Disney primarily for the wealthy? NYT Article

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a huge Disney fan, but my friend just went to Japan, and while there, they went to Tokyo Disney and said it was super cheap. Tickets were $70. Sure, you have to pay for the flights, but if you are going to Japan anyways, why not? I wouldn't mind doing that but DH wouldn't do it. He loathes Disney parks.

Then you can split up and do different things in Tokyo...that's the beauty of it.

Family vacations are usually intended for families to do things.. together. But, ok.

[Anonymous]

We went once to Disney in California. We are done with Disney. Despite the outrageous prices for everything, they just did not have enough bathrooms, the in park restaurants ran out of popular items (example: hamburgers). It was not a happy experience. No thanks. Someone else can have our spot in line.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

Not per ride. per day per person.

It doesn't cover all rides, though and they sell separate passes for the most popular rides.

That to me is just the epitome of it. You pay extra and then you still have to pay extra on top of it. Gimme more money for stuff that used to be free. Your park ticket is also more.

The way I look it at is it might be $150 for a ticket but you can go for 10, 12, or more hours depending on how long it's open. That's like $15 an hour for a full day of entertainment. Now try taking your family to a 3 hour baseball game or even a movie and see if you get the same bang for your buck hour by hour.

Uh... injust priced the Nats game on Friday and I can get $23 tickets. And then won't make me pay additional money if I want to actually watch the game. And I can metro there so I don't have to pay for parking. And my hot dog isn't going to cost $20?

Your beer will cost $20. Add up the family food and see what you get. Then ask your kids if it was the best day ever watching from the nosebleeds or bleachers with sun in their face the whole time.

This. You are not getting out of Nats park with a family of 4 for less than $250 assuming you park.

I've taken my kids multiple times and never come close to that. What on earth are you buying?

Are your kids super into baseball? Mine go for the snacks but they aren't really into the game and given a choice would always pick an amusement park. Disney offers a lot and you can stay a full day and not do it all. Baseball games are expensive and not nearly as interesting for kids.

My kid did the slide for ages last time. It's great when the team is terrible because there's no limit on the slides when the park is empty.

When I visit my MIL in Orlando all my kid wants to do is go to the strawberry farm. Giant bubbles, slides, bouncing, hay ride, and it's $5 plus the price of the strawberries.

So your kid is about 5?

I mean if you're about to tell me that Disney isn't intended for elementary school kids, I'm going to have to ask you who you think Winnie the Pooh ride and Belle's Enchanted Storytime is for.

If you think it's intended only for elementary kids then you don't know the first thing about it. I don't think it's children flocking to the Food & Wine festival at EPCOT.

Again, I don't get this. You pay to go to Ecpot to pay even more money for extremely overpriced and not good food.

I don’t go to disney for the food but the prices are pretty comparable to DC and the quality can also be similar. The Italian place at Epcot is pretty comparable quality to the average Italian place in DC. The tofu bowl I get is $13.49. I think that’s cheaper than my chopt bowl with tofu in DC. As I said I’m not flying down there for the food but I’m an extremely picky eater and I can always find stuff that is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a huge Disney fan, but my friend just went to Japan, and while there, they went to Tokyo Disney and said it was super cheap. Tickets were $70. Sure, you have to pay for the flights, but if you are going to Japan anyways, why not? I wouldn't mind doing that but DH wouldn't do it. He loathes Disney parks.

Then you can split up and do different things in Tokyo...that's the beauty of it.

Family vacations are usually intended for families to do things.. together. But, ok.

Does your family always have to do exactly what your husband wants?

[Anonymous]

Yes, Disney is very expensive, particularly tickets. We purchased Disney Vacation Club (their version of a timeshare). But we don't spend every day at the parks. In fact, about half the time we go to the resort pools or water parks (both free, water parks free on arrival days), enjoying walking around the resorts, visiting Disney Springs, etc.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

Not per ride. per day per person.

It doesn't cover all rides, though and they sell separate passes for the most popular rides.

That to me is just the epitome of it. You pay extra and then you still have to pay extra on top of it. Gimme more money for stuff that used to be free. Your park ticket is also more.

The way I look it at is it might be $150 for a ticket but you can go for 10, 12, or more hours depending on how long it's open. That's like $15 an hour for a full day of entertainment. Now try taking your family to a 3 hour baseball game or even a movie and see if you get the same bang for your buck hour by hour.

Uh... injust priced the Nats game on Friday and I can get $23 tickets. And then won't make me pay additional money if I want to actually watch the game. And I can metro there so I don't have to pay for parking. And my hot dog isn't going to cost $20?

