Ticket price increase

[crazydisneyman]

Pete brought up a great point about ticket prices.

Until we are willing to stop buying tickets, they will continue to raise the prices.

Well, we have stopped using the Disney Dining Plan because it got way too expensive. We are DVC members, and we now by our groceries off site and cook our main meals in the room. On our last vacation, we pulled up to the Boardwalk resort to drop off our groceries with Bell services to take to our room. The guy who helped us out commented, "You guys just saved a whole bunch of money." He was right.

Groceries - $281
Dining at WDW - $300

DDP Cost would have been - $1190

We saved $609!!!!

We will not get the DDP ever again. It is not cost effective for us, and we actually really enjoy eating in the room as a family. We planned a different dinner each night, and it was so nice to go back to room to relax and eat before going out to the parks for the evening.

What are your thoughts on prices?

 

[Chuck S]

My thoughts on prices is that they will get whatever the market will bear, and they definitely have wiggle room. But Disney is also more labor intense than Six Flags and regional parks. With parades, live shows, increased security and so on...so if park prices were to drop suddenly and drastically, I think it would have a negative impact on what we've come to expect for the "Disney" experience. The easiest cost for any business to control is the number of staff.

 

[skier_pete]

Pete is spot on - at some point, the price increases will lead to a tipping point. What that point is, who knows. I think the DDP/restaurants have already reached that point for many, but obviously not enough to actually stop people from going to the restaurants. For us, we have been able to go during free dining season, so the prices haven't affected us, but we have already decided we are done paying OOP for the dining plan. (We would never cook our meals at our resort - because to us that is simply not a "vacation".)

But, the same goes for park ticket increases and hotel increases. The increases will keep coming as long as the people keep coming.

Though -actually a big part of what has buoyed Disney over the last 6-8 years has been a weak US dollar. If the US dollar ever were to recover and foreign travellers started having to pay the same high prices that "we" pay at WDW, well then Disney better look out!

 

[Joan1]

deleted

 

[dansyr2514]

I find the hotel prices the most ridiculous. Tickets are expensive...don't get me wrong..but I can justify it because I'm usually going for a week. A week at Disney for $275 seems more reasonable than 1 day at almost $100.

However, when a moderate room is now $200 a night and you can't get a room at Grand Floridian for less than $550 a night...that's exorbitant!

 

[Kimberle]

A budget is a budget. If we pay more for tickets, something else has to "give". If everything goes up, we'll go less often.

 

[Justin Jett]

I find the hotel prices the most ridiculous. Tickets are expensive...don't get me wrong..but I can justify it because I'm usually going for a week. A week at Disney for $275 seems more reasonable than 1 day at almost $100.

However, when a moderate room is now $200 a night and you can't get a room at Grand Floridian for less than $550 a night...that's exorbitant!

I agree with Justine......hotel prices are getting out of control.

$123 for All-Star Music is rough.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

IMO hotel prices are ok because of all the extras you get staying on property. Would I love them a little lower, sure. DDP works for some not for all.Same with TIW. As for cooking in my villa....NEVER ! It's vacation and that just won't work.Maybe when I'm older and have a more than a week a year to spend at WDW.

 

[WaltD4Me]

No, maybe the ticket price increase isn't keeping me from going to WDW, but it might effect how much I spend when I get there. Maybe I don't buy as many souvenirs, eat at as many table service meals, maybe I stay one less night or even stay off property (it hasn't come to that yet) To be honest though, for me, the ticket prices aren't really the issue. It's the high cost of the rooms and food. I never used to think food as Disney was all that high, I mean, anywhere that has you as a captive audience charges more for food and I thought Disney was basically reasonable considering where you were, but after my last trip I noticed big increases that really makes a difference when budgeting for a trip. It's everything added together that is going to price people out of going, but there is always someone willing to take your spot, so Disney is going to push the envelope as far as it will go.

 

[Phoenixblue]

I understand where the OP is coming from on the dinning plan. However, I have to say I will not only still get it, I get the deluxe dinning plan. We are DVC but can only go about every 2 years - so when we go, we are at the World for about two weeks. Also, at home we have extremely limited dinning options for eating out, and we are all foodies at heart. So a huge part of Disney for us is dinning. We managed to go to California Grill twice on our last trip .
The dinning plan is still worth it for us because we are planners and we eat at signature as much as we can.

I do have to say the last price increase made me think about not getting it, particularly as my DD is now 10 and I have to pay adult prices for her, but as a planner I actually did daily food pricing with what we get on the dinning plan vs what we pay oop, the dinning plan is still worth it for us.

 

[AliceandAriel]

I get where the OP is coming from, but like others have said, the DDP isn't what really bites me. It's the hotel costs and tickets that get me more than anything.

Why? Because I'm technically not their 'key target range'; I'm 22, not married (maybe will get engaged soon?), no kids, and with a limited spending extra money. When we go to WDW, it's only for a few days (2-3 max) and so we essentially are 'penalized' for not being the type to go for 7-10 days. Most hotels are built as family suites, and it's more often than not that the family suites, even when on sale, are still far too expensive for us to justify a multi-night stay.

