With all the price increases is it worth even going?

[DCLMP]

Chapek doesn't seem to realize, he is shooting himself in the foot. If I have to take money out of my trip budget for my own transportation, that is money I am not spending in the park. Also, taking away the perk of having your purchases sent to your resort is a big mistake. DH and I ended up not buying at the park because we didn't want to lug bags the rest of the day. Instead, if we found something we were interested in, we looked it up online and purchased the item from a non-Disney website. He may be saving the company money in the short term. In the long term, he will end up losing money.

I spend less or the same as I did 10 years . I have a budget and I stay within that budget. More of my money is going to the things you mentioned above. We've also cut back on table service restaurants because the prices have gotten insane. We spend a lot less on food than we used too. I rent points now instead of paying Disney directly. I'm not sure how much money they make of point rentals. Maybe someone can answer that.

There is a real thing called demand destruction it may or may not happen with Disney. In my opinion it will eventually. The cost of everything is getting to high and vacations are usually the first thing cut from the budget. If Disney was still a great vacation like it was during the last recession they might fare better. In short, I agree with you I think this will catch up to them.

 

[FastPasser.]

As a long time CM and now a Disney retiree, I haven't had to buy tickets for the past 25 years. That changed today when due to a change in plans we found ourselves one ticket short for our upcoming visit. Yikes, now I understand why people are complaining. I was genuinely shocked at how high the ticket prices are. At those prices I wouldn't go.

 

[onewishupon]

What I have found personally, is that if you still enjoy it, then it is still "worth it". I remember every Disney trip like it was yesterday. If you pack your patience and a good attitude and realize that, like all businesses these days, Disney is still trying to iron some things out with staffing shortages etc., It's a nice escape from the

 

[greg9x]

Still haven't been back since 2018 (just pop by every once in while to see how things are going)... things just got more and more ridiculous. Especially compared to the years after 9/11 when Disney was throwing everything they could at guests to get them to come... the higher prices now and getting less for them, along with the hassle of giant crowds is off putting. High prices are one thing, but not even knowing if you'll be able to get on a ride you look forward to doesn't make for a relaxing vacation.

Have always said, Until a lot of people stop going nothing is going to change for the better. So, doing my part.

 

[BroganMc]

I spend less or the same as I did 10 years . I have a budget and I stay within that budget. More of my money is going to the things you mentioned above. We've also cut back on table service restaurants because the prices have gotten insane. We spend a lot less on food than we used too. I rent points now instead of paying Disney directly. I'm not sure how much money they make of point rentals. Maybe someone can answer that.

There is a real thing called demand destruction it may or may not happen with Disney. In my opinion it will eventually. The cost of everything is getting to high and vacations are usually the first thing cut from the budget. If Disney was still a great vacation like it was during the last recession they might fare better. In short, I agree with you I think this will catch up to them.

I'm a DVC Owner so I've prepaid my resort stays. I go because I was able to get an annual pass last year which they are still letting me renew. However, I see how horrible Disney has gotten for my family and friends who need to buy Day Passes.

On my trip last month, my sister was there a week. She couldn't get a park reservation for Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios nor could she buy an AP (she's also a DVC owner) so she just bought a 2 day pass then went other places all week. Like Universal. In fact she enjoyed Universal so much she got another ticket for future use.

I have been hearing complaints from many guests about every thing from costs to reservations. Yes Disney has record crowds this year, but my theory is that is all PostCovid travel. People delayed or cancelled trips the last 2 years, now they are taking them. Come hell or high water.

But we're in a recession and economists are all predicting it will be far worse next year. I think that will add up to people cutting their leisure budgets. Cheaper staycations will be the buzzword next year.

I'm guessing Disney will see attendance drop by Summer and Universal beat them like they did in 2021.

 

[Gentry2004]

Chapek doesn't seem to realize, he is shooting himself in the foot. If I have to take money out of my trip budget for my own transportation, that is money I am not spending in the park. Also, taking away the perk of having your purchases sent to your resort is a big mistake. DH and I ended up not buying at the park because we didn't want to lug bags the rest of the day. Instead, if we found something we were interested in, we looked it up online and purchased the item from a non-Disney website. He may be saving the company money in the short term. In the long term, he will end up losing money.

This is us too. We are staying offsite, skipping hoppers, skipping memory maker, and cutting way back on table service dining. It helps that our kids are older so this isn't too big a deal. I want to cry when I think about my $300/night AKL reservation that never happened in summer 2020. We were so excited about it and now we'd have to spend that to stay at Pop (nothing wrong with Pop at a good price, just not worth it to me at the current prices.)

 

[robotsneedlove2]

I'm a DVC Owner so I've prepaid my resort stays. I go because I was able to get an annual pass last year which they are still letting me renew. However, I see how horrible Disney has gotten for my family and friends who need to buy Day Passes.

I'm also a DVC Owner. We frequently have bought APs and would plan for 3 trips each year we had a pass. My families AP passes expired in May 2022, and at the time I chose not to renew because our next trip was planned for Dec 2022. APs would surely be for sale before December!

