Opinion: Disney price hikes about more than profit

No, not exactly. You're also potentially spreading the cost out over several years instead of one and paying more than the original value.

Leaving Walt Disney World aside, there's a significant chunk of the population using credit cards to pay for necessities...and trips to Walt Disney World. And some who count that WDW trip as a necessity.

Carrie J. said:

No, not exactly. You're also potentially spreading the cost out over several years instead of one and paying more than the original value.

Well, obviously. I was working on the idea that was all assumed or understood. But it's still just the flip side of budgeting X dollars per month for vacationing and saving it up for X amount of time until you have Disney money.

I still think Andy is correct. You're paying for it either way.

At best, I'll agree with the potential argument that using a Credit Card might fit it into your budget because the minimum card payment is lower than what you'd have to budget in order to visit within any reasonable time frame paying cash. But that just further confirms that a Disney vacation is out of reach for people if they're playing the minimum payment credit game to get there.

Exactly. That was my point.

Oh. Ok, then.

(tries to look dignified while walking off)

I'm suddenly reminded my cat falling off the edge of the sofa or bed and then looking over as if to say "I meant to do that."

As for Disney, the price hikes aren't meant to generate profits, they're meant to generate....

UNDERPANTS!

Being that we are leaving this weekend for our Disney vacation it only seems fit to reply. We average a visit to Orlando every five years. Going to Disney is a much bigger splurge then our week long vacations in Myrtle Beach or weekend trips to regional amusement parks. Much more planning is involved. Especially when staying in Disney. They pretty much make you plan your vacation stay out more then I'd want to.

My wife, 12 year old daughter, and I will be leaving this weekend. I got the special for the free dining plan when they were offering it in the Spring. We are staying at the Coronado Springs Resort. If we would stayed at a value resort we would've had to pay to upgrade the dining plan from 2 quick service meals to 1 quick service and 1 sit down. The difference between staying at the Coronado was only $200 for the week after upgrading the dining plan staying at the Pop Century.

Also included in our package is the park hopper with waterpark and more option, a midsize rental car(We hate Disney transportation,) and photopass. The package was $3200. Add our round trip airfare for us 3 of $1300, and we are $4500 for our package. That isn't a cheap vacation by any means, and we are going to spend more money on souvenirs etc while we are there. I am not sure how much we'll end up spending until we get back home and I add up everything.

I can see where Disney is pricing out the lower middle class. Sure you can stay off site like I have in the past. The Lake Buena Vista Suites is a nice place to stay, but back then you didn't have to stay on site to get the extra perks that you get today. It's worth it to me to get those benefits. I would stay off site if Disney wasn't my primary focus. Next year my wife and I are going to go to Universal, Sea World, Legoland, and BGT. I doubt that we'll visit Disney next year unless there's something new that we want to experience.

I am friends with people that live on a real tight budget, and they've made it Disney. They stay off site, don't eat at the parks, but still get to experience the magic. It comes down to how much of the magic are you really into experiencing and how much more additional are you willing to pay for some exclusivity. Disney does it different then our home park. They don't just charge to flat out skip the line. They do it in a way that makes people feel like they are getting more value for their money. Like us paying $220 for us 3 to experience Christmas at the Magic Kingdom from seven to midnight. They get the money out of us in different ways then our local park.

I think Gonch and Jeff has brought up many valid points on the Disney vacation experience. What it comes down to is do you have the $? What level of experience do you want? I wish I could afford to stay at the Grand Floridian, but that's out of our budget. :)

How many days are your tickets? The extra cost for park hopper and water parks is pretty high. I've always been a park hopper fan, but I could never justify the water parks because it cut too much into days at the parks.

Approximately $1850 for 7 days. I tried looking on my Disney app and it doesn't break down the actual cost. I'll have to find my original paper work for the exact total.

The park hopper plus water parks option is $90 extra per ticket, in your case.

Forgive me if this has already been pointed out:

In recent years, Orlando tourists’ average household income peaked at about $93,000, more than $20,000 higher than the average U.S. household wage, data from the tourism bureau Visit Orlando show.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/06/12/how-them...ss-behind/

So 93,000 puts you in the top 25% of all household incomes in the US.

Yeah, exactly.

Not so fast... that's the average, not the minimum.

I suppose we can debate the numbers all we want, but the bottom line seems to be that a WDW vacation is aimed at the more affluent members of the population.

Sure, there will always be those willing to max out credit cards and make minimum payments on each in order to have that dream WDW vacation, and there will always be those willing to squeeze a bunch of people into a Motel 6 room and eat ramen noodles from the Winn-Dixie in order to spend a few days at one or other of the parks, but the bulk of the resort's guests are folks with a comfortable income.

I'm reminded of taking the launch from Fort Wilderness to Magic Kingdom and having a conversation with an enchanting little girl; she and her family had flown down from their cottage in Maine to spend a month at Walt Disney World.

Jeff said:

Not so fast... that's the average, not the minimum.

Absolutely.

The average person visiting Orlando is in the top 25% of earners based on household income.

Obviously, it goes both ways from there, but if you want to paint a picture of the typical Orlando visitor, it's a high earner.

And I'm sure there's more Average and above than there are below average going. Obviously. Since that's how average works ;-).

There are so many ways to spin the numbers. I agree with Tek it is most likely average or above is the majority of visitors.

I work with 2 DVC owners and we talk about Disney all the time. Everyone has an opinion but no one really knows since we aren't sitting in the board room.

The next time we go we are going to Disney rent points from my one coworker that gets 360 points a year so we can test the DVC out. I have been on the fence about vacation clubs, but Disney's seems to be one of the best.

My daughter is 12 and this will most likely be the last time we'll take her. In a few years she probably won't bother.

Next year my wife and I are going to go to Orlando to stay at a Universal resort for the first time. We are going to visit allthe other parks eexcept Disney. We are BGW passholders so that covers Sea World and BGT.

Another example that confirms what Jeff's point has been.

I have a coworker, his wife and 4 kids went last month. Between them they make around 48-50k per year. They stayed off site at the Nickelodeon hotel and bought a 5 day park hopper for the whole family.

They paid for their vacation when they got their income tax return. Then they stashed a little money every week until they left for vacation for food and spending. They did eat meals at the parks and bought souvenirs for their kids.

They drove down to Orlando and they told me they'd never do that again

Tekwardo said:

And I'm sure there's more Average and above than there are below average going. Obviously. Since that's how average works ;-).

It's actually a near certainty that there are more below average than above average guests because of the long tail. A couple of millionaires will make up for a whole lot of $70K families. If they gave us the median, then we could have an interesting discussion.

If Bill Gates were to join Coasterbuzz tonight, we'd all be (on average) billionaires.