Need to vent about how expensive WDW is now

[SL6827]

Rent points at SSR or OKW?

 

[marcar12]

Rent points at SSR or OKW?

I'm gonna look into those, thank you!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Then maybe read the rest of my post?

I don’t know… your post could have been helpful, but the first couple of sentences seem to brag. Might have been good info if you left that out.

Even if you saved 20% of your trip, it would mean you would have spent 30k without discounts.

I’ll let it go here…

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I don’t know… your post could have been helpful, but the first couple of sentences seem to brag. Might have been good info if you left that out.

Even if you saved 20% of your trip, it would mean you would have spent 30k without discounts.

I’ll let it go here…

What ever makes you happy, is fine…

 

[Robbie Cottam]

It's actually only over 2.5 years. From March 2021 to now, Nov 2023.

If you remember Chapek raised prices twice in less than 8 months because the parks were so full and the only thing making Disney money at the time

 

[snowwite]

Rent points at SSR or OKW?

I did this for 2024 trip. I never realized it was an option. I’m super excited to go to OKW.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

25k for 10 nights is a biggie.

I’m not sure that really is relevant on the budget board, as clearly you had no budget.

I highly doubt that helps the OP.

It has helped me (similar family size).
People have different budgets big or small it's still a budget

 

[mamaofsix]

Can I please just vent for a minute?
I am in the very beginning stages of planning a Spring Break 2025 Disney World vacation. This week I decided to start looking into how much things will cost so we can set our budget and start saving for it. Boy am I glad I did that because it is definitely going to take over a year to save up for this trip.

The most astonishing thing to me is that we went to Disney World for Spring Break in 2021, and according to the notes that I have from planning that trip, it will cost us $3,500 more this time to do the EXACT SAME VACATION for the same number of park days (5) at the same hotel (Contemporary). That is crazy to me. 2.5 years later and the price has gone up by 38%. How do people afford to do this more than one time every 5 years?

This is going to be a special vacation for our family. My oldest will be a senior in high school and it will be our last big vacation before she graduates and moves to college. I want to splurge. I want to make it extra memorable. But I am feeling discouraged by the fact that it will cost us more than the first 2 cars that my husband and I bought after getting married-- combined.

The 38% increase in 2 years really is crazy. To answer your question as to how people can afford this more than once every 5 years...I'm sure the answer is different depending on household income, etc., but some things that make it affordable for us to go more often:

-Eating out only 1x / day - making breakfast in the room and packing lunch. (grocery delivery order from Walmart on first day of trip).
-Don't spend every day in the parks. Even 1 or 2 less days of tickets saves a ton.
-Say no to park hoppers, no to G+, no to photopass, no to ubers.
-Cheap out on souveniers. $25 / person on something small instead of $150 on a new sweatshirt makes a big difference.
-DVC rental or purchase, or stay offsite
-No car rental if flying
-Drive down instead of fly (we often drive 22 hours one way - saves thousands due to expensive flights where we live).

 

[tony67]

The 38% increase in 2 years really is crazy. To answer your question as to how people can afford this more than once every 5 years...I'm sure the answer is different depending on household income, etc., but some things that make it affordable for us to go more often:

-Eating out only 1x / day - making breakfast in the room and packing lunch. (grocery delivery order from Walmart on first day of trip).
-Don't spend every day in the parks. Even 1 or 2 less days of tickets saves a ton.
-Say no to park hoppers, no to G+, no to photopass, no to ubers.
-Cheap out on souveniers. $25 / person on something small instead of $150 on a new sweatshirt makes a big difference.
-DVC rental or purchase, or stay offsite
-No car rental if flying
-Drive down instead of fly (we often drive 22 hours one way - saves thousands due to expensive flights where we live).

I assume part of it is part of the record high credit card dept as well - also home equity loans - people spending money they just don't have.

In my experience wages have been very stagnant - adjusted for inflation I make less than I did in 2000 - its mind boggling really as I've been given good raises, changed jobs and had decent premotions. I can understand why so many Millennials and Zoomers are complaining.

No doubt you can do Disney and save money - offsite hotels can be a bargain - just watch out for the resort fee scam and don't forget the transportation and parking. Parking at Disney and the hotel can be costly. The resort fee often does not include parking - so what the heck is it for then???

The tickets are always the one thing (as @HopperFan pointed out) that you really cant do anything about it - and reducing days does not help - it gets so much cheaper the more days you add.

As far as Airfare - I find it was cheaper to fly and Uber than to drive - but I don't rent a car. That can fluctuate and for 4 or 5 people then it starts to be a consideration. Also the airport you go out of matters - if there are a lot of flights to Orlando then there is competition on price. I also have three Airports to choose from so I am very lucky.
My last trip was $150 roundtrip on Jet Blue (with a checked bag btw). Also about 60 for uber back and forth to the airport - uber seems to have got a lot more expensive since 2021 in Florida.

