OK, I'll Admit it...Disney Prices Are Out Of Control

[disneyflush]

The pricing makes us exclude little bits of the vacation as the years passed by. Way less restaurant eating at first, then we bring our own food, then we stop park hopping, move from deluxe to moderate to value, stop any tours, cut a day off the vacation, then another, no hard ticket events, no Mickey ears, etc. Less trinket buying, less this, less that. Soon we started associating WDW with 'a minimal experience'. The Disney of my youth included so much more for the price of admission. But things change, that is to be expected. So even if Disney, per Iger, doesn't "have a pricing problem", I do have a problem with Disney's prices.

 

[John park hopper]

The pricing makes us exclude little bits of the vacation as the years passed by. Way less restaurant eating at first, then we bring our own food, then we stop park hopping, move from deluxe to moderate to value, stop any tours, cut a day off the vacation, then another, no hard ticket events, no Mickey ears, etc. Less trinket buying, less this, less that. Soon we started associating WDW with 'a minimal experience'. The Disney of my youth included so much more for the price of admission. But things change, that is to be expected. So even if Disney, per Iger, doesn't "have a pricing problem", I do have a problem with Disney's prices.

You are not alone

 

[Willmark]

For me it’s an issue if they are still jacking up the prices but the crowds have not abated. I’m not rich but well enough off that the prices aren’t sticker shock either.

Disney seems to want to have their cake and eat it too. They want people buying stuff and not on rides, consumers want the reverse.

For example I went to Cedar Point for the first time ever with the family (soccer tournament). We got to do a fair amount but not all of it so we’re going back in the Spring for two days but here’s the point, for quite a bit extra you can get the Express Pass+ with no restrictions on rides that blows away anything at Disney. Well worth the $ IMO.

Disney on the other hand rations out rides. They seem to want to be able to charge a premium but don’t or want make that leap, lack of capacity? Trying to appeal to everyone?

So what do they do instead? Muddle along trying to wring every dollar out of their “users”... err guests while simultaneously offering as little as possible. They want to and do charge premium pricing but don’t have premium offerings. Their “Club Level” is a joke. It’s as if they think just saying “it’s Disney” means it’s worth the money, it’s not.

We just went in December 2018, normally we’d be back in 2020 (about every 18 months). Now? Hard to justify.