Your beer will cost $20. Add up the family food and see what you get. Then ask your kids if it was the best day ever watching from the nosebleeds or bleachers with sun in their face the whole time.

This. You are not getting out of Nats park with a family of 4 for less than $250 assuming you park.

I've taken my kids multiple times and never come close to that. What on earth are you buying?

Are your kids super into baseball? Mine go for the snacks but they aren't really into the game and given a choice would always pick an amusement park. Disney offers a lot and you can stay a full day and not do it all. Baseball games are expensive and not nearly as interesting for kids.

My kid did the slide for ages last time. It's great when the team is terrible because there's no limit on the slides when the park is empty.

When I visit my MIL in Orlando all my kid wants to do is go to the strawberry farm. Giant bubbles, slides, bouncing, hay ride, and it's $5 plus the price of the strawberries.

So your kid is about 5?

I mean if you're about to tell me that Disney isn't intended for elementary school kids, I'm going to have to ask you who you think Winnie the Pooh ride and Belle's Enchanted Storytime is for.

If you think it's intended only for elementary kids then you don't know the first thing about it. I don't think it's children flocking to the Food & Wine festival at EPCOT.

Again, I don't get this. You pay to go to Ecpot to pay even more money for extremely overpriced and not good food.

I don’t go to disney for the food but the prices are pretty comparable to DC and the quality can also be similar. The Italian place at Epcot is pretty comparable quality to the average Italian place in DC. The tofu bowl I get is $13.49. I think that’s cheaper than my chopt bowl with tofu in DC. As I said I’m not flying down there for the food but I’m an extremely picky eater and I can always find stuff that is fine.

Right! I didn’t think the food was overpriced. And DC has made me immune to $15 cocktails/glasses of wine so the $10 margaritas (or was it $12? Don’t quote me) were a bargain.

Dh and I can afford 10k vacations. It’s not the cost that bothered us. It was the insane lines. Not sure we could afford the private Disney tour or would even want our kids to do that since it feels too elitist.

Universal had been our kids’ top vacation for the past years. And we’ve had some amazing international trips. Those unlimited passes were awesome. It was also just as themed and clean as Disney (unlike Hershey park or Busch gardens) and the rides were better.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

Not per ride. per day per person.

It doesn't cover all rides, though and they sell separate passes for the most popular rides.

That to me is just the epitome of it. You pay extra and then you still have to pay extra on top of it. Gimme more money for stuff that used to be free. Your park ticket is also more.

The way I look it at is it might be $150 for a ticket but you can go for 10, 12, or more hours depending on how long it's open. That's like $15 an hour for a full day of entertainment. Now try taking your family to a 3 hour baseball game or even a movie and see if you get the same bang for your buck hour by hour.

Uh... injust priced the Nats game on Friday and I can get $23 tickets. And then won't make me pay additional money if I want to actually watch the game. And I can metro there so I don't have to pay for parking. And my hot dog isn't going to cost $20?

Your beer will cost $20. Add up the family food and see what you get. Then ask your kids if it was the best day ever watching from the nosebleeds or bleachers with sun in their face the whole time.

This. You are not getting out of Nats park with a family of 4 for less than $250 assuming you park.

I've taken my kids multiple times and never come close to that. What on earth are you buying?

Tickets - $150
Parking - $50
food - $50 (and that is just a snack for 4 people)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

+1 And it's slightly higher for the most popular rides I believe. I remember it was 34$/person to cut the line at Rise of the Resistance (which had a 100+ minute wait). Multiply that cost for one ride times 4 and the whole family can go to Six Flags for the day.

You don’t pay $30 per ride. You pay $30 for a day-long pass that allows you to make reservations on rides all day (and select a few in advance of your trip). Some rides also have “individual lightning lane” on a per-ride basis but those are only the most popular rides: Tron, 7 Dwarves, Rise of the Resistance, Guardians, and Avatar.

... in your mind how is this possibly better. $30/day per person doesn't get you on the most popular rides, you have to pay $10-20 on top to ride each of those rides because getting in otherwise is difficult?

And I'd you think about it now Disney has a significant financial incentive to create long lines so you must pay those extras.

You can always just hang in the line for 45 minutes and eat a snack. If you plan your day right you don't have to wait in long lines. But better be able to hoof it there when the park opens or stay till park close. Where there's a will there's a way. Other people just throw money at it.

I was surprised to learn that waiting in line in Disney (and most other parks) is pretty fun and goes by quickly as long as you are not in the burning sun.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

+1 And it's slightly higher for the most popular rides I believe. I remember it was 34$/person to cut the line at Rise of the Resistance (which had a 100+ minute wait). Multiply that cost for one ride times 4 and the whole family can go to Six Flags for the day.

