Ticket Prices - How Much Is Too Much?

[Timekeeper]

With respect to whichever ticketing option that you use to enjoy WDW, whether single day/multi day/hopper/non hopper/seasonal/annual/etc., how much more than the current price would you be willing to pay before you draw the line and decide that the cost is simply too much?

I know that for many of you the WDW experience is "priceless," and answers will depend on each individual's disposable income.

As an example, 9-Eye, an Orlando local, might normally purchase an annual pass and re-new every year at the current price, but if the price were increased to say, $600, she would draw the line and no longer purchase an annual pass. So, somewhere between $500 and $600 would be her "maximum bid," so to speak, above which this particular ticketing preference would no longer be "worth it."

Also, for you one-day-one-park ticket purchasers, how much would you be willing to pay for a ticket before you forgo the opportunity to visit a WDW park because it simply costs too much? $100? $150? $200?

What kind of price hike would actually keep you out of the parks?

Just curious.

 

[Crockett]

Disney is priceless to us, at least our fond memories are. But we do have limits and draw a line at some point. If a one-day base ticket ever tops the $90.00 mark too highly, we may officially cut off future WDW trips. Now if we suddenly start seeing major...I mean MAJOR improvements (new E-tickets at DHS, DAK, Epcot), and quality at that, then maybe we'll re-consider our WDW stoppage over the $90.00 mark. But if things keep going the way they are, with constant price increases annually, there will come a point when it will not be worth shoveling out our Credit Card's to the Mouse anymore. And this comes from someone who has been a die-hard Disney fan since before grade school. There are limits.

 

[captainkidd]

I don't worry as much about the ticket prices. Not sure why. I'm guessing it's because we have AP's and the discounts make up for it. Where I'm starting to reach my breaking point is the cost of the Disney Resorts. At the current pace in which they're increasing, I give us another 3-5 years, and we'll be done. And I won't be forced into DVC.

 

[Duckberg]

Cut out A's & Discounts & see what happens

 

[captainkidd]

Cut out A's & Discounts & see what happens

Huh?

 

[DisneyJoe]

Just a thought - most of the other Orlando area parks keep in step with WDW price increases, at least for single day tickets.

 

[sbkline]

I don't worry as much about the ticket prices. Not sure why. I'm guessing it's because we have AP's and the discounts make up for it. Where I'm starting to reach my breaking point is the cost of the Disney Resorts. At the current pace in which they're increasing, I give us another 3-5 years, and we'll be done. And I won't be forced into DVC.

That's kind of how I look at it. Ticket prices are just one part of the overall price. As are resort prices. I don't look at the individual price of one item. I look at the bottom line price of the vacation.

For example, we normally stay in a moderate resort. Last time, I went ahead and splurged and stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, with a 35 or 40 percent discount. But the point is, we still have leeway to downgrade things if we determined that prices are getting too high, either on tickets, resort, etc. Rather than not go at all, we have the option of downgrading to a value resort. Or staying off property. Or going for less nights. Heck, even at current levels of increase, I think it would take quite a while for ticket price increases for my family of four to add up to $200. If I dropped our 10 day trip down to 9 days, that would save around 200 bucks (or 150 if you factor in the room discounts), thus offsetting the cost of the ticket increase. We could buy less souveniers. We could do less off property (not going to Sea World, Busch Gardens, etc). Maybe some of you already have a "bare bones" vacation. You stay in a value resort for 5 nights. But you could still offset the cost of the ticket increase by forgoing a few nights out to eat before vacation. Or buying less souveniers. Or by eating fewer TS meals on the trip. I don't want to make light of anyone's financial situation, as I know not everyone can take a 10 night trip to a moderate resort. But just to put it in perspective, even if the price of your tickets goes up $20 per person next year (unlikely, but just a hypothetical), for a family of 5, that could be $100. I wouldn't think it would be hard to offset that $100 somewhere, either on the trip itself, or before the trip. It all depends on how badly you want to go, and how much WDW is worth to you to cut money from elsewhere in your budget to justify going.

