Will you stay at the gondola hotels if they raise their prices?

[tiredmom4]

If you have been staying in the gondola hotels, will you continue to stay if the price increases more than normal to pay for the gondola? (Assuming you get the same discount rate for the hotels.) If so, how much increase will you tolerate? Even if you haven't been staying at the gondola hotels, if you were to stay there, how much "gondola fee" will you be willing to pay? For example, say if you are considering Caribbean Beach or Coronado Springs. You find out that CB costs $100 more per day than CR because of the gondola. Is that worth it to you?

For me, I love the Pop Century and have always stayed there. I will tolerate an increase of $10. I will not put up with an increase of $30 or more. I'll move to All Stars.

How much increase will you tolerate?

Later edit:

I'm not talking about price comparing to the past rather than price comparing to the present. My bottom line is, if Pop costs $70 more than All Stars (after discount), will you still choose Pop over All Stars? Or if CBR costs $100 more after discount than CSR (and therefore definitely more than POR), will you still stay at CBR? You know that the difference is to pay for the gondola upgrade to the resort.

 

[disneyvoice]

To me the rate of a WDW room has nothing to do with what I am willing to "tolerate." Rates are different at different times throughout he year and vary depending on the best discount we can get (we have never paid rack rate for a room). We don't compare prices from trip to another. We simply decide when we want to go and look for the best rate at the various resorts we really like and decide where we want to stay. If a resort with a gondola ends up being where we want to stay, we really wouldn't care at all what the price was in the past.

 

[mom2rtk]

Pop Century made it easy for me. I don't like the renovated rooms. So I'll move on to something else.

 

[Disneylover99]

For point of reference, here are the rack rate prices for a random date 8/30/2018, all standard rooms:

Pop Century: $138
Art of Animation: $352
Caribbean Beach: $219

If you have been staying in the above hotels, will you continue to stay if the price increases more than normal to pay for the gondola? If so, how much increase will you tolerate? Even if you haven't been staying at the gondola hotels, if you were to stay there, how much "gondola fee" will you be willing to pay? For example, say if you are considering Caribbean Beach or Coronado Springs. You find out that CB costs $100 more per day than CR because of the gondola. Is that worth it to you?

For me, I love the Pop Century and have always stayed there. I will tolerate an increase of $10. I will not put up with an increase of $30 or more. I'll move to All Stars.

How much increase will you tolerate?

I can't put an exact number on it. I love Pop. But I hate the gondola. I will continue to stay there as long as it's significantly cheaper than our favourite moderate, POFQ. If POFQ costs just a bit more per night, we'll stay there.

My other thought, is that the gondolas are going to make it super easy for people staying at other resorts to visit Pop. If I notice Pop becoming crazy busy with visitors, and it impacts my trip, I'll start staying elsewhere, even if the cost per night to stay at Pop doesn't increase much.

 

[Nancyg56]

To me the rate of a WDW room has nothing to do with what I am willing to "tolerate." Rates are different at different times throughout he year and vary depending on the best discount we can get (we have never paid rack rate for a room). We don't compare prices from trip to another. We simply decide when we want to go and look for the best rate at the various resorts we really like and decide where we want to stay. If a resort with a gondola ends up being where we want to stay, we really wouldn't care at all what the price was in the past.

I agree. I have never paid rack rate either, an dhope I never have to. In terms of comparing past rates to those that we may see in the future, if I did that I would never return. My DH has been visiting WDW since it opened and he always stayed at the CR> the first time was about 100 per night.

I will do as I always do: Decide where we will stay, look at the total cost of the trip and determine how it fits our budget, and then go from there. If I adjust it not be because a specific resort has raised the price, but because I cannot make that resort fit within my budget.

 

[sbd78]

We are a family of 5, so POP is out. If CBR becomes more expensive than POR (the other mod option for a family of 5) I will choose POR. The buses don't bother me, so I don't feel the need to pay a premium for the gondola.

 

[Hopefully]

To me the rate of a WDW room has nothing to do with what I am willing to "tolerate." Rates are different at different times throughout he year and vary depending on the best discount we can get (we have never paid rack rate for a room). We don't compare prices from trip to another. We simply decide when we want to go and look for the best rate at the various resorts we really like and decide where we want to stay. If a resort with a gondola ends up being where we want to stay, we really wouldn't care at all what the price was in the past.

