Ticket price increase

[kbelle8995]

I just read the price for a one day MK ticket is more than the rest of the parks.
$95 for MK...$90 for the other three. Interesting.

Yes they should make a nice tidy little profit from that. Seasonal didn't go up too badly. Ah me time to budget now I guess.

 

[skier_pete]

does this mean if I were to add days to my October stay it would be at the new prices after today?

I am not sure totally how the game is played with Disney. I know that if you add days AFTER you've arrived and used your tickets for the first time, you only pay the difference with current prices. So let's say you had bought a 7-day ticket for $269 (I don't know the actual price.) At the new price, that ticket is $289. Then, you go and upgrade it to an 8-day ticket, which is $299. You would only pay $10 difference, NOT $30.

However, I am not sure if this is the same if you CHANGE your package prior to arrival. You will need to get someone else to answer that. Check out the ticket sticky perhaps.

 

[disneysteve]

at some point, the price increases will lead to a tipping point.

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

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.

Ditto, what "gave" for us was frequency of visits.

I have no doubt that Disney tracks all of this to the penny but I have to agree. Very, very few people have unlimited money for their Disney vacations. When tickets prices go up, that extra needs to come from somewhere. Maybe it means 4 trips in 5 years instead of 5 trips. Maybe it means driving instead of flying. Maybe it means staying offsite instead of onsite, or staying 6 nights instead of 7, or eating more meals offsite, or whatever. Maybe it changes nothing about the Disney trip but you cut back somewhere else in your life - go out to eat less, buy more store brand groceries, work a little extra overtime, etc. For most of us, money is finite.

Personally, we've been renting houses for our visits the past 5 years or so but for this year, I may go back to doing a timeshare rental from Skyauction which I know I can get cheaper than a house. If I can get a 2-bedroom unit for $400/week instead of a house for $700/week, that certainly takes care of any ticket price increase.

 

[The6Mousketeers]

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

$123 for All-Star Music is rough.

I agree with this.

I will say, I will never want to go on a vacation to Disney and want to cook most all my meals in my room. Part of the vacation for me is getting away from planning and cooking meals.

 

[lugnut33]

Pete is right, the price increases will continue as long as the parks are packed.. and last I checked they are packed.

I called last night at 10 and renewed 3 passes and bought myself a new one. I didn't do my part in trying to lower prices.

I went into DVC because I wanted to stay in deluxe accomodations on property. And that is exactly what I'm getting. For me it was a great buy. Doing some meals in the room is a huge savings and it's really nice to have full kitchen.

 

[kbelle8995]

They may be going to the parks but...

I see a lot more guests bringing their lunches to the parks with them.
I see less of the guests with the large bags full of souvenirs.
I see a lot more discounts at the hotels.

I collect the pins and I am spending less on them than I used to. And I eat many of my meals off property which I didn't use to do.

So Disney gets some of my money but not all of it anymore.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

I normally get just 1 week vacation where I get to actually get away. I'm going to WDW If there is going to be cutting back going on it will be on going to movies MIL gifts etc. NOT going to cut back on my spending at Disney . Been going since 1972 and they have put every dime back into the resort . I'll keep paying and enjoying every square inch of the place

 

[gmboy95]

sorry to say....but I am looking forward to the kids getting older in one sense....That my wife and i can take some "no parks" vacations to disney.....its to a point with the ticket prices (and also hilton head and vero beach)....that an adult can have a great vacation without ever going into a park....which in some ways is sad, especially for folks who invested so much money into DVC....I met a bunch of folks at Old Key West this past April that told me the same thing, they are there with no passes

 

[gmboy95]

I normally get just 1 week vacation where I get to actually get away. I'm going to WDW If there is going to be cutting back going on it will be on going to movies MIL gifts etc. NOT going to cut back on my spending at Disney . Been going since 1972 and they have put every dime back into the resort . I'll keep paying and enjoying every square inch of the place

