Fall 2019 Food Price Increases at Disney World
As of the start of Walt Disney World’s fiscal year, a number of snack prices increased. These include refillable mugs, pretzels, popcorn, churros, alcoholic beverages, and other items that are ubiquitous at generic snack kiosks and some counter service restaurants through the parks and resorts.
The majority of snacks haven’t increased in price at all. Most of those that did went up by around 25 cents, including beer. A small handful of alcoholic beverages went up by as much as $1, but there are incredibly limited numbers of these–at least, that we can verify (it’s entirely possible that more pricing changes are yet to be rolled out). The $1 increase on refillable mugs is probably the most noteworthy, and bumps those up for $20 per stay.
Perhaps we’ve just become numb to Walt Disney World price increases, but this one barely even registers for us. Part of the reason might be that it, literally, hardly registers. Outside of alcohol, it appears that only about a dozen unique items are impacted…
The bigger reason it barely registers is not because it’s relatively minor. Twenty-five cents isn’t much in isolation, but that amount every year on small-dollar snack items is a fairly big bump percentage-wise, and certainly adds up over time. Rather, the reason it’s not all that notable is because it’s totally avoidable.
Almost all of the items that have increased in price are sold at snack kiosks, and are generic items or pre-packaged foods. They’re the kind of impulse buys that guests are making out of convenience, or those on the Disney Dining Plan are using snack credits to grab (and the latter group is unaffected by this price increase).
Anyone reading Walt Disney World planning resources is likely aware of having groceries delivered to Walt Disney World resorts at a reasonable cost and can easily avoid this price increase by bringing their own snacks to the parks. Why not just do that? The items impacted are nothing special–no different than things you could buy at the grocery store or the Costco food court.
Nothing about Walt Disney World is “essential” or a “necessity,” but even on the spectrum of things that are significant or important to a WDW vacation, all of these items are all on the super low end. These aren’t iconic meals, snacks, desserts, or specialty beverages that only Disney does.
Part of the reason our response here is on the flippant side is because we view this as something that’s ultimately self-defeating for Disney. Sure, they’ll reap some short term revenue gains by charging a quarter more for ice cream or pretzels. However, these decisions also have long term ramifications that can far outweigh the immediate gain of that quarter.
The biggest consequence of this and every recent price hike will eventually be in terms of perception. We’ve mentioned this before in the past, but there’s a cumulative impact of these increases. Even if this is not borne out right away, they do take a toll on guests and change how people view Walt Disney World’s value proposition.
No one is going to cancel their vacation upon reading this news–or most stories about pricing, even ones that are more likely to have a bigger and more immediate impact. It’s more of a gradual annoyance about Walt Disney World nickel and diming guests that eventually changes behavior.
Right now, visitors wear “Most Expensive Day Ever” (among countless other designs) Etsy shirts half in jest, while still visiting Walt Disney World. They’re willing to laugh off the expensive nature of a Walt Disney World vacation right now as they are comfortable with their personal economic circumstances and the overall cost of the trip, even if grumbling about it.
However, there are two possible tipping points–one in terms of Disney’s pricing going too far, and the other with consumer confidence/sentiment declining. When either of those tipping points inevitably occurs, many people will have second thoughts about booking a Walt Disney World vacation.
I feel like a broken record about this, and our commentary in all of these price increases posts contains more or less the same economic analysis/predictions, so I’ll spare you all that…
On a relatively novel note, with this increase there’s the added wrinkle of the value proposition of the Disney Dining Plan improving. This has actually been the case for the last 3 years, as menu price increases have dramatically outpaced Disney Dining Plan price increases, which seems to have more or less reached its maximum per day “sticker shock” pricing.
