Need to vent about how expensive WDW is now

[PrincessKL]

I believe Spring 2021 is when the hotel prices are so cheap at Disney. I was going to stay at the Contemporary for less than $300 per night in January 2021 (only garden wing though). But we cancelled that trip because of safety concerns. Disney was begging people to go there while still limiting capacity. The price then is not comparable to normal Disney prices even before 2020.

I’m not saying Disney is not getting more and more expensive though. Otherwise, I would not be reading in this board. But just that it’s not simply a price jump of 38% over the years.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

I would consider WDW a theme park vacation, not a fancy vacation. There are definitely better resorts and more "fancy" places to travel to. I can't wrap my head around the fact that people think WDW is a normal vacation cost.

I think for certain parts of society, WDW, mainly due to the prices, can appear to be “fancy.” But no, it’s not generally a fancy place since almost all of the restaurants don’t have a dress code and etiquette from the guests, at times, can leave one wishing for better.

I agree with you. While WDW isn’t specifically fancy, it’s also not normal or average as vacations go.

But when it comes to vacation, there’s a lot of considerations when it comes to determining a normal cost. Where you live, destination, travel method, entertainment, dining, etc. WDW is a lot cheaper for the local who can buy a FL resident AP than it is for me. But visiting Chicago is cheaper for me than it is for someone from Orlando. But I wouldn’t consider Chicago necessarily cheap either, even for me.

 

[DCLMP]

I think for certain parts of society, WDW, mainly due to the prices, can appear to be “fancy.” But no, it’s not generally a fancy place since almost all of the restaurants don’t have a dress code and etiquette from the guests, at times, can leave one wishing for better.

I agree with you. While WDW isn’t specifically fancy, it’s also not normal or average as vacations go.

But when it comes to vacation, there’s a lot of considerations when it comes to determining a normal cost. Where you live, destination, travel method, entertainment, dining, etc. WDW is a lot cheaper for the local who can buy a FL resident AP than it is for me. But visiting Chicago is cheaper for me than it is for someone from Orlando. But I wouldn’t consider Chicago necessarily cheap either, even for me.

I think WDW costs as much as most fancy vacations.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

I think WDW costs as much as most fancy vacations.

I totally agree with you, especially if you were to consider the cost of my WDW vacation without DVC.

It’s not the actual experience that is equal, but the cost is likely similar.

 

[Minnie1222]

want to plan a budget wl
can i do this with 10k?

For how many people? How long do you want to stay? Types of park tickets? Restaurant choices?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

want to plan a budget wl
can i do this with 10k?

Sure!

 

[RivShore]

Can I please just vent for a minute?
I am in the very beginning stages of planning a Spring Break 2025 Disney World vacation. This week I decided to start looking into how much things will cost so we can set our budget and start saving for it. Boy am I glad I did that because it is definitely going to take over a year to save up for this trip.

The most astonishing thing to me is that we went to Disney World for Spring Break in 2021, and according to the notes that I have from planning that trip, it will cost us $3,500 more this time to do the EXACT SAME VACATION for the same number of park days (5) at the same hotel (Contemporary). That is crazy to me. 2.5 years later and the price has gone up by 38%. How do people afford to do this more than one time every 5 years?

This is going to be a special vacation for our family. My oldest will be a senior in high school and it will be our last big vacation before she graduates and moves to college. I want to splurge. I want to make it extra memorable. But I am feeling discouraged by the fact that it will cost us more than the first 2 cars that my husband and I bought after getting married-- combined.

I haven't read all 10 pages here so maybe it has been covered but I just wanted to throw some perspective out here -

General inflation is up about 20% since 2021 and we know some things like food, are up much more.

Also, the latest union agreement at WDW from earlier this year included a 37% wage increase thru 2025.

A 38% increase in your trip, unfortunately, makes sense and lines up pretty close with real Disney underlying cost increases.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

ELI5
10 years ago Disney was attainable to the average family and the parks were calm and manageable. Over the past year I’m seeing more and more people quit Disney as it’s no longer financially attainable but the crowds remain crazy and “low season” doesn’t really exist anymore. Plus revenge travel is over.
Perhaps this should be its own thread.

 

[michellej47]

For me, it's not really about the cost but more about the value. Our last trip, the value just wasn't there anymore. We are going next month and I will see if I still feel the same. Since my kids are older and one is about to graduate, if we feel we aren't getting our money's worth, it may be our last trip sadly. I just remember the days when there was so much you got for the money you spent...FastPass, Magical Express, extra magic hours, etc.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

ELI5
10 years ago Disney was attainable to the average family and the parks were calm and manageable. Over the past year I’m seeing more and more people quit Disney as it’s no longer financially attainable but the crowds remain crazy and “low season” doesn’t really exist anymore. Plus revenge travel is over.
Perhaps this should be its own thread.

