I've been going to WDW since '99. Bought into DVC in '03. The lowest prices I've seen were right after 9/11...for obvious reasons. The costs have gone steadily up. In the past 8 years or so, we have seen fewer and fewer wonderful packages offered. Room rates have been high. Now, the cost of AP is making it hard to make the decision to renew in May. I don't take many photos in WDW..so PP is not a so called 'perk' for me. I've always had free parking, so no change there. But, I do get to pay $100 more for a Gold AP but get weeks taken away from me that I can't go to the parks during!
Does everyone deserve to go to WDW? Of course not. It's not a case of 'deserving'. Yes, it's expensive...always has been. But you realized you were getting a higher level of quality there. I've cruised with Disney three times now. I am hesitant to cruise with anyone else. BUT...I can cruise for twice the days with another company vs with Disney! No more kids at home, so don't really need all that Disney 'magic'.
Yes, Disney is a business. But I have to tell you..prices are as high as they have ever been. Resorts are fairly full...hence the few pkg discounts, or at least not great ones. The parks are crazy!!!! I haven't been to WDW, in the past year, when the parks weren't crowded. That would be Sept '14, Nov '14, May '15 and July '15. These were not peak times to go....all you had to do was look at all the various crowd calendars....none of them showed my dates as particularly busy. But wait times for attractions were all lengthy. 25 mins for IASW is just not right!!!!
So, will I stop going to WDW? Probably not. But, I won't be buying anymore DVC points, as I had intended on doing in Jan. I won't be going 2 or 3 times a year, that's for sure. And when I do go? I won't be using the TiW card that they are increasing the cost of by $50! That means, fewer nice meals...and probably fewer QS meals as well.
It means I'll be visiting other areas..instead of just my beloved WDW!!!