Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Are we going to dissect every city at every time of year and compare prices? I guess paying 800 a night at the Polynesian is justified because a hotel in New England costs 300 or a hotel in Paris is 1200. There are a lot of expensive hotels across the globe.......Duh !!!

Shouldn't we be comparing the pricing of a WDW hotel to an offsite hotel, the same time of year and everything being equal?

…yes…we should

But people always “self soothe” when they throw more money than needed at the sweatered weasel. Myself included.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

When it is college football weekend in New England the rates are at times 2-3x double the weekday daily rate. But that's probably the same in major college towns. There was a time I wanted to travel to see a Notre Dame home football game. The closest hotel with availability with min 2 night stay was 3 hours away.

Which is funny…because they have no college football worth watching…

…or pro…for that matter

 

[Lilofan]

Which is funny…because they have no college football worth watching…

…or pro…for that matter

We were in New England not exactly the college football capital and hotels around were $300 a night and more which we were told were housing the away football team and their traveling fan base. ( ie Clemson , FSU etc ), the New England Patriots have sold out home games since 1994.

 

[Jrb1979]

…yes…we should

But people always “self soothe” when they throw more money than needed at the sweatered weasel. Myself included.

For some it feels like they are to trying to put Disney on the same level as many of these places. Making it sound like it's a luxury vacation

 

[Thepuma]

Let's be honest, if Disney hotels were not on Disney property, they wouldn't be half the price they are.

Art Of Animation last year, it was simply a Motel, but with little mermaid theme room. If that room didn't have a theme and in resort, it would be very very cheap.

Like for like, Disney hotel rooms are terrible value for money compared to those offsite. But that's the same as Universal...I walked into both our Hard Rock room and Portofino Bay room and felt it was terrible value for money.

But these hotels know they have the benefits which people will ignore the average rooms over.

 

[Lilofan]

Let's be honest, if Disney hotels were not on Disney property, they wouldn't be half the price they are.

Art Of Animation last year, it was simply a Motel, but with little mermaid theme room. If that room didn't have a theme and in resort, it would be very very cheap.

Like for like, Disney hotel rooms are terrible value for money compared to those offsite. But that's the same as Universal...I walked into both our Hard Rock room and Portofino Bay room and felt it was terrible value for money.

But these hotels know they have the benefits which people will ignore the average rooms over.

Like a benefit like staying on property is something that comes to mind which many many guests do.

 

[Lilofan]

For some it feels like they are to trying to put Disney on the same level as many of these places. Making it sound like it's a luxury vacation

Like who and provide examples. We know what we are paying for when vacationing at WDW as to other places that offer more value which we frequent also. Whereas a number of people are critical of the company and the direction it is going to , others are critical of some who enjoy and support the company because their positive views do not align with someone's negative views.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

For some it feels like they are to trying to put Disney on the same level as many of these places. Making it sound like it's a luxury vacation

Yeah…they lied about that.

But it was a great day for sycophants in 2015 when the Oracle said it…finally “made it” to true luxury

 

[networkpro]

Yeah…they lied about that.

But it was a great day for sycophants in 2015 when the Oracle said it…finally “made it” to true luxury

Only luxury is the price they charge for the glorified concrete boxes. They charge for proximity. A few, not all of the signatures are all about pretentious assumptions.

 

[Jrb1979]

Like who and provide examples. We know what we are paying for when vacationing at WDW as to other places that offer more value which we frequent also. Whereas a number of people are critical of the company and the direction it is going to , others are critical of some who enjoy and support the company because their positive views do not align with someone's negative views.

You're right. I absolutely hate anyone that still enjoys going to Disney.

IMO when you try to compare Disney prices to other places that cost as much, it's trying to justify the luxury of a Disney vacation. For my family it's hard to justify the price they charge. It's mainly cause what drew us to the parks were the dark rides and in our opinion they aren't as good now.

 

[Splash4eva]

So my window opened up for Thanksgiving week and im only going 5 days. Lets just say availability was pretty open for what we usually book that in the past during a 10-11 day trip was always a problem and i would be playing the refresh game daily or just wait til we got there when things always opened up… this is definitely telling when it comes to people imo shifting some of their $$$ elsewhere while down there…

 

[Lilofan]

You're right. I absolutely hate anyone that still enjoys going to Disney.

IMO when you try to compare Disney prices to other places that cost as much, it's trying to justify the luxury of a Disney vacation. For my family it's hard to justify the price they charge. It's mainly cause what drew us to the parks were the dark rides and in our opinion they aren't as good now.

If you don't go, many still do and pay for what is being charged. There are other value oriented places but for our family it is an escape from reality being at WDW.

 

[JD80]

I find it amazing for so many people here that claim they travel a lot don't notice how more expensive things are.

Are Disney hotels over priced? 100%. I just don't think they are as dramatically overpriced as people think. I've stayed at Hilton Garden Inns or Hampton Inns in the middle of no where Arkansas or Michigan and they are close to $200 a night.

A hotel at the most visited theme park in the world? Of course they are going to be more expensive. I just don't think they aggressively so.

 

[Jrb1979]

I find it amazing for so many people here that claim they travel a lot don't notice how more expensive things are.

Are Disney hotels over priced? 100%. I just don't think they are as dramatically overpriced as people think. I've stayed at Hilton Garden Inns or Hampton Inns in the middle of no where Arkansas or Michigan and they are close to $200 a night.

A hotel at the most visited theme park in the world? Of course they are going to be more expensive. I just don't think they aggressively so.

For my family $200 is overpriced. While things are more expensive everywhere there is still cheaper options out there. I would rather save $50 a night on a hotel in Kissimmee and use that money on food or use it to pay for Genie+.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I find it amazing for so many people here that claim they travel a lot don't notice how more expensive things are.

Are Disney hotels over priced? 100%. I just don't think they are as dramatically overpriced as people think. I've stayed at Hilton Garden Inns or Hampton Inns in the middle of no where Arkansas or Michigan and they are close to $200 a night.

A hotel at the most visited theme park in the world? Of course they are going to be more expensive. I just don't think they aggressively so.

I agree that $200 is fairly reasonable for an east cost hotel room. That price point is increasingly hard to find though, other than the values, which are built as motels, not hotels (and motel prices are much cheaper.) The deluxes charge Four Seasons prices. With taxes, the monorail hotels are often close to $1k a night (not quite, but close) with Polynesian often going well over the 1k mark. Those further away are easily still 600, 700, 800 a night. Granted, you’re paying in part for the surrounding theming, but that’s still way above what you would pay for a decent room elsewhere. If you’re paying for more than one room in particular, those prices become unmanageable very fast.

 

[Miss Bella]

Let's be honest, if Disney hotels were not on Disney property, they wouldn't be half the price they are.

Art Of Animation last year, it was simply a Motel, but with little mermaid theme room. If that room didn't have a theme and in resort, it would be very very cheap.

Like for like, Disney hotel rooms are terrible value for money compared to those offsite. But that's the same as Universal...I walked into both our Hard Rock room and Portofino Bay room and felt it was terrible value for money.

But these hotels know they have the benefits which people will ignore the average rooms over.

At least with the deluxe resorts at Uni you are getting expresses passes. That's a big perk.

 

[Thepuma]

Like who and provide examples. We know what we are paying for when vacationing at WDW as to other places that offer more value which we frequent also. Whereas a number of people are critical of the company and the direction it is going to , others are critical of some who enjoy and support the company because their positive views do not align with someone's negative views.

People are not critical for the sake of it. They are critical because mainly Disney are charging more and more, way beyond any inflation, yet appear to be giving back less and less.

I think THAT is the crux of the matter.

Nobody has ever said they are critical and having a miserable time - even on your worst day at Disney you can still have fun, it's just harder and harder to have fun while been more and more expensive.

If certain people are extatically happy paying above and beyond for everything at Disney, while getting an inferior day, then all power to them...Disney provides a unique product, but they shouldn't be beyond criticism when they fail.

 

[Thepuma]

At least with the deluxe resorts at Uni you are getting expresses passes. That's a big perk.

Yep for sure...that was one of the 2 reasons we stayed there 1) A quick walk after HHN to avoid Uber queues or crowded buses 2) 'free' Express Passes for day of check in and day of check out.

 

[Miss Bella]

I priced out a week at Pop with the Disney visa discount for two adults and two kids and 7 day park hoppers and the price was 4100 and that doesn't include food or Genie Plus. That is more than we paid for our 10-night stay at Poly back in 2010.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I agree that $200 is fairly reasonable for an east cost hotel room. That price point is increasingly hard to find though, other than the values, which are built as motels, not hotels (and motel prices are much cheaper.) The deluxes charge Four Seasons prices. With taxes, the monorail hotels are often close to $1k a night (not quite, but close) with Polynesian often going well over the 1k mark. Those further away are easily still 600, 700, 800 a night. Granted, you’re paying in part for the surrounding theming, but that’s still way above what you would pay for a decent room elsewhere. If you’re paying for more than one room in particular, those prices become unmanageable very fast.

The rack rates are still way too high but now the discounts they are offering being them to a reasonable/proper spot.

We paid $200/night for a 5 person room at POR - that feels reasonable for the quality and compatible off site wouldn't be *that* much cheaper and still have to deal with transport to the parks, no early entry, etc

Factoring the dining gift card you can find Value resorts for under $100 some night. Obviously need to be flexible with dates and popular dates are a lot more