Is Disney expensive?

[beachlover4444]

Does anyone have any info on when the next price increase will happen? I want to buy annual passes before they go up

 

[MichRX7]

One time I helped out a friend who wanted to take his son and we stayed in a large tent in Ft. Wilderness! Of course one night it dropped down to 33 degrees F. And while I love Ft. Wilderness I'm not sure I'm up to doing that again. But, it was cheap, and all-in-all everyone had a great time...

 

[LaughingGravy]

The comparison was made in multiple replies to concerts. I'll take Weird Al for an instance. He just opened up tix for a concert ( and his stuff is family friendly) for $56 a ticket (including box office fees and tax) in balcony seats in a small theater. Just going per person, figuring a 2.5 hr concert, that comes out to $22.40 per hour. Plus drive time RT (3 hrs.) plus possible parking ( free, based on the time at the meters, but let's say $10.00 Divided by 4 people going that's an additional $2.50 that's $24.90 per hour. That comes out to be more expensive than a WDW stay on the surface of a ticket price. But this is kind of a once in a lifetime event, so to speak. It's not a crazy expensive concert like Paul McCartney, but he is doing lesser known non-parody songs for the real fans.
I take the drive time as a wash because just in airport time one way, that is taken up.
Add a flight, which a lot of people need to take, plus baggage fees, plus food, and you end up, I think, with a much more expensive per hour cost than a concert per person for an amusement park that is open and available most days of the year, for something that unless the world blows up, is not necessarily a once in a lifetime opportunity. Every McCartney and Weird Al show could be their last if for no other reason that they are tired and want to stop. ( Look at poor Tom Petty) Every show is different.

It's not the same as a vacation, I get that. But, I can drop $224.00 for four people as a special event they will like and cherish for years.
It's a tough call, but the idea of a family friendly Disney vacation is also not so family friendly as it used to be due to the constant busy season year-round now and the really excessive planning required ( time is money) just to get on some rides and have a sit down meal in restaurant that isn't counter service. Add to that the infrequency of the "free" included transportation and now the Minnie Vans or Uber ( until they are banned) as an additional cost to get around property in a timely manner.

We're at the point now where if we do Disney, it's only going to be if it can be combined with another trip, or we will go to Disneyland in CA, where there are more rides, both parks can be done easily (less than 5 min. walk from one to the other) , Disneyland stays open longer, lowering cost per hour, and they don't cheapen things. Still a magic shop, still an arcade, HM not a claustrophobic queue, not so many "premium events"

 

[spock8113]

"Is Disney expensive?" YES.

Do I pay and go regardless? YES. That is the bottom line..........

If you build it, they will come.

 

[graphite1326]

Are the parks expensive? No, in my opinion you're getting what you pay for and more, it's a breathtaking experience. The food on the other hand... that's expensive! A cheeseburger for $13? Yikes. I also remember once I forgot to apply sunblock but the smallest container of it at the gift shop, just a little container of baby's sunscreen, was $12.

I never found the food prices that bad. You have to remember that a WDW burger includes fries and is no doubt better than a fast food place burger. In fact I really like the burgers there. So I looked up a local restaurant comparable cheeseburger with fries would cost, $12.50. AND I have to leave a tip.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Expensive as defined: "involving a high cost".....is completely subjective. A "high cost" to one is an "acceptable" or "low" cost to another. It is also defined as "beyond a prospective buyers means"......which again is completely subjective due to said buyers "means".

If someone said "Disney is expensive" - I couldn't disagree with that statement.
If someone said "Disney is not expensive" - I couldn't disagree with that statement either.

What I can agree with is.....Disney costs more every year.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Expensive as defined: "involving a high cost".....is completely subjective. A "high cost" to one is an "acceptable" or "low" cost to another. It is also defined as "beyond a prospective buyers means"......which again is completely subjective due to said buyers "means".

If someone said "Disney is expensive" - I couldn't disagree with that statement.
If someone said "Disney is not expensive" - I couldn't disagree with that statement either.

What I can agree with is.....Disney costs more every year.

