Has Disney Pricing Increases/Atmosphere Cuts Altered YOUR FAMILIES WDW Attendance?

How has Disney Pricing Increases/Atmosphere Cuts Altered YOUR Attendance

  • No effect. Absorbed all price changes without changing itineraries and are content with atmosphere

    Votes: 82 18.1%

  • No effect yet. However, recent changes have us planning to reduce our WDW spending.

    Votes: 89 19.6%

  • Attendance the same, but we have cut back on ADR's, hotel quality/location, etc.

    Votes: 62 13.7%

  • We used to go more than once a year. Now we go less often, but still splurge when we do go.

    Votes: 15 3.3%

  • We used to go more than once a year. Now we go just once, but still splurge.

    Votes: 18 4.0%

  • We used to go at least once a year. Now we go every other year.

    Votes: 76 16.7%

  • We used to go at least once a year. Now we don't plan to go at all.

    Votes: 62 13.7%

  • We used to go every once in a while. Now we don't plan to go at all.

    Votes: 26 5.7%

  • We used to have higher tier passes. Now we have lower tier passes.

    Votes: 16 3.5%

  • We used to have passes. Now we don't have passes.

    Votes: 86 18.9%
  • Total voters
    454
VaderTron

VaderTron

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Often on these boards you will hear cries and complaints whenever there is a price increase on tickets, food, hotels, DVC, parking, etc. However, many of those who frequent this site are frequent WDW attendees if not pass-holders. While those who would respond to the question posed would represent a very small sample size, I am still curious how these reductions in entertainment and increases in costs have affected your families relationship with WDW. After selecting the answer that most closely represents your family's reaction, if you care to share more details in a post I would love to hear your personal comments.
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
No effect-yet. If and when we reach the point that we can't justify spending the required amount of $$ for a WDW vacation without getting the same enjoyment we used to, then our visits will end or be very rare at the least. We will never be one of these families that constantly complain online about how WDW is too expensive, not enough new attractions, etc-but still buy APs every year or visit twice a year. That makes no sense to me. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
We go less often (once every 2-3 years), and spend less while we're on site. (No DDP, no photos, fewer TS meals, smaller souvenirs, non-hopper tickets, etc.). Our vacation budget has stayed the same over the years, so to compensate for increasing prices at WDW, we just have to keep cutting other extras from the trip. Obviously, we'll eventually get to a point where the stripped-down trip is no longer worth it for us, especially now that the kids are teetering on the brink of their teen years and are getting increasingly interested in traveling to more grown-up locations. They're old enough now to perceive how many other, alternative ways the vacation budget could be spent (e.g., DH and I spent 10 days in Scotland last year for less than the cost of a week at WDW).
 
eliza61nyc

eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
No major changes for my family. like @danyoung56 we still have a great time and find more than enough to do, We didn't go this year but that was normal, we often will take a break and do other things. We also are dvc so we don't have that cost.
We never were huge "extra" people so the event parties and things like that don't really effect me. I may do one extra per trip. My vacation budget while not unlimited is very flexible. we usually decide on what we want to do far enough in advance that we can tweak the budget if need be.
 
stratman50th

stratman50th

Well-Known Member
We hadn't been since 2012 for the reasons listed above. It wasn't necessarily the increases but the cost/value ratio. Now I realize that is subjective so I say that it's my opinion. That being said my wife still had a few things on her bucket list. One was checking out Disney Christmas decorations. She got that checked off last December. She also got to hit the Flower and Garden Festival last May with the one day left on our Dec. park hopper. I guess this is as good a place as any to throw out my response to those who always say "Bye Felicia, more room in the parks for me". I say that it's not the locals like me and my 2.3 square feet of space you need to have joy with. It's the planeloads, one after the other from the UK, Europe, Central and South America you need to be thinking of. Those are the guests that Disney will keep pulling in. I have friends from just outside of London that tell me they get great packages to come here as they usually stay for at least three weeks. Anyway, I digress. The only time I would return is for something special my wife wants to do, and those things are getting farther and fewer between. I wouldn't put down anyone's desire to go because it wasn't that many years ago we were the same way.
Almost forgot, I belong to this forum because we have been so many times and I might have something to offer. I give opinions freely and as accurately as I can. I try not to tinge the responses with my personal feelings.
 
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Minnesota disney fan

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
We have cut the length of stay by one day this year, and are paying essentially the same as last year with that cut back. We don't do DP's and only a couple of ADR's. The rest are QS. We don't spend money on gifts for the family like we always did. They all have enough Christmas Ornaments, and the grandkids are getting too old for Mickey stuff. I do buy one thing each trip for myself. However, this last trip I did not do even that. I had a gift card to use, waited to the last day of our trip, and still couldn't find anything I wanted. We used it for food and things like that.
So we are in the process of cutting back, but not all the way yet. We still find a lot to love about Disney, but the cutbacks and money grabs are getting a little old!
 
stratman50th

stratman50th

Well-Known Member
Minnesota disney fan said:
We have cut the length of stay by one day this year, and are paying essentially the same as last year with that cut back. We don't do DP's and only a couple of ADR's. The rest are QS. We don't spend money on gifts for the family like we always did. They all have enough Christmas Ornaments, and the grandkids are getting too old for Mickey stuff. I do buy one thing each trip for myself. However, this last trip I did not do even that. I had a gift card to use, waited to the last day of our trip, and still couldn't find anything I wanted. We used it for food and things like that.
So we are in the process of cutting back, but not all the way yet. We still find a lot to love about Disney, but the cutbacks and money grabs are getting a little old!
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I get you on the souvenirs. We stopped back when they took the park specific items out of the gift stores. We figured it was costing to go so get your keepsake. When you could by the same item in any Disney Store in any mall it kind of lost something. (Thank you Michael Eisner).
 
