Litany of 2026 parks / resorts deals - is this unprecedented?

[Chi84]

I see two beds that are the same size, a little extra room between them and the television (but not much), and carpet. The biggest difference is the walkout to the balcony, which I'll readily admit is very nice. Other than that, just a bit more themed (and not great theming since they took away the whimsy and went more sterile). Also, I've stayed at plenty of DVC studios. They're all pretty similar.

They’re different. The differences don’t matter to you so they don’t have value for you.

Other than continuing to establish that same fact, what is it you’re trying to accomplish here?

 

[bmr1591]

They’re different. The differences don’t matter to you so they don’t have value for you.

Other than continuing to establish that same fact, what is it you’re trying to accomplish here?

Honestly, I'm just responding to people who make comments that imply I'm an idiot for disagreeing with them. Other than that, just had a slow few minutes of work before I had to head off to an appointment, so I'm entertaining myself.

 

[Chi84]

Honestly, I'm just responding to people who make comments that imply I'm an idiot for disagreeing with them. Other than that, just had a slow few minutes of work before I had to head off to an appointment, so I'm entertaining myself.

All but one poster have been responding to you politely.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Woah woah woah…

1. All wdw hotels are overpriced and have been since the year 2000 at a minimum. It’s for location and a tug at the strings.
2. That’s not “just the deluxes”. It’s all of them. That’s a classics misnomer.
3. The reason this always becomes a debate/trench warfare is just a lot of self soothing manifesting on all sides..for a variety of reasons. Not really great reasons either

 

[HauntedPirate]

Your words then:

For one and two bedrooms, there are certainly some extra perks in the rooms, but studios, which make up the majority of DVC rentals and availability, are little more than lightly-themed All Star rooms with better proximity to parks.

Your words now:

Other than that, just a bit more themed (and not great theming since they took away the whimsy and went more sterile).

Even with the dumbing down of room theming that Disney has done at almost every opportunity, there's still more theming present than you're admitting. Why, I have no idea. Not to mention, 100 extra square feet is hardly "a little extra room between beds".

If you said, "Riviera tower studio rooms are lightly-themed All-Star rooms", I'd have absolutely zero problem with that. They suck.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Your words then:


Your words now:


Even with the dumbing down of room theming that Disney has done at almost every opportunity, there's still more theming present than you're admitting. Why, I have no idea. Not to mention, 100 extra square feet is hardly "a little extra room between beds".

If you said, "Riviera tower studio rooms are lightly-themed All-Star rooms", I'd have absolutely zero problem with that. They suck.

The point was never the in room look or feel…that’s the most irrelevant of features of the hotels.

It’s better grounds, better access and more transport options, better and more food options, direct access to gates and springs, etc etc etc

This is like the “state the obvious” portion of the show…apparently? Which is slighty less obvious than the financial side…which is where feelings start to get bruised.

This is like the fast and the furious…same damn thing every time it shows up again.

 

[KDM31091]

But there are even value resorts on the Skyliner so even the transport argument isn’t totally true. Deluxe resorts should offer amenities such as spas and room service so as to justify $800 a night. IMO anyway.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

But there are even value resorts on the Skyliner so even the transport argument isn’t totally true. Deluxe resorts should offer amenities such as spas and room service so as to justify $800 a night. IMO anyway.

The shut down some spas and canned room service

Your complaint is with the current (20 year) awful management…not with how they were conceived and constructed.

And the skyliner only exists as a test case to slap a vacation club in Caribbean (where it does not belongs)…the pop/AoA part is largely irrelevant. And their prices are in no way a “deal”…same with moderates…who have been horribly overpriced for a long time

 

[JD80]

But there are even value resorts on the Skyliner so even the transport argument isn’t totally true. Deluxe resorts should offer amenities such as spas and room service so as to justify $800 a night. IMO anyway.

I wonder how many WDW guests would take advantage of room service and spas? The idea that they aren't offered or haven't come back is something of a clue. Disney doesn't leave spending opportunities on the table.

 

[CoastalElite64]

They're going to need more deals with more Americans struggling.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They're going to need more deals with more Americans struggling.

Half their market is already tapped out…so it’s more than just “confidence” that’s the issue

 

[CoastalElite64]

Less tourists visiting plus more Americans struggling economically. There's no debate about it: the orange man is destroying the economy.

 

[CoastalElite64]

The international vloggers are still vlogging (for now), but threatening an attack on Greenland will probably result in many Europeans joining the Canadian boycott. Plus the Minnesota shooting finally broke through onto main stream media in the UK. These things do influence how people feel about where they spend their hard earned vacation money.

And now the numbers are showing that is correct. Expect 2026 to be an even bigger drop with less long term bookings patching the numbers.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Woah woah woah…

1. All wdw hotels are overpriced and have been since the year 2000 at a minimum. It’s for location and a tug at the strings.
2. That’s not “just the deluxes”. It’s all of them. That’s a classics misnomer.
3. The reason this always becomes a debate/trench warfare is just a lot of self soothing manifesting on all sides..for a variety of reasons. Not really great reasons either

High disagree on the "All WDW hotels are overpriced"
If you know what time to go, they're actually very very reasonable in my opinion.

I'm from Upstate NY, I was going through a few days at a local casino hotel in my area. It's a decent casino, I wouldn't call it particularly fancy. Free pool, no free breakfast or anything. Quite a few restaraunts and the casino on property. It's about $275 for a night there on average during a weekday which is comparable to AoA that I found on the same day, multiple times for about $270.
This $270 includes free transportation, early park entry, with direct skyliner usage and all the other benefits.