I totally agree. We have specific resorts we prefer. We never look at prior years cost. We look for the best deals this year.
The Gondola will have no bearing on where I stay

 

[tiredmom4]

To me the rate of a WDW room has nothing to do with what I am willing to "tolerate." Rates are different at different times throughout he year and vary depending on the best discount we can get (we have never paid rack rate for a room). We don't compare prices from trip to another. We simply decide when we want to go and look for the best rate at the various resorts we really like and decide where we want to stay. If a resort with a gondola ends up being where we want to stay, we really wouldn't care at all what the price was in the past.

I should explain myself: it's not so much the prices in the past as the prices in the present that I am wondering about. For example, currently, the 4 value resorts (not counting AofA) costs about the same, with Pop being slightly higher, about $15 higher. So if you are looking at value resorts, you will choose one of those. But what if Pop is now $70 higher than All Stars, and you know it's because of the gondola?

Or, the same can be said about CBR and CSR. They are very similar resorts with similar prices. What if CBR is $100 higher than CSR (after discount), and you know the only difference between the two is the gondola and the $100? Will you still stay there?

 

[tiredmom4]

I totally agree. We have specific resorts we prefer. We never look at prior years cost. We look for the best deals this year.
The Gondola will have no bearing on where I stay

But what about the overall price? For the same discount and the same room classification, are you willing to pay say $70 more for Pop than All Stars? Or $100 more for CBR than CSR?

 

[Huff]

Hmm, seems people have more money than we do! While I agree that we too look at all the resorts and find the best deal we can, that best deal would not be paying significantly more for the added perk of the Gondola.

Put the OP's question another way. Say Pop costs $130/night. If you wish to use the Gondola system you must pay an extra resort fee of $20/nt. Only guests paying that fee could use the Gondola. Would you pay the $150/nt to use the Gondola or pay $130/nt for the same room without Gondola access? What if the fee was $50 more, $70 more? The OP's question I believe is how much is the Gondola worth to you?

 

[tiredmom4]

I agree. I have never paid rack rate either, an dhope I never have to. In terms of comparing past rates to those that we may see in the future, if I did that I would never return. My DH has been visiting WDW since it opened and he always stayed at the CR> the first time was about 100 per night.

I will do as I always do: Decide where we will stay, look at the total cost of the trip and determine how it fits our budget, and then go from there. If I adjust it not be because a specific resort has raised the price, but because I cannot make that resort fit within my budget.

Not so much comparing past trips to the future, but comparing current cost difference. Let's say you normally stay at CBR. If it's $100 more than CSR, does it still fit in your budget, or will you choose CSR instead?

 

[dansdad]

But what about the overall price? For the same discount and the same room classification, are you willing to pay say $70 more for Pop than All Stars?

No.

Or $100 more for CBR than CSR?

Yes.

But both answers have nothing to do with the Skyliner. We prefer Sports over Pop and CBR over the other Moderates.

 

[tiredmom4]

Pop Century made it easy for me. I don't like the renovated rooms. So I'll move on to something else.

You don't like the renovated rooms? What don't you like about it? But you basically have to get used to it because All Stars is also getting renovated the same way.

For me, I don't like the shower doors. I've always hated shower doors because of the rolling tracks. But I'll put up with it. I do like the queens beds because my kids are getting too big to fit in the full beds.

 

[tiredmom4]

Hmm, seems people have more money than we do! While I agree that we too look at all the resorts and find the best deal we can, that best deal would not be paying significantly more for the added perk of the Gondola.

Put the OP's question another way. Say Pop costs $130/night. If you wish to use the Gondola system you must pay an extra resort fee of $20/nt. Only guests paying that fee could use the Gondola. Would you pay the $150/nt to use the Gondola or pay $130/nt for the same room without Gondola access? What if the fee was $50 more, $70 more? The OP's question I believe is how much is the Gondola worth to you?

Yes, thank you! That's exactly what I was trying to say, I just wasn't saying it clearly enough! Thanks for the clarification! I had not thought of the fee option. I was just imagining that the resorts will simply raise their prices so that the gondola is "free" to everyone and is a perk for staying at gondola hotel, like the monorail is to the monorail hotels. I just want to know, how much does this imbedded fee have to be before people give up on the 3 gondola resorts? For me, it's no more than $30 for Pop, $50 for CBR. Those 2 are my favorite resorts.

