Middle Class Priced Out???

[Jen and Ashwin]

7 day park hoppers with water park option (no memory maker) for 3 disney adults and 2 children is currently $2619.90 direct from Disney. I think most 5 person middle class families could pick a week long driving vacation almost anywhere just for that money. I actually agree with the PP. If you have 6 people, it's even worse...

Yes, you could "slum" with 7 day base tickets, but you are still talking $2140.65 just to access the themeparks for 7 days...

For that same $2619.90, I could do 7 days at the Embassy Suites in Williamsburg for 6 ($1200), buy season passes to Busch Gardens and WaterCountry USA (for 4 Disney adults, 1 child, and 1 free 3-5 year old - $400), buy day passes to Colonial Williamsburg (same - a Virginian would get these for the year, not just a day, for $160), and still have $900-$1K to drive/eat/park with...so, it's totally doable for not a huge drop in quality or entertainment options...

I don't think this is actually true. I just plugged in a few summer dates for the Embassy Suites in June and July. In order to get a room that will fit 2 adults and 4 kids, the room rates for pre-paid, cheapest available actually start around $1,900 for a week. So that would mean after entertainment ($560), you would have just $160 to cover your travel, food, parking and souvenirs. Would this still be cheaper than a Disney vacation? Probably. But it would still cost a family of 6 more than just Disney tickets.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I don't think this is actually true. I just plugged in a few summer dates for the Embassy Suites in June and July. In order to get a room that will fit 2 adults and 4 kids, the room rates for pre-paid, cheapest available actually start around $1,900 for a week. So that would mean after entertainment ($560), you would have just $160 to cover your travel, food, parking and souvenirs. Would this still be cheaper than a Disney vacation? Probably. But it would still cost a family of 6 more than just Disney tickets.

Aug 20-26 - $175/night (1st dates I put in)...Advanced Purchase $175, refundable $200...with taxes, you get to $1180 AP...so under $1200 for 7 days, 6 nights...

Homewood Suites for same dates is even cheaper...$160 full refundable or $1081 all inclusive...

(Yes, if you want July 4th week or high season, now that you are booking after the special tickets are out for 2 months, it might be higher - in Feb, when I 1st looked when I was thinking bonus vacation before we picked Pigeon Forge, you could have even had July 4th at the $1200 mark, but this ticket special is popular and normal hotels raise prices as they get booked)...

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Aug 20-26 - $175/night (1st dates I put in)...Advanced Purchase $175, refundable $200...with taxes, you get to $1180 AP...so under $1200 for 7 days, 6 nights...

Homewood Suites for same dates is even cheaper...$160 full refundable or $1081 all inclusive...

(Yes, if you want July 4th week or high season, now that you are booking after the special tickets are out for 2 months, it might be higher - in Feb, when I 1st looked when I was thinking bonus vacation before we picked Pigeon Forge, you could have even had July 4th at the $1200 mark, but this ticket special is popular and normal hotels raise prices as they get booked)...

Many kids are in school by late August, which is probably why the rates are much lower. I specifically avoided July 4th weekend, since I am sure that would have been much higher. I choose the last week in June and the middle of July. I might have also put it for 7 nights rather than six. You said 1 week, so I assumed you meant 7 nights.

We took several trips to Williamsburg when I was younger, but never in the summer and we pretty much just visited Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, etc. Such a fun vacation and one I plan to take with my own kids some day. Colonial Williamsburg is really magical during winter holiday season, much like Disney.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Many kids are in school by late August, which is probably why the rates are much lower. I specifically avoided July 4th weekend, since I am sure that would have been much higher. I choose the last week in June and the middle of July. I might have also put it for 7 nights rather than six. You said 1 week, so I assumed you meant 7 nights.

We took several trips to Williamsburg when I was younger, but never in the summer and we pretty much just visited Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, etc. Such a fun vacation and one I plan to take with my own kids some day. Colonial Williamsburg is really magical during winter holiday season, much like Disney.

July 23-29, you can still get the Homewood at the $160/rate and the Embassy at $175AP/$200 refundable...so even prime summer weeks are still available (just not the ones around the food and wine weekends, probably - that runs through July 2nd, and that's probably killing weekend rates with this special)...I'm betting you can get Sun-Fri bookings cheap if you skip the 2 weekend days...