The room at the casino is bigger but not very well themed. It's fine enough but very much nothing special. It's the cheapest room possible at this particular hotel (on property)

When you get to summer, its a joke. Similar price by Disney and the casino but now Disney has a free waterpark day for every guest. My family ended up buying a room at All Star Music last year at Disney just for the waterpark perk because it was about $100 cheaper to just get the room and get free transportation/resort hopping then to buy the tickets outright (for 4 people)

To me, that's a killer deal.

 

[DisneyCane]

Recession indicators are across the board and have been for about 18 months

The big one is the housing market…which is more debt laden and imbalanced than it was in 2008…but the banks just assume there is a bailout coming…

And they’re probably right…because it will only take “patronage” that is inconsequential to them

Fire up the mint!!

At what point do "recession indicators" become just a vague prediction that there will be a recession at some point in the future? It's highly unlikely to go from over 4% GDP growth to contraction in the very short term.

Regarding the banks and bailouts, they are almost certainly right. The precedent was set with the "too big to fail" bailouts in 2008. Those bailouts should have come with safety net protocols in housing lending to prevent another 2008. Instead lending practices have returned to the same place they were in 2007. The whole industry is based on the assumption that if they keep lending money for purchases, the home values will always rise because the banks are providing the purchasing power.

It works great until it doesn't. When critical mass of people who can't make the monthly payment arrives the foreclosure rate hits the breaking point and then there is too much inventory and the prices collapse.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

At what point do "recession indicators" become just a vague prediction that there will be a recession at some point in the future? It's highly unlikely to go from over 4% GDP growth to contraction in the very short term.

Regarding the banks and bailouts, they are almost certainly right. The precedent was set with the "too big to fail" bailouts in 2008. Those bailouts should have come with safety net protocols in housing lending to prevent another 2008. Instead lending practices have returned to the same place they were in 2007. The whole industry is based on the assumption that if they keep lending money for purchases, the home values will always rise because the banks are providing the purchasing power.

It works great until it doesn't. When critical mass of people who can't make the monthly payment arrives the foreclosure rate hits the breaking point and then there is too much inventory and the prices collapse.

At what point?

Years and years ago…the whole system is juiced. The government prints its way out of trouble. Which is the real take away from the last housing crash. The mandate from big brother was “never again”

Including QE and giveaways…there was 7 Trillion dollars pumped just before and immediately after the plague hit. It’s all riverboat gambling.

Problem solved, right? Not necessarily…it could all crash tomorrow and those that daily talk about “Growth” will shrug their shoulders and say “sorry…”

There’s not even close to enough money out there to cover what is already owed and spent.

The numbers aren’t solid…they’re a tool. I’m sure you’re not dumb enough to believed otherwise.

But global macro aside…TWDC is in awful shape realistically. Travel is the most fragile of useless spending markets. Always.

Weasel Bob is always me first…if there were laurels and praise to be had and he could get them…you think he’d leave?

I gotta bridge to sell you

 

[Tha Realest]

There are certain factors they can control (prices, hours, operations) and those they cannot (broader economy, friction with international travel, etc). While travel costs have gone up, I wonder how much the nonsense at Southwest is affecting this. We fly SWA almost exclusively given the routes offered (they are over 50% of our flights at our airport.). Most of our destinations have direct flights and we usually have one or two companion passes within our family. All that said, the flights we take that used to be in the sub $100 (or near $100) price points are consistently over $200 now. I figure a disproportionate number of travelers to MCO for Disney (or other vacations) have flown SWA in the past. Notably, the only airline as part of this bag check pilot is SWA. With the price increases at SWA, and all the other changes (more rigidity with cancelling/changing flights, bag fees, assigned seats) I wonder if that is having a downstream effect of the overall cost proposition for a Disney vacation.

 

[Touchdown]

I was a SWA loyalist, but when it became obvious these changes were happening I immediately started burning my miles and managed to use the last of them in January on the last day of old Southwest. I live 90 min away from the nearest Southwest airport, under the old system, even when I factored in a park and fly rate at an airport hotel, SWA was significantly cheaper; no more. Have to say that it’s really nice to fly out of my local airport and I’m enjoying the extra benefits of a legacy carrier as well but I would have never have switched if SWA didn’t blow up their business model. I plan on never giving that company my money again. Thanks to my credit card, I will be flying with them once this fall but that’s only because I can’t say no to a free flight. The new SWA charges the same amount as legacies but doesn’t have first class, lounges, international networks, or interagency agreements. There is no reason, short of being captive by a hub, I can see to fly them now.

 

[cr3346]

Not to pile on the SWA train here, but our family used to always fly SWA to MCO out of PHL. PHL used to be a decent size hub but within the past 5 years or so it has become pretty terrible. They used to offer plenty of non-stop, roundtrip, flights, but I tried to book a flight for the end of the month and there was not a single non-stop flight on the way home. I've had a Southwest card for close to 10 years and I think it's time to start looking for a new one. With all their changes and now the cost of the flights being the same as any other airline, there is no point.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Not to pile on the SWA train here, but our family used to always fly SWA to MCO out of PHL. PHL used to be a decent size hub but within the past 5 years or so it has become pretty terrible. They used to offer plenty of non-stop, roundtrip, flights, but I tried to book a flight for the end of the month and there was not a single non-stop flight on the way home. I've had a Southwest card for close to 10 years and I think it's time to start looking for a new one. With all their changes and now the cost of the flights being the same as any other airline, there is no point.

I fly JetBlue or American now. No interest in southwest after hearing about how much they screwed over their passengers