 

[disneyvoice]

The presence or absence of the gondola wouldn't affect our choice of resort regardless of price. It all comes down to where we WANT to stay and what our budget is for a specific trip. Sometimes that means we stay Club level in a Deluxe resort, other times it means we stay in a standard room at an All Star resort. We don't make decisions based upon transportation at the resort (unless it is during Food and Wine - then we always stay at BC so we can walk to Epcot), I don't expect that to change with the gondolas.

In general every trip is totally different. We don't really care about Club Level at all but one trip we wanted to stay in a theme park view room at the Contemporary. The only theme park view room available during our stay was a club level room so we decided to go ahead and spend the additional money for the club level room. Another trip we had our oldest son and his girlfriend come with us, we needed two rooms so we decided to just get two rooms at the All Stars because we would be spending more money on all of our meals.

 

[dkrauss]

For me, I love the Pop Century and have always stayed there. I will tolerate an increase of $10. I will not put up with an increase of $30 or more. I'll move to All Stars.

How much increase will you tolerate?

Later edit:

I'm not talking about price comparing to the past rather than price comparing to the present. My bottom line is, if Pop costs $70 more than All Stars (after discount), will you still choose Pop over All Stars? Or if CBR costs $100 more after discount than CSR (and therefore definitely more than POR), will you still stay at CBR? You know that the difference is to pay for the gondola upgrade to the resort.

Pricing increases at WDW resorts can be difficult to judge. In the next 12 months you've got ToyStoryland.......StarWarsland.......and the gondolas. There's no way to validate which has the greater impact. If you have a ceiling on what your willing to pay........that's one thing. However, prices always go up at WDW every year..this is where a historical comparison can help.

One thing I'm pretty confident with is, any large price increase will not be soley on the gondola's..........

Doug

 

[tiredmom4]

No.



Yes.

But both answers have nothing to do with the Skyliner. We prefer Sports over Pop and CBR over the other Moderates.

Wow, you are willing $100 more for CBR if you have to? That's dedication, man. CBR is also our favorite resort, but for $100 more I don't know. That's a bit steep. That will make me really mad that they put in the gondola and priced me out of my favorite hotel! it will also make the price closer to Beach Club. (I'm comparing the preferred room at CBR to the Standard room at BC.) I will likely stay at BC instead. I don't like Beach Club, but my kids like the pool there, so I will put up with it to get the most out of my money.

 

[tiredmom4]

Pricing increases at WDW resorts can be difficult to judge. In the next 12 months you've got ToyStoryland.......StarWarsland.......and the gondolas. There's no way to validate which has the greater impact. If you have a ceiling on what your willing to pay........that's one thing. However, prices always go up at WDW every year..this is where a historical comparison can help.

One thing I'm pretty confident with is, any large price increase will not be soley on the gondola's..........

Doug

I agree. That's why I'm comparing similar hotels. Let's say CSR goes up by $50 because of Star Wars Land, but CBR goes up by $150 or $200! Will you still choose to stay at CBR?

 

[tiredmom4]

The presence or absence of the gondola wouldn't affect our choice of resort regardless of price. It all comes down to where we WANT to stay and what our budget is for a specific trip. Sometimes that means we stay Club level in a Deluxe resort, other times it means we stay in a standard room at an All Star resort. We don't make decisions based upon transportation at the resort (unless it is during Food and Wine - then we always stay at BC so we can walk to Epcot), I don't expect that to change with the gondolas.

In general every trip is totally different. We don't really care about Club Level at all but one trip we wanted to stay in a theme park view room at the Contemporary. The only theme park view room available during our stay was a club level room so we decided to go ahead and spend the additional money for the club level room. Another trip we had our oldest son and his girlfriend come with us, we needed two rooms so we decided to just get two rooms at the All Stars because we would be spending more money on all of our meals.

OK, makes sense! For us, the money always matters greatly on which hotel we choose. I love to get the most out of my money! But, if you can choose hotels regardless of price, that's super nice!

 

[dkrauss]

I agree. That's why I'm comparing similar hotels. Let's say CSR goes up by $50 because of Star Wars Land, but CBR goes up by $150 or $200! Will you still choose to stay at CBR?

To answer you're question "I don't know".........depends on other options. We don't stay at any resort consistently...........we also plan a year in advance so we can pay for that selected resort. People are going to have to make a choice....be creative. In the end it comes down to how much WDW means to you

Doug