will be the same in 50 years. We pay a little under $22/month for two passes (~$132/person/year). We love SW and BG. We get free valet parking, nice when you arrive in the afternoon. Discounts on DC (a few years ago we paid $80 less per person to enter). We get food and purchase discounts too.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

I compare Disney to our trip to Branson about 4 years ago. Our hotel was MORE than $100/nite. We went to a couple of shows, which can be up to (and probably more) $50 a pop for just a TWO HOUR SHOW. Then if you go to Silver Dollar City, that's about $50-60 (sorry, I know that's not exact) for a one-day pass. Plus, the food isn't that cheap down there and we didn't have one meal there that I could really recall - nothing "special".

OT but just so you know if you ever want to try Branson again it can be much less expensive. Silver Dollar City is much less to buy the annual pass. Even if you will only be there for a couple days. And don't be afraid to try the "local" restaurants, they won't be fancy but the food is good home cookin and usually pretty inexpensive. Shows often have a family ticket that is a pretty good deal too. Our lake house is on Table Rock lake and we love the whole area! Any questions just ask. There are several locals on the boards.

 

[LauraR]

Unfortunately Disney has gotten too expensive for us. I bought 7 day park hopper passes with 4 options back in 2004, and we were able to spread them over about 4 vacations (we also went to other places like Seaworld, Universal and Gatorland on those vacations). Our next vacation in Dec. of '08 I think we will be skipping Disney because we'll be getting the week long passes to Universal for only $86 a piece and I only wanted 2 or 3 days at Disney. But as has been previously stated, for shorter term trips the tickets are way expensive. I could buy longer term non expiration tickets, but that's a lot of money to lay out when I'm not sure when we'll be back. And now it's pretty expensive to do park hopping, which we used to love. Even the waterparks now are out of our price range (we'll really miss Typhoon Lagoon).
We'll miss WDW, but we need to keep our vacation budget tight so we can max out our college savings for our two boys right now (they are 5 and 6 years away from college). ORLANDO is still a very reasonable trip destination, though. You can Priceline and Skyauction some great accomodations for about $40/day, or less, and you don't have to spend a fortune to be entertained (Universal isn't WDW, but it is a really good deal).

 

[disney4us2002]

Yes, I think it's gotten ridiculous. I love Disney but now that the kids are all "adults" and there are five of us, any thoughts of being reasonable are shot to heck!

For those mentioning very expensive vacations, perhaps you should look into the Outer Banks in NC. We can rent a house there and eat dinner out all week for under $2000. Disney passes nearly cost that for our family.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I kind of have a love/hate thing going on in regards to how WDW structures the tickets. If I want to go for a few days....it's awful. If I have a longer visit and want to go to the park for dinner the day I arrive...it's only a few dollars more. I definitely look for every discount I can get though. I remember when you could still buy a latex balloon at WDW for $.50.

 

[mamalle]

sorry Im just getting back to this thread. This is the site for one of the mountains in NC. There is so much to do up there and affordable.

skisugar.com


as far as disney- you may be right about a better bargain for a longer period of time. For us being Fla residents we have never stayed longer then 4 nights and normally buy whatever they are advertising for fla deals. It still adds up and then tack on food and those ever so $$$ character meals. My kids hardly eat a thing and it was more of the experience we pay for then the food. It was great to watch them when they were younger but as they have gotten older it isnt as necessary and worth the costs so it really comes down to what you make of it and whats important to you. We are trying the seaworld deal in april over spring break. for $70 we get to go seaworld and they new waterpark that looks just awesome! that is a great deal and of course staying with sil for Free!

 

[jekajekalynn]

Ticket prices to WDW are flapjacking outrageous. There I said it, and I would say it again. Is there really anyone gonna argue that fact? lol


Other then that if you wanna go to WDW you don't HAVE to stay onsight you know. There are things called vacation houses where you can get a beautiful new home with everything AND the kitchen sink in a lovely gated community like Emerald Island 10 minutes from the gates for about 600-1k a week. Go with family and friends and split up the funds like my family does with our extended family and that works out to about 300-400 bucks per family a week.

 

[samples78]

I have to agree that the ticket prices are pretty hard to swallow (and to justify to my husband), but the rest of the trip isn't too bad for our family. We can drive and we are hoping to rent a villa at the Animal Kingdom our next trip. My kids just love the pools and excitement of staying onsite too much to give this up at this point.
I don't feel that eating is too hard to budget either. We can't go without eating at the Brown Derby once a trip, but we will probably only do one other TS meal for a week long vacation and we tend to like to share and do not order the most expensive thing on the menu. We also save by always eating breakfast in the room (even while staying at POP we would eat cereal in the room before heading out - we can't handle anything heavier before walking for the next 10 hours).
We won't be making our next trip until May '09 because we have to save up for those tickets, but since we will probably buy enough days on our tickets to make 2 or 3 trips, it will not be as hard to go back again.

 

[crisi]

I think if you look at ticket prices in comparison to any other full day event function (like lift tickets at a ski resort, or spending the day deep sea fishing) they aren't bad. They are expensive if you compare them to a vacation where you sit on a beach or go hiking or visit public museums - though even there I droped $35 to take two kids and an adult to the Science Museum for the day.

 

[HunnyPots]

I think tickets are actually the most reasonable part of the vacation. Try and spend a week at any other vacation hot spot and be entertained for less than $32 per person per day, which is what a seven day MYW ticket comes out to be.

 

[fakereadhed]

Ticket prices to WDW are flapjacking outrageous. There I said it, and I would say it again. Is there really anyone gonna argue that fact? lol

Yep, apparently. But both agree and love the use of the word flapjacking.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

Last spring break we took a week long Carnival Cruise for the same amount as a week long stay during value season at one of the All Stars. I think the all around prices are getting little high for us. This will give us a chance to try some other destinations we have been wanting to try.