Raising the prices on certain snacks improves the perception of the Disney Dining Plan, which could be what this is all about, rather than more direct revenue on individual items. (Whether it’s $19 or $20, how many people are actually paying out of pocket for a refillable mug?) This in turn could steer people towards the Disney Dining Plan, and lead to more purchases of that by people who do the math, or simply peruse online menus and are taken aback by high out of pocket snack and drink costs. From Disney’s perspective, this would be a win; locking guests into the Disney Dining Plan offers a variety of upsides. It’ll be interesting to see how guests react to this latest round of increases, and how, if at all, behavior is impacted.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of these and other recent price increases at Walt Disney World? No big deal for you, or a reason for concern as you plan where to take future vacations? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Think there will be long-term consequences for Disney resulting from its pricing trends the last few years? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
The tipping point for me was the price increases around Galaxy’s Edge – ticket prices, plus in park prices, plus really outrageous prices within Galaxy’s Edge. It actually soured me on the land before I even stepped foot in it. When I first visited Pandora, I had a sense of “wow, Disney built such an amazing experience for guests”. When I first visited Galaxy’s Edge, I had a sense of “wow, Disney built a place specifically to extra as much money from its guests as humanly possible”. It all feels like such a blatant cash grab to the point where I feel a little gross paying the prices they charge.
The cantina is the perfect example. What should be a cool, fun experience is inevitably brought down by how extreme the prices are. $13-15 for a mediocre beer? $45 for a souvenir glass? $85 for a beer flight? Those are crazy prices, which makes it harder to walk out of there for less than $60-100. It’s even worse when you compare it to other options on property. Baseline Tap has better beers in larger sizes for less money. Trader Sam’s sells its tiki glasses for less than the Oga’s ones (last round, I believe was $38). That makes it a naked cash grab by Disney – banking on people having a positive association with Star Wars and as a result being willing to pay more for less.
Disney jacks up prices to get into the park, and then jacks up prices on everything within the park, so you’re basically paying for the opportunity to pay even more to fully experience the parks. It guts me to think about families who can only just afford the tickets and hotel as it is. Once you get in the gates, you should be able to enjoy yourself without having to think about how incredibly expensive every single purchase is. A freakin’ Disney World churro (not even a good one like in Disneyland) is over $6 now! That’s insane.
Even worse, and I think this is more relevant and noticeable to regular/more frequent guests, they’re coupling all of this with a scaling back of “free” offerings within the park. The streemosphere, the little shows (e.g., Great Moments in History with the Muppets), etc. all gets pulled back despite the higher prices. For frequent guests who are more focused on atmosphere than getting on rides, Disney is removing that little something extra that has historically come with being in Disney.
So what they’ve created is a situation where you’re paying more for the opportunity to pay more and experience less. Sounds like a losing formula to me.
Wonder why Disney feels the need to keep raising prices/adding charges for things that used to be included/reducing entertainment, etc when in 2017 they had a PROFIT of 8.98 Billion and then jumped to a PROFIT of 12.6 Billion in 2018? Greed. These so-called little price increases obviously make a huge difference. In 2018, just Bob Iger alone was paid 65.6 million dollars – for 1 year of “work”!!! No wonder I’ve soured on Disney.
Amazing how expensive things are getting at Disney. It always was a bit pricey for my family of five but we loved it too much to give it up. Now I am only paying for two and the increases are way over cost-of-living increases and inflation. It frustrates me but I am sadly one of those Disney fanatics who would mortgage there house to go there. I just wish everyone else could afford to go. They also need to build a third US park to handle the crowds as the population has doubled since I was a kid.
Just to play devil’s advocate here (I’m not really disagreeing with the general consensus that Disney is way too expensive), I’ll pose a question.
In terms of perception, what’s worse for the Disney Parks brand, overcrowding or high prices? I still fall on the side of overcrowding. In recent years, I’ve heard pretty consistent complaints about crowd levels at Disney parks, and experienced them myself. Disney has essentially acknowledged that the best way to address overcrowding is to raise prices.
One could say Disney is in a tough position. I don’t feel sorry for the corporate behemoth for a second, but the reality is they have to strike a balance between alienating people on price and alienating people with overcrowding.
What would you rather experience, (1) a day at Disney that’s relatively affordable but fighting crowds at every turn, long lines for few rides, sitting on the sidewalk for two hours to reserve a prime parade/fireworks viewing spots or (2) a day at Disney that costs more than you really wanted to spend, but crowds are reasonable, lines are manageable, rides are plenty, and viewing spots are readily available 20 minutes before the parade? I’ll take option number (2). To me, overcrowding kills the experience a LOT more than high prices.
