This is longer than I had planned so bear with me...

I think I've finally hit the limit as to what I'm willing to pay for Disney. We always talk about how it doesn't do any good to complain about the prices if you're still going to pay them. Disney knows this. And for every person like me, I know there is someone willing to take my place. Disney knows this as well. But I think I personally have hit a limit.

I grew up going to Disney. When I was a kid we always stayed off-site. Staying at a Holiday Inn was splurging for my parents, so the Poly was out of the question. I think my first stay on property was at the Grand Floridian. It was my college graduation present. I think my parent's finally saw the "value" of staying on site after that and we did so a little more frequently. As I became an adult, and started to take my own trips separate from my parents, I always stayed on site. When I married my husband, I indoctrinated him to Disney life when he agreed to go for our honeymoon. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. It was his first time to Disney and only his second time in the state of Florida. At first he was shocked at the cost of things, but after a while he realized how much you really got for the money. Fireworks every night, amazing rides, beautifully kept parks, gorgeous hotels that hit every budget (for the most part) and all of the employees that it took to maintain all of this, from food service, to housekeeping, to landscape crews, to maintenance and facilities, etc. etc. etc. Yes it was not inexpensive, but you could at least see where the money was going. Not to mention, they are not a nonprofit. Disney still had to make money at the end of the day.

So all of that said, I just don't know that I see the value anymore. They keep taking and taking and taking things away, and charging more and more and more. And I just think I finally hit my limit. Which is sad, because I'm as addicted to it as much as anyone here. I LOVE Disney. Fireworks make me sob. I get choked up when I see that castle for the first time every trip. I love the smell of the lobby of the Polynesian, or the Wilderness Lodge. I have park music soundtracks that I listen to in my car on my way to work to get my fix. Heck, Intercot, and others like it , have been a part of my daily life for probably over 15 years (although I'm mainly a lurker).

So what has brought me to this conclusion? Today for S's & G's I decided to price out a trip for March for my daughter's spring break using the latest promotion of staying Sunday - Thursday. It would only be a partial week as she is also going to Nashville with her high school band for part of it, so I thought maybe this would be a possibility (normally I would be looking at a full week + kind of stay, in order to squeeze every ounce of pixie dust I could out of a week). When I was seeing prices in the high $3000's into the $4000's to stay at a moderate with only 2 days worth of park tickets. I just couldn't believe it. Those were non hopping tickets, mind you (also not heard of for me). That wouldn't include any food, or getting there. And when I think of other add on's now like parking at the resorts not to mention genie plus and lightning lanes, my head explodes. I'm tapped out.

I normally always have a trip percolating in the back of my mind. The last time we were there was over Labor Day weekend of 2021. It was a great trip. We stayed at the Boardwalk, things were opening back up from the pandemic so not everything was perfect, we still had to wear masks and some things weren't back to normal yet. One of the best things about the trip? There were no fastpasses to have to book. They hadn't brought them back yet, and they weren't doing genie plus yet. So we were free to do things as we wanted, whenever we wanted. Lines were not outrageous. There was a couple of things we didn't get on because the lines were over 30 minutes and I had two teens with me that didn't want to wait that long. I told them 30 minutes and under is amazing you guys! But they wouldn't listen. LOL. I guess I'll just have to look back on that trip and savor it. Now I'm not proclaiming that I'll never be back or anything like that. I'm sure I will cave at some point, but I honestly can't afford to go every year any more. And even if I could, I just can't justify it. There will definitely be fewer trips for me in the future. And maybe that's the way Disney wants it.