Disney World Raises Prices... AGAIN!
Monday August 4, 2008
If you watch The Price Is Right, there is a pricing game called "That's Too Much!" Contestants normally play for a large prize, such as a car. They are shown various ascending prices and when they think the amount is just over the cost of the prize, they are to yell "That's too much!" Well, I'm yelling "That's too much!" to Disney World's ticket price hike.At a time when vacationers are being slammed with higher than ever airline and gas prices, the cost of having fun just got higher too. Disney World's newest ticket prices went quietly into effect Sunday, August 3. While the base one-day ticket is going up just $4.00, that price is now a hefty $75.00 per day for those age 10 and up! While the 'no expiration' feature remained unchanged, if you want to visit more than one park per day... the "park hopper" feature jumped $5.00. Oh, and before you ever enter the theme parks, it will cost you $12.00 to park your car!
Of course, there are three ways that help offset these high prices:
- Buy multi-day base tickets — the more days you buy, the cheaper the per day cost (7-day tickets are just $32.57 per day — 10-day tickets are just $23.70 per day).
- Save parking fee by staying at a Disney on-property hotel and use the free transportation system.
- Bring your own stroller (saving $15 per day).
Comments
Yes it’s ridiculous, I wanted to take my three kids to Disneyworld, but decided against due to the fact that it would cost more than $1000 for a family of five and, that’s just for the park!!!!
I think the whole Disney experience is way over rated. You can stay on International drive for 40-75 a night and still get free shuttles to the parks. I say you choose the best parks, Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Sea World. Set your budget maybe do two parks and hit Cocoa Beach!
Wow! When I was younger it was $25 to get into the park! How times have changed. It is a memory that I will not forget. So save your money and take your babies to the best place on earth!!! MEMORIES are worth it!
My family visited Disney World in December 2007 and we still talk about what a wonderful time we had. The price hikes are unfortunate, but they would not stop me from making another visit. It was an experience unlike any other as far as family vacations are concerned.
I guess I am Disney spoiled. I had been to WDW several times as a child, teen and young adult. I married and “shared” my love of Disney with my new spouse and we even honeymooned in WDW. We lived West coast a few years and did Disneyland with our first child and then back to WDW. We have probably been every other year the last decade. As much as we love it…we leave EVERY time thinking about how they find new ways to gouge people. Remember when we 30 somethings would weekend at the beach with family…and I mean extended family….in ONE room. Disney forces larger families to purchase TWO rooms. They advertise a family of four can vacation all week for less than $1600.00, yet if you times that by two which should accommodate a family of eight (we have six)how come it is NEVER only $3200.00? Why have they always had three and under for no charge and now they charge for a toddler rate? How come they have always sold the dining package with an appetizer and gratuity and they almost secretly removed those two features as of this year yet raised the price (AGAIN)..therefore people like us who have come every couple years and paid for one thing now are cheated thinknig it is still the same deal…we are going next month and that little surprise is going to cost us several hundred more dollars we did not count on and you guessed it, becasue we are a party of six, they AUTOMATICALLY add 18%! This time around it is easily going to cost us $7000…they make everything almost impossible to do with your family anymore. There used to be a reward system for frequent goers…a club you could get thru your employer that was a GREAT deal and incentive…then you had to pay to be a member of that “club” than they just did away with it completely! Until people stop going altogether (and with THIS economy I do not think that is such a stretch)Disney will continue to not care about their “guests” being offered a viable vacation option and only care about $$$$$$$$. It is sad. They should be ashamed…if not their prices then their sneaky and underhanded ways of tricking people into spending money they clearly were not expecting to..it would be like paying more for your park ticket but being blocked from all the good rides! At $7000, we will no longer be going every couple years and maybe never again.
I realize that Disney World has so much to offer but enough is enough! You can only do so much in a day and you have to ask yourself how much that day is really worth, in my opinion not $75. I just went to Williamsburg, Va which I realize is not Disney but my ticket was $90. and it is good for the whole year. You’d have to do alot of walking, get on alot of rides, go into alot of attractions. You have to ask yourself how much area you could truly cover in a day.
I am tired of people whining about the price for a day at a Disney park. The single price not only gets you into the theme park for an entire day, it also includes admission to a variety of shows. $75 a day is NOTHING compared to the prices of decent seats at a sporting event, concert, or stage production that at best lasts only 3 or 4 hours. People just like to rag on Disney because they have been raised to be suspicious and negative of corporations. People, Corporations making money is a GOOD thing. They provide jobs. Disney provides QUALITY entertainment on a wholesome level. You are not going to get wholesome at a concert or sports event anymore. Quit whining.
BTW, it is writers like Henthorn that help contribute to the myth that these prices are too much. She actually started the cry-fest with the way she wrote the article. When was the last time she wrote an article about the raising of prices of her Horse Racing newspaper? She contributes to the malaise this country feels more than Disney. Hey, if you don’t like the price, go somewhere else. Disney Parks create a demand. The parks can only take so many guests. So to keep it under control, they raise the price. Keeps the riff raff out.
