How Much More Expensive Has Your Average WDW Vacation Become?

[Tha Realest]

Someone here (or perhaps elsewhere) tabulated how much more expensive his family's average trip has increased due to recent changes at WDW.

This is not normal inflation or annual cost increases, mind you, but just the added costs incurred in visiting in a post-DME, post-Genie+/LL world.

He added the costs for transportation to/from the resorts (approx. $150-200), upgrading to a deluxe resort (for potential Genie+ additional benefits), daily Genie+ costs, and possibly some LL, and like one night at an extra late night or after hours event. It was like $2,300 more for the week than what they would usually spend.

Now, obviously, not everyone will "opt-in" to all of those things. But certain costs - certainly round trip transportation with the cessation of DME - are unavoidable. Based on your habits, how much more (on top of normal increases in base costs - hotels and tickets) do you expect you might be incurring?

 

[CastAStone]

Interesting. My first thought after understanding Genie was how much money I would save.

No longer do I need to stay on site to skip lines for the “good rides”. I can stay at the very nice $80/night Fairfield on Apopka-Vineland (or use Marriott points!) and add Genie+ for one of my MK, DHS, and Epcot days, maybe buy Lightning Lane once or twice, and still save a giant pile of money. Plus I’ll be eating offsite more (plus free hotel breakfast!) and saving money that way too!

 

[brettf22]

Just to recreate what I used to be able to do with FP+ (outside the pre-planning part), it will cost my family of 5 upwards of $1600 (or more) extra.

Just to do what we used to be able to do with FP. Included with the ticket price.

Now, time will tell if there are some tangential benefits that can come out of this (like being able to easily get day-of Tier One LL passes). But just on the surface, it will cost a lot more. But similar to what @CastAStone says above, this cost may be somewhat offset by staying offsite more often, especially if the Tier One passes are easy to acquire, and don't get snatched up by the onsite folks at 7am.

 

[Vacationeer]

Food and tickets are where our costs have seriously increased. Onsite would've also increased except prices pushed us to get acquainted with renting DVC points so now we're paying less than ever lol. Tickets still seem a good value considering the scope and variety included. Food we're much more selective to make sure we don't get sucked into the worst value ratios WDW has to offer us (looking at you $9 food booth risotto or $12 for 1.2oz of arancini, PizzaRizzo, and LeCellier). Merch was never a major budget line and that's less now since quality sunk.

Over the past decade we've become more calculated around park spending. Gone is the confidence we'd get what we paid for. Now we actively dodge bad spending to avoid disappointment. Less magical but still manage an acceptable trip budget.

 

[PorterRedkey]

Mine is a lot cheaper since I have stopped going every year. I'll be back, but it is not an every year affair.

If they keep charging more for a diminished product, I will give Universal and the Oriental Land Company my money.

 

[wendysue]

Agree with this. We have saved a bunch since we stopped going so often. We will go in Sept. for the Remy's AP preview..(probably our only chance to ever ride it), drink a few orange slushies ( I think I'll miss them the most-LOL) and then let AP's expire and move on. It's gotten WAY too plan heavy and we like to just wing it. I will not be tied to my phone all day. That's just us...everyone else continue to have a good time staring at your screens.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Over the years we plan on having to save more and budget more for any trip we take or any events we go to. Disney isnt any different than any other luxury spending in our life. If we want it bad enough we will save for it and find a way to do it. However I'm uncertain how this entire thing is going to play out and how we will be accepting of it. Like any new program there will be positives and negatives. At this point I'm thinking I'll be safe saving up another grand.

 

[networkpro]

Surprisingly not much at all. We drive, have APs, and stay at SoG. Add in an additional ~$210 + whatever RoTR is charging per trip and that's about it.

 

[MummaAddams]

Mine is a lot cheaper since I have stopped going every year. I'll be back, but it is not an every year affair.

If they keep charging more for a diminished project, I will give Universal and the Oriental Land Company my money.

I definitely have to agree - Disneys value proposition is drowning and where pre pandemic the benchmark was way higher than UO - that is simply now not the case. Disney forget that there has to be a serious enticement for long stay visitors to become s disney hostage for 2-3 weeks, You are hostage to their restaurants etc where as UO you have more freedom to get more bang for your buck by visiting I-Drive restaurants. The new Bob is very short sighted indeed and these new decisions to charge more for a lot less will have a long term impact on the revenue generated from Overseas visitors. I for one would stay at WDW for the full term and only 1 night at UO deluxe to get the perks - now I will do the reverse. Overseas , especially British visitors are their cash cows so I will be keeping a weather eye on the horizon before I plan my Dec 22 trip

 

[Ricky Spanish]

My wife and I are going to WDW in Oct. 2022 for the same price that we paid for 3 people during Thanksgiving 5 years ago.
Same resort(ASM) and same length of trip.

 

[DarthVader]

Someone here (or perhaps elsewhere) tabulated how much more expensive his family's average trip has increased due to recent changes at WDW.

This is not normal inflation or annual cost increases, mind you, but just the added costs incurred in visiting in a post-DME, post-Genie+/LL world.

