Who is cancelling Disney

[KayLuvsMickey]

Not us. I've worked hard to save up the money to go so I'll just save more for the extra cost of gas.
And we drive 7 hours to get there too.

Where in GA do you live? We live in McDonough and it takes us about 6 hours! I wish I was a little closer!

 

[eliza61]

I don't think it is the price of the increase of the vacation itself. It is the fact that now they are spending 500 dollars a month in gas instead of 300. Plus groceries have gone up so much now. I paid 2 dollars for a sale loaf of bread...ridiculous!!! Anyway their groceries have gone up and so their disposable income is going away. Does that make sense?? Plus some people are getting laid off, they can't afford their housing anymore and/or cannot sell their homes or gas guzzling cars (Boy, am I glad we got rid of our Suburban a little over a year ago!! I doubt we could sell it now.) Plus, plane tickets are getting out of sight around here and now you have to pay to check your first bag???!!! So I think it is the culmination of all of those factors that will cause a slowdown in Disney at least on the American side for the holidays and in the spring. Trips this summer and fall are probably already paid for, but farther out than that... Now overseas people may take care of the slack, but I'm betting the attendance will start dropping for Americans late in the fall.

Christine

Christine

We've been speculating on this for a while so of course who knows. I'm probably one of the few who doesn't think there will be a major slow down at Disney for a variety of reasons.

1) Disney is great a marketing. Believe me, if they see a drop in park revenue they will think up some new "to-do" to get people back in the parks.
for the first 2 quarters of this year Disney's profits have been up by ~11-14%

2) People will find a way to take a vacation (I'm one of them). I will cut back at home, cut out movies, drinks, dinners out etc. but I need a vacation. If I have to eat ramien noodles for weeks on end I will but if I go to work, I'm taking a vacation.

3) I've been looking around this year and EVERY PLACE is expensive. 1 week at the shore, easy 2-3 thousand dollars. Trip to NYC, Washington or Chicago definitely a couple of grand. Forget Europe. Mexico use to be a good bargain, now a week at an all inclusive is still thousands of dollars. I would love to know where a family of 4 can vacation nicely for $500 bucks/week.
Six flags, excuse not only are they lousy but the food is just as expensive as any counter service at Disney.
So $$ for $$ Disney is still a good value. People may cut back (maybe stay at a moderate instead of a deluxe, cut down on the number of TS meals and souveniers) but I think they will still come.

 

[DEBBYIAC]

I think increasing gas prices are a great thing. We have been getting by on really inexpensive fuel for a long time. This cost will inspire new jobs in new fields of engineering and science.

For us, we're not changing our plans. We were actually fortunate (or unfortunate if you consider the circumstances) to need a new car in December and we moved to a nice Volvo that gets about 30% better gas mileage then our previous car (we were in a major car accident). So we now don't need to fill up as much and in turn, we've actually seen our gas bill go down or stay close to the same month to month compared to last year.

As we basically live on just one person salary (the other salary is basically just saved) we really don't think we'll see much of an impact of gas prices anytime in the near future.

I agree with you I feel that compared to other prices gas was way to cheap to being with, don't get me wrong I would much rather pay 99 a gallon but milk has been 4 a gallon for ever. maybe this will make us acutally take a walk to the corner store and or a bike ride we need to conserve anyway.

 

[ctot216]

Nope, but it did tip the scale to flying versus driving.
2300 miles round trip equals 65-75 gallons of gas, or around $300.
For the two of us, we are flying round trip for a total of $350.
So for $50 more, we save
-two days of driving,
-2300+ miles on our car

And we add two days onto our vacation (plus additional hotel costs, I know)

 

[polineedyan]

This has me perplexed on why people would cancel a trip because of gas prices. Its not like you woke up one day and the prices were all of a sudden over $4 a gallon, its been a gradual increase.

For example for us to drive to WDW, I figured 2800 miles (20 mpg) round trip at $4 a gallon, that equals $560 for gas. So, when I planned the trip, say gas was $3 a gallon so that trip would be $420. You would cancel a family summer vacation for $140

I truly don't get it? If that were me I'd just budget my vacation and meals a little tighter. I think people are freaking out at the price per gallon (which is ridiculous BTW), and not actually figuring out that they really don't need to cancel their trips because of a sticker shock.

