Prices just hit my threshold :-(

[SonicGuy]

I can't believe I just read all 26 pages of this.

That is all.

Have a great day!

 

[amcc]

Everyone who says that they are happy to pay higher prices for a "better" (less crowded) experience are disingenuous at best. Disney isn't trying to redistribute the crowds in any way shape or form - they are flat out trying to squeeze out more revenue from every single person there. As so many have gladly pointed out, Disney is not there to give a better experience to any of us, they've shown they are there to make money. If Disney could have crowd level 10 every day and turn people away only because the fire marshal made them do it, they would. And every single one there would be paying the highest price Disney could charge.

It won't take an American recession to affect them though as I think that South American and overseas consumers have been fueling growth for years.

I don't like Disneys path and, living 3 hours away and with 4 Disney age kids, we've pared our trips back from twice a year to the parks to every other year at best (except for my beloved fort wilderness).

 

[canoe86]

I think a better analogy is below:

Dear Toyota,

I am deeply disappointed by your recent price increase on your Sienna mini van. We are long-time admirers of your automobiles. In fact, my fondest memories are taking trips in this car. We are a hard working family, and I don't like that you have doubled the price, yet taken out the power windows, locks, even the radio! Do you think that you are Mercedes? If I am going to pay Mercedes' price, I'm going to drive a Mercedes, not a Toyota. Thank you in advance.

Perfect!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I don't know why that made me laugh as hard as it did. Every time Disney announces it's increasing prices it spawns a bunch of these posts. The fact is, it's a luxury vacation. Disney does a great job in giving plenty of options so as many families can take advantage, whether it be their lenient outside food/drink policy, or the number of value/moderate resorts they have on property. heck they are even dipping their toe in the "good neighbor" model DL has by allowing Ramada and Red Roof to build on property. If that's still to much, a family can stay offsite, use shuttles, and buy discount tickets through Undercover.
When I was a kid in the 80's I didn't know a single kid that went to Disney World. Now it's a right of passage. Judging by the crowds we saw in September, Disney is still filling their rooms and parks regardless of the price increases.

Hate to bust a bubble but we are talking price increase at the theme parks not their hotels. The theme parks are not a luxury vacation. They are crowded, super long lines and sometimes contain rude guests. There are many Florida residents who go for the day, not a vacation. There are some like me who go for long weekends every 6 to 8 weeks, again not a vacation. $120 price increase is a major jump. We aren't talking the usual price increases

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I'm not a fan of blackouts, but the Gold Pass is worth it.

The gold pass is slightly more than what the Fl Resident Annual without blackout dates was. So basically they took away days, gave the photo pass and charged a few bucks more. Me personally, I would rather those days than the photo pass

 

[PAcpl]

Am I the only person not really bothered by this?

I mean, it's not as if it's unprecedented, or that WDW is anything but a completely luxury and whimsical want, not a need, not a right, certainly not owed to anyone. Frankly, I'm perfectly ok if a bunch of people don't go due to prices, I am willing to pay the prices and if it means I get less crowds for the higher price, all the better. Would I prefer it were cheaper? Sure, probably, unless it meant the crowds got even worse, than it starts to not be so clear cut.

The nice thing about luxury things is that you get them because you work for them, I like the idea of WDW being a higher end vacation place, I work hard for my money, and I earn the option to spend it on a trip like this. If I'm being totally honest I'm ok with it being a bit more exclusive, and the same goes for tiered ticketing/FPs. If I can work harder and get a better experience for my family and myself, I'm all for it. I frankly don't love the idea that my vacation is somewhat limited by a perceived need to cater to people that don't have the same disposable income. I'm not saying those people shouldn't have access, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to have value levels of the vacation for them, just as they have value resorts. Life isn't fair, and while some of my available funds are good fortune, it's mostly effort, and even the good fortune required the right skills and effort to leverage.

I'm sure this isn't going to be a popular opinion, but that's how I feel about it!

