This is an opinion article. I don’t normally do these. My blog is mostly trip recommendations and stories behind the locations… I pretty much stick to ‘eat here’ and ‘don’t eat here’, ‘this excursion was awesome’, etc. I am writing this because I think the shift in Disney trips is interesting and makes for a great debate. To book or not to book?? The current dynamic of the Disney vacation is strange and one that I’ve been thinking about a lot. This is my opinion, I am sharing it as a ‘food for thought.’
Disney “poor” is a thing now. So, to book a vacation or not to book…this is the great debate I’ve been hearing lately….and it seems to come back to sentimental value vs. financial value. I think Disney needs both to win. For me, they are not aligned. My childhood memories of growing up going to Disney every other summer for years brings me back there as an adult. I think that a lot of people find that they continue to book Disney vacations because of their memories there as a kid. That’s something that the best marketing team could never replicate. Sentimental value drives business, drives hotel bookings, drives multiple park ticket purchases and spending, spending, spending. It is every corporation’s best case scenario…profits, profits, profits. For a long time, the price was high but doable. I went anyway, my heart told me to go. I do love it there…and the new rides they open are amazing. Financial value (sort of) and Sentimental value (absolutely). For the price, I was willing to go and schlep my kids there for days in the hot humid and completely hell-on-earth Florida weather. Then the pandemic changed everything…
I remember when Disney shut down. I was actually worried it would never reopen. That’s sentimental value for you! Then as soon as it opened, we planned our visit. It sounded perfect… controlled guest count (have you been there where there is a billion people walking around like a thick fog you have to navigate through? Miserable), park pass prices weren’t crazy, and we found a very affordable and fabulously huge 2-bedroom condo at a resort just outside of the park (staying on property is a ridiculous expense for the convenience and still is). So, we took our 4 kids and went to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Blizzard Beach. Expensive, but doable and worth it for me, I love Disney and I wanted to experience it with our kids. The food was way over priced ($220 for lunch at a restaurant in Magic Kingdom), but the line waits were impressively short! There was no fast pass, so this was huge that we didn’t have to wait forever for every single ride. Avatar still had a long wait, but our kids did it without complaining. We saw a spectacular light show right before Magic Kingdom closed, it was a great memory.
Fast forward to this past April (2022), we did one day at Epcot. The park pass expense was typical, so no shock there. Disney introduced the Genie Plus program which replaces Fast Pass. This was our first experience using it, I had my doubts. Turns out, this is NOT a good thing. Each person pays $15 to participate in Genie Plus (not great). Then, you can only pick your rides that morning for the day, one….ride….at….a….time. We picked Frozen first, and the Genie line moved quickly. We excitedly opened the App to pick our next ride BUT….nothing was available until 3 hours later, smack dab in the middle of our lunch. And, the rides that were available (only a few) were kiddie rides. The App restricts your ride options, ridiculous. The most irritating part to this whole Genie thing? If you want a new ride, like Ratatouille, you had to PAY EXTRA PER PERSON. Yep. Um, I already paid $15 to use this program? I can’t believe someone at the Disney executive level approved this program. We were only able to pick one more ride that day (yes, 2 rides the entire day using Genie Plus) and then there was nothing. The App actually tells you that the ride you want is no longer accepting Genie Plus reservations, or something like that. We were stunned. Worst $15 dollars I ever spent. For me, the financial value is now suddenly a snowball rolling downhill.
The park was dirty. And this hurts a little bit to say. I always tell people that I aspire for Disney-esque gardens at my own home because in my mind they are a perfect 10 when you go the park….clean, immaculately so, and beautiful. The flowers looked good, but there was trash blowing around everywhere we went. You never saw any park employees going around like they used to sweeping and keeping it constantly clean. It was noticed. Are they short staffed? Probably. Maybe they can hire more people with all the money they are getting with the Genie Plus program.
Staying on property will not be something we consider, the value just isn’t there….sentimental OR financial. I grew up staying on property, too… The Contemporary, The Caribbean, The Yacht Club, The Beach Club. As an adult making decisions about how I spend the money I make, I just can’t justify $500 a night for the tiniest room ever. The resort grounds are beautiful, the pools are great, and the convenience is wonderful, but the bill you have to pay is not. It’s stupid.
This past January, Disney terminated the Magic Express. Wow. So now you have to rent a car or Uber it to the park. This is an added expense that never was before. The Magic Express was pretty great, and now families have to build in the $$ of transportation into the already ballooning expense of going. For those people who treat Disney like a religion, they are being unfairly tasked with the challenge of justifying the expense. These avid Disney fans keep the park lights on.
Yes, I love Disney, and Yes, I have fond, cherished memories going there as a kid. We went last year with our kids and had a great time and swallowed the price. I went with my husband this year and only did Epcot, swallowed the horse pill that is the Genie Plus program, and had a pretty great day together…. we went to every country and instead of having a drink, we shared a kiss 🙂 You can still have a good time, you’re just paying more than you’ve ever paid for it.
Next year, we are talking about taking our brood of kids to Hollywood Studios… and we are talking about paying extra for the Star Wars ride….cuz I guess that’s how it is set up now. After much discussion, we are not doing multiple days at Disney, and may never do it again with prices being what they are. We aren’t thrilled with paying for food there for the day, we know it’s the equivalent of a car payment, but…we have no choice, we have to eat. We are staying off property at a mansion-sized Florida home with more amenities than we know what do with… that part is awesome, and talk about bang for your buck! Rather than doing multiple parks, we have decided to see all the other things Orlando has to offer, and I’m good with that. Disney has failed to convince me that it is WORTH going to multiple parks and spending the hard-earned money we make.
And that’s just it, right? We have a choice and we decide HOW to spend every penny. And with limited pennies available, where do we spend it? We spend on the things that matter to us AND make us feel that it is justified and worth it…. when sentimental value and financial value are not aligned, it poses a spending conundrum. I realized that my kids will be totally fine if we don’t go to Disney ever again. I saw a meme once that had me laughing for days about how a Disney vacation costs $7k, but a refrigerator card board box is free and that’s all a kid needs to build a fort and talk about it for days and play with it for weeks….maybe we convince ourselves that kids need and appreciate these trips, but I think all they really want is to be with you, and, it doesn’t matter where that is.
The feelings I feel now regarding Disney trips are feelings like resentment, being taken advantage of, being unfairly asked for more and more and more money when all I want to do is have a wonderful adventure with our kids riding all of my favorite rides, and being angry (like, really angry) that meals are hundreds of dollars for a family of 6. Those aren’t good feelings, and it makes me sad. Our 1-day visit next summer might be our last visit. There are so many places I want to vacation with our kids… why continually choose Disney? We can take them to the Caribbean for less.
Disney is not what it used to be, and I had to accept that. It has changed with the times. My question is this: if sentimental value and fond memories are what drives disney vacations (and $$$) for decades to come, with prices being what they are and these vacations becoming completely unaffordable, will Disney find that the desire for future adults/parents to go is simply not there? Thus affecting park attendance and hotel room bookings? If kids today aren’t being taken to Disney every summer, or every other summer, will they care at all to go as parents who have their own kids one day? Maybe they are doing what they need to do to win the Short Game, but may find that they lose the Long Game. I think people are now, more than ever, questioning what they spend money on. And spending dollars at Disney, from what I’ve been reading and what I myself experienced, is certainly in question more than ever.
Food for thought, and as always, a welcome debate. I am just a Mom of 4 who wants amazing summer adventures with our kids for the best price and value ❤️
#GoAdventure without going completely broke, that makes no sense at all
Heather
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