Disney primarily for the wealthy? NYT Article

[Anonymous]

If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I costed out a trip for the six of us to go to Orlando for a week. It was ridiculous! Instead we went to Ireland for 10 days, stayed in really nice places and we had the best time for much less money.

So a week for me in Orlando costs about $1K for hotel, $400 for car, $200pp for flight, $300 for parking, $50 for petrol. Food and booze is incrementally higher, partially offset by not eating at home, so let's say $1K for food and snacks. You don't have to spend on that if you don't want. Tickets will be $700 or so per person.

For a family of four that is $3K for tickets and $800 for flights. Let's add $500 for incidentals. The total is about $7K for the week. I'm neither splurging nor skimping here. So, you took your family to Ireland for 10 days for "much less money?" How? Show me the math.

RT tickets to Ireland let's say they are $500 on a good deal. So that is $2K to start.

For 4 people you are paying under $150 per night for a hotel? Which hotel is this?

Orlando has at least 100 hotels for that price. Cheapest hotels around.

+1. This.

If you don't go at super-high season dates (ex: Christmas/NY), Orlando hotel prices are very reasonable. We were there in August (which isn't super popular because it's hella hot, but still vacation season) and paid 95$/night for a 1BR suite at a Marriott hotel 20 minutes from the Disney parks that included breakfast.

Yes- Orlando has sooo many hotels/lodging options and the high supply drives down prices. Mid-range 3.5 places, like a DoubleTree or Sheraton are usually in the $100-150 range, often under $100 if you find a good deal or are going at unpopular times middle of the week in late August. Even the ones right in Lake Buena Vista right near Disney.

I (kind of) get why people stay on property but the benefits aren't what they used to be and the hotels are so freakin' expensive. We paid $160/night for a great, spacious condo/villa at Sheraton Vistana -- separate bedrooms and bathrooms for kids and parents! -- and I'd so much rather do that than pay $500/night for a glorified Holiday Inn Express on property.

For me being able to walk to the park makes it worth it to save up my Marriot points every year and do the Swan. car fee transport and early entry/late night extra hours is really the reason to stay on property. Otherwise yeah many other options!

Agree everyone has different priorities. Especially if you have little ones being walking distance is a huge advantage.

I, myself, can't stand the buses. So I never use them. That's one reason I don't get much out of staying on property. I always want to rip the driver out and start driving myself as I watch cars speed past me, and realize we have to stop at another hotel before we get anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

Because it was $300 a person and we are a family of 5. $300x5 x 4 days= $6,000 extra due to Disney's insane lines. We're very happy with our salaries but we don't have an extra 6k to blow on an already very expensive theme park trip. The people who are spending that must come from cheaper areas of the country or make a lot more than us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

DP. I’m guessing you don’t make $400k if you think those that do have that kind of money to throw around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

Because it was $300 a person and we are a family of 5. $300x5 x 4 days= $6,000 extra due to Disney's insane lines. We're very happy with our salaries but we don't have an extra 6k to blow on an already very expensive theme park trip. The people who are spending that must come from cheaper areas of the country or make a lot more than us.

Our HHI is nearly double yours and we still didn’t get a premier pass this summer. It’s not about how much you make. It’s about value for money. I’m happy to pay $35 for a LLMP or $20 for a LLSP. But $400 PER PERSON, PER DAY on top of what we’re already paying? Yeah. Sorry kiddies. You can get your booty out of bed at 6am and rope drop. We did every single big ticket ride at MK without a premier pass.

Now Epic, that’s a different story. You really do need an express pass for that park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t seem well off to me. The 2 times I have taken my son it was full of fat unhealthy looking, tattoos all over their bodies, dated skinny jeans, everyone looking like they lie to collect disability and ssi. We took our money and book Disney cruises instead or even better Brazil.

Who is wearing skinny jeans at Disney? Or any jeans?

+1 9-10 months out of year, you'd get a skin rash from the heat wearing jeans in the Disney parks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

Because it was $300 a person and we are a family of 5. $300x5 x 4 days= $6,000 extra due to Disney's insane lines. We're very happy with our salaries but we don't have an extra 6k to blow on an already very expensive theme park trip. The people who are spending that must come from cheaper areas of the country or make a lot more than us.

Our HHI is nearly double yours and we still didn’t get a premier pass this summer. It’s not about how much you make. It’s about value for money. I’m happy to pay $35 for a LLMP or $20 for a LLSP. But $400 PER PERSON, PER DAY on top of what we’re already paying? Yeah. Sorry kiddies. You can get your booty out of bed at 6am and rope drop. We did every single big ticket ride at MK without a premier pass.

Now Epic, that’s a different story. You really do need an express pass for that park.

It’s not $400 pp per day at each park. It’s around $400ish for MK, $300ish for HS, and Epcot and AK are significanly less and no necessary. Just get PP for the first 2 parks and you’re good. Use the lightning lane pass for the other two. And you can make it work by not staying more days than needed. You will get everything done in 1 day so no need to go back. 4 park days, done. No need for a week long stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Especially for you since sounds like you’re the one putting in all the planning effort and yet consistently the one to ride/wait in line alone. Sounds like you need to advocate for yourself a little more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

You’re not doing it perfectly if your family is waiting in line for an hour. Forget the ride switch and just take turns waiting with the toddler. Unless you’re using the ride switch to let some riders go 2x in a row then you can’t complain too much it. There aren’t that many rides that a toddler can’t go on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

Because it was $300 a person and we are a family of 5. $300x5 x 4 days= $6,000 extra due to Disney's insane lines. We're very happy with our salaries but we don't have an extra 6k to blow on an already very expensive theme park trip. The people who are spending that must come from cheaper areas of the country or make a lot more than us.

