Disney World gate rises to $79 for single-day, single park

I think Six Flags, Parc, and Cedar Fair like this, since the raise may turn more families away from taking a Disney vacation and just going to local parks

For most families, I doubt it. A $34 increase for our week long trip is less than 1% of my total visit cost---and I visit cheaply. It's practically immaterial.

What's more magical at the Kingdom?

A. The overall atmosphere;

B. Watching one months pay disappear, from your wallet, before you even walk through the front gates.

You only make $79 a month? :)

I believe when we did the seven night/eight day park hopper on-property with dining plan, we paid about $2k for two people. We spent very little beyond that, and honestly I think that pre-paying the whole arrangement made it far more enjoyable. I feel like we got more than our money's worth, as the food alone was nearly half that.

^ I think most families with kids in tow will find it extremely difficult to spend "very little beyond" a flight, park hopper tickets, and a dining plan.

Maybe, maybe not. We give our kids a budget at the beginning of the trip for miscellaneous crap, which they can spend pretty much however they want. (My son must have a dozen different swords and guns of various types.) But, once that's gone, it's gone. And, we spend *less* on food than the "regular" dining plan would cost us, so it's closer to "very little" than you'd think.

A Disney trip probably isn't the cheapest possible trip you can take. For example, we spend less on a week in the Smoky Mountains, in part because we can drive, and in part because food is less expensive. But, I've been pricing 7-night Alaskan cruises, and we'll spend a good chunk more on that than we do on a week in WDW. We also spent a good chunk more on a week at a guest ranch up in the Rockies. Compared to most other "big family vacations", our "typical" WDW trip is pretty affordable. What makes WDW work is that there is an incredibly broad range of price points for lodging.

Edited to add: On the other hand, Disney is merciless if you aren't paying attention to your wallet. A week at WDW is rather like being grabbed by your ankles, and held upside down, until all the money falls out of your pockets. Then, Disney pats you on your head, and sends you on your way, feeling lucky to have had the experience.

We have been to WDW enough times that we dont really buy anything besides food (we might get a piece of clothing if it looks good.) Even before the dining plan we would always have 1 sit down dinner a day. Pre dining plan, we would do this by having breakfast in our room and then having a lupper, now that the dining plan is around we get another meal for "free." The dining plan is fantastic for us.

Speaking of the dining plan....for those visiting during "peak seasons" (namely, Presidents week through Easter, June through mid-August, and Christmas Weeks) the 2010 version of the dining plan went up from $40 per person per day to $47 per person per day. If you visit during slower times, it's only gone up to $42.

And that, I guess, is suppose to be a cheap dining plan. Hell, I thought grabbing dinner in NYC was expensive.

That's still incredibly cheap. For around $40/person, you get 1 snack, 1 counter service meal, and one sit down meal. The sit-down meals alone, can run you $35, or more.

I still find it to be one of the best deals around.

We did the math last time, and we were easily doing $70 each per day on the dining plan if we were paying full menu price. Even $42 a day seems like a good deal to me.

In coasterphan's defense, 'cheap' and 'a good value' or 'a good deal' are entirely different things. Things that are a good deal aren't necessarily cheap.

So no, $42 a day might not be 'cheap' (although it certainly isn't a whole lot), but for what you get it's a ridiculous value...and that seems to be exactly how Disney operates on all fronts.

Our last trip down, we did a Citricos dinner at the Grand Floridian. For the 4 of us, it was easily a $350 check. For 2 sit-down meal tickets per person, which included our fantastic desserts, it was 100% worth it.
Everything was included, so we didn't have to budget what we ordered to keep our check lower, etc.. My entree alone was in the ball park of $45, dessert was another $10.

Every other restaurant we visit is usually only one table service meal. The food isn't quite the caliber of Citricos or Jiko, but it's still some of the best food I've ever eaten, anywhere.

Well one thing is for sure, im writing from Disney and today, a Monday mind you, was posting 140m wait times for Test Track and 120m wait times for Toy Story Mania by 12:00p

So cheap, valued, expensive....whatever adjective you apply, this place is packed...even with 90 degree temperature with 90% humidity.. UGGGH...

Granted I would guess a fair share of people may have purchased and thus locked in previous rates (if you paid for this trip a month ago, you were at old ticket prices), but im quite sure theres still a share that are in at the new.

One thing I did notice, especially in gift shops like Mouse Gears or World of Disney, there were few people speaking American, so I would surmise that part of the decrease in park spending profits may be due to the fact that American's in general may be spending less in gift shop, leaving it mostly to foreign purchase.

Course I have no other hard facts other than drifting through gift shops for 3 days now and listening to the languages spoken in them.

Nonetheless. Still a Zoo here..

Course on the flip side I got a minimum of 2 rides on each coaster at Universal and IoA in < 3 hours, but that was a Sunday which is typically transition day....

Anyways.. back to playing :)

My trip is in late Sept. I just paid off the trip today. It was the same amount as was invoiced when I booked months ago.

ridemcoaster said:
Nonetheless. Still a Zoo here..

... But I thought it was nahta.. :sigh: nevermind. :)

ridemcoaster said:
...there were few people speaking American...

Did you really just say that? What were they speaking, Canadian?

^ Hehe. Seriously, ridem, might you try and dabble in the language yourself, buddy? ;)

So smart shots what would you say we speak? English is typically prefaced for UK.

Also it is not incorrect to say American as one of the accepted forms is American English.

I however chose to abbreviate it to just American as I was typing on my phone.

I also did that to separate US from UK, as there were a wealth of UK visitors to the park. If I simply stated English I would have included them as well, which wasnt my point.

So what was the problem again?

Oh, you showed us! ;)