I just don’t see how Disney can charge reasonable prices and still offer visitors a quality experience in the parks if and until they add substantial capacity through new attractions, whole new parks, etc, etc. Ignore everything else and consider demographics. The U.S. has added over 100 million people since 1970. That alone should have predicted to anyone paying attention that Disney would eventually head in the direction of catering primarily to the upper middle and upper class. For my family that means we might visit the parks every 3 to 5 years after saving up, but we won’t be regular visitors.
In my opinion the “overcrowding” is overblown. I just don’t see it. We live in Florida and last time we went to see visiting family we hit Galaxy’s Edge, Pandora, and Peter Pan’s Flight because the rides were all walk ons. We don’t visit in the heat and we hit the parks almost exclusively on Sundays all through the year and we never have bad crowds. Occasionally we only get to do our fast passes and then we leave. But, we don’t even wait in long lines during Food & Wine. We are not paying top dollar to avoid the crowds either, we have local passes.
I feel like Disney plays the overcrowding card too often to justify price increases. Then when they price people out they freak out because it doesn’t make the stock holders happy. The stockholders want infinite growth and that’s not sustainable. Per guest spending is already at an all time high even though park attendance is way down. The longest line is at the outlet store. The brand loyalty won’t last another generation.
I suppose we might have a different idea of what constitutes overcrowding. In my case, I’m not a local to any park, so we don’t have the option of visiting for a few hours and leaving if/when things start to get busy. We pretty much try to maximize our time in the park. You’ve “never had bad crowds in the park”? I find that surprising. I’ve heard many a report of bad crowds here and elsewhere.
As far as crowds since Galaxy’s Edge has opened, I would suggest that the lower-than-expected crowds since opening actually demonstrates in part that raising prices DOES impact crowd levels. Reading 90% of the comments on this board makes it glaringly obvious that high prices will in fact impact people’s decision to go to Disney, which further supports the notion that pricing effects crowd levels.
I think Disney has definitely used prices to cut down on crowds, but perhaps has gone too far over the last year or so. Of course I agree that the #1 motivation is corporate profits.
Cameron,
I hear what you’re saying with the overcrowding, however, many people remember the crowd levels at the parks before they before they made payments available for annual passes. If people had to pay for their passes for an entire family at the time of purchase rather than payments, it would alleviate much of the congestion without gouging people. In my opinion, that is a weak attempt of Disney to justify the constant increases. Employees of Disneyland will openly say that it is the payment plans that are causing much of the crowds.
Disney is not raising prices to fix overcrowding. If they wanted to actually fix overcrowding, they would return to the operating hours they used to use. They once made plenty of a profit with longer park hours! Magic Kingdom used to be open until midnight or later! There used to be 2 showings of Fantasmic. Parks like Animal Kingdom weren’t closed early in the night just so they could sell upcharged Pandora “magic hours” to guests. There used to be less paid events, ie less Halloween parties, less Christmas parties, less ‘Villians’ parties that close the operating hours of the parks even more so. Do not give Disney so much credit – price hikes are for profits.
Also let’s not forget the nighttime Magic Kingdom parade they used to have. That kind of entertainment had the whole park lining up every night (and thus alleviating the lines for people who wanted to do rides instead). Less entertainment = longer ride lines. And Disney has been cutting entertainment at every corner for over a decade.
No disagreement that operating hours are a factor. I don’t think that by itself would solve overcrowding, but it would certainly help. Nor do I disagree that Disney wants to maximize profits. I’m not sure what I supposedly gave them “credit” for, but basic economics suggests higher prices will impact crowd levels. That actually was proven out on both coasts over the last few months. That’s not the only reason, but it’s certainly one of them. I do think overcrowding impacts profits because it alienates visitors. So do high prices, but if everyone could afford to attend, nobody would have a positive experience. Few of us like feeling like we’ve been stuffed into a can of sardines.
