Can't believe the prices

[igrsod]

I just looked at the prices for a short stay in March and my eyes almost popped out of my head.
How does an average family afford hotel prices like that? Granted the cheapest room available for my dates was Coronado, but still. I've stayed there before at around $200 a night... it was now $370 per night. It's a room... nothing special. WOW
Don't even look at the Deluxe resorts.. $1000 + a night, what the heck.
What am I not getting?

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

What am I not getting?

Pent up demand. People will pay it.

 

[rotlex]

Totally agree. It's insane at this point. We made a decision two days ago to cancel our July\August trip and booked an 8 day Universal trip for the first time ever. Wound up booking Portofino Bay, 3 park "hopper", express pass included etc. for $4900. As we have not been too Universal I thought it was a great deal, and honestly, after 20 years of Disney, are pretty excited to do something new!

 

[igrsod]

Totally agree. It's insane at this point. We made a decision two days ago to cancel our July\August trip and booked an 8 day Universal trip for the first time ever. Wound up booking Portofino Bay, 3 park "hopper", express pass included etc. for $4900. As we have not been too Universal I thought it was a great deal, and honestly, after 20 years of Disney, are pretty excited to do something new!

After the sticker shock at Disney hotel prices, I did do some research on Universal hotel prices.
Wow what a difference. Not cheap, but reasonable prices.
Packages that are affordable including many perks for staying onsite, unlike Disney anymore.
I'm curious how long Disney can keep this up before people just stop paying those prices.

 

[sdk1231]

After the sticker shock at Disney hotel prices, I did do some research on Universal hotel prices.
Wow what a difference. Not cheap, but reasonable prices.
Packages that are affordable including many perks for staying onsite, unlike Disney anymore.
I'm curious how long Disney can keep this up before people just stop paying those prices.

I went to Universal a couple of years ago. I bought one Annual Pass for myself and day tickets for the rest of the family. Booked our Universal Hotel (Hard Rock) using the AP discount. I ended up saving a lot of money that way (versus buying day tickets for myself and booking the hotel under the regular rate).

P.S. A couple of Disney resort sale prices just dropped this morning. They include dates beginning March 10. Go to the Disney site, drop down under resorts and click "Special Offers". You'll see them there.

 

[igrsod]

I went to Universal a couple of years ago. I bought one Annual Pass for myself and day tickets for the rest of the family. Booked our Universal Hotel (Hard Rock) using the AP discount. I ended up saving a lot of money that way (versus buying day tickets for myself and booking the hotel under the regular rate).

P.S. A couple of Disney resort sale prices just dropped this morning. They include dates beginning March 10. Go to the Disney site, drop down under resorts and click "Special Offers". You'll see them there.

That's what prompted me to go check. Those were the "sale" prices. I'm still in shock.

 

[rotlex]

After the sticker shock at Disney hotel prices, I did do some research on Universal hotel prices.
Wow what a difference. Not cheap, but reasonable prices.
Packages that are affordable including many perks for staying onsite, unlike Disney anymore.
I'm curious how long Disney can keep this up before people just stop paying those prices.

For us, while the Universal trip is not cheap by any means, it was interesting to see we were able to book their highest end deluxe, Portofino Bay which includes express pass, for less per night than CBR or Coronado.

Don't get me wrong, we are Disney FANATICS, 20 years of on site vacations, but I just can't justify more than we have ever paid to do the same thing again and actually get less. We will be back for sure, but maybe a year away will bring new stuff, and decent discounts again!

 

[mrsap]

It does suck they went up so much. We are DVC but still enjoy staying club level. When we started staying CL at WL in 2013, I believe we paid somewhere in the $300 range a night - and at that time it seemed like a lot! Fast forward to today, where a WL Standard CL room is over $1000 for some days, is crazy to me. I guess time flies and prices go up when you’re having fun!!

