What will be your breaking point? Resort fees?

[Scifidiner]

I'm at my "bending" point, The resort parking fees just irked me. By bending I mean we'll go back but we're probably going to stay offsite. We can afford the "fee", for me it's the principle. Our next trip will be after GE opens, in '21 maybe. We go to WDW about every 2-3 years this is because we like to go other places, however the increasing costs are becoming more of a reason. As far as dogs at WDW, honestly I'd much rather be by a dog than some sweaty, fat, tatted up whining person any day.

 

[smiths02]

The bottom line cost relative to what I can afford, as always. I thought the parking fee would push onsite out of my budget for an upcoming trip, but WDW dropped AP rates at CBR and CSR significantly, making them more cost-effective, even with the parking fee added in, than my preferred offsite options. Other times of year, even before added parking fees, WDW was more expensive than my offsite options, so I went offsite. If an added resort fee pushed onsite out of my budget limits, than offsite it would be!

We can only adjust so much. We have decent incomes, but we are at $2k just for 6 day base tickets for our family of 5. Due to work and school, we can pretty much only travel during peak times.
I love Disney. I grew up with it. Personally, I'm not willing to cancel every trip somewhere else, eat Top Ramen, and not pay for my kids to go to college to afford Disney.

 

[BK2014]

If DVC annual dues start to increase at a faster rate. Other than that, we would change to resort-only trips if park tickets were out of our price range.

 

[Huff]

I used to have AP's for Disneyland year after year for my family. Through the mid 2000's an AP was $200-$300. We would go 1 or 2 times per month despite that we live 400 miles away. Then the AP price shot up to $730-$1000. I could no longer afford to buy AP's for my family. I have not been to DLR since 2012. Instead we've been going to WDW every 2 years. Even with airfare we get more bang for the buck because of various discounts offered. DLR discounts are weak. Now WDW is raising prices and fees and will soon prices us out there as well.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I'm at my "bending" point, The resort parking fees just irked me. By bending I mean we'll go back but we're probably going to stay offsite. We can afford the "fee", for me it's the principle. Our next trip will be after GE opens, in '21 maybe. We go to WDW about every 2-3 years this is because we like to go other places, however the increasing costs are becoming more of a reason. As far as dogs at WDW, honestly I'd much rather be by a dog than some sweaty, fat, tatted up whining person any day.

Same here.

 

[JerseyJanice]

What’s going to stop me from wanting to go to WDW is when I don’t feel like it’s worth it anymore, and what I mean by that is a drop in the quality of my experience.

Sadly, I won’t be back for the Food & Wine Festival. Between the parties shutting down the Magic Kingdom early for half my trip and the thimble sized wine samples of the few wines offered, this event is no longer worth it to me.

I’m trying a spring trip next week. I’ll see how the Flower and Garden Festival compares to F&W. If I’m happy with WDW this trip, I’ll be back in a year or two. If I’m not happy, IDK.

I’ve already bailed on Disney resorts. My last couple trips, we stayed in a suite at the Swan. I love it there. A month or two ago, I got an Email from Disney Destinations with a resort offer picked just for me—a stay at the All Star Sports! What did I do to deserve a hand-selected offer to stay in such luxurious surroundings?

 

[greg9x]

In the 'Already have' group.... Bought first annual passes last year with the intention of 1 big summer trip and maybe a small trip before. The small trip didn't happen because there was never a good deal to be found with the increased crowds, higher hotel prices, fees, etc.
Regretted getting the annual passes, and wanted to do other parks... But not going to waste them, so still doing summer trip, and got the Dolphin hotwire deal which is less than a value resort.. Easily cover an Uber instead of DME. Not really off site, but non Disney owned hotel.

But after this done for a while... Know Star Wars land will be a draw to come back, but will do other places until then... And will probably stay off site even then unless there is drastic change.

Really don't get cutting out things and getting less for more money just to be at Disney, especially if been there a number of times before.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I am definitely in adjust mode. And have been for some time. Here are some of my adjustments:

Stopped going to Disneyland. Love it but the tickets are too expensive for just two parks, onsite hotels are completely above what I am willing to spend and the hassle of either renting a car or getting a cab is just another annoyance. After a decade of going yearly I haven't been in six years and I only went then because I had free passes. They priced me out and I have lived to tell about it!