The real kicker is that, for us, the DDP isn't a bad idea, it actually plays in our favor when we want to make the most of a multi-day trip with character dining experiences and extreme snack-munching. I'm not saying the prices of food haven't gone up, because oh boy they have, but the DDP still is an applicable thing for us. It's just those darned rooms and tickets that get us!

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

I get where the OP is coming from, but like others have said, the DDP isn't what really bites me. It's the hotel costs and tickets that get me more than anything.

Why? Because I'm technically not their 'key target range'; I'm 22, not married (maybe will get engaged soon?), no kids, and with a limited spending extra money. When we go to WDW, it's only for a few days (2-3 max) and so we essentially are 'penalized' for not being the type to go for 7-10 days. Most hotels are built as family suites, and it's more often than not that the family suites, even when on sale, are still far too expensive for us to justify a multi-night stay.

The real kicker is that, for us, the DDP isn't a bad idea, it actually plays in our favor when we want to make the most of a multi-day trip with character dining experiences and extreme snack-munching. I'm not saying the prices of food haven't gone up, because oh boy they have, but the DDP still is an applicable thing for us. It's just those darned rooms and tickets that get us!

Young and limited spending money= All Star Resorts-Pop Century Most hotels are NOT buily as family suites. Both of these resorts are very reasonable especially in off season.

 

[AliceandAriel]

Young and limited spending money= All Star Resorts-Pop Century Most hotels are NOT buily as family suites. Both of these resorts are very reasonable especially in off season.

I must be one of those people, but I loathe the design of the All-Star Resorts and Pop Century. They look... awkward and outdated to me.

But I probably should have elaborated; when I meant we're pinching pennies, I literally meant that even the LM room at AoA is expensive for us, for me. I keep holding out that I'll get lucky with either some kind of free dining plan offered in our direction, or heck even 10% off the room to help absorb some cost.

To note, though, I did just learn about renting DVC points to get stays at nicer places for much less than if booked through Disney, so there is that.

Past the rooms, you can't deny the ticket pricing is rather rotten to those in the shoes of non many-multi-day buyers.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We were AP holders at Disneyland until the latest price increase. Buying seven passes at almost $500 became a dealbreaker.

 

[DSNY4ever]

A budget is a budget. If we pay more for tickets, something else has to "give". If everything goes up, we'll go less often.

Ditto, what "gave" for us was frequency of visits. We haven't been in 5 years and that will be the norm from now on.

We were AP holders at Disneyland until the latest price increase. Buying seven passes at almost $500 became a dealbreaker.

We had a DLR AP once and we too have been priced out of that

 

[kbelle8995]

I think that for some it is close. Although judging from Memorial weekend crowds you wouldn't be able to tell. Very busy.

As for me after the monthly rate for AP became too rich for my budget. I downsized to a Seasonal pass. However add the cost of $14.00 a day for parking everytime I go, I don't know how much a savings I made. I noticed why the parks were busy the hotels were quiet when I went to a few for dinner.

HMMM.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I think that for some it is close. Although judging from Memorial weekend crowds you wouldn't be able to tell. Very busy.

As for me after the monthly rate for AP became too rich for my budget. I downsized to a Seasonal pass. However add the cost of $14.00 a day for parking everytime I go, I don't know how much a savings I made. I noticed why the parks were busy the hotels were quiet when I went to a few for dinner.

HMMM.

I'd be curious to know what in park spending is looking like even though the parks are crowded. We went to Geneva on the Lake on Memorial Day, it is a lake side tourist town and it was jam packed with people, but I noticed that the game rooms had hardly anyone in them and the there were very short lines for the "side" attractions that have become very pricey. So, people were still coming, but it didn't seem like they were spending.

 

[kbelle8995]

I'd be curious to know what in park spending is looking like even though the parks are crowded. We went to Geneva on the Lake on Memorial Day, it is a lake side tourist town and it was jam packed with people, but I noticed that the game rooms had hardly anyone in them and the there were very short lines for the "side" attractions that have become very pricey. So, people were still coming, but it didn't seem like they were spending.

I wondered that myself. The studios was quite busy and I saw a lot of Star Wars Fans purchasing merchandise for SWW. MK was quite busy on Sunday but I didn't wait to long to get into BOG for Lunch. I was surprised how fast that went but they seemed to have got that down to a good system with getting guests through. I didn't see many in the shops as I wandered. I didn't see many with big huge merchandise bags like I used too at the other parks. SWW has special merchandise so I viewed that as separate from what the usual tourist would purchase.

 

[LSURyan]

The prices have hit us. We just go less frequently. We now go every 18 months or so compared to yearly or more. We're renting points this time a d cooking some meals.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I know people want to stay inside the Disney bubble, but there are some good, cheap places to eat within a few miles of Disney.

Tijuana Flats and Sweet Tomatoes - two people can feast for $25

Celebration Town Tavern - you can eat for as little as $10 per person

Five Guys - killer burgers for about $6.00 each

Flippers Pizza - Fresh and good and reasonable

I cant imagine staying at Disney for longer than a night or two and not having access to a car and things off property.

Except for major holidays, car rentals in Orlando are dirt cheap.