And unfortunately, my employer has not "gradually increased" my salary as the gas prices went up..
Kinda sounds like the a certain frog in a pot of boiling water, if you asked me..very few people go broke overnight..its usally "gradual"..
gradual. horse-mess.

 

[LegoMom3]

....
The price of gas freaks me out. (I know a lot of people think it's much ado about nothing.) I feel it's the precursor to the fall of civilization as we know it. Does that make me a pessimist?

I'm not "freaking out" over the rise in gas prices, but in the back of my mind, I wonder "how long??" I mean, how long can the price of a barrel of oil continue to reach a "record high," every single day?! And I do think we are seeing the beginning of some big changes in this country and how we are used to living.

.....

3) I've been looking around this year and EVERY PLACE is expensive. 1 week at the shore, easy 2-3 thousand dollars. Trip to NYC, Washington or Chicago definitely a couple of grand. Forget Europe. Mexico use to be a good bargain, now a week at an all inclusive is still thousands of dollars. I would love to know where a family of 4 can vacation nicely for $500 bucks/week.
Six flags, excuse not only are they lousy but the food is just as expensive as any counter service at Disney.
So $$ for $$ Disney is still a good value. People may cut back (maybe stay at a moderate instead of a deluxe, cut down on the number of TS meals and souveniers) but I think they will still come.

This is pretty much why we ARE going to Disney this year! We have kind of been on this every-other-year schedule, and '08 was up for another trip to WDW. At the beginning of this year, I started to rethink it, knowing how much gas would go up (and thus airline tix, etc.). So, I started pricing out a vacation to the Smokey Mts. Always wanted to go there, and we wanted to spend some time in Gatlinburg, too. Since that would be a driving trip from NH, I started calculating the gas it would take. The sum total of that trip ended up SO close to the WDW trip cost (esp. since we got in on Free Dining) that we said, "What the hey, might as well do the World one more time!" (well, not "one more time" as in forever, but as originally planned!! ).

My DH works long hours with little time off. We are going to scrimp and save to be able to take that coveted family vacation, so for us, no, gas prices are not cancelling our plans.

.

 

[Taja]

Not planning to cancel my December WDW trip unless due to illness, injury or my job. There are some aspects of life I can't control! *LOL*

However, this probably will be my last WDW visit for several years, unless there is some kind of spectacular offer during that time. WDW is good value for the money, but there are other things I want to do, as well. I had planned to make last December's visit the last for a few years, but I was walking wounded--barely walking!--and wasn't able to do much. So I'm treating myself to one more visit to do the things I want and take a much needed break!

 

[CharityLynn]

I don't think we'd cancell our trip because of gas prices, but our property tax went up which has changed out mortgage payment (raised it almost $100 a month!) and that may have an impact on weather or not we are able yo go next year

 

[FinsUp!]

Not cancelling, just cut back on other things. Everything paid for already!

Ditto, here! I work hard and play hard.

 

[HonnyDipp]

Oh, no, we are not cancelling over gas prices. I'm just saving more now, not eating out as much

 

[arielfan]

GAS PRICES GOING UP IS A GOOD THING?? FOR WHO?? I KNOW OPEC OIL COMPANY AND ALL THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO HAVE STOCKS IN OIL!!!! THIS IS ALL HAPPENING WHILE THE MIDDLE CLASS IS LOSING EVERYTHING, OH WAIT THERE IS NO LONGER A MIDDLE CLASS, B/C ALL OF OUR JOBS HAVE BEEN SHIPPED OVER SEAS. B/C WE NO LONGER BUY AMERICAN PRODUCTS!!!! GOING ON VACATION WILL SOON BE A THING OF THE PAST AIRLINE PRICES ARE DOUBLING AND THE COST OF EVERYTHING IS GOING UP!!!!

