Resort Prices - Wow

[captainkidd]

I can honestly say, for the 1st time ever, I'm strongly considering skipping Disney all together in 2011 for another vacation destination. I was looking at the resort prices for 2010, and Disney is getting nuts. $365 for the Poly during value season. Over $200 for a moderate during the summer. Nearly $150 for a Value during the summer.

We always get either a AAA rate or an AP rate, but if the time comes when neother are available, that'll be it for a while. Having stayed at the Poly before, I think Disney is out of their mind charging upwards of $400 per night. Then again, a lot of people stay there, so maybe it's just me.:shrug:

 

[pax_65]

The bus situation at all of the Deluxe Resorts (besides Animal Kingdom Lodge) is simply unacceptable. For the price they charge per night, there is no excuse for having to share buses.

I stayed at AKL in May at Kidani Village. I actually felt sorry for the people staying in the main hotel (Jambo House) because the bus would pick up at Kidani and be basically full before heading to Jambo. Hopefully this was a glitch because Kidani was so new - maybe someone who has been there more recently can advise.

I always rent a car when I got to WDW, because I get so sick of waiting for buses. It actually affects the quality of my vacation. Depending on which resort I'm staying in, I'll usually drive my car to Epcot, Studios, AK, and take Disney transportation to the Magic Kingdom. Usually one day we'll drive to MK just for the fun of riding the ferry boat and monorail.

 

[COProgressFan]

I don't understand why these threads have to get so contentious...

I think what it comes down to is that people are getting less for their money than they were a few years ago. Regardless of where you stay, if you start paying more and getting less you'd complain. Values don't have many extras to trim, but if all of a sudden bus service was reduced as a cost-cutting measure I'm sure people would start to complain. Deluxe hotels offer more, it's easier for the company to trim back here. As the quality goes down, the prices continue to rise. People are frustrated. This is the same argument being made all over the boards about a variety of topics (food, ticket prices, etc). It's not about being elitist, it's about value for your dollar.

Nicely put. I totally agree with this. The complaints across the board about price increases are justified because while the prices of everything continue to rise (and in many cases, these are huge increases) the quality generally has continued to go down. I don't think as many people would complain about prices if the quality was still there, but when you are charging at such high price points, you better be sure that people are getting their money's worth or they will not be happy.

And its obvious that people don't feel they are getting their money's worth at rack rate for Disney hotels any more, or there wouldn't be a need for the nonstop discounting that has been going on for over a year now, even during traditionally peak periods. I know we are in an unusual time economically right now, but its basically gotten to the point where Disney's "official" price of everything is high, but then there are massive discounts readily available and easy to find for anyone who is willing to put in the slightest bit of effort to ask for them. If the prices were reasonable in the first place, they wouldn't need to be selling the rooms for 40% off or more...

 

[Master Yoda]

Nicely put. I totally agree with this. The complaints across the board about price increases are justified because while the prices of everything continue to rise (and in many cases, these are huge increases) the quality generally has continued to go down. I don't think as many people would complain about prices if the quality was still there, but when you are charging at such high price points, you better be sure that people are getting their money's worth or they will not be happy.

And its obvious that people don't feel they are getting their money's worth at rack rate for Disney hotels any more, or there wouldn't be a need for the nonstop discounting that has been going on for over a year now, even during traditionally peak periods. I know we are in an unusual time economically right now, but its basically gotten to the point where Disney's "official" price of everything is high, but then there are massive discounts readily available and easy to find for anyone who is willing to put in the slightest bit of effort to ask for them. If the prices were reasonable in the first place, they wouldn't need to be selling the rooms for 40% off or more...

This is not exactly correct. The resorts do pack out at or near rack rates during certain times of the year. There is also the fact that people are conditioned to buy things that are on sale. Disney, like many other companies, will raise the price of an item and then offer it on sale at the actual price they intend to sell it at. This practice has been proven time and time again to produce more sales than simply offering the sale price as the regular price.

 

[COProgressFan]

This is not exactly correct. The resorts do pack out at or near rack rates during certain times of the year. There is also the fact that people are conditioned to buy things that are on sale. Disney, like many other companies, will raise the price of an item and then offer it on sale at the actual price they intend to sell it at. This practice has been proven time and time again to produce more sales than simply offering the sale price as the regular price.