Adam

This may very well be the best post I have read on this site to date. Bravo to you sir for putting it so eloquently. I couldn't agree more.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

What's up with calling a theme park a luxury vacation? A luxury vacation is not standing in line for 90+ minutes sweating your head off. A luxury vacation is not being bumped by strollers, or pushed in crowds when exiting at close. A luxury vacation is not listening to screaming children (your own) as well as others. It's a family theme park, not Bora Bora???? Walt built Disneyland (and DW) so families could have a place to go and have fun together, some place that would be affordable for families, not an over priced theme park. He wasn't going luxury, he was going family fun. Sure some of their resorts are on the luxurious side, but not all and the parks sure aren't.

 

[PAcpl]

What's up with calling a theme park a luxury vacation? A luxury vacation is not standing in line for 90+ minutes sweating your head off. A luxury vacation is not being bumped by strollers, or pushed in crowds when exiting at close. A luxury vacation is not listening to screaming children (your own) as well as others. It's a family theme park, not Bora Bora???? Walt built Disneyland (and DW) so families could have a place to go and have fun together, some place that would be affordable for families, not an over priced theme park. He wasn't going luxury, he was going family fun. Sure some of their resorts are on the luxurious side, but not all and the parks sure aren't.

The first time we went to Disney was in 2007. Up until then we were cruising (on NCL) in fairly nice suites to very exotic Islands. We wanted to try something different and figured we would save a few bucks going to Disney. That trip was twice as expensive as any cruise to any island we had taken. We just cruised to Bermuda (one of the most expensive islands in the world) and again, didn't spend half as much as we do in Disney.

 

[barbarabini]

Amickeyfan hit the nail on the head..what is up with "because it is expensive...it must be luxury" crowd. I've stayed all over "the world" and you can stay at the GF in a two bedroom villa or the club level and have a nice time but Mark my words.. stay a night
at the four seasons or Ritz Grande lakes or a mandarins oriental and you will realize what luxury is and Wdw just isn't it.
Last, tiered pricing isn't on the table to provide peak payers with better experiences..or less crowds and more exclusivity, it is to entice non peak payers to fill ordinarily slow times. It won't reduce the ticket buyers but will have the desired effect of providing increased revenue from relatively elastic spenders...I.e. Disney's foreign guests.

 

[WillAustin]

What's up with calling a theme park a luxury vacation? A luxury vacation is not standing in line for 90+ minutes sweating your head off. A luxury vacation is not being bumped by strollers, or pushed in crowds when exiting at close. A luxury vacation is not listening to screaming children (your own) as well as others. It's a family theme park, not Bora Bora???? Walt built Disneyland (and DW) so families could have a place to go and have fun together, some place that would be affordable for families, not an over priced theme park. He wasn't going luxury, he was going family fun. Sure some of their resorts are on the luxurious side, but not all and the parks sure aren't.

There is nothing luxury about it. It's just expensive.

 

[Under the Library]

We were planning to turn our 7 day park hoppers into APs when we go in Nov. I went to MK once as a child, DH once too. We took our boys last March for their first trip. Our trip next month is going to include my parents as it's a retirement celebration for my mom. Since I stay at home and homeschool the boys and she is retiring Oct. 30; we though APs would be great since we live 4 hours away and we could run down for some trips through the year. And some of the times are blacked out unless we get the best APs I think.

But after this increase my family has decided against it. Not that they shouldn't raise rates but like others have stated, there are other things we would like to do. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed WDW a lot last year, it's why we are going back for a week. But as much as the 4 of us loved it, my boys are 11 & 9 and the 9 yo is in 4th grade so we were able to get a free national parks pass though NPS and will be doing some traveling West next year instead.

My mom still wants to get an AP, has zero problem with the prices and hasn't been since the early 90's. She is kinda miffed that we've decided not to get APs but as you all have stated; we try and use our money to get the best value and *for us* there are other vacations we can do for the same amount, if not less, that are just as exciting to my DH & boys. We went to MK in '92, I was 10. I was hooked, the Skyway was my favorite thing next to ToonTown. I wanted to go back every year but it wasn't in the cards. DH & I saved and saved to go last year, and again this year. We will just take the money we set aside for the AP and put it towards our Westward Journey. Or maybe take the kids abroad one year, I haven't been to Europe since I was 16 and would love for my boys to see more of the world.

I'm kind of sad b/c I had my heart set to be a frequent WDW visitor but I have to take my whole family's thoughts and wishes in to consideration. I wish we could do both but our travel budget is what it is.

 

[Jennasis]

There is nothing luxury about it. It's just expensive.

