Disney is going to price us out of the Kingdom..

[bjlc57]

for the past three months we were in deep discussion of buying annual passes and going twice in the next two years.. it would have been two years since our last visit.. but Yesterday Disney dropped the bomb on us.. the raise in prices was unbelievable.. my sister and brother in law make over 6 figures and came back last month and said.. Hey.. this is getting hard to do.. we were planning on giving them in upwards of $7000 for two trips in a year.. now .. its all up in the air and more likely up in smoke.. may be others here have a much bigger income then we have.. we are just middle class.. but Walt wanted a place for all classes and the Disney idea and theme is rapidly leaving that standard.. All businesses have to answer to the principles of economics .. when you raise prices you lose sales.. Disney is not the gas company or the electric company.. but they do act like them ..meaning that people are always going to show up.. and buy this product.. that "we have to" .. well guess what.. we may not be buying this time . or buying a heck of lot less..

 

[ctcdisneymama]

I feel the same way. We are middle class however have money to vacation. We go to Disney every year, sometimes twice a year and have been doing this since 2014. Just booked our 2020 vacation and this one hurt, more than all the others! We were able to go to Disney twice in one year for what this trip is going to cost us. I wish I could see the value of going every year however it's hard when they aren't really adding or changing much. They are going to make so much money off of Star Wars land it's hard to see why they increased the prices to what they are now.

 

[John park hopper]

Could not agree with you more. We are retired and on a fixed income and save too afford a trip to WDW, it is becoming more and more difficult to justify going with WDW nickel and diming we guests to death (wish it was only nickel and dimes). I grew up on Disney but the current Disney money grab means we will be going else where --it's a great big world out there. May be the next recession will hit Disney hard and bring prices back some and we will go then. We have not been to Universal in years that may be on our to do list

 

[Michael T]

The more the prices go up, the less I buy.

 

[ppete1975]

go less often you will enjoy it more, instead of going to Disney twice a year or every year.. go every few years and explore the other states and countries.

 

[danyoung56]

But the parks are still wall to wall filled with people. The only way Disney has of fighting large crowds is by raising prices. I don't like it any more than anyone else, but I do understand it.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Yep.
Not the end of the world (excuse the pun) Disney doesn't have to make any thing they sell affordable to me. I love traveling so when Disney gets out of my price range I'll happily move onto some other happy place.

no harm, no foul

 

[RustySpork]

Yep.
Not the end of the world (excuse the pun) Disney doesn't have to make any thing they sell affordable to me. I love traveling so when Disney gets out of my price range I'll happily move onto some other happy place.

no harm, no foul

You'll never run out of potential happy places around here, it's one of the perks of the area.

 

[Roakor]

We go to WDW every three years. With the overcrowding and price hikes for our next trip in 2022 we are seriously looking at going to Europe instead. maybe take a day or two to see disney Paris. When we look at at what is costing us to go to WDW vs where else we could go and do with that money, WDW is no longer the slam dunk winner it used to be.

 

[rangerbob]

They have to raise the prices of something to compensate for the wage increase to $15.00. They priced me out about 4 years ago. I may occasionally go to DTD but nothing else.

 

[RustySpork]

They have to raise the prices of something to compensate for the wage increase to $15.00. They priced me out about 4 years ago. I may occasionally go to DTD but nothing else.

It couldn't possibly be due to the amount they're finally investing in the parks or to shift guest spending. It has to be to compensate for a wage increase that's a fraction of a percent of their annual income.

 

[rangerbob]

It couldn't possibly be due to the amount they're finally investing in the parks or to shift guest spending. It has to be to compensate for a wage increase that's a fraction of a percent of their annual income.

I know but trying to give them an excuse. More than likely due to the opening of star wars land is the main reason for doing the increase. I know that DL just did an increase before they opened their area.

 

[CP_alum08]

You absolutely do not “have to” buy anything from Disney. Going is a luxury and should be treated as such.

 

[Raineman]

I will admit, WDW is not out of my price range-yet. But people have to be committed to stopping their visits when it becomes out of reach for them-I know there are people out there, who complain about the prices, have a hard time affording them, but still continue to go. If more people stop going completely, eventually it will make Disney take notice. Also, if you limit your vacations to only theme parks, you are doing yourself a disservice-there are so many other things to see and experience in this world.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

But the parks are still wall to wall filled with people. The only way Disney has of fighting large crowds is by raising prices. I don't like it any more than anyone else, but I do understand it.

