Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "See, this is where I disagree." How can you disagree? You just said that Universal is the same cost! lol" Because you said "anywhere". "Hans, has it really been almost a YEAR since you went to DL???????!!!" Yep! And I won't be going back anytime soon, obviously. Hahahaha Seriously, I think I may take a trip to NYC this summer and I'm working on possibly going to Rome in November.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Let's just say you lived near Anaheim or Orlando and wanted to take your kids to one of the Magic Kingdoms for the day. It would cost you and your family $356 just to walk in the gate at Disneyland, and even more if you're in Florida. Now throw in some popcorn, a few souvenirs, and meals and the cost of a one day visit one of the parks with two kids is likely to hit $500. I dunno, maybe I'm just getting old and remember a time when these places were much more affordable." I hear you. Trust me, I do. I do not like paying more anymore than the next person.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Seriously, I think I may take a trip to NYC this summer and I'm working on possibly going to Rome in November. " That sounds awesome!
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "C'mon. You can't compare the cost of a music festival to a theme park resort where adults are covering their admission, accommodations, meals, souvenirs and transportation, AND their kids' too." Why not? I have to pay admission, accommodation, meals, souvenirs & transportation too. And I've seen people bring their kids. "But Coachella and other music and sporting events are "one night only." You can't go on a different night and get the same experience. Obviously, there are differences that happen on theme park trips, but a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean on May 4th is the same experience as a ride on November 15th." Yeah. So? "We talk about supply and demand. Supply for Coachella is however many tickets are sold. So if it's 5000, that's all there is. Supply for a theme park is like 50,000 a day x 365 days year x however many years." Again: so? If the demand isn't there, Disney won't be able to charge the prices they do. I think the 2 day Disneyland ticket went up a whopping $5.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt You keep making the same point while ignoring the facts Yookeroo. Look at the chart posted in #22 and you'll see that the incremental price increases at the parks have been substantial over the past decade. A single day admission to DL is now double what it was 10 years ago.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 Could you imagine how insanely crazy the crowds at the parks would be if Disney hadn't been raising their prices that much? If they get as crowded as they do at the current prices, it would be absolutely insane if tickets were less expensive. The other thing to consider with the price increases is how much Disney has spent on new attractions in the past 15-20 years. They added two entire new parks (DCA and AK) and then completely redid DCA, they also added the DTD area in California, and they have built or refurbished quite a few hotels. Disney is a business, and they most certainly are not going just eat the millions of dollars they spent on the parks over the years. ""C'mon. You can't compare the cost of a music festival to a theme park resort where adults are covering their admission, accommodations, meals, souvenirs and transportation, AND their kids' too." As far as rides, food, and souvenirs, the two big fairs in my area (Evergreen State Fair and Puyallup Fair) cost more per day than DL does. True, we don't have airfare or hotel costs when we go to those fairs, but they are nowhere near as nice as the experience at DL either.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I think that Disney is busy because of advertising, hotel discounts and the meal plan which seems attractive to lots of people. I think those things are some of the drivers that make the parks so crowded. I also think it is one of the reasons that Disney has raised its prices the way they have over the past 10 years. Nothing is free.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I use to think Disneyland was a splurge vacation. Still do to a point, but I thought we could do similiar things elsewhere for a lot less. Then you start pricing things. No matter where we go to vacation, we like doing fun things, and eating at nice, new, fun places and that usually means lots of money. So food costs are high no matter where you go. Like I've said before, doing things "like" Disney often cost very close to if not the same as Disney. Hotel costs the same for me no matter where we go, because we rarely splurge to stay in one of the Disney hotels. I might spend a bit less elsewhere, but for us to go on a vacation that we will enjoy the same as we enjoy Disney vacations, we have to have about the same amount of money.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The difference between a theme park resort trip and and a vacation in Hawaii or Mexico is park admission. Most people aren't going to DLR and just lay by the pool for 5 days, and currently 5-day park passes are between $244 and $300. Multiply that by 4 and.... well...wow.