Disney Doesn't Hate Poor People - We're All Just Rich

Going to Disney once is not a status symbol. Going to Disney once a year (or more) could be seen as such, to some people.

Even if you have an AP and drive down from the Midwest/east coast and stay off property 3 times a year, people don’t know that, and associate it with all the big, expensive stuff they’ve seen elsewhere.

Personally, I just like going there and doing different things.

Maybe it's a language/semantic thing, but while Disney isn't a status symbol, it is very much a rite of passage/cultural touchstone. With kids age 4-18, theme park vacations and a whole lot of other vacationing is done against the backdrop of Disney. Everyone has either been to Disney, is planning on going to Disney, can't afford Disney, or is avoiding Disney. Nobody hasn't heard of Disney.

Which is why it's awesome to live here, because virtually everyone you've ever known, geographically dispersed as they may be, comes here eventually.

Unless they live west of Denver, then they go to Disneyland.

Seriously though, Disney is a luxury up here, people save up for it and will focus multiple years to finance a trip. Wisconsinites consider Disney trips on the level of a Caribbean cruise or Mexico (Mayan Rivera.)

It may be hard to believe but that is what it is up here. You can’t define luxury, because something is only luxurious if people think it is.

Nope, I regularly see friends from Washington and California here.

Just because people do it also doesn't mean people can necessarily afford it. People do and buy things all the time when they don't have the means, aside from putting themselves into a deeper credit chasm.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/average-credit-card-debt-household/

Also, what Jeff mentioned about the real genius being that Disney actually has figured out how to serve every market except the actual poor...there are certainly "levels" of doing Disney.

Jeff said:

Which is why it's awesome to live here, because virtually everyone you've ever known, geographically dispersed as they may be, comes here eventually.

This. I have seen so many friends from earlier parts of life over the years just by living in the 407.

I am super far from typical, but I'm road trip distance from DLR and we're saving up for WDW for our next trip.

Jeff said:

Which is why it's awesome to live here, because virtually everyone you've ever known, geographically dispersed as they may be, comes here eventually.

Awesome, unless virtually everyone thinks you are operating a BnB.

So, this past Friday, I scheduled my family's trip to Cedar Point. We are staying at the Breaker's Hotel (haven't stayed there since the renovation) and as I go to check out, what has been discussed here (as far as premium add-ons go) really hit home for me. Now, I have been able to follow what has been said about being able to afford Disney without having to break the bank. But as I'm paying for the hotel, I had already considered the Fast Lane Plus passes, but was going to purchase them separately. As I went to checkout, I was offered an add on bundle package which included Fast Lane Plus passes, fun pix, all day food and drink wrist band, and Dinosaurs Alive. Not to mention no need to pay for parking.

Fast Lane Plus passes would have added on an additional $330 for all three of us. The price of all of the aforementioned inclusive package was a mere $475. Once I factored what the other costs of food and drink all day would be, the $145 additional price tag was really cheap.

The total cost of our 3 day trip, which includes a 2 night stay, 6 tickets to Cedar Point (or Cedar Point Shores, which we are doing the last day). 3 Fast Lane Plus passes for a day, food and beverage wrist band for a day, and DA is in the $1,400 range. Back when I used to go with my brother and we would power ride coasters all day, we could go way cheaper by packing a lunch for the first day and staying somewhere a couple of miles from Cedar Point. These days, however, I find it far more convenient to stay within walking distance of the gate near Magnum, plus the bonus of not paying for premium parking, being able to take a break and go back to an air conditioned hotel as opposed to a hot car that takes 10 minutes to cool off.

I think others here have said, it all depends on your POV as to the value of any vacation that you may choose to spend your money on. For us, with all of the add-on stuff and convenience of walking distance, and not having to drive somewhere after we are done for the day to a hotel, is just a no brainer.

So let's price that out... you'll spend about $155/person/day. It's hard to make a straight forward comparison since your FL and food is only for one of those days. I just priced WDW for June 1, five nights at Pop Century with five-day tickets at $2,118, or $141/person/day. If you add the proper Disney dining plan (with one table service per night), it's $216/person/day.