T

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
I’m a weird case, growing up we would make trips every few years to WDW (sometimes pared with Universal) every few years, I wanted to do that more frequently as an adult. However back when I was just out of school and struggling with debt and a lower salary I came to the realization that I wanted to go to WDW but couldn’t afford to go the way I wanted (on-site stay.) So I made a trip to Universal, and eventually Disneyland because they were cheaper and I loved it.

My next goal was I like all these places, I’ll go to them every year once I have the time and money. Well by the time that came and I crunched the costs it was going to be stupid expensive to do that, but if I simply choose to buy an AP and go to one of those three parks three times in one year and rotated it would be doable. So that’s what I did, the only thing that has changed is that I now make 5 trips on an AP (Oct, Dec, Jan-Feb, May-June, Sept-Oct) instead of 3.

However, other then using up charges that are bundled with things I already want (Express at Universal for staying on site, Maxpass included with my AP at DL) I have thus far avoided up charges other then holiday events (I love the Disney holiday parties and HHN) and the occasional tour because between using EMH, being a good FP+ user and planing to avoid certain parks on those upcharge days I still get what I want. If it gets to the point where an upcharge is required for me to get my 15-25 rides in (not including at least one night show which is a must for me at Disney) then it will change my visit frequency.
 
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Professor_Jason

Professor_Jason

Active Member
It hasn't affected us but we stay off property using our timeshare and use Uber instead of renting a car and that saves us a lot of money. We do have friends that aren't going for the foreseeable future because their families are priced out now and they're not happy about it and it's affecting how they view Disney
 
xdan0920

xdan0920

Think for yourselfer
We are DVC members and our trips have still dropped off precipitously. From approx twice a year to once a year to now every three years. It’s not that we can’t afford it, we make more money now then we ever have and our vacation budgets have increased accordingly. It’s that we get treated like morons every time we go. Kids buffet, $35, sureeeeeeee. We were There for 5 days in November and 4 of those days the Magic Kingdom closed early so TDO could resell the park.

Staffing is the worst offender. Middle of the afternoon only one side of BTMRR open. Half the kiosks at QSR locations closed. Half the kitchens too. It’s a disgrace.
 
cosmicgirl

cosmicgirl

Well-Known Member
I made a comparison a few months ago between what our trip cost in 2009 and what the same trip would cost in 2019 and came to the conclusion that it has doubled. After correcting for inflation and the lower exchange rate the 2019 trip should have been 51% more expensive than in 2009, yet it's 100% more expensive.

We are a doing the longest onsite stay we've ever done this November for the simple reason that we know we won't be able to afford this anymore next time (2021 most likely), or even if we can we wouldn't be able to justify the cost. The reductions in park hours and EMH do bother us, as well, but cost is the biggest factor.

Just the increase in food and merchandise prices has caused us to spend less than before. In 2008-2012 we pretty much ate what we wanted (not a lot of table service, as that was not a priority) without looking at the price and went home with hundreds of dollars in merchandise. Then we didn't go back until 2016 and we ended up adding the QSDP at the last minute after seeing online how much food prices had gone up. This allowed us to order what we wanted without looking at the price. And I only went home with $35 worth of merch, not because I couldn't spend more, but because I didn't feel the items were worth the cost. Their margin on that $35 item may have been higher than before, but they missed out on the other couple of hundred in revenue that I would've spent if they had settled for a lower margin.

In the future we will likely spend just a few nights in a value resort and squeeze everything out of those days, and then move offsite. Or maybe we'll go back to our Orlando roots and take a shuttle from a cheap offsite hotel. After the 50th I honestly don't know when I'll go back because I simply don't care for the direction they're taking.
stratman50th said:
... It's the planeloads, one after the other from the UK, Europe, Central and South America you need to be thinking of. Those are the guests that Disney will keep pulling in. I have friends from just outside of London that tell me they get great packages to come here as they usually stay for at least three weeks. ...
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Actually, there's a pretty active thread on a British board right now about whether or not attendance is down due to pricing/upcharges/reduced offerings and many agree that their limit has been reached, or will be very soon. There are, of course, those with a money tree in their backyard who will always pay what Disney will charge and see the value, but I very much disagree that the plane loads from Europe will keep pouring their money into Disney. Most say they will continue to visit FL but they will skip Disney, or only do a quick Disney fix during their non-Disney trip. I very much agree with this. I keep very quiet about where I go on vacation and what I'm doing because I know people would ask about the cost and the conversation would go downhill very fast. The UK Florida audience is not a good representation of how the rest of Europe spend their vacation budget. Yes, we like 2- and 3-week vacations, and most will not give that up to spend the same amount of money on just one week or even less in WDW.
 
DisneyAndADoleWhip

DisneyAndADoleWhip

Active Member
Weirdly enough, my family has been more times since 2015 than we ever have before. A trip that was once every other year has turned into a trip three to four times a year.
 

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