Middle Class Priced Out???

[TwoMisfits]

Didn't prices only go up 3%? I would hope most people got at least that for a raise since that's about what is considered a cost of living raise. I do think a lot of people go all out at Disney and live the luxury life with out having the luxury money to back it. Sure it is fine to save up and do that once if you are going to only ever go once but Deluxe, TS every night, extras on top of extra, etc every single trip is not meant for the "average" family. I think with Disney people forget their realistic budgets and buy the magic they think the need instead of letting the experience speak for itself.

15% for all tickets 4-10 days...

 

[quandrea]

We are not priced out but we aren't willing to part with the money they are asking. We are dvc and will still go. We just won't go into the parks. Bought last AP in 2015. Won't enter the parks until 2018 for a few days with friends. I agree with the poster who said no theme park is worth what they charge.

 

[LJSquishy]

It's crazy expensive, but I still think it's worth the splurge. We don't take ANY vacations or short trips at any time during the year generally, nor do we spend much money on concerts, shows, etc. We went to WDW in 2012 and again in 2015. I'd love to go this year but we have more important things to spend money on (like adoption). Maybe we can go again in 2019. Maybe not.
Our trips to WDW are about the same cost as going to Hawaii, but included in the cost of WDW is all day/night entertainment. When we go on trips, I like to do fun stuff and not just walk around like a tourist so Disney is more fun to me. I love feeling immersed in a fantasy world where I don't even have to drive.
I'd much wait for a few years and do a big vacation like WDW than go on a bunch of little trips every year.

 

[kymom99]

Didn't prices only go up 3%? I would hope most people got at least that for a raise since that's about what is considered a cost of living raise. I do think a lot of people go all out at Disney and live the luxury life with out having the luxury money to back it. Sure it is fine to save up and do that once if you are going to only ever go once but Deluxe, TS every night, extras on top of extra, etc every single trip is not meant for the "average" family. I think with Disney people forget their realistic budgets and buy the magic they think the need instead of letting the experience speak for itself.

3% raises? No. Ive only gotten 1% topsfor several years. My husband has gotten a big fat goose egg. I am recently retired. My COLA increase each year will be 1.5%.

Our 4 trips have all been modest. Maybe one souvenir. Mostly CS meals. Value and moderate resorts. With a teen getting ready for college after 12 years of private schools we really would have to scrape the money together to take a trip now.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Getting real expensive. Still get our annual pass and stay off site a lot. I feel sorry for someone who goes for about 5 days and stays on site. That gets pretty expensive for a family.

When you stay off site, do you eat most of your meals off site as well?

 

[LadyD]

The Disney price increases are definitely hitting hard with wages so stagnant for most people in this country. I definitely believe Disney is pricing itself out of being perceived as a great value for the average American family. For us, it has not hit a point yet where we feel we have to make compromises to make Disney work, but I do feel like a few more price increases and we will be faced with questioning if Disney is really worth it.

I really just hope these price increases are put back into the parks in some capacity to up the magic factor. No one else can bring the Disney magic in the same way and it is something that is a huge part of the value for us.

 

[wilkeliza]

3% raises? No. Ive only gotten 1% topsfor several years. My husband has gotten a big fat goose egg. I am recently retired. My COLA increase each year will be 1.5%.

Our 4 trips have all been modest. Maybe one souvenir. Mostly CS meals. Value and moderate resorts. With a teen getting ready for college after 12 years of private schools we really would have to scrape the money together to take a trip now.

I guess I'm lucky to work for a company that sees real COL and not just what that years SS update is. It is kind of sad to look at the charts and see how much it has dropped.

With thay said you made other choices that also affected your ability to afford Disney not just Disney raising their prices. Not every middle class family sends their child to private school. There is nothing wrong with putting your money into something you find important but then you can't also blame Disney yah know.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

We are not priced out as of right now, but for us is that the value is just not there anymore. Our AP expire in 2 months and we won't be renewing there is a whole world to see out there which we will choose over WDW.

I do agree with you that the value received at WDW vs. what we receive has certainly decreased.

 

[kymom99]

I guess I'm lucky to work for a company that sees real COL and not just what that years SS update is. It is kind of sad to look at the charts and see how much it has dropped.

With thay said you made other choices that also affected your ability to afford Disney not just Disney raising their prices. Not every middle class family sends their child to private school. There is nothing wrong with putting your money into something you find important but then you can't also blame Disney yah know.

We both work for the state. I was a public school teacher and he works at a university.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

As long as there are people willing to use their last 10 cents of credit to go to Disney, the pricing won't go down.

We know plenty of people who add on fairly large debts by going to WDW, that's no joke! Our family made the choice a long time ago to only pay cash for vacations. Not judging others, just saying that going into debt for vacation wouldn't work for us. (It would drive me bananas!)

 

[kymom99]

I guess I'm lucky to work for a company that sees real COL and not just what that years SS update is. It is kind of sad to look at the charts and see how much it has dropped.

With thay said you made other choices that also affected your ability to afford Disney not just Disney raising their prices. Not every middle class family sends their child to private school. There is nothing wrong with putting your money into something you find important but then you can't also blame Disney yah know.

