Is Disney really that expensive?

[bryanfze55]

From my experience...people from New York are less likely to defend the Disney prices than those from Ohio, Michigan, Colorado and most of the 33 states I don’t care to learn the names of.

But I concede yours and everyone else’s point that it’s always perspective.

We can not muddy the waters by trying to compare comparable though. Lots of fouls on this thread there.

A vacation to New York City is probably nearly as expensive as a vacation to Disney.

 

[mdcpr]

A vacation to New York City is probably nearly as expensive as a vacation to Disney.

Actually it is not--especially the food. If you end up in a tourist trap, it is crazy expensive. If you venture out, you can find amazing authentic meals from all over the world cheaper than the McDonald's in Times Square. As for hotels, with some research and your willingness to walk a few blocks to the nearest subway step, you can find decent hotels.

 

[Praying Mantis]

To support your case...you probably need to supply examples of things that are “more expensive”?

One or two maybe?

I did, things such as many European vacations according where you stay and what you do. Certain cruises to certain destinations can be extremely expensive as well.

 

[bryanfze55]

Actually it is not--especially the food. If you end up in a tourist trap, it is crazy expensive. If you venture out, you can find amazing authentic meals from all over the world cheaper than the McDonald's in Times Square. As for hotels, with some research and your willingness to walk a few blocks to the nearest subway step, you can find decent hotels.

I’m sure it can be done cheaply, but a coworker told me his family of four spent about $5,000 doing a week in New York, including flights. They ate at a lot of relatively nice restaurants. It sounded expensive to me, but I’m assuming they just did a lot of tourist trap stuff. Sounded unappealing to me. I’m sure they had much better food than you’d get at Disney, but food isn’t really why I go on vacation. I can get good food where I live.

 

[mdcpr]

I’m sure it can be done cheaply, but a coworker told me his family of four spent about $5,000 doing a week in New York, including flights. They ate at a lot of relatively nice restaurants. It sounded expensive to me, but I’m assuming they just did a lot of tourist trap stuff. Sounded unappealing to me. I’m sure they had much better food than you’d get at Disney, but food isn’t really why I go on vacation. I can get good food where I live.

I'm sure there's food where you live. Just kidding. But yes, tourist traps are a money-suck. If you want to relax on vacation, NYC is not the place. If you want to go to restaurants, Broadway, concerts, this is your place...And all this can be done with discounts if you research them. If your town doesn't have it, probably NY does. This includes and ax-throwing place which I need to check out this weekend.

 

[bryanfze55]

I'm sure there's food where you live. Just kidding. But yes, tourist traps are a money-suck. If you want to relax on vacation, NYC is not the place. If you want to go to restaurants, Broadway, concerts, this is your place...And all this can be done with discounts if you research them. If your town doesn't have it, probably NY does. This includes and ax-throwing place which I need to check out this weekend.

Well I live in St. Louis. So we definitely have food. Whether or not any of it is “good” seems to be hotly debated lol.

Ironically, we have a couple axe throwing places too. I think they’re growing in popularity everywhere. While I have most everything I need here, I would love to visit New York someday. Thus far, we’ve only taken weekend trips to Chicago to get our “big city” fix in.

 

[mdcpr]

Well I live in St. Louis. So we definitely have food. Whether or not any of it is “good” seems to be hotly debated lol.

Ironically, we have a couple axe throwing places too. I think they’re growing in popularity everywhere. While I have most everything I need here, I would love to visit New York someday. Thus far, we’ve only taken weekend trips to Chicago to get our “big city” fix in.

Well, PM me if you ever want to visit. Happy to share travel tips.

 

[marni1971]

What 4 night/5 day trip to a Disney park are you getting for $1200?

The one in Afghanistan

Paris?

 

[Beacon Joe]

For whatever this comparison is worth, we recently spent a week in the Smoky Mountains. All told, we spent more that week than we do when we spend a week at WDW. Including cabin rental, groceries, 2 days at Dollywood + their fastpass, parking, aquarium admission, various mountain coasters and other attractions, etc. This was also the case when we previosuly went to the Smokys. We thought that it would be a cheaper family vacation, but when we summed our totals, it was way over our usual WDW sum.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I did, things such as many European vacations according where you stay and what you do. Certain cruises to certain destinations can be extremely expensive as well.

Transit to Europe is a wild variable...but that is legitimate.

There is one non “exclusive” cruiseline where the dollar for dollar comparison rivals where WDW is now...one.

But I guess I’ve been paying vacation tabs for awhile now...without even looking at the numbers you get a sense for these things over time.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

For whatever this comparison is worth, we recently spent a week in the Smoky Mountains. All told, we spent more that week than we do when we spend a week at WDW. Including cabin rental, groceries, 2 days at Dollywood + their fastpass, parking, aquarium admission, various mountain coasters and other attractions, etc. This was the case when we last went to the Smokys. We thought that it would be a cheaper family vacation, but when we summed our totals, it was way over our usual WDW sum.