Sigh. So I've now purchased tickets for the December '22 trip. We don't have an AP, so now I don't have any plans to return to Disney in 2023. I'm going to bank all of our 2023 points, and plan on booking larger villa for December of 2024. After that we may enter a period of renting out our points.

If they don't want to bring back APs, they need give a break on tickets to DVC owners. I would love for them to bring back the 12 day park hopper with no expiration.

 

[Gentry2004]

I'm also a DVC Owner. We frequently have bought APs and would plan for 3 trips each year we had a pass. My families AP passes expired in May 2022, and at the time I chose not to renew because our next trip was planned for Dec 2022. APs would surely be for sale before December!

Sigh. So I've now purchased tickets for the December '22 trip. We don't have an AP, so now I don't have any plans to return to Disney in 2023. I'm going to bank all of our 2023 points, and plan on booking larger villa for December of 2024. After that we may enter a period of renting out our points.

If they don't want to bring back APs, they need give a break on tickets to DVC owners. I would love for them to bring back the 12 day park hopper with no expiration.

I'm not DVC but I too would like to see them go back to the better price breaks on longer tickets. Now, the daily rate on the longer tickets is almost as high as a 3-4 day ticket, which was not the case before.

 

[jliucci]

We leave next weekend for our first trip since Covid/Genie+. While i agree i am not happy with all the price increases, the many things that have been taken away (ie magic express!) and the new genie+, i just want to make sure its still worth it & magical for the kids. This will be my 6yo's 3rd trip and my 2yo first. Are your kids still having a great time or do they notice there are less princesses or longer lines? Are they picking up on the changes?

Thanks!

 

[lugnut33]

We leave next weekend for our first trip since Covid/Genie+. While i agree i am not happy with all the price increases, the many things that have been taken away (ie magic express!) and the new genie+, i just want to make sure its still worth it & magical for the kids. This will be my 6yo's 3rd trip and my 2yo first. Are your kids still having a great time or do they notice there are less princesses or longer lines? Are they picking up on the changes?

Thanks!

Nice thing about kids is they don't think about money, so they'll have a great time. Pro tip, don't think about the money you're spending, and you too will have a great time.

 

[DCLMP]

We leave next weekend for our first trip since Covid/Genie+. While i agree i am not happy with all the price increases, the many things that have been taken away (ie magic express!) and the new genie+, i just want to make sure its still worth it & magical for the kids. This will be my 6yo's 3rd trip and my 2yo first. Are your kids still having a great time or do they notice there are less princesses or longer lines? Are they picking up on the changes?

Thanks!

I think your kids are too young to notice any changes.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Just back and wanted to post what I thought was worth and not worth the costs for our trip:

Really Worth it:
- ILL for Guardians of the Galaxy. We rode twice, once with the paid ILL and once with the free VQ 1pm drop. It was our favorite ride of the trip.
- Yacht Club. Stormalong Bay is fun, my kids rode the pirate ship slide at least 20 times. The 5 minute walk to Epcot was great too.
- Galactic Starcruiser. Yes, it's insanely expensive. Yes, it's completely worth it.
- Space 220 Lunch. It's an expensive prix-fixe meal but the food was fantastic and the experience was fun. Also nice for an AC break on a hot day.
- Cape May Cafe breakfast. We didn't do any other character meets over this short trip so it was a chance to get some cuddles and pics with Minnie and crew on a non-park day. The food was fresh, hot and yummy too.

Kinda Worth it:
- Beaches and Cream. We got the kitchen sink, it was fun for my kiddo's birthday but wouldn't repeat.
- Memory Maker. It seemed harder to find Photopass photographers this trip. Maybe a staffing issue or maybe they've moved some of the spots.
- Savi's Lightsabers. The kids really love them and added to the Starcruiser experience it felt like a part of our journey. But holy moly those are some expensive toys, and the show part was pretty brief.

Not Worth it:
- Genie+ for Epcot. We hit morning Extra Magic Hours and could have ridden everything we wanted without Genie+. I would estimate it saved us about 2 hours in line for Test Track, Soarin, and Spaceship Earth combined. If we had wanted to grab a late drop to ride Ratatouille or Frozen a second time it would have saved us an extra hour on either of those two rides, but the kids didn't want to ride them again. If you are going to hop from Epcot to another park I think it would be completely worth it, but you could absolutely get everything done without it. That said, my mom joined us in the park in the late morning and it was really useful for her since she missed the short early waits.
- MNSSHP. We enjoyed the Boo To You parade, and my kids had fun trick or treating and loved the added characters on Pirates and Haunted Mansion. But generally I think that MK is really starting to feel run down. From broken animatronics to rides that just feel old and dated, there's kind of a weird trapped in the past vibe that I'm starting to find less charming as time goes on. Space Mountain should have its track replaced, it's so rickety and underwhelming after the marvel (no pun intended) of the Guardians ride. We got stuck on Splash Mountain for awhile in front of a broken Brer Fox animatronic. Even with the Tiana makeover to Splash and the Tron ride, MK will be desperately in need of an update. Maybe they can clone Pooh's Hunny Hunt and the new Belle ride from Tokyo in Fantasyland. Replace Space Mountain with a coaster like Guardians but themed to Wall-E. All I can say is we won't be returning to MK for a long time, if ever.

