No Disney this year!

[kandb]

We have gone to Disney every year for the last 8 years. Our last visit was Sept, 2013 and I booked a bounceback for this Sept. I am going to cancel due to the fp+, which I think is terrible and due to the price increases. We can
afford to go to Disney but I am unwilling to go when I feel like over the past few years Disney prices have gone up, up, up and what you get is going down. We are going to take our vacation this year at Busch Garden in Williamsburg in August instead. For my family of 5, we can go unlimited to Busch Gardens and Water country for $72 a person, that will be around $360 for our family. Tickets for Disney for 7 days are around $1600. We can also get a nice Marriott for around $100/night, which includes a full hot breakfast. We stayed at POR in Sept and it was just "average" and now runs around $200/night. Don't get me wrong, we love Disney but I just refuse to pay these outrageous prices and until people stop going (which doesn't seem is going to happen), they will just keep price gouging us. I have to admit, I will miss our annual trip but we will have fun with a new adventure.

 

[tbia]

Quite honestly, by the rationale you post.....you will never go to Disney again.

 

[ethanwa]

It's become reality that Disney vacations are for people who have higher incomes. Hate to break it to you, but Disney is doing just fine even with the price increases. The only way you're going to be able to go back to Disney is if you get a job that gets you a higher income.

If you can't afford to go, you are not Disney's target customer anyway.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Quite honestly, by the rationale you post.....you will never go to Disney again.

At some point there will be a breaking point, I think disney is testing that.

Sure, once in a life timers are going to go no matter what, at some point disney is risking not turning those people into return visitors.

FYI, parking increased to $17 a day....

 

[ChipnDale79]

It's become reality that Disney vacations are for people who have higher incomes. Hate to break it to you, but Disney is doing just fine even with the price increases. The only way you're going to be able to go back to Disney is if you get a job that gets you a higher income. If you can't afford to go, you are not Disney's target customer anyway.

Disagree, if that was the case, why did they just invest in a value resort?

 

[kapoof]

It's become reality that Disney vacations are for people who have higher incomes. Hate to break it to you, but Disney is doing just fine even with the price increases. The only way you're going to be able to go back to Disney is if you get a job that gets you a higher income.

If you can't afford to go, you are not Disney's target customer anyway.

Really really arrogant, really really unattractive.

 

[brockash]

We have gone to Disney every year for the last 8 years. Our last visit was Sept, 2013 and I booked a bounceback for this Sept. I am going to cancel due to the fp+, which I think is terrible and due to the price increases. We can
afford to go to Disney but I am unwilling to go when I feel like over the past few years Disney prices have gone up, up, up and what you get is going down. We are going to take our vacation this year at Busch Garden in Williamsburg in August instead. For my family of 5, we can go unlimited to Busch Gardens and Water country for $72 a person, that will be around $360 for our family. Tickets for Disney for 7 days are around $1600. We can also get a nice Marriott for around $100/night, which includes a full hot breakfast. We stayed at POR in Sept and it was just "average" and now runs around $200/night. Don't get me wrong, we love Disney but I just refuse to pay these outrageous prices and until people stop going (which doesn't seem is going to happen), they will just keep price gouging us. I have to admit, I will miss our annual trip but we will have fun with a new adventure.

I completely understand. I think our upcoming trip will also be the last for us for a while. I'm sure we'll be back at some point...if nothing else when we have grandchildren (our kids now are 12, 6 and 1), but for us it's just getting to the point that we can't justify the increasing cost on everything compared to the service and what you get. We were ppl. that really used the old fastpass system and 3 fastpasses a day just seem like a complete joke to us.

We've been thinking about doing Universal and Sea World next year, which I'm sure my older son especially would love and then exploring more of the world. It's really probably time anyways and honestly Disney is just getting to be too frustrating of a vacation to spend as much as we spend on them. We'll (probably mainly I) will miss our annual trips though.

 

[bella2117]

It's become reality that Disney vacations are for people who have higher incomes. Hate to break it to you, but Disney is doing just fine even with the price increases. The only way you're going to be able to go back to Disney is if you get a job that gets you a higher income.