WDW is not LUXURIOUS, but a vacation is a luxury.

 

[travelfearlessly]

I'm kind of sad b/c I had my heart set to be a frequent WDW visitor but I have to take my whole family's thoughts and wishes in to consideration. I wish we could do both but our travel budget is what it is.

This is us. We live in New England but my family lives in Georgia and Florida so almost all our Disney trips involve our extended family across multiple generations. While some of us might still be able to afford to go there will be other family members who will be priced out and that will in turn affect our experience. I love vacationing with my family and I have a feeling that many other families will find themselves in this situation. Reunions and multi-generational vacations to WDW will become a lot less frequent

 

[3DisneyFanz]

WDW is not LUXURIOUS, but a vacation is a luxury.

So Myrtle Beach and Disney are on the same level of luxury.

 

[drp4video]

We used to have AP's and went two to three times a year, sometimes for 10 days or more at a time. Then we cut it down to once a year and got 10 day hoppers non-expirational, which gave us three years of trips, spending a day in each park with 1/2 day at AK and DHS. Now we are down to once every two or three years. We have discovered a whole lot of other places to go such as London and Paris, or Punta Cana, for close to the same price. I love Disney (27 visits in 14 years, would have been more but started cutting down the trips per year in the last 5 years), but there is a whole world out there to see and the cost is almost the same. Instead of sampling a country at Epcot, we get to see the whole thing.

 

[DrewJB]

I'm looking at numbers and it looks like I may be in the rare situation of saving hundreds of dollars because of the changes made? I'm buying 3 annual passes at about a $20 dollar increase per pass (I'm a DVC member). I'm taking 4 trips and none of them fall within the new blackout dates (I won't go again during those times anyway). And they are throwing in the PhotoPass downloads which I do like to get. I would have spent several hundred dollars on PhotoPass across those 4 trips. It looks like I'll save about $500 in total because of the changes without losing anything at all?

 

[DrewJB]

Okay - I realized I'll be paying $50 more for TIL. Still if you had told me a week ago that I could get PhotoPass for all 4 trips at the total cost of $110 ($50 increase for TIL and $60 increase total on APs) with no other ticket price increases I'd have jumped at that!

 

[famy27]

I'm looking at numbers and it looks like I may be in the rare situation of saving hundreds of dollars because of the changes made? I'm buying 3 annual passes at about a $20 dollar increase per pass (I'm a DVC member). I'm taking 4 trips and none of them fall within the new blackout dates (I won't go again during those times anyway). And they are throwing in the PhotoPass downloads which I do like to get. I would have spent several hundred dollars on PhotoPass across those 4 trips. It looks like I'll save about $500 in total because of the changes without losing anything at all?

We're in the same boat, but I feel like it's probably a very small boat. When I first looked at the new pricing, I was a very unhappy camper, as platinum APs would have cost us $400 more for our party of four. We might have bought MM for one of our trips in the upcoming year, but we weren't planning to buy it for our Nov trip. So, we'd be spending $400 extra to "save" $169. Then I looked at the calendar and realized that none of our planned trips for next year would be during the blackout days, so we can actually get the gold instead. This will mean the passes will cost us $80 extra, but we'll save money on MM, and we'll actually be able to use it for all of our trips. But we have a three-year-old who is princess crazy, and we tend to do quite a large number of character greetings, so this will have some value for us.

However, anyone with a large group, anyone going during the blackout days, and APs who are not FL resident or DVC owners will probably be at a big disadvantage with the new changes. You'd have to be taking a lot of trips with MM to break even in these cases. About the only ones who will benefit are DVC members/FL residents who can get the gold pass and who were inclined to purchase MM at least once. That's probably a pretty small percentage. Even though we sort of benefit under the new system, I definitely preferred the old pricing structure because it was more flexible for our needs.

 

[kittyab]

Me & DH were talking tonight about this, we are thinking that Disney is trying to do away with all the discounts and force people to use the dining plan. We are pretty thinking our next trip we eat out side of the parks if possible.

 

[mummabear]

Read my other post on the cost of going to WDW from western Canada. It's still a $10k vacation staying at this lovely value resort.

Try a family of 5 coming from NZ, $10K doesnt even cover all of our airfares...