Priced out!

Can I just say Serious Jealous here. We go once and every other I sneek in a second trip with just one of my daughters and I for bonding time.
The only way I have been able to go 2-3 times a year is because A) I haven't paid for park tickets in about 10 years....all from Airmiles and B)we live close to Buffalo and can get flights for $300 CAD or less.


On the subject of WDW being for the 1% that made me LOL. I certainly am not in that 1%...not even close. I've stayed onsite at WDW for 14 days and not spent more than $3500. As I stated my last trip was by far the most expensive but I did visit during a peak time when prices are high. The exchange rate hurt a bit but there is nothing I can do about that and it was probably the last trip that my DD and I will take together. She is going away to university in September and as far as I'm concerned that trip was priceless.
 
Just spend 5 minutes looking around any WDW park. Does everyone look like 1%ers to you?

It's a matter of priorities. I budget putting money away from every paycheck so that we can afford to go. It's a matter of choice.
 
Just spend 5 minutes looking around any WDW park. Does everyone look like 1%ers to you?

It's a matter of priorities. I budget putting money away from every paycheck so that we can afford to go. It's a matter of choice.

Yup, we do the same, and have been for many years.

We have several bank accounts that we transfer money to for specific budgets. Works great, and makes it easy to manage and plan future vacations.

Happy travels.
 
She is going away to university in September and as far as I'm concerned that trip was priceless.
. Our youngest of 3 is set to graduate from High School in a few weeks and once they start their own lives travelling with Mom or Dad is not a high priority! The 2 older siblings have not come with us, even with the offer of us paying! Time with them is priceless!
 


. Our youngest of 3 is set to graduate from High School in a few weeks and once they start their own lives travelling with Mom or Dad is not a high priority! The 2 older siblings have not come with us, even with the offer of us paying! Time with them is priceless!
Our oldest hasn't travelled with us in years. Now, if I offered to pay she would be there in a heartbeat but she earns nearly as much as her dad, with hardly any expenses, so I'm not paying.
 
This is not accurate at all. Disney does appeal to the middle class- most visitors are middle class. Only a minority of visitors spend $10,000+ on a trip.

The economic top 1% have assets in the 10s of millions & up. They aren't making 6-figure incomes as you seem to think. People earning 6-figures are upper-middle class, far, far below the rich and especially the richest 1%.

Many visitors take short trips and/or stay offsite or at values/moderates to save money. WDW is not an enclave of the rich, even though its prices are rising.

Can you tell me what the 1% looks like? Do they all look the same? Do they have a sign that says I make $1,000,000 a year? Because I know some that would be in the top 1%. And if you saw them walking through the parks of Disney, they don't look any different than my family.
 


Disney has become a travel destination for the worldwide top 1% group. It has aligned itself to be a luxurious destination for kids, similar to Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton... It is simply not intended for everyone. In the past, it was more accessible.

The average vacation for Disney is about $10-15,000 per family.

Sad to say... Disney is more focused on targeting that group and not common middle class travelers.

I definitely agree with this sentiment. As evidenced by the cost of their rooms, all the extra options they offer (if you can afford them), I think Disney is definitely targeting the uppermost middle class to upper class.

I wish what you said is true. However it is hard to explain how they can sell C$1000 to $2000 per night in their Contemporary and Grand Floridian. If you want a room in monorail resorts for your kids during Christmas, that is the average cost per night $1000 per night. So a one week stay would be $7000 room alone. Then you add $3000 dining plans for a family of 4. Then $5000 for air fare. And $2000 for park tickets. When you add up $17,000 for a family of 4 to enjoy a Disney holiday, it's hard to say it's not designed for the 1%

$17,000 on the other hand, can get at least 3 nice Caribbean all inclusive trips as they average $5000 each trip.

Yes we can stay in roach motels for $50 per night off site with Macdonalds $15 per day meal, drive and line up for the tram and walk 30 min just to get to your car... but it's not really a vacation if you do it that way, is it? So a real Disney vacation with monorail resort and dining plan, it's $10k+ easy.