 

[utahkennedys]

We booked an extra WDW trip in Sept. to take my Mom as we couldn't resist free dining, but the airfares are $420 each so now I am having second thoughts...we can cancel until the end of July so I watch fares all of the time. We are going to DL 3 weeks after this trip, so really we should cancel...I guess good deals are too hard for me to miss and we hadn't taken my Mom in a few years...we'll see. It all comes down to airfare for us even though we have the cash, we are trying to be conservative. We are doing Yellowstone this summer because we can drive, Disneyland in Oct with ff miles, and San Diego with ff miles. I heard airfare may triple in the coming months...which would mean the end of our WDW trips for a while...

 

[rebe1968]

I will not give up my vacation for anything my daughter and I deserve it I will not work 6 days a week just to pay bills,bills,bills.and do nothing else..I have to have some vacation in my life..

 

[I'mwithGrumpy]

I can do $20 of gas for 10 days.

Wow! I can't imagine how that would feel. My drive to work one way is almost 70 miles. I drive the most economical car I can, but it's taking one whole paycheck each month to pay for mine and DH's gas back and forth to work. There just aren't any opportunities for work in our area, we live in a very rural setting.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I'm not cancelling now, but we aren't going until the end of October, who knows what will happen by then? We do already have our tickets though and the airfare is booked and paid for and 1/2 the amount for the hotel, so chances are pretty good we'll go no matter what. I'd rather cut back on other stuff than my Disney time anyway. I work hard and look forward to going too much. It's really what gets me through.

 

[TDC Nala]

Not cancelling any of the 11 trips I have booked (8 to Florida, 1 to Vegas, 1 to Australia/New Zealand)

 

[disney-super-mom]

I don't know. We might cancel due to airfares being over $400 pp roundtrip. We can fly to Disneyland for half that, and it's more cost effective for us to use our air miles flying to California as well.

So, cancel our trip to WDW......yes, it's possible. (And yes, the family would be disappointed to miss out on their first trip to WDW.)

But we'll at least make it to Disneyland and southern California for a week. That's a pretty good plan B if you ask me.

 

[bellsandwhistles]

To Christine - well said!

Regardless of whether we can individually absorb the higher gas, food and service prices, there are many that can't. I believe the trickle affect causes issues for all of us in other ways than just the higher prices. I think customer service satisfaction will fall as the economy gets worse. So many service jobs are such low paying positions, just how friendly and magical will those workers be if they are basically working to pay gas and feed peanut butter to the kids?

I know some people didn't agree with a poster on another thread regarding their less than stellar Poly experience. However, I won't be surprised if we hear more and more of that as the crunch gets tighter.

As for us, we're still planning and hoping for the best

 

[bell.of.the.ball]

GAS PRICES GOING UP IS A GOOD THING?? FOR WHO?? I KNOW OPEC OIL COMPANY AND ALL THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO HAVE STOCKS IN OIL!!!! THIS IS ALL HAPPENING WHILE THE MIDDLE CLASS IS LOSING EVERYTHING, OH WAIT THERE IS NO LONGER A MIDDLE CLASS, B/C ALL OF OUR JOBS HAVE BEEN SHIPPED OVER SEAS. B/C WE NO LONGER BUY AMERICAN PRODUCTS!!!! GOING ON VACATION WILL SOON BE A THING OF THE PAST AIRLINE PRICES ARE DOUBLING AND THE COST OF EVERYTHING IS GOING UP!!!!

all i wanted to know is if it was going to be less crowded

 

[Karlzmom]

I mean, how long can the price of a barrel of oil continue to reach a "record high," every single day?!

for an eye opener, go to one of the online calculators and compare today's price to prices in the early 80's with the $ being adjusted for inflation....not that big of a difference.

for example, a $2.00 item in 1980 would cost the following in 2007, based solely on inflation:

$5.03 using the Consumer Price Index
$4.43 using the GDP deflator
$6.23 using the value of consumer bundle *
$4.92 using the unskilled wage *
$7.48 using the nominal GDP per capita
$9.92 using the relative share of GDP

* The 2007 data for unskilled wage and consumer bundle are estimated and will be adjusted when official data become available.

under that idea, if gas was $2.00 a gallon then (sorry, I don't recall how much it was in 1980, but used $2), then even here in super-expensive California my $4.40/gal is cheaper in real dollars than it was in 1980.