Cost of going to DW waaaay too high.

[bryanfze55]

??? you really think people go on vacation to keep up with the Joneses?? that's an interesting take.

Keeping up with the Joneses may have been the wrong phrase, but yes I do believe people indulge in novelty and experiences (this includes vacationing but is not limited to vacationing) due to social pressure and “FOMO” (fear of missing out). Social media is no doubt a driver of this. I think this is problem more of a problem amongst my generation than yours.

A common example of keeping up with the Joneses is - your neighbor comes home with a Maserati, you get jealous and suddenly think you need that in your life (you is rhetorical here). Among my generation at least, it’s considered crass and to be so envious of “stuff.” However, indulging in experiences is viewed positively.

To that end, is it so inconceivable to think your neighbor comes home from a vacation, talks highly of it, posts beautiful pictures on social media… and then suddenly you feel like your family is deprived by not having a similar experience? I don’t think many of us are immune to the thought, at least.

Something to think about.

 

[GuyFawkes]

Maserati??? I would laugh at my neighbor, terrible vehicles.

 

[RScottyL]

Pay for a ticket, $25 for parking and then wait up to 2 hours to get into an attraction, unless, you want to pay another $15 for a fast pass for 2 attractions! What a way to drive people away! This is NOT what Walt had in mind.

I agree 100%!

Unfortunately, they are pricing a lot of families out of a potentially great vacation/experience.

I don't see it getting better, as they will probably still hike prices up every year!

 

[King Panda 77]

Maserati??? I would laugh at my neighbor, terrible vehicles.

Both the ones I own have been fantastic to drive and no hassle at all.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Keeping up with the Joneses may have been the wrong phrase, but yes I do believe people indulge in novelty and experiences (this includes vacationing but is not limited to vacationing) due to social pressure and “FOMO” (fear of missing out). Social media is no doubt a driver of this. I think this is problem more of a problem amongst my generation than yours.

A common example of keeping up with the Joneses is - your neighbor comes home with a Maserati, you get jealous and suddenly think you need that in your life (you is rhetorical here). Among my generation at least, it’s considered crass and to be so envious of “stuff.” However, indulging in experiences is viewed positively.

To that end, is it so inconceivable to think your neighbor comes home from a vacation, talks highly of it, posts beautiful pictures on social media… and then suddenly you feel like your family is deprived by not having a similar experience? I don’t think many of us are immune to the thought, at least.

Something to think about.

I never think "deprived " now sure if someone comes back saying what an awesome time they had at a particular place that peaks my interest but not in order to "keep up" but because I love travel and I definitely don't go to impress someone. For example I feel in love with Greece from hearing others rave about it. I love fabulous beaches and food so I instantly fell in love

Now Disney is a weird animal in that marketing has turned us into Disney zombies
You are right though, I'm a senior so not into the "social media pressure " or don't have the need to post every detail of my life.

 

[Skibum1970]

I never think "deprived " now sure if someone comes back saying what an awesome time they had at a particular place that peaks my interest but not in order to "keep up" but because I love travel and I definitely don't go to impress someone. For example I feel in love with Greece from hearing others rave about it. I love fabulous beaches and food so I instantly fell in love

Now Disney is a weird animal in that marketing has turned us into Disney zombies
You are right though, I'm a senior so not into the "social media pressure " or don't have the need to post every detail of my life.

People I hear talking about Disney do not do it for status. Most do it because they enjoy Disney and don't seem to care about FP+/Genie or things like that. They go to take their kids and have fun. Others go because it has become a staple of their vacations. Several became DVC owners because it is where they wish to spend their vacation time. I have spoken with those who have never gone and they are intrigued by the fun aspect of it but many either don't have the money or don't want to wait in lines. I can't say that I have ever spoken with anyone who felt that it was a status situation. However, it could be the case and I just don't know differently.

 

[wutisgood]

People I hear talking about Disney do not do it for status. Most do it because they enjoy Disney and don't seem to care about FP+/Genie or things like that. They go to take their kids and have fun. Others go because it has become a staple of their vacations. Several became DVC owners because it is where they wish to spend their vacation time. I have spoken with those who have never gone and they are intrigued by the fun aspect of it but many either don't have the money or don't want to wait in lines. I can't say that I have ever spoken with anyone who felt that it was a status situation. However, it could be the case and I just don't know differently.

