What is your line in the sand?

[SmithSmith]

I'm really impressed at people who say they can travel to Europe for less than a WDW vacation. My last Europe trip was more than twice what I usually pay to go to WDW. I'm by no means rich, but I consider WDW to be a cheaper option trip to be taken in between more expensive vacations. I mean, international airfares alone are killer! Perhaps it's having multiple kids that makes a difference.

Edited to say, I really do like Cedar Point! It's a different experience.

I'm with you! I have never been able to do Europe for less than a Disney vacation. Not even close.

P.s. And there's only 2 of us, no kids.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Conversion to an experience fully centered on young children, to include the resort-wide banning of alcohol and the removal of anything that is not deemed suitable for the very youngest children. That would do it. Won't happen just because they close one attraction or show or revamp a park (my favorite WDW attraction of all time was already abolished more than 6 years ago).

I have no issues with FP+ or MDE except for its glitchiness.

There is no way I could go to Europe for the same price. I'm going to Europe and I could spend a week at WDW for what I am spending on the flight alone.

 

[poppinspenguins]

Conversion to an experience fully centered on young children, to include the resort-wide banning of alcohol and the removal of anything that is not deemed suitable for the very youngest children. That would do it. Won't happen just because they close one attraction or show or revamp a park (my favorite WDW attraction of all time was already abolished more than 6 years ago).

I have no issues with FP+ or MDE except for its glitchiness.

There is no way I could go to Europe for the same price. I'm going to Europe and I could spend a week at WDW for what I am spending on the flight alone.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!

But conversely they prob lost a few when MK starting serving

 

[bigbabyblues]

For us, cost is the big thing. Also, if they went to FP only for attractions, we would be done.

 

[Sarahbelle341]

Cost is probably it for us. We love Disney. Its driving distance since my husband doesn't like to fly, it's family friendly, good food, lots of variety, good entertainment, nice weather, etc. We love cruises and the all inclusive feeling so the disney dining plan is perfect for us. I don't see us ditching Disney anytime soon.

 

[agavegirl1]

I've almost reached my "line in the sand" and time will tell. For me, it is the perceived value of my experience. This has to do with the actual cost vs what I get for my money. The food pricing has already gone over my "line" and with further devaluation of my admission costs, the tickets are just about there. By devaluation, I mean the following:

1. Placing further limits on my ability to experience attraction such as FP+, increased standby waits, separate pricing for experiences that used to be free to all, overselling admissions etc.

2. Closing attractions without replacing them.

3. Failure to maintain, refresh, and revitalize the park with new, quality experiences.

I'm not heading back the the World until 2018 or 2019 at this point.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

But conversely they prob lost a few when MK starting serving

MK serves only beer and wine inside one restaurant and only at dinner (and the drinks aren't allowed outside the restaurant) so the persons who quit going based on that were not quitting WDW because they expected to see drunks all over the park or have their children subjected to inappropriate behavior caused by drinking at Be Our Guest.

 

[poppinspenguins]

MK serves only beer and wine inside one restaurant and only at dinner (and the drinks aren't allowed outside the restaurant) so the persons who quit going based on that were not quitting WDW because they expected to see drunks all over the park.

I was just kidding...i hope no one left for that...but you never know!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There were some that said they were extremely upset that one of Walt's wishes was being subverted in their view, but I don't recall if anybody actually stopped coming.

 

[DanInMN]

Mostly pricing. Right now this really isn't a problem. We have annual passes and visit several times per year, so the admission cost per day is small. Discount airfare is cheap now too. However, Disney resorts are overly expensive... So we stay offsite much of the time (but not always). We are working towards adopting a teen out of foster care and look forward to bringing her!

We enjoy visits to Europe. We hosted many exchange students and like to see them. But those airfares are very high now at ~$1,300.

We like cruises, but only once every few years (a little boring for me).

It is a competitive world and Disney needs to keep pricing low enough or we will do other things!

 

[kalc12345]

Our trip last week was not good so we are past that "line" now. We were a family that went to Disney almost every year. We would start planning another trip as soon as we got home from one. NOT this time. We have NO plans to return to Disney.

