Resort prices through the roof!

[guynhawaii]

Aloha,

Pardon me if I'm late to the party. I last visited the WDW Boards about three years ago while planning my family's 2009 vacation to WDW. Anyway, after recently completing our DLR vacation, I have already started preliminary planning for 2014 WDW vacation by reviewing the DIS boards.

Anyway...are my eyes deceiving me, or have the WDW Resort and Food prices greatly increased the past few years? It appears to me the Resort prices (at least for the Deluxe and Moderates) have increased over 33% and the Food prices have almost doubled.

Wow. I'm currently suffering from sticker shock. Having to rethink alot of initial planning. We live in Hawaii so we can only visit WDW about every five years. It appears the best economical time to visit is also...shock...the worst time of the year weather wise (HOT and HUMID July).

Lastly, it appears the parks also open later than the use to. It appears for the summer the park generally open at 9 AM. Yikes. So basically a family has only four hours to enjoy the park before the crowds, heat and humidity becomes totally unbearable.

What a head scratcher!

 

[Kimberle]

Yes, the resort prices have gone up quite a bit in the last few years. Food prices, too. I just booked our spring trip. In the past, I've always booked myself through Disney's on-line site. This year, I used a Dreams Unlimited Agent. She was able to save me 15% with a AAA rate.

Mousesavers.com has historical "sale" rates and promo's (such as Free Dining). It's a good place to get a feel for a good time to travel.

In the past, we've always vacationed in August. It's hot, but can be managable. There is one park open nearly every day for extra magic hours in the morning. Get up early, and be there at park opening. Stay until around 1 and head back to your resort for a swim and/or rest. We'd have dinner around 5-6, and head back to the parks. There are also lot's on indoor attractions to keep you out of the sun.

 

[Nancyg56]

We are vacationing Thanksgiving week and it is expensive!

 

[maxiesmom]

Lastly, it appears the parks also open later than the use to. It appears for the summer the park generally open at 9 AM. Yikes. So basically a family has only four hours to enjoy the park before the crowds, heat and humidity becomes totally unbearable.

What a head scratcher!

You can pretty much count on Disney extending park hours as the dates get closer. It seems to be the way they do things.

Also, I think a lot of the rate increases you are seeing are in part to Disney adding more peak periods to their calender. The best thing to do is to book whatever resort you can afford, and then maybe upgrade if a good discount comes out. I just peaked at the Beach Club, and their room rate for Jan 1 went up $25 a night. $15 a night for the next period. So not as large of an increase as 33%, but definitely noticeable.

 

[Eastern]

I usually book Deluxe but the last two times I have booked a moderate. It just got too expensive for me to justify. And these $$$ rooms often look old!

Also you can get deals besides July. I would never go in the summer. Way too hot! I went end of June once and it was hot and humid at 8am.

 

[davedmaine]

They're offering so many discounts now -- room or free dining, that you should be all right. Deluxe discounts often run 35%, so that should help.. Don't give up the fight yet..

 

[Sue M]

The most economical time to visit is in Value seasons, mid Aug - Sept, and January. There are charts with exact season dates on mousesavers.com
We go both mid to late Aug and Jan when rates are cheapest, and there are discounts out.
True, in Aug it's hot, but no hotter then Hawaii in Aug. We get to the parks at opening, then leave around 1 or 2ish to go back to resort for pool break, then go back to a park after dinner, usually one that has magic hours. Crowds are lower too because Florida and many other schools go back in session mid Aug.

 

[DebbieB]

They're offering so many discounts now -- room or free dining, that you should be all right. Deluxe discounts often run 35%, so that should help.. Don't give up the fight yet..

The thing is they keep raising the room rates so free dining is costing more and more but people are content because they are still getting "free dining". Plus they cut back on the features.

 

[momof2cutegirls]

Look into renting DVC points!

 

[Suziewan]

I just did some price checking for myself and the third week of September was much less than any other week I tried. Best of luck in finding a time/resort to meet your family's needs!

 

[nkereina]

As a resident of Hawaii, you should be no stranger to inflation and exorbitant price increases in this economy! But yes, Disney is by no means a cheap vacation. We went in September which is also value season, and has much lower crowds than July. Still very hot and humid, and also during hurricane season. You will see a brief torrential downpour every afternoon but that's mostly it - Orlando is rarely directly affected by hurricanes. It's also when most kids are back in school, which is why there are lower crowds. We found crowds and wait times to be quite tolerable, if you can handle the weather. Our way to combat the weather was take advantage of AM extra magic hours, rope drops, and then breaking for a few hours around lunch to hit the pool, and head back out at night. Worked well for us.

 

[disneygal2007]

But it is soooo worth it! The price goes up and we keep going. Disney is doing something right.

 

[Tinaphpc]

The most economical time to visit is in Value seasons, mid Aug - Sept, and January.

 

[maxiesmom]

The thing is they keep raising the room rates so free dining is costing more and more but people are content because they are still getting "free dining". Plus they cut back on the features.

Free Dining is not the only discount Disney offers. Room discounts come out fairly frequently too.

Don't forget too that while they cut a few things from the Dining Plan, they also added a mug to all plans. And I get more value out of the mug than I did having extra snack credits I had to try and use.

 

[DebbieB]

Free Dining is not the only discount Disney offers. Room discounts come out fairly frequently too.

Don't forget too that while they cut a few things from the Dining Plan, they also added a mug to all plans. And I get more value out of the mug than I did having extra snack credits I had to try and use.

Room discounts are a % off rack rate. So they keep increasing the rack rate, the more you are paying. The OP was talking about how much the rates have gone up. I think it's Disney's strategy to still give people the discounts they want but still taking in more money each year. They way they have restructured the seasons, the same room for the same week can now cost much more.

 

[married2mm]

we stayed offsite initially, then discovered the joy of okw and ssr.

sadly we also can no longer afford these resorts, our flights have dramatically increased in price also, therefore booked a mod for this year and again for next year.

i notice our grocery bills whilst on vacation were more expensive this year compared to previous years

 

[mom of lil princess]

I also when last time in 2009 so I know exactly what you mean. We got free dining in October if 2009 and s/p/d for January of 2013( which isn't as good of a deal as free dinning.) we are spending about 20% more for this vacation at same moderate resort. Well I love disney and still feel its worth it if it keeps going up at this rate I am worried this could be me last year

 

[mom of lil princess]

Oh and FYI that is more then double the nations inflation rate over that time

 

[kaytieeldr]

Room discounts are a % off rack rate. So they keep increasing the rack rate, the more you are paying. The OP was talking about how much the rates have gone up. I think it's Disney's strategy to still give people the discounts they want but still taking in more money each year. They way they have restructured the seasons, the same room for the same week can now cost much more.

I think Disney's "strategy" is twofold:
Having room rates based on season/demand puts them in line with rest of the hotel industry; charging the actual night's room rate instead of the check-in night rate for the entire stay does the same.
Disney raises the rack rate every* year so they can continue operating the resorts as a profitable business despite rising costs.

*Value resort rates stayed the same for two or three years - at the $78 and $85 levels, I think?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Oh and FYI that is more then double the nations inflation rate over that time

If you're claiming every consumer good and service should only be allowed to increase in price in conjunction with inflation, you may want to restart that discussion on the Community Board.

If you mean only WDW resort rates should only rise at the inflation rate, well, that would mean poorly paid Cast Members, no renovations, minimal replacement of worn linens, maintenance cutbacks... These things cost. It's not reasonable to expect Disney to be paying the same for anything in 2013 as they were in 2009 - and it's even less reasonable to expect them to not pass on those costs to consumers.

This is true of ANY business.