What is your line in the sand?

[Luckybee]

While it's really fun to see all the "math" going on. I am going back to what I posted on page 4 or so. My line in the sand is when what I perceive as VALUE ceases to exist. Everyone values different things in their vacation depending on destination and desire. I decided I would break down where I am right now after 10 days at WDW at the end of October. I guess I have individual lines in the sand and adjustments can be made for those that have been crossed.

Resorts within WDW. I still find value here, in the Value Resorts. I went from staying at Beach Club to staying at Pop Century when the price increased 30+% in four years. I can make a decent comparison between Pop Century and hotels in other tourist areas in the country with similar amenities. Pop Century fares quite well when you can get the 15% discount that is. I think it was around $97 per night for me.


I like reading all of your posts (for the most part). Just keep in mind, one person's breaking point may have nothing to do with what you, personally, value.

With regard to resorts I think you have a good point. Although dh and I are not at all interested in the lower end resorts it seems like Disney is doing something right at that price point. They seem to offer the same or better than the competition when it comes to the "value" resorts. If those resorts are $100 nightly then they are competing with motels etc like best westerns, comfort inn etc. and obviously they offer more. Now if only they could compete at the opposite end.

 

[agavegirl1]

With regard to resorts I think you have a good point. Although dh and I are not at all interested in the lower end resorts it seems like Disney is doing something right at that price point. They seem to offer the same or better than the competition when it comes to the "value" resorts. If those resorts are $100 nightly then they are competing with motels etc like best westerns, comfort inn etc. and obviously they offer more. Now if only they could compete at the opposite end.

Thank you Luckybee...that is my point exactly and I was using the Comfort Inn in a nearby tourist town as my yardstick. And, the opposite end? Well I have stayed at hotels where tuxedo clad attendants were there just to open the door and tip their hat for me for less money than a Disney Deluxe.

 

[Cyrano]

Moving to Comminity

 

[PEC]

OK, you keep mentioning the 1 day price comparison between Disney and Unversal. But a 3 day base ticket for Disney is $285.90 vs a 3 day base ticket for Universal is $186.00. So, I would say in this comparison Universal is $100 cheaper than Disney.

Sure. The prices stay roughly the same for the second day. On the third day at Universal you will be going back to a theme park you have already been to. At Disney on a third day you can technically go to another park that you have not visited yet. Just like more than 4 days the price for a Disney Ticket only goes up roughly 10 dollars a day. BEcause of this difference the only way to compare the two parks is one or two day tickets. Once again lets make sure we always compare apples to apples.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

For both of the prices I listed, these are not park hoppers. So this is choosing 1 WDW park per day VS 1 universal park per day. So your suggestion of 2 parks vs 4 is irrelevant. You can say what you want about the value, but as far as the price universal is less expensive for a straight 3 day ticket.

However you only have the choice of 2 small parks.........not 4 and no water parks. Therefore you have to go to the same park for 2 days..............so the value is clearly with WDW.

AKK

 

[Suvadoo]

However you only have the choice of 2 small parks.........not 4 and no water parks. Therefore you have to go to the same park for 2 days..............so the value is clearly with WDW.

AKK

Value is a subjective assessment. As I've repeatedly said: I'm talking about the cost of the tickets, not your value assessment. Also, water parks have zero value to me and DHS and AK can be skipped IMO, therefore we obviously value different things.

 

[Suvadoo]

Sure. The prices stay roughly the same for the second day. On the third day at Universal you will be going back to a theme park you have already been to. At Disney on a third day you can technically go to another park that you have not visited yet. Just like more than 4 days the price for a Disney Ticket only goes up roughly 10 dollars a day. BEcause of this difference the only way to compare the two parks is one or two day tickets. Once again lets make sure we always compare apples to apples.

I give up! WDW is a fantastic bargain, they're practically giving tickets away! It is the best place in the whole world! Universal is absolute garbage and a complete ripoff!

 

[SmithSmith]

Sure. The prices stay roughly the same for the second day. On the third day at Universal you will be going back to a theme park you have already been to. At Disney on a third day you can technically go to another park that you have not visited yet. Just like more than 4 days the price for a Disney Ticket only goes up roughly 10 dollars a day. BEcause of this difference the only way to compare the two parks is one or two day tickets. Once again lets make sure we always compare apples to apples.

I guess you're right. It should be 1 or 2 day tickets that need to be compared.

But when it's limited to so little time I feel bad for all those hypothetical people that don't get to experience everything the parks have to offer.

 

[Hokie2000]

I give up! WDW is a fantastic bargain, they're practically giving tickets away! It is the best place in the whole world! Universal is absolute garbage and a complete ripoff!

I think that every one of your posts that I have read include some reference to how much better Universal is than Disney. Is there anyone on this board, at this point, who doesn't know which parks you prefer?