My husband and I buy tickets to sea world, knotts berry farm, universal studios , and still pay under the price of disney land
I paid $2,100 for the 1 year passes for my whole family and really used them things up, even after going there my entire life.
Before the passes each vacation at Disney just got worse from food to locker rentals and the arguing over the prices.
The one year passes made it bearable as well as we live 45 minutes from the park.
As far as entertainment value the place sucks unless you’re a Disney World virgin. My kids even got sick of all 4 parks.
When it came time to renew the passes they offered a measly $35.00 of the RAISED annual pass price. I asked them for a yearlong fass pass for my family to ease the line burden and I would have renewed but they said that was impossible. My response was that I will NEVER step foot on Disney property again under my money. I don’t even shop in Disney stores of which they don’t even own.
If you do any research on those passes the discounts are extremely hidden and unfair. Try and use the food discounts in the park and see how far you get. I tried it in Epcot and even the Mangers didn’t know about the discount and/or the discount was available only on certain days.
If you want merchandise discounts they were only available in downtown Disney.
They even changed the chicken strip meals which were the best value to chicken nuggets, raised the price and gave you less.
Disney world is a nickel and dime corporation and give you absolutely NO NEW VALUE to the experience other than long lines and high prices. Even their movies repeat the same story line.
Stay in their hotel and figure that scheme out, the direction you are facing determines whether its $300 or $400 a night rooms, not size or comfort because all the rooms are the same exact size and layout. You can argue with the hotel manager and they will only say, Well SIR, they are ONLY $400.00 rooms like it’s no big freakin deal! After roaming 35 miles on foot all day as well as standing in line for hours on end I give a crap what the manmade lake looks like off my balcony, I care less about the view and it aint worth an extra $100.00 and you don’t get included breakfast like you do with a regualr Hilton or Mariott for FAR LESS CHEAPER than you do on Disney property. Has insanity left the property or something? Must be a Disney thing because Goofy is in the freaking White House as we speak. These people have a complete disconnect with the real world.
Nickel and Dime along with greed = Disney in my opinion.
K. Preston
I wanted to say something in my last comment I forgot.
There was one good memorable moment and that was when I took my daughter diving in the Dive Quest tank which was formally known as the Living Seas in Epcot and is some Nemo thing.
It was something completely unexpected and different from anything Disney and I think that is why it is successful.
They also need to bring back Dreamfinder and Figment, that’s the characters I loved from Epcot.
Anyway, I suspect that requesting CEO Robert Iger give up part of that 27 million a year salary in order to lower ticket prices to something reasonable is futile but I thought I would give it a try.
I thought Michael Eisner was making way too much but come on!
Do people actually believe a single man is worth that much while the people who actually do the working get minimal wage, no benefits and a product that is waaaaaaaay over priced?
Can we say recession, greed, bankrupt America, bailouts, and did I mention greed already?
KP
Remember, Disney does not want you to visit Florida, just DWD. Your best deals are given when you stay in the park at off peak periods. What frustates me is that dealing directly with Disney Travel usually ends up costing you more.
Not only has there been price incresses, but the employees do not seem as happy.
I think they should start giving internet specials, like Universal Studios.
Still, we keep getting drawn back year after year. I love the Magic Kingdom at night.
I don’t have an economics or business degree and I’m not a rocket scientist. Even I can figure out why Disney is losing revenue in their theme parks. When the world economy is sluggish, people are not going to pay $10000 for a once in a lifetime vacation. When a one day trip would cost my family of 5, with a free 2 year old, our entire grocery budget for a month. So use some logic and lower prices in every way. The bad food, the gate prices, the parking fees. Bring in more people because they don’t feel they are going to break the bank by visiting.
We were recently blessed with free admission from Disney employees whose son worked with my husband. Our 3 young daughters love the Princesses as well as Mickey. Even with free admission, we still spent a fortune.
The food was lousy. Not what I would consider up to par for Disney. The “kids meal” with its mushy nuggets, prepackaged rotten baby carrots and even grosser grapes. Remember we have 3 kids-so it wasn’t just one bad bag, they were all bad. Our adult meals were just as bad. McDonald’s is gourmet compared to the food we had. Most of the refreshment carts are closed, so you have to find a restaurant to get a drink. It’s Florida and 95 degrees.
I started looking around and noticed paint peeling everywhere and things generally not as pristine as it used to be.
Where is Mickey? What does every child under 10 want to see when they come to Disney? He’s hiding in Toontown with a mile long line, for the few hours each day he is there.
I’ve lived in Florida since 1983, when a 3 day pass cost $78. It has not gotten better with age. There is no reason for locals to come time and again. You take your kids when they’re little and you think, “this is not as great as I remember.” Then you don’t go back.
I love Walt Disney World, but the sky rocketing ticket prices are too much! Until last year, I averaged 3-4 weeks of vacation a year at Disney World- even got married there. But this year I have spent 2 weeks so far in Orlando, and only 3 days at Disney for the main reason I am not paying the outrageous prices! People should be more vocal toward Disney in protest!