What will be your breaking point? Resort fees?

[snappy]

Disney has managed to all but kill 18 years worth of good will. They can keep their Toy Story Land and I don't give a hoot about Star Wars. Same for Marvel, not interested. They are pricing themselves out of what I am will to pay while the service continues to decline with all the cuts. I have done the parks long enough to not be enticed by rides most which break down. It is now the little magical things like parades, shows and the streetmosphere that I use to not take too much notice of while doing the park ride commando style that I am now looking to experience. I have done most of the tours and parties but the constant up-charges are getting crazy. Couple that with the generic hotel décor, dogs in the parks and at resort and the "cover their behinds intrusions" room inspections as well as the security theater at the parks are just a few more nails in their coffin. Not thrilled in June when I paid good money for the Illuminations cruise and got the defective globe that ruined the finale. The sad part is Disney is encouraging people with their app to not disconnect and interact. May just be me, but too many people staring at their phones ignoring everything else including the "therapy animals" they need so much. Seriously debating about whether I will go back for the 50th.

I am going prior to Star Wars hoopla, and will wait until the chaos subsides. I have DVC points, I’ll just bank them and get a bigger unit the next year.

 

[mommyrosa2]

At one time, we were complete Disney Addicts...going every year sometimes twice/year. I didn't even want to think about vacationing anywhere else but as the years passed and the prices rose, I started seeing less of a value. My breaking point came when I went to price out our vacation for last summer and the price for the four of us was over $6,000 and that was with a hefty agency discount. At that point, my husband and I sat down and decided it was time to start vacationing elsewhere and we did. While we do miss Disney, we just can't justify the cost anymore. For just a little over what that one trip was going to cost us, we were able to take 2 all-inclusive vacations last year... one with the four of us and one just he & I! My youngest DD has asked if we would consider going next summer for her 21st Birthday and while I will get a quote, if the math doesn't make sense, it will be back to the Caribbean we go!

 

[Magical2017]

We would save $2,700 -$4,000 per trip by staying in a one or two bedroom somewhere like Wyndham Bonnet Creek or another off-site option, versus a one or two bedroom on-site for a week, at least on the dates I have priced out. (This includes renting DVC points, which is becoming increasingly challenging, as well as going through Disney). I know there are TAs that can sometimes get discounts, but by saving almost three grand per trip, we can travel more often. We prefer to have space for a week-long stay, but for a shorter stay we would consider a standard room instead of the one or two bedroom units.

 

[Monykalyn]

Just did my first Orlando trip EVER without going to Disney-only Universal. And know what-really didn't miss it!! I am glad we got our fill of Disney the last couple years now, and decided on a Universal AP instead (for about 40% of the cost of a no black out date disney AP we got the top tier Uni AP that has Express pass after 4 built in AND free ticket to their Halloween event AND more discounts everywhere).

We will go back eventually I am sure-when the next kid does a DCP and we have access to CM discounts again to make the prices less horrible.

 

[Rickat96]

Disney has managed to all but kill 18 years worth of good will. They can keep their Toy Story Land and I don't give a hoot about Star Wars. Same for Marvel, not interested. They are pricing themselves out of what I am will to pay while the service continues to decline with all the cuts. I have done the parks long enough to not be enticed by rides most which break down. It is now the little magical things like parades, shows and the streetmosphere that I use to not take too much notice of while doing the park ride commando style that I am now looking to experience. I have done most of the tours and parties but the constant up-charges are getting crazy. Couple that with the generic hotel décor, dogs in the parks and at resort and the "cover their behinds intrusions" room inspections as well as the security theater at the parks are just a few more nails in their coffin. Not thrilled in June when I paid good money for the Illuminations cruise and got the defective globe that ruined the finale. The sad part is Disney is encouraging people with their app to not disconnect and interact. May just be me, but too many people staring at their phones ignoring everything else including the "therapy animals" they need so much. Seriously debating about whether I will go back for the 50th.

Toy Story and Star Wars-Galaxy's Edge are so HYPED ups as an amazing fix to everything- these add ons are way too small to shift the crowds and will have 2 hour+ wait times as they intended so they can continue to raise ticket prices. I sure do hope im wrong.

 

[Texans_loyal]

If APs go up, Jan will most likely be my only trip for 2019 and that's only because the trip is nonrefundable. I have cut so many corners to get my Disney fix in, I draw the line at getting a part time job.