Another thing everyone needs to consider is that even though room prices go up every year, the official listed price that comes out in August is seldom the actual price of the room for those who follow the discounts. I have noticed a pattern the past few years that Disney ALWAYS releases discounts, for every part of the year (excluding perhaps certain blackout dates for extremely busy times of year). So if the listed price of a moderate resort is $200 a night, you can pretty much bet that you're really going to be paying $140-$160 a night.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

Tickets don't worry me like resort costs. Those are getting a bit out of hand...

 

[Polydweller]

The price of tickets is no big deal to me. The price per day, including taxes, for a 7 day park hopper works out to $46.10 per day. That's cheap for what you get. It's resort and food costs that are high, not tickets.

 

[powlessfamily4]

If I was purchasing a 1 day ticket I would probably look at the price more closely. We usually stay for 7 or 8 days so for what I end up paying it seems reasonable to me. We currently vacation at Disney twice a year. If the prices increased significantly we would have to reduce to once a year. Living in Georgia makes it a little cheaper to travel so we would probably opt for a second week on the gulf.

 

[emcclay]

If Disney plans on raising prices through the roof, they should also construct a value that has the theming of a moderate. Bottom line, no one in my family wants to stay at a value due to the kid theming. Make a CSR Jr. and I'm sure they would see profits. Yes, you are only in your room for sleeping. But, it would be great to pay value prices that come with a relaxing ambiance. Just my $0.02

 

[Master Yoda]

If Disney plans on raising prices through the roof, they should also construct a value that has the theming of a moderate. Bottom line, no one in my family wants to stay at a value due to the kid theming. Make a CSR Jr. and I'm sure they would see profits. Yes, you are only in your room for sleeping. But, it would be great to pay value prices that come with a relaxing ambiance. Just my $0.02

This would be akin to saying "I want a Chevy Cruze that looks and performs like a Corvette" The very things that you to see in a moderate that you want added to a value are some of the very things to increase the operating and maintenance costs of the resort.

 

[Timekeeper]

There are some good points made above with respect to ticket prices being only one small variable in the overall cost of the visit, particularly for those staying at the resorts.

I suppose that my original question is better pointed at locals, for whom the ticket price is virtually the exclusive cost associated with visiting WDW for the day (or week, or season, or year, etc).

Sure, there may be other incidental costs, but at least for locals, I imagine that the ticket price likely to be the largest of the cost variables (unless they have unique culinary demands or drive an RV from 100 miles away that gets 5 miles per gallon of gas).

 

[brightlillstar]

The ticket price is is one part of the overall cost. We are AP holders. This year, we'll have paid $1100 between the two of us or $550 each for Minimally 16 days in the parks, maybe 20. So that's only $27-35 per day. That's not bad. When I look at a Disney vacation i honeslty look at room prices more.

We just bought DVC, so I guess I won't be shocked by that.

one thing i feel has increased a lot is food prices. It may be that our tastes and styles have changed ( we used to eat maybe 2-3 TS a trip, this past trip it was 7), but we found we spent a FORTUNE on food.

 

[Timekeeper]

The ticket price is is one part of the overall cost. We are AP holders. This year, we'll have paid $1100 between the two of us or $550 each for Minimally 16 days in the parks, maybe 20. So that's only $27-35 per day. That's not bad.

Okay, I understand that the "value" may be pretty good when broken down over numerous park admissions, but since an AP is your ticket of choice, how much would an AP have to cost for you to forgo purchasing one? What if they were $750 each, or $1,000, or $1,500, etc. Where would you draw the line? That's what's at the heart of my question.

 

[emcclay]

This would be akin to saying "I want a Chevy Cruze that looks and performs like a Corvette" The very things that you to see in a moderate that you want added to a value are some of the very things to increase the operating and maintenance costs of the resort.

