Price increase too much?

[snappy]

We just did our one and only table service for lunch today at Sanaa. Cancelled the other ADR’s I made for this 8 night stay after seeing the prices. We have shared many items at food and wine and ate yesterday for under $35 at the quick service in Pandora. And we ordered a lot of food and drinks from amazon prime now and rented a car at the Dolphin so did a grocery run too. We are eating healthier food and saving too! If the food was better and a halfway decent value at other table service restaurants we might reconsider. We prefer to spend money at our favorite restaurants at home or in New Orleans. Much better quality. It appears to me Disney figures they have a captive audience and guests are lemmings. We wised up. Got a couple surveys in my inbox from Disney. Maybe I’ll get a chance to tell them what I think. I doubt I am their demographic anymore but I don’t care. As a DVC member I’ll return but avoid being taken advantage of.

 

[kiramay]

I found some of my dad's old Disney trip spreadsheets last night. In 2002 you could get three adult meals at the Rose and Crown for $55 total, 8 nights at POFQ was $835. We apparently got AKL for $111/night because my parents did the DVC presentation. We did Le Cellier in 2001 with I think 12 people (some kids) for $186. It's really insane how much all of this has gone up in less than 20 years.

My parents took us at least 10 times growing up. We’d get 4 or 5 day hoppers for like $100 pp. Now it’s $500 pp!

 

[Pdollar88]

I feel relieved that my bf wanted to cancel our week-long trip in May. I’m going solo in January, effectively paying for my AP renewal. I can barely stomach the prices as one person - multiple party members would be impossible.

I may take a solo trip to Disneyland in September and call it quits until 2021. Prices have steadily climbed in the short time I’ve had an AP (2017), and tons since I was a CM in 2008.

 

[Lisa F]

DVC is precisely why the meal price increases have very little impact on me. My room at Boardwalk is under $140/night (dues plus buy in cost) vs the $400+ retail at BW and sometimes less than a value resort, my APs cost me $550 late last year and they are platinum plus which are currently nearly $1000 each, and my family's $200-300 meal will be discounted $20 - $60 depending on the restaurant. I bought in for $10K last year and have a trip planned for 2019 after which I will have just about broke even on my buy in when comparing my stay to what I would have paid with a free dining discount direct thru Disney. So, even if they took away all my DVC "perks", my future trip room costs will be only the cost of dues (about $70 night this year in a BWV studio).

All that being said, they are raising prices, increasing minimum purchases, have stripped benefits from resale buyers, etc on the DVC side, too. Someone buying just 6 months after I did would not yield the same results. People who bought in 2009-ish.... they are the real winners!

I bought in 1999 for $65/point minus $10/point magical beginnings. What does that make me? Lol

 

[B-Ride]

Buffet prices seemed to have grown at a faster pace than other TS meals and the breakfasts have been the worst. As a family of small breakfasts and early morning touring we have luckily not been impacted by the breakfast pricing.

 

[Bebella]

Nearly $1500 for the dining plan for us was enough to know that we would NOT be using it. But there is no way we are paying $200/day to eat meals at Disney. We still have Tusker House, Ohana, Sanaa, Via Napoli, BOG lunch and Homecomin' booked for some meals, but we'll split other meals since we always tend to have leftovers (which we don't want at Disney) ...and my 4 & 5 year old never freaking eat anything anyway.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

I bought in 1999 for $65/point minus $10/point magical beginnings. What does that make me? Lol

Obviously, Lisa F is a very wise woman!

 

[friedela]

I was just reading the price increasing for the buffets and decided we just didn't need those TS meals. $40 for breakfast at CP, $55 for GG. I'm sure Disney doesn't care, someone else w/ the dining plan will scoop up the reservations b/c it's "such a good deal". Once you add in tip it's over $50 for CP and $65 for GG. That's the breaking point for DH.
Has anyone else found their breaking point yet? We have the basic DP for SDP but thought we'd splurge on a couple TS, but we'll just stick to CS now.

We just won't eat at Disney anymore. We got so sick of the food and the cost (keeping in mind that a $65 meal for you Americans is $84.00 for us Canadians ) So we buy groceries and bring our own food into the parks. Yes, it sucks to have to cook on vacation but it's the difference between being able to go and staying home. Paying an obscene amount of money on lacklustre park food when having to pay exchange as well really kills the appetite for us, lol.

 

[gypsy_at_heart]

I’m not overly upset by the price increases. I always over budget spending money for vacations just to be prepared and I don’t like to take vacations where I have to watch my pennies. If I can’t afford to do my vacation that way, I don’t do the vacation. Other people do it differently and there is nothing wrong with that either if it works for them, I just like to have that cushion on $$ if I want to splurge on something I come across.

Overall the extra increase could add maybe $100 to my trip - considering the total cost, it’s not much in comparison. I just adjusted my spending money savings to add an extra $200 to make up any differences.

That said, It is just me, so I can see how it would be harder for large families.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Personal tipping habits is not a topic for discussion on the Restaurant boards. It never ends well and always turns ugly

 

[MomOTwins]

The fact is character buffets are some of hardest ADRs on property to get for a reason. I don't believe you are just paying for the food; it is paying for essentially a paid fastpass to multiple character meet and greets. Since that is a big benefit for us, the dining plan is a good value for us.

