Continued raising of prices with Disney, anyone thinking about selling out of the DVC more?

[TiggerBouncy]

TBH if someone had not pointed it out to me, I wouldn't have even noticed. I mean a few snacks went up 30 cents. Disney is not the only company in the world that adjusts for inflation. I would be shocked if the price of snacks DIDN'T rise.



Personally, I may have one pretzel (MAYBE). I don't drink beer and I shockingly have never had a churro. My usual Disney snack is a pickle. The 30 cents extra I am paying on my vacation compared to the $250 meal is NOTHING.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Overall, I still feel WDW actually provides excellent value. You have to go in understanding that a WDW vacation is a luxury vacation. It is not in the same category as a weekend trip to a friends cottage, camping 2 hours from home, or visiting a friend in another city. It is more in the category of travelling for a week to a large US city, going on a cruise, or going to an all inclusive resort. If you look at it in those terms, the prices are reasonable for what you get.

Airfare: No more expensive than travelling elsewhere. In fact, MCO I've always found to have some of the cheapest flights around.

Hotel: Even without DVC, you can literally stay on property for $150ish a night in a value resort. This includes free airport transportation, luggage service, and free transportation throughout your vacation as long as you stay on property. While the hotels aren't deluxe level, its pretty hard to beat that price for the quality of hotel in most places in the US.

Food: Yes, in general, food at WDW is more expensive than you would find in most places. But that can be expected. You don't go to a concert, sporting event, or even a movie theater and expect a good deal on food. However, food at Disney isn't that bad. The quick service in general is wayyyyy better quality food than you can expect from your average fast food joint. So while maybe you spend a few extra bucks per meal, your ratio of quick service to table service can be much higher than a typical vacation without going crazy and feeling sick. I actually think I spend less on food at WDW because of this.

Entertainment: Yes, tickets at WDW are expensive, but if you travel for 7 to 10 days, the tickets become a lot more reasonable per day. If you travel elsewhere, your still going to have to pay for entertainment. Those museums, and entrance tickets to attractions still cost. Do a couple of things per day on a vacation and your likely spending atleast $30-40 per person. A 7 day one park ticket is about $70 per day. If you go 10 days, its goes down to $45-50 pe day.

Estimate of Total Cost for Family of 4 for 7 days

Airfare: 300 * 4 = 1,200
Hotel: 150 * 7 = 1,050
Food: 50 * 7 * 4 = 1,400 (5 = breakfast in room, 15 = lunch, 15 = dinner, 15 = avg for snacks, drinks, upgrades to a few table service, etc...)
Park Tickets = 500 * 4 = 2,000

Total = 5,650/4 = $1,412 per person. It's a pretty average all included price for vacations in these categories. Of course, it only goes up from there if you start adding things on like more deluxe hotels, special events, merchandise, more table service, booze, etc....

Wish we could get that rate for air! And which hotels are $150 a night? If it is a value, very hard to fit four people unless you have small children. I also think it would be hard to spend so little on food, especially without a kitchen. Also, what you are describing is not a luxury vacation: 4 people shoved into a room at all star surviving on prepackaged snacks all week.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Wish we could get that rate for air! And which hotels are $150 a night? If it is a value, very hard to fit four people unless you have small children.

Your not finding many hotels outside of Orlando that can fit 4 people any more easily into them for that price. Especially when you factor in that you would have to pay for transportation to the hotel from airport & transportation around town.

I also think it would be hard to spend so little on food, especially without a kitchen.

I've never had a kitchen before, and we average around $45 USD per day per person. We eat breakfast in the room. Usually something small like a bowl of cereal or some fruit. We'll eat 4 to 5 table service meals per trip over 10 days. Our last trip for example included Boma, Tusker House, Sci Fi, Ohana, and Trails End. The rest are QS which don't average more than $15 per. Maybe a couple snacks here and there, and we're not big drinkers.
[/quote]

Also, what you are describing is not a luxury vacation: 4 people shoved into a room at all star surviving on prepackaged snacks all week.

Maybe luxury is the wrong word. But as per the top of my post, this is more in the category of travelling to a large US city, cruise, all inclusive, etc.... I wouldn't consider shoving 4 people into a cruise cabin, or going to a $1400/week all inclusive in the Caribbean to be any more luxurious than a WDW vacation. Keep in mind, for that price, your also getting the entertainment of the parks. Good luck finding a nicer resort than the allstars somewhere reasonably located (where you don't need a rental car) in any major city in the US for under $150/nt.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

When I go on vacation I don't want to cook,clean,make a bed, clean a toilet or do a darn thing but have fun. If you have to cook and clean ...heck just stay home.

I agree that I don't want to cook while on vacation but not everyone feels that way. Some enjoy cooking while on vacation. We make a pot of coffee in the morning and usually have a light breakfast that doesn't require any extensive cooking/cleanup or we might heat up leftovers from the day before. If we decide to go out for breakfast we have that option, that is the beauty of DVC you can do what works best for you.

