Are Disney parks no longer for the Middle class?

[NYCgrrl]

So what you said here is that WDW going to each park then sitting at a pool is comparable to the beach? I disagree. Just like sitting at a pool at the beach is a waste, sitting at a pool at WDW is a waste, I can do that at home. The beach is the vacation and the parks are the vacation. That is what you compare, to which I do understand that most here glorify Disney. I do not, I put it right at the same as any other vacation destination.

I did compare the exact same week in June when the kids get out of school, Disney for 5 nights and Myrtle Beach for 5 nights and the cost, assuming from experience plus the cost of eating out for dinner at the beach. Disney was twice the cost not including travel (by car, Disney is <2x the distance.)

That is comparing a complete beach vacation, ocean front lunch in the room and dinner every night vs. full Disney vacation at Disney resort with Disney transportation, dining plan because of lack of ability to easily eat lunch in the room.

Do some rooms at WDW not include refrigerators? I think you can easily cut your 300.00 food budget in half by eating sandwiches in the room or even take them w/you to the park.

 

[mrodgers]

Disney hotels aren’t all that either. Booking three months out, hotels range from 239 a night to 5 or 6 hundred. The 239 option is comparable to. Fairfield Inn or Hampton Inn quiality if that, and for twice the money. Give me a Hyatt for the same price in most US cities any time.

This is true. My hotel comparison in my trips would be ocean front 2 room suite with the reason for the vacation just a couple hundred yard walk vs. the smallest of Disney living in a closet for the week needing transportation to the reason for the vacation, the parks.

You can do Disney cheaper with off-site hotel, off-site eating, but that is removing parts of the vacation. Thus, one would have to remove parts of the compared vacation so single room off the beach, and we're looking at halving of the cost for the rooms at the beach as well.

Hard to compare Sedona vs WDW.

Oh, and no it is not hard to compare Sedona vs WDW. You are trying to put personal opinion in it where I assume you to think that WDW is superior. They are both vacations. Someone interested in the desert and 4wheeling probably disagrees with members of this forum and says that Sedona would be the superior destination. You have to take the glorification of Disney out of the comparison. I don't view Disney as superior, or even preferred. Happy I was able to take my kids once and would like to be able to take my grandkids, but would never want to go again. I take my personal opinion out of the comparison and it's just looking at 2 different destinations and that is all.

 

[mrodgers]

If anyone is paying $200 to rent a car for 4 days, they are getting robbed blind

If I was traveling with my family, I would want similar to what I had been traveling which is what Enterprise categorizes as "intermediate SUV" which is described as "RAV4" which is exactly what we had. That is $190 for 4 days local to me.

 

[mrodgers]

Do some rooms at WDW not include refrigerators? I think you can easily cut your 300.00 food budget in half by eating sandwiches in the room or even take them w/you to the park.

I don't know. At the time I went, no refrigerators in the rooms. From what I've read, I think there are tiny fridges now.

The $300 food budget would be dinner at Myrtle Beach for the week. We've always eaten around $40/night.

Lunch is a necessity, and by force of what the vacation is, is very different. At the beach you can eat lunch in the room because you just walk up, eat lunch while enjoying the balcony, or grab lunch and take it back down on the beach. For similar at Disney, it's a LOT more work. You have a lot of wasted time traveling back to the room and back to the parks or you have to carry the stuff around with you all day. Neither are ideal and I don't want to work that hard on vacation, and without the dining plan, it's going to cost near that much anyway. Adding up our food from our Disney trip, we exceeded the cost of the dining plan within the first 3 day. Dinner alone was $1100 I think for our meals and we paid less than $700 for the plan. Today the plan would be $1800 (I think, not going to relook it up on the painstakingly slow website for 2 hours again.) I don't know if food would actually cost that much or not. It certainly was an incredible deal when we went and well worth to have.

 

[RamblingMad]

I don’t get this vacation comparison stuff going on in this thread. If you go on vacation and have a good time, it doesn’t matter how much it costs.

I can go to Hawaii for half what a WDW vacation costs. I will have just as much fun in Hawaii as at WDW. But I will spend far less.

The real problem with WDW vacations being so expensive is that you can find a lot of alternatives for less money.

Of course, in my experience, the types of vacations folks take are really dependent on where they live in the US. I know folks on the east coast that cruise every year. I know no one that does the same on the west coast. So when it comes time to look at alternative, it’s really about where you live.

 

[luvsJack]

I don’t get this vacation comparison stuff going on in this thread. If you go on vacation and have a good time, it doesn’t matter how much it costs.

I can go to Hawaii for half what a WDW vacation costs. I will have just as much fun in Hawaii as at WDW. But I will spend far less.

The real problem with WDW vacations being so expensive is that you can find a lot of alternatives for less money.

Of course, in my experience, the types of vacations folks take are really dependent on where they live in the US. I know folks on the east coast that cruise every year. I know no one that does the same on the west coast. So when it comes time to look at alternative, it’s really about where you live.

Well, if you can afford to spend any amount than you are right, it doesn't matter. What matters is a person's preference of where to vacation.