I started going to Disney as a child in the 80's, we honeymooned at Disney, we take our kids ALL the time. I know what Disney used to be and it is NOT that anymore. I came home from our recent trip sad. I miss the old Disney so much!!

I hate, hate, hate FP+. It is a vacation and I don't want to have to plan every minute of it. During our recent trip there were so many rides down. On our first MK day the first 3 rides we rode broke. We encountered rude CM's. I had to go through several paper towel dispensers before finding one that actually had towels in it. I bought several souvenirs and two were defective....and the list goes on. The price keeps going up and the quality is going down.

I know Disney will not miss us. They are doing a great job filling the parks with newbies. They are all happy with Disney because they don't know what it used to.

So for us we will try new places from now on.

 

[Just Peachy]

I follow the theme that many replies to this post have been and that is the over-all cost vs. value/experience received is where the line is and that line is not fixed. About 10 years back we started going to DLR or WDW as a family get-together, destination vacation. We live in Colorado so either coast is a significant travel time and cost outlay. Back then we decided that for a family of 6, the most we could afford to pay was about $7000 over-all for one trip. This came to be known in our family as the SDU (Standard Disney Unit) of cost. From that time on, everything we did was converted to SDUs and evaluated as a trade-off. (When we looked at cars for our kids when they would turn 16, each car was considered good or bad in the number of SDUs it represented.)

We never used APs (need to be close enough to make those pay off), we travel and plan our park tours such that FP- was not really ever used that much and if it was a lean year (the SDU bank account was not full yet) we held off on trips. This year we invested in DVC and that will greatly lower the room costs so we will be back to once a year trips and alternate coasts each year. Now that our kids are out of the house and they all have “significant others”, we should be able to keep the once-a-year trips within the 1-SDU limit but get two bedroom villa’s and continue to make at least one time a year that our busy kids will plan out a time to meet with their aging parents and “oh by the way” go to Disney.

If the experience erodes enough that spending our annual SDU on a trip would seem like a waste, then we won’t go. This is what happened with our Colorado Ski vacations. While the awesome slopes were just a couple of hours drive away, the lift ticket prices, crowds, equipment costs, traffic, lack of cost effective accommodations, etc. finally built up enough to outweigh the experience. So we almost never ski. However, the ski resorts in Colorado continue to have more and more visitors each year. So, there are plenty of people where that line has yet to be reached.

 

[emldrl]

I don't really know if I could pinpoint anything specific. I'd first have to have something that I could compare WDW to for reference, but there really isn't anything like it. The closest option I have is Cedar Point, which really isn't comparable. Now, when I do Cedar Point I stay on site for free (my parents have a boat), the tickets and in-park costs are comparable to WDW's, and the thrill rides are spectacularly better than anything the mouse puts out. But the food sucks, shows are basically nonexistent, workers clearly would rather not be there, the park is dirty, my daughter and husband actually can't ride most of the rides, there's rarely fireworks, zero 'magic', you can't go there during the winter (and you wouldn't want to), and there's nothing offsite worth seeing (unless you're really into off track betting on harness racing). And ultimately, it's ONE park. So basically, in order to stop me going to WDW, Disney would have to offer a product that is inferior to what I get at Cedar Point.

I'm really impressed at people who say they can travel to Europe for less than a WDW vacation. My last Europe trip was more than twice what I usually pay to go to WDW. I'm by no means rich, but I consider WDW to be a cheaper option trip to be taken in between more expensive vacations. I mean, international airfares alone are killer! Perhaps it's having multiple kids that makes a difference.

Edited to say, I really do like Cedar Point! It's a different experience.

You should come on down to King's Island! Owned by the same company as Cedar Point now, but it is great! Not dirty, friendly staff, awesome rides, and a ton to do in the area. Cincinnati alone is worth the trip!

