The Wall Street Journal revisited the affordability question with an article titled: Even Disney Is Worried About the High Cost of a Disney Vacation. I am not linking to the article since it is behind a paywall. Full Disclosure, I do not have a WSJ subscription, so I have not read the article. Fortunately the Disney blogosphere has responded and I will link to those and add my own commentary.

Disney Historic Affordability

Disney has always been expensive. I am talking about Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts. I have not been to any of the Disney properties that are not Stateside. So I will keep my commentary local.

Our first Disney family vacation was in the early 1990s. We are a stereotypical family of four. We are not rich, but would say we are firmly middle class. We took the kids to Disneyland and stayed on property at the Disneyland Hotel. It was expensive. Everything from food and souvenirs to park tickets and hotel cost a lot. I mean it stretched us. We had saved for over a year to make this happen. It took all of that and then some.

We went the first week in December. This was the kids Christmas present. Santa came early! I don’t remember exact costs or breakdowns. However, what I do remember is feeling that we got much more than we were paying for. The park was pristine. Cast members treated us like we were the only ones in the parks. Merchandise, while costly, was well made. Food was delicious with generous portions. It just felt good. You did not mind shoveling out the cash, because you felt you got more in return. It was just a good value. We came home filled with the magic and wonder that was Disney and wanting More. While I was always a Disney fan, the family was now firmly in the fold.

Fast forward to 1997. We planned a family trip to WDW for early December. Just before the family trip, I was fortunate enough to be at a work conference at Disney’s Boardwalk. Grandma and I went and had a good time. It was during this pre-trip that we became DVC owners at the Boardwalk. That is a story for a different time. We modified our family reservations to stay in a 1 bedroom Boardwalk Villa. The kids Loved it. My youngest asked, “Dad are we rich now?” To which I replied, “no, it just feels that way”. The magic of the Disneyland trip was repeated. But more! The magic was just more. It is really hard to explain. WDW magic was Disneyland on steroids. Once again, expensive, but more than worth it.

Disney Now

We spent many years enjoying the DVC membership. We took trips every other year or so. We would bank and borrow points to make a 2 week stay possible. Then life happens. Mother in law had a major stroke and we spent 12 years caring for her. Kids were in college and getting married off. Disney was just going to have to wait.

Grandkid Years

Our first trip back after the COVID shutdown was in 2023. This time with grandkids. Now my Dear Daughter is the stereotypical family of four. She has fond memories of Disney and wants to give those same memories and sense of wonderment to her girls. I was not at all surprised in the increase in expense. I expected all things to cost more. My expectations were exceeded. It was expensive. What I was dismayed about was how much was lost. The parks were no longer pristine. Things were a little shabby around the edges. They just looked worn and tired. Rides broke down frequently. Food was not all that great and portions have suffered. One constant, however, was the Cast members. Still top notch. Fortunately this has not changed!

What was lost was a lot of the free perks. These perks were part of the Disney Pixie Dust. The once free Fastpass is now a costly add on called Lightning Lane. Gone also is the free airport shuttle, resort package delivery, 1 hour early entry, etc. These were the little things that made Disney just a little bit more magical. This little things made you willing to spend more, because you just got more.

Not Just Me

It is not just me that thinks Disney has lost a bit of the old magic. As I stated in the lead, the Wall Street Journal ask this very question. Unfortunately, this article is behind a paywall. Fortunately, we have access to an excellent article that provided data to the WSJ. Len Testa wrote How Much Disney Can America’s Middle Class Afford in 2025?. This article appears in Touring Plans and is linked by permission. Len goes into great detail about the cost and trade offs for a Disney World vacation. He does a great job in explaining very complex analysis in a way that everyone can understand. The point is, quoting from the article: “To walk you through, exactly, why we think Disney prices its theme parks for the top 20-percent of American households by income. ” This article is a must read.

Another great article sparked by the WSJ is Disney World is Worried About Its High Prices found in the Disney Tourist Blog. This article is somewhat of a rebuttal. Tom makes his usual excellent points. The main point is prices will rise until people stop going. This is a sad, but true statement.

Disney Responds

Disney must read the Wall Street Journal. I say this because Disney issued an official press release outlining what a good value Disney Vacations can be. The article: Disney Parks Offers: Everything You Need to Know. In this post, Disney covers many perks, specials and incentives, making its case that Disney is not all that expensive over all. I find it telling that Disney is offering so many discounts, perks, etc. To me this simply means Disney is worried about affordability. It is using its pricing power to help smooth the attendance curve and show that Disney cares about affordability. If Disney was not afraid of attendance roll-off it would not offer discounts. Another sign that Disney is worried about attendance and Resort Hotel bookings is the amount of DVC rooms that are being added. If Disney just added added hotel rooms, then it would run the risk of low occupancy rates. DVC resorts, however, don’t report occupancy rates and has a ready pool of guests that have prepaid to stay at the resort. Occupancy rate of a DVC property is expressed as breakage and is buried in the annual reports.

My 2 Cents

Ok this whole post is my opinion. But what Do I Think? I must say I agree with Tom Bricker. Disney is concerned with attendance, not affordability. As long as the parks are full, they really have no incentive to do things differently.

All that said, it is very expensive to run a Theme Park. Many of these expenses have sky rocketed in recent years, from taxes, insurance, utilities, wages, cost of goods, cost of food items, etc. It is not just a Disney issue. Many of these costs have risen much faster than the rate of inflation. Other theme parks such as Universal Orlando, Knotts Berry Farm and Busch Gardens, to name a few, are also very expensive. Competition for consumer dollars is high. Epic Universe will have an impact on Walt Disney World. How much of an impact is currently an unknown as it is yet to open. Grandma and I recently booked a 4 night stay with theme park tickets at Universal Orlando. This is costing us around $1k a night. Granted we opted for a premium resort. We wanted something similar to a DVC experience. Is it worth it? Have No Idea. However, this is $4K that we will not be spending at Disney. This next year will be interesting.

Is Disney Too Expensive for you? How about other theme parks? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time