But, the thing, for me, is whether its worth the cost. WDW is falling short on that, FOR US.

But the whole, "you can cut costs but going for 2 weeks and only going to the parks for 3 days" or "eat breakfast and lunch in the room or carry sandwiches around with you all day" is what gets me. Now, if someone likes to vacation like that--more power to them. But for me and others, we don't want to eat sandwiches in the room or cold pop tarts for breakfast or whatever. We don't like to vacation that way. And that, for me, is back to the "is it worth it?" question. Is WDW so wonderful that I am willing to not do anything else all year and/or go on vacation and eat sandwiches in the room or cold pop tarts or oatmeal every morning? Nope. Not at all.

So FOR ME, the cost of food is a necessary part of the total of the trip. And I can eat much better for much less almost anywhere else I go.

 

[RamblingMad]

Well, if you can afford to spend any amount than you are right, it doesn't matter. What matters is a person's preference of where to vacation.

But, the thing, for me, is whether its worth the cost. WDW is falling short on that, FOR US.

But the whole, "you can cut costs but going for 2 weeks and only going to the parks for 3 days" or "eat breakfast and lunch in the room or carry sandwiches around with you all day" is what gets me. Now, if someone likes to vacation like that--more power to them. But for me and others, we don't want to eat sandwiches in the room or cold pop tarts for breakfast or whatever. We don't like to vacation that way. And that, for me, is back to the "is it worth it?" question. Is WDW so wonderful that I am willing to not do anything else all year and/or go on vacation and eat sandwiches in the room or cold pop tarts or oatmeal every morning? Nope. Not at all.

So FOR ME, the cost of food is a necessary part of the total of the trip. And I can eat much better for much less almost anywhere else I go.

It comes down to your budget. If you spend twice as much and don’t have twice the fun, then is it worth it? I don’t think eating cold pop tarts and sandwiches in the room is a whole lot of fun. It’s more like spend twice as much and have half as much fun.

 

[Kestryl]

Of course, in my experience, the types of vacations folks take are really dependent on where they live in the US. I know folks on the east coast that cruise every year. I know no one that does the same on the west coast. So when it comes time to look at alternative, it’s really about where you live.

This.

We did a 8 day/7 night (plus 1 night/1 day to travel back) Disney World trip in May. And a 5 day/4 night trip to Disneyland in October. The Disneyland trip cost 29% more (all in, including souvenirs). The reason? We had to fly to California. We could drive to Florida.

I can go to Gatlinburg/Smoky Mountains very cheap. Yosemite, Yellowstone, or the Grand Canyon would easily cost me 10x the amount in transportation cost. If not more.

 

[RamblingMad]

This.

We did a 8 day/7 night (plus 1 night/1 day to travel back) Disney World trip in May. And a 5 day/4 night trip to Disneyland in October. The Disneyland trip cost 29% more (all in, including souvenirs). The reason? We had to fly to California. We could drive to Florida.

I can go to Gatlinburg/Smoky Mountains very cheap. Yosemite, Yellowstone, or the Grand Canyon would easily cost me 10x the amount in transportation cost. If not more.

While the cost of flying really hasn’t gone up other than baggage cost, it’s still more expensive than driving most of the time.

 

[Hikergirl]

So what you said here is that WDW going to each park then sitting at a pool is comparable to the beach? I disagree. Just like sitting at a pool at the beach is a waste, sitting at a pool at WDW is a waste, I can do that at home. The beach is the vacation and the parks are the vacation. That is what you compare, to which I do understand that most here glorify Disney. I do not, I put it right at the same as any other vacation destination.

I did compare the exact same week in June when the kids get out of school, Disney for 5 nights and Myrtle Beach for 5 nights and the cost, assuming from experience plus the cost of eating out for dinner at the beach. Disney was twice the cost not including travel (by car, Disney is <2x the distance.)

That is comparing a complete beach vacation, ocean front lunch in the room and dinner every night vs. full Disney vacation at Disney resort with Disney transportation, dining plan because of lack of ability to easily eat lunch in the room.

I realize that there are alot of Disney fanatics here who think that the way they do WDW is the only way it can be considered a vacation, and that you have to compare that to every other vacation you have taken or will ever take. And yes you sound like one of them no matter what you claim above.

You may choose to do WDW differently but staying at POP for a week, going to the parks for 4 days and doing other stuff like hanging out by the pool IS STILL A DISNEY VACATION. You may think it is a waste but that is just your opinion, one that not everyone is required to share. Your WDW way isn't the one and only way.
You also may choose to compare every single aspect of your WDW vacation with every single aspect of your vacation elsewhere but that isn't how I roll. Besides I gave a cost comparison of my 2020 summer vacation and a week at WDW and it was not double. It was more, but not significant enough where it makes WDW unaffordable over the other (I never claimed they were equal in price BTW).
A vacation means I get away from my day to day life. It means I fly or drive to a destination of my choosing to do things there of my choosing. Some of those things may cost alot of money, some may be free.
It is still a vacation that I can compare to all my other vacations in fun, relaxation and yes even in cost to WDW.

