Disney Prices

Has anyone really paid attention to prices at Disney World? My goodness. They are beyond out of control. $700 a night for a stay at the Beach Club Resort. $455 for Genie+ passes for a family of 4 - and to make matters worse this rebranded FastPass service was free for years. Being charged up to $35 per night to park at your Disney resort, which by the way is already overpriced at $700 per night! When will it end?

I'm a long-time Disney fan, who has vacationed at Disney World 22 out of the last 23 years - yeah I'm nuts! I may be at the end of the road and looking to vacation elsewhere. Not something I want to do, but the prices, the sheer greed by Disney leadership making it very hard to fork over so much many for a Disney vacation.

I sure hope some of these changes fail and get modified in the near future, but I'm not holding my breath. It's just a shame. Again, pay to park at your home Disney resort, pay excessive prices for hotel stay, pay admission to park, pay flat fee to get in shorter line for rides, pay even more money to ride popular rides, have to rely on phone app to do everything! it's just just not a vacation anymore.

Sorry for the rant, but I had to vent.

I'm right there with ya.

Ditto

I think they are walking a very fine line right now on alienating many long time fans. My dad is there right now, and he ranted about how bad the tech was trying to do things like reserve a candlelight processional dinner, and how everything they do seems to make being on vacation more complicated and convoluted. Then you add the additional cost on top of things - and somethings got to give. Not to mention the reduced services and staffing - which means you're paying more and actually getting less.

But hey, as long as people keep coming......

I am really up in the air about renewing my Annual Pass in February when it comes due. It will cost me $1304 to renew my pass (putting the water park and photopass on it). When I am only visiting the parks maybe 3 or 4 times and for only a few hours, I am not sure it is worth it. The only thing that has me wavering is Intercot 25 should be soon and then I would need that pass....

I am so torn on this. There's no doubt it's gotten very, very expensive. But here is where I am on it right now:

1. First and foremost a lot of this is short term. Consumer prices are soaring right now due to the supply chain issues and for a resort as large and complex as Disney I cannot imagine what this is doing to them from a cost of doing business standpoint
2. They had the theme parks shut down for nearly a year, at least on the West Coast. That lead to a ton of pent up demand and whether I like it or not Disney is a publicly traded company with a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. If you have 10,000 rooms and 100,000 people want them well the laws of supply and demand come into play
3. Personally I think Disney's issue is one of optics. They want to keep people in the parks, so admission ticket prices are kept artificially low. They then make up for it in other areas like increase resort rates and upcharges. On one hand I guess that's good, because it allows people to continue to visit the parks for a somewhat affordable price and shifts the burden of revenue generation to those who wish to consume additional services. Really, though, in a day and age when a ticket to a three hour sporting event or a concert is $250 or more a $150 ticket to access 12 hours of world class theme park attractions is a bargain. And let's be real, no one spends $150 for a day. Annual passes are still dirt cheap and multi-day passes are on a steep sliding scale of cost-per-day.
4. And perhaps the biggest issue ... this isn't Disney's fault. Ever since the advent of the Internet the way Wall Street looks at stocks has fundamentally changed. Traders now have no interest in investing long term in well run companies that have a ten year plan for sustained, consistent performance. They only reward continued growth now. In many ways Disney is doing what they're forced to do to prevent their stock price from sliding and making them into a very appealing takeover target.

It stinks, but I think it's a new reality that's just here to stay.

We are planning a trip for Holiday time 2022. I thought " Hey we've never been at this time of year, lets try the Mickeys' Christmas party" $ !60 to $225 each !! Yikes. I was flabbergasted !!It can't be that good. So it doesn't look that we will ever get to see the Magic Kingdom for a Christmas party :(

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Originally Posted by rjmurphy

We are planning a trip for Holiday time 2022. I thought " Hey we've never been at this time of year, lets try the Mickeys' Christmas party" $ !60 to $225 each !! Yikes. I was flabbergasted !!It can't be that good. So it doesn't look that we will ever get to see the Magic Kingdom for a Christmas party :(

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Well, if it helps any, I went in 2019, and it wasn't that good.

