As usual, the truth lies in between. Price increases at WDW are certainly on a higher trajectory than most middle-class family incomes, but as others have stated that's not unique to the World. Food and drink prices have always been higher in the parks. I can remember my Mom complaining once that she had to spend roughly 6.00 for my burger combo one day at Cosmic Ray's. All Disney resorts, even FW have always been a luxury experience. Stay in the resort and you get more than the other guests, simple as that. However there are many resorts outside the Disney gates that are quite affordable and in many cases a better resort experience (or better yet, go to VRBO and rent a 4-bedroom house with a pool in a gated community for half the price of a moderate resort), so if lodging budget is your concern don't pretend there aren't options.
All very true. There are definitely more budget minded ways to go to Disney, if someone wants to.
The main problem Disney has isn't the prices themselves, it's the return on investment. The "magic" simply isn't what it used to be. If a multi-year visitor isn't noticing this, then they have crossed into the enchanted realm of the pixie duster. Trash piled high. Cast members without a clue. Rides down more often. Planning and reservation systems so cumbersome that if you haven't planned every 15 minutes of your vacation in advance expect major inconvenience. WDW is still a wonderful place, just don't attempt to compare it to what you know, and always take a newbie with you so you can see it through their eyes.
Hmm, I've been going to WDW for almost 40 years now. We are DVC members and AP holders and visit 2-3 times every year, sometimes more. As usual, there is a lot more exaggeration in your post. The rides are not down any more often that they have been in the past. One must remember that some of these are over 40 years old, and things break more often at that age. Rides go down all the time for a variety of reasons, and sometimes it's the guests themselves doing something stupid that causes the ride to stop, a lot more nowadays than in the past. People were a lot more respectful back then.
We interact with the CMs all the time, and it's some of the best times we have there. In over 20 visits just in the last 10 years, we have had exactly ONE bad interaction, and we reported that to his manager immediately, and never saw him again. ONE. None have been clueless, and all have been helpful. Maybe your attitude reflects theirs??
Trash piled high??? We have been there twice in the last 6 months and have yet to see this. Yes, I've seen the pictures, but we have no context for them. Just because a trash can is full after a parade or wishes doesn't mean that it wasn't emptied a short time later when the crowds allowed the CMs to safely empty it. We have yet to see a bathroom that was dirty as some have reported.
Cumbersome planning???? Really??? Since we have been going for so many years, we have our favorites that must be done every trip, and we also want to try new things every trip. Yes, even after going to the MK literally hundreds of times over the years (I used to live in Orlando), we still find new things every single trip, whether it be a new attractions, show, parade, or someplace to eat. Of course being DVC members, we make our resort reservations at the 11 month mark, and then change over to a new resort at 7 months if we decide to do so. Takes about 5 minutes for each one. We then make a few ADRs at 180 days for those very few places that you need them farther out. Again, takes about 15 minutes on the web site. We add a few more as we go along which again takes about 5 minutes. We have a tentative schedule for what park on a particular day around 70 days out, and then plan our FP+. Usually takes about 20 minutes for a week long trip to get them all. So now we are into reservations for about an hour of our time during an 11 month window. Not really excessive by any standards I would think. Oh, and we love the FP+ system. We have experienced it with all 3 - no FP, old paper FP, and now FP+, and we prefer FP+ over any of it. We are older, so we aren't running anywhere to get the old paper FP, and would frequently end up with times that didn't work for us. Maybe we already had a lunch or dinner ADR, and the FP conflicted. Now we can stroll to a park, knowing that our favorites are waiting for us.
Sorry that the magic seems to be gone for you, but it doesn't have to be. It isn't for us, and we still think it's a great value.