Old thread but its a conversation that my wife and I were having just recently. It wasn't too long ago that I was able to get away with a Disney trip for about 4,000 to 6,000 (with air fare), now my 2022 trip In February is shaping up to be in the 12k range. I'm not even doing anything crazy, we're staying at a moderate resort and as of right now, I've not taken the plunge to buy the Genie Plus service.

The amount of nickeling and diming that WDW is imposing as left a very bad taste in both my wife and I's mouths. Our kids are teens but they're still so eager and excited to go. Since this trip is in place of the our previously planned 2020 trip, its something that we didn't want to cancel either. Since I have an extra year to save up, I'm able to accommodate the high cost but I am having a hard time justifying a trip to Walk Disney World costing in the 12k range.

 

[MummaAddams]

Someone here (or perhaps elsewhere) tabulated how much more expensive his family's average trip has increased due to recent changes at WDW.

This is not normal inflation or annual cost increases, mind you, but just the added costs incurred in visiting in a post-DME, post-Genie+/LL world.

He added the costs for transportation to/from the resorts (approx. $150-200), upgrading to a deluxe resort (for potential Genie+ additional benefits), daily Genie+ costs, and possibly some LL, and like one night at an extra late night or after hours event. It was like $2,300 more for the week than what they would usually spend.

Now, obviously, not everyone will "opt-in" to all of those things. But certain costs - certainly round trip transportation with the cessation of DME - are unavoidable. Based on your habits, how much more (on top of normal increases in base costs - hotels and tickets) do you expect you might be incurring?

100% agree - we are from the UK and returning to Orlando in 2022 but will no longer be staying on WDW property as we would have done in the past. There are no fundamental benefits to staying on WDW property now that they have eroded so many of the guest benefits, Free transportation is great in "off seasons" but is not so much of a great benefit at peak times. I saved over $2k on my travel and hotel alone by staying on USO (compared to the cheapest WDW value report) and got myself a family suite to boot.

Personally, I have no intention of staying in an overpriced property and still have to pay out iro of $1000 - $1500 for Genie+ and individual LL rides (based on a family of 4).

I am fortunate that my son is an adult and is pretty non-plussed about Disney themed rooms. He's a foodie so he would rather spend his money on a decent meal.

It's a slippery slope for WDW to reduce their value proposition out of reach of many middle income families as it erodes goodwill and will, ultimately, reduce footfall, which will rise prices further and price the trip out of the market even further and so on, They need to break the cycle and go back to Walts original intention which was to make WDW the happiest place on earth not the most expensive happiest place on earth for those who can afford it.

 

[Weather_Lady]

If we were trying to replicate what we used to do pre-COVID (with DME, Fastpasses, onsite stay, new MagicBands for every trip), for a 5-night, 6-day trip to WDW, and even if we ignore the higher-than-inflation price hikes on tickets, hotels and food, our costs would increase by an extra $150-$625 for ground transportation (Mears Connect, or rental car plus parking), $360 in Genie+ ticket add-ons, and, say, $80 for MagicBands. Given that our vacation budget for a week-long vacation was generally in the neighborhood of $6,000, we'd be paying an extra 10-15% on top of regular price increases, if we wanted to regain the things Disney's taken away, and even then, we wouldn't be able to recapture all of it (e.g., EMH are gone for good, and the 30-minute replacement and deluxe-only extra hours are an inferior substitute).

However, the issue is moot for me, as I won't really ever be trying to replicate what we used to do (and receive) before the elimination of "free" Fastpasses, DME, MagicBands, etc. Disney's price hikes and decreased ROI have forever changed how we vacation at WDW. I don't think we'll ever think it's worth it to stay onsite for a week again, and we certainly aren't inclined to pay extra for Genie+/LL or pay for MagicBands.

Going forward, Disney visits will be shorter, and we'll more likely be staying at a Universal hotel (and splitting our park time there - we'd be morons not to, when we can buy 2-park Seasonal Annual Passes for Universal for less than the price of a 2-day WDW parkhopper ticket, and then save 30% or more on a premium Universal hotel that gives us unlimited express passes), at the Swan/Dolphin or a Disney Springs-area hotel, or perhaps at a nice Airbnb near Disney. As I've said in other threads, Disney's recent changes have done nothing but guarantee that Disney gets a far smaller chunk of our vacation dollars than it ever did before. They've driven us offsite -- and we enjoyed what we found there. As much as I get riled and even a little depressed when I think about how Disney has squandered my goodwill and nostalgia, I can't deny that having my eyes opened to the vacation world outside of Disney has been good for my wallet, and that my family has just as good a time staying and playing elsewhere.

 

[Stevek]

I'm not sur exactly how much more but compared to 2010, our room at Pop Century is $100/night more (x 8 nights = $800), tix are more expensive, no free dining plan. Airfare is actually cheaper which is surprising. I'm sure that merch and food prices will add up and should we decide to pay for Genie+ that's a min of $60/day x 6 days = $360. So if I had to guess, I'd say probably $1500-$2000 higher by the time all is said and done.