While I definitely agree that Disney is getting ridiculously expensive, I also think that you need to adjust your views of what a "real" Disney vacation is, and also need a better touring plan if this is your experience. We stayed off site in a beautiful 4 bedroom, 2 bath private home with a 24' private swimming pool for only $100 CDN a night, made most our own meals, but splurged on a couple really nice Disney ones and a couple lunches in park. By utilizing rope drop we were easily able to walk to our car at AK, HS and EP in 5 minutes, and only waited about 10 minutes for a tram and only had to walk 1-2 minutes from the tram drop off to our car at MK. This was during the busy summer days with crowd levels of 7-9. And yes, we fully feel that we went on a "real" Disney vacation - we spent 7 days in parks, dined at CRT, enjoyed BBB, watched HDDR and had a blast. And we did not spend anywhere NEAR $10,000.



I think maybe we disagree on what middle class is. To me the middle class is those with 6 figure salaries paying private tuition. The 1% are way beyond that.

The technical definition of middle class is anyone making between two-thirds and twice the median income. In Canada (as of a year or so ago), that encompasses families who earn between $32,000 and $95,000 a year. So, the 6 figured families paying private tuition are NOT middle class.

Also, people have a poor understanding of the top 1% figure. To be in the top 1% for income you only need to make the equivalent of $32,400 US. So going by that, the majority of everyone that goes to Disney, is in the top 1% for income (lol we're an exception to that). However, that's just looking at income, not net worth. To be in the top 1% for net worth, you need to have a liquid value of $770,000 US or higher. I think we can all agree it's safe to say that there are still a fairly high (proportionately) number of people attending Disney that meet that criteria.


Ourselves personally, we are a one-income household, with four members. Our net income is on the lower end of middle class. Our last trip cost us $6000 CDN and we splurged. Our next trip will cost $4000-5000. We definitely cannot visit Disney every year. On one hand, I "get" the disappointment and frustration over the rising costs of Disney. Once upon a time it was definitely more accessible, affordable to more people. They are definitely working towards pricing out a good chunk of the middle class, and I do get the impression they are trying to make Disney a vacation more for the elite than the common. It's frustrating.

That said, I think a lot of the "Disney is too expensive" anger is because sometimes I think people too often set expectations, or feel entitled to things, that are beyond their reality. I mean sure, you can be cranky that you can't afford a Deluxe villa on your vacation, and throw a tantrum and not go. But do you really need that fancy room to sleep in? Do you really need that $170 pp party to be able to enjoy fireworks? Is that really what makes a Disney vacation? Sure those things are nice, and if you can afford them more power to you! But if you can't, rather than get upset and complain about it, adjust your expectations and choose different options! Vacations, much like life, are what you choose to make of it.

(And just to be clear, these are very general comments that are in no way directed towards anyone in particular)
 
The technical definition of middle class is anyone making between two-thirds and twice the median income. In Canada (as of a year or so ago), that encompasses families who earn between $32,000 and $95,000 a year. So, the 6 figured families paying private tuition are NOT middle class.

Also, people have a poor understanding of the top 1% figure. To be in the top 1% for income you only need to make the equivalent of $32,400 US. So going by that, the majority of everyone that goes to Disney, is in the top 1% for income (lol we're an exception to that). However, that's just looking at income, not net worth. To be in the top 1% for net worth, you need to have a liquid value of $770,000 US or higher. I think we can all agree it's safe to say that there are still a fairly high (proportionately) number of people attending Disney that meet that criteria.
You should check your math there. Are you saying that 99% of people make less than US$32,400? Per annum? Per day maybe. I think the percentage is a lot higher than 1% for those making above $32,400.

I agree that Disney is trying to maintain a fairly expensive level for their vacations. But remember that they are a business not a public service. If the average family really wants to go, but has to save for 5 years to do that, so be it. The parks are full, so does Disney think in any way there are pricing themselves out of the market. Probably not. In a free market economy they can charge what the market will bear, and the market is bearing their prices quite well.

