The Disney Parks Value Story Just Got Stronger

[lebeau]

I know quite a few people, coworkers, who only go once per season. They buy the FL+ bundle, I think it's around $130 per person plus parking. They do the Slingshot and Sky Flyer and play games. Then come back complaining that they just spent several hundred dollars at KI.lol. When I went to Cedar Point (I don't have a Platinum pass) I spent at least $200 on/at the park on just myself, and their hotels are not cheap.

I don't think I've ever gone to Kings Island and spent less than $50, if staying for more than 2 hours. If we're there the majority of the day then it's at least $100. I drink Starbucks though, we've done the slingshot or sky flyer every visit since my son hit 48", and we always get ice cream, funnel cake sundae (this one we split) and I have never got out of there without buying fudge and caramel apples, now a Pokemon apple for my son. I've put an "every other visit" rule on games now though. It was just getting too crazy.

I think, because of how I spend at KI, that Disney isn't "as" shocking.lol. We don't play games at Disney parks. I can go to MK, get a Mickey Bar $5? (Don't quote me), and be fine without doing any extras in the park. When you add the character meals then it changes drastically, but before my son I was never doing character meals, or any table service in the parks. I just want to make it clear that I do NOT think Disney is cheap. Not in the slightest, but for what you get compared to KI or CP, I think the price - value ratio is justified.

You see how that's largely behavior based, right?

When we're at Disney, no expense is spared. We paid a lot to get there, we're making the most of it.

Our last day at KI before school started, I got a notification from the KI app that chocolate covered strawberries were 50% off at the Sweet Spot. So we had a cheap snack and ice water. Some days, I don't drop a dime in the park. Occasionally, I will go ahead and splurge because I feel like the park is almost too good of a deal and I should give something back. I haven't felt that way at Disney in at least 10 years.

 

[21stamps]

We didn't get FunPix, but it seemed to us like there were fewer photographers out at the gate this year and that was okay by us. Usually, we always get stopped and pose for a picture we won't ever look at. But this year, that didn't happen at all. The price for FunPix seemed decent if you wanted to get your picture taken at KI. But I decided to take a pass on that.

Like you, the dining plan doesn't work for us. I know people who eat a lot of meals there and for them it is a great deal. If we eat at the park, it's usually a snack (with the GP discount of course). One of the advantages of a local park over Disney is if I get hungry, I can drive 5 minutes to lots of very convenient inexpensive dining establishments. Also, since we're passholders, we can make short visits and don't feel like we have to spend the entire day at the park. When you get hungry, you leave. This is part of why comparisons don't really work. I will say I thought food service was KI's biggest failing. The lines are long, the food is mediocre and the prices are about the same as Disney's.

If you're going to renew your passes, do it early. They cost less and you get extra perks like preview night and some years free FL. We don't always take advantage of these perks (we skipped preview night this year) but they are nice to have.

Getting back to WDW, can't you usually get a 20-30% discount off a Disney hotel room without a pass? I can usually do better than what is being offered to passholders. I would never pay rack rates for a Disney room. Fromm what I hear from passholders, the room discounts used to be worth buying passes for, but that hasn't been true in ages.

My Disney dates this year are 11/24-11/26 (thanksgiving and Black Friday) AKL club level, no parks (may be switching that to Epcot and the Swan though). I knew I wouldn't have discounts checking in on Thanksgiving and the day after.
Then we leave on the DCL Fantasy.
Come back to WDW 12/3-12/7. Staying at the contemporary in a theme park view room (not club level).
The 12/3-12/7 dates were surprisingly excluded from any promotions. So it's rack rate, that I have to pay, because our WDW trip is worked around the cruise so can't change dates.

Last year we stayed at Poly in a theme park view room, I did get 30% off. Free dining was also going on, but I saved over $1100 by taking the room discount and paying for the DDP myself.

We do a lot of extras while at WDW, just not at the parks themselves. (Besides the stupid never ending balloon). We rent Sea Raycers, this year we will also be Parasailing since son is age requirement now, and doing a Pirate Adventure Cruise. I don't think those things are over priced. We rent boats when we go to Hamilton county parks, $22 for a stupid metal motorboat, $35 for a pontoon. I think the Sea Raycer is $35 maybe. That makes sense to me. I realize it's biased, I just know what we spend around town..so outside of the ridiculously priced resorts (which could be more reasonable if I chose to stay in a moderate), the pricing seems on par to everything else that we do. I think the hotel pricing for the monorail resorts is ridiculous, don't get me wrong. I'm still not over the fact that we got excluded from discounts and praying for a Pin code to show up in my email!!

Thanks for the tips on early renewal!! I'm definitely going to do that this year if the FL is offered!

 

[21stamps]

You see how that's largely behavior based, right?

When we're at Disney, no expense is spared. We paid a lot to get there, we're making the most of it.