At the end of the day, Disney wants to appeal to people who have money to spend in the parks, and people who have money to spend aren’t going to visit if the parks are like a plague of locusts. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe Disney would be happy with sellout crowds at moderate prices every day, but I’m fairly confident they want something like moderate crowds at high prices. So yes, raising prices is one part of the strategy to achieve that.
We went in 2000 for the Millennium Celebration and had a truly unforgettable experience. We went last year and spent a fortune to stand in line waiting for rides and buses. I seldom felt special, magical or happy. As someone said, paying a lot more for a lot less is not a good business model. We won’t be returning anytime soon as I can get much better value for my vacation dollar at other venues.
We have AP and we’re local. We spend about $25 each trip mostly on snacks all put on a Target 5% off Disney gift card. We split meals and drink free water. It’s not that we wouldn’t spend more, it’s that the return on investment isn’t very good. We used to buy more.
Now we get all of our merch from the outlet. We resort hop but we don’t stay on property.
Compare this to other places we travel and Disney is really missing out. We went to Disneyland Paris, stayed on property and I spent over $100 on dinners twice. The food was amazing cheap wine was flowing and our hotel was priced for off season. I’m not cheap by any means but I expect to get value out of something I’m paying for.
I can say that I appreciate that WD wants to increase their stock value. But I for one and my children have seen a decline in the value of WDW as a place to vacation. We had been going to WDW a couple of times per year for a few days at a time. When I asked my kids if they wanted to go this year I got a NOT REALLY- when i ask why; they told me that the food wasn’t that good. the rooms were not comfortable or that clean and they were tired of waiting in long lines of over an hour for a 30 sec ride. My youngest even said that there xbox games were more fun than the star wars ride! I have a feeling the magic will not be attractive for the next generation and as these target customers of the future will not be as excited about visiting WDW. I think the low attendance at the latest Star wars ride should be a slap in the face on how well WDW is attracting younger customers.
Same here. My husband & I have a trip planned for Christmas & I offered both of our young adult children a free trip to join us, and was turned down! When I asked them why not, I was met with shrugs & it’s not worth it responses. And I raised my kids on Disney movies & that “once in a lifetime” dream trip when they were each 5 yrs old. They definitely don’t share my love of all things Disney.
We also agreed the Millennium Falcon ride was, well, in my Star Wars fan husbands words, lame. He was extremely disappointed that you can’t actually get on the Millennium Falcon & look around – that all you can do is look at it. Sitting there pushing a button was not exactly the experience he was hoping for. As our friends said, Disney really missed the mark with that one.
My issue with this can be summed up in one sentence – I continue to pay more and receive less at Disney. My husband is not a life long Disney fan like me and it is getting harder and harder to convince him that our annual family vacation should be at Disney when we could travel in luxury (and really receive fabulous service like Disney used to have) elsewhere. And don’t get me started on the price of food at Disney and the quality of the food changes over the past 5 – 7 years.
We’re in the same spot. We’re there annually but lately it seems that, when it comes to return on investment, Disney is starting to fall short for our family.
I couldn’t agree more, as much as it saddens me to say it! The drop off in the service, the quality of food & the offerings that we’ve witnessed the last 7 yrs or so is so noticeable that I can’t ignore it anymore. For us, that tipping point has hit. Between the big jump in annual pass prices, the declining quality in the food, the crowds, the entertainment cuts, the constant nickel & dining has taken its toll on us. We feel we’re getting so much less but being asked to pay more & more at every turn. My husband isn’t a lifelong Disney fan like me either. With every trip (we will have taken 6 trips this year) he points out where we could be going with that amt of $$. I’ve always defended Disney, but sadly I can no longer do that. We will be changing our dining/spending habits for our last two trips this year – Doing a lot more quick service/ splitting meals & only two table service dinners, instead of one every night. Needless to say we won’t be renewing our passes next year.
I think its easy for a company to look at the numbers & see how much money they are making on something, but difficult to gage how much money they are losing when people change their spending habits due (short sighted) decisions.
