Disney World becomes unaffordable for the average American family

[anatta]

A family of four from New Jersey reached out to FOX News Digital after taking a recent trip to Disney World, saying they had sticker shock over what they spent on their visit and noticed changes at the park from times past.

Gone is the Magical Express that previously served as a courtesy shuttle, so the family shelled out $200 for private transportation to get to and from the airport.

Park hopper tickets cost $2,550 for the five days they attended. Their four nights of lodging inside the resort cost $3,780 for the parents and two kids.

Once inside the park, they spent $300 on Genie plus passes for their entire trip to skip lines in order to avoid spending all their time waiting for rides. The parents said they paid $950 on sit-down meals and another $700 or so for snacks and souvenirs. All told, the cost of the visit rounded out to $8,480, and airfare pushed the price of their vacation upwards of $10,000.

"I feel like Disney is pricing people out, can the average working American family really afford this?" the mother said in remarks to FOX Business. "I've been coming to Disney since I was six years old. I'm 39 now. My kids thought Disney was magical and so for me the cost was worth it, but I see that it's not the same Disney it was."

[anatta]

isney has not publicly, but very apparently privately made the decision that it wants to court guests that spend more per day than guests used to spend," Cochran told FOX Business. "In order to do that, it's done a number of things both to maximize the profit that it's making on a day-to-day basis and also to increase the prices of access for guests."

Disney World raises its prices nearly every year far beyond the rate of inflation, he says, so that isn't new. In fact, the price for visiting the park for just one or two days has not changed from last year, but rates have gone up on most other options, according to Cochran. For instance, the price of multi-day tickets for four days now starts at $447.70, up from $434.83, and can go as high as $596.74 on busy days.

In addition to doing away with the free airport shuttle, the park got rid of parking trams at all its Orlando parks except the Magic Kingdom. Speaking of parking, that is no longer free at resort hotels, and will set visitors back $15 to $25 per night. For those not staying at Disney, a parking pass for the day starts at $25 per day and goes up to $50 for a premium spot.
Disney has scaled back its entertainment. Cochran says the company has not brought back many of the 32,000 employees it let go during the pandemic, and has instead eliminated positions.
disney
Walt Disney World Resort has high ratings on Tripadvisor, with 4.5 out of 5 stars from 33,750 reviews. But several of the recent reviews were also peppered with similar complaints, with folks expressing frustration over the requirement to make reservations in the park ahead of time, the cost of $5 water and absence of refillable park cups, and long wait times.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyl...merican-family

[Concart]

Don't worry. I understand a telephone saleman can afford those cheap amusement parks on international drive. And motel 6 has a options there as well.

[anatta]

Don't worry. I understand a telephone saleman can afford those cheap amusement parks on international drive. And motel 6 has a options there as well.

worthless ad hom.

Disney has sold out. the worse part is not hiring back workers

[Cypress]

worthless ad hom.

Disney has sold out. the worse part is not hiring back workers

I thought Trump ass kissers were supposedly in favor of capitalism. I have been a annual pass holder at Disneyland for most of the 21st century. No matter how much they raise prices, the park is packed. People come from all over the world to visit.

Frankly, if they made passes cheap, demand would totally overwhelm supply, and they wouldn't even be able to pack people into the park like sardines.

That's capitalism, is it not?

[zymurgy]

I thought Trump ass kissers were supposedly in favor of capitalism. I have been a annual pass holder at Disneyland for most of the 21st century. No matter how much they raise prices, the park is packed. People come from all over the world to visit.

Frankly, if they made passes cheap, demand would totally overwhelm supply, and they wouldn't even be able to pack people into the park like sardines.

That's capitalism, is it not?

Disney lobbied for reform and secured the passage of the Copyright Act of 1976. This allowed ownership of works by corporations for 75 years.

they have long used their wealth to be anticompetitive - so no - they are not for capitalism - they are for corporatism

[Cypress]

Disney lobbied for reform and secured the passage of the Copyright Act of 1976. This allowed ownership of works by corporations for 75 years.

they have long used their wealth to be anticompetitive - so no - they are not for capitalism - they are for corporatism

You are obviously unaware of all theme parks in southern California Disney competes against.

If you have suddenly become a socialist and want Disney operated in the public interest, just lobby your Republican Representatives to make the party more socialist

[anatta]

I thought Trump ass kissers were supposedly in favor of capitalism. I have been a annual pass holder at Disneyland for most of the 21st century. No matter how much they raise prices, the park is packed. People come from all over the world to visit.

