Is Disney Pricing themselves out of the Middle Class???

[bdearl41]

Right now a trip to WDW is "affordable", same price as going to Europe would be roughly, but it keeps increasing yearly, tickets, hotels, food, etc. Right now for a week for a family of four it will cost about 5000.00 roughly to go to WDW to stay in a moderate resort. Their are great options at the Value Resorts to save some of this and get down to 3000.00 to 3500.00 for the week. Now I understand a lot of families can afford this, but with the cost of living rising dramatically, free lending dimishing, and the increasing taxes looming, does WDW have a situation on their hands where in 5-10 years, they will be just too expensive (one WDW vacation is the price of a beach and mountain vacation) to where they will lose guest? My answer is yes, and they need to examine where they charge the higher expenses. I am not saying lower prices, but WDW needs to put a freeze on ticket, food, and value resort prices, otherwise a great deal of their customers may find it unaffordable. Your thoughts?

 

[scottnj1966]

No the government is killing us as the middle class, hahaha. Actually I think Disney has increased everything to high for how the economy has been the last few years. I know I have cut back the amount of times I go.

 

[Mad Stitch]

Long answer short: yes, but prices will continue to rise until Disney sees a noticeable decline in occupancy rates at the resorts.

 

[hiptwinmama]

I hate to admit it, but yes it is. WDW used to be for everyone, that is the way Walt envisioned it. Now it is the "upper middle class" and up that can afford it. I think there are many factors effecting their pricing and it might be easier said than done to lower/freeze pricing. Luckily we can still afford it, however it takes a big chunk out of our vacation budget every year. Which means that next year we will only day a 2-3 day trip instead of a 7-8 day trip so that we can go other places...LOL like Europe.

 

[SuprDav]

Yes. Disney is headed the same direction as most college and pro sporting events.

 

[Bob Saget]

Eventually, yes, and it is sad.

To quote Jurassic Park's very own John Hammond: "This park was not built to cater only for the super-rich."

 

[bdearl41]

I hate to admit it, but yes it is. WDW used to be for everyone, that is the way Walt envisioned it. Now it is the "upper middle class" and up that can afford it. I think there are many factors effecting their pricing and it might be easier said than done to lower/freeze pricing. Luckily we can still afford it, however it takes a big chunk out of our vacation budget every year. Which means that next year we will only day a 2-3 day trip instead of a 7-8 day trip so that we can go other places...LOL like Europe.

My wife and I spent New Years Eve in Ireland, four cities: Limerick, Adare, Cork, and Dublin, for 6 days for 1300.00 total, dont think you could do that at Disney. Also spent 3 weeks backpacking around China for under 2500.00, couldnt spend 3 weeks at WDW for that, not to metion 12 days in Lake Como and Provence for about 3000.00 roughly what WDW would cost for us.

 

[J_Carioca]

Now it is the "upper middle class" and up that can afford it..

I tend to agree with this. My husband and I are a family of two, but a week at Disney World takes a BIG chunk out of our vacation budget (part of that is the flight, which is not Disney's fault, but the main expense is hotel and tickets). I can't see how anyone with less than a very healthy income could take a family there for any length of time. It's sad, really, because as we all know WDW was created as a place where families could have fun together - not just wealthy ones!

 

[PhilharMagician]

Spending $3500 - $5000 just for a vacation for one week out of the year is becoming a tough thing to swallow. No matter how much you love to go to Disney, you have to have the money to be able to go. Airline rates are up over 100% in the past 7 years, the DDP is basically in the same boat, room rates are up a good +60% and to buy into DVC is up nearly 100% in that same time frame. Where is the justification? Inflation is only about 15% in the same period.

Hello Disney, we have just been through a recession and are still there! Time to wake-up!!

 

[bdearl41]

I gotta agree with an above poster, that it will keep going up until it hits Disney where it hurts.

 

[thomas998]

Right now a trip to WDW is "affordable", same price as going to Europe would be roughly, but it keeps increasing yearly, tickets, hotels, food, etc. Right now for a week for a family of four it will cost about 5000.00 roughly to go to WDW to stay in a moderate resort. Their are great options at the Value Resorts to save some of this and get down to 3000.00 to 3500.00 for the week. Now I understand a lot of families can afford this, but with the cost of living rising dramatically, free lending dimishing, and the increasing taxes looming, does WDW have a situation on their hands where in 5-10 years, they will be just too expensive (one WDW vacation is the price of a beach and mountain vacation) to where they will lose guest? My answer is yes, and they need to examine where they charge the higher expenses. I am not saying lower prices, but WDW needs to put a freeze on ticket, food, and value resort prices, otherwise a great deal of their customers may find it unaffordable. Your thoughts?

Disney isn't only going after the middle class american consumer... WDW is aimed at anyone in the world that can afford it. IF the prices rise to the point that the rich of the world can afford it, then they will not care so long as the number of rich in the world going allows them to make their profit.

I for one would like it if they raised the prices, especially the prices at the gate. I would love to be able to go to a Disney that was so expensive that it wasn't crammed full of people to the point that you can't even ride half the rides because the lines are too long. It was the best thing about some of the hard ticket events in the past - shorter lines... though now I have a feeling they are selling more tickets than in the past as often the events seem more crowded than in the past.

