Need to vent about how expensive WDW is now

[LordG]

To save money OP check out the pricing at the Dolphin and Swan hotels. I have saved money by staying at the Dolphin and Swan in past trips plus they are a Deluxe hotel perks like the Contemporary

I stay away from the Disney springs and other good neighbor hotels due to them not being a deluxe hotel perk.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Curious, how much do you spend each year At Disney each year? 30 days?

I seem to remember someone here, lived about 500 miles from Disney, went about once a month. Sounded like they went for every holiday, every festival, every special event.

Depends on the year

Sometime 9 days sometime 24

Just all depends when my days off are, flights, hotels, etc…

We do one or two big trips with the whole family, then one or two 3-5 day adult trips….

We live in the northeast, I don’t do ULCC, so we take a decent airline….

We are working on being able to go once a month in the winter by in the next two years or so…

Frankly, considering 300 bucks a day per person includes airfare, park passes, food ( all table service) and the room, I figured we were doing really well.

I think the value packages the include food are 150 or 175 bucks a night without airfare

 

[Robbie Cottam]

It works by not going to a park every day of the trip. Some folks can't afford to and find ways to enjoy FL and the area that cost a lot less on "down days"...

I didn’t go to the park every day, but I do have an annual pass…. So I had the option to go….

I actually spent 3 days at the pool drinking extensive soda (to get the value out of my mug) and writing a research paper …

But even still our airfare alone was more than 100 dollars per day….

 

[Robbie Cottam]

To save money OP check out the pricing at the Dolphin and Swan hotels. I have saved money by staying at the Dolphin and Swan in past trips plus they are a Deluxe hotel perks like the Contemporary

I stay away from the Disney springs and other good neighbor hotels due to them not being a deluxe hotel

Marriott was be really proud of the swan and dolphin because lately they have been more money that the GF!

They also black out a lot of dates to Bonvoy points….. the JW bonnet creek is consistently less money lately

 

[DisneyRobbie]

i was curious so i just checked the 'experience' type place near us (has an indoor waterpark, arcade, bumper boats, laser tag, ropes course, go carts, ziplines....). for bowling it runs-

PER PERSON-$6 per game or $32 per hour/per lane (or a person can pay $42 and have unlimited bowling and access to everything except the waterpark and axe throwing for 4 continuous hours).

We’re also an active duty Navy family - for the on base bowling it’s still not cheap - $90 for family of 4 one lane one hour and literally no frills/moldy old military bowling alley

 

[tony67]

Marriott was be really proud of the swan and dolphin because lately they have been more money that the GF!

They also black out a lot of dates to Bonvoy points….. the JW bonnet creek is consistently less money lately

Yeah - it was over 2000 per night for the most basic room - but you could use points most nights.
There was a Gartner conference that was part of it.
There were other nights that were more reasonable but did not work for me - and I was not spending 85000 points for the Swan.

 

[gottalovepluto]

2021 still had people hiding from Covid so smaller pool of travelers then.

A starting point for affording it is traveling during a cheaper time, like summer, and the next biggest change you make is downgrading to a cheaper hotel. There is only so much money you can put towards a vacay, don't get caught up in spending more money will make it more special. It's special because you're all doing it together. Spring Break is among the most crowded and most expensive times to travel to WDW. And CR is one of the most expensive WDW hotels. And prices are going to go up. Whatever it will cost in 2024 you should add 10% to the total for 2025. When you see that total decide if it's a good idea for you financially, if your gut says it is not a good idea to do it as initially envisioned then have heart to heart with your family.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Yeah - it was over 2000 per night for the most basic room - but you could use points most nights.
There was a Gartner conference that was part of it.
There were other nights that were more reasonable but did not work for me - and I was not spending 85000 points for the Swan.

85000 for a single night?
Wow, I though 300000 for five nights in April was rich....

 

[Robbie Cottam]

2021 still had people hiding from Covid so smaller pool of travelers then.

A starting point for affording it is traveling during a cheaper time, like summer, and the next biggest change you make is downgrading to a cheaper hotel. There is only so much money you can put towards a vacay, don't get caught up in spending more money will make it more special. It's special because you're all doing it together. Spring Break is among the most crowded and most expensive times to travel to WDW. And CR is one of the most expensive WDW hotels. And prices are going to go up. Whatever it will cost in 2024 you should add 10% to the total for 2025. When you see that total decide if it's a good idea for you financially, if your gut says it is not a good idea to do it as initially envisioned then have heart to heart with your family.

