Some disturbing Disney pricing info

[SaintsManiac]

I disagree about discounts. I go 2-3 times a yr & have the last 12 years & have been during all different times a yr & have never once paid rack rate for a room onsite.

Yep. Discounts are available every month of the year. Not sure why people don’t realize that.

 

[Nancyg56]

I actually got a room at a value resort for less than 100 bucks a night only 3 weeks ago. I also booked only a week before I left. Rack rates to me don't matter because I don't book without a discount. Disney very rarely doesn't offer some kind of discount.

I'm ok with the prices. At the end of August I took my family to Great Wolf Lodge for a 4 day weekend and it cost us more than our 8 night trip to Disney next June is going to. It's all relative and the memories for my family are priceless anyway.

Great Wolf! My friend saw an ad and was going to take her girls. Great rate!!!! I asked her if she had costed it out. Not yet. They did not go.

Most visitors don't have the luxury of picking their vacation based on discounts. They usually go on vacation when it is convenient for their families. They choose a destination and time of year they can go. Then they try to research if they can get discounts. Not the other way around.

There are usually discounts available, however I do not think as many people as you woudl think look for them. My DD stayed at the Poly a year ago July. Her DH family stayed offsite, They paid more than my DD did by the time they were done, and had much less than DD's family had. My DSIl had offered to ask DD to help them, but they thought they were good. When they returned all they did was complain, and when DSIL told them their overall price hey were floored.

Perhaps you can help me find a discounted rate for us: July 7-20.

I saw you were joking, but someone could do this for you.

Vacations are expensive, and if you want a discount you need to compromise at times. This trip my family is staying at OKW, which was not our first choice. WE wanted BC< however I follow the discounts, and that resort was not available. WE chose to save and make the change.

 

[LYSE]

Edit: now that I’ve recovered from that.....no wonder the companies there are desperate for workers. Who would want to move to an area with that kind of housing prices. That is absolutely insane. And when the housing market collapses again, what will happen to people who paid those prices?

My company tried getting me to move to Seattle, even offered a company paid vacation just to consider it...I said heck no, I moved away from the SF bay area for exactly the same reasons I won't consider Seattle.

When I was up there for a meeting I showed my boss and his boss my home in AZ, and asked them to show me what I could afford after they paid me to move...they gave up right there pretty much.

 

[Captainkidd76]

Yep. Discounts are available every month of the year. Not sure why people don’t realize that.

Because as someone previously stated, many times discounts come out simply to fill rooms and are released too late for some to book. I don't blame Disney for that. It's just smart business. Personal preference. I won't buy airfare or park tickets until hotel is booked. I book the hotel early.

 

[MillauFr]

Oil is a necessity for most, vacations are a luxury. At least in our 1st world countries

Many trips are discretionary. The average number of miles people drove goes way down when oil prices go up.

 

[MillauFr]

Raising ticket prices hasn't worked yet to decrease crowd levels so what makes you think it will in the future. Besides when crowd levels are expected to be low they give discounts on rooms and packages to encourage people to go. Kind of counter intuitive isn't it?

Do you believe that if Disney didn't raise prices the crowd levels would be the same?

 

[MillauFr]

Gauging has never stopped consumers from buying. Ask the oil companies.

Of course it wouldn't stop people from buying. Raising prices always decreases demand for oil. We can argue about the level of elasticity but to claim that raising prices has no impact on demand is simply ludicrous.

 

[MillauFr]

Oil is a necessity for most, vacations are a luxury. At least in our 1st world countries

Oil is still a luxury. Most trips people make are discretionary.

 

[MillauFr]

Edit: now that I’ve recovered from that.....no wonder the companies there are desperate for workers. Who would want to move to an area with that kind of housing prices. That is absolutely insane. And when the housing market collapses again, what will happen to people who paid those prices?

The prices will not collapse. The reason the price for that house went through the roof is the houses are getting replaced by massive apartment complexes. When the city is spending $100 billion building a subway system it is only logical that you surround all of the stations with high density development.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.676...734&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

This neighborhood used to be all single family houses.

 

[MillauFr]

Agreed. I don't have an option. What I did have an option with was trading in my 4Runner for a Civic. Wasn't happy about it, but the amount I save in gas sure helps.

I traded by 1989 Camry for a bicycle back in 2001. Everyone has choices.

 

[ellbell]

Oil is still a luxury. Most trips people make are discretionary.

Oil is used in way more than vehicles. It's used to make plastic and transport goods, and produce foods. Oil in our first world north America is a necessity

 

[JoeT63]

I wish someone would tell me what to be angry about...the pricing or the crowds.

 

[danikoski]

I booked ASMu for 82.45 a night with the Fun-Filled Escape Room Offer in January of 2018. I ended up switching to a moderate because I prefer them, but I’ve seen those rates more than once. Paid $143 for my room at Coronado instead.

Personally, I liked the room at CSR. It was clean, comfortable, the staff were nice. I didn’t think the resort was overly huge, I know a lot of people do, but it was about a ten minutes walk for me to the main building or I could hop on the bus which had a stop right behind my building and get a ride there. I know it’s not everyone’s style but I’m always surprised at the vehemence of the new styles detractors. I mean, I didn’t particularly like the value rooms pre Reno but I didn’t hate them with the fire of a thousand suns - I don’t think I’ve felt that strongly about the decor of any hotel room.