You don’t pay $30 per ride. You pay $30 for a day-long pass that allows you to make reservations on rides all day (and select a few in advance of your trip). Some rides also have “individual lightning lane” on a per-ride basis but those are only the most popular rides: Tron, 7 Dwarves, Rise of the Resistance, Guardians, and Avatar.

... in your mind how is this possibly better. $30/day per person doesn't get you on the most popular rides, you have to pay $10-20 on top to ride each of those rides because getting in otherwise is difficult?

And I'd you think about it now Disney has a significant financial incentive to create long lines so you must pay those extras.

You can always just hang in the line for 45 minutes and eat a snack. If you plan your day right you don't have to wait in long lines. But better be able to hoof it there when the park opens or stay till park close. Where there's a will there's a way. Other people just throw money at it.

I was surprised to learn that waiting in line in Disney (and most other parks) is pretty fun and goes by quickly as long as you are not in the burning sun.

Universal is even better. I went through lines with my family for rides I can't ride because they were so cool.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

Not per ride. per day per person.

It doesn't cover all rides, though and they sell separate passes for the most popular rides.

That to me is just the epitome of it. You pay extra and then you still have to pay extra on top of it. Gimme more money for stuff that used to be free. Your park ticket is also more.

The way I look it at is it might be $150 for a ticket but you can go for 10, 12, or more hours depending on how long it's open. That's like $15 an hour for a full day of entertainment. Now try taking your family to a 3 hour baseball game or even a movie and see if you get the same bang for your buck hour by hour.

Uh... injust priced the Nats game on Friday and I can get $23 tickets. And then won't make me pay additional money if I want to actually watch the game. And I can metro there so I don't have to pay for parking. And my hot dog isn't going to cost $20?

Your beer will cost $20. Add up the family food and see what you get. Then ask your kids if it was the best day ever watching from the nosebleeds or bleachers with sun in their face the whole time.

This. You are not getting out of Nats park with a family of 4 for less than $250 assuming you park.

But....I don't have to pay $250/person on flights to get there or $250/night on a hotel room to stay there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

Not per ride. per day per person.

It doesn't cover all rides, though and they sell separate passes for the most popular rides.

That to me is just the epitome of it. You pay extra and then you still have to pay extra on top of it. Gimme more money for stuff that used to be free. Your park ticket is also more.

The way I look it at is it might be $150 for a ticket but you can go for 10, 12, or more hours depending on how long it's open. That's like $15 an hour for a full day of entertainment. Now try taking your family to a 3 hour baseball game or even a movie and see if you get the same bang for your buck hour by hour.

Uh... injust priced the Nats game on Friday and I can get $23 tickets. And then won't make me pay additional money if I want to actually watch the game. And I can metro there so I don't have to pay for parking. And my hot dog isn't going to cost $20?

Your beer will cost $20. Add up the family food and see what you get. Then ask your kids if it was the best day ever watching from the nosebleeds or bleachers with sun in their face the whole time.

This. You are not getting out of Nats park with a family of 4 for less than $250 assuming you park.

But....I don't have to pay $250/person on flights to get there or $250/night on a hotel room to stay there.

Right so you’re stuck at home and the kids were bored anyway.

[Anonymous]

We went in 2017 when our child was 8 and the Fast Pass was still available. We did 4 days (1 at the Magic Kingdom, 1 at Animal Kingdom, 1 at Epcot/Hollywood Studios, 1 at Universal). We bought the fast passes for Universal.

Magic Kingdom - We did about 3 tier 1 rides and the rest were the less popular rides. DD was fine with it. We stayed at a non-Disney hotel with a free shuttle to Disney. I had a hotel and park discount through work. Free breakfast at the hotel and lunch at the park. We did the Tiana Riverboat Party which came with snacks. I bought all of the Disney gear at home (The Gap had a Disney collection that season). We only bought mouse ears. We went a week before Christmas so the weather was perfect.

I feel for families now because it’s gotten so expensive. We got off easy because we’re a small family, had discounts and only went for 4 days.

My daughter loved the trip but never asked to go back for some reason. Unless I go with future grandchildren, I’ll probably never go back. I had a good time but prefer other vacation spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

+1 And it's slightly higher for the most popular rides I believe. I remember it was 34$/person to cut the line at Rise of the Resistance (which had a 100+ minute wait). Multiply that cost for one ride times 4 and the whole family can go to Six Flags for the day.