Yes, they have always packed the rooms at rack rates during peak periods, even accounting for the fact that peak periods have even higher rates than other times of the year. But with the exception of Christmas week and a week or two over school vacations in Feb/Mar/Apr, there have been discounts galore even over time periods where they previously had not been available, such as Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, etc. This tells me there is a problem with pricing, if they need to discount even in these traditionally very busy periods.

As far as conditining people to expect a sale, this is completely true. But Disney conditioned the public to expect it. They set themselves up over recent years so that the rack rates were so high, there was no way to get rid of the inventory without heavy discounting. So now, anyone who does a little bit of research knows to expect that rack rates are inflated. Again, this would be less likely if the prices were brought closer to reality.

 

[worldfanatic]

Disney's been doing this a while. They know what they're doing. They'll price their product any way they want.

All we really need to do is give them our business................ or not.

Personally, I've been completely satisfied with the value I've received at Disney resorts. You couldn't pay me to go outside the World.

 

[thetodd]

Maybe because I've lived in a beach resort town for many years Disney's prices don't really freak me out. This is the rate chart for a very average beach front hotel in my very average Jersey beach town. I've dealt with this hotel on a business level and have been in their rooms and for what they get during summer season in my opinion it is a rip off. However, like Disney, enough people must pay the rate as they are doing plenty of business. Also keep in mind you simply get a room, no theming, one very small pool, no fireworks, no entertainment, one very average restaurant. I'm not trying to justify Disney's prices but to show that resort prices in general are not cheap. This particular hotel is getting over $100 or more per night over winter, have you ever been to Jersey in the winter? It ain't worth $100 that's for sure. I would never, ever pay $300 to $400 for a room at this hotel, but then again I do pay to stay mod. and deluxe at Disney, it's all relative.

2009 Room Rates
Jan. 1 - April 11 $115 - $200
April 12 - May 31 $155 - $240
June 1 - June 30 $185 - $325
July 1 - August 31 $295 - $430
Sept. 1 - Sept. 30 $220 - $325
Oct. 1 - Oct. 31 $155 - $210
Nov. 1 - Dec. 31 $135 - $195

Here is a pic of the room.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Supply and demand.
WDW is a unique commodity.

 

[fosse76]

This is not exactly correct. The resorts do pack out at or near rack rates during certain times of the year. There is also the fact that people are conditioned to buy things that are on sale. Disney, like many other companies, will raise the price of an item and then offer it on sale at the actual price they intend to sell it at. This practice has been proven time and time again to produce more sales than simply offering the sale price as the regular price.

That practice is actually illegal. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to prove, especially since Disney raises prices all the time. Of course this isn't restricted to Disney...many businesses do it too. I remember back a few years ago, I could eat four tacos from Chipotle and get a drink for $9.25. Soon after, the raised the prices and reduced the quantity. So then I was able to get three tacos and a drink for $9.95. Of course now it's $10.05. The regal cinemas here used to offer a small popcorn that was the size of a medium at AMC for $5. Now the small popcorn is smaller and the charge a dollar more for it.

If people are willing to pay it, companies are going to charge it. It's about money, not numbers. More people saw Gone With the Wind at the movie theaters than saw Titanic...and Titanic is the highest grossing film. Yes inflation can be attributed to that, but it goes to show that company's are perfectly happy to charge more and make a smaller short term profit than to charge less and get a much larger profit in the long term.

 

[WDW_Emily]

FTR, like many of you, the only time we can take our family vacation is in the summer time. Here is just a sampling of the per night room rates for next summer at Disney Resorts. Keep in mind, this is for a basic room, standard view:

Polynesian - $425 ($445 on weekends)
Grand Floridian - $465 ($485 on weekends)
Wilderness Lodge - $300 ($320 on weekends)
Moderate Resorts - $185 ($200 on weekends)
Value Resorts - $119 ($134 on weekends)
Yacht and Beach Club - $390 ($410 on weekends)

$119 isn't bad by any means, but for Disney to still call it "Value" is a bit ridiculous.

