News Round Up 2020

[Firebird060]

Ya .. probably seeing Values under $100 are done and gone. As most of us know .. who have been going a lot over the past 5 years ... ticket and hotel rates have SHOT up at a ridiculous pace.

But..the parks are still crowded as ever .. and most of us have our next trip booked, so who can blame Disney?

But we are not a true sample size of the average Park goer. If there was a Disney addicts support group, I feel quite a few of us would qualify

 

[dlavender]

Ya .. probably seeing Values under $100 are done and gone. As most of us know .. who have been going a lot over the past 5 years ... ticket and hotel rates have SHOT up at a ridiculous pace.

But..the parks are still crowded as ever .. and most of us have our next trip booked, so who can blame Disney?

I still see them from time to time on Priceline, but its still rare.

I mean, they seem to keep their occupancy rate at max levels so they can do it. I just hope for my own benefit that they reach the ceiling soon and start coming the other way, lol

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

The hotel rates have been affecting people who are even on these boards though.

I used to go 3-4 times a year just maybe 3-4 years ago. Now it's maybe once a year, and to be honest the majority of my time is spent at Universal.

I'm planning a 12 member family trip for this November. My poor parents (who are paying) remember our trip in 2012 and how we had free table service dining and stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, and they wanted to do that again and I was like nope, sorry, that is not a thing anymore. Not unless you wanna be paying upwards of $10k for the whole trip.

Ticket prices alone shocked them when I told them the cost of a 4 day non-hopper.

Unless some amazing discount comes out, or half the family doesn't want to go, we'll be renting a house off property and at the very least eating all breakfasts in the house, if not some dinners.

It's not the good old days anymore.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Seems early to offer discounts through September. Maybe they'll offer fall and winter early too!

Some offers (FD) with dates through September dropped Jan 2, 2019 also so not a complete surprise when they offered then Jan 2 this year. The very few dates included was the big shocker!!

 

[dlavender]

The hotel rates have been affecting people who are even on these boards though.

I used to go 3-4 times a year just maybe 3-4 years ago. Now it's maybe once a year, and to be honest the majority of my time is spent at Universal.

I'm planning a 12 member family trip for this November. My poor parents (who are paying) remember our trip in 2012 and how we had free table service dining and stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, and they wanted to do that again and I was like nope, sorry, that is not a thing anymore. Not unless you wanna be paying upwards of $10k for the whole trip.

Ticket prices alone shocked them when I told them the cost of a 4 day non-hopper.

Unless some amazing discount comes out, or half the family doesn't want to go, we'll be renting a house off property and at the very least eating all breakfasts in the house, if not some dinners.

It's not the good old days anymore.

Just in 2017 we would look up rates for the upcoming weekend and snag some stays. Did that at least 5 times.

2018 we did it twice (once thanks to a Priceline deal).

Last year was the first year we did not have an onsite stay. We had AP's for the last half of the year, and with FL resident and AP we couldn't find an acceptable rate.

This year, unless a Priceline deal works out, will be another year with no onsite stays.

But given occupancy rates, we've obviously been replaced.....

 

[OKW Lover]

Just thinking about the whole hotel rate/discount package thing. Perhaps Disney is just doing what several retailers (ie, Kohls and JC Penny) are doing, setting higher prices but offering more discounts so people think they are getting a deal?

 

[ksdave]

So, is the rumor about FP+ becoming a paid thing not really happening? My poor daughter read that on another website and almost had a heart attack. With the cost of her trip this past September already being near five figures, she is close to cancelling next year's trip if the FP+ rumor turns out to be true.

 

[dlavender]

So, is the rumor about FP+ becoming a paid thing not really happening? My poor daughter read that on another website and almost had a heart attack. With the cost of her trip this past September already being near five figures, she is close to cancelling next year's trip if the FP+ rumor turns out to be true.

I haven't heard of it gaining any more traction.

Supposedly the new Star Wars rides were supposed to be a test for it but it hasn't panned out due to lack of crowds.....(don't know any more than that)

 

[Capang]

So, is the rumor about FP+ becoming a paid thing not really happening? My poor daughter read that on another website and almost had a heart attack. With the cost of her trip this past September already being near five figures, she is close to cancelling next year's trip if the FP+ rumor turns out to be true.

That has been swirling for years. Frankly, WDW is the only place I know of that offers a free version of FP. I'm sure eventually it will come to pass, but for now it is all rumors.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That has been swirling for years. Frankly, WDW is the only place I know of that offers a free version of FP. I'm sure eventually it will come to pass, but for now it is all rumors.

Disney is the only place that I've been to that had a 'get ahead of the line' pass that came included in one's park ticket. All other theme parks or amusement parks it was always an add on. That's just my experience though.

 

[AvidDisReader]

I keep reading about how there are lack of crowds, attendance being down at WDW. I have a Sister in Law who has gone every X Mas time for last 5 years. She just got back from her yearly trip and said the crowds were as great or greater than she could ever remember. Mentioned that there were a couple of days that were so big she felt claustrophobic (again coming from someone has been there every year for last 5 years). Now this is just one persons observation, but someone I trust to give me a good idea of what was going on. It will be interesting to see what the official Disney attendance is when they announce their next quarterly results. Just take the comments about lower attendance with a grain of salt.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So, is the rumor about FP+ becoming a paid thing not really happening? My poor daughter read that on another website and almost had a heart attack. With the cost of her trip this past September already being near five figures, she is close to cancelling next year's trip if the FP+ rumor turns out to be true.

rumor is still out there but the latest I saw was it would roll out later this year when the Genie is launched

It's been swirling for so long so I am not holding my breath but I do think at some point there will be some form of "pay for FP" but I don't think they will ever do like Universal where you have to pay for all of them, I think it will be more like expanding on what they already have were if staying Club Level you can buy 3 extra FP for $50 ... so maybe you get your initial ones included but then extra cost you something (maybe onsite gets 3 initial, offsite gets 2)

 

[MissGina5]

I keep reading about how there are lack of crowds, attendance being down at WDW. I have a Sister in Law who has gone every X Mas time for last 5 years. She just got back from her yearly trip and said the crowds were as great or greater than she could ever remember. Mentioned that there were a couple of days that were so big she felt claustrophobic (again coming from someone has been there every year for last 5 years). Now this is just one persons observation, but someone I trust to give me a good idea of what was going on. It will be interesting to see what the official Disney attendance is when they announce their next quarterly results. Just take the comments about lower attendance with a grain of salt.

I was just there and felt VERY claustrophobic. I will not be going during New Years again anytime soon.

 

[evlaina]

Some offers (FD) with dates through September dropped Jan 2, 2019 also so not a complete surprise when they offered then Jan 2 this year. The very few dates included was the big shocker!!

I meant the room discount. You know I stay up on those FD discounts!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I keep reading about how there are lack of crowds, attendance being down at WDW. I have a Sister in Law who has gone every X Mas time for last 5 years. She just got back from her yearly trip and said the crowds were as great or greater than she could ever remember. Mentioned that there were a couple of days that were so big she felt claustrophobic (again coming from someone has been there every year for last 5 years). Now this is just one persons observation, but someone I trust to give me a good idea of what was going on. It will be interesting to see what the official Disney attendance is when they announce their next quarterly results. Just take the comments about lower attendance with a grain of salt.

that fits with other reports I saw - the holiday crowds seem just as big as ever if not more so.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I keep reading about how there are lack of crowds, attendance being down at WDW. I have a Sister in Law who has gone every X Mas time for last 5 years. She just got back from her yearly trip and said the crowds were as great or greater than she could ever remember. Mentioned that there were a couple of days that were so big she felt claustrophobic (again coming from someone has been there every year for last 5 years). Now this is just one persons observation, but someone I trust to give me a good idea of what was going on. It will be interesting to see what the official Disney attendance is when they announce their next quarterly results. Just take the comments about lower attendance with a grain of salt.

I haven't seen anything about crowds being light for Christmas. However, the last couple of summers have seen lighter crowds than previous years. Raising summer ticket prices was part of the cause of this. Disney over corrected for that time of year.

 

[The Pho]

Disney is the only place that I've been to that had a 'get ahead of the line' pass that came included in one's park ticket. All other theme parks or amusement parks it was always an add on. That's just my experience though.

Universal used to have that system for a short time, but it never really spread. Charging for them is pretty much everywhere though excluding some of the very small regionals.

 

[wnwardii]

the holiday crowds seem just as big as ever if not more so.

I haven't been over NYE previously, so I have no comparison. I was there December 28th through January 1st. Granted I avoided MK on NYE. But on NYE Eve, the crowds at MK, for the most part, were manageable. At times it was congested, but not much more crowded than being their at a busy time. So I expected there to be crowds. DHS, due to the Boarding Group situation, was a totally different story the two mornings we were there by 5:15am. I had heard horror stories about Epcot and NYE. I actually found the crowds to be manageable and navigable. Leaving there were some bottle necks, but at least in World Showcase the crowds didn't feel so bad.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Universal used to have that system for a short time, but it never really spread. Charging for them is pretty much everywhere though excluding some of the very small regionals.

Oh I know charging for them is everywhere was just saying that everywhere I had been it was never included in the park tickets to begin with. It was always an add on charge or when they first introduced it it was an add on charge.

I don't remember Universal's system the way you describe it unless I hadn't visited when it was that way.

 

[rteetz]

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