Frankly, if they made passes cheap, demand would totally overwhelm supply, and they wouldn't even be able to pack people into the park like sardines.

That's capitalism, is it not?

no. they limit the sale of tickets and require a "reseravtion" as well to keep the overcrowding
But you put your finger on it.
American families are being priced out and richer foreigners are taking their place
That's all the OP said, and was intended..
There is a general loathing around here for Diz even though a lot work there.

[Mina]

no. they limit the sale of tickets and require a "reseravtion" as well to keep the overcrowding
But you put your finger on it.
American families are being priced out and richer foreigners are taking their place
That's all the OP said, and was intended..
There is a general loathing around here for Diz even though a lot work there.

I suspect the foreign visitors aren't the driving consideration. The last I saw, something like four out of five Disney visitors are Americans, not foreigners.

What may be driving a change is the tendency for median incomes to stratify across the US. Liberal states like Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, and California have long been richer than conservative states, but they've actually been pulling farther away from the pack in recent years. Where they've had median incomes grow at an annualized pace of 3.5-4%, most conservative states are in the 2%-3% range. And, meanwhile, the liberal states also tend to have smaller families, so it's easier to afford to take the family somewhere. As such, it could be that people from these rich-and-getting-richer states are just pricing out people from other places. To maximize profits, Disney wants to charge as much as it can get per ticket, and the ability to pay is just hugely different in some parts of the country.

Even those state-by-state numbers understate the differences you see locally, particularly between urban/suburban areas and rural ones. There are a lot of counties where a median household earns far over $100k/year -- mostly near big cities in blue states. Meanwhile, out in rural counties in red states, it's not uncommon to have median household incomes well under $30k/year. The difference between, say, Wheeler County, Georgia, and Loudoun County, Virginia, is something like $120k per year.

[Cypress]

no. they limit the sale of tickets and require a "reseravtion" as well to keep the overcrowding
But you put your finger on it.
American families are being priced out and richer foreigners are taking their place
That's all the OP said, and was intended..
There is a general loathing around here for Diz even though a lot work there.

So you are against capitalism and want Disney World to be run in the public interest.

[zymurgy]

article seems to ignore price and demand - and is about entitlement

the price includes them having to skip the lines - ok. how is any business supposed to be able to serve all "average Americans" with no lines? break that down for me.

they are snowflakes that need to have luxury accommodation such as no lines - but want it to be cheap. hahaha.

the problem with Disney - is it is not expensive enough. too many people want to come - so the crowd and traffic is out of control. thin the herd with higher prices and I might come back

[anatta]

article seems to ignore price and demand - and is about entitlement

the price includes them having to skip the lines - ok. how is any business supposed to be able to serve all "average Americans" with no lines? break that down for me.

they are snowflakes that need to have luxury accommodation such as no lines - but want it to be cheap. hahaha.

the problem with Disney - is it is not expensive enough. too many people want to come - so the crowd and traffic is out of control. thin the herd with higher prices and I might come back

the lines are not efficient. they can do the same thing with aps.
The bypass used to be free -now they charge for it.. see link

[zymurgy]

the lines are not efficient.

correct - people can't spend money while in lines

they can do the same thing with aps.

irrelevant. a ride can only serve so many people at a time. they bitch about the cost - but bought the skip the line ticket - meaning they are not wanting to be treated as average families - but as a boujee family

The bypass used to be free -now they charge for it.. see link

and as I said, the problem with Disney is not expensive enough. They know it - they bought the skip the line ticket because they know how popular the park is. Demand is too high - increase prices to lower demand.

[anatta]

irrelevant. a ride can only serve so many people at a time. they bitch about the cost - but bought the skip the line ticket - meaning they are not wanting to be treated as average families - but as a boujee family

everyone buys it. you are spending at least a grand a day - do you want to wait in a line?
It's just another money grab by the Mouse - it used to be free

and as I said, the problem with Disney is not expensive enough. They know it - they bought the skip the line ticket because they know how popular the park is. Demand is too high - increase prices to lower demand.

it's gouging customers. some put up with it for the kids, some dont
foreign visitors come in and fill the shoes.
hence the OP title

[zymurgy]

everyone buys it. you are spending at least a grand a day - do you want to wait in a line?
It's just another money grab by the Mouse - it used to be free

so you just like socialism?

the company needs to ignore economic law - and charge a low sum - even though it is obvious people are willing to pay a much higher sum - because why? so you can have tea with a princess like an "Average family"?

get the fuck out of here with your retarded bullshit