OP, for us, lack of discounts will do it. As it is, we don't go very often, and have to save for YEARS to manage it, and I absolutely will not pay the insane rack rates to stay there! (and yes value is more reasonable, but for once every 10 years or so, we are staying deluxe)

 

[poppinspenguins]

You should come on down to King's Island! Owned by the same company as Cedar Point now, but it is great! Not dirty, friendly staff, awesome rides, and a ton to do in the area. Cincinnati alone is worth the trip!

OP, for us, lack of discounts will do it. As it is, we don't go very often, and have to save for YEARS to manage it, and I absolutely will not pay the insane rack rates to stay there! (and yes value is more reasonable, but for once every 10 years or so, we are staying deluxe)

Been going to KI all my life I agree that is very clean. I do wish they had a few more "experiences" vs rides; but it is a coaster park. I LOVE the beast, but as i am getting older it is not loving me back!!!

We stayed deluxe for our honeymoon, we might splurge again for our 10th anniversary (but def not at rack rate!)

 

[Minniesgal]

For us none of the things listed bother us in. The slightest. We will always love going.

Disney to me is so much more than the parks. The parks are just incidental to us we can take or leave them. We are all about the resorts, the shops, the pools, the restaurants, the boat hiring we really could spend three weeks there have a fab time and only spend a few hours in the parks.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

MK serves only beer and wine inside one restaurant and only at dinner (and the drinks aren't allowed outside the restaurant) so the persons who quit going based on that were not quitting WDW because they expected to see drunks all over the park or have their children subjected to inappropriate behavior caused by drinking at Be Our Guest.

Just to go off on a bit of a tangent here, I really don't get the alcohol being served at Be Our Guest. Now, I'm in no way opposed to alcohol, but it almost feels like they started serving it at Be Our Guest just to start serving it. Does that make sense? Nothing about Be Our Guest makes you think, "Oh, that place definitely needs to/should be selling alcohol. Now, had they added beer at Gaston's Tavern, I'd get that. First, it is a tavern and second, he is drinking beer in his tavern during the movie. Don't really get the sell of it only at Be Our Guest, though.

 

[lustergirl]

I'll stop going when I'm dead. I've been going since 1976 and I cherish the memories I have of being at disney with family and friends, some who are no longer here. As prices go up, I may go for fewer days or not spend as much money on food, but I will continue to go. Disney is my happy place.

I haven't been to Disney in almost 4 years. Every time I plan a trip something else comes up. I will be just so happy to set foot again on Disney property. It is my happy place as well.

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

Disney is our happy place as well so it would probably take a lot to make us stop going. Cost is obviously the answer for most people but before we just abandoned it, we'd start by going less, staying at a lower level resort and then eventually just staying off property.

I'd actually be interested to see how Disney would handle things if they did decide to charge for additional fastpasses. We enjoyed the perks from staying onsite over at Universal.

 

[Grumpy92]

We're the same way. I can't give you the one specific thing that Disney could do that would keep us from going back, but we are slowly inching towards that point. I'm not liking the constant planning that I feel I'm doing. In the past, I was always planning, as well, but it was more exciting planning. Back then, we were planning what all we were going to get to do, where we wanted to eat, where we wanted to stay, and how we wanted to tour each park. Now, planning feels different. It almost feels like if I don't do all of this planning, I will have almost zero chance at certain rides. Then, it feels like once we have planned our dining and what attractions we want for FP+, Disney is going to tell me how to tour the parks since I won't have as much freedom in when I pull fast passes for certain attractions. I don't really care for that. And, due to FP+, there is less reason for me to be in the park from rope drop to closing because I'm not going to want to stand in long lines. This means I'm not getting as much bang for my buck anymore. that's a problem. If it continues, I will increasingly feel as though I am paying more money for less experience and we will stop going.

Could not have said it better. We are the same. Resorts - we are left to stay at the values because of cost Tickets - AP but several in our group have decided to do without this year and reassess next year whether to buy. We have already taken some of our business to US, cheaper hotel (and much nicer) and cheaper AP

 

[niffer5150]

disney is already pushing me me towards that line with the embarrassingly high costs and needing me to plan every detail of my vacation to death. SB+ would absolutely be a deal breaker.