 

[cel_disney]

The parking fee really angers me. We are DVC and AP this year so I moved our fall trip off property to Sheraton Vistana Resort. We will keep our DVC because we still get free parking with that, but if this works out I think non-DVC Trips or split stays could include some off night stays.

We also are priced out of the halloween party / we went 3-4 years in a row before the prices started skyrocketing. Nothing has changed to warrant going back at those prices.

We do still try to pick one ‘special event’ per trip - this time it’s the Christmas dessert party at DHs...But I don’t thjnk we would be doing that if we didn’t have so few other expenses this trip.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

When I don't vacation at Disney I take expensive vacations. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive, but if it's not a budget "Disney Year" then it's probably 3 weeks in Europe or something similar. I will stop taking Disney vacations when their price exceeds what I pay on my "Off Years". Or, as I've said before, I'll stop visiting WDW when it's cheaper to visit Disneyland Paris.

I do not expect that this will ever occur.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Just curious, Started pricing out trip US, offsite-considerable drop in price compared to Disney.

Some Background-

I normally take both of my older kids a grand kids for Christmas, This year I have 5 rooms at CSR with the FD (Thank goodness)

Parking fees will add @ $800 bucks- really a drop in the bucket but its annoying to think of zero value for this fee. I also read that because of the new parking-traffic is backing up the resorts too- sound familiar? This was why ticket prices increase-crowd control (yea right)

So the next thing Disney will need is a "resort fee" to help unclog the traffic. I am almost at the point.

What will it take for you?

I have been going less. Ive started branching out vacation wise..I have been into cruises lately. Then, I suppose I’d start staying offsite if the prices of resorts get even more expensive.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

When I don't vacation at Disney I take expensive vacations. I know, that sounds counter-intuitive, but if it's not a budget "Disney Year" then it's probably 3 weeks in Europe or something similar. I will stop taking Disney vacations when their price exceeds what I pay on my "Off Years". Or, as I've said before, I'll stop visiting WDW when it's cheaper to visit Disneyland Paris.

I do not expect that this will ever occur.

I am spending 2 weeks in France next year and our budget including airfare for 3 is $6500 (got a really great deal on air). I can barely go to WDW for 1 week for that amount. Yep, Europe is now cheaper than a WDW vacation.

 

[shh]

They lost me with the resort parking fees.

Me too. First time in two decades I'm staying offsite. Will not pay parking on a motel-6 value resort. But as AP holders, we'll still do the parks.

 

[SwanVT2]

Already reached it. It wasn't even one thing that Disney did. We were "in the bubble" proponents for 20+ years. You couldn't talk me out of it. Last trip we knew we wanted to rent a car for a couple of days and do some of the non-Disney parks so we booked a split stay in the FW cabins and AoA suites. About a day after we booked, we got an offer from one of the off-site resorts. Since we were going to go to non-Disney parks for that part of the trip anyway, we (reluctantly for me) took that and cancelled the cabin. I spent the first part of that week anxious to get back to the bubble. That's when we calculated and realized several things:

1. Just for the 3 nights we stayed offsite, we saved enough money vs. the cabins (including paying for parking and the rental car) to return to FL later that same year. We have never been able to go more than every other year before.

2. After being anxious to be back in the bubble, I realized how bad the bus transportation had gotten - and how much nicer it was to get into a nice, air conditioned car after a full day in the parks instead of being squashed onto crowded, smelly buses. Not to mention you didn't have to stand around for 20-30 minutes waiting for that bus to show up.

3. Having a full kitchen and washer/dryer in the unit was AMAZING! As was having a full screened-in patio. All for about a third of the cost of an AoA suite or cabin.

This was all right before Disney announced the dog policy, the parking fees, and the room checks. If I was on the edge of seeing any benefit to staying onsite, those announcements pretty much nixed that. We're staying onsite for one last hurrah in November, mainly because we got an amazing deal for the Poly, but I doubt we'll stay onsite again unless Disney comes WAY down in cost.

Where do you stay offsite?

 

[1GoldenSun]

Me too. First time in two decades I'm staying offsite. Will not pay parking on a motel-6 value resort. But as AP holders, we'll still do the parks.

This is us, too. Our APs expire in February and we're not renewing, but until then it's offsite, the Swalphin, or DVC rental.

 

[Jennasis]

I don't know where our line in the sand is. We have a lot of skin in the game, not to mention that th bottom line is that being at WDW makes us very happy. I wonder myself where the line is or if there's is one.