What is going on in the Smokey’s?!?

This is the consistent example that gets thrown out where it’s “more”...

Run on Appalachia?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Paris?

No...the one in Texas that gets proposed on a board every other day as a “great idea”

(Only by Texans...of course )

 

[Beacon Joe]

What is going on in the Smokey’s?!?
This is the consistent example that gets thrown out where it’s “more”...

Tourist trap heaven in Gatlinburg. It's the Branson of the South. There are some gems hidden around the area though.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Tourist trap heaven in Gatlinburg. It's the Branson of the South. There are some gems hidden around the area though.

Branson was that place that was cheap and all the rage in the 80’s That my grandmother went to see the guy that sang “the streak”, right?

So this is the same, only expensive and under dictatorial control of Dolly Parton??

 

[Beacon Joe]

So this is the same, only expensive and under dictatorial control of Dolly Parton??

Expensive. And Dolly is awesome. Very good person.

 

[Indy_UK]

People knock Disneyland Paris but even being from the UK, we plan and find that we can go on the cheap. £60 return driving. £50 return on the Eurotunnel and probabaly about £100 a night stay on property.

We use our Magic pass annual passes which cost us £25 a month.

Just waiting for all the expansions and updates to happen

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Expensive. And Dolly is awesome. Very good person.

I actually agree

Shouldn’t be that expensive though

 

[Capsin4]

A low end trip to Disney for a week isn’t relatively expensive imo. Pricing out a weeklong vacation pretty much anywhere for my family runs into prices similar to a lower end week at Disney.

It might be pricey for a lot of families but so are a lot of vacations. I priced out a trip to Dollywood in December thinking it would be a nice, relatively inexpensive getaway, but it was very similar to what it would take to stay at pop for a week. Also, people that buy the day tickets, which I can’t imagine doing, will have a different point of view.

 

[Tank Man]

Is Disney really that expensive?

This week I went to frontier city, the Six flags owned amusement park in Oklahoma. It has roller coasters, a log flume, a white water raft, a “dark ride shooter”. Theming is static mannequins if there is theming on a ride, the roller coasters are short. Its like six flags jr. Now I know what there strategy is for the ticket pricing. Make it expensive enough that you buy a membership or the season pass that gets you free parking and entry into all six flags and subsidiaries and water parks.
But….
IF you a one time sucker visitor.
Here are the costs. (same for all six flags) with none of their marketing discounts
One time entry
69.99
Parking
20.00
The fast pass equivalent (which is not included in season passes, daily passes, or memberships)
40.00
So 129.99 for one single park with no theming no story lines to the rides no other parks. There isn’t an epcot, animal kingdom, Hollywood studios or DCA if you get bored. There are no Restaurants, there is chicken strips, hot dogs or pizza. They do have dole whips though…


Disney with park hopper (which gets substantially cheaper the more days you stay) and yes I know the prices change depending on what day you choose.
109.00 (free fast pass)
60 for park hopper
20 (I think) for parking
So 189.99 for 4 parks that lets be honest are a bajillion times better and sit down restaurants, amazing theming and story telling. And beautiful park like theming.
Remove park hopper (if you are only there for one day, you don’t really need it and there is no equivalent at six flag style parks, and also gets much cheaper the longer you stay)
And you are at 129.00 the EXACT same price as a step up from a state fair.

I know this prob sounds like Disney propaganda.. but Disney kind of ruined this park for me (hadn’t been for 20 years, and was bored in an hour), I then compared prices and I was a bit shocked. And its not just this park... Six flags, Silver dollar City and many others are the exact same way.. no theming... no story.. they are really not competitors but one day tickets are about the same.

Yeah I don’t see why people complain that the parks are to expensive but they are so worth it as they are amazing

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

A low end trip to Disney for a week isn’t relatively expensive imo. Pricing out a weeklong vacation pretty much anywhere for my family runs into prices similar to a lower end week at Disney.

It might be pricey for a lot of families but so are a lot of vacations. I priced out a trip to Dollywood in December thinking it would be a nice, relatively inexpensive getaway, but it was very similar to what it would take to stay at pop for a week. Also, people that buy the day tickets, which I can’t imagine doing, will have a different point of view.

Lol...there’s that Dollywood again

I agree you can go in low season - especially if there’s a promo - and get wdw down to “competitive” in most scenarios. The problem is that’s the basement and it only gets skewed from there.

You can go on a high end royal Caribbean (we did one out of New York last year on a top of the line shop in a busy week) for about $2200 for four...

With food and most entertainment? That destroys the wdw pricing.

So I think it can be “comparable”...my frequent wdw trips are on “my terms” and I have cheap dvc and the ability to wait on ticket prices...but street prices are usually “elevated”
at a minimum

Signed,
“Pensin7”