I think in April...all told, we probably spent less then $100 on things that could be defined as souvenirs....had to watch the budget after dropping an average of $140 every time we sat down at a restaurant.....I agree with what you say about spending as my wife and I cut back on gifts to each other in order to pay for vacation, but the constant increases make it so much more difficult to vacation they way we used to

 

[skier_pete]

sorry to say....but I am looking forward to the kids getting older in one sense....That my wife and i can take some "no parks" vacations to disney.....its to a point with the ticket prices (and also hilton head and vero beach)....that an adult can have a great vacation without ever going into a park....which in some ways is sad, especially for folks who invested so much money into DVC....I met a bunch of folks at Old Key West this past April that told me the same thing, they are there with no passes

I guess I would never understand this myself - if I weren't going to go to the parks, why would I pay overpriced Disney prices to go to their resorts? Sure the resorts are nice, but even at DVC prices you can stay much nicer places elsewhere. Heck, for $200 a night I can get a 3-bedroom suite in a condo at 20 different major beach resorts.

Anyways - my priority for as Disney prices me out would be:
1) Skip the overpriced merchadise (mostly already do).
2) Skip the overpriced food. (keep using free dining so this hasn't happened yet).
3) Skip the overpriced resorts.
4) Skip the parks altogether.

 

[princesskayla]

I live in one of the most expensive towns in America. So Disney food prices are actually "cheap" to me. However, when you have three kids and they are over the age of 10, Disney becomes quite expensive. In order to stay onsite, we have to stay at one of the more expensive hotels (no values for us - and no, AoA is not a "value" it is expensive too!!) Plus the cost of the tickets is a huge chunk of money upfront. It is cheaper for my family to go on a Disney cruise then to spend a week at DisneyWorld. I have actually told my husband we can't have a fourth child because we wouldn't be able to go to DisneyWorld! We are still planning a trip to WDW this Sept but I will be doing creative financing and budgeting to achieve it!!

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

I think in April...all told, we probably spent less then $100 on things that could be defined as souvenirs....had to watch the budget after dropping an average of $140 every time we sat down at a restaurant.....I agree with what you say about spending as my wife and I cut back on gifts to each other in order to pay for vacation, but the constant increases make it so much more difficult to vacation they way we used to

I hear you on that. Frankly so many things in life have gone up it's hard to just blame Disney for this. I too vacation differently than I used to (3 times a yr to Florida) Now lucky to go once a year, but it's money for kids growing up(college now) gasoline (live in Ill most taxes on gas anywhere) Property taxes(most governors in jail )etc etc! At least you know you can still go ...it's just a little different. I feel sorry for those who are just going now with little kids and very small incomes and little knowledge of the resort. You CAN do it (somewhat)cheaply but it takes planning and off season to do it.

 

[hookedonears]

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?

After spending a little time in Europe and Asia, I've come to the conclusion that on a world wide market basis, WDW is really a deal price wise. Go to any other major city in Europe, or Asia and do the tourism thing, and your eyes will be opened as to how much of a good deal WDW really is when comparing entertainment values. Even with the price increases. Disney really doesn't care where the dollars come from, so long as they are green. Meaning that if the people in the US can't hang, so be it. There's still plenty of people from other countries who can and are.

 

[safetymom]

I guess I would never understand this myself - if I weren't going to go to the parks, why would I pay overpriced Disney prices to go to their resorts? Sure the resorts are nice, but even at DVC prices you can stay much nicer places elsewhere. Heck, for $200 a night I can get a 3-bedroom suite in a condo at 20 different major beach resorts.

Anyways - my priority for as Disney prices me out would be:
1) Skip the overpriced merchadise (mostly already do).
2) Skip the overpriced food. (keep using free dining so this hasn't happened yet).
3) Skip the overpriced resorts.
4) Skip the parks altogether.

My sisters do this. That is what they did the first time they came to WDW. They never went to a park. This is when I lived in PA so the chance to be in lovely FL was a great idea. It also was cheaper than going to the beach in MD.

If they hadn't done this and insisted I go with them the next time I would never have come to WDW. Now that one sister lives in FL they still come down to WDW and are quite content to not go into a theme park unless we guilt them into it.