What do you consider “off season”?!

We were there December 6-12 last year. After the Thanksgiving crowds, before the Christmas crowds. Awesome weather, and of course the beautiful Christmas decorations!!

We did Lightning Lanes for Tron, RotR, Guardians, and Flight of Passage (although if we timed it better, probably didn’t need to), the “popular but not headliners” (Space Mountain, Tiana’s Bayou, Everest, Tower of Terror, Soarin’, Frozen etc) were in the 30 minute range, and everything else was 20 or under.

I don’t think the premier pass is worth it unless you are going at popular times of the year (Xmas and Thanksgiving week, spring break, etc.) or if you really truly have money to burn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

Because it was $300 a person and we are a family of 5. $300x5 x 4 days= $6,000 extra due to Disney's insane lines. We're very happy with our salaries but we don't have an extra 6k to blow on an already very expensive theme park trip. The people who are spending that must come from cheaper areas of the country or make a lot more than us.

Our HHI is nearly double yours and we still didn’t get a premier pass this summer. It’s not about how much you make. It’s about value for money. I’m happy to pay $35 for a LLMP or $20 for a LLSP. But $400 PER PERSON, PER DAY on top of what we’re already paying? Yeah. Sorry kiddies. You can get your booty out of bed at 6am and rope drop. We did every single big ticket ride at MK without a premier pass.

Now Epic, that’s a different story. You really do need an express pass for that park.

I feel like line waiting time is quality time with my kid. One key is that we never went until he was older (10). Seems like a totally different story with little kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

Why aren’t you using the premier pass if you make $400K? It solves everything you don’t like. Zero need to use the app or anything like that and you just walk on rides and cut every line.

We know a number of families that were “VIP tours only” previously and all but one now exclusively use Premier Pass.

Because it was $300 a person and we are a family of 5. $300x5 x 4 days= $6,000 extra due to Disney's insane lines. We're very happy with our salaries but we don't have an extra 6k to blow on an already very expensive theme park trip. The people who are spending that must come from cheaper areas of the country or make a lot more than us.

Our HHI is nearly double yours and we still didn’t get a premier pass this summer. It’s not about how much you make. It’s about value for money. I’m happy to pay $35 for a LLMP or $20 for a LLSP. But $400 PER PERSON, PER DAY on top of what we’re already paying? Yeah. Sorry kiddies. You can get your booty out of bed at 6am and rope drop. We did every single big ticket ride at MK without a premier pass.

Now Epic, that’s a different story. You really do need an express pass for that park.

I feel like line waiting time is quality time with my kid. One key is that we never went until he was older (10). Seems like a totally different story with little kids.

It’s so easy to get the non thrill rides on LL and honestly the lines aren’t even that long anyway. It’s easy with little kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you fly, it makes sense to stay on park property so you can use the buses.

We've stayed at the Disney motel often for $175 or so (ie All Stars) and it's fine. It's definitely dated, but it's still very clean. We like the buses and the early park entrance.

We go middle of the week in the off season and it's wall to wall people. The line times are just out of control. Even when I run the app perfectly, line up everything perfectly, wake up at 7am and book it all, it's still long lines for everyone else. Everyone else has less stress though, but for me as the planner it's a lot.

We have a toddler who can't ride and so we do rider switch, which is also a circle of hell. DH and the older kids wait in line for an hour and then when they get off, I get to go through the lightning lane, which still has a 15-20 min wait. It really drags out the day and makes it unenjoyable. Universal has it perfect. We all wait together, then the baby and I step out at the front of the line into a special room. DH and the older kids get off and then I immediately board the ride. No extra waiting.

DH and I make about 400k and could afford to go yearly, but it's a miserable trip. Disney clearly doesn't care about families like ours though.

You’re not doing it perfectly if your family is waiting in line for an hour. Forget the ride switch and just take turns waiting with the toddler. Unless you’re using the ride switch to let some riders go 2x in a row then you can’t complain too much it. There aren’t that many rides that a toddler can’t go on.

+1 this all seems unnecessarily complicated. We went when our kids were 8 and 2 1/2 and for the handful of rides the toddler couldn’t ride we just switched off having one parent ride with the older and one waiting (and doing something else) with the toddler. Easy peasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now it's primarily for MAGA idiots.
No vaccine requirements in the state should go quite well at super spreader Disney/Universal events

You do know that COVID vaccines don’t prevent spread right? They just lessen the severity?

I get a new Covid vaccine every fall (well, we will see if they let me this year) but I still have gotten Covid a few times.

You know they just announced that no school age child in Florida will be required to present vaccinations. I don't want to be in the midst of a polio/measles/mumps epidemic while trying to ride Space Mountain. FAFO Florida.

Why do you care if you have your own immunizations? Anyway, all of the foreigners there are already potentially unvaccinated.