Large Price Increases on Beverages

[Planogirl]

I don't think I paid separately for a non-alcoholic drink last trip to WDW.

We order supply from GG, including bottled water. With refillable mugs, snack credits and the Business Class lounge at CSR I don't recall paying for a drink. So this has no impact on our vacation at all.

This will impact the offsite guest, not the well organised onsite guests.

How will this affect the offsite guest more? It's easy to keep a cooler in the car and just carry in what you need. Onsite or offsite we just don't like to carry anything if we can avoid it but it is certainly doable.

 

[manning]

Casey's Corner. Hot dog $8.29

I know this not Disney and not near Disney

I was just at Ikea today... 2 hot dogs and drink......$2.00

Kind of looks like quite a markup.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This thread is illustrating the "tree" from Disney that hides the "forest"

They never had the Most expensive prices for everything. A place like six flags is gonna charge you far more for carnie food and drinks.
The difference is many times you can largely ignore it/limit it for a DAY.

Not so in the swamp.

So people say "it's not even that much In Disney". Why? Because Disney has the "it's so expensive" rep.

Because it is. Way more on the whole. That's the "forest".

It's not a bottle of coke...it's your $135 ticket and your $600 room and the $50 bland steak at "signature" dining like yachtsman's. For an average of 6.9 ish days at a time.

There have been many times in the past where the prices at Disney were a pretty good deal when compared to the rest of the country.

Now...is not one of them. Don't do them any favors with rationalization.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Casey's Corner. Hot dog $8.29

I know this not Disney and not near Disney

I was just at Ikea today... 2 hot dogs and drink......$2.00

Kind of looks like quite a markup.

Have the meatballs next time...special ingredients !

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Casey's Corner. Hot dog $8.29

I know this not Disney and not near Disney

I was just at Ikea today... 2 hot dogs and drink......$2.00

Kind of looks like quite a markup.

Not only is it not Disney, it is not an amusement park or even an event. It is a store.

I can go into Sam's Club and get a huge refillable soda for under a dollar. But again, not Disney, not an amusement park, not an event. Simply a store.

 

[ThurlFan]

There have been many times in the past where the prices at Disney were a pretty good deal when compared to the rest of the country.

Now...is not one of them. Don't do them any favors with rationalization.

I'm less concerned with the increase in price than the decrease in quality. We went annually for 15 years and now we're on hiatus. Didnt go last year, not going this year or next. The biggest disappointment for us is the homogenization and decreased quality of food/merch across the property.

And when three of the parks are lacking in attractions to the point that people flock to MK for the majority of their park time it's just gotten to be too much.

So we are sitting on the sidelines waiting for Pandora, Star Wars and Toy Story to be completed and then will re-evaluate.




(Yep - more room for you, hope it works out for you)

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I'm less concerned with the increase in price than the decrease in quality. We went annually for 15 years and now we're on hiatus. Didnt go last year, not going this year or next. The biggest disappointment for us is the homogenization and decreased quality of food/merch across the property.

And when three of the parks are lacking in attractions to the point that people flock to MK for the majority of their park time it's just gotten to be too much.

So we are sitting on the sidelines waiting for Pandora, Star Wars and Toy Story to be completed and then will re-evaluate.




(Yep - more room for you, hope it works out for you)

I couldn't agree more. While we may end up there later this year...my wdw travel time is down 75% from a few years ago.

 

[Aurora0427]

You disagree that it will have no impact on our trip? Lol

We would never go without FD so the odd time another drink is needed its a snack credit.

So for you, no impact. Great. Not everyone can or wants to plan their trip around free dining. Not everyone wants to bring a cooler with water or soda into the parks. Doesn't mean people are less organized than you.

 

[Aurora0427]

After seeing the price of milk increase by 35%, can I just say I'm glad my kids get their calcium from other sources. Sheesh.

 

[mikepizzo]

Just to touch on the bottled water bit...