In the end I doubt the prices are too high or they would have already started scaling them back. Especially true or the rates for rooms, the number of AP discounts seems to have declined over the past 6 or 7 years which tells me that they aren't having as much trouble selling all the rooms as they used to.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

They make cutbacks and raise the prices. I hope Walt Disney is haunting these people at night.

 

[ArielLover]

I know that my wife and I go and stay 11 nights at Disney. We also drive down from New Hampshire. Se when we go all in, travel , hotels, tickets, food, boarding of the pets, etc. We are looking at between $8000-$9000 this year at the WL. We now go every other year. I know we can save money staying at another hotel or even offsite but we like being immersed in the culture.

 

[bethymouse]

Well, as a once a year visitor, we have to now go every other year instead due to price increases. I think Disney will some day fall over their "cliff" if prices continue to rise. Everything is just getting outrageously expensive! The average middle class citizen goes paycheck to paycheck and can now barely afford groceries and other essentials. Vacations will have to go by the wayside in order to raise a family. We try to save, but it is quite difficult. DVC seems to be an option only for the rich, and you can forget about us middle class folks enjoying GF, POLY, CONTEMPO, BC, YC, or any deluxe accommodations for that matter! We shouldn't have to "settle" for value resorts at Disney. Oh well, I guess Disney will live on as long as there are people who can afford it.

 

[Polyman]

12 days every year since 1993. 3 adults. 7 nights OKW, 2-BR villa; 2 nights at a studio villa on a rotating basis yearly; and 2 nights at a value resort - $950. That's out of pocket for the 12 days. Add to that the $1500 in annual maintenance and taxes, and it's still a very affordable $2450 for the 12 days. It sure pays to be a DVC member and a Cast Member too.

 

[copcarguyp71]

Prices are going up to the point that we are questioning the value for our vacation dollar...something we had never done before.

I am not so sure about the $5k number though...I guess it depends on the ages of the kids but for our family of three we end up around $3900 for moderates with airfare from PHL and being careful to travel when free dining is offered. Either way the prices are going to leave many in the dust in the coming years and may also cause some to question the ROI of vacation dollars versus other possible destinations.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Disney themselves seems to have mixed feelings about this topic. The guys at the top keep raising prices. Then the middle guys have to throw in free dining to fill the rooms. And the parks people get crumbs to keep the parks running. And the Food & Beverage folks have to reduce menu items because they are not making enough money to keep a large inventory on hand. And include at least one "Steakburger avec frommage" because, while dining at the Boulangerie Patisserie, Joe BooBoo doesn't like "fancy food".

 

[EOD K9]

Congress will soon step in and start their debates on ticket prices. They will spend hours debating this and try to freeze ticket prices for the middle class and raise them on the upper class. They will then decide to do nothing and kick it over to the Senate. From there, nothing will get done until the Vice President negotiates with the minority party in the Senate until a compromise is reached. It will then get kicked back to the House where they will delay a vote for two months and decide to try again. In the end, nothing will change. I guess I should have started my paragraph with the previous sentence.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Ah, my favorite, really least favorite topic, Disney prices.

Disney started offering hopper tickets that included all attractions with the opening of Epcot in 1982. Disney-MGM Studios opened in 1989, followed by DAK in 1998. The following 10-year spans compare median household income with ticket prices, assuming a WDW vacation in 1982 was 3 days (2 days for MK, 1 day for Epcot) and grew by one day as each park was added.

1982
Median Household Income: $19,004
3-Day WDW ticket ($35) price-per-day: $11.67
Ticket/income percentage: 0.0614%

1992
Median Household Income: $29,448
4-Day WDW ticket ($130.46) price-per-day: $32.62
Ticket/income percentage: 0.11076%

2002
Median Household Income: $41,620
5-Day WDW ticket ($243.89) price-per-day: $48.78
Ticket/income percentage: 0.11720%

2012
Median Household Income: $50,054 (estimated)
5-Day WDW ticket ($484.58) price-per-day: $96.92
Ticket/income percentage: 0.19362%

What's obvious is that even the ticket price-per-day has grown tremendously since 1982. In addition, WDW has grown (which is good), meaning that the length of a "full" WDW vacation has grown as well, making it even more difficult for families to afford WDW. Of course, families can simply buy three-day tickets today but, as we all know, today's WDW tickets are heavily front-loaded. Today's WDW comes out significantly less favorable (in terms of cost) when comparing a 3-day ticket in 1982 to a 3-day ticket in 2012.

A 2012 3-day base ticket (i.e. no hopping and no water parks) costs $257.73. Even as recently as 10 years ago, a 3-day Ultimate Hopper (which included hopping & water parks) cost $164.01, or $209.89 adjusted for inflation. Of course, as noted above, a 1982 3-day World Passport (included hopping) cost $35.00, or $83.50 adjusted for inflation. That's less than a one-day base ticket in 2012.

If WDW quality had remained relatively constant, I probably could stomach it. But I'm one of those doom-and-gloomers who think quality has plummeted in the last 10 years. All things considered, prices are outrageous.

Luckily I made a smart investment 8 years ago and bought a lot of WDW tickets. I'll be milking those for years!

 

[Bob Saget]

I find it sad that in the past decade, the inflation rate of healthcare costs, college tuition, and gasoline are all lower than the inflation rate of a Disney admission ticket.