As for WDW we have continued to make it work by getting annual passes and going when very good deals are offered but its getting harder. We no longer do the DDP, don't buy souvenirs, or eat table service meals unless we go with friends who want a table meal. We stay in values and moderates about evenly but I predict that will change to values only. We no longer do long trips each time we go. Our annual passes are expiring soon and our October trip will probably either be cancelled or shortened. And if we do go, we will likely not do the parks but one day out of a four day trip. For sure we are not renewing our AP's at this time.

I love WDW but in the end there's so many other things to do and they don't cost as much, I don't have to decide what I want to eat, ride and breathe months in advance and as someone else pointed out, rewards programs that others offer are a way to show me they want me back. Versus Disney who charges me more for less. Which I have continued to do but may not much longer!

 

[Minnesota!]

If I have $5000* allocated for a Disney vacation, I have to fit my trip to that. Air, hotel, food, tickets, extras.

Once $5000* doesn't cover that all, things have to be cut. The first thing cut is the parks. We have had incredibly enjoyable resort-only vacations. $5000 still covers that nicely. We can stay at a nice resort for $300/night, and enjoy the amenities (looking at you, AKL!), and still have a huge budget left for nice meals, bowling, golfing, movies, shopping.

If they start tacking on fees, that will start to decrease the amount of days we go, the nice meals we have, and the extras we take part in.

So, once I can no longer enjoy the vacation I like, within my pre-set budget, we stop. I will not extend my budget based on what they decide to gauge me for.

*Not my real budget...just a nice, round number.

 

[natfrac]

We're at our breaking point as well. Not so much because of the cost, but rather the value for our money. Too crowded, too much advanced planning, lack of cleaning at BWV, etc...This may sound weird, but the final straw for us were the hotel room security checks. We go to WDW to escape and the security checks were an unwelcome intrusion into our Disney bubble. It's not to say we won't go back, but our next trip is a non-Disney cruise.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I agree with others who have stated that Disney is a unique product that can't be duplicated elsewhere. There are other theme parks and I enjoy them in their own right, but they are not comparable with the Disney experience. This is because Disney is more than a theme park composed of rides and attractions, it's a "feeling." Call it Disney Magic or whatever, there's just something in the air at Disney that just doesn't exist anywhere else. I feel like my family really connects with one another at Disney, that we are sort of our "best selves." We're truly happy when we're at Disney.

Continuously increased prices at rates well above inflation, reduced staff, more and more parties and special events taking away from regular park hours, the complete nonexistence of slow times anymore--I can overlook all of these without much problem. But for me the breaking point was being told I now have to pay to park my car at the resorts. It's really not about the money. I am careful with my money because I don't want to ever have to worry about money, but I can afford to pay a parking fee. It wouldn't have any effect on my overall budget; it's truly the principle. I often pay to park at other hotels and resorts, but I never had to at Disney and now I do. This has created a huge rift in that magical feeling I used to get from Disney. I wouldn't say it's entirely gone; I still have fun there. But since the parking fee I don't feel the same way about Disney.

I'm not entirely done with Disney. I have a few more trips planned for this year. I still plan to participate in some RunDisney races next year. But I'm not going to renew our APs. I'm not going to encourage any more friends and family members to come to Florida and visit Disney with me and my family. I'm not the "Disney cheerleader" I used to be (in fact I've become something of the opposite). I've taken the Disney AP magnet off my car. And I will NEVER pay for resort parking. This is the major factor that will limit the time I'll spend at Disney in the future.

My kids are old enough to appreciate European trips now, and I'm considering an African safari and an Alaskan cruise. I don't think we'll miss Disney too much. These trips probably won't feel the same as Disney did for us, but Disney just doesn't feel the same anymore. Without the magic it's just a bunch of rides.

 

[Goseethemouse]

I replied above but thought some more about this.

As far as the resorts are concerned, cuts to transportation would definitely be a breaking point. The main advantage for us is the easy included transportation. Sure, the "bubble"/theming etc is nice but without good free (or let's say included) transportation to the parks I would rather stay at a bigger, nicer place off-site.

As far as the parks are concerned, I am already unhappy about the expensive food and the need to preplan not only ADRs but also FP. I love to plan but don't love to stick to my plan. Also, I find it difficult to predict what we want to do for a longer stay. Sure, if I am there for four days it is easy to plan out what to do when. But the more days there are, the harder it gets because there are too many unknowns: are there rides we missed because the plan didn't work, is there something we loved and want to do again, is there something we don't care for etc. However, this will be the first trip with the new FP system so we will have to see how it goes.