The constant nickel and diming, the rapid decline in service ( I always used to say Disney service is the best, which makes it worth the added cost) and the corporate attitude of next sucker up, has soured my opinion of WDW vacations. I am not renewing my AP, and have no plans on going to WDW after it expires on February 5th 2020. I have many great memories and will miss it but all good things come to an end. SeaWorld/Busch Gardens will be my go to now and I will have more time to explore the area outside of the parks.
I budget every aspect of my Disney trip for my family of 5. The food in Disney is becoming more difficult to afford. This year we are going for Christmas. We also went for Christmas last year. We bought the dining plan a few times when my kids were younger but not anymore. We utilize amazon prime for grocery delivery while staying at the resort. Since we drive I’m able to bring some items from my home kitchen for food prep in our room. I almost always prepare all breakfasts and lunches in our room. We tend to go out for dinner in Disney springs and we’ll maybe go to one character breakfast. Some resorts will even give you an extra fridge if you request one. We also bring a travel reverse osmosis filter and hook it up to the kitchenette sink in the room to eliminate any need to buy drinks in Disney. I know this wouldn’t work for most families visiting Disney but it’s the only way we can afford to vacation in Disney at the busiest times of the year.
I was at WDW at the beginning of August with my 19 year old. First trip for both of us. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and had park hopper tickets all through Costco. No dining plan. I was in Orlando for a conference so my flight was paid for and he flew in on Southwest points. We utilized Disney transport but also Lyfts in the mornings. Without car rental or airfare but including food the whole thing was about $3K. That’s a lot for two for six days. I loved the trip with my kid but I can’t say we’re ever going back.
We spent this years family vacation at Disney and after tallying up the expense I have to agree with those that mentioned Europe. I feel that Disney, while a fun experience, has just gotten to expensive. I can take my family of five to Spain, learn about a different culture, and spend two weeks there for what we spent on a week at Disney (and we were exhausted when we got home). I feel resentful towards Disney for making EVERYTHING so expensive. It really has changed my perception of the company in a negative way. As a child we pretty much only went to Disney World for family vacations and we loved it but my kids will not have that experience.
Using a soda analysis on the mug: it holds about 6oz. At $3.50 for a 20 oz bottle of soda (that tastes better than the fountain drinks at the food court) that mug holds $1.05 worth of soda. I doubt the average mug holder is filling it up 19 times during their trip! (And that $3.50 per bottle is the marked up price, at grocery store prices you have to fill up 40-50 times.)
I agree it’s the nickel and diming (not to mention the absolutely ridiculous new cost for an annual passholder pass) that has just sent me over the edge – and why I have booked our next vacation to Pigeon Forge, TN. As for the refillable mugs, they are NOT worth it. At Universal you purchase a mug for $16 and then they are discounted every day after that. The biggest difference, in my opinion, is that you can refill these mugs in the parks – not just the resorts like at Disney!!! What good does a refillable mug do anyone when it can only be refilled at resorts, when almost all of your time is spent at the parks (Disney)??? If I had a vacation to Disney already booked right now I wouldn’t cancel it, but I have certainly made the decision not to make another one. There are many, many other reasonably priced and fun places to visit instead of having to keep dealing with Disney’s greed!
We are Disney lovers but the prices combined with a 9 hour drive keeps our visits limited. PF however is only 3 hours away and we love Dollywood especially at Christmas. And it is much more affordable for a yearly pass with 20% discounts in park no matter what your state . Plus there are many other fun activities to enjoy. Hope you have a great time!
Pigeon Forge is amazing, and was a big part of my childhood since I live in Chattanooga, TN. If you go during Christmas-time, the lights are magical. But traffic has totally gotten worse.
If you’re driving through Chattanooga, TN, though, I highly recommend visiting the Tennessee Aquarium! It’s my most favorite place. =oP
We’ve converted to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, and have been five years in a row. Of course, Dollywood is no Disney, but it’s clean, fun, well-themed, and reasonable in price. We can get AP’s at Dollywood for our family for a year for the price of us all to go to Disney for a day. No doubt, we miss Disney for nostalgia purposes (I’m saying this as I’m listening to WDW background music!), but I can’t imagine going back until all our kids are grown because of the cost. And honestly, I resent Disney a bit for that.