 

[SL6827]

I feel like we may not be going as much as we have in the past due to me for seeing the value of Disney World becoming less. In fact, I am now leaning on not purchasing another small DVC contract. But that doesn't mean Disney might not get my money. The cruising bug is starting to creep in for a possible cruise in a couple years. Right now we were planning to go to the world in December just to see the decor and such and now I am doubting we will even do that, due to another trip to the Cayman Islands here soon. (another story) But if we don't go in December and Disney won't allow me to place my DVC points back into my 2019 use year (I borrowed them) we will go in the summer for another water park trip. But my reasoning for having to go back to the Caymans is legit and worthwhile, so maybe they will.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

We've hit our "breaking point" so to speak.

Nothing against Disney. We still love it and hold it near and dear to our heart. In fact, the added fees and price increases only play a small part in our "breaking point".

In 2017 we became AP holders. We're from NY, but knew we'd be taking our annual Christmas trip, as well as a trip with our extended family for Halloween. We decided to complete the trifecta and go for Easter (both 2017 and 2018), and my sister and I got in a quick trip for Pro Bowl Weekend. All together, we went 5 times in one year, but boy did we make the APs work for us: we took advantage of every. last. discount.

Anyway - we're going back this Christmas and have decided to make this the last big Disney trip for a while. The next time we go will most likely be in 2021 after all the renovations. To us, we see it this way...

1) As a family of 4, we spend at least 8-12k during Christmas after flights and everything else. We could go to Europe for that price. We've never had a bad trip and it's hard to compare the two, but it's a bit of a turnoff when you really break down the prices and hear other people talk about their trips to different places.

2) It's time to see other places. I'm about to turn 30 and have never been out of the country (except Canada). You only get so many PTO days. I take about 5 days (sometimes more) for Disney trips alone, then I plan around those days. The days I use on Disney can easily be split into two trips or one long international trip.

3) It's getting stale. Having been 5 times in the past year and going for a sixth in 1.5 years, it seems like the same thing over and over again. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love going on Thunder Mountain a million times and I'm excited to see TSL, but it gets redundant. We've tried to work some new stuff in, like spending more time at our resort and seeing new things we'd normally skip, but the value is decreasing.

3A) There's still a lot under construction. Going with point #3, we wanna take a break until everything is "new". That'll give us more of a reason to go and we won't mind spending the money to return.

4) The new dynamic pricing won't favor our dates. We go during Christmas and park tickets are gonna be pretty damn expensive.

 

[LoveToGoToDisneyWorld]

I so agree with other posters that once you venture out and see what other destinations you can get for equal or less money, Disney becomes illogical. WDW is an emotional thing and that's how they get us to spend over and over. Friends ask me why we don't visit the actual countries that are in Epcot, instead of going to Epcot. This is a good question. Because Epcot gives us the warm fuzzies? With the way costs have risen, it's hard to justify the cost of those warm fuzzies. I recently priced what it would cost our family of 5 to go to Japan, and truth be told all we'd have to do is skip our Disney trips for one year. Mind blowing.

 

[Rach3975]

We're about to take our second trip, but I don't know if we'll manage a 3rd. We're limited by the school schedule, and we won't go in the summer. The main school breaks have gotten too expensive for us. This trip we're going to take the kids out of school for a few days (only a partial week since they have teacher work days) so that we can do a lower cost week. But my oldest is a HS freshman. By the time we're ready to go again, he'll be a junior or senior and I don't think we'll feel comfortable taking him out. So if prices stay where they are, this might be it for us.

 

[maxiesmom]

I so agree with other posters that once you venture out and see what other destinations you can get for equal or less money, Disney becomes illogical. WDW is an emotional thing and that's how they get us to spend over and over. Friends ask me why we don't visit the actual countries that are in Epcot, instead of going to Epcot. This is a good question. Because Epcot gives us the warm fuzzies? With the way costs have risen, it's hard to justify the cost of those warm fuzzies. I recently priced what it would cost our family of 5 to go to Japan, and truth be told all we'd have to do is skip our Disney trips for one year. Mind blowing.

There isn't a right or a wrong way to vacation. To say it is illogical to go any place over another is silly.

 

[maxiesmom]

Also, it is hard to compare vacation costs from one to another. You say all you would have to do is skip one Disney trip for a year and you could go to Japan. I just priced the cost of one round trip ticket from my home airport, and it is over $1600. I can't fathom spending 5x that on a Disney Trip. But for many people it is no big deal.