You don’t pay $30 per ride. You pay $30 for a day-long pass that allows you to make reservations on rides all day (and select a few in advance of your trip). Some rides also have “individual lightning lane” on a per-ride basis but those are only the most popular rides: Tron, 7 Dwarves, Rise of the Resistance, Guardians, and Avatar.

Yes, that's what the PP said--if you pay 34$/per person for a lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance and you're a family of 4, you can buy tickets to Six Flags for the day just for the price of those lightning passes for that one ride. I get that you lose your day quickly waiting in 100+ minute lines, but the $ adds up fast. I always wonder about parents taking small kids to Disney. They don't differentiate much between Disney and Dutch Wonderland (the latter being maybe 40$/day at most).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

Not per ride. per day per person.

It doesn't cover all rides, though and they sell separate passes for the most popular rides.

That to me is just the epitome of it. You pay extra and then you still have to pay extra on top of it. Gimme more money for stuff that used to be free. Your park ticket is also more.

The way I look it at is it might be $150 for a ticket but you can go for 10, 12, or more hours depending on how long it's open. That's like $15 an hour for a full day of entertainment. Now try taking your family to a 3 hour baseball game or even a movie and see if you get the same bang for your buck hour by hour.

Uh... injust priced the Nats game on Friday and I can get $23 tickets. And then won't make me pay additional money if I want to actually watch the game. And I can metro there so I don't have to pay for parking. And my hot dog isn't going to cost $20?

Your beer will cost $20. Add up the family food and see what you get. Then ask your kids if it was the best day ever watching from the nosebleeds or bleachers with sun in their face the whole time.

This. You are not getting out of Nats park with a family of 4 for less than $250 assuming you park.

But....I don't have to pay $250/person on flights to get there or $250/night on a hotel room to stay there.

This is like a crazy game of telephone where you are all arguing in circles.

No one is saying going to a natz game is equivilent cost wise to going to Disney.

Pp pointed out that for a $150 ticket you get theoretically like 12 hours of entertainment out of, which is better value than it may seem at first.

They pointed out that you can easily spend that much to go to a natz game that is only three hours long as a comparison for entertainment per hour for the price of admission. It was an imperfect comparison but imo a decent general point.

Somehow it has devolved into “I don’t have to pay for a hotel to go to a natz game”, which is true and irrelevant as it was not what anyone said.

The point is a family of four could easily spend $250 to enjoy a natz game for three hours.

The same family would spend perhaps $800 for a day at Disney ($600 tickets, $200 food) for up to twelve hours of entertainment (although more realistically 8 hours). So cost per hour for family at Natz is possibly $60+ per hour. And like $90 per hour at disney. Which is not as large a gap as one might expect. For substantially more entertainment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will never do Disney. If it was expensive, but the experience was enjoyable I would consider it. But the fact that it costs thousands AND you still have to wait an hour+ per ride? No way. Waiting in line is something I absolutely hate. There's no way I'm PAYING to spend my vacation waiting in line.

Lightening lane is pretty affordable. It’s like $30 pp per day. I never wait for more than 30 minutes for a ride, and with LL it’s under 10.

$30 per ride per person per day. That's not affordable.

+1 And it's slightly higher for the most popular rides I believe. I remember it was 34$/person to cut the line at Rise of the Resistance (which had a 100+ minute wait). Multiply that cost for one ride times 4 and the whole family can go to Six Flags for the day.

You don’t pay $30 per ride. You pay $30 for a day-long pass that allows you to make reservations on rides all day (and select a few in advance of your trip). Some rides also have “individual lightning lane” on a per-ride basis but those are only the most popular rides: Tron, 7 Dwarves, Rise of the Resistance, Guardians, and Avatar.

Yes, that's what the PP said--if you pay 34$/per person for a lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance and you're a family of 4, you can buy tickets to Six Flags for the day just for the price of those lightning passes for that one ride. I get that you lose your day quickly waiting in 100+ minute lines, but the $ adds up fast. I always wonder about parents taking small kids to Disney. They don't differentiate much between Disney and Dutch Wonderland (the latter being maybe 40$/day at most).

1) Disney is more fun for adults than whatever Dutch wonderland is.

2) Anyone who pays lightening lanes for every premium ride is like, that’s a choice, you don’t have to do that to have fun at Disney, there is a crap ton to do without those rides. And you don’t HAVE to pay extra to ride them. You just have the option to pay extra to get on them quickly. The system isn’t perfect but you’re acting like this is the only way to enjoy Disney while in fact paying for all of these would be a very premium experience a la staying st the Polynesian instead of pop century

3) The simpler lightening lanes upgrades provides the tools to have a very great pretty stress free day if used correctly

- Not a Disney adult but someone who is as baffled by the Disney hate as I am the Disney adults