Wow. Great responses.
My thoughts on it are this. I grew up in a very wealthy family. We took a trip to WDW almost every year, only stayed on site in the most pricy hotels. Now that I'm an adult living with my long term significant other , I am living paycheck to paycheck, despite carrying two degrees. While I'm sad that can't go off to Disney every year , or go on a long , costly trip to somewhere every month like my parents do, I am not unhappy with the life I have. My SO is a wonderful man and my best friend in the world. We have a nice place to live, great friends, and an adorable puppy who we treat like a member of the family.
My SO and I are taking our first trip to Disney this Feb. We will be in Disney for 5 days, in Sea World for one day and at Universal for 3 days. For our budget, it's a lot of money. And, even though we got free plane tickets from my parents, my dad offered to pay for a few of our more costly meals, and we are renting his mom's condo when we go there (She's charging us 500 for the week but we can pay her when we return), we are still somewhat worried about not having enough cash when we are there. To some people's budgets it might not be a lot of money, as there are many people who are far more well off financially than we are. We still have to take into account rental car, food each day, PHP passes as well as passes to the other parks, spending money for drinks, ice cream etc, admission to places like Disney Quest and PI. And we love our Jack Russell puppy and would only put him in the best kennel we can find (costing us more that $300 for the 11 day trip). We both believe strongly that a pet is a member of the family and if making sure he's in good hands while we're away means cutting out a carriage ride, or a fancy dinner or two, so be it.
However, I think the question here is not whether or not Disney is expensive. Depending on your salary, expensive may be very different to you compared to someone else. I think the question here is value. Is it worth it for the money? $300 for a kennel for a puppy for 11 days is expensive, but to us, the peace of mind is worth it, hence, there is value. Some folks would think we were crazy because to them, a $300 kennel holds no value.
To break it down, my 5 day PHP was $217. This breaks down to $43 a day. My Sea world pass for one day was around $50 and my 3 day Universal / IOA pass was $89 working out to about $30 a day. I have spent more than $43 dollars in my life on a ticket to see a Broadway show or spend a day at the art museum. In fact, this past Easter I spent about $120 on two tickets to see a really bad production of Jesus Christ Superstar that was so bad I walked out. Once a month, my So and I each spend $20 on a one hour trail ride at a local stable.
While these other forms of entertainment can't be compared to WDW, you can see that in comparison to other forms of fun, Disney is not that much more. In fact, it's less than Sea World.
I know a lot of people complain about the costs of food and such at WDW, but chicken fingers and fries at Cosmic Rays don't cost much more than the same meal at KFC. Sit down meals at places like Sci Fi don't charge much more for a Burger than Chili's. Cinderella's Royal Table does not charge much more for a big prime rib dinner than most of the nicer upscale restaurants in Boston.
Drinks are expensive, but they cost more at the movie theater. I once bought a banana from a fruit stand at the WS and I think it was 60 cents.
So I don't think Disney itself is not worth the money. It's not that much. I also don't think Disney can be compared to Six Flags or a local carnival. The Six Flags near me is a nice, clean theme park, and is certainly fun ( I can't recall the cost for a days admission) but it's not the same as Disney. Six Flags deals more in thrill rides, where Disney deals in theme rides. Later in 2004 we are trying to scrape up enough money to go to a big convention in Indiana that is looking to cost almost as much as a few days at WDW.
When you add in all the extras, hotel, food, travel, rental cars, souvenirs, it can get costly, and then it becomes up to you whether or not it's worth it.
For our trip in Feb, we plan to eat breakfast in our condo, then have early lunches in the parks. We will have the following meals at WDW :
Cinderella's Table Dinner
Biergarten Lunch
Planet Hollywood Dinner
Sci Fi Drive In Lunch
Hollywood & Vine Dinner
The Hoop Dee Doo Dinner
and Crystal Palace Lunch
Our other meals at WDW, and at SW & US/IOA will be counter service. Neither of us are heavy eaters , nor do we snack a lot. So if we decide that each day we're going to have ice cream, or a freshly baked cookie, it's not going to be too much. Besides, the Mrs. Fields cookie store around here charges as much for a cookie. We also aren't really into souvenirs.
The way I see it with the food, you can eat cheap, or you can eat moderate, or you can eat pricy. It's no different than it is in my hometown. I could have a $50 dinner every night at that fancy, gourmet place in town but it would drain my income pretty quickly. I see Disney as that way too. I am not going to be able to eat at CRT every night. Some people can afford to. I can't. But I don't think it is because CRT for dinner is unreasonable.
If you have a moderate income and expect to be able to eat at the most expensive restaurants every day, you can certainly save up and splurge when you are there. But don't say that WDW is too expensive. As for things like film , they are more expensive in the parks, but they are also more expensive at a convenience store. I bring film and cameras from home.
I think/hope the person who said Disney should raise the prices to keep the crowds down was kidding. I can deal with the bigger crowds knowing that the price of admission are remaining reasonable. If they raise the prices, a lot of families would not be able to go and share this type of vacation with their kids.
Sheri
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