 

[igrsod]

It does suck they went up so much. We are DVC but still enjoy staying club level. When we started staying CL at WL in 2013, I believe we paid somewhere in the $300 range a night - and at that time it seemed like a lot! Fast forward to today, where a WL Standard CL room is over $1000 for some days, is crazy to me. I guess time flies and prices go up when you’re having fun!!

We are DVC too and are so grateful. I couldn't afford to go once a year at these prices and we have good jobs and grown kids.
I just wanted to add a few days to our trip as a cash stay because there were no studios available for a couple of days on the week we were hoping to go.
For that price, I am thinking we will venture over to Universal for those couple of days.

 

[ppony]

I haven't seen lower rates in years, but it's also why we've decided to only rent DVC points and that's that. Better rooms for much better value.

 

[loves to dive]

They have gone up that is true. Just for fun I just checked my three favorite places to stay for a random date: April 10-13. Jekyll Island Club standard river view, Omni on Amelia Island standard view and CSR at WDW (I checked this through Orbitz since WDW site is "busy" right now and it was a 20 min. wait to even see prices). JI came in the cheapest at $1200 for the stay, Omni AI was $1800 for the stay at CSR standard room no discounts (I have an AP so could probably get it for less but I was going apples to apples) was $1300 for the stay. I rounded the number to make it easier. All three places offer discounts but I didn't check any of those just going standard rates. So WDW was about in line with the other three sort of.

At JI I picked the clubhouse which is obviously more expensive than a Holiday Inn but isn't on the beach and they do have a resort on the beach. The clubhouse is old, like 1890s old so it has it's issues but its beautiful and sort of in it's own bubble like WDW. Omni at AI used to be called Amelia Island Plantation but got bought out, my favorite place to stay on Amelia Island. Again, sort of its own little bubble even has a little shopping area within walking distance. AI charges $20/night for parking, Jekyll Island Club charges nothing but there is a state fee to get onto the island, we all know Disney's parking prices (I can't remember). Three totally different experiences. JIC is old south with a little shopping district and historic houses you can tour, one smallish swimming pool, on the river with a dock. Lots of restaurants. Omni is a high rise hotel and condos, I think there are two pools, sits right on the beach, lots of restaurants and a golf course (all three places either have a gold course or access to one). CSR is sort of a deluxe lite for Disney standards. I stayed there in Dec. in a Casita not the tower and loved it. My only complaint would be the QS isn't great and of course having to take the buses to the parks but it certainly could be a good resort stay place.

So Disney prices came out pretty even with the other two. Are any of them cheap? No, and there are certainly cheaper places to stay in all three places. I used to stay in the WDW Epcot deluxe resorts but I've been priced out of them, I do stay at the Dolphin a lot.

 

[FBS@WDW]

Just a thought, try and find convention schedules and see about booking under them. I host a convention once a year at WDW and also a couple board meetings, and I always get great rates! Our early December GF convention has a rate of $251 per night. GF is pretty much sold out for our dates and when they did have GV availability it was over $800 per night. Ugh! CL is $1400+! I had $191 rates at CSR last month........anyway, I know there's a website that lists upcoming conventions, and maybe check the Exhibitors website for a resort room booking link. We all have minimum nights we're contracted to sell, so you can bet I'll be posting here later in the year if I don't get my rooms sold.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Keep in mind Disney is running at reduced capacity because they cannot attract workers at the low wages/benefits that they are willing to pay.

The excessively high room rates we are seeing from Disney serve two purposes. First, they make up for the reduced occupancy level and thus the reduced income by artificially inflating room rates to make up (somewhat) for that difference in income.

It is super important to be aware that in addition to the astronomical room rates that Disney is charging, Disney is also offering REDUCED or ELIMINATED amenities like daily housekeeping, transportation options like the Magical Express, Magic Bands and reduced staffing levels which result in inconveniences and delays for the guests.

Disney is perfectly content to make THEIR problems YOUR problems, and they are charging you an obscene amount of money for their parks and resorts experience. In return, they are providing you with a sub-par, not up to the Disney standard of excellence, experience that we have come to expect.