 

[Sabathamk]

I've been looking at prices and trying to figure out how to do this trip for the cheapest I can... as I really want to go and as I said, we scrimped and saved for 3.5 years now to try to get another Disney Vacay in. Going from $5000 for a family of 5 staying at the pop with free dining and going to MVMCP back in 2013 to what I'm finding now... even asking at our travel agent who was able to get us that deal last time, the price for OFFSITE this time, plus we have to figure out a budget for food, parking, vehicle rental, and souvenirs, she quoted us $8000 (this is including flight, which was easily almost $3000). Even if we do food cheaply (buying bread and making sandwiches and snacks from Walmart, continental breakfasts, only eating out for supper and maybe a few snacks at WDW parks), for 10 days, that is still $600 easily or more (family of 6 now), plus rental (I don't even know what that costs as we'd need a van and carseats for two of our kids), plus parking (with the dollar we have, it would be $150 cdn roughly for that alone for only 6 days in the parks). We don't buy souvenirs. We never buy soda. Rarely do we get extras (although now that I'm pregnant, my husband has been picking up stuff that is easier to make which has increased our food budget a lot since I usually make everything from scratch). The trip looks to be $10,000 for one week, only 6 days in the park, if we fly that is, and I just.... can't. Even though we've managed to save up almost that much.

That said, we only make about $30,000 Cdn per year for a family of 6. I'm not sure how I was even able to save up money for a trip (I know people who make double that and have debt like crazy living in the same area we do, and they have no kids). It really is looking like the value just isn't there anymore. Especially for families with more than 2 kids. Flights and hotels... ugh. Although, that said, just about any road trip at this point will cost us a LOT of money. Because hotels. We can't stay in a standard hotel anymore.

Maybe it would be cheaper to buy a used motorhome and truck it? I should look into that......

 

[havaneselover]

I've been to a several events over the past few years with free parking. The ones that I paid to park were only a $4, $5 or $8 charge. There was one Indy Car race where it was a Disney rate of $20 to park onsite, but you could park offsite for free, with a free shuttle to take you to the racetrack.

But, the events that I paid for parking were one time events. We went, did or saw whatever, and left and either didn't do that event again or did it a year later. With Disney, its every day for 5 or 6 days. That's what adds up quickly.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is $13/day unless you have an annual pass. Same with Water Country.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is $13/day unless you have an annual pass. Same with Water Country.

It's much better than $13/day for a week long trip...

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[Hikergirl]

7 day park hoppers with water park option (no memory maker) for 3 disney adults and 2 children is currently $2619.90 direct from Disney. I think most 5 person middle class families could pick a week long driving vacation almost anywhere just for that money. I actually agree with the PP. If you have 6 people, it's even worse...

Yes, you could "slum" with 7 day base tickets, but you are still talking $2140.65 just to access the themeparks for 7 days...

For that same $2619.90, I could do 7 days at the Embassy Suites in Williamsburg for 6 ($1200), buy season passes to Busch Gardens and WaterCountry USA (for 4 Disney adults, 1 child, and 1 free 3-5 year old - $400), buy day passes to Colonial Williamsburg (same - a Virginian would get these for the year, not just a day, for $160), and still have $900-$1K to drive/eat/park with...so, it's totally doable for not a huge drop in quality or entertainment options...

I never said that all vacations for everyone were just as expensive or more expensive than Disney tickets. I said that it wasn't true for everyone, and it isn't. A vacation for my family of 5 costs more than what we spend just on WDW tickets.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I never said that all vacations for everyone were just as expensive or more expensive that Disney tickets. I said that it wasn't true for everyone, and it isn't.

"If we are talking a week vacation for a family of 5, nope its going to cost more than just my WDW tickets."

I showed a possible drivable vacation at close quality that doesn't...I could show many (Pigeon Forge, Las Vegas, Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington, San Antonio, Niagara Falls, etc) that would be in driving distance of many people on this board. You didn't say just "you", you said a week long vacation for a family of any 5...

EDIT TO ADD: The Op's post is that Disney is pricing out the Middle Class...when just its ticket cost can buy a week long close to same quality drivable vacation for a family of 5, you have to accept the Op's premise is starting to be true...