Between gouging for parking, food and ticket price increases is it really worth giving these corporate greedy A holes anymore of our money?
I guess I look at planning for WDW differently than those posting before me. I always start with the most economical vacation I can plan and figure out what extra I want to splurge on. My husband and I were planning 1 trip there in 2020, but business is taking us to orlando for a Second time later in the year so we’re extending our trip and visiting a second time. It’s worth it to get an AP on our first trip (which I’ve already bought in September, in anticipation of 2020 price increases). Value resorts, DVC rentals or staying off property can all make for a less expensive trip (and more frequent visits) if you like to put a little effort into research – something I really love to do. It doesn’t have to cost $6-$7K for a family trip, but if that’s the sort of experience you want it certainly can.
They are pricing themselves out of vistors. We went a couple years ago, the first week of December. Did the Christmas party with tickets over $100 each for a sold out party that was over crowded. They didn’t make the people who didn’t have tickets leave so everyone stayed for the shows. Couldn’t see anything. Left. Never again. So do they fix the problems at the parties? No. They increase ticket prices. We pay a lot for these Disney vacations and they jack up everything. Several times a year they increase prices. Single middle class parents can’t do it.
until they actually start to see a hit on their bottom line, it will just continue. i’m not saying i agree, i don’t. i don’t like paying more. but the reality is they aren’t pricing themselves out of visitors. there are people who say they won’t go anymore, but then new people just take their place. disney doesn’t care who it is at the turnstile, just so it’s someone. the tipping point hasn’t been reached quite yet. maybe it’s getting close, the quarterly report last time around was underwhelming by their standards, and the hit-or-miss argument of SWGE. but people still come.
I agree! We went to the Christmas party last year and it was very crowded. The nickel and dimeing is out of control. We haven’t stayed on sight for our last 3 visits because of the cost.
We are so sick and tired of all the price gouging, and reductions in attractions, quality and service. We are taking fewer trips to Disney and minimizing our spending at the parks. We no longer stay at the resorts because they have become an extremely poor value. Disney resort stays now routinely come with problems that Disney expects guests to manage, (Unsuccessfully), on their vacation time.
Disney has become a media company. The theme parks now exist only to promote its media offerings.
Disney’s primary focus is on boosting the stock price at any cost. That cost frequently comes at the expense of theme park visitors who serve as convenient punching bags for quick for and ridiculous price increases.
Top level managers are running the Disney Parks brand into the ground in their pursuit of increasing the stock price at any cost. This is devastating to the Disney theme park experience and is definitely eroding its customer base. It is way past time for new company leadership.
Disney has always been a media company. The theme parks were always an extension of that. Disney parks are glorified shopping malls with rides. They are there to make money. Your happiness is fairly important because it brings the money. It is how we choose to spend our vacation time, but I’ve always been clear on that point. If people truly stop visiting they may take notice, but for many it is just a complaint and they don’t follow through by actually not visiting.
back in the day when the mugs were lifetime mugs and specific to each resort, i could see paying our of pocket for one, when you got to bring it back trip after trip. when that went away, at least for us, the cost of buying a mug was totally not worth it. getting it free with the dining plan, fine, but the trip we just took i think i used my mug all of 2 times in a week. for me it’s a souvenir to use at home with my morning tea versus something worth using while on the trip itself. unlimited refills sounds good on paper, but it’s rare to be at your resort all day long to take advantage. the two times a day i walk through are not times i’m drinking soda (breakfast and late night). art of animation had coffee/tea maker in the room, so i’m not walking to the food court to even get that (i can’t even remember if i used the mug in the room for that or if i went with the disposable cups on the run…). the mug is fine when it’s free on the dining plan, but not worth it to buy out of pocket, unless you can’t live without the mug design itself.
Exactly.
We used to buy the resort mugs frequently (even after lifetime refills went away), back when they were in the $10-13 range and the designs were still unique.
Thanks to the Disney Dining Plan, we’ve managed to collect a few of the newer (non-resort specific) designs, but haven’t bought one in a decade. There’s no way to justify the cost out of pocket–and hasn’t been for a while–with grocery delivery so easy.
i miss the resort and year specific mugs. they made an even better souvenir.
