Without requoting your entire article -- Good summary.
I don't find it shocking Disney raises the prices. We have to remember that while the cost of US buying things goes up .. so does the cost of Disney doing business. They just don't charge more for food .. they charge more for food because it costs them more to get the food. They charge more in
ticket prices because they have to pay their employees more (either in pay or benefits) . .etc. etc.
Sure .. is it shocking to know that prices were X 10 years ago? Sure. But just think about everything else in your life (that is or isn't a luxury) whose price has changed since 2007 .. it just isn't as blatantly advertised (and thus we don't get as upset about it).
If a $5/per day increase makes or breaks whether your family goes to WDW, then maybe you need to look at other vacation options, because that means maybe you were too stretched to begin with.
My overall point is .. you can offset the $5 increase by just doing less. If you want to make a Disney vacation affordable for your family ... Then you can probably save more than the price increase by simply going one less day (you can probably save hundreds of dollars in hotel/tickets and food by simply going one less day). Yes .. there are some people who can afford 14 day vacations, but that doesn't mean your family can't have fun with a 3 day vacation to WDW (trust me .. I've done it for several years now).
I don't know what Disney's goals are, but it just feels that they are raising the base price to make the multi-day options look more and more appealing. But with the ticket and hotel prices, I think that people may just end up going less. *shrug*.
Unfortunately, I would say you're being a bit naive here, with Disney's increased costs. I understand wanting to give the benefit of the doubt but.... The huge increase in cost of food that they're charging is well above the rise in food costs. They also are notorious for paying their employees very little - and I can promise you that their increased in costs are not because of a large jump in employee salary costs. Their large increase in costs are primarily due to other reasons, not the least of which is decreasing stocks, ESPN, having to bail out other parks, building other parks, decreasing attendance etc...
As for your judgement that if a $200-300 increase breaks you, then you were over stretched, that's not really for you to say, is it? Because you don't know everyone's financial states. Almost everyone has a "maximum" that they can pay for a vacation, and the line has to be drawn somewhere. There's also just the principal end of things, that to some people, they have a limit on what they feel the trip is worth, and again, once you go past that line.... Goodness knows, there's been a lot of regulars discussing that on this board.
For people who do a lot of extra spending on vacation, then definitely, I agree, it's very easy to off-set the increased cost: don't buy snacks, skip the character meal, don't buy souvenirs etc... So, yeah, it's not such a big deal. And let's face it, that's definitely the majority of this board. But then that also kind of takes you back to the above point: a lot of people don't want to have to cut back to enjoy a trip that only 2-3 years ago they could take for FAR less, a trip whose cost has increased at a rate that is much, MUCH higher, than the rate of inflation.
Then, there are those on here (myself included), who already scrimp and save and use all the cost-cutting measures to be able to afford a trip to Disney. We're the ones who stay off-site and travel with grandparents which allows us to share lodging and meal costs, because we buy a week of groceries and cook, who use reusable water bottles that you can refill for free, pack snacks, won't be eating on Disney property, won't be buying souvenirs etc... So, when you're already using all those measures, it becomes much more difficult to off-set the increased costs.
Cutting back a day, depending on circumstances, doesn't necessarily equate a large savings: for our family of 4, staying one day less would only save us about $120, so it doesn't off-set in the increase. To do that, we would have to stay 2 days less, which to us, is a significant cut in our vacation, and really becomes pointless to us, because a) we have to spend 3 days traveling just to get there b) we aren't frequent visitors. In fact, we have only been once. It will be at least 3 years (in between) before we're back again, and that will likely be our last trip due to increased costs. If we were able to go yearly like most on here, then definitely, we wouldn't care so much about having to cut into our time there, because there would always be a next trip in the near future.
But again, we're in the definitely minority here. But, it's just something to keep in mind when making flippant remarks about people's finances and how easy it is to off-set costs etc... Everyone is coming from a different place.
