Disney World Has Gotten Too Expensive

[EricsBiscuit]

Yeah Vegas is not worth it at all anymore lol. Just 10 years ago it was all super cheap so you'd go and spend money at casinos...now it's just as expensive as anywhere else and there's really no value anymore.

They still get me with the trade shows. I’m here for the IBS show.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I keep seeing the story about Wendy’s going to “surge pricing” and it makes me think of this thread and laugh. “It is now noon in July in Disney! Your Diet Coke is $400. Thanks and have a magical day!!”

 

[jloucks]

Yeah Vegas is not worth it at all anymore lol. Just 10 years ago it was all super cheap so you'd go and spend money at casinos...now it's just as expensive as anywhere else and there's really no value anymore.

The shows, those are still really good.

And the gambling odds are still really good, if not the best.

Your gist is still good as far as being a little low on the ROI.

 

[jloucks]

They still get me with the trade shows. I’m here for the IBS show.

...the Star Trek convention every year is something that I only recently started skipping.

 

[Jrb1979]

The only vacation that we still find value in is our May trip to Cedar Point at the hotel on property. Our passes haven't gone up that much. We pay $250 each for all parks and dining for season. The only extra cost is the hotel. That gone up since we started going in 2019. It's gone from $200 a night to $300.

Outside of that the value for most places isn't what it used to be.

 

[Disstevefan1]

WDW prices are high and will continue to go up. As the prices continue to go up, yes, Disney World will become too expensive for some families and families WILL BE priced out. Maybe these families must save up for three years between visits.

Don’t worry, nothing much will have changed except higher prices and fewer offerings.

 

[jloucks]

WDW prices are high and will continue to go up. As the prices continue to go up, yes, Disney World will become too expensive for some families and families WILL BE priced out. Maybe these families must save up for three years between visits.

Don’t worry, nothing much will have changed except higher prices and fewer offerings.

To be fair this is, was, and always will be the case.

 

[Jrb1979]

To be fair this is, was, and always will be the case.

You at least got value for it. With the lack of new attractions coming, paying to ride old attractions on top of your ticket, loss of perks. It all adds up.

 

[disneyflush]

The problem with this line of thinking is that pricing is the only way to control crowds. Pricing should be about ensuring you are maximizing revenue within the customer volume you have. But pricing isn't the only way to steer customer volume or the resulting customer satisfaction from that customer volume.

You can control the impact of crowds by limiting the crowds with actual limits. This caps growth within your pricing, so you have to work a lot harder to keep growth in such a model. Which is why it's hard in a public company to keep driving continuous double digit revenue growth. But if you want that kind of growth, you can also increase your limits by increasing supply (expanding capacity). The problem with that is it increases your running costs.. aka your recurring spend, even if customers don't spend.

This is why the easiest path is price manipulation to try to steer crowds... but it does so at the expense of your customer tolerance. But if you don't care about customer satisfaction... they will keep using the excuse of "its busy, so we can charge more..."

Old Disney would have worked harder to make the park work better with those crowds (Like how EPCOT was built for scale)

Actual limits on crowds. It sounds so crazy when discussing the crowd problem at WDW but is the obvious answer. I've made a large number of suggestions over the years such as:

1. Actual limits on daily crowds
2. No standbye lines
3. Tickets only good for 1/2 day, morning/night, can't have both on same day
4. Staggered ticket pricing ($300/day for 7 AM Entry, $250 for 10 AM, $150 for noon, $100 for 3 PM, $60 for 6 PM until Close

3 of those were jokes but we are getting closer. Epic Universe will hopefully provide enough pressure to pop this current mindset and make the people in charge revisit some of their truths.

 

[RoadiJeff]

Yeah Vegas is not worth it at all anymore lol. Just 10 years ago it was all super cheap so you'd go and spend money at casinos...now it's just as expensive as anywhere else and there's really no value anymore.

Perhaps more and more people were going to Vegas for the low cost meals and other inexpensive things to attract people into the casinos. People like myself would go there but not gamble and I had a great time at various shows, Red Rock Canyon and more.

The one and only time I ever gambled in Vegas was when my mom gave me a quarter to play a slot when I was 12. I inserted it, pulled the handle, the three wheels stopped on P-O-T and quarters started flying out everywhere. We quickly grabbed the money and left. Ahh...the memories.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Perhaps more and more people were going to Vegas for the low cost meals and other inexpensive things to attract people into the casinos. People like myself would go there but not gamble and I had a great time at various shows, Red Rock Canyon and more.

The one and only time I ever gambled in Vegas was when my mom gave me a quarter to play a slot when I was 12. I inserted it, pulled the handle, the three wheels stopped on P-O-T and quarters started flying out everywhere. We quickly grabbed the money and left. Ahh...the memories.

It’s still possible to go to Vegas on the cheap, if you want a cheap experience.

 

[RoadiJeff]

It’s still possible to go to Vegas on the cheap, if you want a cheap experience.

