If there's one thing you can count on...

It's that Disney will raise the prices of tickets at their theme parks.

According to several published reports, this weekend, Disney will raise the prices of tickets at Walt Disney World.  This year, Disney is crossing a major milestone - the $100 mark.  A one-day, one-park ticket for the Magic Kingdom will now cost $105 per person.  This is the first time in history any single-day Disney park ticket has cost more than $100.  While this price increase is not surprising, it is in another way - crossing the $100 mark is a big deal in the minds of consumers. 

Take a look at this chart of one-day, one-park prices since this type of ticket became available:

Click for a larger view.

What's readily apparent is that ticket prices have been steadily increasing at a rate of anywhere from 0 to 20% each year, with the average price increase being about 6%.  This kind of annual rate increase is not common in the world of business.  The price for most items hasn't risen a steady 6% each year for the past 33 years.  For instance, gas in 1982 cost about $1.19 a gallon and milk cost about $1.49 a gallon.  If gas prices followed this same rate of increase, gas would cost about $9.43 a gallon and a gallon of milk would be more than $14! 

It is true that even at $105, a one-day, one-park ticket is a better overall value than, say, a round of golf at your local course.  With greens fees today running at least around $50 a person, the cost-per-hour for golf is far high higher than that of a day at the Magic Kingdom.  Even so, I continue to be concerned that Disney is slowly pricing itself out of range for lower income families.  That one-in-a-lifetime trip may become a not-in-my-lifetime trip because the prices are getting so high.

Attendance is just as high as it has ever been, so guests seem to be willing to pay the constantly higher price.  I'm just worried that there will, someday, be that point where too much becomes too much.

Tip Tuesday: To renew or not

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday!


This week's Tip Tuesday is a work in progress -- in that I'm undecided whether this is a good tip to follow or not.


So here's the "stich:"


It's time to renew the ol' annual passes (a total of five). The problem is my next WDW trip won't be until January, unless I hit the lottery soon. Now if someone's got some sure-fire numbers they could give me.... but I digress.


So if I renew now (at a total cost of about $2550), I'll lose out on at least 3 months of the AP, though I will save around $47 per pass ($235 total savings). I'll still be able to use the APs for Marathon weekend and a summer 2012 trip, though they will expire at the end of Sept. 2012.


If I decide not to renew and purchase all new passes in January 2012 (about $2765 total), I'll spend $235 more total, but I'll have a full 12 months to use the passes, including for Marathon weekend in Jan. 2012, a summer trip and the possibility for a trip in December 2012 with an expiration date in early Jan. 2013.


So here's the tip in all this: Do the math! Just because it's time to renew doesn't mean you should or need to renew just yet. It may be a better over all "value" to not renew and purchase new annual passes so you can best take advantage of the 12-month window.


Some additional elements to consider: If you let your annual pass expire, you're no longer eligible to book AP discounted rooms until you purchase your new AP. This is a big consideration and something you must take into account before deciding to let the annual pass expire. This is one of the major factors I'm keeping in mind as I decide which route to take.


I'd like to hear your thoughts -- post a comment!!

De-valuing the Annual Pass

Disney has announced their new lineup of Annual Passholder discounts for Walt Disney World for the spring/summer:
35% off select Disney Deluxe Resort Villas
30% off select Disney Deluxe Resorts*
20% off select Disney Moderate Resorts
20% off select Disney Value Resorts

* - excludes the Polynesian and Wilderness Lodge resorts for travel dates June 3-Aug.13 and excludes the Animal Kingdom Lodge for travel dates June 3-June 14.

Here endeth the news portion of this post. Bring out the soapbox please.

Thank you.

I try to refrain from ranting and raving on this blog. I prefer to provide facts and useful information, not just opinion. Today, I beg your forgiveness as I share my own thoughts on this latest announcement.

While this might sound like a great deal, keep in mind that Disney recently announced their new spring/summer discounts for the general public, which also features 30% off select deluxe resorts and villas. What's even worse, the public discount for the Polynesian, Animal Kingdom and Wilderness lodges is 25%, yet there is no mention (on the official passholder Web site) of any reduced discounts for AP holders. It's just that the AP discount doesn't apply at all during the dates mentioned above.

So where's the added value of an annual pass? There really isn't one. Oh sure, there's a minor discount for moderate and value resorts, and a bit more off for villas, but to set the AP discount the same as the general public discount has drastically devalued the benefits of the annual pass.

I understand Disney wants to "wean" guests off discounts, but AP discounts aren't the place to do that. If anything, Disney has discouraged guests getting annual passes. Why get an AP if you can get the same room discount without one?

I hope this was just some poor planning and short-sighted thinking. If Disney thinks they can eventually return to the old normal of high rates and ticket prices, then they have made a critical misjudgement. Giving guests more for less is part of the "new normal" for this economy. Get used to it an move on.

OK, I'm done. I'll put the soapbox away for now.

AP and DVC appreciation day at WDW is Jan. 9

According to the Art of Disney Web site, annual passholder and DVC members can save BIG at a special appreciation event at the World of Disney Store in Downtown Disney on Jan. 9, 2010 (same morning as the half-marathon).