I think a lot of the old vacationers who accepted price increases for years found ways to make it work but the new system has made it hard to do things even while paying more. When you pay as much or more and lose value is when you really start to look elsewhere. It is much like a lot of the people I see moving jobs right now.

 

[Chef Mickey]

For me, it’s never about the cost as much as the benefit. I think the quality of product in general has not reached the standard of even a few years ago and definitely not 5-10 years ago.

The pay to ride system is pretty bad, even for the people who pay for it. I’ve been to WDW 60 days since 2020 re-opening and it’s all objectively worse.

Domestic parks made 7% margin before taxes last quarter. I know they are still ramping up, but WDW has a spending and management problem. The pricing is too high for making such poor margins and the Covid excuse is about over. As an investor, I want to see a major improvement in profitability. The poor margins are ridiculous given the pricing for guests.

Chapek has been utterly disappointing and useless, not that we didn’t know he would be.

 

[Piebald]

We go because we are local. Otherwise the costs seem astronomical. We travel a lot and find a lot more value in that. We visited Japan and spent 3 days at Tokyo Disney Resort for less than it would cost us to fly from, I dont know pick a random US city, and visit WDW for a few days.

2 weeks in Japan including a far far superior Disney resort for less than a few days at WDW.

 

[RoadiJeff]

We go because we are local. Otherwise the costs seem astronomical. We travel a lot and find a lot more value in that. We visited Japan and spent 3 days at Tokyo Disney Resort for less than it would cost us to fly from, I dont know pick a random US city, and visit WDW for a few days.

2 weeks in Japan including a far far superior Disney resort for less than a few days at WDW.

Hmm...I dunno. I live in the St. Louis area and I just looked up on Expedia the cost of a rt airfare to Tokyo, just slightly less than $1,700. I flew to MCO in October for under $150 rt and stayed at a Comfort Inn near Universal for $70/night. My entire week at WDW, including airfare, tickets, hotel, rental car, etc., wasn't more than around $1,000.

 

[Lilofan]

Hmm...I dunno. I live in the St. Louis area and I just looked up on Expedia the cost of a rt airfare to Tokyo, just slightly less than $1,700. I flew to MCO in October for under $150 rt and stayed at a Comfort Inn near Universal for $70/night. My entire week at WDW, including airfare, tickets, hotel, rental car, etc., wasn't more than around $1,000.

And you saved money eating the free daily breakfast! You did well.

 

[Lilofan]

Both the ones I own have been fantastic to drive and no hassle at all.

A Maserati Gran Turismo MC with a Ferrari engine and glorious exhaust is a symphony to ones ears and surely wakes up the neighbors.

 

[ppete1975]

Keeping up with the Joneses may have been the wrong phrase, but yes I do believe people indulge in novelty and experiences (this includes vacationing but is not limited to vacationing) due to social pressure and “FOMO” (fear of missing out). Social media is no doubt a driver of this. I think this is problem more of a problem amongst my generation than yours.

A common example of keeping up with the Joneses is - your neighbor comes home with a Maserati, you get jealous and suddenly think you need that in your life (you is rhetorical here). Among my generation at least, it’s considered crass and to be so envious of “stuff.” However, indulging in experiences is viewed positively.

To that end, is it so inconceivable to think your neighbor comes home from a vacation, talks highly of it, posts beautiful pictures on social media… and then suddenly you feel like your family is deprived by not having a similar experience? I don’t think many of us are immune to the thought, at least.

Something to think about.

I agree with you.. and "oh we take little suzie and bobbie every year" "where are you taking your kids?" And dont forget the school yard.... "Mommy the richardsons go to disney every year!!!, they say its awesome, can we go" "No Cindy, disney is too expensive, you arent worth it, lets go to six flags!!"

 

[wutisgood]

Six flags should have bought the deezer site. They prob could have but almost no effort and built parking lot coasters and still made money.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

People I hear talking about Disney do not do it for status. Most do it because they enjoy Disney and don't seem to care about FP+/Genie or things like that. They go to take their kids and have fun. Others go because it has become a staple of their vacations. Several became DVC owners because it is where they wish to spend their vacation time. I have spoken with those who have never gone and they are intrigued by the fun aspect of it but many either don't have the money or don't want to wait in lines. I can't say that I have ever spoken with anyone who felt that it was a status situation. However, it could be the case and I just don't know differently.