As for G+, I have not experienced it yet - but I cant imaging going and spending well over 100 a day and not getting it, but if you cant afford it you cant afford it - especially when you are talking 4 or 5 people.

Skip the souvenirs or set a small budget for them like you said - they are just dust collectors.

 

[hsmamato2]

We are DVC, so we’re not “paying” for our resort in our budget for our 2 week annual trip for our family of 7, .

 

[Miffy]

I apologize for making you sad. The point of my post wasn't to complain about how expensive the Contemporary specifically is (or even to say that we are planning to stay there again in 2025), but rather just to point out how much more expensive the exact same trip would be today, even though it has only been 2.5 years since our previous trip. We actually aren't planning on staying at that resort next time and we don't know how many days the trip will be, but I was simply venting about the huge price jump in a short period of time.

We've all experienced this. In our case, so much so that we've switched and now usually stay at POFQ instead of AKL. It's not just the difference in the resort costs, it's purchasing G+ and ILL$. They add up and we use them.

It's shocking to see how much the pricing has changed in the last couple of years. We were able to stay at GF in 2021 with an AP discount, back in the ancient times when WDW was still trying to get travelers to come back. We were very lucky to have gotten that because now GF costs way way way too much for our budget, even with a discount.

Be on the lookout for discounts, though. WDW has them now and they're pretty good.

 

[barkley]

-Eating out only 1x / day - making breakfast in the room and packing lunch. (grocery delivery order from Walmart on first day of trip).

we've always made sure that if our accommodations don't include a mini fridge and microwave to request one. i do a grocery order (or pack) some stuff my household likes to snack on-like the stuff you pack in lunches (packs of cookies, rice krispy treats, trail mix, bags of chips...) or microwavable stuff like mac and cheese cups, cup o noodles, canned pasta (stuff we try to limit eating at home but figure if we are on vacation and it saves money why not). for awhile mine were into crystal light so i took tubes of it we could use in refillable water bottles. microwave popcorn (esp. the flavored stuff like kettle corn) is always enjoyed.

we don't live close to many chain restaurants but my (now adult) kids (and dh and i) have a fondness for a few that we used to live near. some of these are close to disneyworld so we enjoy getting food from them at a much lower cost than dining in the parks. with black friday coming up many offer deals on gift cards (example-texas roadhouse tends to do 20% off) so i get them ahead of time (i also take advantage of costco's restaurant gift cards). if it's a chain that offers a loyalty program i will sign up a couple of weeks ahead of the trip b/c it might garner a discount or freebie with a short window for usage.

-Cheap out on souveniers. $25 / person on something small instead of $150 on a new sweatshirt makes a big difference.

i agree-we ended up going to the disney outlet the last time we went and their souvineer money went allot further. when planning a trip a year or more out we incorporate souvineer money into other gifts-part of their stocking stuffers might include a homemade giftcard that says "this is good for a $20 wdw spending credit" (and i take the money from the christmas budget to set aside for it) same thing on birthdays/easter baskets.

-Don't spend every day in the parks. Even 1 or 2 less days of tickets saves a ton.

i like 'down days'-just kickback and relax at the hotel. we also take our roku and fire sticks when we travel so there's the option of watching something other than reruns of friends, family guy and harry potter (i'm convinced they run on a loop in florida). last time we went dh and my son had a blast going off property to dave and busters (none around us). we planned it for a day they had a good promotion going (nice savings) as well as deals on food (they brought food back for all of us).


last but not least-consider what your travel plans are and book your accommodations accordingly. we are at the mercy of terrible flight options so if we have a flight arriving in the afternoon or evening it makes no sense to pay for a park pass for just a few hours (and we are usualy exhausted) so we've done a night off property (with a single small carry-on with the basics for everyone so no unpacking needed) so we can wake up refreshed and go straight to the on property hotel/parks. same with departure day-we often opt to spend our last night before departure at the orlando airport hyatt so there's no hassle of getting to the airport and we can sleep in a bit later (w/ later flights they've offered reasonable 'day rates' for partial days/extending a one night stay by several hours). in both cases we end up saving a night's very expensive lodging on property.

 

[marcar12]

If you remember Chapek raised prices twice in less than 8 months because the parks were so full and the only thing making Disney money at the time

I didn't realize that, but I guess it makes sense since 2021-early 2023 had so much extra travel after Covid.

 

[CamillaF]

Not sure how many in are in your family. However I got my trip down by renting points on this board (I kept looking and started to understand what a good rate was, and when rooms would get booked) I got a 1 bedroom at boardwalk. It was more expensive then I had ever paid for a room but was able to walk back to the room and cook/eat. I found that having a kitchen at close enough proximity saved quite a bit of money on food and more than covered the cost of the room.

