Will this Washington Post Article Affect Your Planning?

[Tiki Mark]

No, prices aren't to a point where I'd stop going. I'm okay with staying offsite, not big into table service dining, and drive down so really my main expenses are tickets. It's still an affordable vacation, if like me, you're not into the bells and whistles beyond the parks. MK is home..so I'd make sacrifices elsewhere first, if it called for that, before I'd quit going.

 

[Puffy2]

I went once as a kid. We stayed at a budget hotel, and I can remember looking at the Contemporary like it was nirvana.

I think this is a very slanted article. It focused on premium experiences, which are not the norm ... the bungalows for instance.

It feels like the author wanted to write about how expensive DisneyWorld is, and found examples to support that ... which, let's face it, is not hard to do. However, we don't do VIP tours or stay in $2,000 per night bungalows. We stay offsite and buy multi-day tickets.

I don't think I learned anything new.

Like this poster, one of my early memories was going to the Magic Kingdom for the day with my parents. I LOVED it and when I was hot and tired and we were going home we road the monorail through the Contemporary and I too thought "I wish we were staying HERE!" Would have been the end to a perfect day. Now, I have to save and I don't go every year (plus I only stay 4 nights usually), but when I go I stay onsight/Delux..grabbing every discount I can. I will say, however, the hotel prices have gotten ridiculous over the years. Swan and Dolphin are OK with me...and sometimes are much cheaper with a discount.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

The article, while accurate, is irrelevant to my planning

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I was a kid who thought of myself as middle class, but probably we were lower-middle. In my peer group, I had never heard of anyone going to Disney for a WHOLE week. If you were lucky you went down and stayed at a Ramada or something cheaper, got a one-day park ticket, and added things like mini golf and other Orlando attractions as vacation filler. You ate cooler sandwiches. It wasn't until I was an adult planning my DS's first trip that I understood how much money average families spend on Disney. On the flip side, I do know some of these Wall Street types who will fly down for a weekend, get the VIP tour, and take their kid(s) on every ride/to meet every character. They believe their time is money and they would rather be efficient and do it in 2 days. But hey, if the money they spend bankrolls new park expansions, I'm all for it. My problem with WDW is that they keep upping the prices but new experiences are soooo slow to roll out. What Universal has done in the same span of the last ten years should embarrass them.

 

[itchin2go]

They did mention the multi-day ticket discount, twice in fact:

“We continually add new experiences, and many of our guests select multi-day tickets or annual passes, which provide great value and additional savings,” Wahler said.

Disney says it has made an effort to keep its gates open to all, offering -packages such as multi-day tickets and yearly passes to help balance out the costs.

Though I agree they could have mentioned the free dining program or value resorts or their sales. But, even the word "value" resort is somewhat of a laugh, when you consider the rates can get as high as $165-200 a night.

But I'm curious... how do you know they are middle class families that you are seeing? I mean, really? Is it by their clothes? Their stroller? Their hair cut? Do they walk around with a sign that says, "We make $65,000 a year."? You have no idea what income you are seeing. Because lemme tell you, even when we lived at the poverty level, we still "looked" what I'm assuming you consider to be middle class. You can get some great clothes at thrift stores, thanks to a hand me down stroller, I had one of the "Cadillac" strollers, thanks to my mother in laws trip to Chinatown in NYC I have a beautiful knock-off Gucci purse. So... you have no clue what others make. lol. And to be fair, living in a rural farming community, I know some people with VERY deep pockets, that walk around looking like they oughta be living in the Hillbillies shack.

Per the article, considering that the average Orlando tourists income is $93,000 ($20,000 above the national average US income, with low to average middle class considered to be $32500-60000), it's pretty safe to say that the majority of travelers are upper class income and upper middle class income. Not low middle, or low income.

This may be a weird thing to say, but I'm all hopped up on cold medicine so I'm just going to say it.

I have read (and commented on) many of your posts asking for trip planning assistance, and you have been the dutiful student, and the "voice" that I've come to expect from you is THAT voice. Your "voice" on this thread is totally different. I don't completely agree with everything you've said, but I have learned something reading these posts, and I 100% believe you know what you're talking about, and have plenty to offer.

I can't wait to read about your trip after the fact, and I look forward to your perspective on these boards.

 

[JimmyV]

Fellow Disers I do not want to see this thread turn into a debate and no personal attacks.Please be polite and no personal attacks in your replies. Thanks Danny

It makes perfect sense to urge people not to engage in personal attacks. There is no place for that here. But to request that a discussion board thread not turn into a debate ? That's a rather odd request. A "discussion" and a "debate" are really one in the same. What is the point of a discussion board if not to discuss and debate? Maybe it was a wrong word choice. Perhaps you meant that this should not turn into a heated argument.

As to the question posed, the beauty of assumptions based on economics is that they manifest themselves in provable ways. If Disney prices the middle class out of its parks, then the middle class will stop going to WDW. So far, I haven't seen it. The author simply cannot prove a downturn in middle class spending at WDW. Maybe the middle class is tightening it's belt elsewhere. But they are still going to Central Florida.

 

[mshanson3121]

This may be a weird thing to say, but I'm all hopped up on cold medicine so I'm just going to say it.