Our last day at KI before school started, I got a notification from the KI app that chocolate covered strawberries were 50% off at the Sweet Spot. So we had a cheap snack and ice water. Some days, I don't drop a dime in the park. Occasionally, I will go ahead and splurge because I feel like the park is almost too good of a deal and I should give something back. I haven't felt that way at Disney in at least 10 years.

The only notification I ever get on the app is for the family meal deal at Larosa's. Which doesn't make sense for me at all. We typically split a single meal at Larosa's while there..in my opinion it's the only decent value. Hopefully I'll get a Sweet Spot offer next time!

 

[lebeau]

The only notification I ever get on the app is for the family meal deal at Larosa's. Which doesn't make sense for me at all. We typically split a single meal at Larosa's while there..in my opinion it's the only decent value. Hopefully I'll get a Sweet Spot offer next time!

Our big splurge meal this year was when we took a group of 10 girls to KI to celebrate my wife's niece's birthday. We got the notice right after dropping $80 on Larosa's pizza. Ooops. It would have saved us $20 if we had waited an hour to eat, but oh well. Like I said, I didn't mind because I feel like the park was an absolute steal over the course of the season.

By the way, I checked the KI website and not only are they offering free FL for renewals, you also get a free Bring-a-Friend ticket. FastLane is good any Sunday and the Bring a Friend ticket is any Sunday 09/25-10/30. This weekend is also Dollar Days. $1 slices of pizza, hot dogs, soft drinks, ice cream, cotton candy, games and more.

KI is full of value.

 

[danyoung56]

I'm HBS, but now that I know your Wharton I understand why I have to simplify things so much...

I'm thinking it takes a lot of stones to brag about your education while mistaking "your" for "you're" in the same sentence.

 

[thomas998]

I'm thinking it takes a lot of stones to brag about your education while mistaking "your" for "you're" in the same sentence.

I studied business not English.... but hey if nitpicking English mistakes makes you happy feel free to follow me... Even when I know what I'm thinking my fingers will give you lots of mistakes to enjoy.

 

[21stamps]

Our big splurge meal this year was when we took a group of 10 girls to KI to celebrate my wife's niece's birthday. We got the notice right after dropping $80 on Larosa's pizza. Ooops. It would have saved us $20 if we had waited an hour to eat, but oh well. Like I said, I didn't mind because I feel like the park was an absolute steal over the course of the season.

By the way, I checked the KI website and not only are they offering free FL for renewals, you also get a free Bring-a-Friend ticket. FastLane is good any Sunday and the Bring a Friend ticket is any Sunday 09/25-10/30. This weekend is also Dollar Days. $1 slices of pizza, hot dogs, soft drinks, ice cream, cotton candy, games and more.

KI is full of value.

Awesome! I'm going to definitely take advantage of the early renewal!
I've heard horror stories about crowds on Dollar Days so we've never gone. The lines for ice cream are long enough when they're full price. My nephew told me that last year the line for blue ice cream in plant snoopy went all the way to Diamondback. That kind of frustration is not worth saving $12 or so.
We are going on Sunday and hopefully everyone will be in line for food and not the slides at Soak City.lol

 

[thomas998]

How many shares do you own? That's all I care about right now.

Only 1000 now... I had about a lot more when the market was down in early 2009... But unfortunately I sold most of them when they came back up thinking better stocks were out there. Though to be honest I think I would have been better off leaving everything in Disney.

 

[lebeau]

Awesome! I'm going to definitely take advantage of the early renewal!
I've heard horror stories about crowds on Dollar Days so we've never gone. The lines for ice cream are long enough when they're full price. My nephew told me that last year the line for blue ice cream in plant snoopy went all the way to Diamondback. That kind of frustration is not worth saving $12 or so.
We are going on Sunday and hopefully everyone will be in line for food and not the slides at Soak City.lol

My experience on Dollar Days is that the lines for rides aren't bad at all. But if you want those cheap snacks, the waits are ridiculous and not worth it in my opinion. Like I said before, food service is where KI really falls down. They build that nice Coca Cola Marketplace this year, but then staffed it with one employee who couldn't refill the ice. So they were selling sodas with no ice on hot days. Dumb, dumb, dumb. They would have gotten more of my money if they staffed their food service properly.

Good luck!

 

[21stamps]

My experience on Dollar Days is that the lines for rides aren't bad at all. But if you want those cheap snacks, the waits are ridiculous and not worth it in my opinion. Like I said before, food service is where KI really falls down. They build that nice Coca Cola Marketplace this year, but then staffed it with one employee who couldn't refill the ice. So they were selling sodas with no ice on hot days. Dumb, dumb, dumb. They would have gotten more of my money if they staffed their food service properly.

Good luck!

That makes me feel better. Thank you!

