Theme park inflation

[Davey Jones II]

Our last trip, from late October to early November, cost us $2000 apiece (for two adults). In the past, we have always been able to do our theme park vacations for roughly $1500 apiece, for approximately the same number of days.

I was just wondering if it's the same with all of you. Has theme park inflation swollen the cost of your vacation (hey, that rhymes!) And has that induced you to change your vacation plans?

 

[AnneK]

We spent roughly $6k for our 10 day trip this December. But that included an upgrade by choice to a 2-bedroom savannah unit at AKL (renting points). May parents paid 1/3rd and my husband and I paid 2/3rds of the room. No dining plan, but we ate at the parks or resorts every day for lunch and dinner (breakfast in the room). Also included the Christmas Party and a Dessert Party for HEA. Overall we were very happy with our budget.

 

[KenHutch]

The cost is why we only go every 3 years. I pay for extended family of my daughters maternal relatives. We normally spend 12k for 10 days. I did some research and in 2006 (our 1st trip) and I spent $6000 and in 2012 for the same resort and meal plan cost me $11000 and 12500 in 2015. I can't count the expense this next trip. We are going deluxe AKL. I do blame them on our 2015 trip I was doing my resort hopping day and the people at AKL let me into the pool area and even gave me a tour of the rooms.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We just got back from a 7-night stay at CCV in a 1-bedroom with a discount. My DS10 has an AP, DH and I had 5-day base tickets (bought through UT with a discount), we paid for food OOP (was able to use AP and Disney Visa discounts) and did two dessert parties. We were also able to use points for our flights and I had a couple hundred in Disney Visa Rewards points saved. All in all it was half the price of an all-inclusive we went to in Mexico on our last pre-Christmas vacation so I was very happy with the price! I really wheel-and-deal to keep our WDW costs down as much as I can.

 

[Davey Jones II]

The cost is why we only go every 3 years. I pay for extended family of my daughters maternal relatives. We normally spend 12k for 10 days. I did some research and in 2006 (our 1st trip) and I spent $6000 and in 2012 for the same resort and meal plan cost me $11000 and 12500 in 2015. I can't count the expense this next trip. We are going deluxe AKL. I do blame them on our 2015 trip I was doing my resort hopping day and the people at AKL let me into the pool area and even gave me a tour of the rooms.

So the cost has more than doubled since 2006. That's a lot faster than inflation in the real world.

For our first WDW trip in 2007, I remember getting a hotel (one of the All Stars) plus park tickets package for $1200, for ten days. For our trip this year, we paid roughly the same amount just for the hotel.

 

[Upatnoon]

Disney is a business and they are maximizing their revenue. They are also doing what a lot of businesses have been doing over the past decade, which is shift toward targeting wealthier people.

When you look at the economy over the last decade, Walmart is busy, the fancy shopping center with the Apple store in it is busy, and the old mall with Sears and JC Penney that targeted the middle class is closed. Disney is targeting the Apple store clientele.

As the economy recovered and more people can afford a vacation, they are raising prices even more to keep crowds in line. It's a lot smarter to raise prices than build a 5th theme park.

 

[portcityw]

Disney is a business and they are maximizing their revenue. They are also doing what a lot of businesses have been doing over the past decade, which is shift toward targeting wealthier people.

When you look at the economy over the last decade, Walmart is busy, the fancy shopping center with the Apple store in it is busy, and the old mall with Sears and JC Penney that targeted the middle class is closed. Disney is targeting the Apple store clientele.

As the economy recovered and more people can afford a vacation, they are raising prices even more to keep crowds in line. It's a lot smarter to raise prices than build a 5th theme park.

And by looking at the crowds, they are not charging enough

 

[LilyWDW]

So the cost has more than doubled since 2006. That's a lot faster than inflation in the real world.

Yet they are still seeing full hotels and parks. Once attendance drops enough due to costs, then Disney will have to take a second look at what they are doing. Right now though, the demand is still keeping up. It will be interesting to see what happens with the openings of Toy Story Land and especially Galaxies Edge.

Does it make it harder for me to afford to go to Disney? Yea. But that is okay. I don't feel like I "deserve" to go to Disney every year or even every other year. Hoping I can start affording every 3 years though! Which is just fine for me.

 

[DisneyOma]

Our last trip was super expensive, even though we stayed at Pop Century on an AP discount. We did so many TS meals though, when we usually only do CS. Plus, I had my niece with us, and I spoiled her But I do agree that each year we end up spending a few hundred dollars more than the year before.

 

[nutshell]

It’s not just inflation, but also supply and demand. Disneybkeeps raising its prices and people keep going. It even seems like more people go even though Disney raises its prices!

 

[hllb]

I will say, it’s a very expensive vacation. We took our family of 5 to South Korea this year for 10 days. It was only about $2K more than we’ll spend for 7 days at Disney. However, we are going mostly high end at Disney this time. And they both include plane tickets.

Yes, Disney costs have gone up. But, I could’ve easily cut the cost of my trip in half by staying in a mod and not doing all the extras.

 

[Shanti]

The rise in Disney theme park & resort prices has been steep, but that's child's play compared to the rise in Disney cruise costs. Yes, vacations are getting more expensive all the time...