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Originally Posted by rjmurphy

We are planning a trip for Holiday time 2022. I thought " Hey we've never been at this time of year, lets try the Mickeys' Christmas party" $ !60 to $225 each !! Yikes. I was flabbergasted !!It can't be that good. So it doesn't look that we will ever get to see the Magic Kingdom for a Christmas party :(

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We did the Christmas party about 4 years ago which was prior to a lot of the cost cutting that they have done and prior to huge ticket price increases and it wasn't anything great then either. We checked it off the list and will probably never do the Christmas Party again. At $55 to $65 per ticket we thought it was way overpriced. I wouldn't waste the money on it if I were you. It is basically just an overpriced hard ticket event with nothing more than some cookies and hot chocolate (if they even still do that) and a few characters with Christmas outfits on.

We used to go to the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party every year. We'd take off work for a long weekend and really enjoy all dressing up in a Disney theme. Our best year was when 8 of us dressed as Haunted Mansion characters. There's no way we could all afford the extra tickets on top of the increases in a stay on property. I don't think it would be worth it either.

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Originally Posted by Disney-4-Me

We used to go to the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party every year. We'd take off work for a long weekend and really enjoy all dressing up in a Disney theme. Our best year was when 8 of us dressed as Haunted Mansion characters. There's no way we could all afford the extra tickets on top of the increases in a stay on property. I don't think it would be worth it either.

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I love the idea of all of you dressed as Haunted Mansion characters. That is so cool.

I'm not going off the deep end and saying that I will never go again. I've seen plenty of folks on this board say that over the years and, well, their signatures tell how that went.
However, I just booked a two week stay for May. My retirement is just under 800 days away, and when I looked at the price tag for this upcoming trip, a realization set in. We won't be able to afford a trip like this after retirement. I want to continue going, but it is quite possible that the Company has priced me out. And honestly, I believe that is by design.
It is what it is. We just returned from a 2 week stay in Ouray, Colorado. The entire trip, lodging, food, gas, etc., cost half of what the campsite and tickets are going to cost me at Disney.
Don't take that as a complaint. Again, it is what it is.
Over the last ten years we have been to 90+ college football games, around another 40ish concerts, and many more soccer, basketball, and hockey games. I have yet to pay $250 for TWO people at any single event.

Again, I am one of those rabid, gotta have it, fans that would continue to pay to go, if I could, regardless of how much they charge.

All that doesn't change one simple fact: We are paying more, and getting less.

We have 2 campsite reservations at Fort Wilderness May 2022, traveling with grown kids & young grandkids! I have already talked to Hubby that we have to "PRETEND" that this is our first trip ever to WDW......NOTHING will be the same! (we last visited in 2018)
We are looking forward to seeing the Disney Magic through the eyes of a 7 & 4 year old and overlooking all the wonderful things Disney has changed thru the years, along with the rude theme park guests!

I am with all of you on the prices! (A $700 a night room should have FREE parking!)
Fort Wilderness was a very affordable option YEARS ago, but their prices have gone up too! We are paying well over $120 a night, with less services than before

So sad to think of how many changes everyone has had to navigate thru starting with 2020.......I never saw it coming! And I never saw the price increase of EVERYTHING this year!

I make more money than I ever could have dreamed of. However, I just can't justify the prices any longer. It was crazy when deluxe rooms were $350+ a night. Its nothing to see them at $700+ a night now PLUS parking. I can get a lot more value for my money and have a RELAXING time elsewhere.

We started pricing our annual trip, same time every year, same resorts every year and pricing is outrageous so we are probably going to skip the deluxe resorts this time. $1,000 more than what we normally pay for less time

I agree with you all that prices are getting crazy and yet the parks are packed. I have been here this week, January 3-7, and there is no shortage of people willing to pay what WDW corporate is asking.

The increase and newer charge that irks me the most is the parking fees. We are staying at the Beach Club, my vehicle has sat in a half empty lot and not moved, yet I will be charged $25 a day for it to sit there!:mad: My wife says I let this bother me too much, but I say it’s flat out greed. No new service is being provided, the cost in providing the parking lot has not increased, Disney can’t blame it on the supply chain, on inflation, or on any factor other than sheer greed.

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Originally Posted by Jeff

I agree with you all that prices are getting crazy and yet the parks are packed. I have been here this week, January 3-7, and there is no shortage of people willing to pay what WDW corporate is asking.

The increase and newer charge that irks me the most is the parking fees. We are staying at the Beach Club, my vehicle has sat in a half empty lot and not moved, yet I will be charged $25 a day for it to sit there!:mad: My wife says I let this bother me too much, but I say it’s flat out greed. No new service is being provided, the cost in providing the parking lot has not increased, Disney can’t blame it on the supply chain, on inflation, or on any factor other than sheer greed.