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm thinking it takes a lot of stones to brag about your education while mistaking "your" for "you're" in the same sentence.

Or they are posting from a smartphone which makes 'helpful' corrections to your typing many of which show complete ignorance of the English language conversational idiom and grammar.

 

[parkhopper1213]

My wife and I are again headed to Disney in September for 9 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We got an awesome deal and the deluxe hotel as part of their promotions during early September. Airfare was cheap and yes, the $449 8 Day Park Hopper seems like a real value after our most recent outing.

We decided to go to our local MLB park and watch the home team play. We had a great time.

Game Tickets: $150
Parking: $25
Hot Dog: $13 (crumbled stale chips included)
Chicken Nuggets: $14 (NOTHING else, not even fries)
Water: $4.25 per bottle (we got 2)
Coke: $6.75 per drink (we got 2)
Ice Cream: $7
Peanuts: $7
Gas: $3
Frustration with parking/traffic: ?
Total: ~$242

Again, I had a great time, but both my wife and I brought up Disney on the way home.

The food at the game was not good. Lukewarm and very low quality. The chicken was far worse than the standard breast nuggets at Disney. However, we both said the same thing. Wow, for 3 hours, we spent $242 and didn't enjoy the food.

We both brought up Liberty Tavern. For literally the same money as our "entree" of hotdog/chicken and Coke, you get a Thanksgiving meal. Sure, it's not the greatest food ever and the stuffing is probably Stovetop, but it's pretty good food for $19.

People complain about $3 water? Well, it's $4.25 here and you want it just as badly. Oh btw, no coolers or brought in food here.

Totally different experiences, but doing anything under the provided entertainment category is pretty expensive these days. Sure, you can make your own fun, but going to the mall, movies, or any sporting event can be quite an expense.

I love the Disney value of around $50/day for all your entertainment in the parks on an 8 day ticket. Sure, you have to get there, eat there, and stay in the hotel, but you have to do that anywhere. The entertainment value is great!!

I like your analysis. To save further, you may want to convert your park passes into annual passes. For a few hundred dollars more you will have a year's access to the parks and discounts on rooms, dining and shops. The passes will pay for themselves after that 2nd trip. With great airfare that is how we are able to make 2-3 trips a year.

 

[parkhopper1213]

My wife and I are again headed to Disney in September for 9 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We got an awesome deal and the deluxe hotel as part of their promotions during early September. Airfare was cheap and yes, the $449 8 Day Park Hopper seems like a real value after our most recent outing.

We decided to go to our local MLB park and watch the home team play. We had a great time.

Game Tickets: $150
Parking: $25
Hot Dog: $13 (crumbled stale chips included)
Chicken Nuggets: $14 (NOTHING else, not even fries)
Water: $4.25 per bottle (we got 2)
Coke: $6.75 per drink (we got 2)
Ice Cream: $7
Peanuts: $7
Gas: $3
Frustration with parking/traffic: ?
Total: ~$242

Again, I had a great time, but both my wife and I brought up Disney on the way home.

The food at the game was not good. Lukewarm and very low quality. The chicken was far worse than the standard breast nuggets at Disney. However, we both said the same thing. Wow, for 3 hours, we spent $242 and didn't enjoy the food.

We both brought up Liberty Tavern. For literally the same money as our "entree" of hotdog/chicken and Coke, you get a Thanksgiving meal. Sure, it's not the greatest food ever and the stuffing is probably Stovetop, but it's pretty good food for $19.

People complain about $3 water? Well, it's $4.25 here and you want it just as badly. Oh btw, no coolers or brought in food here.

Totally different experiences, but doing anything under the provided entertainment category is pretty expensive these days. Sure, you can make your own fun, but going to the mall, movies, or any sporting event can be quite an expense.

I love the Disney value of around $50/day for all your entertainment in the parks on an 8 day ticket. Sure, you have to get there, eat there, and stay in the hotel, but you have to do that anywhere. The entertainment value is great!!

I like your analysis. To save further, you may want to convert your park passes into annual passes. For a few hundred dollars more you will have a year's access to the parks and discounts on rooms, dining and shops. The passes will pay for themselves after that 2nd trip. With great airfare that is how we are able to make 2-3 trips a year.

I forgot to mention one point. You can convert your passes during your trip at the any of the 4 park customer service counters. It needs to be done before you use up your passes on this trip. Customer service can tell you exactly what it will cost to upgrade to annual passes.

 

[lebeau]

That makes me feel better. Thank you!

I forgot it's Labor Day Weekend and they also have a Bring a Friend promotion. Could be busy! Weather will probably be a determining factor. If you go, hope you have a great time!

 

[Chef Mickey]

Only 1000 now... I had about a lot more when the market was down in early 2009... But unfortunately I sold most of them when they came back up thinking better stocks were out there. Though to be honest I think I would have been better off leaving everything in Disney.

