Who else feels the price of Disney is not bad considering what you get

[monica9]

I'm just saying, people spend $200 to go see a live concert for two hours or a professional baseball game for a few hours yet $150 for a day of unlimited ride attractions, shows, parades, fireworks and taking pictures with characters is too much for a 12 hour day.
Does anyone else agree or I'm I the only one?

 

[Disneylover99]

Price increases for anything are a bad thing, especially at Disney, because it doesn’t seem to lighten crowds or make it a better experience.

Why would you want to pay more for something with no benefit for yourself?

That doesn’t make sense to me.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

No, I don’t agree.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I get your point, but it's not really "unlimited" attractions, etc anymore. You really have to pick what you want to do. If they raised prices, but capped attendance I could see where it wouldn't be a bad thing.

I also don't want to spend 12 hours in the parks every day on my trip.

 

[monica9]

Price increases for anything are a bad thing, especially at Disney, because it doesn’t seem to lighten crowds or make it a better experience.

Why would you want to pay more for something with no benefit for yourself?

That doesn’t make sense to me.

Well, I missed titled this. I meant to say I don't understand why people complain about how expensive Disney is when they get so much out of that money.

 

[monica9]

I changed the title because obviously i'm not happy with ticket increases but I don't think the price is that bad for what you get

 

[monica9]

Price increases for anything are a bad thing, especially at Disney, because it doesn’t seem to lighten crowds or make it a better experience.

Why would you want to pay more for something with no benefit for yourself?

That doesn’t make sense to me.

But without price increase how can they make better rides and keep up with safety? This is just a question because I honestly don't know and curious if there's other ways to keep up with new rides and the price to keep up with the maintenance that it needs.

 

[Disneylover99]

Well, I missed titled this. I meant to say I don't understand why people complain about how expensive Disney is when they get so much out of that money.

I might have agreed with you 5 or 6 years ago, but the way the prices have gone up for tickets/AP’s, resorts, etc....Not to mention the addition of fireworks dessert parties that have taken away spaces that used to be free viewing spaces.....no.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I think you do get plenty for what you pay. The recent round of AP increases just made me salty about it.

I also think the onsite resorts are ridiculously overpriced. They really need to rethink the pricing there.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I see your point. My other way if looking at it is when I go to a play or concert I get 120 consecutive minutes of entertainment. If I ride 10 rides at 5 minutes in length apiece (rounding for easy math) I’m only getting 50 minutes of entertainment at a park. I choose to look at the atmosphere of the parks and the people watching as entertainment, so I still see value in the whole day.

 

[Disneylover99]

But without price increase how can they make better rides and keep up with safety? This is just a question because I honestly don't know and curious if there's other ways to keep up with new rides and the price to keep up with the maintenance that it needs.

It just seems to me, they take and take and everything costs so much more. I know Disney is a business. I can’t or won’t fault them for making their money, but at the same time, I don’t like it and for me anyways, the worth is becoming less.

 

[Brett Wyman]

I think the park tickets are priced fairly for what you get. Everything else, not so much. Parking’s fees at the parks and resorts are a huge example of Disney operating on pure greed instead of for the customer. There should be zero resort parking fees as their hotels are already overpriced for what they are. I’m okay with a moderate fee for parking at the parks as a way to fund their upkeep. But it’s greedy to make money on parking when you’re surrounded by that much open land.

 

[Bjkandma]

I disagree with you. When you go to a concert or baseball game. That's what you get. A two hour concert, you are seeing a two hour (or close to it) concert. When you go to a game, you usually see a whole game (even if rain delays).

At Disney you pay and literally spend (sometimes) hours to wait in line for a,2-3 minute ride. You can wait for a ride, and it close due to "technical" difficulties. You plan months in advance for rides you are interested in, only to find out that repairs are needed, or its in the way of construction, so closed.

You stand in lines to meet characters, even with fast passes. You are standing in a way over crowded area to see fireworks and parades. Again, becAuse it is over crowded you "need" to arrive early for a decent spot. Taking away from that 12 hour time frame of enjoying anything.

Disney has been over selling tickets to enter the parks. I believe last time I heard MK can hold 50,000 guests at a time!

You may believe you get unlimited rides, attractions, etc. but with waiting in extended lines you dont. On a good day you might get 10-15 attractions.

 

[dlavender]

Perhaps if they weren’t taking away hours at MK and keeping up with the place...

 

[westie55]

I see where you are coming from. Truth be told, everyone there is deciding it is worth the cost or they wouldn't be there. Expensive: absolutely. Completely unreasonable: I don't believe so. Disney offers me something I love and I am lucky to be in a position to make it happen financially for my family, so I have accepted paying the price so to speak.

 

[sethschroeder]

Disney is not that bad but

$200 to go see a live concert for two hours or a professional baseball

You are VASTLY overpaying. I have season tickets few rows behind home plate for a MLB team ($60-$70 a person depending on the game) and can go to music festival with premiere talent (free tickets I could get).

Your $200 analogy is comparable to staying Deluxe at rack rate with a dining plan and buying your tickets through Disney direct. The whole time ignoring ways to vastly save money.

