Reasons why rates are so high???

[*Fantasia*]

Maybe the hotel rate went up cause more and more visitors coming every year and with FOTL they can justify the rate and they don't need to lure people in to stay at one of their resorts?

I don't want to pay $234 w/ AAA discount, but I just can't see myself with my children standing in line for an hour just to ride/see Shrek or JN. I want to be able to do everything we want to do in both parks in one day, and with FOTL we can. And I do love staying at RPR, it's my favorite resort! I can take the boat or just walk it to CityWalk. Of course, I would be much happier if the rate was lower.

 

[SnowWitch]

Myself like another poster are dvc members and with Disneys discounted AP's @ $304 for 4 parks as compared to US/IOA @ 169for 2 parks- Disney is by far the better deal. We have enjoyed our stays at all of the LOews properties in Orlando but I would never pay $234 for a standard view for the RPR, its comparable at best with the WL. And the discounts at the WL are around $139-179 per night. And yes FOTL access is nice but if you go like we did for a day trip in Dec you don't need FOTL because there were no crowds or lines to speak of and that was on a Sat. After our day at IOA using our US/IOA AP we returned to our 2 bedroom villa at the BWV having not waited waited more than 5 minutes for anything all day.

If others are willing to fork out the $$ for those rooms-great but I will not pay more for a standard view room this summer than I paid for club level last summer!

 

[seabiscuit]

I agree with you Snow, the rates are ridiculous for the RPR standard rooms,which aren't much bigger the bathroom at the Portofino . I have been trying to book a King Suite, with the AP rate, but none are available. So as of now i am booking a Suite over at the Ritz Resort, i will pay more but outside of the FOTL at Loews, i will be getting more as well as far as amenities, i will then try to bribe a desk clerk or the concierge for a room key for FOTL access and split it between Universal and Disney.

 

[Frances999]

i will then try to bribe a desk clerk or the concierge for a room key for FOTL access and split it between Universal and Disney.

 

[damo]

We have just come back from HRH. It was filled with convention people. No wonder vacationers are paying so much. The hotel doesn't have to worry about keeping the prices reasonable for the average traveller if they can book their rooms out in multitudes to conventions.

 

[mousey]

We will be skipping Universal this year if the prices don't come down. You would think they would want to lure you in at a reasonable rate so you could spend all your money in the restaurants, parks, city walk, etc....

 

[d4est]

It looks as if prices are going UP. For my dates, orangevacations.com was showing 187/night and are now 199/night. Hotelkingdom.com was 198/night and are now 207/night.

Rack rate was 234 and is now 244. It just keeps getting worse. I guess they think we are all millionaires. I even looked at expedia etc. and they were REALLY high. I did see some Disney resorts...IE. POR for 169/night. Made me jealous!

 

[UKDEB]

Of the 40+ million visitors to Orlando each year, us Brits account for only around 1 million, so I don't think we're going to have much impact . On top of that, most will book packages through UK Tour Operators and most of <i>those</i> will not book to stay onsite at either US <i>or</i> WDW - the rip-off prices are way beyond most people's means, as I'll go on to explain.

We've stayed onsite at US and WDW several times, although we tend to book a pool home for our 2-3 week trips and spend just a couple of nights onsite (often at US for the whole experience, including FOTL). We've always managed to get AP discounts for both US and WDW.

One year, for fun , I priced up a package at HRH based on brochure prices over here. My AP rate was $139 (x 14 - the duration of our stay) = $1946. The brochure price for our family of four was over £12,000 including flights. Deduct what we paid for our flights (around £500 each) = £10,000. That's around $15,000 (and more like $18,000 at today's exchange rate)! A stay at PBH or Disney's Grand Floridian would have been even more. Now, I haven't looked at brochure prices lately and they may well be cheaper, but I guarantee they will still be extortionate. Makes $250 a night look good, huh?