Ticket prices going up?

[WDW 3]

I dont agree with that at all. Some people save for years to take a vacation and they have every penny planned out. And you would be amazed how many peoples lives are like that. So you or I might have extra money to spend but I can;t and will not knock someone who does not have the ability to have a vacation every year.

I didn't see where anyone was being "knocked" for not taking a vacation every year:shrug: We don't and I don't feel insulted by what I've read.

 

[Eyorefan]

I dont agree with that at all. Some people save for years to take a vacation and they have every penny planned out. And you would be amazed how many peoples lives are like that. So you or I might have extra money to spend but I can;t and will not knock someone who does not have the ability to have a vacation every year.

I don't think he was knocking people who don't vacation every year, but I will agree with you that assuming everyone can just wait until they have a nice cushion of cash before they plan a trip is really unrealitic for some people. Personally I wouldn't feel comfertable going on a trip without a nice amout of money saved above and beyond what I really need, but I know that its not feesable for everyone.

For some people, the $4 difference is huge, espically if they are taking a large group. That extra $4 can add up. And I agree you shouldn't be knocking people in that situation just because you are currently more finacially stable.

 

[bgraham34]

I didn't see where anyone was being "knocked" for not taking a vacation every year:shrug: We don't and I don't feel insulted by what I've read.

I am just trying to say dont knock anyone for it. Im not saying anyone is just that not everyone can take vacations the same way.

 

[DisneyJoe]

A few years ago I flew Delta for 256.00 round trip, I think that was 2005 or 2006. Now I will be flying Delta for 259.00 one way to Florida, and I'm still waiting for southwest to release more dates so I can book a one way out of Florida. (but I wouldn't cry if I couldn't leave Florida :lol

Wow, I must have lucked out! I just booked roundtrip Philadelphia to Orlando, myself and my wife, for a long weekend in October 2008 - Friday to Monday - on Airtran.

Total price, for the 2 of us, all taxes and fees, is $294. (each leg was $63 pp plus taxes and fees)

:sohappy:

 

[KingStefan]

I took the prices of one-day tickets since 1971 and adjusted them to 1983 prices using the history of the annual average comsumer price index and got some intersting results.

The 1983$ price from 1971 to 1981 was about $10 average and didn't change that much. It started in 1971 at $8.64, peaked in 1975 at $11.15, then went down to $9.70 in 1980, and up to $10.45 in 1981.

Then between then and 1987, the price shot up to 1983$24.65!!! Almost 2.5x increase in 7 years!

Then for the next ten years the price stayed just about constant, dipping a bit, then ending up at 1983$24.77 in 1997. The price then rose modestly and steadily until 2004, slowly climbing to 1983$28.98.

So from 1987 to 2004, we have only a modest increase, mostly taking place in the latter 7 years.

The next three years showed accelerated price increases, however, as follows (in 1983$):

2005 30.59
2006 33.23
2007 34.24

I wonder why. Well, there are several things going on here. One is the weak US$. Another is the cost of energy compared to all goods taken together causes the CPI to climb slower than the operating cost of parks.

Also, the huge price increase (more than 50% in a year) in 1982 (and in the following few years) may have been associated with the opening of Epcot.

In addition, comparing the price of a one-day admission over time is not really fair. A more realistic view would compare 4, 7, and 10-day admissions. In the early days, a 4-day admission costed 4 times a 1-day admission. Now as we all know, today's 4-day admission is much less that 4 1-day admissions, and on a 10-day admission, the last few days are practically free (no exageration).

Also, in the 70s, you were limited as to how many attractions you could see in one day.

So there are many differences. Does anybody know where we can get historical data on 4, 7, and 10-day admissions?

 

[sbkline]

A few years ago I flew Delta for 256.00 round trip, I think that was 2005 or 2006. Now I will be flying Delta for 259.00 one way to Florida, and I'm still waiting for southwest to release more dates so I can book a one way out of Florida. (but I wouldn't cry if I couldn't leave Florida :lol

This will be my 7th time going to the Vacation Kingdom and what hits me hard is that I can only take advantage of the one day one park feature because WDW is something in addition to the other things I do for my Christmas-New Years Break.