Again I am okay with Disney's prices but comparing it to a sports game or concert will come out as Disney being vastly overpriced in comparison.

To be clear as an example I could have easily went for free to a music festival tonight with Ludacris, Third Eye Blind, Jimmy Eat World, Silverstein, Chicago, and more (and that's just tonight 1 day out of 11).

 

[Disneylover99]

I think the park tickets are priced fairly for what you get. Everything else, not so much. Peking’s fees at the parks and resorts are a huge example of Disney operating on pure greed instead of for the customer. There should be zero resort parking fees as their hotels are already overpriced for what they are. I’m okay with a moderate fee for parking at the parks as a way to fund their upkeep. But it’s greedy to make money on parking when you’re surrounded by that much open land.

The ticket prices and limitations are what has affected us the most. Our AP’s just went up a whopping 25% over night. Now date based tickets with surge pricing at busy times, expiring tickets....it's just gone up too much, too fast IMO.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

There is such a wide spread when it come to entertainment pricing. I live in a small city in the south. There is no "comparable entertainment" when it comes to Disney World. Our city has one movie theatre, there is a minor league baseball team one city over, and major college sports about an hour drive away. When it comes to spending on leisure, everyone has to make tough choices.

Reserved seating at a minor league baseball game is $15 a person for a 3-4 hour experience and parking can usually be had for free if you dont mind walking a bit. Tickets to a big SEC football game can run from $40-250- 1000 a person depending on the seats and the matchup. Parking can run $5-15-25 depending on the proximity.

Im not gonna go in depth on Disney pricing as most here are probably familiar with it... but you can always choose to "spend more" at Disney. Think of it like the quality of the seats at a sporting event. With a little planning, preparation, and choosing what you can "live without" and what you would like to splurge on. Things like character meals and dessert parties ARE EXPENSIVE! There is no getting around it, you can't "get your money's worth" in cupcakes, chocolate strawberries, or Mickey Waffles. But you can decide if the experience is something that your family will enjoy and your budget can handle. Think of the most expensive offerings like the seats at the 50 yard line or right behind home plate. Most people cannot afford sitting in the luxury box but they can still get through the turnstyles

If you are going to Disney these days, chances are you are going for multiple days. When you treat your vacation like a string of entertainment events or liesure activities, you have a better sense of the "value." Take Animal Kingdom: I can see two high quality musicals, ride rides, experience a 3D movie, have a virtual reality experience, see acrobats and live music, and visit a zoo just with park admission. The hard part is deciding whether you want to experience "extras" Your budget might not gel with the Wild Africa Trek or Tusker Hose or Tiffins. Maybe you choose only one counter service meal or bring your own food into the park. Even a pricey one day ticket $140 a person is a pretty solid value to visit a zoo, a live musical, an amusement park/ fair, movie/ VR experience, and a circus and to pay for parking at all or some of those events.

Is Disney Jacking up prices too much? Sure... AP price has doubled in just 4 years... They have a unique product thats pretty darn good. Its a luxury, and its a splurge but the premium price helps to create a premium product. If you have a subpar experience with breakdowns bad CM's, or other mishaps let Disney know, they want you to enjoy your trip so you keep coming back, they might just give you fastpasses or may even give you a free park ticket. You can also vote with your wallet. Try out six flags and see how a budget theme park experience measures up. You may find that you enjoy that more, there is nothing wrong with that, different strokes for different folks.

 

[DisLiss]

I think the issue is that very few people are paying only $150.00. The only people who are only paying that relatively small amount are solo park goers without APs, who live close enough to drive in, stay the day, and drive home---and who are packing their own food and drink and not buying any souvenirs or extra experiences.

So then, when you start adding in everything else people are paying for, times however many people are in their party and then every one of those items gets hit with a price increase, the cumulative increase can be difficult or at least worth batting an eye at for most folks.

 

[piper28]

I think the park admission prices could be argued one way or the other on whether they're "reasonable". Reality is, people keep paying it, so they'll keep charging it. You could argue that higher prices are the only real way to affect attendence.

Food prices, however, are quite frankly highway robbery. They get away with it because they have a captive audience. It's just not practical to go anywhere else to get food. Of the meals that I ate at my trip a little over a week ago, I'd probably say only one of those (ironically, the most expensive of the meals) that might have been close to being a reasonable price for what we got. I'd probably argue that most of them are 50-150% higher than would be considered "reasonable" for what you get. And I was only paying for 2 people. I shudder to think of what the bills at these places would have been for a family or 4 or more.

Personally, I'm not sure I expect to make it back to Disney again (in fairness, I'm not one of those that makes a lot of trips there anyways - as a kid when we lived in florida, we visited reasonably often, but my last trip before this one was 23 year ago). There's a number of factors involved there, but costs is definitely high on the list. Having to plan everything out way in advance also plays into that.

But my real reason I probably won't be making it back any time soon? It comes back to the statement that the OP made. Personally, I think there are far better values for my entertainment dollar out there, and that Disney is a relatively poor investment of those dollars. It simply comes down to I have a lot of other things I want to see or do that take priority over making multiple disney trips.