Is Disney World Still Worth the $?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
So cringey. |
Anonymous
You can still do that. And you let your kids set the pace. My kid wants to maximize his time and do every ride so we do a crazy marathon across múltiple parks. I think people feel offfended that Disney requires planning - but outside of a resort or cruise, don’t all vacations require planning? |
Anonymous
Ok well … then enjoy 6 Flags America I guess? It’s usually pretty empty. Your all or nothing thinking is pretty silly. |
Anonymous
Exactly - every vacation other than a beach resort requires some level of planning. You really just land in some city and just wing everything? |
Anonymous
So don't go to Disney? Nobody is forcing you. There's no mandated right to go to Disney so if you don't like their system, don't go. |
Anonymous
Yes, tickets to Paris a week out during Christmas and NYE are going to be wildly expensive. We got a family of four direct on the United flight for less than $3000 roundtrip (not basic economy) this year in the spring. Which is probably why it says at peak versus off peak. No one is saying Paris is cheap, but if you're doing a full week at Disney World with all the trimmings it's not going to be cheap either. |
Anonymous
|
Disney is no longer worth it. It used to be a little splurge, but you could still have fun.
The prices are now so high and added stress of genie or lightning or fast pass, which they keep changing, that it’s not fun anymore. If you don’t buy any of the extras, you wait in line forever. Two years ago, we decided Disney was not worth it for us to go anymore and we haven’t been back. |
Anonymous
Dude. It's busy every time of the year now. And you can't keep booking lightning lanes all day for the popular rides with the new changes. |
Anonymous
we went twice last year and had no problem riding everything we wanted with reasonable waits. The longest wait was Guardians (maybe 30 min and total worth it) and Ratatoulle (maybe 25 minutes during extra evening hours, also worth it.) lots of other rides and shows we enjoy were short standby lines. But, we like all the experiences - the big rides and Country Bears. |
Anonymous
|
OP I think the answer really depends on whether you like Disney enough to make it the highlight vacation of the year and budget. This thread is basically a lot of people going back and forth at each other about the comparative moral judgements on liking Disney.
If you love Disney and are ok with it being the big vacation for a year or two, and can get enough out of the Disney experience, then yes it's probably worth it. The system has gotten much worse and it seems like peak time is always now, so ultimately you'll be paying to ride less rides. But if you enjoy the overall theming and what not and are ok with less rides and more waiting or strolling, do you and have fun! It won't be the same as before, it is more expensive and chaotic, but maybe you'll find you like slowing the pace a bit. If you want to go somewhere else and budget is at all an issue, or if you are very big on rides or have kids that really can't wait, then no, I wouldn't advise it. You can get the Disney experience as others have said by tacking Disneyland onto a bigger California or even if you'd like to take a Europe |
Anonymous
It sounds like a metric $h!+ ton of planning for a vacation that will be far from relaxing. There is zero possibility of me doing this. It's work and money so the ROI is negative. Costa Rica surf resort here we come... same money, less prep, more fun! |
Anonymous
Yeah, 7 billion people in the world means that there are at least 100 million idiots willing to pay who can also afford to pay. |
Anonymous
It all just sounds like so much work. I grew up in Southern California and frequently went to Disneyland + other local amusement parks and enjoyed them but you just showed up, knew a few rides would have really long lines but the others wouldn't. We took the kids to Disneyland as part of a visit to my family when they were 4-5. It was in early January on a cool day with a slight drizzle. Perfect day, no crowds. That's the way to do Disneyland. And after 1 day they had no interest in going back. I've suggested a Disney World trip (I'm not interested but would do it once if they wanted to) and they just aren't interested. We've done other local amusement parks and they hate waiting in lines. |
Anonymous
|
I think it can be worth it with kids the right age (elementary range is great) because everything truly is catered to families.
But I recommend using a travel agent because they have access to packages, will login at 6 am to make your dining reservations, and can just generally coordinate whatever you need without paying extra. In fact about 3 weeks after we booked, our agent emailed us that she had been able to apply our booking to a new deal that was just released and saved us like $400 without us doing a thing. It felt like such a luxury not having to be the one handling all the logistics so I could basically book airfare and then show up. We used https://believevacations.com/ Oh but my advice is don’t use the dining package. We ended up hating be locked in (e.g. my kids always wanted a slice of pizza or something not offered as part of the kid meal package and we ended up having to load up on snacks we wouldn’t have otherwise bought at the end to use up credits). I don’t think it saved any money either. Also I agree with some PPs that you do need to prepare to spend money or it won’t be worth it. For instance instead of waiting for the shuttle from our hotel we called a Minnie Van (offered within Disney property through Lyft — included car seats, which is great). Also, I’d rather have fewer park days with genie + than an extra park day or 2 if it means cutting the perks. The hotels are so nice that you can plan to just hang at the pool and attend some of the free events across the resort properties or do a character breakfast at Chef Mickey’s or whatever to stretch your trip. |
Anonymous
| We went back in November 2023 and had fun, but I don't think we'd do it again. You basically have to throw money at every single thing to make it bearable. |