And then we have to ask ourselves... what doesn't?

 

[Lisa t]

I never found the food prices that bad. You have to remember that a WDW burger includes fries and is no doubt better than a fast food place burger. In fact I really like the burgers there. So I looked up a local restaurant comparable cheeseburger with fries would cost, $12.50. AND I have to leave a tip.

I just order a burger, no fries. They take a couple of bucks off, give me a kids meal price.

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

It's expensive, but as others have said you get good value for your money. I love that with a trip to Disney you get so many options! All the Parks, Disney Springs....you can have a lazy day at your resort and enjoy the pool, tons of restaurants, the list goes on.
Also, we get ME and luggage delivery right to our rooms, included!

 

[yensid67]

A Disney Vacation is NOT expensive even for those on a budget...as long as you know where to look for the best prices! We are going for 10 days(2 Days travel) for a $1200.00 per person total! You just have to know where to look and make some sacrifices in order to save money! Do you REALLY NEED to stay on property, in a Disney themed hotel? Do you really NEED souvenirs for friends bought in the parks(Walmart is best place for park merchandise)? Do you really need to spend hundreds of dollars on flights when driving would be more economical? Do you really need to take your trip at that time of year? These are all questions that you should consider. If you want to stay within a budget amount, there are ways to do it and still have decent rooms, although they may not be a Disney themed hotel!

 

[jimbojones]

This may sound like a silly question but I will explain:

I think the term "expensive" almost implies that something is not worth the money. I often hear friends of mine say that going to WDW is "too expensive" and therefore they will never go. For me, it is 100% worth the money and I think the prices are fair considering what you get out of it. It bothers me that people will completely shut down a trip to the world simply because of the money, but will happily travel to other places.

This past May, my boyfriend and I were finally interested in trying out an all-inclusive trip to somewhere like Cuba or Mexico. We priced it all out: the resort, airfare, experiences, transportation, etc. We looked at the amount and said "well, we might as well go to Disney instead!" as the trips were roughly the same cost.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

As much as I truly LOVE Disney I would not go if I did not have young children, at least not for more than an overnight. For what I pay for a WDW trip I could go to Europe, or charter a yacht in the Caribbean. My wife and I deeply regret doing a bunch of Disney trips before we had kids and wish we had spent that money having real world adventures. Disney is as fun when you are 40 as when you are 15 BUT adventure travel and night life destinations don't work as well at 40 as they do at 20-something. Sure you can still do that stuff but it is much harder.

Enjoy WDW when you are a kid and then do it again when you have kids or are too old/physically challenged for real world adventure , but in your early adulthood go see something real not someone else's artistic interpretation of reality. Wouldn't you rather see a real pyramid in Mexico instead of a fake one at Epcot? Wouldn't you rather eat a meal watching the sunset over the sea in real Mexico than in pretend twilight in a building in central Florida?
Drive to WDW, spend a day and enjoy it but spend then spend your big vacation week and cash seeing the real world. Have your cake and eat it too I guess is my advice

 

[Weather_Lady]

My thought is that yes, it's expensive, but not wholly out of line, and it doesn't have to be as expensive as most of us make it.

1 - Disney park tickets are not expensive for what you get -- a one-day ticket is just less than twice the cost of a 1-day ticket to our local 6 Flags park (and if, say, you buy 7-day MYW tickets, then the daily cost ends up being about the same price per day). I'd argue that Disney World's parks offer much more than twice as much value as 6 Flags!

2 - Disney food prices are expensive, but only compared with "real world" food. They are roughly on par with typical tourist markups at places like, for example, Colonial Williamsburg.

3 - Disney hotels are outrageously expensive, no matter how you slice it -- costing two to ten times the price of comparable "real world" hotels, for very little added value (mainly comprised of access to EMH that keep shrinking in frequency, and access to transportation that can be frustratingly unpredictable). I probably sound like a hypocrite saying this, because even though I think the prices are ridiculous, my family still stays onsite every time we visit, although we do our best to mitigate costs by renting DVC points and/or timing our visits to coincide with discounts. Still, we don't do it because we think it's a good value - there are other intangibles that make it worth it to us, despite the fact that we think the cost is insane.