Fiancee and I fly down from Hartford to Orlando on Southwest. 2 free checked bags per person. I fit all of my clothes for our entire trip in a duffle bag which I use as my carry on. That gives us 2 free checked bags to bring snacks and bottles of water. We just put the entire case of water in one of the checked bags. Pretty nice way to have an entire case shipped down with us for free, and have it waiting for us when we get our other checked bags (thanks to Disney's Magical Express).

I realize that different airlines charge differently for checked bags, but if you do fly and are able to pack on the lighter side, it's worth it.

 

[texasroni75]

We are lucky that we are driving, so we can bring a case of waters (24), a six-pack of the 16oz bottles of diet coke, and an 8-pack of orange juices. Together, that cost me $10. In the parks, it would be closer to $100 for those same drinks (maybe even more by the time we get there end of May - since they are talking even MORE food/beverage price increases next month). We eat mostly CS meals, so it's not weird to bring our own drink to breakfast. One drink with breakfast, then each person has one water bottle or soda in their bag to the park. We still pay for drinks with lunch and dinner, and as needed throughout the day. But, being able to bring even SOME beverages from home is a significant savings for us, and helps to offset those price increases. It's amazing how much water and other beverages 5 people can drink in 6 days at WDW.

 

[Candlelady]

Since I drink at least 8 bottles of water each day, I started purchasing the resort cup on arrival. I fill up prior to the parks. At the parks, I ask for ice and fill up at the drinking fountains. We always stay at least 7 days so that's $168 saved just on water just for one person! When not in use, the cup is attached to my bag with a carabiner. Works for me!

 

[saskdw]

Also so if Disney didn't do FD you wouldn't go?

That is correct.

We come all the way from western Canada each December for a winter vacation. We come for 2 weeks, not 3,4,5 days like alot of people on DIS that live closer or can get there with quicker/cheaper flights.

The flights cost around $2k just to start things off and it takes an entire day to get there. So anything short of 10 days isn't worth it.

Much like everyone else on here I feel the current "Rack Rate" for a WDW vacation of that length is too high. The value at full price for onsite room, tickets, food, etc just isn't there. At that price I can go elsewhere. For example you can book a room up the street at UO in a deluxe resort using there "Stay More Save More" promotion which gives 35% discount for stays over 7 nights and by annual passes for around $300 a piece. I also find that for the most part food at the Citywalk TS restaurants is cheaper than WDW. So without FD a trip like this for us would be about $3k-$4k cheaper for two weeks than a Mod resort at WDW. And we'd be staying at a deluxe resort with unlimited Express Pass. Factoring in everything I stated and WDW has priced themelves out of the my market.

Here's how I find the value to go to WDW instead of UO or somewhere else. I'll use our last trip as an example.

14 days (Dec. 12th-26th, 2014)
CSR Business Class room, myself, DW, DS (19 at the time)
10 day tickets with Hoppers and water parks/more
Free dining

Pkg was about $6100.
For those that don't know you get breakfast in the BC lounge at CSR with a Business Class room.
We ate roughly $2500 of food (Disney prices) on that FD plan.
Ordered some bottled water from GG.
Between the refillable mugs, bottled water, snack credits, and drinks available at the BC lounge, I don't recall paying for any drinks above and beyond that.

Arguably there is more to do at WDW than UO. I won't get into the debate of who has better attractions, but with all that WDW has to occupy your time on it's 46 sq mile property it is more. So that is worth something. When I factor in the fact that pretty much all our food for 2 weeks was included in that $6100 than that is good value. If we had to pay for our food on top of the $6100 at WDW prices than it isn't good value anymore. When you factor in the food and drinks from the BC lounge there was probably close to $3,000 of food consumed over 14 days.

Yes you could eat for cheaper, by cutting out some TS and adding QS, pinching the pennies a tighter, etc. But I love not having to worry about that as I spend my food credits on whatever i want. Using the RO discount and paying for our food would not have saved anything and would have decreased our enjoyment by feeling guilty about ordering that steak.


As for fountain drinks going up 20 cents, it just doesn't factor into the equation for us. We've done enough of this trips to predict with $100 how much the grand total will be. We add it up and see if it's worth it for us. I look at the total, doesn't matter about the individual pricing, it's just the total spent for us.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Eoghann]

It's not a matter of "a reasonable increase" in one product.