Cleaning toilets? I don't think anybody does that, not sure where you're getting your information from if this is what you think happens. As far as making the bed that is up to each of us not a requirement on the part of DVC. I personally like a made bed, I don't like to get into a messy bed at the end of the day so I choose to make my bed in the morning. This also makes the bedroom or bed in studio look nice and neat, just my personal preference.

Cleaning? I don't consider what I do as cleaning, I pickup after myself, put the dishes away that we have used, washout the coffee pot. Nothing big just things that make our unit presentable which is how I want it. Not everybody may want their unit neat and tidy, that is up to each one of us.

We have been owners for almost 20 years, we bought when we were empty nesters, my DH and I have gone on many trips with just the two of us and they have all been very enjoyable. We have also been able to bring family and friends, it so nice to be able to share the magic of Disney with others. I still think of adding more points not selling them. I guess I'm just a diehard Disney fan.

 

[peabody58]

We're happily retired. We have enough AP vouchers and NE+ tics to last through 2025. We don't eat much and our alcohol intact is way down these days. We always drive and make a grocery run. We have all the souvenirs we need. So overall our costs are pretty much under control. After the tics are all used up, we'll reevaluate; but for now, no to selling our DVC.

 

[Pyotr]

The price increases do not effect me too much. Yes, food and park tickets are expensive, but everything is expensive these days.

Have you been to a movie lately? My family of 5 will easily cost me $130 a $150 for two hours of entertainment when including tickets and food.

We all spend our money differently. Some people enjoy nice cars and expensive homes. My family happens to love Disney.

 

[chalee94]

As long as the quality is there, I can still deal with the costs.

I took this year off from the WDW parks and went to Kauai instead, so Disney is definitely not the most expensive option I have seen. (But preferences differ.)

 

[cedricandsophie]

We go to aulani once a year, Vero beach every year and for two weeks at WDW in March. All with points. We have over 1300. We just sold two contracts each for 150 points at wilderness and animal k8ngdom and bought a 220 extendedcontract at OKW because we decided that’s really our favorite. While I don’t like the fact ticket prices increase, we might go for one day while at WDW and hit three resorts in a long day. So it doesn’t impact us that much, we get TIW and time it so that
We can use it for two trips to WDW in March. We definitely get our money’s worth with food and alcohol. We occasionally go in December so we can go to the Christmas party at MK but I always feel like that ticket is a real bargain.

We do at least one DCL Cruise a year and We never use our points for cruises because the value for the points seems greatly reduced.

We are in our 70s and once we are gone our kids will inherit our points for whatever years are left.

 

[nono]

Bought in 2002 - added on several times...sold some after the kids graduated college and were all working....biggest regret of my life! Now I'm thinking about buying more to accommodate the in laws and grandkids!!! In a few years they'll all be over 3 and will count towards occupancy!!! Where to buy....where to buy....where to buy....To have my whole family all together for at least several days is a dream come true!

Cautionary tale! I did sell 1 contract back when we were building our business (8 yrs ago). Glad I did, but glad we have 2 left!

It is interesting trying to balance everything over the years as you life changes. We should all be grateful that our timeshares are worth $$ when we decide to sell.

 

[crisi]

I just spent a week in London for less than it would cost me to spend a week in Disney. Airfare was more expensive - though not by much, the hotel was less than I pay in dues, food was cheaper and many of the things I saw were free - and even the places I paid admission weren't expensive. And that's London - which isn't a cheap city.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We live small with no debt and enjoy being at home or taking day trips around our beautiful state - New Hampshire. We take a long weekend or two in either VT or ME but otherwise WDW is our "big" vacation nearly every year now that our son is educated and married. We are all forced to make financial decisions daily - do I make coffee or go to Dunks, bring lunch or get take out... We know people that have "no money" yet eat out every day, have a big cable plan, big cell plan, etc, etc...spending more money a year than we spend on all things Disney!

We've been DVC since 1996. I think it is totally unrealistic to think prices (on anything for that matter) won't rise. Vacationing is something you do if you can afford it. It's not worth it if you have to worry about every dollar you spend. I save diligently all year long so when vacation comes it's basically paid for. DVC is a keeper for us!

 

[robinb]

I guess I'm the only one. We've owned for over 20 years. The combination of the price increases for park passes and food that outstrip inflation and DVC's games with creating two levels of owners ("Blue Card" and "Resale") have really annoyed me. We are going to WDW in less than a week and that will be the last trip in a while. I won't sell just yet, but I will probably rent a lot of my points in the next year. I've felt that Disney is really not all that into me for a while.

 

[tellemarie]

I’ve been a life-long Disney fan and wanted to join DVC many years before we did, but we’ve sold two of our three contracts at this point. It’s not only due to the increase in tickets/food/etc but also the decline in service we’ve experienced and the decline in the parks themselves (in our opinion). I’d be more than willing to continually pay more for an above average/luxury experience (and I highly support raising the minimum wage for CMs) but that is not even close to what we’ve experienced in the last few years of trips. We were generally going twice a year but our next trip won’t be until may of next year, and I’m even considering switching that. We’ve had some very bad times with some CMs, not great food, villa stays, etc. The quality is not there as much as it has been in the past, to say nothing of what the parks are becoming. It’s sad, because we’ve invested so much time in Disney, but I’m just trying to see it as a reason to branch out (though my anxiety doesn’t like that idea too much )!
I am glad to see that so many people still feel the value of a Disney trip though!