So, they could not take the funds used to make huge, blown-up decor and put it towards a different theme? All I'm asking for is a Value that is not kid-themed. It can have a food court, it can have whatever shampoo and conditioner that comes with a Value. I just don't care to see a huge dalmatian, silly sayings, or a record player; it's not appealing to me. If and when costs for MYW packages are through the roof, along with everything else, Disney will see a decrease in on-property bookings and hopefully consider something like this. This is not to say I will ever stop going to Disney and staying on property, though.

Oh, and I would never buy a Chevy :lol:

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

So, they could not take the funds used to make huge, blown-up decor and put it towards a different theme? All I'm asking for is a Value that is not kid-themed. It can have a food court, it can have whatever shampoo and conditioner that comes with a Value. I just don't care to see a huge dalmatian, silly sayings, or a record player; it's not appealing to me. If and when costs for MYW packages are through the roof, along with everything else, Disney will see a decrease in on-property bookings and hopefully consider something like this. This is not to say I will ever stop going to Disney and staying on property, though.

Oh, and I would never buy a Chevy :lol:

I agree with theming one value a little differently. It has to cost money to get those giant figures made, so why not just not have them at one Value? And tone down the paint? It seems like it would be more cost effective. Call the resort the World of Color and the only theme is that each building is a different variation of the colors. Instead of TOuchdown, Green. Make the pool kidney shaped, as an 'artist's palette', and that's that.

Or as I will consider for future bookings, the swan/dolphin. Its not that much more than the Values and its a lot nicer.

As for the pricing and how much is too much, right now I think the pricing is a little insane. I'd rather they go back to the old tickets where you paid a price and parkhopping was already included. None of this add on nonsense. I refuse to pay for parkhopping to be added, and found I didn't need it.

Probably the exact opposite of what they hoped.

 

[Timekeeper]

As for the pricing and how much is too much, right now I think the pricing is a little insane. I'd rather they go back to the old tickets where you paid a price and parkhopping was already included. None of this add on nonsense. I refuse to pay for parkhopping to be added, and found I didn't need it.

Probably the exact opposite of what they hoped.

Yes, the prices are already high. I also acknowledge that Disney does seem to set the tone for industry-wide pricing when it comes to theme parks. And it's a bit odd to think about the world-wide recession when you're standing shoulder-to-shoulder on a packed Main Street. But since the population at WDW on any given day is just a grain of sand on the beach of the world's population, it's easy to understand that there will always be consumers who can afford it (or who can't and put themselves into greater debt by visiting WDW on borrowed money).

The reason that this topic of inquiry came to mind is because there seem to be a lot of die-hard fans on this site who love Disney so much that they would put up with double, or even triple costs just to visit. And for some, that might mean re-arranging priorities.

For example, some people might cut costs in other areas of their lives - that are not as important to them as Disney - in order to help cover the cost of a hypothetical $200 one-day ticket. And of course there are others who could easily afford the cost of hypothetical $1,000 annual pass and, even if they're not happy about it, would still pay for it. So even though people might manage to "figure out a way" to cover these ridiculous hypothetical price hikes, at what point would someone who can afford to pay simply decide not to because the cost now outweighs the benefit? :shrug:

 

[Master Yoda]

So, they could not take the funds used to make huge, blown-up decor and put it towards a different theme? All I'm asking for is a Value that is not kid-themed. It can have a food court, it can have whatever shampoo and conditioner that comes with a Value. I just don't care to see a huge dalmatian, silly sayings, or a record player; it's not appealing to me. If and when costs for MYW packages are through the roof, along with everything else, Disney will see a decrease in on-property bookings and hopefully consider something like this. This is not to say I will ever stop going to Disney and staying on property, though.

Oh, and I would never buy a Chevy :lol:

You would then be left with a well kept Motel 6. When you strip all of the over the top decor of a value you are left with plain utilitarian buildings that look more like a prison than a Disney resort.

 

[captainkidd]

You would then be left with a well kept Motel 6. When you strip all of the over the top decor of a value you are left with plain utilitarian buildings that look more like a prison than a Disney resort.

This is what you'd be left with: