Some updated 50th Anniversary info - extended hours, etc.

[MomOTwins]

Wow way to stick it to most families who can barely afford the $200-400 per night at the values/mods. Guess Disney is only for the 1% now.

To be fair length of stay is big factor too. We are not in the 1%, but we like deluxe and usually only stay 4 nights. I often see people on these boards say there is no way they could afford deluxe but then describe staying one-two weeks at a time. Costs the same to stay 4 days in a deluxe at $600 a night (though we usually used room discounts from Disney that bring the cost more in the $450-500 range) as it does to stay 8 days in a mod at $300 a night. It's all a tradeoff.

 

[Ermise]

To also be fair, it is a whole different cost analysis with larger families of 5 or more where most options in the Deluxe hotels are 2 Bedroom Villas which are considerably more than $600/night. Compared to the cabins in Fort Wilderness and family suites in the value resorts it is considerably more expensive.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

To be fair length of stay is big factor too. We are not in the 1%, but we like deluxe and usually only stay 4 nights. I often see people on these boards say there is no way they could afford deluxe but then describe staying one-two weeks at a time. Costs the same to stay 4 days in a deluxe at $600 a night (though we usually used room discounts from Disney that bring the cost more in the $450-500 range) as it does to stay 8 days in a mod at $300 a night. It's all a tradeoff.

Umm, who only goes on vacation to Disney for 4 nights? You can't get anything done in that amount of time. If Disney is my vacation for the entire year then of course I am going for a week. Geez, people with money think the rest of us should just take the scraps and be thankful. Sorry but when a value costs over $200/nt plus tickets that is not a cheap vacation. Everyone who ponies up the ridiculous prices should get the perks.

I guess Disney is off our family vacation rotation from now on because there is no way we can afford even $400/nt.

 

[maichan]

It's nice that the morning EMH perk will be offered everyday, but with it shortened to just 30 mins, how much can one realistically expect to get done prior to normal park opening?

And not that I can afford to upgrade to deluxe, but it makes me wonder how long the evening EMH will actually be.

 

[Marionnette]

It's nice that the morning EMH perk will be offered everyday, but with it shortened to just 30 mins, how much can one realistically expect to get done prior to normal park opening?

And not that I can afford to upgrade to deluxe, but it makes me wonder how long the evening EMH will actually be.

I think that depends on the park and the attractions you choose. If you're at MK, I'm betting two attractions before the gates open to the general public but by then you will already be well ahead of them in line for your 3rd attraction. If you're at AK, which has fewer attractions and is more spread out. I'm guessing one done and in line for a second one after 30 minutes.

 

[FCDub]

Wow way to stick it to most families who can barely afford the $200-400 per night at the values/mods. Guess Disney is only for the 1% now.

Disney parks have never been egalitarian. This is a plain myth.

 

[Alan1972]

Wow way to stick it to most families who can barely afford the $200-400 per night at the values/mods. Guess Disney is only for the 1% now.

disney is a business not a charity
a trip to Disney World is a luxury not a human right
the fact that you can take even 1 trip to Disney World in your lifetime puts you in the top 20% of the world's population in terms of income.

So like anything else you get what you pay for. first class airline seats are better than economy seats because that is what you pay for.

 

[cakebaker]

The hyperbole on this thread is amazing. Resort guests aren’t the 1%. They aren’t rich. We don’t think people should pay prices they think are ridiculous nor continue to go to Disney if they don’t feel it’s a good value for them.

What I think is you should make your concerns known to Disney and stop with the insults and name calling just because you don’t get something others get because they choose to pay for it.

All I know is we love going, we make sacrifices to stay on site and I’m thrilled with the idea that EMH’s might actually be worth going to again.

And I’ve stayed at values up to 2 br DVC villas so I’m not sure where I land on the financial status scale. I’m all over the place. I am an example of Disneys intent being a sound plan. If this is how it stays, you can bet we’ll stay Deluxe/DVC exclusively.

 

[MomOTwins]

Umm, who only goes on vacation to Disney for 4 nights? You can't get anything done in that amount of time. If Disney is my vacation for the entire year then of course I am going for a week. Geez, people with money think the rest of us should just take the scraps and be thankful. Sorry but when a value costs over $200/nt plus tickets that is not a cheap vacation. Everyone who ponies up the ridiculous prices should get the perks.

I guess Disney is off our family vacation rotation from now on because there is no way we can afford even $400/nt.

Lol, “who stays 4 nights”? I just said that is what we usually do. At my old job that was the most vacation I was allowed, but even now that I can get a week off, I’ll still just do 4 nights on average as we don’t need more than one day per park to enjoy the trip and AK is a half day. In fact, it has often been said the reason Disney won’t open a fifth gate is the average trip is four days.

My point is it is a choice—it is not that disney is “unaffordable”—it’s that you have to make choices within your budget.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’m a DVC member who will be benefiting from the extra park time, but I still feel it just feels wrong. What they need to do is take all the perks away from all of the “good neighbor hotels” and give them exclusively to onsite guests. This isn’t a new offering, this is taking something away from the majority so that the deluxe minority can have a better vacation. Deluxe guests get better accommodations, food, pools, locations and amenities, so they’re already “getting what they pay for”. Just feels dirty

 

[PaladinButters]

a trip to Disney World is a luxury not a human right

This bears repeating. It's totally ok to be bummed about changes or price increases (on anything, don't even talk to me abut things like gas prices or the housing market right now), but it's not ok to act like you're entitled to the annual deluxe resort vacation of your choosing.

 

[blbrodger1]

To be fair length of stay is big factor too. We are not in the 1%, but we like deluxe and usually only stay 4 nights. I often see people on these boards say there is no way they could afford deluxe but then describe staying one-two weeks at a time. Costs the same to stay 4 days in a deluxe at $600 a night (though we usually used room discounts from Disney that bring the cost more in the $450-500 range) as it does to stay 8 days in a mod at $300 a night. It's all a tradeoff.

Exactly! Most of our trips are only 4-5 nights because that is the longest period of time that we can take off from work. Usually our trips are book ends to holidays. This year, we're going from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and returning home on Sunday. We don't have time for a pool day or much down time, but it works for our family.

 

[cakebaker]

Umm, who only goes on vacation to Disney for 4 nights? You can't get anything done in that amount of time. If Disney is my vacation for the entire year then of course I am going for a week. Geez, people with money think the rest of us should just take the scraps and be thankful. Sorry but when a value costs over $200/nt plus tickets that is not a cheap vacation. Everyone who ponies up the ridiculous prices should get the perks.

I guess Disney is off our family vacation rotation from now on because there is no way we can afford even $400/nt.

There's a huge disconnect between you griping about "people with money" right after you find it incredible that someone would only stay 4 days at WDW.

For the record, I'm one who, although I never knew it, is part of the elite crowd and we've made many 4 day trips. 7 is the longest we usually stay., more often 4-6 days, but we've done as few as 3.

 

[Meglen]

How come Jimmy has a lunchable!! He gets a juice and a candy.. that's not fair I can only afford a homemade pbj.

I am super sorry to folks who can "hardly afford" Disney as it is.. but like if your that hard on money and saved your butt off to go than enjoy your trip.. like who cares what others who pay more get. You did what you could and got to go on vacation that's amazing.

I come from a bankrupt,food stamp, drive by people's houses with tvs in the windows to catch some TV type family. We NEVER went on vacation and I never once had this mind set of "why don't I have this it's not fair'. It's not the same as the old perk it's just not. They didn't take this away than give it to the "rich".

I went to wdw once at a teenager with my dad who didn't plan one thing. This was the days of paper fast passes. You know what, I had a blast we made it our own vacation not once did I look around at others and go "why not me" because I was so grateful to even get to go. Man some people need a reality check.

 

[cakebaker]

Deluxe guests get better accommodations, food, pools, locations and amenities, so they’re already “getting what they pay for”.

If you think the current prices for Deluxe resorts are a good value without any additional perks, why not stay there? Not only would you get a resort that you believe gives you what you pay for, you'd get perks cheaper resorts don't get.

 

[Meglen]

Deluxe guests get better accommodations, food, pools, locations and amenities, so they’re already “getting what they pay for”.

I kinda don't agree here. Deluxe pools are kinda bottom tier other than bc/yc. Mods and values have pretty amazing feature pools. Location? A quick Uber trip gets you to where you wanna be. Again yc/bc/bw can walk to Epcot and hs but now with skyliner it's not much faster. Also each food offering is open to everyone. So dvc , deluxe are paying for the room and even than some of the deluxe rooms are lackluster to the new referbed rooms at values.

 

[pinkxray]

I love my 4-5 night RunDisney stays. That is usually the longest time I can travel since races usually fall during the school year. We tend to stay deluxe or use dvc for our trips.
If we were always doing 7 nights, it would almost never be 7 nights at Disney deluxe. We split with a cheaper resort or do a split stay with Universal where the deluxes include express pass and are a good rate usually.
As much as I hate that Disney is trying to find every way to suck every extra dollar possible, they are a business. And people are paying. We are going to Universal in July and I keep seeing reviews of people paying over $240 for an express pass for 1 per person per day. No way Disney will watch that and not try to get money like that.
Next will be fast passes at deluxes but pay if staying elsewhere. People will complain but enough people will pay that Disney won’t care about those who don’t or stop coming to Disney.

 

[glocon]

Umm, who only goes on vacation to Disney for 4 nights? You can't get anything done in that amount of time. If Disney is my vacation for the entire year then of course I am going for a week. Geez, people with money think the rest of us should just take the scraps and be thankful. Sorry but when a value costs over $200/nt plus tickets that is not a cheap vacation. Everyone who ponies up the ridiculous prices should get the perks.

I guess Disney is off our family vacation rotation from now on because there is no way we can afford even $400/nt.y

Agree with some of the above posters... we also do 3,4 or 5 night stays. Only once have we stayed a week at wdw and that was a split mostly off site stay with an added 3 days at POR. I certainly don't begrudge anyone to stay a week or two. Happy for you/them!

People all vacation differently and there is no need to think that what I'm getting is scraps. I guess it's all on how you view things. To me any wdw is a fun family time! We have stayed some at deluxe resorts, but the only way we could afford that was a shorter trip. Worth it to us! We've also done value and mod and enjoyed every last one of those trips. Never did we feel less than someone else because we didn't stay deluxe.

There are so many different ways to vacation at wdw, explore you options. Just because you've always done things one way doesn't mean you can't change things up and still have a good time.

 

[gharter]

Universal has had express pass as part of their deluxe resorts for several years.
Its nice to see Disney come up with something (while honestly not close to what Universal offers).

If you stayed at the Concierge level, there were perks there that were not available to anyone else.

I do agree with removing the good neighbor benefits. Those perks should be exclusive to on site guests.
I've also thought that onsite guests should be able to book dining reservations, park passes, FPs (if they come back) a short time before those not staying on site, as a free perk for paying more to stay on site.

 

[DPgrlz]

Umm, who only goes on vacation to Disney for 4 nights? You can't get anything done in that amount of time. If Disney is my vacation for the entire year then of course I am going for a week. Geez, people with money think the rest of us should just take the scraps and be thankful. Sorry but when a value costs over $200/nt plus tickets that is not a cheap vacation. Everyone who ponies up the ridiculous prices should get the perks.

I guess Disney is off our family vacation rotation from now on because there is no way we can afford even $400/nt.

I've never stayed more than 4 nights at Disney or any other vacation. My honeymoon was 5 nights but that was over 20 years ago.