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

"If we are talking a week vacation for a family of 5, nope its going to cost more than just my WDW tickets."

I showed a possible drivable vacation at close quality that doesn't...I could show many (Pigeon Forge, Las Vegas, Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington, San Antonio, Niagara Falls, etc) that would be in driving distance of many people on this board. You didn't say just "you", you said a week long vacation for a family of any 5...

I personally would not call the Williamsburg vacation you mentioned close quality. But that is a subjective evaluation. DH and I would not be interested in spending all but one day of a vacation at Busch Gardens/Water Country. Disney draws us because it has a lot more to offer.

 

[Hikergirl]

"If we are talking a week vacation for a family of 5, nope its going to cost more than just my WDW tickets."

I showed a possible drivable vacation at close quality that doesn't...I could show many (Pigeon Forge, Las Vegas, Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington, San Antonio, Niagara Falls, etc) that would be in driving distance of many people on this board. You didn't say just "you", you said a week long vacation for a family of any 5...

EDIT TO ADD: The Op's post is that Disney is pricing out the Middle Class...when just its ticket cost can buy a week long close to same quality drivable vacation for a family of 5, you have to accept the Op's premise is starting to be true...

I'm really not sure what you want to argue about. I spend more on a vacation for my family of 5 than I do on just WDW tickets. You don't, congrats.

Yes I am aware of what this thread is about, but my post was a response to a posters comment, it wasn't a response to the thread in general.
However, I already said no, I don't think Disney is pricing the middle class out. You can make WDW affordable because a WDW vacation offers you all kinds of choices. You don't need deluxe resorts, you can "slum" it with base tickets, you can stay off site, bring in your own food, or eat off-site and drive. That can be affordable for a middle class family no doubt. I guess that is something you'll just have to accept.

 

[Hikergirl]

.

 

[Hikergirl]

I personally would not call the Williamsburg vacation you mentioned close quality. But that is a subjective evaluation. DH and I would not be interested in spending all but one day of a vacation at Busch Gardens/Water Country. Disney draws us because it has a lot more to offer.

Totally agree, Williamsburg and Busch Gardens is no where near the vacation WDW is for us. I enjoyed Williamsburg, hated BG lol but to compare it to WDW no way. It just was not the same for us at all.
Now, I spent last Spring Break on the west coast, enjoying San Francisco, Monterey and Big Sur. It was an amazing vacation, different than WDW but quality wise it was better. Cost just about the same as WDW.

 

[persimmondeb]

Now, there are only three of us, but I think our most expensive WDW vacation ever topped out around $3000. At least a couple of them were under $2000. Now, one of the things we seem to be doing differently is buying shorter tickets that most of the other posters chiming in here. Last trip we had one day hoppers. We're actually not sure we're doing tickets at all this time, but if we do, it'll probably be single day hoppers again. We split our time between on and off property, and we find a bunch of free and cheap things to do (and I know not everyone wants to ride Disney transportation all day long for the fun of it, but it is one of DH's favorite activities). There are trips we can take that are cheaper, but for us, the abundant inexpensive food and lodging options in Orlando balance out the time we spend on property, paying Disney prices, so pretty much the only trips that would be a lot cheaper are ones without any significant admission costs, and not in extremely expensive metros. Generally any vacation that we take we will prepay in advance as much as humanly possible, and the ease with which you can do that at Disney, over an extended period of time, helps makes that accessible.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yeah, I've been to Pigeon Forge many times, and that is a very different vacation from a Disney vacation. Even I can only go mini golf so many times. If you like the outdoors it is great, but Dollywood has nothing on WDW. Nothing.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Yeah, I've been to Pigeon Forge many times, and that is a very different vacation from a Disney vacation. Even I can only go mini golf so many times. If you like the outdoors it is great, but Dollywood has nothing on WDW. Nothing.

It was an example - there's theme parks everywhere, water parks everywhere, dinner theatres/attractions everywhere, other attractions everywhere. You don't like Dollywood, pick a different family site...you can still swing a drivable vacation for the Disney ticket costs.