And as several point out, including myself, there are cheaper ways of having an amazing Disney vacation if you want to go more often. We are returning to Orlando and Disney in 2018 because it is considerably cheaper than the Mexico vacation we were originally contemplating. I don't think Disney has completely overpriced themselves (yet) as for our family it is actually the budget option (but we do have champagne tastes).

ETA: Looked up the figures for Canada, and came across this from 2013 CBC article using 2010 figures :
That $191,100 is just the minimum to squeak into the one per cent club. Most of the people in that category earned much more. The average income among the top one per cent was twice that — $381,300.

To put this level of income into perspective, that’s almost 10 times the average Canadian income of $38,700.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/who-are-canada-s-top-1-1.1703321
 
Google search in 5 seconds revealed that the top US 5% earns above $215000 a year so I think there is some huge confusion about what the expression 1% actually means
 
You should check your math there. Are you saying that 99% of people make less than US$32,400? Per annum? Per day maybe. I think the percentage is a lot higher than 1% for those making above $32,400.

The top 1% figures are global. And yes, the math is correct.

But if you want to look at just Canada, per Statistics Canada, granted these are 2011 figures, the numbers from 2016 aren't out yet:


Minimum income to be in the top ...
10% of income earners $80,400*
1% of income earners $191,100*
0.1% of income earners $685,000**
0.01% of income earners $2.57 million* (not a lot of millionaires in Canada)


So this means that technically, a chunk of the "middle class" are still within the top 10%.

Now if you want to look at the United States (from their statistics division):

Table 1: Income in the U.S. by class, 2013

Top 1 percent $1,679,000
Top 20 percent $257,200
60th-80th percentile $76,500
40th-60th percentile $46,000
Bottom 40 percent $20,300

Compare that to China, where the average ANNUAL income per family, was $2100 US (per 2012 survey). Stats on the actual numbers for their top 1% seem to be hard to come by, but there are numerous articles stating that there is an enormous income disparity.
 
We've all seen threads go off the rails, but this one..... lol :scared1:

Really, folks? You feel the need to debate the top 1%? :badpc:
 
The top 1% figures are global. And yes, the math is correct.

Compare that to China, where the average ANNUAL income per family, was $2100 US (per 2012 survey). Stats on the actual numbers for their top 1% seem to be hard to come by, but there are numerous articles stating that there is an enormous income disparity.

Okay but we are on the Canada board. Looking at the global 1% is meaningless if most of the population on our continent are global 1%ers. I don't think that Disney is marketing WDW particularly in mainland China, so fail to see the connection here to the OP's statement about being priced out as a Canadian.

ETA: But now that I understand that you were talking a global 1% number, then yes, I would concede that Disney is most certainly marketing to the global 1%ers. That would actually be a very good description of their demographic. Probably even the global 0.1%ers.
 
Can you tell me what the 1% looks like?

Something like this, right?

monocle-cigar-442_540.jpeg
 
Have been to WDW 7 times since 2006. Maybe I have gone too much but the price to go back now is just getting insane. In August 2012 DW and I stayed 14 nights at POR with free dining for about $3,550 CDN. Just priced the same time frame for this year and it is over $7,200 US = over $10,000 CDN.
Triple the price just can't imagine that being a deal.

Hi guys
I will agree that prices have increased and the value if you've been a few times is sometimes hard to find.
My problem is sometimes I travel solo and the cost for hotels rooms with the single supplement is high ,along with resort fees and taxes.
I am also currently locked into traveling during three of the most expensive times of the year, Spring Break/Christmas/Summer.
I decided that it was cheaper for me to buy a small point DVC (Disney Vacation Club) resort contract. My yearly maintenance fee is within an acceptable range. I can either do Disney/UO /Orlando area/or just enjoy the resort. It kind of forces me to take time for myself and chill.
I will admit I do not need to go to all of the theme parks anymore and will just plan other activities to fill my days. I have become a huge fan of Universal Orlando and will just Uber it over there or book a room for a night or two. I also have the option of renting out my DVC points and using the money to do other vacations.
Best wishes on your future vacation planning,
Hugs Mel
 
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