If you can't afford to go, you are not Disney's target customer anyway.

wow. my family has no problem making it Disney and we aren't making "higher income" there are ways to go to Disney and not spend an insane amount of money.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We have gone to Disney every year for the last 8 years. Our last visit was Sept, 2013 and I booked a bounceback for this Sept. I am going to cancel due to the fp+, which I think is terrible and due to the price increases. We can
afford to go to Disney but I am unwilling to go when I feel like over the past few years Disney prices have gone up, up, up and what you get is going down. We are going to take our vacation this year at Busch Garden in Williamsburg in August instead. For my family of 5, we can go unlimited to Busch Gardens and Water country for $72 a person, that will be around $360 for our family. Tickets for Disney for 7 days are around $1600. We can also get a nice Marriott for around $100/night, which includes a full hot breakfast. We stayed at POR in Sept and it was just "average" and now runs around $200/night. Don't get me wrong, we love Disney but I just refuse to pay these outrageous prices and until people stop going (which doesn't seem is going to happen), they will just keep price gouging us. I have to admit, I will miss our annual trip but we will have fun with a new adventure.

Have fun. BGW is a beautiful park.

 

[redsbe]

For us ticket packages are the highest piece of the WDW vacation cost and the one we can not reduce (unless you stay more days and the per day ticket costs drop but your food/hotel increases), but when it comes to flights, hotels and food, there are many means even today to cut costs: travel off season and look for discount seat sales or other cheaper flight options, stay off site (again off season rates), pack your own food for meals and snacks (we would pack our breakfast items in our suitcases eat in hotel room, and bring snacks or light lunches into the parks). Cut down number of vacation days say from 7 to 5 or to 4 days. Alternate WDW trips with other lower cost vacations every other year.

Yes WDW is getting more expansive (as are many other comparable vacations), but there are still ways to cut costs.

 

[greengeen]

I think you have great reasons to break the pattern and try something new. I'm sure you'll enjoy your non-Disney vacation a lot. It will be refreshing!

I also suspect you'll miss Disney and find a way to go back in a few years, and you'll enjoy that too. My family had to find ways to economize on our Disney trips - using DVC points, eating in our villa, using annual passes and dining discounts, buying discounted Disney gift cards from Target. There are many ways to offset the exorbitant price increases.

 

[kbelle8995]

Disney is getting more expensive. It's becoming a lot harder for many families to afford it. Disney could go to raising prices every other year or something.

They are squeezing and squeezing.

And to speak to those who say get a better job, I have many friends who are trying and its rough out there still. And I too have been out there looking.

 

[kaybird]

Hope you have a great family trip! We also have a bounceback free dining, and I just added 2 more days for a total of 9 nites! Can't wait, still works out to a great value for us.

 

[andyman8]

I would really discourage you from canceling. Sure, WDW is going through some serious growing pains right now, so we're seeing a lot more negativity (which we all are contributing to) within the Disney fan community right now, but I can attest to the fact that there is still so much fun to be had at WDW. Try to embrace these changes and proceed throughout the park as you normally would. Have fun as a family and forget about how many attractions you've seen, how much progress you've made, how long you've waited, etc... Ten years from now, that won't matter, but it will matter if you passed up the opportunity to spend some time with loved ones at WDW: time that, in my opinion, cannot be spent the same anywhere else.

And who knows what this system will look like come September. I've got a feeling we'll be seeing that 4th FP+ much sooner rather than later. Right now, I'm sure there are some offsite guests who are regretting canceling their trips because of this FP+ stuff now to see WDW is would have allowed them to make FP+s in advance.

I guess what I'm trying to say is give it some time, see how the system shapes up, think about what about WDW really matters to you, and if you still find yourself questioning the "value" of a WDW trip, then cancel, but truth be told, I'd be surprised.

 

[Angel Ariel]

It's become reality that Disney vacations are for people who have higher incomes. Hate to break it to you, but Disney is doing just fine even with the price increases. The only way you're going to be able to go back to Disney is if you get a job that gets you a higher income.

If you can't afford to go, you are not Disney's target customer anyway.

Pretty sure the OP said they *could* afford to go, but they are choosing not to because they do not believe that the cost is worth it for their family, given changes at the parks (both financial and otherwise) that diminish their experience...