Agree We just booked our trip for April 2010 and for 1 room at pop for 7 nights its costing us almost $1000!!! at a value!!!!!!! then next to that it said upgrade to deluxe and guess how much our stay would cost? OVER $4,000!! thats a little crazy. plus ticket prices. i thought there was a commercial saying a family of 4 could go to wdw for $1500 thats obviously if you plan to not eat when your there...:lookaroun

 

[thetodd]

7 nts. for almost $1000? That's not even $150 per nt., where do you people live and normally vacation? That's dirt cheap as far as resort hotels anywhere in the world. Yes you can stay offsite cheaper but that's the point, it's offsite, and if that's what you want, then that's what you take, it's all subjective.

 

[JimboJones123]

Agree We just booked our trip for April 2010 and for 1 room at pop for 7 nights its costing us almost $1000!!! at a value!!!!!!! then next to that it said upgrade to deluxe and guess how much our stay would cost? OVER $4,000!! thats a little crazy. plus ticket prices. i thought there was a commercial saying a family of 4 could go to wdw for $1500 thats obviously if you plan to not eat when your there...:lookaroun

$1500 trip four years ago is now $1600 on ads. This is also for 6 nights not 7.

 

[WDW_Emily]

7 nts. for almost $1000? That's not even $150 per nt., where do you people live and normally vacation? That's dirt cheap as far as resort hotels anywhere in the world. Yes you can stay offsite cheaper but that's the point, it's offsite, and if that's what you want, then that's what you take, it's all subjective.

150 per night it expensive compared to about 3 years ago when value was only 100 something during peak. and that is a lot for us. we aren't made of money and the almost part, it was $996.

 

[mljolly]

Just Booked Sept 10 Trip- AAA discount was 10% not 15%

Jus booked Sept 2010 trip at POP and noticed the AAA discount has been reduced from 15 to 10 percent. It is not a deal breaker, but an observation that staying at POP will cost me more during the value season when I factor in staying over the weekend. Since my first night is a weekend, the total cost will be $93 as opposed to $78.

The total cost of this trip for 2010 is $694 compared to $625 this year, which is $70 more.

 

[Dwarful]

7 nts. for almost $1000? That's not even $150 per nt., where do you people live and normally vacation? That's dirt cheap as far as resort hotels anywhere in the world. Yes you can stay offsite cheaper but that's the point, it's offsite, and if that's what you want, then that's what you take, it's all subjective.

The last time we stayed at the values was a trip in '08 and with a discount we paid about $65 a night for the room at Movies. That's about all it's really worth to be honest. Double beds, tiny drawer space, small bathrooms. Yes, they do provide transportation, but at the end of the night you can be standing in a long line waiting to get back to your resort. If you can get a deluxe off site hotel for $150 a night you have to really question the value of paying the same for an inferior room. If you are the type of person who spends a lot of time at the resort you will most likely be at the mods/delx. not the values.

My biggest complaint is that the service and the value for $$$ has gone down. On our last trip we were really disappointed to see that going and coming from the MK to the Boardwalk we shared buses and most times it was standing room only.

 

[TDF]

The prices are terrible yet we just booked for January and we found it cheap... well at least for us it was :ROFLOL:. Anyway, we booked the AKL- Kidani Village and it wasn't bad for us at all.

 

[JimboJones123]

For whoever it was that said there was never value prices over $100 in peak season, I have been pricing WDW for over a decade and value has always had at least $115 a night in peak rack rate.

 

[smk]

I just found the post regarding the Waldorf Astoria opening in Orlando so I went to their site and checked some dates in Feb to compare them to WDW. I just picked the room, no tickets, no meal plan, no buy 4 get 3 free....just room to room price comparison. I could stay at the Waldorf for 299 a night, king bed, 42 in flat panel TV, free Internet, marble baths, cherry wood cabinets, room cleaning, twice a day and a choice of pillows for my sleeping comfort OR I could go to the GF for 500 a night and get a double room, queen beds, a standard bathroom, room cleaning once a day and the same pillows as everyone else and still have to pay for my Internet (if I wanted).

I will tell you all right of the bat that I love WDW, however; if I am looking for a bang for my buck, in any economy, I would have to make a choice to stay at the Waldorf over any one of WDW "deluxe" resorts.