The only time I ever stayed at the Vacation Kingdom was in 1996 for 5 nights 6 days and it was at the newly opened Boardwalk.

Since then I have been staying off property for 2 nights 3 days or with friends and family nearby.

It is enough as it is to pay over 70.00 for one park, and that's not even making it a park hopper.

It really is a risk to use up that 70.00 but luckily I tend to go in January when the weather is good, and the crowds are low.

Then you factor in souveigners, food, beverage, etc

This 7th trip will probably be my last trip for a while due to various factors, and I am working out on trying to stay at the Contemporary, heck I don't care if I have to get a garden room, I know the theme park view is too much for a room I will hardly be in, and the bay lake view might be reasonable for January.

But yes, all little dollar amounts here and there are drastically adding up, because everything is going up and these companies sadly have to raise prices.









yeah and (on a technicality) we're not in a recession :hammer:

When you speak of being a one day visitor, spending one day at WDW (staying off property) and then spending the rest of your time at other places, then it becomes a little bit easier to understand why these price increases might cause you to decide not to blow over 70 bucks to go to the MK on that day and, instead, go to NASA or something. However, when you start talking about staying in the Contemporary, that's when I begin to have much more of a problem with this idea of not being able to afford to go after all because of a jump of a few bucks in ticket prices. The Contemporary is a Deluxe Resort. It costs over 300 bucks a night. If you have the money to travel to Florida and pay over 300 bucks a night for your room, then a few extra bucks on tickets isn't worth complaining about. If it's that much of a difference, then stay at a moderate or a value resort.

IMO (and I could be wrong), the average visitor is spending quite a lot to go to WDW. Staying on property, or staying in a decent hotel off property. Money to travel, whether airline tickets or gas. Money on souveniers, food, etc. And it just seems to me that if you have that kind of money to spend to go in the first place, then a few extra bucks on tickets shouldn't make much of a difference. Or if it does, then just spend less on souveniers...or on food...or on lodging, etc.

Now I also understand that not everyone falls under that category. There are those who live close enough to just drive over for one day, and must decide how much they are willing to pay for a one day ticket (if they don't go often enough to want to buy an AP). Or, there may be those who stay with a relative for free and really do the vacation on the cheap, where the extra cost on tickets may be significant since they are already going on a tight budget anyway.

But (and pardon me if I sound rude here) for those who have the money to stay at a nice hotel and who like to eat at the nice restaraunts, I really don't want to hear any bellyaching about not being able to afford a few extra bucks on tickets. It's all a matter of budgeting your money. Instead of eating at Cinderella's Royal Table, eat at Pecos Bills. Instead of staying in the Contemporary, stay at Port Orleans, etc.

 

[KingStefan]

I took the prices of one-day tickets since 1971 and adjusted them to 1983 prices using the history of the annual average comsumer price index and got some intersting results.
...

Here is a chart of the data I posted earlier:

 

[Polyman]

And don't forget - the parking fee is due for it's annual increase any time between Labor Day and Columbus Day. That's just around the corner. :brick::ROFLOL::hammer:

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

When you speak of being a one day visitor, spending one day at WDW (staying off property) and then spending the rest of your time at other places, then it becomes a little bit easier to understand why these price increases might cause you to decide not to blow over 70 bucks to go to the MK on that day

Correct, this happened to my party in 2004 and 2005.

and, instead, go to NASA or something.

been there, done that

However, when you start talking about staying in the Contemporary, that's when I begin to have much more of a problem with this idea of not being able to afford to go after all because of a jump of a few bucks in ticket prices.

With no prices available for January 2009, my party and I have been careful how we budget our money to try and stay at this hotel as none of us have ever stayed there before, want to stay there,and this may be our last trip to WDW for quite a while due to factors beyond, but still including financial issues.