On the whole, then, while Disney is expensive if you consider that even a typical budget Disney vacation (e.g., four people, one week, value resort) will of necessity run into the thousands, there are enough ways to reduce costs that it can still be a good value. (e.g., you don't HAVE to buy food on-site, and you don't HAVE to stay in a hotel -- when I was growing up, we drove 21 hours from New York with an old pop-up camper, stayed in Fort Wilderness Campground, and ate cereal and bologna sandwiches we brought from home. While the cost was still a lot for us considering our tight financial situation at the time, all we had to pay for was standard park tickets, a campground rental fee, and gas money).

 

[wdwcastwannabe]

Depends on how you look at it. Relative to a lot of other vacation options out there, a trip to WDW can be cost-effective and provide immense value for dollars.

Often, WDW is viewed as the place families save up for years to go to because it is viewed as expensive. I'll often take 'long weekend trips' that will be less glamourous in regards to perception of how much it will cost, yet the per day cost of these trips is often almost double of going to WDW. I know we all complain when we see a $3 bottle of water or coke, but compared to going to a ballpark, this is actually much less money.

Another great example. A Sandals resort in Jamaica will offer to take photos of your vacation, but those will cost you hundreds of dollars for no more than 30 photos (at least where I went). PhotoPass is a relative steal at less than $200 seeing as you get more pictures, more photographers are readily available, and the quality of photo is higher. This is comparing two vacation destination brands that are well-respected.

After going through a 12-year WDW hiatus before going back in 2015, I must say that I was really impressed at how much more accessible it had become. A big part of this was cost. To be honest, of all the vacations I've taken in the last 3 years, WDW has the best per-day cost.

 

[21stamps]

As much as I truly LOVE Disney I would not go if I did not have young children, at least not for more than an overnight. For what I pay for a WDW trip I could go to Europe, or charter a yacht in the Caribbean. My wife and I deeply regret doing a bunch of Disney trips before we had kids and wish we had spent that money having real world adventures. Disney is as fun when you are 40 as when you are 15 BUT adventure travel and night life destinations don't work as well at 40 as they do at 20-something. Sure you can still do that stuff but it is much harder.

Enjoy WDW when you are a kid and then do it again when you have kids or are too old/physically challenged for real world adventure , but in your early adulthood go see something real not someone else's artistic interpretation of reality. Wouldn't you rather see a real pyramid in Mexico instead of a fake one at Epcot? Wouldn't you rather eat a meal watching the sunset over the sea in real Mexico than in pretend twilight in a building in central Florida?
Drive to WDW, spend a day and enjoy it but spend then spend your big vacation week and cash seeing the real world. Have your cake and eat it too I guess is my advice

I wish I could ‘like’ this post 8,000,000 times.

 

[21stamps]

Depends on how you look at it. Relative to a lot of other vacation options out there, a trip to WDW can be cost-effective and provide immense value for dollars.

Often, WDW is viewed as the place families save up for years to go to because it is viewed as expensive. I'll often take 'long weekend trips' that will be less glamourous in regards to perception of how much it will cost, yet the per day cost of these trips is often almost double of going to WDW. I know we all complain when we see a $3 bottle of water or coke, but compared to going to a ballpark, this is actually much less money.

Another great example. A Sandals resort in Jamaica will offer to take photos of your vacation, but those will cost you hundreds of dollars for no more than 30 photos (at least where I went). PhotoPass is a relative steal at less than $200 seeing as you get more pictures, more photographers are readily available, and the quality of photo is higher. This is comparing two vacation destination brands that are well-respected.

After going through a 12-year WDW hiatus before going back in 2015, I must say that I was really impressed at how much more accessible it had become. A big part of this was cost. To be honest, of all the vacations I've taken in the last 3 years, WDW has the best per-day cost.

Love this one too. Comparably, WDW isn’t as outrageous as people make it sound. My local theme park charges more for food and drinks than what I can buy at WDW. The only part I’ll call outrageous is the monorail resort rooms.. but they’re selling, so they must be ‘worth’ the outrageous price tag to many vacationers.