I'd be willing to bet there were a lot of 'average' families that couldn't do Disney 10 years ago either - at least not without a period of time saving funds for the trip. In my opinion, Disney didn't go from calm and manageable to financially unattainable in 10 years. There have always been those who couldn't afford it or stretched to enjoy the magic. And since Disney would fall into the family vacation/leisure area of funding, most people need to choose where to spend their money. Food, insurance, mortgage, healthcare, taxes, college - all up. That eats up much of the vacation fund for many families......

 

[DCLMP]

ELI5
10 years ago Disney was attainable to the average family and the parks were calm and manageable. Over the past year I’m seeing more and more people quit Disney as it’s no longer financially attainable but the crowds remain crazy and “low season” doesn’t really exist anymore. Plus revenge travel is over.
Perhaps this should be its own thread.

During the recession years of 10+ years ago, Disney was affordable and manageable for the people who kept their jobs or weren't financially impacted by the recession. As the economy improved Disney got more expensive, but I will say even in 2017, 2018, and 2019 we had enjoyable trips. 35% off deluxe resorts, free fast passes, and Magical Express were all still a thing.

During and after Covid, things really went downhill especially starting with 2022. Families had all their free money from the government to spend on WDW so discounts were non-existent and crowds were ridiculous. They also made many changes that cost the guests more money like the elimination of free parking, Magical Express, charging for fast passes, etc.

The economy will dictate what happens going forward it always does. I would expect demand destruction to occur at some point.

 

[DCLMP]

I'd be willing to bet there were a lot of 'average' families that couldn't do Disney 10 years ago either - at least not without a period of time saving funds for the trip. In my opinion, Disney didn't go from calm and manageable to financially unattainable in 10 years. There have always been those who couldn't afford it or stretched to enjoy the magic. And since Disney would fall into the family vacation/leisure area of funding, most people need to choose where to spend their money. Food, insurance, mortgage, healthcare, taxes, college - all up. That eats up much of the vacation fund for many families......

Of course, there have always been families that couldn't go to WDW, but now there are families that could easily go to WDW 10 years ago that are now balking at the price.
I'd say we're in that boat. I'm not willing to make sacrifices for a WDW trip. I think with our income level I shouldn't have to do that.

 

[tink2424]

It seems to me that a lot of people being priced out of WDW (or want WDW to be a great experience with the same prices from 10+ years ago) want to complain that it’s solely a Disney-created, and Disney-related, problem.

I will say Chapek didn’t help things by the things he said during his time as CEO. Iger seems to be trying to improve Disney’s image both inside (with CMs) and outside (general public/potential customers) the Disney parks.

But Disney is in the service/entertainment industries and those industries have been jacking up prices well above the rate of inflation since 2020.

Just look at Chipotle. They continue to raise their prices because they see no pushback from customer demand, not because the input costs continue to climb.

My nearest Taco Bell just raised the price of a combo meal by 50% within the past month. Does that reflect the current rate of inflation?

When I worked at Subway in the early 2000s, you could buy six 6” sandwiches for $9.99. Now you can’t buy two for that price. And inflation was relatively tame for many of those years.

The price increases are everywhere and they have been everywhere. It’s not just WDW.

Disney has to protect their customer experience inside the parks and one way they can do that is by increasing prices. Lower ticket prices mean more people in the parks. I’m guessing many complaining about high admission prices would also complain about longer wait times if ticket prices were cheaper.

My oldest son told me during our last trip that he wished WDW was free for everyone. I told him that he wouldn’t want to go to WDW if it was free.

While price is an issue to me it is more about the quality. They didn't just raise prices, they took away services. I think people would still be upset with just the price increase but putting together the price increase as well as the decrease in value is a bad combo...

 

[robinb]

I haven't read all 10 pages here so maybe it has been covered but I just wanted to throw some perspective out here -

General inflation is up about 20% since 2021 and we know some things like food, are up much more.

Also, the latest union agreement at WDW from earlier this year included a 37% wage increase thru 2025.

A 38% increase in your trip, unfortunately, makes sense and lines up pretty close with real Disney underlying cost increases.

It's more than just that. It's Disney's greed on top of that.

The OP said that she was paying 38% (or $3500) more than her last trip in April 2021. That would make her April 2021 trip to be $9200 and the trip she's pricing to be $12,700. If I plug $9200 and April 2021 into the Fed's inflation calculator (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) I get $10,600 as a result of inflation from 4/2021 - 11/2023. So yeah, inflation is about $1,400 of the price difference, however Disney is charging her $2100 over just inflation. There is no way that's just labor costs. It's Mickey's 4-fingered money grab.