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance That's the thing though, I'd never go somewhere on vacation and just lay around a pool. I can do that anytime at home. I like to get out and do things. Fun things. Or differnt things. Plus if I went to Hawaii or Mexico, I'd need to fly, and it would most likely cost quite a bit more than if we flew or drove to DL.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Serious question...who buys a single day ticket? Anyway, the price of a "theme park" may seem like a ripoff to most, but looking at it scientifically in the realm of entertainment it's a pretty damn good value, even if you buy a one day ticket for some reason. For 90-95 bucks you get 10-12 hours at least inside a world class venue. Compare that to a football/hockey game (80-100 bucks for a 3-4 hour event), a concert (upwards of 120 for 3-4 hours) or a Broadway show (60-120 bucks for a few hours) and it's still pretty good.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I like to get out and do things. Fun things. Or different things." Right, but exploring Waikki Beach or lava fields on the big island doesn't cost you $54 per day per person plus the cost of food and accommodations. You also have the freedom to dining as cheaply or as expensively as you like, while at Disney you are mostly locked into Disney's expensive food options. My main point, though, is that theme park vacations have the added fixed cost of park tickets whereas other types of vacations give you some budget flexibility.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Serious question...who buys a single day ticket?" I did it twice the year that DCA opened (2001). I happened to be in LA with some spare time and drove down to Anaheim with friends for the day on both occasions.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Just to see a 3D movie with my family is over $50, and that's for 90 minutes!
Originally Posted By danyoung >Could you imagine how insanely crazy the crowds at the parks would be if Disney hadn't been raising their prices that much?< I think this is a key point. We all complain about how there's not much of an off season these days, if any. If it weren't for the increased prices weeding some folks out, there would be even larger crowds and more wear and tear on the infrastructure. Disney is playing a balancing game between crowd size and cost of admission. As long as the crowds keep coming, the prices will continue to go up.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "For 90-95 bucks you get 10-12 hours at least inside a world class venue. Compare that to a football/hockey game (80-100 bucks for a 3-4 hour event), a concert (upwards of 120 for 3-4 hours) or a "Broadway show (60-120 bucks for a few hours) and it's still pretty good." If it was possible for you to relive the exact same football/hockey game or concert that you saw 10 years ago and the ticket price was double the amount you paid back then, would you pay it without hesitation?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Just to see a 3D movie with my family is over $50, and that's for 90 minutes!" Which, when you add it up, is probably about how much time you actually spend on rides on any given day at a Disney park, lol.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<If it was possible for you to relive the exact same football/hockey game or concert that you saw 10 years ago and the ticket price was double the amount you paid back then, would you pay it without hesitation?>> I never feel like a park is exactly the same. My sister, mom, and I always have different experiences, try new food, etc, etc when there. Also, I've paid more and more money to change and upgrade movies from VHS to DVD to Blu Ray. So yea, I probably would.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Right, but exploring Waikki Beach or lava fields on the big island doesn't cost you $54 per day per person plus the cost of food and accommodations. You also have the freedom to dining as cheaply or as expensively as you like, while at Disney you are mostly locked into Disney's expensive food options. My main point, though, is that theme park vacations have the added fixed cost of park tickets whereas other types of vacations give you some budget flexibility." I agree that there is some more flexability in say a Hawaii vacation than a DL vacation. If I wanted to I could probably not spend much above food, transportation, and lodging expenses. But in all seriousness who wants to or actually does that? There are probably a multitude of things waiting for my money. Tours, local attractions, rentals, etc, etc, etc. And I can and have eaten CHEAP at DL. Eating outside of the park, you can eat very cheaply if you try, but we usually don't because we don't want to, nor would we want to do that elsewhere. However, traveling to Hawaii as opposed to traveling to DL would likely double my travel budget for my family of four, so there is definitley and added cost for that.
