Incredible, just incredible.....

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Some friends of mine decided to take the plunge and do their first Disney Cruise . . .primarily because it turned out to be CHEAPER than staying the same # of days on property for their family of 4!

Wow, I kind of find that hard to believe. I've never done a Disney Cruise but have done Royal Caribbean and I know Disney is much more expensive. I doubt they are comparing apples to apples, cruising tends to have a lot of add-ons, taxes and excursions that are probably not factored into the comparison. Considering a family of 4 could book a room, even at rack rate, at a moderate for under $1500, seems hard to believe a cruise is cheaper. Take into consideration free dining or 30% room discount and it seems unlikely, unless they are comparing it to the Poly or GF.

[BrerGnat]

Wow, I kind of find that hard to believe. I've never done a Disney Cruise but have done Royal Caribbean and I know Disney is much more expensive. I doubt they are comparing apples to apples, cruising tends to have a lot of add-ons, taxes and excursions that are probably not factored into the comparison. Considering a family of 4 could book a room, even at rack rate, at a moderate for under $1500, seems hard to believe a cruise is cheaper. Take into consideration free dining or 30% room discount and it seems unlikely, unless they are comparing it to the Poly or GF.

It's very possible. Remember cruises include food and entertainment. 3rd and 4th passengers in thr same cabin pay roughly half of what the first two pay. DCL also has tiered pricing for kids. Infants pay almost nothing, kids 3-8 pay a bit more, 9-17 a bit more, etc. I can go on a 4 night cruise with my two kids for less than a 4 day, 4 night trip to WDW in a Deluxe hotel (because the DCL cabins are closest in comparison to Deluxe rooms). Its actually a significant savings to cruise.

Now, a 7 night Fantasy Eastern Carribean Cruise? WAY more than a week at WDW, but only if you have to go during a peak sailing season.

[Dulcee]

After a day at the parks, I find it deflating to leave the Disney bubble and jump on the highway.

This. I like to arrive and just be there. Personally I don't find the prices of the values and moderates out of line with other resort hotel areas.

[Opus X]

This. I like to arrive and just be there. Personally I don't find the prices of the values and moderates out of line with other resort hotel areas.

Agreed...The values and moderates ARE NOT out of line with off property at all.
As a matter of fact...when you include parking and resort fees...off property often, is MORE.
And lets face it....A WDW vacation isn't a WDW vacation when you stay of property, Its just not the same.

[disneynarula]

I think the cruise being less expensive also depends on how many children you have and what kind of resort you were planning on staying in.

We have three (soon to be four) children. We have to get two staterooms while cruising. A seven night cruise is not even close to being cheaper than a stay at Disney World. We almost always stay in value resorts and typically go during free dining so our food is included. Our last trip, including my MIL was around $3,000. I really doubt we could do a seven night cruise for that. Believe me, I have been pricing Disney Cruises for us for a long time.

But if you only have two children and can stay in one stateroom and usually stay at deluxe resorts a cruise is probably less expensive.

However, I agree with the OP. They are charging way too much for their value rooms.

[TheVBs]

Agreed...The values and moderates ARE NOT out of line with off property at all.
As a matter of fact...when you include parking and resort fees...off property often, is MORE.
And lets face it....A WDW vacation isn't a WDW vacation when you stay of property, Its just not the same.

I have to agree with this. The prices on the values and mods are reasonable, especially when you add in the extra costs and hassle of staying off site. Plus, we consider being immersed in the magic part of the package and well worth it.

Now the prices on the deluxe hotels..... holy cow! I realize there are plenty of opportunities to get discounts, but those rack rates are eyebrow raisers. That kind of price tag ought to include something spectacular - like airline tickets.

[Terra]

nice point...something to consider.

I recommend it as well.
As much as I love Disney, and live really close. When we do our vacations, typically we stay off site so we can spend more IN the parks [mainly fun stuff for my boys].

We did stay on property about 1.5 years ago, however we did not pay rack rate either. I had a friend working there at the time who got us the Friends/Family Discount. We ended up paying $350 total for 4 nights at POP. And LOVED it.

I refuse to pay $100-$110 for a value resort. We are "saving now" for an on property vacation again at the Values. My boys are earning "change" and it goes into a change jar and I told them they could use the money once it's full, for that. But I'll be looking for deals still!

[tink'72]

Dvc!

Agreed!

[baldburke]

When we add it all up the price of a week at Disney for a moderate or value resort isn't any more than a week at the beach on the ocean block. It isn't quite what it used to be but the value is still good for what you pay.

[disneynarula]

DVC does not make the room cost less for your average visitor, only a true Disney die hard who never wants to vacation anywhere else. I am not saying that it's wrong to want to do that. People's vacations are their business.

Speaking for myself and my family, there is no way that we can save money on a room by buying into DVC.

We go every three years and always stay at a moderate or a value. What we pay is probably close to the cost of three years of DVC dues. That includes our food and park tickets (not included with DVC) We also pay for the entire vacation upfront, only using the Disney Visa for the convienience and the rewards dollars.

We can also decide where we want to go on vacation every year and not worry about getting our money's worth of future vacations that we have payed for and not yet taken.

I know we don't represent the vaction styles of most the people on these boards but I don't think that the sticker shock the OP experienced would be eased by a DVC purchase.

[DisneyDadfromPittsburgh]

Thank you........someone finally said it out loud!

[Tiggerlovr9000]

I have stayed on site one time and it was for safety reasons. It was just myself and my two dds who were a lot younger then. I just didn't want to drive off property in an area I didn't know with them. We had a great time at all star music. We just used it for a bed and shower. But now that we are older I like more amenities then a value resort. Also there is a lot of walking with all the the resorts. You do enough of that in the parks. The resorts are just to spread out for us. So we will continue to stay off-site.