 

[SL6827]

It's more than just that. It's Disney's greed on top of that.

The OP said that she was paying 38% (or $3500) more than her last trip in April 2021. That would make her April 2021 trip to be $9200 and the trip she's pricing to be $12,700. If I plug $9200 and April 2021 into the Fed's inflation calculator (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) I get $10,600 as a result of inflation from 4/2021 - 11/2023. So yeah, inflation is about $1,400 of the price difference, however Disney is charging her $2100 over just inflation. There is no way that's just labor costs. It's Mickey's 4-fingered money grab.

Yes. The parks are keeping up Disney's other losses elsewhere.

 

[RivShore]

It's more than just that. It's Disney's greed on top of that.

The OP said that she was paying 38% (or $3500) more than her last trip in April 2021. That would make her April 2021 trip to be $9200 and the trip she's pricing to be $12,700. If I plug $9200 and April 2021 into the Fed's inflation calculator (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) I get $10,600 as a result of inflation from 4/2021 - 11/2023. So yeah, inflation is about $1,400 of the price difference, however Disney is charging her $2100 over just inflation. There is no way that's just labor costs. It's Mickey's 4-fingered money grab.

That blended inflation rate for that time period probably included little labor inflation, because as we all probably know first hand, wage increases lag inflation by a long while. But in WDW's case, we know that it has gone up at least 37% and that labor is by far their largest expense item in the parks. So I still think a good chuck of the increase is based on real cost increases and, yes, the balance might be increased profit.

And as for the Disney money grab aspect, economists would point to it as a great example of the law of supply and demand. Price will naturally increase while demand increases and once it hits a level that people don't want to pay anymore, demand will slow and price will again decline - the circle of economic life.

 

[Chili327]

I'd be willing to bet there were a lot of 'average' families that couldn't do Disney 10 years ago either - at least not without a period of time saving funds for the trip. In my opinion, Disney didn't go from calm and manageable to financially unattainable in 10 years. There have always been those who couldn't afford it or stretched to enjoy the magic. And since Disney would fall into the family vacation/leisure area of funding, most people need to choose where to spend their money. Food, insurance, mortgage, healthcare, taxes, college - all up. That eats up much of the vacation fund for many families......

I remember having to think twice about my SoCal Select pass that was $199. lol

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That blended inflation rate for that time period probably included little labor inflation, because as we all probably know first hand, wage increases lag inflation by a long while. But in WDW's case, we know that it has gone up at least 37% and that labor is by far their largest expense item in the parks. So I still think a good chuck of the increase is based on real cost increases and, yes, the balance might be increased profit.

And as for the Disney money grab aspect, economists would point to it as a great example of the law of supply and demand. Price will naturally increase while demand increases and once it hits a level that people don't want to pay anymore, demand will slow and price will again decline - the circle of economic life.

We know with Disney less people are going but Disney is still making more money per guest. This isn't a secret, they have said this bluntly and multiple times. Guest spending is up with less guests and it's not because of supply and demand it's tied to charging more for park tickets, hotels, merch, parties and now genie+, even evening EMH was monetized in the form of deluxe only guests.

I get it that sometimes we need to keep practicalities in mind with Disney but that does go both ways. You (general you) can't just shove the issue as "economists say"

 

[DCLMP]

We know with Disney less people are going but Disney is still making more money per guest. This isn't a secret, they have said this bluntly and multiple times. Guest spending is up with less guests and it's not because of supply and demand it's tied to charging more for park tickets, hotels, merch, parties and now genie+, even evening EMH was monetized in the form of deluxe only guests.

I get it that sometimes we need to keep practicalities in mind with Disney but that does go both ways. You (general you) can't just shove the issue as "economists say"

It's kind of like spending on groceries is up, but people aren't eating more. Of course, consumer spending is up everything costs 25% -50% more than it did three years ago. Credit card debt is at an all-time high and people taking out hardships loans on their 401k'a keep rising.
Maybe someday WDW will just be for the upper class as we move closer to a two-tiered class system. I'm not sure the upper class are theme park enthusiasts who are willing to indulge in subpar service.

 

[kathy884]

Can I please just vent for a minute?
I am in the very beginning stages of planning a Spring Break 2025 Disney World vacation. This week I decided to start looking into how much things will cost so we can set our budget and start saving for it. Boy am I glad I did that because it is definitely going to take over a year to save up for this trip.

The most astonishing thing to me is that we went to Disney World for Spring Break in 2021, and according to the notes that I have from planning that trip, it will cost us $3,500 more this time to do the EXACT SAME VACATION for the same number of park days (5) at the same hotel (Contemporary). That is crazy to me. 2.5 years later and the price has gone up by 38%. How do people afford to do this more than one time every 5 years?