It's the aggregate. They are attempting to increase the price of EVERYTHING at once.

This, this, THIS!

Every time someone complains about a price increase there's a chorus of "Its only $1", "It's only $50" etc. But it isn't only that. Add up all the price increases over the last 12 months. It's "only" a lot.

Yes, lots of other companies behave this way, but no one is obliged to act like a sheep and just accept it.

 

[mikepizzo]

Since I drink at least 8 bottles of water each day, I started purchasing the resort cup on arrival. I fill up prior to the parks. At the parks, I ask for ice and fill up at the drinking fountains. We always stay at least 7 days so that's $168 saved just on water just for one person! When not in use, the cup is attached to my bag with a carabiner. Works for me!

Sounds like you have a good system there.

If you ever wanted to not have to buy the resort cup and not have to carry it around with you, you can ask for ice water at any location that has a soda fountain which also dispenses water. No need to go fill it up at a water fountain (which I have found to usually dispense warmer water).

Some Cast Members give out large cups, some give out small cups. If I see they give out small cups, I just ask for double the order (usually getting two cups for me and two cups for my fiancee).

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This, this, THIS!

Every time someone complains about a price increase there's a chorus of "Its only $1", "It's only $50" etc. But it isn't only that. Add up all the price increases over the last 12 months. It's "only" a lot.

Yes, lots of other companies behave this way, but no one is obliged to act like a sheep and just accept it.

And those companies run themselves into the ground...

If only there's was some recent example...say, terrible sales news from - I don't know - a huge tech company...

And maybe they've spent 10 years being overly proud of themselves and charging more and more for what amounts to the same products...

And maybe that time has allowed the competitor to close the gap...and now the consumers see it as all logo/brand...less "substance"...

If only I had an example

 

[Eoghann]

And those companies run themselves into the ground...

If only there's was some recent example...say, terrible sales news from - I don't know - a huge tech company...

And maybe they've spent 10 years being overly proud of themselves and charging more and more for what amounts to the same products...

And maybe that time has allowed the competitor to close the gap...and now the consumers see it as all logo/brand...less "substance"...

If only I had an example

Indeed, that particular company has been treading water since it's founder passed. They have iterated but haven't come up with anything substantively new and the market had to catch up with reality eventually.

Though I think we would all like to have a "bad" quarter where we only make $50 billion.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Indeed, that particular company has been treading water since it's founder passed. They have iterated but haven't come up with anything substantively new and the market had to catch up with reality eventually.

Though I think we would all like to have a "bad" quarter where we only make $50 billion.

Indeed...still not a bad day.

But it reminds me so much of all the praise heaped on the magic kingdom the last 3 or 4 years...

Like "management is so smart...look what they did!!!"

Yeah...in 1971!!! It's still and old park...peter pan and small world and pirates and haunted mansion were not "hidden gems"...

The demand doesn't justify the product. And my prediction still is: when it hits the wall (and it will...don't doubt that)...it's gonna crash Hard.

 

[Candlelady]

Sounds like you have a good system there.

If you ever wanted to not have to buy the resort cup and not have to carry it around with you, you can ask for ice water at any location that has a soda fountain which also dispenses water. No need to go fill it up at a water fountain (which I have found to usually dispense warmer water).

Some Cast Members give out large cups, some give out small cups. If I see they give out small cups, I just ask for double the order (usually getting two cups for me and two cups for my fiancee).

That's how I get my ice and the fountains aren't that bad as long as you have ice.
I prefer using my cup as I can keep refilling and use it at the pools also. Plus, I throw my Jalapeño Margarita in there and can walk out of the park if not finished.

 

[manning]

This, this, THIS!

Every time someone complains about a price increase there's a chorus of "Its only $1", "It's only $50" etc. But it isn't only that. Add up all the price increases over the last 12 months. It's "only" a lot.

Yes, lots of other companies behave this way, but no one is obliged to act like a sheep and just accept it.

An old statement 'a little here, a little there. In the end it all adds up.'