Wait, I thought 2021 was the year of revenge travel.....
DVC was booking way earlier than normal.....
Currently, I think DVC and the cash resort are less full than nrmal

 

[tony67]

85000 for a single night?
Wow, I though 300000 for five nights in April was rich....

well that is technically 75000 a night - you just get the fifth night free with points.

but I cant do a lot more with that many points elsewhere

 

[Robbie Cottam]

well that is technically 75000 a night - you just get the fifth night free with points.

but I cant do a lot more with that many points elsewhere

YES, I'm away; either way, it was better than the $1300 a night for the same two queen room.
Almost pulled the trigger on the GF for 700 a night, but well Bonvoy points are free.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Wait, I thought 2021 was the year of revenge travel.....
DVC was booking way earlier than normal.....
Currently, I think DVC and the cash resort are less full than nrmal

It’s an imho situation but technically ‘22 saw far higher prices and higher traveler numbers than ‘21 so I lean towards ‘22. Recall, Spring Break ‘21 was only about 1 year into Covid. Some parts of the US had moved on but a decent chunk of us were still shutdown until around Fall ‘21 making ‘22 the first spring break that everyone in the US had the chance to go crazy.

Maybe going forward bookings will be lighter and OP will luck out and see a slower raising of prices- but since they’re already freaked by the potential cost they should prepare for a worst case scenario. To me that is a 10% budget buffer to next year’s prices for a 2025 trip but to each their own.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

It’s an imho situation but technically ‘22 saw far higher prices and higher traveler numbers than ‘21. Recall, Spring Break ‘21 was only about 1 year into Covid. Some parts of the US had moved on but a decent chunk of us were still shutdown until around Fall ‘21 making ‘22 the first spring break that everyone in the US had the chance to go crazy.

Maybe going forward bookings will be lighter and OP will luck out and see a slower raising of prices- but since they’re already freaked by the potential cost they should prepare for a worst case scenario. To me that is a 10% budget buffer to next year’s prices for a 2025 trip but to each their own.

Florida had moved on, California had not, so I guess it depends on what park you went to...
Disney World was sold out in 21. Past renters emailed me daily to see if I had points available.

 

[Chili327]

I don’t know how people afford WDW anymore. The ticket prices alone are insane. $500 per person for a 3 day non park hopper for March. You would think that people would be priced out, but when you go to the parks, they are still packed.

OP, we stopped going to Disney and started cruising on the Disney fantasy. We just sailed on a 7 night for $3200 on an OGT rate. So much more affordable than the parks and so much more relaxing. Good luck with your trip!

Only some of us are priced out, & that's the plan I'm sure. If they can get the same amount of income with less people its better for their paying customers.
We're all just trying to keep up, but may need to find other things to do in the near future.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wait, I thought 2021 was the year of revenge travel.....
DVC was booking way earlier than normal.....
Currently, I think DVC and the cash resort are less full than nrmal

Revenge travel really didn't kick up until 2022. The latter half of 2022 started seeing more international travel interest and 2023 has been much more about international travel (especially to Europe and Japan with Japan having just reopened up). 2024 is looking to also be international travel.

In 2020 and 2021 most people could really only travel domestically and it was still in a big slump compared to before. Disney was still social distancing as were a lot of places, also masks were still a thing for travel including transportation. 2021 was dealing with various covid variants with omicron hitting at the end of 2021 so your first part of 2022 had that coming into play with travel options.

Essentially when people really started to travel their interests in domestic had already waned

 

[Smugpugmug]

Revenge travel really didn't kick up until 2022. The latter half of 2022 started seeing more international travel interest and 2023 has been much more about international travel (especially to Europe and Japan with Japan having just reopened up). 2024 is looking to also be international travel.

In 2020 and 2021 most people could really only travel domestically and it was still in a big slump compared to before. Disney was still social distancing as were a lot of places, also masks were still a thing for travel including transportation. 2021 was dealing with various covid variants with omicron hitting at the end of 2021 so your first part of 2022 had that coming into play with travel options.

Essentially when people really started to travel their interests in domestic had already waned

I know this article is a few months old but it still applies to this conversation:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/international-travel-surges-domestic-airfares-hotel-rates-lag.html

 

[Kerry1957]

I always find it amusing (and sad) when folks complain about how expensive WDW has become, and then say they will stay at the Contemporary. Why not save 70-80% and stay at a nice Marriott property at Flamingo Crossings?

 

[marcar12]

How did you get pricing for Spring Break 2025?

I didn't actually get Spring Break 2025 pricing. I just looked at prices for Spring Break 2024 and assume that if I buy tickets and make hotel reservations sometime in the next 6 months, that the prices won't change too much. So it is a ballpark number right now.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I always find it amusing (and sad) when folks complain about how expensive WDW has become, and then say they will stay at the Contemporary. Why not save 70-80% and stay at a nice Marriott property at Flamingo Crossings?

Staying off property is not the same thing as staying in a Disney resort....
The Bonnet Creek JW is too far removed to make staying enjoyable, IMHO...
If I have to get a LYFT of have a rental car to do anything, that's not vacation, its not enjoyable

 

[robinb]

Frankly, I'm shocked that it's only 38% more over 4 years. The way that Disney has been jacking up prices I would have expected a much higher difference.