This is going to be a special vacation for our family. My oldest will be a senior in high school and it will be our last big vacation before she graduates and moves to college. I want to splurge. I want to make it extra memorable. But I am feeling discouraged by the fact that it will cost us more than the first 2 cars that my husband and I bought after getting married-- combined.

I understand your venting. Onsite is just so expensive and now offsite is less appealing than it used to be. I'll join you and do some venting too lol. I love the Contemporary, but I have only stayed there when DH has had conferences there and his company was footing the bill for all nights except one add on night we'd usually do.

We did spring break in 2022. We stayed offsite like we usually do which in the past as worked out great. We stayed in condos at the Sheraton Vistana resort (I do like the condos and the amenities - no complaints about the place. Have stayed here before -- great value for accommodations). But gosh not being able to do rope drop (used to always go on days without extra magic hours) was a disappointment after having done rope drop on every previous offsite stay trip we have done. It makes sense though that those onsite should get some perk with how much money they are paying, so I do get that. And we were not even able to get any of the popular pay rides with Genie as they were sold out to onsite visitors. Again I understand that with paying so much for accommodations onsite should get some perks. Some say I could have gotten this with more phone tricks and refreshes, etc. but I didn't try that or know the tricks at the time. The only Disney parks we did were Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Genie plus at Epcot really just got me one ride with a short line, but as you know there are so few headliner rides there. Genie plus did help a bit at the Magic Kingdom, but not enough really to make up for not getting to do rope drop. I also and maybe this is an age thing, just really didn't like driving in Orlando (never minded it really all that much in the past). I can see the appeal of onsite, but I am one who doesn't like to pay onsite prices. Maybe it's that I'm in my 60s and work from home now and don't deal with rush hour every day. But gosh, traffic just seemed worse than ever and it feels like there are more crazy drivers on the road. It didn't help either that I was the only driver on the minivan rental car contract with a group of six (no one to share driving with). DH didn't come on this one. My 86 year old dad though loved Epcot Flower and Garden and taking him there was a main reason for the trip, and it was pretty awesome to do two days there with him. Just a year later and now he is no longer up for traveling, so I'm glad we went when we did.

For me it's sort of a stage in life thing more than anything, but I am not planning to do anymore large group gatherings at WDW in the future. I did since then do a one day with two people at the MK (Keys to the Kingdom tour) -- fun, but over priced for what it was, especially buying a pricey one day ticket for two and two Keys to the Kingdom tickets -- bucket list thing that really IMHO wasn't really worth it. But I wouldn't have know that unless I tried it. And with DS 27 (DH stayed home) we did onsite at DIsneyland Paris with 2 1/2 days there -- very enjoyable -- early entry for onsite by a full hour and not that many onsite places -- could get a lot in, easy to buy a pass for any ride with a long line on the spot. This was an add on in between time in Paris and Belfast that was well worth doing since we were already in Paris. I won't be doing another trip back there, but that was kind of nice.

In years back I would have said do offsite at WDW -- worked great for us for so many visits, but I think there are distinct disadvantages now especially at busy times like spring break. I can see your wanting deluxe for proximity and opportunities to do the parks with lighter crowds (some evening hours I think just for deluxe). And at spring break that will greatly enhance the experience but for a price for sure.

Travel is more expensive than ever everywhere. and prices have gone up so much for almost anywhere you go. I am still doing some travel, but I am doing less of it (so expensive and crowded -- still enjoyable to an extent). I have no trips to Disney planned for 2024 or 2025. But Disney has been a fun place that I have gone to often thru the years (probably 30 trips for so since 1971 when WDW opened)..

Sounds like you are going anyway, so enjoy!

I agree with other posters too -- I didn't do Disney then, but I did on the one trip I did in 2021 get a great deal - probably because of COVID and so few people traveling compared to normal. My air on that one was about 1/3rd the price it normally is to the destination that I went to. Maybe you need to look at 2021 as the deal and now as the new normal. It's pay to play for experiences that are appealing. It's still though, I'm paying how much for this.

For 2024 I'm having wedding sticker shock -- DS is getting married.
For 2025 I'm flying, renting a minivan, and staying for a week in Glacier National Park that has a super short season which will cost about double what trips out west to other places usually cost us. I am having major sticker shock on this one too. It's probably why I haven't been to Glacier yet, but it's a bucket list place I haven't been yet, so I'm biting the bullet, looking for ways to economize a little, planning on doing it, and putting appropriate vacation budget dollars towards this trip. Too bad we aren't up for tent camping these days -- something we used to do a lot of when we were younger and that would save me tons of money.