Median US household income (50% higher/50% lower) for 2016 was $58,056. When financial advisers mention that a rule of thumb for vacation budgets should be 5-7% of your income, households with 5 members will be spending almost or all of that rule of thumb JUST on the tickets. That's pricing out the middle class. Yes, there is the upper part of that class (which many people on the board and this thread probably are in), which can have have higher incomes (up into the low 6 figures) that can still probably afford them without sacrificing too much, and there are members of that class with similar median incomes with significant assets that they can draw on (or mitigate costs - like having zero rent/mortgage), but that's not the norm. This thread is about pricing out the middle class and Disney has priced out a large portion of them.

But, I posted other vacation options for people priced out who think they can't afford anything fun but a week at a beach/campsite b/c they see those Disney ticket costs (not even the hotels and food) and think that's what every entertainment area is doing - and they aren't. Disney (and maybe Universal) is about the only family vacation destination right now that is still trying to jack prices to the ceiling - others have been doing the opposite...

Give me $2500-$3K (which would be my family 7 day park hopper cost) and I can get your family a 6 night drivable vacation in the US/Canada in nice accommodations having paid fun every day...but in Disney, I can only get you the tickets...unless you are going to Orlando...and then, if you skip Disney, I can probably do the same for you...

 

[wendow]

Disney draws us because it has a lot more to offer.

This. If we could all get the same vacation from any other theme park/vacation destination, then we'd all go there. The problem is that most of us have figured out that we get something special at Disney. Something intangible but it has value to us so we are willing to pay more for it. Unfortunately, Disney knows that too.

 

[maxiesmom]

Disney and Universal are different from other vacation destinations. They offer something unique, which is why they can charge what they charge.

 

[Uncranky Donald]

I do not understand the "but I could go to X, Y, Z for the cost of just the ticket price at WDW at these prices". I could go to Outback and say "But I just bought a Big Mac, WITH a coupon, for $1.09!!" But that wouldn't make sense, it's two different companies and two different experiences...that I chose! I've gone to many of the major east coast vacation theme destinations but I don't compare them to Disney because of price, I go to them because I want to. Disney can't hold a candle to Six Flags or Bush Gardens' coasters. Just the same I've shopped at Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Ralph's, Winn Dixie, Publix, the local marqueta, but I would never expect them to have the same prices, standards and produce...I choose where to go based on what I need and what I want to spend...I mean, that just makes sense to me

 

[Hikergirl]

It was an example - there's theme parks everywhere, water parks everywhere, dinner theatres/attractions everywhere, other attractions everywhere. You don't like Dollywood, pick a different family site...you can still swing a drivable vacation for the Disney ticket costs.

Median US household income (50% higher/50% lower) for 2016 was $58,056. When financial advisers mention that a rule of thumb for vacation budgets should be 5-7% of your income, households with 5 members will be spending almost or all of that rule of thumb JUST on the tickets. That's pricing out the middle class. Yes, there is the upper part of that class (which many people on the board and this thread probably are in), which can have have higher incomes (up into the low 6 figures) that can still probably afford them without sacrificing too much, and there are members of that class with similar median incomes with significant assets that they can draw on (or mitigate costs - like having zero rent/mortgage), but that's not the norm. This thread is about pricing out the middle class and Disney has priced out a large portion of them.

But, I posted other vacation options for people priced out who think they can't afford anything fun but a week at a beach/campsite b/c they see those Disney ticket costs (not even the hotels and food) and think that's what every entertainment area is doing - and they aren't. Disney (and maybe Universal) is about the only family vacation destination right now that is still trying to jack prices to the ceiling - others have been doing the opposite...

Give me $2500-$3K (which would be my family 7 day park hopper cost) and I can get your family a 6 night drivable vacation in the US/Canada in nice accommodations having paid fun every day...but in Disney, I can only get you the tickets...unless you are going to Orlando...and then, if you skip Disney, I can probably do the same for you...

Your family of 7 is not a typical family, so obviously your costs are going to be greater than alot of people. Having said that, a family of 5 can do Disney for a little over $3K. I just priced out 6 nights in a rented condo and 6 day base tickets. I estimated high on gas from NY and used my regular food budget plus extra for onsite snacks.
Are you going to stay in a deluxe villa, eat all TS meals, fly your family of 5 there, and park hop for that no. But yes you can certainly take a WDW vacation for around $3,000. If you have a family with less than 5 people, you make out even better.