Hi,Just stay a few nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort in Disney.Our first time staying in, or going to, Disney.It was a very nice resort.The different Villages (Aruba,Martinique,Jamaica,Trinidad (North and South) were all very nice and each village had it's own colors.Very Pretty!It was a large resort built around a lake with lounge chairs and hammocks.Each village had it's own beach and pool.Everything in Disney was expenisive!From Key Chains to T-shirts,to Tropical Drinks,to take out lunches.Even the stuff you would think would be less expensive was HIGH!I feel sorry for the families that come here not expecting such outrageous prices! We enjoyed our stay but could have done without the high prices to boot! Any questions please ask! Debbie

Your evaluation seems pretty much in line with other such posts about all things Disney. Nice, but the price! One cynical friend of mine said after a week @ Disney he felt as if someone had a vacuum cleaner in his wallet.

K 999 9,Boy is your friend right on about that!Wow! I knew it would be expensive but not to the point of 'Extremely' expensive! They get you at every turn!No breaks on any of the prices and without a car your stuck!
Our four days there cost more than the vacation package we had!! Whew! Disney won't be seeing me again...Sorry,it was nice but come on!! We went to Universal/IOA and stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel onsite.And never encountered the prices like at Disney.Six of us ate at Margaritaville in City Walk for $65.
Two of us ate at Captain Jacks in Downtown Disney for $95!!Quite a difference.I think I'll stick with the Hard Rock Hotel and Universal/IOA.At least you don't feel like your purse/wallet had a vacuum cleaner taken to it by the time you leave! Debbie

It seems that even Disney is feeling the economic pinch though, their financial report came out yesterday and it's pretty bleak. Bookings are down from the same time last year.

Maybe it's time that Disney realized that while they have a unique and excellent product, enough is enough, and if they want to stimulate business they may actually have to (gasp) discount and offer incentives like everyone else in the travel industry.

Nina,I think you hit the nail on the head! If Disney wants more people to go there in these difficult times they will need to offer people more Incentives and Discounts (EEEK!!!)And as for their 'Financial Report' I DON'T
feel sorry for them at all!! All the millions they rake in?!! They could lower their prices to the public and choose not to....So I choose not to return.

Message: Funny -- there is a blurb in today's Wall St. Journal about Disney's profits and theme park attendence being down but they have seen an increase in guest spending because they have raised ticket prices and reduced promotional offers. Looks like they are trying to make park visitors pay for their disastrous purchase of ABC.

I have to speak up here. I have had rage about Disney bubbling in my system from almost exactly 2 years ago! We went for my grandparents-in-law's 50th anniversary because they have been brainwashed by Disney and go there very year. It was where they wanted to go for their anniversary. Not some romantic beach resort or somewhere similar. NO! They wanted to drag the whole fam-damily to Disney. So we all went. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge where we had a $150 room that faced the parking lot as well as the dumpsters for the restaurant downstairs. Nice. So, the first day we went to Epcot for some ridiculous price of admission only to discover that every exhibit dumps you out in a gift shop! C'mon Disney, at least act like you have some decency! After being steered through multiple gift shops filled w/ waay overpriced trinkets and trash we left, deciding on Disneyland for the next day. I'm not even ready to talk about that experience. It might take years of counseling to even be able to remember specific things. I have blocked it our of my mind. All I remember is spending only 2 hours there before we could take no more. From there we proceeded to the pool bar where we spent the rest of the day watching the Kentucky Derby pre-race and actual race. We drank fruit drinks and met interesting people. That was the best part of our entire trip, sitting at the pool bar! Actually we had a good time at Universal/IOA, without even going into the parks. We just hung out on the City Walk.

Anyway. I needed to vent and this post gave me that opportunity. Thank you.

bomotrix and cassidy2002,Thanks for the feedback.I not only went to City Walk at Universal,I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and went to Universal/IOA and absolutely loved it! For Six people to eat at City Walk it was $65 and at Downtown Disney for 2 people it was $95!
I did not feel like Universal Parks and Resorts was trying to vacuum the money out of my purse by the end of the stay!!
Like Nina pointed out,Disney has a good product but they need to give people a break on those PRICES$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Yes, Wally World is overpriced.

Yes, its ALSO alot of work doing it all and getting your money's worth!

No, its not the Grand Canyon, Crater Lake or something equally as wonderful by nature!

But its Disney! And WE love it.

Is it our first choice for vacations? Hardly not. But our spring breaks there are WONDERFUL! We have a BLAST!

IMHO.....its like ANY experience in life..... You can define it by the money spent or the memories gained. We choose the memories!!!!!!

BTW....
For MANY more opinions of ALL kinds, check out http://www.disneyfan.com/

to the top for richard1

I had heard how expensive WDW was so when I planned our trip this past Nov, we did some things differently: we rented a house (with another family) at about $800 for the week that made it only $400 for my family to spread out in a house with it's own pool/jacuzzi, fully equipped kitchen and laundry facilities. Some people say you lose the magic of Disney by staying off site but if you're at the parks all day, just how much more magic do you need? We ate breakfast at home each morning, and some dinners at home too. Had lunch in the park every day (not that costly) and when we did dine out for dinner, it was in Kissimmee (where we were staying) so it wasn't nearly so pricey. We packed some munchie snacks for the kids for mid morning and carried water bottles which we refilled at water fountains and bought ice cream or something each afternoon. We were only 5 minutes from the parks and even closer if we took the back route! I got a great deal on a rental car for the week and got our hopper passes through AAA which saved us a little (5% I think). AAA even sent us diamond parking passes which enabled us to park right up front next to the handicapped spots...
I even found some steals on airfare.
So it can be done. It just depends on what's important to you! www.disboards.com is also a good resource.

Hi Karenvk,Thank for the feedback.We have decided to stay off-site the next time we visit Disney.We love the parks and enjoy visiting them while we are in Orlando.We knew prices would be high staying at a Disney Resort but everything was more expensive than what we thought. I did go to disboards.com and that's how we ended up at the Caribbean Beach Resort! They give sooo much great info there!!

Hi Debden
We were in Orlando in February and were also disappointed in WDW. We had been to WDW in Paris and it was great all new and shinny and lot's of fun. We had wanted to go to Orlando for years. So we jump in the car on Valentines day and drive to Orland o with the Blizzard of 2003 on our heels.
We stayed in DTD at the Hotel Royal Plaza 5 nights with admission to Seaworld and Universal was 390 thru expedia. Royal Plaza was a great hotel and we recommend it to anyone going to Orlando. We went to Universal First and loved it. Then WDW what a ripoff, it is all gift shops. Instead of Epcot I could have gone to anly local Pier One. Everything was old and dirty looking and technology that was back in the stone age.
The fireworks were great at Epcot, Disneyland was terrible , MGM was not bad..All in all we were not impressed by WDW. We ate breakfast in the hotel , carrie dsnacks and water bottles , bought other drinks and ice cream there. We ate in area restaurants, had a grerat time in them stayed away from all other things disney. Bought a few gifts for my step daughters just because but other then that admission was a high enough donation to wally world.
As for the hotel it was great King size room, sliders to a private patio, huge pool , jacuzzi , pool bar. But the best thing was that we were watching all our friends shoveling out under 3 feet of snow back here in ct.
We too would go back only to go to universal/IOA. No more disney

mrsbu,Oh wow,did you get the better hotel or what? I just looked up the Hotel Royal Plaza in DTD and it looks great! Certainly has alot more amenities than our room had! We did not have a blow dryer,iron/board,mini-bar,or in room safe.....They had one tiny bottle of Disney Shampoo/Conditioner.The room was nice and just right for two people.The beds were very comfortable and the duo sinks in the bathroom were a big plus because we need alot of counter space.Your hotel would have definitely fit the bill for us.A patio too?? When we go back to IOA/Universal we'll certainly consider staying at the Hotel Royal Plaza.Thanks for your feedback!

Glad you found the disboards site (although sometimes too much info there can be overwhelming). If there's any help i can provide with regards to an off-site vacation, feel free to let me know... I'm always happy to share my findings!