 

[ConnieB]

Disagree, if that was the case, why did they just invest in a value resort?

Art of Animation is mostly about accommodating families with more than 4 people (or 5 if the 5th is small enough for the trundle). I'll venture to guess that they were not happy that larger families were staying off sight because there weren't large enough rooms on Disney. But the prices, in my opinion, are pretty steep for any normal "value" guest.....for the most part you can get 2 rooms at an All Stars for the cost of a suite at AoA. The Little Mermaid (which are not for larger families) room seems on par with a value (the price is slightly higher, but my guess is that has more to do with being new and in demand.

I agree, Disney is getting ridiculously expensive IF you feel you have to stay onsite. My daughters agreed several years ago that they'd rather go more often and for longer stays than on property. So, we rent a condo or house that has 3 or more bedrooms for about $50 a night. Anywhere other than Orlando and I'd run far away from a $50 room, but there are soooo many off site homes that the prices just keep going down....and we get a 1500 or more square foot home/condo, with bedrooms for each daughter (something they don't even get at home, lol), a full size laundry (free, just bring your own soap, unlike Disney which between wash and the required 2 dryer runs can cost you $5 or more a load).....a full kitchen to cook breakfast and many dinners (we usually get lunch in the parks).

Now, we have APs so we don't have to pay for parking (which just went up to $17 a day)......and I hate buses so I would rent a car anyway, but even with parking and renting a car, it's cheaper to stay offsite, throw in the savings on breakfast and most dinners and I will likely never be able to justify a $200 a night room that is 300 square feet.

Math:

$50 a night condo (includes all taxes, cleaning, but not the refundable security deposit)
$17 a day parking (we don't pay because we have AP)
$30 a day rental car (this is a high estimate....our May trip we're paying $15.72 a day including all taxes, but obviously not gas)

So that's about $100 for 5 times as much space, and the savings on food not included.

 

[redsbe]

Pretty sure the OP said they *could* afford to go, but they are choosing not to because they do not believe that the cost is worth it for their family, given changes at the parks (both financial and otherwise) that diminish their experience...

OP could pay less to vacation elsewhere and still find less value for their cost at another location as you only get what you pay for. They may end up paying less but still end up with a "diminished experience"; as in "we paid $75 a day for this?????"

 

[mnagel55]

I understand the replies to the OP but they could have been a little more sensitive.

Sadly though I think Disney is looking to maximize profit and to do so they are pushing to see what people are willing to pay. Given the state of the economy and the number of rooms they have added over the last decade I am amazed they can fill them all. I think its called "what the market will bear". As long as they can fill rooms and parks at these prices nothing will change.

My family fell in love with POR and never looked back but we often wondered how people managed to stay at the premium resorts or even some of the DVC stuff.

To save some money we bit the bullet years ago and bought the 10 day never expire ticket and did so whenever we had some spare cash. Based upon the rate at which ticket prices keep increasing that may have been a better investment than the stock market!

I would echo the points of some of the other posters, there are ways to save cash when visiting WDW.

However, I will also say that its good to take a break! As much as I LOVE WDW, for the same (or similar prices) we have visited England, Italy and taken cruises.

When the kids were younger we visited every year then as they aged every other year. Partly for costs, partly because we visited during the school year and that became problematic

WDW is great and offers a particular experience, but for the same prices there are other experiences in the real world which are just as amazing.

If you are with your family you will have a great time and memories wherever you go.

 

[redsbe]

I can recall this same discussion in here a few months ago where people were complaining about WDW costs and value and suggesting it was time to plan a different trip, perhaps to Europe or Hawaii or a cruise - well good luck with costs and values on those as well!!

But yes change is nice and there are plenty of other options besides WDW that can make great vacations at a good value. Our family has been to WDW/DL eight times over the last fourteen years when our kids were between ages of 5-16 they all got five trips in at different young ages. But we have also traveled to alternate spots every other year that were varied and much cheaper, as the kids got older had other interests and wanted to see and locations besides WDW, which I think is natural for families and kids over time.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I thought you had already decided this.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3226817

Anyway, enjoy your new adventure!