Do I find Disney cheap? Nope. It’s expensive. I travel a lot and I can often go on an international vacation for less or the same as a Disney stay. But I also live in Vancouver, which is an expensive city, so the food prices and such don’t really shock me, it’s kind of the same as at home. I mean... I just paid $1.55 a LITRE for gas today, a McDonald’s meals is going to cost me around $12 and my car insurance with the maximum safe driving discount is $150 a month. I mean, I can’t find a decent hotel room in my city for $82. So I guess what I’m saying is that, to me, it seems how ‘expensive’ Disney is, is relative to what cost of living you’re surrounded by. If you normally pay $65 a night for a hotel, I can see how $143 would seem crazy.

Still, maybe it’s me, but I have a hard time dragging up some of the outrage I’m seeing in this thread. Disney will most likely out price me at some point - and then I’ll stop going and that will be sad for me. But I don’t have some born entitlement to go to Disney or on any vacation really.

Does pricing everyone out seem smart to me? No, but it’s not my company, so it’s not my say. All I can do is decide what’s right for me and wait and see how their choices pan out in the future.

I travel all over the country and prices are definitely variable. SoCal, for instance is as expensive, if not more expensive, than WDW. I love when I get to travel to Kansas City because I believe for some good food and sights, you get a pretty good bang for your buck. Minneapolis is up there too, and Wisconsin. Can't say the same for DC.

I also used to live in London, at a time when £1 = $2, so everything was double. I just had to stop doing the conversion. But I also did some budgeting and choosing what things I'd do. I didn't go to the pub every night because drinks got pricey. I tried to only go out to eat once or twice a week. I picked sights that were cheaper or free. I used my student discount a lot.

The same can be said for a WDW vacation. You can pick and choose your experiences and you can do it on a budget. Next year we are renting points to stay in a 2 bed Villa at WL. Was it cheap, no. But we chose to pay for location and themeing because we will have three first timers and a toddler. We plan to use the kitchen to help save some money on food. I wanted a washer and dryer because of the toddler. Future visits, when it's just my family of four and not grandparents and a cousin, we may try a DS hotel or moderate like POFQ or Swolphin. But it'll be our choice and based on what we are willing to pay. If I get a discount, I will take, and pricing out, off site or Swolphin may not be cheaper than a moderate when factoring in other costs.

 

[ellbell]

I wish someone would tell me what to be angry about...the pricing or the crowds.

Neither. I don't see a reason to be angry all. If you're angry then you should be going elsewhere vacations are suppose to make you happy

 

[lambdabeta]

It's easy if you use the options provided you. If you chose to stay where it isn't offered or left out then you don't get it. That doesn't make it hard to get, it just makes it something you don't want.

We all make compromises when it comes down to it. Do I want to stay at the Poly, I sure do but I also want to stay for 9 nights instead of 2 so I compromise. There isn't anything wrong with that but we all make choices. You may want a discount but you want to stay when and where you want more. That doesn't make the discount hard to get just not high enough of a priority

It seems to me we are saying the same thing about it being a choice. I also don't think structuring your whole vacation around a discount makes it easy. It just sounds to me that you think yours is the correct choice and mine is somehow the wrong one. The truth is we just vacation differently. It is not that I don't want some kind of discount. I am just less willing to make big compromises because I don't go to Disney very often. So I guess we have to agree to disagree and leave it at that hopefully.

 

[JoeT63]

Neither. I don't see a reason to be angry all. If you're angry then you should be going elsewhere vacations are suppose to make you happy

Sorry, forgot the sarcasm font. It just seems that I read complaints about crowds, then read complaints about higher prices. One leads to the other...you can't have the best of both. Walt Disney World was not created for the express benefit of we who go regularly. It was created partly for us, but also for the business needs of the company and its stockholders. OP will be speaking to them by not staying on property. Others will shrug shoulders and pay whatever it takes. It's not rocket science and I'm not trying to offend anyone's intelligence nor sensibilities. It's just pretty basic free-market economics.

 

[lambdabeta]

Do you believe that if Disney didn't raise prices the crowd levels would be the same?

So far the crowd levels seem to be unaffected by the ticket prices so who knows what would happen if Disney didn't raise prices.

 

[MillauFr]

So far the crowd levels seem to be unaffected by the ticket prices so who knows what would happen if Disney didn't raise prices.

There is no question. Demand for discretionary purchases such as Disney vacations is always influenced by price.

 

[lambdabeta]

There is no question. Demand for discretionary purchases such as Disney vacations is always influenced by price.

So why ask the question in the first place? Besides there is no way to know because while Disney raises ticket prices people find discount tickets or Disney has discount packages to encourage people to come. There is also a whole lot of people in this thread saying they never go to WDW without a discount so raising prices doesn't seem to affect them. So I really don't understand your insistence that raising ticket prices lowers crowds when in reality it hasn't had much affect at all. The only time discretionary purchases are greatly influenced by price is when you don't have the income to afford it. That happens already without Disney raising prices.

 

[ellbell]

Sorry, forgot the sarcasm font. It just seems that I read complaints about crowds, then read complaints about higher prices. One leads to the other...you can't have the best of both. Walt Disney World was not created for the express benefit of we who go regularly. It was created partly for us, but also for the business needs of the company and its stockholders. OP will be speaking to them by not staying on property. Others will shrug shoulders and pay whatever it takes. It's not rocket science and I'm not trying to offend anyone's intelligence nor sensibilities. It's just pretty basic free-market economics.

This is how I feel as well. So many people are complaining about their vacation to Disney. People who went when it was so "inexpensive" and things were "better" seem to hate it but still go and complain instead. I don't understand why. I'm sure there are vacations to suit everyone, it doesn't mean that you can't go back eventually when you may find it better again. I go on many different types of vacations and so far Disney is still my favorite. If that changes I'll go somewhere else more.