News Story: Has the cost of Disney World become unaffordable for the average American family?

[Pooh's World]

I see more people and foreigners/Brits at Universal compared to pre pandemic. There's a definite shift from we have to go to Disney to lets try Universal and Harry Potter because it's so much cheaper.

 

[mitsukoshi samurai]

I see more people and foreigners/Brits at Universal compared to pre pandemic. There's a definite shift from we have to go to Disney to lets try Universal and Harry Potter because it's so much cheaper.

Where their 9 trillion Harry Potter shops

 

[mdoc]

I think WDW became "affordable" (at least for a one-time trip) for some average families that otherwise could not have afforded to go there as a result of Covid and the various stimulus packages. I use my daughter's family as an example. 2 adults, 3 kids. They received $13,900 through the 3 rounds of stimulus payments, plus an additional $3600 from the extra child tax credit for 2021. But daughter's husband was an essential worker who never stopped working and didn't miss a paycheck, so that $17,500 (tax free, I might add) went straight into the bank. It's more than enough to take a nice WDW vacation and have money left over. Now, they're not using the money to go to Disney, but they know people in their situation who are. These are families that haven't taken a vacation in a couple years because of Covid and now have a nice bank balance for the same reason. They're not looking at the fact that Disney has increased prices; since they've never been before, they're not focused on that. Perhaps this explains some of the increased demand that's keeping WDW quite busy this year.

 

[Misha72683]

Growing up in a middle small-town in Canada, Disney was always a luxury trip. Where I was from no one ever went overseas, most vacations were long-weekends in Ottawa or Toronto or camping trips. The very, very lucky got to go to Disney. A handful of my classmates And some of my relatives got to go, but Disney was definitely treated as a special, once in a lifetime occasion. I don’t know anyone who went more than once in their childhood.

We never went. it Was less money and more my parents hated to travel. I dreamed of going, but at the same time I knew it wasn’t likely going to happen until I was an adult and could go with my kids. My view of travel is very differnet from my parents too. still, we always planned on doing Disney twice, once when they were small and then again when they were older. I don’t know if we will ever go back after this trip.

 

[snikki]

Disney has always been unaffordable for the average family.

Growing up we never went. We never vacationed at all. I knew maybe 3 people who went and that was because the drive to Florida from NJ to visit family and maybe did a day at Magic Kingdom.

As an adult I only know a handful of people who have ever done an entire on-site, 7 day Disney trip and eat TS, etc. And very very few who do it year after year. Most people I know stay off site and/or split accommodations with another family and spend a few days at Disney and add in other Orlando parks. They eat fast food or cook in their condo/house. They find ways to make it affordable.

 

[BL2020]

Disney has always been expensive, but seems to have accelerated the last few years. We were fortunate to be able to take our kids every 2-3 years (now grown). We started staying off-site to save money, then stayed at the Swan/Dolphin using Marriott credit card points which at the time was a good deal, also got the educator discount there. We also rented points a few times. We also took numerous other vacations. One reason we would go back to disney as a winter getaway (live in New England) is because it was familiar and EASY. Yeah, some planning in advance, but with guides, using rope drop and fast passes we could make the most of the park visits without too much planning. Now it seems more like work, with park reservations, Genie+ and ILL, more and constant work while you are there and more fees for everything. We bought a DVC resale in the summer of 2020 during COVID when the prices were low, our first trip since then is planned for October. But the changes have really curbed my enthusiasm. After that trip we will decide how often we think its worth it. Makes me sad as we were looking forward to bringing our adult kids and future grandkids, but are not willing to pay the current prices to be stressed the whole time trying to score rides or feeling cheated with the new markups.

 

[Boopuff]

If you really think about it, a lot of travel is out of the reach for many people. I live near 'ski country' and talk about an expensive vacation! Try pricing out lift tickets, hotel, food during peak ski season. That will set you back as well. Travel anywhere is a luxury. Hotel prices are crazy!

 

[Jrb1979]

If you really think about it, a lot of travel is out of the reach for many people. I live near 'ski country' and talk about an expensive vacation! Try pricing out lift tickets, hotel, food during peak ski season. That will set you back as well. Travel anywhere is a luxury. Hotel prices are crazy!

Yes a lot of places are expensive for vacation. I wouldn't say it's a luxury. My wife and I just did a week at Cedar Point and Put in Bay and it only cost us $600. It all depends on what you want out of a vacation.

 

[zokaluse]

It is even more expensive for the ones travelling in from outside of the USA.

We come from the UK and stay at Disney for between 10-16 nights, universal for 1 or 2 then head down to a beach for a week or do a Disney cruise. What we'd usually pay for that is what it's costing us just to do Disney next year and we have to factor in the extra money needed for dining as no free or even payable dining plan.

I really didn't want to book with the reduced perks for hotel guests but DH has been saving for 5 years (we should have came in 2021 but covid put a stop to that) and doesn't want to use some of that for a different then have to save again. Also our youngest will be 14 next year and her likings will likely change further after that so we want her to have one more where she still wants to eat in the character restaurants and get her autograph book signed etc. Also it was our sons 21st Birthday present from which was last year. so Im biting my tongue and booking but I really don't want to as they've gotten far too greedy!

 

[MrsDanielle]

In Ontario we used to have an amusement park that was run by the government, slowly over the years it declined with a lot of things closed or removed now the only thing that sees any use is the ceisespher which is the world's first permanent Imax theatre, it was also used by Imax for a little bit when it was closed to test out new projectors before they switched to digital laser projectors.

are you referring to Ontario Place ?

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

are you referring to Ontario Place ?

yeah

 

[mwmom]

Disney has always been expensive, but seems to have accelerated the last few years. We were fortunate to be able to take our kids every 2-3 years (now grown). We started staying off-site to save money, then stayed at the Swan/Dolphin using Marriott credit card points which at the time was a good deal, also got the educator discount there. We also rented points a few times. We also took numerous other vacations. One reason we would go back to disney as a winter getaway (live in New England) is because it was familiar and EASY. Yeah, some planning in advance, but with guides, using rope drop and fast passes we could make the most of the park visits without too much planning. Now it seems more like work, with park reservations, Genie+ and ILL, more and constant work while you are there and more fees for everything. We bought a DVC resale in the summer of 2020 during COVID when the prices were low, our first trip since then is planned for October. But the changes have really curbed my enthusiasm. After that trip we will decide how often we think its worth it. Makes me sad as we were looking forward to bringing our adult kids and future grandkids, but are not willing to pay the current prices to be stressed the whole time trying to score rides or feeling cheated with the new markups.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[AurumPunzel]

I'm concerned that folks will just keep debt spending by throwing things onto credit cards.

Sadly, that's the reality of years of stagnating wages and low central bank baseline interest rates, not to mention an increasingly ravenous economic environment that focuses more on short-term demand than long-term sustainability. And now more are becoming increasingly dependent on credit cards than ever amidst the global crises of today. It's like how buying a house today requires borrowing ten times the average annual salary, whilst previous generations only needed half or even quarter that when the prices were more attainable.

 

[jkh36619]

Being "affordable" is quite subjective. Are you buying a 10 day base and staying off site in a VRBO and only grabbing lunch at QS locations? Or are you staying onsite doing character, TS meals and desert parties? It can be quite affordable or you may have to pull all of the equity out of your home.

 

[RamblingMad]

Since we have gone back into the past today, I would say for a family the size of the Waltons, Disney is pretty expensive.