We were just there in Sept at Coronado on the “free” dining plan. First Coronado is huge with little personality and you have to walk miles to fill the cup. We used it maybe 3 times in 6 days. They also have done sneaky cost increases by making the moderates eligible for free counter service only when they used to offer table service. I definitely wouldn’t pay for the mug! It should be usable in the parks!
Every time a new mug pattern comes out that strikes my fancy, I buy it. Not so much to use during the trip, or because I think it’s cost effective (it’s not), but because I bring it home, where it gets used every day, all day, even when I’m in the car. The mug also gets used at the hotel because we have water, juice (and snacks) delivered. I’d never pay Disney prices for bottled water or soft drinks. We also take advantage of free ice water offered in the parks.
The definition of what’s cost effective at Disney is family specific and largely dependent on the style of vacation and the family wallet. We look for discounts. We stayed at Riverside in May, and in a few weeks will be at Pop Century (we’re coming for you Skyliner). We share meals and don’t eat a lot of junk food. Still, the constant price increases do dig into the budget. I don’t know what Disney’s bottom line looks like, but I do know what mine looks like, and I hope they don’t price me out of my favorite vacation destination.
We stopped buying them years ago. Now we just bring Lemonade/Ice Tea powder mixes and bring our own refillable blender bottles. They haven’t started charger for water/ice (yet) plus it’s better to drink water and mixes then soda all week. Plus you can take your bottle and powder mixes into the parks or anywhere with you and get water/ice free (for now). The only thing we buy is a coffee/tea cup and just re-use it all week on coffee/tea at the resorts.
At this rate though I don’t see going to Disney much more. They are just nickel and diming people out of the parks. Paying for parking at a resort with a giant empty parking lot is ridiculous. I could see them charging you $5 to print you a parking pass for the week but $10-$25/night … greedy.
the price increases, now matter how high or for what, are difficult. I agree w/ Steve, the price on the lightsabers is crazy. I would have loved to have done this for my daughter, but I’m not paying $200 for something that’s going to be in the back of her closet. Does Disney care? probably not. We are doing the deluxe dining plan, so our snacks are pretty much covered, so the price increase there won’t really affect us. but it’s all the little things that just add up to make it insane. We don’t go to Disney every year…. this is why. We have tried to go every 3 years, but this coming trip might be our last. When you start to get into $6K-7K, there’s other options…. like Europe! and frankly, if I’m going to spend that kind of money, I am going to Scotland, not Disney. I love all things Disney, but I kind of wish they’d ease up on the increases. It gives everyone an eye twitch while they’re trying to plan and save ! 🙂
OMG you sound like us. My kids are getting older and personally I’d rather take them to a real destination like Europe to teach them about other cultures and history.
You could spend 3 glorious weeks in Ireland for the price of one week at Disney.
Jill, totally agree!! I was looking into a Disney France trip and was prepared for a price heart attack, but was SHOCKED to see I could go to Disney France for less than what it cost us to go to Disney World from CA. That was with airfare to London sightseeing in England and then taking the train to France for the rest of our trip. My daughter just spent 3 weeks in Japan and with a 2000 budget lived like a Queen… including her airfare. Our father is getting older, so he wants to take a European family vacation before he is too old to make the trip. I have briefly started looking at options and again SHOCKED to see the price comparison to the trip we took to MK last summer. I was born and raised Disney and have had annual passes to CA for 17 years but I’m thinking we are going to move on to world travel if we are talking about the same kind of cash.
“because we view this as something that’s ultimately self-defeating for Disney. ”
I don’t know how you would perform this analysis, but I find this very interesting.
As a result of Disney’s prices for certain items (especially snacks & alcohol) we bring some stuff with us, and use grocery delivery for the rest. Disney has set the prices on these items to be (in my opinion) so unreasonable that we refuse to pay them. My wife & I will probably grab one alcoholic beverage in the parks, and then just drink what we bought from the grocer when we get back in the evening. Likewise on a pool day, we will buy maybe one “fun” drink from Disney…but the rest is what we brought.