 

[TeresaWen]

We just won't eat at Disney anymore. We got so sick of the food and the cost (keeping in mind that a $65 meal for you Americans is $84.00 for us Canadians ) So we buy groceries and bring our own food into the parks. Yes, it sucks to have to cook on vacation but it's the difference between being able to go and staying home. Paying an obscene amount of money on lacklustre park food when having to pay exchange as well really kills the appetite for us, lol.

I may be weird but I enjoy cooking on vacation. I do things I would not normally do at home - spend the extra money on fire chopped vegetables, buy the $30 a pound king salmon, and serve desert! And I don't feel like I need to clean up quite the same way I do in my kitchen. The best though is eating & drinking on the screened in patio overlooking the lake. Bliss

 

[TeresaWen]

See post above. Forgot to mention wearing PJs for dinner

 

[amie416]

The increases hurt a bit... I was really excited to score a reservation for two of us at California Grill brunch at 55 days out, only to find out that the price has jumped from $80 to nearly $100 each. *sigh*

It’s our one big splurge on this trip after a disappointing and expensive round of IVF, so I’m not going to cancel... but we might pass on MVMCP (we’ve never been) and eat more counter service meals.

 

[firefly_ris]

I currently have 4 ADRs for a week long stay. I even had a thread looking for opinion Ohana vs CP breakfast... but now looking at everything again, it looks like I will most likely cancel CP altogether. $155 for a breakfast buffet is a hard pill to swallow. At least at the other places I booked we can split some stuff. I really wanted to be at Crystal Palace because it's so nostalgic to me, and has that classic Disneyland-esque feel, but it's hard to justify that price. I could afford it just doing a few more hours on a side project, but why? The cost vs value just doesn't seem to even out to me.

 

[smiths02]

We don't eat at buffets so those price increases don't bother us. We have never really thought the prices for TS at WDW to be too extreme given they are located in or around an amusement park and all food at all amusement parks is higher than your local food might be. We live in a college town very close to Atlanta so the prices here at decent restaurants is pretty close to WDW prices for us. And by decent I'm not talking somewhere you would need a reservation (there are no such restaurants in our town by the way) I'm talking just simple chain restaurants like Red Lobster or Outback. We can easily spend over $100 for a meal and that is without appetizers and sharing a dessert and each having one drink. Drinks in our bars are pretty close to WDW prices as well.

We live in a suburb of Atlanta. We have a place around here called The Studio Cafe. They usually do lunch buffets, but on Friday and Saturday nights, they do buffets with crab legs and steak and live entertainment.
The food is WAY above and beyond any Disney buffet. Soft drinks are not included so add $2 for a drink
Kids under 3 Free
Kids 3-5 $7.50
Kids 6-12 $14.99
Adults $29.90 (they have started limiting the snow crab to 4 clusters due to rising costs)
If you are vegetarian you can get dinner salad buffet plus hot vegetables for $17.95
10% Discount for Senior Guests (62+) and Military.

Let's compare this to Cape May Dinner (no characters)
Adult $55.38, Child (3-9): $30.89

So my family of 5 can eat MUCH, MUCH better food with live entertainment for $123.82 (once I add in soft drinks and taxes) OR we can eat at Cape May for $227.92

Now, some of the a la carte TS are not as big of a markup, but really I have found most of them to be on-par with low end chain restaurants (like Applebee's).

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I totally agree. We aren’t planning any TS meals for our Spring Break trip. I’m also scheduling 3 or 4 meals outside of the parks and I’m just glad that at the ages my kids are now, we can do open to close with a few hours down time. I’ve done trips were we ate every meal in the park, and I’ve dont trips where we stayed in a condo and made all our meals there. At this point I’m trying to strike a balance between what I’m comfortable paying and losing Park time. I tried pricing out the dining plan and it was going to more than double what I expect us to pay OOP eating 80% of our meals counter service.

 

[Huff]

We cannot afford to go to Disney without substantial discounts. Our next trip is in November with free dining. $4200 for 9 nights at a AS Sports with park hoppers and upgrade to DDP for 4 adults. Airfare was another $1600. So $161 per person per night.

For comparison 10 years ago my wife and I went for 7 nights at POP. Total cost including free DDP, passes and airfare was $2000 or $143 per person per night.

 

[TeresaWen]

We cannot afford to go to Disney without substantial discounts. Our next trip is in November with free dining. $4200 for 9 nights at a AS Sports with park hoppers and upgrade to DDP for 4 adults. Airfare was another $1600. So $161 per person per night.

For comparison 10 years ago my wife and I went for 7 nights at POP. Total cost including free DDP, passes and airfare was $2000 or $143 per person per night.

Maybe it is all the wine I’m drinking by the pool but that seems like a pretty small increase for 10 years.

 

[smiths02]

I was just reading the price increasing for the buffets and

decided we just didn't need those TS meals. $40 for breakfast at CP, $55 for GG. I'm sure Disney doesn't care, someone else w/ the dining plan will scoop up the reservations b/c it's "such a good deal". Once you add in tip it's over $50 for CP and $65 for GG. That's the breaking point for DH.
Has anyone else found their breaking point yet? We have the basic DP for SDP but thought we'd splurge on a couple TS, but we'll just stick to CS now.

We are about at the breaking point for Disney in general. For us, several things will have to give if we plan a trip back. Most likely, since we drive, it will be staying offsite (or possibly doing a cabin at Ft Wilderness or renting DVC) and either eating out at chain restaurants, doing a lot of our own cooking, and/or eating more quick service.