ckohl
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2020
Some of my favorite memories as a child are going to the theme parks in Orlando. I remember spending a number of spring breaks with family visiting Disney World, Universal, and Sea World. Due to my love of Orlando and the parks, I even did the Disney College Program. It taught me that I did not want to work on the front line at Disney forever, but it was great experience. My wife and I also honeymooned and spent our first anniversary at Disney World. The sad thing is that Disney World has changed a lot since I was a child. Even since my honeymoon five years ago, things are not the same to where I am certain we would have honeymooned somewhere else. Now that I have a family and want to share some of my love of theme parks and Orlando with my son, that is becoming a distant dream which only may be achieved once in my children's life.
I just looked it up and it costs $1,100 for my wife, my son (starting next year), and myself to visit Disney for 3 days. This does not include travel, hotel, parking and/or resort fees, and food. Add all of this together and we would be looking at about $1,000 a day to visit Disney World overall. The trip would cost probably a month's salary to attend a 4 night/3 day vacation. I know it is a magical place for families, but is it really worth it? Disney World has clearly priced out the average American family it seems. I want to share my love for Disney with my children, but my relationship with Disney has soured due to the current practices of the parks. Over the last decade, Disney World has increased costs, continues to add fine dining options, fancy dessert parties, and essentially any way to nickle and dime guests. Disney World appears to be catering to the couples without families who are obsessed with Disney these days.
That is the thing, as Disney World does all of this, the parks are more crowded than ever. Waits for rides are more than ever. It used to be that a couple popular rides would be an hour or two wait, but now more rides have long waits. Why spend $1,000 a day to wait in line and ride fewer rides than previously. It saddens me to say these things, but it is just getting too much. Disney's popularity continues to soar with more people wanting to visit regularly, purchase DVC rentals, come to the parks "Disney-bounded" in their favorite character apparel, and purchase anything Disney World they can get their hands on. I am not complaining about these people for their love since I am partially one of them. The feelings Disney World provides of escapism, joy, and family memories is extremely difficult to recreate. I will write more about how I had to cut down on my Disney addiction later, but for now I just wanted to express my current feelings.
The last thing that makes Disney World harder than ever to visit is all of the planning. Which other vacation do you have to decide where you will be eating dinner and make reservations 6 months in advance? Where else do you have to select which rides you would prefer to go on 2 months in advance? It has become an art in order to plan a Disney vacation. I remember when people asked where my wife and I would be honeymooning, they asked "why are you not going someplace relaxing?" It is true. In no way is a Disney World vacation relaxing anymore where you can just stroll the park and play it by ear as to what you will do. Waking up at 5:00am the day you can make your first dining reservations, it becomes an all out war to ensure that your family is able to do and eat what you hoped for.
Despite all of this, there is still a place in my heart for Disney World. Sadly that place is diminishing as Disney continues to make visiting the parks more expensive and complex. I understand everything with our world is going the same way, but I wish that Disney World would again think about serving families to allow them to visit the magic, instead of looking for another way to make a buck. Sadly, I am not sure once the train begins if it can be reversed. This is why I am looking for alternative options for my family to enjoy vacations and find some of those magical experiences at other theme parks. I will probably tackle the Disney World beast for my family once while they are young, but I do not think it will be a regular family vacation sadly.
I just looked it up and it costs $1,100 for my wife, my son (starting next year), and myself to visit Disney for 3 days. This does not include travel, hotel, parking and/or resort fees, and food. Add all of this together and we would be looking at about $1,000 a day to visit Disney World overall. The trip would cost probably a month's salary to attend a 4 night/3 day vacation. I know it is a magical place for families, but is it really worth it? Disney World has clearly priced out the average American family it seems. I want to share my love for Disney with my children, but my relationship with Disney has soured due to the current practices of the parks. Over the last decade, Disney World has increased costs, continues to add fine dining options, fancy dessert parties, and essentially any way to nickle and dime guests. Disney World appears to be catering to the couples without families who are obsessed with Disney these days.
That is the thing, as Disney World does all of this, the parks are more crowded than ever. Waits for rides are more than ever. It used to be that a couple popular rides would be an hour or two wait, but now more rides have long waits. Why spend $1,000 a day to wait in line and ride fewer rides than previously. It saddens me to say these things, but it is just getting too much. Disney's popularity continues to soar with more people wanting to visit regularly, purchase DVC rentals, come to the parks "Disney-bounded" in their favorite character apparel, and purchase anything Disney World they can get their hands on. I am not complaining about these people for their love since I am partially one of them. The feelings Disney World provides of escapism, joy, and family memories is extremely difficult to recreate. I will write more about how I had to cut down on my Disney addiction later, but for now I just wanted to express my current feelings.
The last thing that makes Disney World harder than ever to visit is all of the planning. Which other vacation do you have to decide where you will be eating dinner and make reservations 6 months in advance? Where else do you have to select which rides you would prefer to go on 2 months in advance? It has become an art in order to plan a Disney vacation. I remember when people asked where my wife and I would be honeymooning, they asked "why are you not going someplace relaxing?" It is true. In no way is a Disney World vacation relaxing anymore where you can just stroll the park and play it by ear as to what you will do. Waking up at 5:00am the day you can make your first dining reservations, it becomes an all out war to ensure that your family is able to do and eat what you hoped for.
Despite all of this, there is still a place in my heart for Disney World. Sadly that place is diminishing as Disney continues to make visiting the parks more expensive and complex. I understand everything with our world is going the same way, but I wish that Disney World would again think about serving families to allow them to visit the magic, instead of looking for another way to make a buck. Sadly, I am not sure once the train begins if it can be reversed. This is why I am looking for alternative options for my family to enjoy vacations and find some of those magical experiences at other theme parks. I will probably tackle the Disney World beast for my family once while they are young, but I do not think it will be a regular family vacation sadly.