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I completely agree. When making reservations anywhere, in any city, at any hotel, I pull up the rates and then immediately look at the additional fees to see if there is a parking fee. I try to avoid paying them at all but in some cities they pretty much all have them so I then just play the numbers game and calculate my total cost per night to find the best value. I really wish the government would step in with some regulations where they have to give us an actual total rate per night instead of trying to disguise or hide these additional parking or "resort" fees. It is a shady practice in the hotel business these days.

On another note, I got a Pin Code for room discount a couple of days ago. I haven't even gotten to see how outrageous the rate would be even after the pin code is applied because I have tried twice to pull up rates on their website but when I do it goes to a virtual que with a wait time of around 30 minutes that I have to wait through to get the rates. Why in the world is there a que to wait on rates now? I have never even heard of that before. Have they gone so cheap on their server bandwidth, they are throttling access to their reservation servers? This has gotten to the point it is just insane.

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Originally Posted by 1DisneyNut

On another note, I got a Pin Code for room discount a couple of days ago. I haven't even gotten to see how outrageous the rate would be even after the pin code is applied because I have tried twice to pull up rates on their website but when I do it goes to a virtual que with a wait time of around 30 minutes that I have to wait through to get the rates. Why in the world is there a que to wait on rates now? I have never even heard of that before. Have they gone so cheap on their server bandwidth, they are throttling access to their reservation servers? This has gotten to the point it is just insane.

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It is always a madhouse when Disney announces 'big' discounts on rooms and/or packages. I have never heard of the queue for rate quotes, but it's not a bad idea to give people an understanding of how busy they are.

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Originally Posted by PopPhan

It is always a madhouse when Disney announces 'big' discounts on rooms and/or packages. I have never heard of the queue for rate quotes, but it's not a bad idea to give people an understanding of how busy they are.

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I’m a bit unclear of why the website has a wait time when you are simply looking to book a room. Expedia doesn’t do that. Hotels.com doesn’t do that. No major hotel chain does that.

Is Disney’s infrastructure so bad that this was needed?

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Originally Posted by John

I’m a bit unclear of why the website has a wait time when you are simply looking to book a room. Expedia doesn’t do that. Hotels.com doesn’t do that. No major hotel chain does that.

Is Disney’s infrastructure so bad that this was needed?

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You make a good point. I still don't think it is an infrastructure problem, per se, but more of how they use the infrastructure they have. The other sites you mentioned are primarily hotel booking sites, but Disney is not a hotelier and, as such, do not put their emphasis on hotel bookings. Is this wrong? Yeah, it probably is, especially when they are announcing discounts at such regular intervals. Should they 'beef up' their reservation server farm? Most definitely. BUT, from what 1disneynut's comment stated, at least you are not getting the old 404 Page Not Found (or Stitch ate this page) message and are getting in a virtual queue.

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Originally Posted by PopPhan

You make a good point. I still don't think it is an infrastructure problem, per se, but more of how they use the infrastructure they have. The other sites you mentioned are primarily hotel booking sites, but Disney is not a hotelier and, as such, do not put their emphasis on hotel bookings. Is this wrong? Yeah, it probably is, especially when they are announcing discounts at such regular intervals. Should they 'beef up' their reservation server farm? Most definitely. BUT, from what 1disneynut's comment stated, at least you are not getting the old 404 Page Not Found (or Stitch ate this page) message and are getting in a virtual queue.

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I would almost rather get the 404 or Stitch ate the page than be smacked with a virtual que telling me I have to wait 25 minutes just to see pricing. I still haven't seen the pricing because after getting the virtual que on two days with a day in between them, I haven't even tried again. Maybe I am in the minority but I simply do not have the patience to wait 25 minutes just to look at rates. I especially do not have the patience for it when my degree is in this field and I know it is just them being cheap on their systems. If they have everything running on the same servers and do not have enough bandwidth to properly serve the reservation system that is just poor IT infrastructure and they should have dedicated servers for reservations. I mean seriously, an inefficient reservation system turns people off before they even get going on planning a trip there and eventually need the other services on the system.

I'm sorry, but as an old computer systems guy dating back to the 70's, this is utter BS. With a properly designed system, there should be minimal delays, but nothing at the levels that are being reported. Disney has designed this in a way to pull people's chains and they should be ashamed.