I don't blame Disney and I know this question comes up all the time. The idea of being priced out. But we were able to go and send my son to private school before. It seems like the little wage increases we have seen have been eaten up by increased taxes and health care premiums. I swear I was better off in 1988 making 16k than I am now. Things get more expensive but our income doesn't move. And private school or not, teens are expensive. Mine doesn't ask for much but activities and necessities keep me pretty broke. Lol!
Disney always seemed like a good value to me. As others have said, you can get a room and tickets and be entertained day and night.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Seems like the prices just keep going up for everything Disney every year. It is only DH and myself, we go during free dining and usually book bounceback for the next year, stay at a value (only sleep in the room) and get park hoppers. For me to go to the Jersey shore for a week would be more expensive and offer me less. Is it expensive? Yes! DH is now retired so we will have to really consider if we can keep going every year may have to cut back our days.

I'm a total, life-long Jersey Shore girl! (Different beach towns, but Cape May several times a year.) We've never paid anything close to the $$$ when down the shore as we pay going to WDW...

 

[halfpintpeggy]

It's hard to guage value at Disney because it's so unique. Is it expensive? Maybe. Compared to what?

Even with increases in recent years its more affordable than a lot of resort vacations. Park tickets are the only hard cost. Food and lodging can be cheap if you want them to be.

Overall I'd say its more accessible to middle class families than say, Hawaii or an all inclusive Caribbean resort.

Agree with Hawaii depending on where you're flying from, totally disagree with all inclusive Caribbean resorts though.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I totally agree with @Beer Me . It's tough to compare a Disney vacation to pretty much any other destination. Also, like others have said, we'd have to figure out how to define "middle class". Where I grew up, my family would have been considered upper middle class. Where I live, now, my family would be considered firmly middle class at best. Finally, it can even be tough to define what being "priced out" means. Some people have mentioned here and in conversations like this in the past that they feel priced out because they can no longer go every year. Even though I currently DO go every year, I wouldn't consider not being able to "priced out". I don't think any vacation destination that includes as much as Disney does would be considered something most truly middle class families would be able to do every year without making some significant sacrifices.

On the other hand, I certainly see why people feel this way. Disney used to be more affordable for middle class families, there's no denying that. But it's also become more and more popular year after year, and even with tickets over $100 they hit capacity in the parks during the holidays. To be honest, I'm not sure there's any easy solution either way.

Edit: As far as how I compensate for the price increases, I do a few things. We have never had cable, don't go out to eat much, I make a lot of things myself (such as laundry detergent), and I am learning to can food. Most of this is things I'd do anyways because of my lifestyle, but they have the added benefit of helping me save a lot of money, which helps me save for Disney. I also use a LOT of coupons and I always use my credit cards and pay them off each month to get rewards, and I try to maximize these rewards by paying attention to cashback categories.

Ha! I'm an herbalist farm girl who grows & cans food too...totally with ya there!

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I'm middle class and I'm not priced out. It's just not worth it to me (i.e., the value isn't there). We used to stay at deluxes right after Thanksgiving for about $250/night and had 10-day no expiration hoppers so our tickets were $35/day.

Those were the days!!!

 

[wendow]

I valued out in 2013, but I am holding 1 day no-expiration MK passes...and now, if I didn't have them, I'd never find the value at going back under current ticket prices. 4 days for 6 people for $2400 in tickets only...there is no theme park in the world worth that much to me and my family for only 4 days of visits...

Knowing I got 2 days at a major theme park Christmas town in 2016 for $32/person or $192 total for the family...the value isn't even close.

Maybe when it was all brand new back in the 90's (I've been going since 1984 as a little kid until 2012), but no way now for what's there now - 20 year old tech is what I can get anywhere...

I went for the first time in 1983 as a little kiddo. Still remember how amazing it was to me then Now, our family of 6 would cost $2450 just for tickets and those are just base tickets. It truly is unbelievable how much tickets cost. I really am having trouble finding the value in WDW.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

We are not priced out but we aren't willing to part with the money they are asking. We are dvc and will still go. We just won't go into the parks. Bought last AP in 2015. Won't enter the parks until 2018 for a few days with friends. I agree with the poster who said no theme park is worth what they charge.

Interesting! I've heard from a lot of DVC folks that they don't go to the parks anymore.

 

[Toon crazy]

I guess it depends on where you fall on the middle class scale. I believe it ranges from$65,000-$250,000 for a family. I might be off on that. But a family who makes $250,000 is going to have a lot less trouble affording the trip then a family making $65,000.
However everyone's trip is different. I don't think Disney has priced a middle class family out of a vacation to Disney. They may have priced them out of table service meals everyday. They might have made it necessary to save longer and spend smarter but you can still have a great vacation.

 

[QueenIsabella]

We stopped going because the value just isn't there for us. That, and our vacation interests have changed--my youngest is 11, he's much more interested in HP than in what Disney has to offer. I understand prices going up, but the services and amenities keep going down. Plus, we have other places that sound much more interesting for the money spent--this summer, it's 3 of us going to Italy for 12 days.

All that said, as long as WDW keeps having people pour into the parks at opening every day, they're not going to change anything--why should they?

 

[scard192]

not priced out we just go less often, had been every 3 years now it will be 4 years by the time I save enough money. looking at other vacations options, we live in MA and are thinking of doing an NCL cruise to Bermuda out of Boston instead of Disney.