Speak of the devil: here’s a Bloomberg story about how to vacation in luxury. Of course theme parks aren’t anywhere on this list.
Luxury travel experts on the best ways to step your trip up a notch
www.bloomberg.com
Edit: idk why the link asks about being a robot; the story is about luxury resorts.
Everything we’re saying here is anecdotal, and I’ll add to it. Where I work, the average salary is 6 figures. We travel around the world and stay in many hotels. My coworkers know I once worked for Disney, and “vacations” have come up several times at lunch.
My coworkers — Disney’s prize demo — go to WDW about twice a decade and stay either off-property or in a value/moderate hotel because they can’t justify the “outrageous” deluxe rates. These are people who often stay at Hyatt Regencies, Omnis, Ritz-Carltons, Four Seasons, Swissotels, and Hiltons. That’s a large range of upper-middle-class to high-end hotels, but many are less expensive than Disney hotels and offer much more “resort” bang for the buck. They feel like upscale properties, as opposed to everything Disney has stripped from its deluxe resorts.
— Except I’ve pointed out those normal hotels don’t have extensive landscaping, free transportation, and proximity to theme parks. And depending on the city, those hotels aren’t significantly less expensive. My co-workers’ answer: “But who wants to always be trapped at a crowded theme park?”
They go to real Europe, real Canada, real Napa.
That’s the battle Disney is fighting. Whether they like it or not, their bread-and-butter demographic is solidly middle-class. Their attempts to offer higher-class experiences make them look clumsy: add upcharge events, add upcharge dessert parties at those events, add FP+ reservations to club rooms at hotels where regular rooms are over $400/night. With few exceptions — mostly celebrities — wealthy people are careful with their money and look for the cost/quality value. When Disney is already expensive, the upcharges look unnecessarily greedy.
And we’re talking about people who actually go to theme parks in the first place. If someone has a stressful career, a crowded theme park is the least ideal place for a vacation. Joe Public doesn’t appreciate theme park design like we do on these boards. I’ve heard people who’ve been to WDW many times still confuse what’s at Disney versus Universal.
So back on-topic, to the new lagoon resort. I hope it’s actually built. I also hope Disney resists the urge to keep jacking up rates while nickel-and-diming its trapped guests. And I hope the resort fits thematically, stylistically, and proportionally into classic Seven Seas Lagoon architecture.
Edit: I checked room rates at a random time during value season. The Four Seasons LBV starts at $535/night; the Grand Flo starts at $641. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s also priced for WDW. It’s worth pointing out the deluxe rates rose to compensate for the 35% bounce-back discounts Disney used to offer. Now the market is just overpriced.