 

[pax_65]

I think Disney is expensive. That is now why we do not go as often as we used to. The value is NOT there for us. The quality of WDW had gone down over the years, while the price has gone up. There is still SOME value there, but not as much as there used to be, so WDW gets less - much less - of my vacation dollars that it used it.

Especially when I compare it to other options, it really does not have the value it used to.

-dave

^THIS. People are comparing a Disney vacation to Universal, Europe, and other destinations. I compare a WDW vacation today to the WDW vacation I took 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. The value has indeed gone down. Reduced hours (including MK evenings closed for private ticket events in the Fall), reduced entertainment (including no evening MK parade), fewer attractions available (especially in Epcot and Studios), more time standing in line versus enjoying attractions (MM+ has slowed the standby lines to a crawl).

This decrease in value has resulted in us cutting the frequency of our trips dramatically and enjoying other options. But I remain hopeful that the massive investment in the parks currently take place will increase the value again. We'll see...

 

[WondersOfLife]

An interesting question. In my opinion, it's expensive, but worth it. Don't ask anyone on these forums for tips/suggestions on how to save money though... Because then you're "cheating the system" and you're a "cheapskate" on you're already $1,800 3 day vacation... *Cough I'm salty Cough*

 

[Phonedave]

^THIS. People are comparing a Disney vacation to Universal, Europe, and other destinations. I compare a WDW vacation today to the WDW vacation I took 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. The value has indeed gone down. Reduced hours (including MK evenings closed for private ticket events in the Fall), reduced entertainment (including no evening MK parade), fewer attractions available (especially in Epcot and Studios), more time standing in line versus enjoying attractions (MM+ has slowed the standby lines to a crawl).

This decrease in value has resulted in us cutting the frequency of our trips dramatically and enjoying other options. But I remain hopeful that the massive investment in the parks currently take place will increase the value again. We'll see...

You comment on, what I think you meant to me FP+ (not MM+) brings up an other item for me.

WDW has become a huge planning vacation. If you do nto plan your ADRs and your FP+, which by extension means you are planning out what parks you are in, you spend a lot of time waiting in line, or not making attractions.

That level of required planning also makes WDW less attractive for me.

-dave

 

[jimbojones]

You comment on, what I think you meant to me FP+ (not MM+) brings up an other item for me.

WDW has become a huge planning vacation. If you do nto plan your ADRs and your FP+, which by extension means you are planning out what parks you are in, you spend a lot of time waiting in line, or not making attractions.

That level of required planning also makes WDW less attractive for me.

-dave

Agree 100%, it used to be possible to buy a packagea few days in advance, just show up and be able to see and do anything you hopped to be able to do. That is impossible now. For the past decade any Disney trips for my family involve building an excel spreadsheet to optimize our time and money and avoid crowds. I admit that I somewhat like the planning as it gets me excited, but there was something a lot more relaxing about deciding on a Wednesday to fly to WDW for a long weekend and not worry about anything. I always take a day after WDW to just go to a beach and do something relaxing away from crowds.

 

[Hayley In Wonderland]

I am flying to Florida next month, and the holiday for 2 adults was around £3,500.00. This includes 10 nights stay @ CSR, park tickets for both WDW + uni, quick service dining (this was free with the booking) & flights with Virgin.

For 2 adults to go to Disneyland Paris for 5 nights staying at Newport Bay (my fave) inc. Eurostar is £2,280.00 around the same time. DLP only has 2 small parks that can both be completed in 3 days (maybe 2 if you go when it isn't busy). Disney World takes forever to get around, and there is always something to do.

I went to DLP for 4 nights, and on the final day I was bored because we had already done everything 3 times over.

Personally for me, WDW is so worth the money comparing it to the cost of DLP. I just booked far in advance, giving me plenty of time to pay. You can also consider staying off site to cut down on the cost, however consider the cost of travelling to the parks everyday if the hotel does not provide a free shuttle.

Mexico is stunning and I'm hoping to go there in 2019!