Aside from the fact that is not the only solution, raising prices is not a sustainable course. Circumstances and economics will change. Continuous increases could lead to harm that is either irreparable or very expensive for them to undo. How could they afford to go significantly backwards in pricing at this point without getting pulverized by shareholders? Plus, you can only go to the nickel and dime well so many times. That resource is finite. If that is the only trick in their bag, they are in trouble.

Even if circumstances don't substantially change, those who can still afford to go will have higher expectations. Disney will have to continue to spend more and more money to top itself in order to show that people are still getting value. They would get to a point where they can no longer do so; at which point the house of cards will collapse.

The company was very short sighted in the 2000s. Strategic planners should've foreseen that the Disney Renaissance in the 90s would've led to an explosion in popularity once all those fans of Little Mermaid and Toy Story became adults with discretionary income and children. Some of today's issues could've been avoided.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Been an AP here in Ohio for a few years with my wife.. we are only able to go a few times a year because my parents live right behind the castle so free lodging.. While there though we probably spend similar amounts to people on site through drinking the monorail, nice dinners, and her ever loving obsession with spirit jerseys and ears... With this last change, I think I will be dropping my AP and going to Universal for the next year or 2.. until at least after 2021 when all the "value" we are paying for now, is built.. Simply put, this is hard to stomach and Disney will have a very hard time "growing" if we see anything like the worldwide market downturn we saw 10 years ago.. Between 2006 and 2010, the Magic Kingdom Attendance numbers were stupid flat, and no growth occurred, in fact having a few years where attendance dropped. Now we are at the point where MK attendance has stayed relatively flat again having a few years with drop in total visitors to the park for the last 4 years while the economy has boomed for the most part.. I am not convinced that if we get another big downturn in the economy we wont see a significant drop in attendance and they will have major issues. If this happens Disney will be overextended and care for the aging parks will be even worse than they recently seem to have been.

With this latest price increase for my AP, I could buy both of us AP's to Universal, get monthly payments instead of a 1 time charge of 2500$ now, and those include an extra set of tickets for horror nights or whatever they are called, a ticketed event that we could enjoy(still think it is a sham that Disney doesn't include a single "ticketed event" bonus, except for a 10/15% discount, for AP's) and spend 2 nights a year on one of their hotels for the price of ONE of our annual passes.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

The price increases are one thing.. The IP-ification of current / new attractions, lack of repair / maintenance / upgrades on current rides, and lack of care for thematic integrity post-$hapek is another. Our recent stay at a Disney moderate wasn't great.

Quality is seemingly falling (with some exceptions of course), Prices are increasing. They're not taking risks anymore with originality. At what point does the perfect storm happen?

On another note, my lady and I were looking seriously into getting the Premier Passport. Disney shamefully made that choice for us when they increased the price from like 1500 to 2100 only recently.

 

[Kingoglow]

I will avoid joining in on the complaints... and help the OP, assuming she really wants to buy an AP.

If you read through the AP thread, in News & Rumors section of this site, you will find a link to Sam's Club where you can still buy Platinum and Platinum Plus AP's at the old price.

Boom. Now you don't have to worry.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Could not agree with you more. We are retired and on a fixed income and save too afford a trip to WDW, it is becoming more and more difficult to justify going with WDW nickel and diming we guests to death (wish it was only nickel and dimes). I grew up on Disney but the current Disney money grab means we will be going else where --it's a great big world out there. May be the next recession will hit Disney hard and bring prices back some and we will go then. We have not been to Universal in years that may be on our to do list

My husband and I are in the same situation as you! We have shifted our focus to Universal and are looking forward to going to Universal, Sea world, and the Kennedy Space Center. There's a whole big world out there. We love Disney, but are sick of all the money grabs. Weve discussed the pros and cons of WDW vs Universal for a trip this next year. Universal is winning out at this time. We love the flexibility at Universal, just being able to walk onto rides when we want and to do them over and over, if we want. Nothing planned. It's relaxing and eye opening after the major planning we do with Disney. So, maybe Universal will WOW you too

 

[disneyflush]

I had way more fun planning the trip and all the possibilities than I did actually being there and experiencing it. Being priced out may be a disguised blessing.