You can also look at the UK 14 day park hopper / tickets. Last I looked they cost the same as the US 5 day/park hopper tickets. (They work for US residence you just have to buy them off a UK website) If you have the time you could rent a big house off sight for way less (on a diff trip I got a 6 bedroom house for 12 of us) for less than $2000 for the week.

Good luck! You have time and if you keep reading the boards you will find lots of little ways to cut back.

 

[Disneylover99]

The tickets are always the one thing (as @HopperFan pointed out) that you really cant do anything about it - and reducing days does not help - it gets so much cheaper the more days you add.

Just chiming in here to say, (for any Canadians trying to save a few bucks) there is a Canadian ticket deal (20% off) that just came out through WDW. I just priced out 10 day park hopper/water park tickets over the March break for my family of four and when you factor in the cost of the exchange rate, it will save us over $1000.

 

[mamaofsix]

I assume part of it is part of the record high credit card dept as well - also home equity loans - people spending money they just don't have.

In my experience wages have been very stagnant - adjusted for inflation I make less than I did in 2000 - its mind boggling really as I've been given good raises, changed jobs and had decent premotions. I can understand why so many Millennials and Zoomers are complaining.

No doubt you can do Disney and save money - offsite hotels can be a bargain - just watch out for the resort fee scam and don't forget the transportation and parking. Parking at Disney and the hotel can be costly. The resort fee often does not include parking - so what the heck is it for then???

The tickets are always the one thing (as @HopperFan pointed out) that you really cant do anything about it - and reducing days does not help - it gets so much cheaper the more days you add.

As far as Airfare - I find it was cheaper to fly and Uber than to drive - but I don't rent a car. That can fluctuate and for 4 or 5 people then it starts to be a consideration. Also the airport you go out of matters - if there are a lot of flights to Orlando then there is competition on price. I also have three Airports to choose from so I am very lucky.
My last trip was $150 roundtrip on Jet Blue (with a checked bag btw). Also about 60 for uber back and forth to the airport - uber seems to have got a lot more expensive since 2021 in Florida.

As for G+, I have not experienced it yet - but I cant imaging going and spending well over 100 a day and not getting it, but if you cant afford it you cant afford it - especially when you are talking 4 or 5 people.

Skip the souvenirs or set a small budget for them like you said - they are just dust collectors.

Yes, you make some good points.

Days of tickets does make a difference for us. For a week long trip: if we choose a 4 day base ticket and do resort days in between, it costs $590 /person for our dates. We are a family of 8 - that's roughly $4800. If we choose a 7 day ticket, it's $720/ person, or $5700. That's nearly a thousand dollars in savings. If you upgrade to hoppers and memory maker, it's at least a thousand more for us.

For flights, we are from Ontario. Cheapest round trip is $700 / person for our dates. That's $5600. Driving our own vehicle is about $600 in gas. A $5K savings.

Eating out once/ day instead if 3x is at least another $1K saved for our family.

So ticket choice, flight and food choices alone saves us at least $7K.

I won't get into DVC or renting homes offsite too deeply but that saves us about 50% on lodging.

 

[robinb]

It's actually only over 2.5 years. From March 2021 to now, Nov 2023.

But your trip isn’t until 2025. I would expect at least another 20-25% increase between now and then.

 

[robinb]

One hint on park passes, you can save a bit on them between buying from an authorized resaler and choosing your start dates. I used the Touring Plans Ticket Calculator and it suggested that I buy tickets with a start date earlier than my real start date. That’s because Disney prices tickets depending on your start date and my actual start date was more expensive than one a couple days earlier but the tickets were good for my entire time. I think I ended up with tickets from Boardwalk Ticketing.

 

[SheSingsAlong]

You say you rented point for your 2 Bedroom BLT stay in 2021 - is renting points at the going rate now part of your math for what it will cost in 2025 or did you check the price on the Disney website?

Also, the pandemic caused some DVC owners to have "stressed" points they needed to unload. We rented BRV points for a fantastic price to stay 3 nights in April 2021. Rental costs are back up to normal now, so you can't fairly compare 2021 to now if that was your situation. You may have gotten an unusual discount in 2021 that you would not get now. Can't blame Disney for that

 

[marcar12]

You say you rented point for your 2 Bedroom BLT stay in 2021 - is renting points at the going rate now part of your math for what it will cost in 2025 or did you check the price on the Disney website?

Also, the pandemic caused some DVC owners to have "stressed" points they needed to unload. We rented BRV points for a fantastic price to stay 3 nights in April 2021. Rental costs are back up to normal now, so you can't fairly compare 2021 to now if that was your situation. You may have gotten an unusual discount in 2021 that you would not get now. Can't blame Disney for that

Yes rented points is part of the math. I rented them on David's last time, and I am comparing the current David's rental price for a Spring Break trip in 2024 to what we paid in 2021. It's apples to apples.