If even for a moment you could consider the two experiences equivalent, Disney isn't that much more if you're staying a number of days.

Yeah, I was talking to a coworker who has never been today, and he said "I've been told Disney is unreasonably expensive."

So, I helped him price out a vacation for the 4 days he wanted to go, with the proper dining plan, a moderate resort, and park hoppers. It cane out to about $2100 and his response was incredible to me - "That's it? That's not bad at all, compared to other vacations I could take, that's right on par. Hell, that's easily attainable and I think I could even stay a whole week"

So, I helped him price out an entire week and he's going to take his first trip.

$2100 would be very do-able. But add on airfare and you just doubled the cost. Do airlines hate poor people?

And that's where we're at - so we just take a road trip from the CLE. It's not terrible if you split it up into an overnight drive. My Mazda gets 40-ish MPG, and last year I did the whole thing on only a few tanks of gas. This year, we rented a compact/mid SUV that's rated in the 30's - for more room, longer trip, and less mileage on my car.

I even told Amber - I love flying, by myself. I find it relaxing to be able to move at my own pace and just snooze on a plane for a short while - but when I have them with me and I have to be responsible for 2 other people getting to where we're going, it stresses me out and I'd rather just make it a road trip - plus saving like, a grand on airfare is always nice.

He's in Texas, so he's 10 hours away and he said the same thing, it's probably cheaper and easier to drive.

If you want to go anywhere not local and not drivable (in practical terms), airfare is a cost regardless. I can't go to CP without flying, just as many of you can't go to WDW without flying.

You want to talk about expense... I'm visiting New York, staying in a nice-ish place in Manhattan and seeing two Broadway shows. Ouch. That's working out to $375/night/person.

This is why I cringe when I read articles like these. I have stayed in downtown *Boston, Washington D.C., NYC, Disney, Chicago, and Maui. The first three listed were just as much, some even more, then Disney. I live in Michigan so I drove to Chicago so I didn't really keep track to much about price on that trip but they did smoke me for $60 a day parking at the hotel. Maui was the cheapest trip we took in the past 5 years because we got a hell of a deal on airfare. People just have to understand that Disney is a 5 star amusement park and not a cedar fair or six flags park.

*If anyone is from Boston your city is awesome and so are the people!!

Extremecoasterdad.. Breakers is 100x better since the redo,I stayed there the last week of full time operations. Only problem I still have is there is nothing to eat past 9:00 pm at the hotel, again it was last week of full time operations and the park closed at 8:00(ish). so that may have played a factor.

And flying can still be cheap if you start looking for deals far out from your planned trip or if you pay attention to travel websites that alert you when deals are going on. You can almost always find CLE/MCO flights for under $100 roundtrip on Frontier. As long as you don't need to bring 36 pieces of luggage with you, you're going to get a cheap flight.

Raven, tell your friend to constantly be checking United for deals as Houston is a HUB for them. I use to fly to Texas a lot from Orlando and I was always able to find good deals on United.

I flew to Fort Lauderdale from Pittsburgh on Southwest for $37 last year. Looking in to another cruise later this year and flights are as low as $44. Orlando isn't much more from here. Last time we did Disney it was less than $600 round trip total for my family of four.

Sure, it depends on what day of the week, how far in advance you book, etc... but if you can be a little bit flexible the deals are there to be had.

I actually feel the opposite of Raven on this. We used to road trip Florida all the time. Stayed with friends in Charlotte half way there. The journey was half the fun. Now that there are kids involved, count me out. Get me there in two hours and I'll hop in a rental car and be on with it.

Jeff, I think the two experiences are very comparable. Disney is not as expensive as it is made out to be. We were considering going next year when the new Star Wars land will be opening, but I think we are going to put that off for at least 1-2 years, since it will be crazy packed. I'm sure Disney can be very expensive if you choose a higher end hotel, or get a package that is more inclusive. However, as you pointed out, it doesn't have to be high end.

ShaneDenmark said:

Do airlines hate poor people?

Nah. Spirit Airlines loves poor people. And flies to (K)MCO from many cities. Remember that Jeff Foxworthy bit about traveling with Piggly Wiggly bags? Yeah... that.