The Bellagio felt like a second home for a while. I don't think I'd like anything much less.

 

[TalkToEthan]

1. Actual limits on daily crowds
2. No standbye lines
3. Tickets only good for 1/2 day,

What types of limited numbers? 10k? 15k?

No standby……..I don’t get that. Why no standby?

As for 1/2 day tickets are you saying the 1/2 day plan(one earlier entry ticket and one later entry ticket) would use the same logistics as Halloween and Christmas parties whereby Disney separates day guest “holdovers” from nightly “new recruits” with wristbands??

And for the stowaways would Disney not allow any attractions(obviously) but sales throughout the park as well—-even a t shirt on Main Street or a popcorn refill??

 

[rio]

Even Vegas is getting crazy. Parking fees everywhere. $80 for a 6 oz filet. Resort fees everywhere. It’s getting crazy.

If anything Disney is the more reasonable one. A $30-70 uber each way to get to and from the airport at Vegas, waiting an hour and a half for an uber on the strip, $6 bottles of soda, $20 to ride a roller coaster, etc. I think that city is more effective at fleecing you out of your cash than NYC is.

Outside of Vegas - Taylor Swift tickets keep hovering near $1k starting. Super Bowl seats were $15k starting. Even in the smaller city of Albany, ticket prices for decent musical acts reach over $200 and $300.

Compared to all of that, paying $130 for an entire day's worth of entertainment really isn't that bad. People are more willing to pay for experiences now. If you want prices that were normal prior to 2015, you need to look abroad.

 

[Lilofan]

If anything Disney is the more reasonable one. A $30-70 uber each way to get to and from the airport at Vegas, waiting an hour and a half for an uber on the strip, $6 bottles of soda, $20 to ride a roller coaster, etc. I think that city is more effective at fleecing you out of your cash than NYC is.

Outside of Vegas - Taylor Swift tickets keep hovering near $1k starting. Super Bowl seats were $15k starting. Even in the smaller city of Albany, ticket prices for decent musical acts reach over $200 and $300.

Compared to all of that, paying $130 for an entire day's worth of entertainment really isn't that bad. People are more willing to pay for experiences now. If you want prices that were normal prior to 2015, you need to look abroad.

A better deal for soda and water are the guys selling out of their makeshift ice coolers on the Strip sidewalk - cash only, no credit cards accepted.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Not possible. Maybe too expensive for some, but based on the festering mobs of people there, I'd say it is not expensive enough.

You can keep saying this on every thread…but it’s not gonna all of a sudden become true

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If anything Disney is the more reasonable one. A $30-70 uber each way to get to and from the airport at Vegas, waiting an hour and a half for an uber on the strip, $6 bottles of soda, $20 to ride a roller coaster, etc. I think that city is more effective at fleecing you out of your cash than NYC is.

Outside of Vegas - Taylor Swift tickets keep hovering near $1k starting. Super Bowl seats were $15k starting. Even in the smaller city of Albany, ticket prices for decent musical acts reach over $200 and $300.

Compared to all of that, paying $130 for an entire day's worth of entertainment really isn't that bad. People are more willing to pay for experiences now. If you want prices that were normal prior to 2015, you need to look abroad.

You’re ignoring the “all in” costs for taking a group to Orlando for a week. Which doesn’t apply to any of those other examples

Yes…that does matter

 

[jloucks]

You can keep saying this on every thread…but it’s not gonna all of a sudden become true

Without supporting evidence, "too expensive" is an opinion.

My evidence to the contrary is the high demand levels.

I suppose I am just frustrated that WDW is too crowded for me to go and enjoy it, while simultaneously hearing people say it is too expensive. For me, both cannot be true.

I understand tho too, that "crowded" is also an opinion.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Without supporting evidence, "too expensive" is an opinion.

Ok

My evidence to the contrary is the high demand levels.

that is not the case…they have admitted that

I suppose I am just frustrated that WDW is too crowded for me to go and enjoy it, while simultaneously hearing people say it is too expensive. For me, both cannot be true.

in a weird twist…both are true on diverging trend lines

I understand tho too, that "crowded" is also an opinion.

The perception of “crowded” now goes back to many years of bad management choices

 

[erasure fan1]

Without supporting evidence, "too expensive" is an opinion.

My evidence to the contrary is the high demand levels.

Yea too expensive is an opinion, but so is saying it's not too expensive. As far as high demand goes, attendance is down but spending is up. So there's less people going, but spending more. And the wait times are high because of less to do in general and rides not utilizing full capacity.

I suppose I am just frustrated that WDW is too crowded for me to go and enjoy it, while simultaneously hearing people say it is too expensive. For me, both cannot be true.

Both can be true. Less people are going and it does seem more crowded. But it's a problem manufactured by Disney. When you don't have as much to do to spread guests around the parks. Less people will still feel like it is crowded. If rides were running full capacity and Disney had expanded the capacity like it should have, this wouldn't be an issue.