You have to wonder if Disney is losing out on (potentially lots?) of revenue by pricing things so high. Sure, you are a captive audience at Disney…but not to the extent you are for a sporting event. It’s easy enough to still get the things you want at “real world” prices and not give Disney a dime for the items where they are extorting their customers.
If things were less expensive, maybe they would actually make more money because you’d be willing to pay a slight premium for total convenience?
Totally agree. What’s interesting here is that even some sports venues (which, as you point out, have the ultimate captive audience) have decreased prices on food & drinks because they’ve found that lower prices result in more purchases.
the atlanta falcons come to mind, they lowered food prices for that captive audience and found people spend even more, so in the end they are coming out ahead.
That’s a great point, I forgot about that.
Our local NFL team dropped prices on food and drink (not alcohol) last season among slumping attendance. For a family of four it made a huge difference, and definitely left me with a better feeling towards the overall experience.
I wonder what Disney’s strategy is for a recession. Whether it is this year, next year, or 5 years from now, one will happen, and one of the first items people cut is vacations when money gets tight. I have wondered if they plan on offering “unprecedented discounts” to roll back the nickel and dime-ing. “Stay 2 or more nights and get free parking!” “Combine free dining with a room discount!” “Get 30% off Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party with a 5-Day Park Hopper Ticket!” That way they can charge premium prices now and give the illusion of great deals later. Sandals resorts did this in the last recession. We got our honeymoon package at 55% off in 2010, and there is absolutely zero chance we will ever go back at non-discounted prices. Likewise, after our WDW trip this year that we mostly paid for before the recent price increases, we don’t plan on returning for several years.
My family does the same. We bring our own wine/beer for the room and may have an alcoholic beverage once a day (or less). We pack snacks (and sometimes a meal) into the park and make use of the popcorn buckets. Disney has priced us out of park snacks. When ice cream was $4.50 we purchased one a day. We didn’t purchase a single ice cream on our trip three weeks ago, it is just too expensive.
Warning: cynicism and open discussions of financial considerations ahead.
There comes a point where all but the upper fifth of American income earners are effectively priced out of an enjoyable Disney World vacation. If the assumption is “We can take our family of [three to five] to Disney World for a week comfortably with a budget of $6,000”, then those assumptions quickly crumble under the reality of pricing.
I’m guessing, and will emphasize this is my guess so I’m open to alternative thinking, that those in the 30th to 80th percentile in income would assume that $6k gets their family into 7 days at a Disney resort with park tickets, transportation and enough comfortably left over to eat decent meals and get some souvenirs. They then start doing their research by visiting a fine blog such as this one and discover the differences between resort tiers, and ticket pricing, and meal plans.
One of your kids mentions building a lightsaber… $200 for that experience? If the one kid wants it, the other two… uh oh.
The tickets with the Water Park is extra? Well, maybe we don’t need the Water Park, we’ll use the hotel pool. Our resort tier has a very boring pool area?
Dad would love to get away for a round of golf one afternoon… how much? Mom wants one romantic dinner with just the two parents. Signature Dining restaurant? Babysitting services?
Suddenly that $6k (not a small amount) doesn’t get you as much as you thought. Sure, you can still do Disney and enjoy it, but there are compromises that weren’t considered. Read an article like this about small price changes and it’s enough to make the hypothetical family in this scenario throw their arms up and say “Forget it, we’re driving to Winnipeg and visiting Aunt Edna. They gotta have some kind of indoor water park there.”
I’m wondering if all the effort in planning, and the ever-increasing costs, will limit the visitors to those who enjoyed it so much that they’re willing to do the work in figuring out how to tailor the vacation both economically and experience-wise to allow for multiple trips over a lifetime. Those in the “once in a lifetime while the kids are little” category just won’t be able or willing to do it anymore.
On a related note, it’s worth point out that the wealthy do the most belt-tightening when times are tough, economically.
This has happened with the most recent recessions/economic downturns, and has already started: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/28/the-rich-arent-spending-signaling-a-possible-recession-ahead.html