Disney likes to trade on their reputation for excellence, but they have actively decided to throw that out the window and rip off their guests at every possible turn, hoping that the guests are not paying attention and will commit to taking a Disney vacation. The reality that these guests are experiencing at the parks and resorts is far removed from the expectation that Disney is marketing now.

As long as people are willing to pay premium prices for garbage experiences, Disney will continue to take advantage of their guests. Now is not the time to visit Disney. There are better places to go with things to do, that do not take advantage of their visitors like Disney is doing now to their guests.

~Ninja Mom

 

[Ninja Mom]

I went to Universal a couple of years ago. I bought one Annual Pass for myself and day tickets for the rest of the family. Booked our Universal Hotel (Hard Rock) using the AP discount. I ended up saving a lot of money that way (versus buying day tickets for myself and booking the hotel under the regular rate).

P.S. A couple of Disney resort sale prices just dropped this morning. They include dates beginning March 10. Go to the Disney site, drop down under resorts and click "Special Offers". You'll see them there.

Please be advised that these are teaser rates with hardly any availability. This is done to generate buzz and get you to consider booking at Disney Vacation. It's a marketing tool, not a benefit for guests.

Chances are very high that when you go to book those "discounts", they are not available. This is what Disney has been doing during the last few years when they have offered "discounts".

As long as they offer ONE room, for ONE day, in each category of discount, they can promote it as a "Sale" and generate interest.

~NM

 

[sghokie]

I just clicked in to see what would be available next month, I got the 'Almost in orbit' page to wait for 51 minutes. LOL I don't think high prices are hurting them.

 

[pigletto]

It’s important to note the above.. looking now for the very very busy Spring break season is going to show low availability and the most expensive rooms. I was just able to book our room for May at Port Orleans French Quarter for $251per night with the discount that dropped this morning. That isn’t terrible. I’ve also got a Priceline reservation at the Swan for about the same price.
I’ll jump on the “these prices are crazy” train 99% of the time but I saw reasonable rates today with the discount.

ETA) sorry .. my rate was $251! I edited my post.

 

[igrsod]

Just a thought, try and find convention schedules and see about booking under them. I host a convention once a year at WDW and also a couple board meetings, and I always get great rates! Our early December GF convention has a rate of $251 per night. GF is pretty much sold out for our dates and when they did have GV availability it was over $800 per night. Ugh! CL is $1400+! I had $191 rates at CSR last month........anyway, I know there's a website that lists upcoming conventions, and maybe check the Exhibitors website for a resort room booking link. We all have minimum nights we're contracted to sell, so you can bet I'll be posting here later in the year if I don't get my rooms sold.

That's good advice. Never would have thought of that

 

[igrsod]

It’s important to note the above.. looking now for the very very busy Spring break season is going to show low availability and the most expensive rooms. I was just able to book our room for May at Port Orleans French Quarter for $205 per night with the discount that dropped this morning. That isn’t terrible. I’ve also got a Priceline reservation at the Swan for about the same price.
I’ll jump on the “these prices are crazy” train 99% of the time but I saw reasonable rates today with the discount.

That's a reasonable price for sure. I was just shocked how expensive the rooms available were. I just couldn't understand who could afford or would in their right mind, pay those prices.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Yeah, crazy all right. We call it "Disney Inflation" and it's the reason we bought DVC. We ran #s comparing, not to a Deluxe, but an AoA suite. We had stayed there for around $410 in 2018. Just checked Travelocity - same room is going for about $620. We had assumed a "Disney Inflation" of about 10% to guess at ROI, this is just barely above that estimate. It seemed like a "yeah, but you are trying to convince yourself to buy DVC" figure at the time, but nope.

 

[pigletto]

That's a reasonable price for sure. I was just shocked how expensive the rooms available were. I just couldn't understand who could afford or would in their right mind, pay those prices.

I’m with you. Once I stop being able to snag a deal one way or another, I will stop going. The rates are quickly exceeding my threshold.

eta ) I updated my above post. My rate with the discount was $251 at POFQ.. I was confusing it with the $205 I saw for POP.