Members can save 50-75% off select merchandise and take advantage of special doorbuster sales.

It runs from 7-9 a.m.

Tip Tuesday: Tables in Wonderland

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday!

In a continuation of last week's tip about the Annual Pass, I wanted to talk about another savings opportunity that goes hand-in-hand with the Annual Pass, the Tables in Wonderland card.

For those who frequently dine at the many table-service restaurants around Walt Disney World, Disney offers a program where annual passholders and Florida residents can save 20% off their entire bill at any table-service restaurant on-property. This is different from the Disney Dining Plan (DDP). With the standard DDP, guests receive one table-service credit, one counter-service credit and one snack, per person, per day. The DDP table-service credit includes an entree, dessert and non-alcoholic drink. Appetizers and alcoholic drinks are NOT included in the DDP.

Tables in Wonderland is different. It doesn't matter what your order or how much, you get 20% off. Better yet, you can apply your Tables in Wonderland savings for up to 10 people at your table, provided you're paying the bill.

But wait, it gets better.

As part of the Tables in Wonderland card, guests get free valet parking at any Disney resort where they are dining. Just show your Tables in Wonderland card to the attendant when you pull up. I've personally done this a few times already and it's VERY nice!!!

Now, there is a cost to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. For Annual Passholders, the cost is $75 per year. For non-AP Florida Residents, the cost is $100 per year. Additional cards may be purchased for $50 and a replacement card is $50 (so don't lose it!!).

There are a few restrictions to the Tables in Wonderland card. Discounts are not available during major holidays like Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, Easter, Mother's Day and Fourth of July. Additional restrictions are possible.

At first glance, you might not think the Tables in Wonderland card is worth the price, and you may be right. It really depends on how much you use it. In my case, every time we dine at a resort restaurant, I have five people. Basically with the Tables in Wonderland card, one person eats for free (again 20% off the total bill).

Given that most restaurants we tend to eat at run around $18 a person, we need to use the card at least 4 times to break even ($18 x 4 = $72). After that, we're saving money. We've already used our Tables in Wonderland card three times, and we've got more ADR's coming up before the card runs out, so in the long run, the Tables in Wonderland card will save us money.

Like the Annual Pass, you need to do the math before you decide if the Tables in Wonderland card is worth it. And, like the Annual Pass, the more you play (well, the more you eat), the more you can save.

So as you plan your next trip(s) to Walt Disney World, think about how much dining you plan to do at on-property restaurants. It may be that the Tables in Wonderland card is a smart choice!

Tip Tuesday: To AP or not to AP...

Welcome to another...

Oh, who am I kidding? It's WEDNESDAY!!! Why am I just now getting to Tip Tuesday?!?!?

Mea Culpa, my friends.

Anyway, on with the show and this week's tip...

When friends and co-workers hear that my family and I are WDW annual passholders, they often ask me, "Why?" or "Is it worth all that money?"

The answer really depends on how much you plan to visit Walt Disney World in a 12-month period.

Take my family for example. My wife and I have three children. In Disney's eyes, we are three adults and two children (under 10). We knew that we were going to WDW in January 2010 for the half-marathon and we knew we wanted to take another family trip in the spring/early summer to experience both Disney and (dare I say it!) Universal's new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As we looked at the ticket costs for those two trips alone we started thinking about the usefulness of an annual pass.

Let's look at this in a bit more depth.

In January, we were planning to get a four-day park hopper pass (per person). The cost for three adult and two child hoppers is $1,319 (at $69.25 per adult and $61 per child).

This spring/summer, we are planning at least seven days at Disney (maybe more, but we'll go with seven for now). The cost of five seven-day park hopper passes is $1,364 (at $40.86 per adult and $36.14 per child).

Adding these together, we get a total ticket cost of $2,683.

Now let's look at the cost of annual passes.

Annual passes (for this year) are $489 per adult and $432 per child. For my family, annual passes cost $2,331 -- a savings of more than $300.

As you can see, it was readily apparent that we should consider the annual pass (which we did).

But wait, there's more.

We quickly realized that we had tickets for an ENTIRE YEAR! So the question was when to start that year. Originally we weren't considering a WDW trip for the summer of 2009. With the annual pass, all of the sudden, that summer trip was possible. We had to shoulder the financial hit of the passes, but knew we were saving in the long run.

The next thing we know, we're heading down to WDW every chance we can get!

For less than the cost of our two originally planned trips, we've already taken one WDW trip and are planning three more. That's four trips for the original price of two.

But wait, there's more.

WDW annual passholders also enjoy some serious discounts. How about 10% off all purchases at the World of Disney in Downtown Disney, discounts at certain Epcot restaurants, discounts on tours, discounts on theme park tickets (for friends or family), and HUGE discounts on room-only rates at many of the Disney resorts. The room-only savings can be as much as 40% off the rack rate.

So before you head down to Walt Disney World on your next trip -- think ahead. If you might be going more than once in a calendar year or going for longer than 10 days, you might want to think about getting an annual pass. The savings could be well worth the investigation. Do the math.

For more about annual passes, see the official Disney Web site.