Any deterioration in the Disney Magic, especially cleanliness, nice CMs etc. would make it much less likely that we visit in the future. So many cool things that used to be free have already been cut out and there are so many things that cost extra. It is starting to bother me a lot.

 

[georgina]

As far as staying onsite, I have already stopped that, due to the room occupied signs. I have several 10 day non-expiring tickets I will use for short trips, mostly as a side trip from my Universal stays!

 

[Bob Dolewhip]

I still have the fever, but I’m leaning toward staying in the Disney springs hotels since it looks like they are offering most of the same perks.
I’m getting close to my breaking point with the nickel and diming and the repeated instances of bad customer service.

 

[sam_rogers]

For me the parking fee was the last straw. Prices for everything are going up and up and if I hadn't already booked my flights for September I would have cancelled the trip. Luckily we won't get hit by the fees this time as we booked last year but this will be our last trip. There's a lot of other places we want to go and disney has now out priced us.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have an AP, I own DVC. I've been going to WDW since '99. My dd is now a CM. Have I reached my breaking point? Just about. I find myself renting a car more often now that my dd lives and works there. With rates of well over $100, closer to $150, a night for a value, I'm just not willing to add on another $13 a night to park my car. And yes, my dd can get me discounted rooms. BUT...rack rate is sooo high now, my discounted room rate is still too high. Seriously...I'm paying $200 average a night for a three night stay, over a weekend, in Sept, at POR!! That's nuts.
I've been staying at the Red Lion Hotel on 192, just 7 mins from AK. It's clean and inexpensive, and very easy to get to. It's not top notch but it gets the job done. I'm going to be searching out other places to stay that are under $100 a night.
Disney will probably never actually charge a 'resort fee' but with the ever increasing nightly rates, what's the difference? They just bury it in the nightly rate. The whole 'it's industry standard' to charge for parking is bogus. Disney has held itself apart from industry standards. The 'it will be help congestion on the roads' argument? Nope. I don't find the roads around WDW all that congested...just drove them a week ago.
Basically, Disney is adding a charge for something we've been getting free....without giving us anything for that charge. So, yes, it's a blatant money grab. And yes, it is impacting where I stay when visiting WDW.

 

[jarestel]

I expect resort fees will ultimately become a Disney reality simply because breaking them out from the cost of the resort stay allows them to raise both the room rates and the resort fees. I lost patience with the airlines model of offering "flexibility" and "choice" (ie nickel and dimeing customers to death) some years back and haven't flown since. I could see that happening with Disney if they continue down the "flexibility" and "choice" road.

 

[Marionnette]

I expect resort fees will ultimately become a Disney reality simply because breaking them out from the cost of the resort stay allows them to raise both the room rates and the resort fees. I lost patience with the airlines model of offering "flexibility" and "choice" (ie nickel and dimeing customers to death) some years back and haven't flown since. I could see that happening with Disney if they continue down the "flexibility" and "choice" road.

I have a feeling that you're spot on with this prediction. It would allow Disney to keep the rack rates down while increasing the overall price of a stay. When they offer a 20% discount on a room, it will only be on the rack rate, not the resort fee. And no need to tack on a hotel tax for the county for that resort fee. Disney can keep it all. The same goes for the parking fee.

A resort fee would be the breaking point for this DVC owner. Disney would have a hard time justifying a resort fee to me when my dues already pay for the upkeep of the resort, parking lots, pools, and Disney transportation. The contracts would go up for sale the day after a resort fee is announced if it were to apply to DVC owners.

 

[GreatLakes]

I have always been about 50/50 onsite vs offsite. The recent fee increases will cause me to stay onsite less often. I choose based on what we are doing on each trip. I'm down there for work in September and will likely stay offsite. I am back in November for the Wine & Dine half marathon weekend and we are onsite for that trip.

We are due for a recession which should claw back on some of the fees. I doubt it will be direct fee reduction but offers that discount the room enough to make the fees less of a deal breaker.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Already there. Our last trip for the foreseeable future is next month. If we go back it will have to be when my memory of the all the horrible changes they have made have faded and no other things I do not support have been done. We have vacations planned elsewhere through 2021.