I assume your liquid net worth is over $2m? Any HBS guy would never let more than 5% of his net worth be in a single stock. Leaving "everything" in Disney was never an option.

I somehow doubt you even own 1,000 shares if you wanted them to ditch ESPN. You should know that's the golden goose and the reason the stock has been down the last several quarters.

Your statement was, "dump some of the pointless ventures they have like ESPN."

I can't think of a more ridiculous statement a DIS shareholder could make at the moment. ESPN is one of if not the most profitable network on TV and I think is worth around $50b alone. I no longer can take you seriously and it's not personal. You just lost credibility with your statement.

 

[21stamps]

I forgot it's Labor Day Weekend and they also have a Bring a Friend promotion. Could be busy! Weather will probably be a determining factor. If you go, hope you have a great time!

Ugh!!! Kiddo has been begging to go on Tropical Plunge all summer. This is our last chance!!
He just reached 48" in bare feet about a month ago. The first attempt- waited for an hour and closed due to lightening in area. Then he was on vacation for a week. Have gone to SC twice since. 2nd attempt- closed for unknown reasons. 3rd attempt- I didn't realize that he had metal on his swimsuit. After waiting 40 minutes or so we reached the bottoms of the stairs and were turned away because of this stupid button!!!! What's worse is the other 2 times he wasn't wearing these..and I specifically do not have him wear his Star Wars suit bc it does have buttons on the side pockets. Super Mom Fail. It ended in tears.

 

[lebeau]

Ugh!!! Kiddo has been begging to go on Tropical Plunge all summer. This is our last chance!!
He just reached 48" in bare feet about a month ago. The first attempt- waited for an hour and closed due to lightening in area. Then he was on vacation for a week. Have gone to SC twice since. 2nd attempt- closed for unknown reasons. 3rd attempt- I didn't realize that he had metal on his swimsuit. After waiting 40 minutes or so we reached the bottoms of the stairs and were turned away because of this stupid button!!!! What's worse is the other 2 times he wasn't wearing these..and I specifically do not have him wear his Star Wars suit bc it does have buttons on the side pockets. Super Mom Fail. It ended in tears. View attachment 158682

That stinks.

There have been some headlines this summer that have had all water parks playing it safe this year. I won't specifically mention them, but I understand the extra precautions.

We're not water park people, so we haven't spent much time at Soak City. I did take my oldest and the aforementioned niece one Friday night. I don't think they messed with Tropical Plunge though. I can sympathize with the tears. A crying kid on a day that was supposed to be fun is the worst! Hope it works out this time. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, the earlier you get there the better. Early Sunday mornings are usually ideal. Fingers crossed that he gets to ride this time!! Seriously, let me know how it works out for you.

 

[21stamps]

That stinks.

There have been some headlines this summer that have had all water parks playing it safe this year. I won't specifically mention them, but I understand the extra precautions.

We're not water park people, so we haven't spent much time at Soak City. I did take my oldest and the aforementioned niece one Friday night. I don't think they messed with Tropical Plunge though. I can sympathize with the tears. A crying kid on a day that was supposed to be fun is the worst! Hope it works out this time. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, the earlier you get there the better. Early Sunday mornings are usually ideal. Fingers crossed that he gets to ride this time!! Seriously, let me know how it works out for you.

I understand why we weren't allowed. I was angry with myself for not noticing...and I grabbed these shorts because I thought they didn't have metal. I will say that they should have someone checking at the front of the line, not all the way at the stairs after you've waited over a half an hour...but again, my responsibility in the end.

Thank you! I hope so too!! I'm going to plan on arriving at least half an hour early. He wants to do all of the Tropical Plunge slides..I've already explained that it won't be possible. The stand up one..with the door you fall through.. is his main goal. Even if we do that one slide and leave Soak City it will be worth it!!

 

[21stamps]

@Chef Mickey I apologize for the diversion!

 

[lebeau]

I understand why we weren't allowed. I was angry with myself for not noticing...and I grabbed these shorts because I thought they didn't have metal. I will say that they should have someone checking at the front of the line, not all the way at the stairs after you've waited over a half an hour...but again, my responsibility in the end.

Thank you! I hope so too!! I'm going to plan on arriving at least half an hour early. He wants to do all of the Tropical Plunge slides..I've already explained that it won't be possible. The stand up one..with the door you fall through.. is his main goal. Even if we do that one slide and leave Soak City it will be worth it!!

Totally agree about the checks. That's the kind of thing that can drive you crazy.

As a Gold Pass holder, you get early admission to Soak City. SC opens at 11 on Sunday, so if you can get there between 10 and 10:30, you should be able to get some prime ride time on Tropical Plunge. Hopefully the experience will be worth all the build-up!