The real effect of Disney ticket price rises

[MJ6987]

Hi,
Just some thoughts...A few times recently, Pete has said on the Podcast that he and others should "shut up" about ticket (and other) price rises unless they are willing to stop buying them. I can see what he is saying but it is more complicated than that. We are going to WDW in October for 2 weeks and compared to the last time we went 2 years ago (again for 2 weeks):

- we have only made ADR's every other day (last time every day including 2 dinner shows)
- we are not seeing La Nouba (did last time)
- we are taking less spending money (for souveniers)
- we are not doing MNSSHP (did last time)

So we are making savings in various ways, without actually not going. I'm sure many other families will be doing similar.

MJ

 

[Kimberle]

Us too. We will still go, though not as often and will cut the budget in other area's. I am pricing the end of Apr 2013. A week at most deluxe resorts (room only) will cost more than our 2012 Hawaiian room, deluxe ocean front, for 10 days. I love the CR, but, sorry, I am not going to pay over 4k for a room for 1 week.

 

[Jotash]

I used to go every year in February or May. However, five years ago I became a teacher, so now the only times I can go is when prices in the hotels are the highest and the parks are the most crowded. It doesn't seem worth it. I don't worry about rides, I like the atmosphere, but wall-to-wall people and not even being about to comfortably shop in stores annoys me.

We went in 2010 the week before Christmas, and although I loved seeing the castle all decked out (my first time in person), the crowds during the day at all the parks made it not quite worth the amount of money we were spending. The other thing is we have dogs, so there is the additional expense of boarding them for a few days.

We live in South Florida about three hours away, so right now we are weighing the cost of getting annual passes so we can make frequent day trips or one night trips where the neighbor can let out the dogs a few times versus planning big 5 to 7 night trips. We just want to be sure we would actually use them.

 

[kbelle8995]

The decision in my family has been to downsize to a seasonal pass. AP has gotten to pricy too me so cut back. Also when I'm going in August I'm staying at one of the hotels at LBV. For a slightly cheaper price than stayinig at Pop Century and a nicer hotel at that.

We are also planning to dine off property more. Only counter service and two table service restarants. The rest we are eating off property.

 

[SaraMc]

Maybe it's because I live in another country that economincally doing not that bad but for us, were doing about the same as what we used to do. I dont know if its also because we prepared ourselves that it was going to cost more because nowboth our kids are over three and the change in price is in that for us. But then again the canadian dollar is doing quite well. This trip for us with two kids and two adults with the exchange rate staying at a moderate was still less expensive than our honeymoon in 2001 where we stayed at a value resort and the dollar was worth 50cents to every US dollar....
We dont really go out for dinner much when we are home and we try to go to WDw or someother disney venue each year. Thats what we do.
Im more concerned of what its going to cost when both the kids are over 9. Were already started thinking that for us maybe DVC is the way to go while the dollar is as good as it is..
Just a different view.

 

[twob4him]

Disney Disney Disney. Ticket prices, food prices, on-site prices....lets face it, it is EXPENSIVE! So to save money, we don't go every year as a family. (My hubby would be glad to go once every 5 years or not at all) We do not neccessarily stay on-property. If off property, we usually eat off-property or bring our own lunch. We try to buy just normal non-hop, expiring tickets from AAA and plan accordingly. If I find a good package deal, I will take just the girls (I have 3) and I and plan a Dismeet and stay on-property for an extended weekend. I also am fortunate to have two part-time jobs (in addition to a full-time one) to help finance my Disney addiction to pay for the shorter girls-only trips .Will I ever stop going to disney as the prices rise? probably not. I just won't do the full-on week-long, disney dining, park-hopping, Poly vacay that I dream of each time.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Let's See. Try a family of four with one child between ages 3 to 9 and everyone else ten or older. Trip in November with seven-day hoppers and WPF&M. (Prices without tax)

2010: $355 * 3 = $1,065 + $332 = $1,397.

2012: $367 * 3 = $1,101 + $349 = $1,450

An increase of $53 for a family of four after two years. This is a 3.8% increase, or less than 2% per year.

 

[sayhello]

Let's See. Try a family of four with one child between ages 3 to 9 and everyone else ten or older. Trip in November with seven-day hoppers and WPF&M. (Prices without tax)

2010: $355 * 3 = $1,065 + $332 = $1,397.

2012: $367 * 3 = $1,101 + $349 = $1,450

An increase of $53 for a family of four after two years. This is a 3.8% increase, or less than 2% per year.

WPF&M? Sometimes I just have to give up on the acronyms & ask...

Sayhello

 

[k5jm]

Water Parks, Fun, & More

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/tickets-passes/waterpark/

 

[Kimberle]

Let's See. Try a family of four with one child between ages 3 to 9 and everyone else ten or older. Trip in November with seven-day hoppers and WPF&M. (Prices without tax)

2010: $355 * 3 = $1,065 + $332 = $1,397.

2012: $367 * 3 = $1,101 + $349 = $1,450

An increase of $53 for a family of four after two years. This is a 3.8% increase, or less than 2% per year.

It's not just about the price of the tickets. Resorts, etc. have been increasing too.

 

[doconeill]

Let's See. Try a family of four with one child between ages 3 to 9 and everyone else ten or older. Trip in November with seven-day hoppers and WPF&M. (Prices without tax)

2010: $355 * 3 = $1,065 + $332 = $1,397.

2012: $367 * 3 = $1,101 + $349 = $1,450

An increase of $53 for a family of four after two years. This is a 3.8% increase, or less than 2% per year.

We don't get WPFM...so the increase affected us differently:

2010: $301 * 3 = $903 + $278 = $1,181

2012: $345 * 3 = $1,035 + $327 = $1,362

That's a $181 difference - more than 15% for the same period. It's also a good portion of a Disney cruise.

Also, over the past several years, our choices of flights has gone down and the prices have gone up - I estimate around 20%. If I'm really lucky it's $1,000 for the four of us.

We are seriously going to consider forgoing park hoppers in the future and change our style. We're also considering a non-park trip (we are DVC, so we'll stay on property, but we won't go to the Disney parks, instead checking out other things). We're already cutting back on TS/CS meals - we brought sandwiches in the parks, and ate dinner several nights in the villa with food bought from Publix.

My buddy who has an off-site timeshare said next year they aren't doing Disney at all.

 

[SamIAm21]

I thought I was being really slick. I booked a vacation in March for early October. I was going to beat the summer price increase. When I decided to do the Free Dining, my cost went up $55 because I was booking Free Dining based on the new ticket prices vs. the old ones. It's still worth it, but no matter how you slice it, Disney gets their due!!