One of the big reasons we love Disney vacations is they are safe and easy.

As much as we all complain about how difficult it has become to plan a WDW trip it’s still pretty easy compared to planning a couple weeks in Europe or even a road trip across America.

When we travel abroad our favorite company is Viator, you pay more for tickets, buses, boats, etc than you’d pay individually but it’s worth the premium to have someone else deal with the logistics and make sure you don’t stumble into unsafe areas, we tell them where we are staying and they pick us up at our hotel with everything taken care of, we get to skip all the driving, ticket lines, and hassle .

WDW used to feel like that, it was a lot of preplanning but once you got on the plane it was easy. That’s one of my major complaints with losing magical express, luggage delivery, FP+, etc. Some of the ease has been lost.

 

[Skibum1970]

One of the big reasons we love Disney vacations is they are safe and easy.

As much as we all complain about how difficult it has become to plan a WDW trip it’s still pretty easy compared to planning a couple weeks in Europe or even a road trip across America.

When we travel abroad our favorite company is Viator, you pay more for tickets, buses, boats, etc than you’d pay individually but it’s worth the premium to have someone else deal with the logistics and make sure you don’t stumble into unsafe areas, we tell them where we are staying and they pick us up at our hotel with everything taken care of, we get to skip all the driving, ticket lines, and hassle .

WDW used to feel like that, it was a lot of preplanning but once you got on the plane it was easy. That’s one of my major complaints with losing magical express, luggage delivery, FP+, etc. Some of the ease has been lost.

This is a great description of why we go. It's pretty easy aside from saving up for it. For us, it's which resort to stay at (Moderate typically but a deluxe for a special trip or if discounted enough). Then, as you said, it's easy. The loss of Magical Express is actually a big loss for us. We could use Uber or pay for the bus service but we really enjoyed the Express. I don't miss FP+ but Genie kind of ruined FP+ being gone. I do think that there is a price point at which Disney will start to slump and that is the price point that they are looking at. What is the most that can be charged and not lose too many guests? They are definitely pushing out the supply-demand curve.

 

[Andrew25]

Six flags should have bought the deezer site. They prob could have but almost no effort and built parking lot coasters and still made money.

A decade ago maybe, but most of what can make a Six Flags unique has already been built in Orlando surprisingly. SeaWorld has the big B&M thrill coasters, Universal has a strong mix of thrill rides and dark rides, and Disney has the family/children's market. The Orlando Eye will also now feature the world's largest swings and drop tower.

With Epic Universe coming online in a few years, there will be a lot of discussion amongst families about which parks to skip soon. I think we will be seeing fewer general Orlando vacations and more resort-specific vacations to Disney or Universal only. That, and possibly more families deciding to stay offsite (or the cheap Endless Summer) to save money in order to afford to visit all the parks.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

Out of curiosity, just checked out the All-Star resorts for next year. What the heck happened to 'Value Resorts'?
$218 a night? You kidding me??

This is not Magic Your Way anymore. It's Magic Bob's Way.

 

[Chef Mickey]

We go because we are local. Otherwise the costs seem astronomical. We travel a lot and find a lot more value in that. We visited Japan and spent 3 days at Tokyo Disney Resort for less than it would cost us to fly from, I dont know pick a random US city, and visit WDW for a few days.

2 weeks in Japan including a far far superior Disney resort for less than a few days at WDW.

I go to Japan from the US every year and never saw a ticket to Tokyo for less than about $1500. The park tickets in Japan are cheaper, but Tokyo isn’t exactly a budget vacation. I stay at the Ritz there, but unless you’re doing a very minimal hotel in Tokyo, it’s,going to cost you. Coke is $7 with no free refills many places there.

I agree WDW has gotten out of control, but traveling abroad is still way more expensive.

 

[wutisgood]

I go to Japan from the US every year and never saw a ticket to Tokyo for less than about $1500. The park tickets in Japan are cheaper, but Tokyo isn’t exactly a budget vacation. I stay at the Ritz there, but unless you’re doing a very minimal hotel in Tokyo, it’s,going to cost you. Coke is $7 with no free refills many places there.

I agree WDW has gotten out of control, but traveling abroad is still way more expensive.

The northeast has economy seats regularly for 1k often less. Tokyo is a very competitive market. There are a lot of airbnbs for really cheap and public transit makes travel easy to various attractions.