I have read (and commented on) many of your posts asking for trip planning assistance, and you have been the dutiful student, and the "voice" that I've come to expect from you is THAT voice. Your "voice" on this thread is totally different. I don't completely agree with everything you've said, but I have learned something reading these posts, and I 100% believe you know what you're talking about, and have plenty to offer.

I can't wait to read about your trip after the fact, and I look forward to your perspective on these boards.

lol. Well thank you, here's hoping I have a good report to bring back! And by the way, what cold meds are you on? They sound great! Though fingers crossed we can avoid any illness or calamities between now and then. Though I did think for a moment the other day I broke my toe, and I managed to kill my cell phone today (side note, a very valuable life lesson is do NOT store your phone in your back pocket when going to the washroom. Cell phones and toilets do not mix well).

 

[itchin2go]

lol. Well thank you, here's hoping I have a good report to bring back! And by the way, what cold meds are you on? They sound great! Though fingers crossed we can avoid any illness or calamities between now and then. Though I did think for a moment the other day I broke my toe, and I managed to kill my cell phone today (side note, a very valuable life lesson is do NOT store your phone in your back pocket when going to the washroom. Cell phones and toilets do not mix well).

Steroids, antihistamines, tylenol ... and wine. It could be worse.

 

[sporter5353]

Interesting topic, but I think this article is slightly deceptive. Is it correct in the fact that ticket prices have increased exponentially? Certainly. But I don't want middle class families to be discouraged by this article. Listing the deluxe hotel prices without mentioning the value and moderate resorts pricing as the only listed prices is deceptive. A lot of this article mentions VIP experiences like they are something new. Most character dining experiences and tours within the parks have existed for years. Claiming this as a trend is also deceptive. Another flaw I have with this article is that it uses the average income listed rather than the median income. Billionaires and millionaires that visit the park can make the average income skewed. Having a a small percentage of extremely rich families will skew these numbers makes that stat flawed. I would be much more compelled to agree with Drew Harwell if it compared the median income of the parks to the median income of the U.S. rather than the average.

 

[Mrsktbrown]

I actually had a hard time taking a lot of the article seriously. The author cited 'experts', 'park watchers', and 'Disney Lovers' without actually stating who these people are. He chose only the most expensive experiences and hotels and bemoaned how only the very rich can afford Disney. If the article weren't so biased and full of fear mongering, perhaps I'd take it a bit more seriously. All the article accomplished was to convince me to avoid any more of Mr. Harwell's articles.

 

[djc9699]

I voted no because I can go to Disney World with 2 kids for two weeks with non-stop entertainment for less than I can fill half that time traveling in my own state (unless we go camping or fishing - no thanks). Our second trip to Disney came about after trying to price a trip from our East Texas town to San Antonio with mostly a historical theme. The hotel cost alone was more than an 8 day trip to Disney with tickets. And that was Holiday Inn type hotels. I don't think my income even makes me middle class, unless its on the lower end. We sacrifice lots of extras so we can save to go. We rent movies instead of going to the theater, don't eat out much, and don't take many trips to local fairs or amusement parks. My kids are given a choice and they always choose to save for Disney. I will go as long as that is my children's choice because that is where we can let loose and just have fun. No stress, no worries. We usually go in June and this year we are going for Christmas. December is so far away

 

[Kaelorian]

I think it also affects how close you live.

 

[crostorfer]

No, it won't effect my planning, although I do agree with some of the points made in the article. We are fortunate enough to get a military discount, which next to the Florida resident discount, is the biggest discount available, and better than any room only or package deals offered. If we didn't receive those generous discounts, we certainly wouldn't go as often as we do, and we would absolutely be priced out of deluxe resorts. I can't believe how much per night the MK resorts are, rack rate. Even for a standard view room in value season the non-discounted price is astronomical.

 

[trivial]

I'm going on my first trip to Disney World this year since 2007. Why has it taken me over 8 years to return? It's just too expensive for me to afford to go more often.

 

[mummabear]

I think one thing that the article misses when discussing the "middle class" and whether they can afford a Disney trip is the major cost of getting to Disneyworld.
Because of that travel cost it is substantially cheaper for someone to visit from San Fran than from Alanta (or Vancouver or NZ!)
This is a major factor in whether it is even really on the radars of some families

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If you're going to stay a week in a Polynesian bungalow with the platinum package and park hopper tickets you are going to be laying out the dough.

But you can also stay offsite, get a cheaper car rental, bring in your own food (how many entertainment venues let you do that?), get slightly discounted tickets from Undercover Tourist and plan a couple of special things to pay for like almost everyone does. Not much you can do about the rising costs of airfare, but WDW does not set prices for airfare.

the articles often say WDW will be a destination only for those who make more than $100,000 a year. No way to tell if everybody populating the parks now makes that much, but I'm guessing not. I'm not convinced that everybody in the Disney parks is the "elite."

 

[whiporee]

I don't argue with much in the article, but I do think it's misleading not to mention that from '71-82, you had to buy tickets for rides. The fair comparison is the '82 price of $15 for all-access admission.

That translates to about $38 in today's money. Still outpacing inflation and such, but a little closer, especially if you factor in the multi-day tickets.

 

[Major Tom]

Then there's this:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/busine...rld-have-left-the-middle-class-behind/2233577

 

[lustergirl]

No the article will not affect my planning. I usually pay my vacation off in payments anyways, not all up front.