 

[Heather07438]

It comes down to your budget. If you spend twice as much and don’t have twice the fun, then is it worth it? I don’t think eating cold pop tarts and sandwiches in the room is a whole lot of fun. It’s more like spend twice as much and have half as much fun.

That's how I tried to quantify it by comparing a vacation we enjoy regularly. WDW price was easy to swallow at twice the cost and totally felt worth it. The rapid increases making it 3x's the cost left us much more conflicted, lol.

We've kind of entered defense mode now. We used to not pour over details to be as cost effective as possible. We had more confidence and weren't distracted by fear of regret. It's less hearts & rainbows planning a trip after shifting those gears. That constant need to question everything comes at an expense to WDW branding. Instead of casually thinking "This event looks like fun" or "That shirt is great", each time a cricket's chirping "Is this really worth it?" The higher something costs, the lower the disappointment threshold. There feels more need to protect ourselves from disappointment.

Fortunately we can still formulate a WDW trip without breaking the budget but I preferred being able to let WDW take my money with less questions asked.

 

[RamblingMad]

That's how I tried to quantify it by comparing a vacation we enjoy regularly. WDW price was easy to swallow at twice the cost and totally felt worth it. The rapid increases making it 3x's the cost left us much more conflicted, lol.

We've kind of entered defense mode now. We used to not pour over details to be as cost effective as possible. We had more confidence and weren't distracted by fear of regret. It's less hearts & rainbows planning a trip after shifting those gears. That constant need to question everything comes at an expense to WDW branding. Instead of casually thinking "This event looks like fun" or "That shirt is great", each time a cricket's chirping "Is this really worth it?" The higher something costs, the lower the disappointment threshold. There feels more need to protect ourselves from disappointment.

Fortunately we can still formulate a WDW trip without breaking the budget but I preferred being able to let WDW take my money with less questions asked.

When I did my cruise in 2017, we hit Disney Springs. My significant other wanted to buy an ornament. She looked at them and said to me: what happened to the quality? Then she tried to find the Lennox ones. And they no longer sold them. We ended up not buying an ornament.

My problem is when the price goes up and the quality goes down. Then I feel ripped off.

 

[Heather07438]

When I did my cruise in 2017, we hit Disney Springs. My significant other wanted to buy an ornament. She looked at them and said to me: what happened to the quality? Then she tried to find the Lennox ones. And they no longer sold them. We ended up not buying an ornament.

My problem is when the price goes up and the quality goes down. Then I feel ripped off.

Exactly that. I love Disney and WDW. But that does leave a bad taste... so many items are much more expensive while the quality fell. Not good. People loved Disney products because they were good quality, not just because they had a Disney stamp.

I can accept increases to some degree especially as they have so many expansions on the horizon. It is hard to reconcile overall though. Just hope the increases don't continue. Ahhhh!

 

[NotUrsula]

I’m paying $300 for a rental car in Dallas for 4 days in April, using my Costco membership. My AAA discount was not as good. What am I missing???

Nothing. Rental car costs are very dependent on local taxes, market demand and calendar considerations, just like airline seats. Also, 4 day rentals, unless they begin on Thursday afternoon, are almost always the most expensive multi-day scenario you will find. At DFW, taxes and airport-imposed fees usually amount to a surcharge of somewhere between 23-29% on top of the actual rental charges.

Pricceline used to be a great option, but bidding for cars there is no longer offered. IME, Costco offers the best standard-terms rental pricing around right now.

 

[RamblingMad]

Exactly that. I love Disney and WDW. But that does leave a bad taste... so many items are much more expensive while the quality fell. Not good.

I can accept increases to some degree especially as they have so many expansions on the horizon. It is hard to reconcile overall though. Just hope the increases don't continue. Ahhhh!

I’d like to go back to WDW. But it’s not even on my radar until they redo EPCOT. I’d like to see the new Universal Park too. So I have a long time to wait and do other trips.

I might go to DL in the fall for Halloween. I’m hoping the bugs are worked out of GE by then.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Nothing. Rental car costs are very dependent on local taxes, market demand and calendar considerations, just like airline seats. Also, 4 day rentals, unless they begin on Thursday afternoon, are almost always the most expensive multi-day scenario you will find. At DFW, taxes and airport-imposed fees usually amount to a surcharge of somewhere between 23-29% on top of the actual rental charges.

If you are able to do a Priceline bid, you can usually cut the price down a bit more, but a lot of airports have dropped that option. IME, Costco offers the best standard-terms rental pricing around right now.

Thank you for the explanation! I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. I don't rent cars frequently!

 

[Searc]

Pricing went up overnight for 11 Character dining experiences for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Adult prices increased by $1, kids pricing increased by $3-$4, depending on location.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Pricing went up overnight for 11 Character dining experiences for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Adult prices increased by $1, kids pricing increased by $3-$4, depending on location.

Ridiculous.

 

[RamblingMad]

Pricing went up overnight for 11 Character dining experiences for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Adult prices increased by $1, kids pricing increased by $3-$4, depending on location.

What’s the percent increase?

 

[Searc]

Ridiculous.

Agreed.