Overall we had a fun if exhausting long weekend trip! Now to send some invoices to my clients to pay for all of it...

 

[WIll C]

I went by myself this last week to visit local friends and do the Halloween parties as Disney and Universal. Overall it was worth it.

G+ the two days I got it (HS and MK) plus early resort hours meant I had done everything by Noon that I cared about. When I met up with friends later in the day, we just rode the easier stuff (MK party helped with crowds). Didn't have to rush and I had a good day doing all the things.

We bought on LL+ for FoP on our AK day and that was worth it as the time were close to our higher than 90 mins all the time. Navi was worse so we skipped it. Just spent the day walking around, did the Safari (always worth it) and called it a day.

Epcot in the evening is good for just strolling and eating at the booths. That's what the park has turned into. Ride times were high but so was the G+ pricing. Not worth getting it. If I had done rope drop, I could have done more but I did Remy once with a 40min wait and a few others later at night when times went down.

Skipped most of the dining. Cape May breakfast is the best around and I did that on my last day. Wasn't disappointed.

We have DVC at Riviera and love the resort. Makes it so easy to get around to the parks nearby and the rooms are great (though I wish the studios had the same tub as the 1BD, love the jets!)

We only go once or twice a year but I'm not going to give up our APs yet. Still worthwhile to not deal with tickets and the cost is about a wash for us (DVC helps).

HHN at Universal...well, that wasn't worth it. Express helps with getting into the houses but the crowds are nuts and the pricing is crazy. MNSSHP is more fun and easier to get rides, the parade was nice to watch again and it has fireworks.

 

[MrKnight]

IMHO, as a former CM and long-time WDW fan at heart, I find the decrease in quality and product is totally unacceptable given the dramatic increases in pricing, it is now more expensive than ever to vacation to WDW but YET there are less entertainment offerings, more hassles, more planning, missing amenities/services, shorter park hours, etc. I find this totally unacceptable, it is simply not justifiable and frankly very sad that anyone would find this acceptable.. The corporate greed has become so blatant and Disney doesn't even try to hide it anymore..

 

[DodgerGirl]

When you get the general picture it used to be that Walt Disney World along with Disneyland used to be the two top places in America for families to go on vacation but when you look at the general picture the times have changed today because before Walt Disney World was the one place that people especially families had visions of taking their children there and they used to say in their mind "we just have to bring our little girl or little boy there someday" But today if you compare a Walt Disney World trip today to a Walt Disney World trip of 1990 you can see that Walt Disney World was better in 1990 and cost less money. But why I think Walt Disney World has increased it's prices today is because they are desperate for money because ever since the reopening during the pandemic they lost a lot of visitors and so they started having deals on resort rooms and making a big deal on dining packages and that didn't seem to help one bit but I think once the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser opened the prices for resort rooms doubled. But I think once they created Genie+ that really started to make a vacation to Walt Disney World not worthy of going anymore. I also think that the absence of Disney's Magical Express really caused this because when Walt Disney World debuted this system it was a simple way to get to the park easily. But the problem is that they have expensive deals and promotions especially during the holidays when during Halloween with the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and the Christmas parties and I can bet that after Thanksgiving the prices will go higher for tickets. But I think why Walt Disney World mainly does this is so they can compete with Busch Gardens and Universal Orlando and they think this is a smart way to do it

 

[Sakiki]

Have you ever visited other areas of the US or just Florida?

Just catching up here…

DW and I have only visited Florida together, although when she was much younger (and before we met) she and 3 girlfriends flew into New York and then drove across to LA (and drove back - long story there), so she’s seen much more of the US than I have. I would like to see more but this will probably be our last trip, for reasons of age and health - Florida is easy for people with physical disabilities and DW suffers from a progressive back condition that means she needs a wheelchair or ECV to get around as she can’t stand for long or walk very far without suffering debilitating pain. An awful lot of places we would love to visit (not just in the US) aren’t practical when you need wheels to get around and when you need to hire the wheels when you arrive - DW won’t entrust her own ECV to the mercies of airlines and airports and I don’t blame her given some of the stories I’ve seen about the destruction wreaked on wheelchairs and ECVs by careless/uncaring baggage- and ground-handling staff…

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Don’t stay at their hotels
Don’t purchase their overpriced food

Disney is very reasonable if you don’t add all the extras in

 

[Love Tink]

Don’t stay at their hotels
Don’t purchase their overpriced food

Disney is very reasonable if you don’t add all the extras in

Well if I wanted to take my family of five for the day tomorrow, tickets would cost $820.05.

Clearly, you and I disagree about "very reasonable"

 

[scrappinginontario]

Well if I wanted to take my family of five for the day tomorrow, tickets would cost $820.05.

Clearly, you and I disagree about "very reasonable"

You’re correct that purchasing 1 day tickets is very pricey. Our most expensive trips/day were when we used to visit for just 2 days.

I’m guessing @CampbellzSoup was looking at longer lengths of stay and suggesting ways money can be saved.

 

[SL6827]

I have three 4-day park tickets in my account. I now regret buying them over a year ago. Not sure when we will return.