This is exactly it for us. Kids are getting more excited by the day, and we’re inside 30 days now. If we were farther out I’d totally consider pivoting to somewhere else. I am determined to have the best time possible though, so a good time will be had by all.
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we will have a great time, And we always knew our vacation would be pricey. But the continuous price increase has me changing from a every two year family to a let’s see what happens family.
But we will have a great time on our trip—- we certainly need it!
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Nothing wrong with that. We were the same in October 2021. Not sure when we are going back. We have been planning a lot of other destinations that are significantly less expensive, even Europe or Asia trips are less now.
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With that, I need to bow out of these threads to keep my mental health balanced. Between work foolishness and Disney, my limited bandwidth is overtaxed. I’m still trying to find a suitable (cheap!) coffee option to keep me going during the day.
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Moaning Minnies. You people will be waxing nostalgically about these low, low prices in a few years.
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I said it after my trip this past spring: Genie+ is a bargain at $15, for those who know how to milk it.
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This is true. $20 honestly isn’t that bad for us liners who know how to get 6 or more LLs compared to the price of EP at UOR. And I think those lines can still be up to 30 mini right? I’m not justifying the price hike but when you compare to similar products it’s not that bad. But I guess most people will only get 2-3 res. I also think it’s rotten there was no advance notice about it.
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We canceled our November trip mostly for personal reasons (I’ll be having surgery 12/1 and feel that it’s just too much time off work). We rescheduled for April. This trip has already been rescheduled three times now because I just honestly feel almost zero pull to go back. We would 100% be going somewhere else except my daughter said that she really wants to do WDW. We used to go 2-3x/year and it will be almost 2 years since we’ve gone back.
I have always been of the mind that yes, people will pay, as long as they feel they are getting a good value and experience for their money. That’s why people are unhappy with Genie+. They not only are charging for something that basically used to be included in ticket price, but (unless you know how to work the system) it doesn’t work as well and you don’t get as much. I just can’t imagine that people are going to keep paying a premium for hotel rooms they have to clean themselves, dirty parks, grouchy cast members (not blaming them), even grouchier guests, mediocre food, small portions, not being able to get dining reservations they desire, etc. etc. I will be really interested to see what happens after the holidays.
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Nah, I’ll still be nostalgic about our 2016 trip when I took my family of 5 for less than $5000, including airfare, stayed in a moderate hotel and got free dining (the full dining plan, not the quick service). Our 2018 trip was about $1000 more, no free dining, but had an MVT discount. After our 2021 trip, when we spent yet another $1-2000 more, without flying, (but having our money still tied up with Southwest due to a cancelled spring 2020 trip) and staying value, we made the decision to bow out of Disney trips for a long while.
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The whole thing stinks like rotten cheese, but this is the worst of it.
For those guests who are already there, or who are within their cancellation window (I’d argue within 30 even for room only) they should be given the $15pp/pd price that they were advised of when they booked their vacation.
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Yes, everyone does have their own breaking point. And for us it is now. We’ve decided this morning to do our part to help give Chapek the opportunity to “act accordingly” some day. To the extent that we are part of his consumer demand problem, I called Disney and cancelled our upcoming trip next February. And this was a downsized trip staying at a moderate resort during WDW’s presumably lower time-based pricing season after previously cancelling a deluxe resort stay in September for F&W, which I cancelled back then due to my nonstop 2nd guessing about the cost of that trip. Quit simply, the anticipation of having fun at WDW has been replaced by the anxiety of how much more will it cost by the time we get there. Especially now, given Disney’s unapologetic, in-your-face bragging about raising all conceivable prices. Oh, and I may have missed the post elsewhere, but I guess Disney also raised the price of Capture the Moment photo sessions yesterday too.
Its just not the cost of Disney. As you all know, travel cost is part of the equation. Air fare, gas and other hotel fees are going up too. Last summer when we stopped at Destin on our way home, the restaurants there included a new 5.6 % “harbor tax,” 3% credit card fee and mandatory gratuity to our bill that they did not include the previous time we were there. And the “incidental hold” on our credit card when checking in to a hotel is becoming a thing of the past too. Twice now I’ve had my whole stay charged to the credit card at check-in, not when I check out. For me, that’s new. I also logged into my MDE profile and cancelled all communications from Disney Destinations. A couple of weeks ago I got a surprise pin-code email for the Christmas season at WDW. Don’t even want that kind of stuff from Disney anymore either. Sorry for the negative rant.
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What would be great is if you would take a moment to send this very message in an email to guest relations.
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Yes, you should tell them why you cancelled.
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We’re in a different category than a lot of other liners. We aren’t frequent visitors. We’ve taken the family (of five) twice, in 2019 and 2022. Husband and I have been on a couple other short trips over several years.
We thought our 2019 one would be it, the one big all-out Disney trip that our kids could remember as they got older. Then came the you-know-what, and last year when we said we’d take a family trip this summer to kind of make up for the way their lives were affected, they all said they wanted to do that trip again.
So I planned a similar trip but one designed as more “we’ve been there done that.” Fewer park days, no memory maker, no table service. Focus was on hitting the things they wanted to revisit, plus the new things since last visit. It cost us $2k more this time (all in, including airfare being higher). We already knew we’d done our last Disney trip, so this news doesn’t change things other than to drive the point home even harder. We’ve made our memories there and now we’ll look to other destinations.
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I can say that I did this the last go around. Got a lovely call from someone who said ‘thanks for the feedback, it’s very important to us’. I really don’t think it makes a single bit of difference. They are only looking at their bottom line and will stay on course until they see that change.
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I kinda did when I talked to the person who took my call this morning. I wasn’t as abrasive to her on the phone as I was in this post, but I did let her know this was the 2nd cancellation in 6 months due to ever increasing costs. And that yesterday’s announcements were the reason why I did it again now. All I got was a sheepish “I understand” response.
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It would be nice if Disney created a survey that went out to folks who cancelled a vacation.
But I guess they probably don’t care.
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YES THIS!
We go next week. I originally planned to use Genie+ 3 of our 5 park days so when we booked last spring I didn’t attach it to my package. Maybe I should have. I was going to use it on HS, MK, and HS/hopping to Epcot days. The other day is the Halloween party, other day is AK which I thought I could manage without. About a week ago I considered just getting it for AK too but now I am definitely not. I also just canceled a character dinner because that price increase is shocking to me. So there, Disney, you don’t get that extra $500 of mine lol.
But $270 for 3 days of Genie+ just went to $360 for my family of 6 (if it’s $20/day) Not crazy but add in all the other stuff (food increases, Halloween party tickets, if we get ILLs, etc) and it adds up.
This is me the last 24 hours!
But I know we’ll have a good time. I’m excited about the Halloween party, we’ve never been. I hope to just make it a fun trip with great memories.
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It took them one day to reject my cash back - so I guess that is a big “no!”
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