I'm super excited to visit Universal when my kids are all into Harry Potter, but for right now, they're into Disney. They still watch Disney Jr. They watch Disney movies, the boys love Star Wars, etc, etc. They love the rides and I love that we can ride almost all of them together. I don't find the price prohibitive.

If you hope to convince people to visit Universal instead of WDW, do you think you can say anything on a message board that will be a more compelling reason than the amazing Harry Potter world that they built? In other words, if people aren't going for that, they probably just aren't going.

 

[Suvadoo]

I think that every one of your posts that I have read include some reference to how much better Universal is than Disney. Is there anyone on this board, at this point, who doesn't know which parks you prefer?

I'm super excited to visit Universal when my kids are all into Harry Potter, but for right now, they're into Disney. They still watch Disney Jr. They watch Disney movies, the boys love Star Wars, etc, etc. They love the rides and I love that we can ride almost all of them together. I don't find the price prohibitive.

If you hope to convince people to visit Universal instead of WDW, do you think you can say anything on a message board that will be a more compelling reason than the amazing Harry Potter world that they built? In other words, if people aren't going for that, they probably just aren't going.

I'm sorry that you assume I'm trying to convince people that Universal is better than WDW. I'm not. I'm just tired of people saying that Universal and WDW cost the same when they don't. That's an entirely different topic. I'm talking about amount of dollars spent. That's it, nothing else!

Please tell me which amount is larger?: Disney is $285.90 vs a 3 day base ticket for Universal is $186.00. Neither is park hopping. So, I would say in this comparison Universal is $100 cheaper than Disney.

 

[Luckybee]

I think that every one of your posts that I have read include some reference to how much better Universal is than Disney. Is there anyone on this board, at this point, who doesn't know which parks you prefer?

I'm super excited to visit Universal when my kids are all into Harry Potter, but for right now, they're into Disney. They still watch Disney Jr. They watch Disney movies, the boys love Star Wars, etc, etc. They love the rides and I love that we can ride almost all of them together. I don't find the price prohibitive.

If you hope to convince people to visit Universal instead of WDW, do you think you can say anything on a message board that will be a more compelling reason than the amazing Harry Potter world that they built? In other words, if people aren't going for that, they probably just aren't going.

As an aside ....that just isn't true, least it wasn't for us.

Dh and I went to U many years ago and quite frankly we were not that impressed. Until some time this past summer we had no intention of going back and had never watched a HP movie or read any of the books. Fast forward and a member of these boards gave me some great advice about trying it once again. So I began to research U and we went. We did so in Oct. based pretty much on his advice and we were blown away by how much we enjoyed it and by how much it had transformed from its earliest days. Prior to the trip we watched the HP movies and I became a fan but even without that (that being all the HP stuff)I have to say that it reminded me of Disney years ago when we weren't scheduled up the ying yang and could simply go to a park and have fun. We enjoyed it so much that we changed our entire plans around for May and now we're doing only a max of 1 or 2 half days at Disney (and only because we have newbie friends going) and the rest of our time will be at U. Had we not received that advice we wouldn't have known what we were missing. We still like Disney for what it is, but for us now we wouldn't consider going back to Orlando without doing Universal (which used to be the way we felt about Disney)

 

[Hokie2000]

As an aside ....that just isn't true, least it wasn't for us.

Dh and I went to U many years ago and quite frankly we were not that impressed. Until some time this past summer we had no intention of going back and had never watched a HP movie or read any of the books. Fast forward and a member of these boards gave me some great advice about trying it once again. So I began to research U and we went. We did so in Oct. based pretty much on his advice and we were blown away by how much we enjoyed it and by how much it had transformed from its earliest days. Prior to the trip we watched the HP movies and I became a fan but even without that (that being all the HP stuff)I have to say that it reminded me of Disney years ago when we weren't scheduled up the ying yang and could simply go to a park and have fun. We enjoyed it so much that we changed our entire plans around for May and now we're doing only a max of 1 or 2 half days at Disney (and only because we have newbie friends going) and the rest of our time will be at U. Had we not received that advice we wouldn't have known what we were missing. We still like Disney for what it is, but for us now we wouldn't consider going back to Orlando without doing Universal (which used to be the way we felt about Disney)

Well, that's why I said probably. The Wizarding World is kind of a big deal for a lot of people, but certainly not for everyone. I honestly don't care whether people like Universal or Disney more - I wish even more people would give US another try, competition is a very healthy thing.

 

[Hokie2000]

I'm sorry that you assume I'm trying to convince people that Universal is better than WDW. I'm not. I'm just tired of people saying that Universal and WDW cost the same when they don't. That's an entirely different topic. I'm talking about amount of dollars spent. That's it, nothing else!