 

[Shanti]

As the economy recovered and more people can afford a vacation, they are raising prices even more to keep crowds in line. It's a lot smarter to raise prices than build a 5th theme park.

From a short-term perspective, it is. Not necessarily from a long-term perspective. Corporate boards don't tend to think long term, though, which is to their detriment as well as ours.

I have to add that we don't know that they're raising prices to control crowds. I don't think they are, personally. They could easily do a better job of it if that were their true motive. I think the cost increases are strictly about current profit maximization.

 

[LSUmiss]

Disney is a business and they are maximizing their revenue. They are also doing what a lot of businesses have been doing over the past decade, which is shift toward targeting wealthier people.

When you look at the economy over the last decade, Walmart is busy, the fancy shopping center with the Apple store in it is busy, and the old mall with Sears and JC Penney that targeted the middle class is closed. Disney is targeting the Apple store clientele.

As the economy recovered and more people can afford a vacation, they are raising prices even more to keep crowds in line. It's a lot smarter to raise prices than build a 5th theme park.

I’m not sure this is true. I think Disney is just seeing what they can get away with. Parks are always packed now & while you can’t always tell who is wealthy. Many many ppl in the parks certainly do not appear to be. I think Disney has found a way to market to ppl with less money by offering payment plans basically & different levels of vacation. Wealthier ppl may spend 10 nights at a deluxe & ppl with less $ may spend 3 nights in a value & then there’s everything in between. Plus there is always the first time once in a lifetime crowd.

 

[starry_solo]

Tickets have increased tremendously. My first trip was in 2012 and the premier AP (good at both WDW and DLR) was $750-775 [including tax]). This year, it was $1500-ish each so we decided just to get regular park tickets (1 park per day).

Rental rates have gone up too. Back in 2011/2012, I was paying $10/point. Now, people are asking $15-20/point. Luckily the person I rented from in 2012 still gave me a better rate

 

[Captainkidd76]

We'll always be WDW purists, but have found spending a week at Universal and Sea World much more affordable. We get AP's which are about half the cost of Disney's, and they let out of staters use flex pay. Plus their Deluxe Resorts are usually less than Disney Moderates. So sadly yes, WDW has priced us out.

 

[Davey Jones II]

We'll always be WDW purists, but have found spending a week at Universal and Sea World much more affordable. We get AP's which are about half the cost of Disney's, and they let out of staters use flex pay. Plus their Deluxe Resorts are usually less than Disney Moderates. So sadly yes, WDW has priced us out.

That's true, using APs in that way greatly reduces your park ticket costs. Ironically, when we add a few days at Universal, that actually swells the cost of our trip.

For us, going to Orlando and skipping Disney is inconceivable, especially when they keep adding new goodies like Pandora. I actually don't mind the cost increases TOO much, as long as they keep reinvesting in their parks. Disney is, indeed, reinvesting billions.

With the level of demand for their product, rapid price increases are inevitable. But I find it interesting to hear how uber fans like us are coping, which is why I started this thread.

I do find it unfortunate that someone like Captainkidd has been priced out, and I fear the same could happen to me one day.

 

[cruisingtwins]

It's not that we were priced out but last time we went at the end we asked ourselves was this really worth 6k and nah it wasn't. We are on a break we've been doing yearly trips so far.

 

[loves to dive]

I usually only go when I can find discounts on rooms and have an AP which I normally renew (didn't this year but that was because I knew it would be a couple of months before I was going back when it expired, made more sense to let it expire and get a new one with a different expiration date). I still pretty much spend the same thing I've been spending for a trip for the last 4 or 5 years but I do a lot of split stays now with a day or two at a value or moderate then switching to an Epcot resort, lately that has been Swan/Dolphin because, even with their silly resort fee and parking fees, they are less than YC/BC and BW. I do at least 2 trips a year, got 4 off my last AP, I drive down so that helps lower the cost, it's only a 7 1/2 hour drive. We did have to compromise last week and spend the entire trip at a moderate instead of switching but I didn't book until about 3 weeks before the trip and couldn't find any good discounts for the deluxe resorts.

 

[epcotty]

Disney is a business and they are maximizing their revenue. They are also doing what a lot of businesses have been doing over the past decade, which is shift toward targeting wealthier people.

When you look at the economy over the last decade, Walmart is busy, the fancy shopping center with the Apple store in it is busy, and the old mall with Sears and JC Penney that targeted the middle class is closed. Disney is targeting the Apple store clientele.

As the economy recovered and more people can afford a vacation, they are raising prices even more to keep crowds in line. It's a lot smarter to raise prices than build a 5th theme park.

Definitely prices have increased far more in the past 10 years than inflation for the parks and the hotels, outpacing inflation far more than they ever did in the years before that. The problem with targeting wealthier people is that eventually at some point they will really start to lose the middle class. Not to mention it goes against the whole previous philosophy of the parks supposed to be generally affordable. If the typical person on these boards (who would be a lot more well off than average) becomes the typical Disney parkgoer, then it'll be far less people in the parks. I wonder how close a lot of people are to feeling it's not worth it anymore