The jump of a few bucks is another addition to gas still being over 4.00 a gallon where I live, price of groceries increasing even with me using coupons, the price of airline tickets,etc

The Contemporary is a Deluxe Resort. It costs over 300 bucks a night.

Yup, we all know that

If you have the money to travel to Florida and pay over 300 bucks a night for your room, then a few extra bucks on tickets isn't worth complaining about. If it's that much of a difference, then stay at a moderate or a value resort.

I may have the money, but there's a difference between having the money at my leisure and working hard for it so that I can go there, and I have already bought my airline tickets to florida months and months ago, and began budgeting before gas ever went over 4.00, etc, etc so can you not understand how I can be frustrated with all these continued increases on not only ticket prices, but numerous other factors at home and on my vacation?

I'm not pulling a Veruka Salt, but yes I am frustrated that these prices are going up, they are on top of the other things that are also going up on my vacation!

IMO (and I could be wrong), the average visitor is spending quite a lot to go to WDW. Staying on property, or staying in a decent hotel off property. Money to travel, whether airline tickets or gas. Money on souveniers, food, etc. And it just seems to me that if you have that kind of money to spend to go in the first place, then a few extra bucks on tickets shouldn't make much of a difference. Or if it does, then just spend less on souveniers...or on food...or on lodging, etc.

We will be spending less on souveniers, on food, etc, we aren't doing parkhopper option, etc

But (and pardon me if I sound rude here) for those who have the money to stay at a nice hotel and who like to eat at the nice restaraunts, I really don't want to hear any bellyaching about not being able to afford a few extra bucks on tickets. It's all a matter of budgeting your money. Instead of eating at Cinderella's Royal Table, eat at Pecos Bills. Instead of staying in the Contemporary, stay at Port Orleans, etc.

I can't take personal offence to that because only in 1996 was I ever able to spend time in a nice hotel, and the Boardwalk is a nice hotel, and no I have never eaten at a descent restaurant at WDW, unless the Electric Umbrella with hardly anyone in it is considered nice. So I truly hope you can understand my reason to complain....it isn't a yelling and screaming complain, but more of a sigh.




:dazzle::brick:

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

It's understandable that Expo is upset over this, I would be too...It's just that it's a rough economy and Disney has to do what Disney has to do.

Saying that we are still operating on a rumor here and even if Disney were to raise prices suddenly they should give SOME warning to avoid situations like this. Suddenly a vacation you have been planning jumps up a couple hundred bucks?That's a little wrong.Disney should at least give warning so that situations like this won't occur.
:dazzle::shrug:

 

[nibblesandbits]

It's understandable that Expo is upset over this, I would be too...It's just that it's a rough economy and Disney has to do what Disney has to do.

Saying that we are still operating on a rumor here and even if Disney were to raise prices suddenly they should give SOME warning to avoid situations like this. Suddenly a vacation you have been planning jumps up a couple hundred bucks?That's a little wrong.Disney should at least give warning so that situations like this won't occur.
:dazzle::shrug:

If we're gonna be technical...I think this is the warning...:shrug:

I really would appreciate it though if Disney actually announced it ahead of time and set a date that it would change...but hey...they are their own business, they can do what they want. We certainly don't announce at our business when things are going up in price. It just happens. At least with Disney you get some sort of "warning", by the rumor of it going up, I guess.

 

[sbkline]

I can't take personal offence to that because only in 1996 was I ever able to spend time in a nice hotel, and the Boardwalk is a nice hotel, and no I have never eaten at a descent restaurant at WDW, unless the Electric Umbrella with hardly anyone in it is considered nice. So I truly hope you can understand my reason to complain....it isn't a yelling and screaming complain, but more of a sigh.
:dazzle::brick:

Oh, I can absolutely understand your reason to complain, as I'm not saying anyone should be happy to see a price increase. I'm not complaining about other people's complaining per se, and I'm sorry if I made it sound that way. I'm complaining, specifically, about people saying that a few bucks extra on tickets is going to conceivably prevent them from going to WDW, which I think is just rubbish. Again, I think it's rubbish because if you have all that money to go in the first place, then the small added amount of a ticket increase shouldn't make that much difference...at least not to the point of not being able to go. Again, I'm not saying you should be happy about it, or that you shouldn't even complain. And the fact that you're still going, and planning to stay in the Contemporary no less, is proof that you're apparently not among the crowd that I'm talking about. But for the amount of money that this ticket increase is going to add to a person's total bill, if one's budget is so tight that they can't afford it, then they could downgrade their hotel. Or shave a day off their trip, or whatever. Now, I wouldn't be happy myself if I had to do any of those things, so yes, I would be complaining about it. But I would be making the necessary adjustments such that we could still go. All I'm saying is that to say that a few extra bucks on tickets is going to cause you to stop going to WDW, is a little over dramatic.

However, we all see things from our own point of view, based on our own experiences, and I will admit that I am seeing this whole issue in light of MY circumstances, which I understand are not the circumstances of everyone. On our most recent trip, when you count gas for the road trip, lodging there and back, food, tickets, the room at POR and all the other miscellaneous spending, I think the total came really close to 4 thousand dollars. So in light of that budget, it would be ludicrous for me to speak of not being able to afford to go, over a ticket increase of a few bucks. And that's the standard that I compare it to when I hear people talk that way about these ticket increases. So after all that I said above, I must admit that we've been blessed and that not everyone has been as blessed in that particular area as we have. But even when I take into account that not everyone's situation is the same as ours, I still can't help feeling like if a person has the money to fork out to go to WDW in the first place, then how can a few extra bucks on tickets possibly nix the whole trip?

Once again, I'm not saying that you (or anyone else) shouldn't complain about it...none of us likes to have to pay more money for something. I'm just saying let's not be overdramatic to the extent of saying that a few extra bucks is going to keep one from making the trip. As others have pointed out...if the entire trip hinges on that small amount of money from a ticket increase, then perhaps that individual isn't in a financial position to justify a trip to WDW in the first place.

 

[MouseearsDeb]

Enter 1980 at $7/ticket, enter 1990 at $29/ticket. a 314% increase over 10 years. I think that beats inflation. And no value of "added gates" since that's a 1-day ticket.

The annual pass has gone up 348% ($100 - $448) in 25 years ('82-'07), but you can argue the value ot going from 2 - 4 gates (annual pass debuted 1 month prior to Epcot).

No matter how you look at it, in Disney's nearly 40 years, the one day ticket has gone up 1,929% and you'd be hard pressed to find anything else that's skyrocketed in cost as much. $3.00 (1971) to $7 to $71 (2007) is significant.

It's interesting that attendance continues to rise year over year because you'd think with such high rate increases over time that more and more people would be excluded from the "elite" Disney vacation club (not the timeshare). Either people are going into debt to finance their vacations (not a great idea in my mind), the mix of US to foreign visitors is changing (with the weakening dollar) or something no economist could explain is going on.

In the 70's though, didn't you have an admission as well as paying for the ride tickets? I can vaguely remember having plenty of one ticket and ALWAYS running out of the E tickets. Then we would have to go and buy more E tickets to ride the more popular rides. I could be wrong about that, I was only 10ish back then. Seems like once you added all that up it still was fairly expensive even(way) back then.

 

[dreamfinder]

I called just a few minutes ago and the rep on the other end said he has not been informed of any increases, but traditionally (as other stated) prices increase in August. Additionally, he stated that in order to renew your annual pass, you must be 30 days either before or after your annual pass expires. My pass expires in the middle of October, so I would have to renew it at the renewal rate between the middle of September and middle of November.

Oh well, I tried!

When is your next trip? If you aren't going to be at Disney within that month of renewing, you may be better off simply buying a new AP now. The renewal cost is basically getting 12 months for the cost of 11. So if you won't be back til December, then you may just be better off buying another AP voucher now and using it then.