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Originally Posted by 1DisneyNut

I would almost rather get the 404 or Stitch ate the page than be smacked with a virtual que telling me I have to wait 25 minutes just to see pricing. I still haven't seen the pricing because after getting the virtual que on two days with a day in between them, I haven't even tried again. Maybe I am in the minority but I simply do not have the patience to wait 25 minutes just to look at rates. I especially do not have the patience for it when my degree is in this field and I know it is just them being cheap on their systems. If they have everything running on the same servers and do not have enough bandwidth to properly serve the reservation system that is just poor IT infrastructure and they should have dedicated servers for reservations. I mean seriously, an inefficient reservation system turns people off before they even get going on planning a trip there and eventually need the other services on the system.

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It doesn't get any better after you have your reservations either. Look at the debacle with reservations opening for Space 220 and the "virtual queue" not even working when I was there a couple of months ago. I still don't understand why they thought putting up a paper code for you to use on your phone was a good idea. Created a very potentially dangerous situation and what of those who don't have/can't use that type of tech. It would have been better to just use an old fashioned line.
Disney's tech has been a problem for quite a while. With it being such a giant company, they shouldn't have many problems at all, much less on the scale that they do.

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Originally Posted by Jeff

I agree with you all that prices are getting crazy and yet the parks are packed. I have been here this week, January 3-7, and there is no shortage of people willing to pay what WDW corporate is asking.

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I was there with you Jeff! Friday was the only day that standby wait times didn't get unreasonable (at least at MK and Epcot). Weather was incredible though. Stinks on the parking.

I've personally heard from a few Disney fans that echo what I've read here that feel their days of frequent Disney trips are behind them. The kicker is going to be the DVC members who are somewhat tied to the place. We inherited a timeshare near Disney World (Westgate Lakes) and my wife, a devoted fan, said that next year we should just enjoy the resort amenities and some of the other area attractions and maybe not go to Disney except for perhaps a day. I was thinking it but she said it!

But as Jeff said, if they continue to fill the park, they may not worry about the fans cutting back.

We're just now starting to plan our trip and the prices definitely made my eyes pop! I can't say I was entirely surprised with all that was going on, but it was still a little bit of a shock. I am hoping that this is not here to stay though. In the past there have been steady increases in price, but there have been periods where you get much better special offers. I'm hoping the pendulum swings back the other way soon.

We would sometimes go twice a year, because of these prices we are going to universal one week instead. Much cheaper (minus the park tickets are about the same)

We were just there from the 16th-23rd of January. The cost increases that bother me the most are the parking fees and the Genie+. I really felt like I was forced to purchase Genie+ just because I didn't know how crowded it would be and how many other people had purchased it. The worst part of Genie+ is that 2 rides at each park aren't even included. Now that's greed!

And an added problem with these BIG increases is that little price gouging is irksome too, or maybe it's just me. Disney wants us to Mobile Order, so I did at a resort QS (resort QS usually accepts in person orders). Well, they charged me but then, when I went to pick up my order, the CM said they were all out of a particular item I'd ordered, and they offered me one of 3 substitutions-all a dollar or so LESS than the item I was charged for. Yes, there were other substitutions in that category (dessert item) that were 50 cents or a dollar more that they didn't offer, only offered me the less expensive items. Small amount, but I checked-they never did reimburse me the small difference. Just another example of the ways of Disney's prices right now.

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Originally Posted by Simba's Mom

And an added problem with these BIG increases is that little price gouging is irksome too, or maybe it's just me. Disney wants us to Mobile Order, so I did at a resort QS (resort QS usually accepts in person orders). Well, they charged me but then, when I went to pick up my order, the CM said they were all out of a particular item I'd ordered, and they offered me one of 3 substitutions-all a dollar or so LESS than the item I was charged for. Yes, there were other substitutions in that category (dessert item) that were 50 cents or a dollar more that they didn't offer, only offered me the less expensive items. Small amount, but I checked-they never did reimburse me the small difference. Just another example of the ways of Disney's prices right now.

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Dont get me started on mobile order.

Going to show my age and time on this particular Disney site. Years ago these posts would come up and individuals would defend the increases. Basically someone would post and then others would say “but look at the value of the trip when compared to other trips”. Not seeing much of that anymore. To me that’s a good indication that Disney is pricing out a lot of families.