 

[pineapplepalms]

Nope, we are in it for the long haul. We just bought DVC less than 2 years ago and have already added on several times. We have a good amount of points and we are using every last one with trips to WDW, DLR, and Aulani, on our own as well as with friends/family. We still very much enjoy our Disney trips and personally I haven't had bad experiences that would make me stay away. We have young kids so we're looking forward to many fun years with them going to Disney. The price hikes don't impact us too much. We use credit card rewards points plus the Southwest companion pass for our plane tickets, DVC for our room, annual passes for our tickets, eat some meals in the room (mainly breakfasts) with grocery delivery and the kitchen, and typically get TIW for TS meals. Are there cheaper vacations? Sure, but they are different vacations and we'll be doing those too. We also live in a high cost of living area, so I don't find the prices at Disney to be quite that shocking.

 

[craigkerstiens]

We haven't thought about it, but have noticed the increases. We've actually picked up another contract recently as quite the contrary. The thing to watch is the resale price. If you can continue afford going great, if you can't and want to rethink things that is totally fair. But that our contracts have gone up in value since we bought them, we'll actually make some money if we do eventually sell them back. We're not in a rush for that at all, and if prices on resale start to drop we may actually think it through a little further.

 

[nono]

I guess I'm the only one. We've owned for over 20 years. The combination of the price increases for park passes and food that outstrip inflation and DVC's games with creating two levels of owners ("Blue Card" and "Resale") have really annoyed me. We are going to WDW in less than a week and that will be the last trip in a while. I won't sell just yet, but I will probably rent a lot of my points in the next year. I've felt that Disney is really not all that into me for a while.

Not really...I think all your points are valid, esp. the rate of inflation in prices v. value received. I've been going to WDW since 1976, and owned DVC for 15 years. I honestly don't remember exactly when the last time was that I was in a WDW park. We did SeaWorld last year. Year before that, it was DL. Going to TDL later this year. Why? Because I was over WDW. Separate from that though, I still see my remaining contracts as having value, so I hold onto them. And, since I can't even remember exactly when my last WDW trip was, I guess in another year or so, I'll be heading back. Kinda like an ex I can now spend time with.

 

[Brancaneve]

Yes, yes! Your question is one that I can easily answer. We have two contracts and just sold one. The decision to sell came soon after our trip to WDW earlier this year in June. Our family of four had a good time but we were astonished by our $2000 in passes, the cost of the meals(which were ok) and the airfare. We live in California and noticed that some of our friends were flying to Europe for what we paid to fly to Florida.

With Disneyland Resort being a 5 hour drive, and a manageable size, we decided that we would rather visit that park for the foreseeable future. We will of course, use our Aulani points to visit Hawaii, which we love!

Here's the thing.....we actually made money on our resale plus we are saving money in monthly dues. We used it for over ten years and truly enjoyed all of our trips. Now we are ready for the next chapter of our lives and new adventures!

 

[Katie2]

We go to aulani once a year, Vero beach every year and for two weeks at WDW in March. All with points. We have over 1300. We just sold two contracts each for 150 points at wilderness and animal k8ngdom and bought a 220 extendedcontract at OKW because we decided that’s really our favorite. While I don’t like the fact ticket prices increase, we might go for one day while at WDW and hit three resorts in a long day. So it doesn’t impact us that much, we get TIW and time it so that
We can use it for two trips to WDW in March. We definitely get our money’s worth with food and alcohol. We occasionally go in December so we can go to the Christmas party at MK but I always feel like that ticket is a real bargain.

We do at least one DCL Cruise a year and We never use our points for cruises because the value for the points seems greatly reduced.

We are in our 70s and once we are gone our kids will inherit our points for whatever years are left.

I want your life! Sounds amazing!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We have “ right sized” over the years. Still very much enjoy WDW. This is our happy place. That said, we don’t do the dining plan anymore, only visit the parks 1-2 days per trip, only visit once per year. Keeps everything “fresh” for us.

If there is an AP promo, will likely purchase that for the 50th anniversary. Then our visits will increase but only for that year.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

I think that some people may be experience WDW burnout. My husband isn't the Disney fan I am, that being said he once told me if you want me to start hating Disney make me go more then once a year. We normally only go once a year, last year we went twice because I wanted to see the Christmas decorations again but that isn't the norm for us.

As far as a decline in service I personally have not experienced that. My one bad experience that I can remember was with another visitor not a cast member, not Disney's fault and I'm not going to allow that one negative experience to sway how I feel about WDW. I'm sorry for those who have experienced poor service while at WDW.

Have prices gone up? Yes. Am I thrilled by that? No I'm not but everything has gone up in price since I bought my DVC. I think part of the reason for some of the recent increases is due to the amount of $ Disney is putting into all areas of the park. I hope all the improvements will be great and I for one don't want to miss out on the opportunity of seeing them firsthand. Just another reason for me to keep my DVC.