 

[dreamfinder]

In the 70's though, didn't you have an admission as well as paying for the ride tickets? I can vaguely remember having plenty of one ticket and ALWAYS running out of the E tickets. Then we would have to go and buy more E tickets to ride the more popular rides. I could be wrong about that, I was only 10ish back then. Seems like once you added all that up it still was fairly expensive even(way) back then.

The old ticket books usually contained an admission voucher. So it was included in the cost of the book. Not all of them did, but a bunch of the 10/15 adventure books did.

 

[ypcat]

I dont agree with that at all. Some people save for years to take a vacation and they have every penny planned out. And you would be amazed how many peoples lives are like that. So you or I might have extra money to spend but I can;t and will not knock someone who does not have the ability to have a vacation every year.

I was not knocking anyone that cannot vacation every year. I was saying that if such a small increase in ticket price will break the bank, maybe delaying or otherwise lowering costs is a good idea anyway. For those that plan out every penny (yes, I am one of those, and yes I always have to have a slush for the extra, unplanned things), will you (general you, not anyone in particular) tell Johnny that he cannot have that Mickey ice cream that he HAS to have. Or will you go ahead and join him since you are on vacation? If the latter, you just spent what is likely to be the increase in a ticket.

Lets assume that the increase is similar to last year's, 6%. Compare that to a few other necessities, at least by the costs in my neck of the woods. Gas is up 36%, bread is up 25%, my electic and gas rates have gone up (don't have the numbers on hand), even admission to our local swimming pool went up 16%. Unfortunately, I have not had a similar increase in salary.

I can commisserate with someone who's budget cannot allow them to go, but with the costs of everything else going up, one should expect the cost of a vacation to rise as well.

The good news is that everyone can avoid that increase by purchasing tickets now. The tickets will still be fresh in 6 months and work just as well as those paying the new rates.

 

[WishIwasThere]

So we can add this to the list...
The only guarantees in life...death, taxes, and the cost of WDW tickets increasing. To think only 20 years ago I was able to buy one day passes for only $25 at the Navy base.:hammer:

 

[hokielutz]

And don't forget - the parking fee is due for it's annual increase any time between Labor Day and Columbus Day. That's just around the corner. :brick::ROFLOL::hammer:

At least parking is not managed by boy-king Daniel Snyder. In the short time that he has owned the redskins, parking for game days has gone up by $20 per event since he took over the organization 9 years ago. And Six Flags has shot their parking prices up a bunch since Danny bought that company.

A dollar or two increase in parking fees every couple years is a relatively small increase when you look at what Six Flags charges for their parking lots ($25)

 

[Nebrfan]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any business that warns people that it's going to raise prices-- certainly not the airlines, grocery stores, furniture stores, etc. I don't know why Disney should be different.

I do remember a funny story from our trip to Disney about 10 years ago. We rented some bikes at an hourly rate at PO-Riverside and rode them for about an hour as the kids were only about 8 and 5 then. By the time we returned an hour later the prices had gone up. The CM's laughed and said "that's Disney", but they were kind enough to give us the prices when we rented and not when we returned the bikes.

I agree today's economy is tough on most of us, but most of us also have cell phones for the family, bigger homes and cars than we need, satellite/cable tv, eat out too much, etc. It's all about making choices. I realize there is a significant part of the population really struggling right now but they are probably not the ones considering Disney vacations, and unfortunately that would be a once in a lifetime dream for them.

 

[hokielutz]

So we can add this to the list...
The only guarantees in life...death, taxes, and the cost of WDW tickets increasing. To think only 20 years ago I was able to buy one day passes for only $25 at the Navy base.:hammer:

Could we say that maybe ticket pricing is part of a long-time marketing & pricing strategy by Disney? Meaning, the value of a day in the park for the public increases with each extra day you have with a multi-day ticket. So the vast cost difference between a 1 day and a 7-10 pass would encourage the public to pay more $$ up front and spend more of your leisure time/vacation at the Disney Parks, than elsewhere. So the general public is somewhat discouraged to by one or two day passes because there is more value to spend a few more $$ and get a 5 day pass.


I hope my rambling makes sense.