Please tell me which amount is larger?: Disney is $285.90 vs a 3 day base ticket for Universal is $186.00. Neither is park hopping. So, I would say in this comparison Universal is $100 cheaper than Disney.

$186.00 < $285.90. In comparison Universal is cheaper than Disney if you purchase 3 day base tickets. I don't understand why there is an issue with the "if", comparisons usually must be qualified to be truly accurate.

Pardon my assumption. And I don't care whether you're trying to convince people or not, but I'm having deja vu because I could swear I've read the exact same ticket discussion b/t you and another poster in another thread. I actually hope you do convince people to go to US - lower Disney crowds and more competition to spur positive change at my favorite place.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Sure. The prices stay roughly the same for the second day. On the third day at Universal you will be going back to a theme park you have already been to. At Disney on a third day you can technically go to another park that you have not visited yet. Just like more than 4 days the price for a Disney Ticket only goes up roughly 10 dollars a day. BEcause of this difference the only way to compare the two parks is one or two day tickets. Once again lets make sure we always compare apples to apples.

I agree. If you think of it in terms of an annual pass, the Universal AP is less expensive but you are only getting two parks for the entire year, not four.

 

[SmithSmith]

Please tell me which amount is larger?: Disney is $285.90 vs a 3 day base ticket for Universal is $186.00. Neither is park hopping. So, I would say in this comparison Universal is $100 cheaper than Disney.

Why can't we factor time and money? Operating hours are so much longer at Disney. If it's 50% more to go to Disney for 3 days, but Disneys operating hours are 40-45% longer over the next 3 days, shouldn't that be considered?

If we break those prices down to an hourly rate than Uni would be around $5.97 per hour, and Disney would be around $6.86.

 

[Suvadoo]

$186.00 < $285.90. In comparison Universal is cheaper than Disney if you purchase 3 day base tickets. I don't understand why there is an issue with the "if", comparisons usually must be qualified to be truly accurate.

Pardon my assumption. And I don't care whether you're trying to convince people or not, but I'm having deja vu because I could swear I've read the exact same ticket discussion b/t you and another poster in another thread. I actually hope you do convince people to go to US - lower Disney crowds and more competition to spur positive change at my favorite place.

The only reason the ticket prices were mentioned in this thread by me, is because another poster kept saying the prices for WDW tickets and Universal tickets were the same. Also, on previous threads where I have in fact mentioned this, it is for the same reason. I'm talking about amount of dollars spent, just as on other threads.

I don't care what anyone decides to do with their vacation, I just get tired of everyone defending Disney by trying to say it costs the same as other amusement parks. That's it.

 

[SirDuff]

I agree. If you think of it in terms of an annual pass, the Universal AP is less expensive but you are only getting two parks for the entire year, not four.

True. But, if you find that, because of your personal preferences, you have more to do in Universal's two parks than in WDW's four, you might find two parks of more value than four parks.

No idea how many people might feel that way, just saying that value is subjective and one person's apple might be another person's orange.

 

[SmithSmith]

I agree. If you think of it in terms of an annual pass, the Universal AP is less expensive but you are only getting two parks for the entire year, not four.

Also, the best Uni offers is a restricted express pass for certain AP holders.

 

[ArwenMarie]

True. But, if you find that, because of your personal preferences, you have more to do in Universal's two parks than in WDW's four, you might find two parks of more value than four parks.

No idea how many people might feel that way, just saying that value is subjective and one person's apple might be another person's orange.

That's true.

Also, the best Uni offers is a restricted express pass for certain AP holders.

3 (sometimes tiered) FPs 30 days out after they've been all picked over from 60 days on versus Uni's option. Which one is better is up to the person.

 

[Hokie2000]

The only reason the ticket prices were mentioned in this thread by me, is because another poster kept saying the prices for WDW tickets and Universal tickets were the same. Also, on previous threads where I have in fact mentioned this, it is for the same reason. I'm talking about amount of dollars spent, just as on other threads.

I don't care what anyone decides to do with their vacation, I just get tired of everyone defending Disney by trying to say it costs the same as other amusement parks. That's it.

But why? That's my question. I purchase DVC discounted APs, which we then use for 14+ days of park tickets, split into two trips per year. Therefore the amount we pay for tickets, per day, is less than we pay to go to Busch Gardens. That doesn't mean that a one-day WDW ticket is cheaper than a one-day BG ticket, but they do offer me a discount and option that makes it less expensive on a per-day basis. I think most posters are talking about the value they receive, the way Disney prices the tickets makes the per-day cost very attractive for longer stays. And before you bring up the BG AP prices, I know they're cheaper that WDW APs. I don't want to spend 14+ days at BG - one day a year is enough.

From what I've seen, you exclusively talk about the 3 day base US tickets. Why is that? Aren't there other options?