Things used to be cheaper before you were born. You’ve heard variations of this statement all your life, probably from grandparents and aging parents. You find the comments tiresome, although a secret part of you knows that you already feel that way about some stuff and worry that you’ll say the same things as you get older. It’s the circle of life’s complaints.
Does the same line of thinking apply to Disney? Are you getting a better deal at Disney resorts today than when the park opened? Or were grandparents right about the economy of yesteryear? In the latest article about Disney ticket prices, I’m going to examine the cost to stay onsite at Disney, showing whether it’s a good deal or not. I’ll also throw in some fun facts about the history of Walt Disney World resorts.
The lucky number is six
Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971. We’ll take a look at some facts about this in just a moment, but here’s the starter point. Inflation has gone up a factor of six since Disney’s debut in Orlando. That makes inflation adjustment calculations unusually easy. A dollar at that time is worth almost exactly six dollars today.
Here’s the historical footnote that goes along with that fact. When the Walt Disney World campus debuted to the public in 1971, it featured two onsite properties, both of which connected directly with Magic Kingdom via monorail. Those properties were then known as The Contemporary Resort Hotel and Polynesian Village Resort. Both experienced name changes over the years, with the Poly circling back to its original title. The other property is simply Disney’s Contemporary Resort now.
The first year these resorts were open to the public, a guest could stay there for the low, low rate of $28. That’s $168 in modern dollars for the cheapest room. There were price ranges back then, just as there are today. The “highest” rate in 1971 was $44, the equivalent of $264 today.
Disney pricing from 1971 until now
If you’re wondering which resort was more expensive, the answer is neither. Disney set those prices for both hotels. So, a person could stay the most luxurious properties ever built in Central Florida at that time for roughly the same cost as dinner at Outback Steakhouse today. That’s why your grandparents are cranky about money.
Then again, the 1971 equivalent of $168-$264 a night was still viewed as a hefty price. Critics assailed Disney over the hefty fee of staying onsite. In that way, not much has changed over the years. Yes, hotel rooms at these two properties are much more expensive today. The cheapest rack rate for either original property is $425, which means that base prices have more than doubled.
Does that seem like a lot? Well, yes and no. The price has exceeded the cost of living from 1971 until now. It’s certainly not the worst increase at Walt Disney World, though. Ticket prices have increased dramatically over that time. As I previously pointed out, “you could almost take an entire family of five to Magic Kingdom for what it costs for a single person today.” The catch was that ticket admission didn’t include ride credits. You had to pay for those. Still, “it costs roughly 4.6 times as much to visit Walt Disney World today than in 1971.” And that’s after inflation adjustment.
Is a stay at a Disney resort still a good deal?
That’s the question you’ll need to answer as you contemplate your next vacation. You can see from the data above that it has always cost a lot of money to stay onsite. That’s by design. Disney expects customers to pay a premium to enjoy the best amenities at Walt Disney World. One of those amenities is underrated, but I maintain that it’s the most important one. It’s logistics.
Traveling around the Walt Disney World campus is rarely easy. That was true in 1971, when 10.7 million people visited during the first calendar year. It’s that much truer now that 52 million people attend Walt Disney World each year. Suffice to say that the traffic sucks. Disney’s recent announcement about the Skyliner shows that they’re taking the problem seriously, but it reinforces a larger point.
Staying offsite during a Walt Disney World visit is wildly inconvenient. You have a harder time leaving the various theme parks during the day. Instead, you’re stuck there, which doesn’t sound bad until you remember that it’s often 85 degrees or higher. Also, humans sweat. So, you’re a sticky, sweaty theme park tourist who cannot go back to the hotel easily.
The cost of comfort
What’s the cost of comfort? Well, that’s a moving target at the Most Magical Place on Earth. The cheapest room onsite is $106 per night. The most expensive one is more than $2,000 per night. Disney’s goal with this wide range of housing options is to provide guests with the room they need at a price they can afford. The goal of other hotels in the area is to capitalize on the popularity of Disney’s theme parks. They compete by having cheaper rates while emphasizing that their location is just as good.
In some cases, that’s true. Disney doesn’t own the Swan and Dolphin properties, but they’re right beside Disney’s BoardWalk Resort and Disney’s Beach Club Resort. They’re even part of Disney’s boat transportation system. These hotels seem like they’re great options in that they receive virtually every Disney resort amenity save for access to Disney’s Magical Express.
What’s the catch? The rooms here cost an average of $240 per night, and the hotel charges $28.13 per night for what it calls a “service package.” In reality, that’s a resort fee for staying at the hotel. Effectively, these rooms start at $270 per night…and they’re nowhere near as nice as BoardWalk or Beach Club. Then again, the cheapest room at either of those hotels starts at $421. Over the course of a seven day/six night trip, you’d pay $906 more to stay in the same general location for a Disney property.
But what are the amenities?
What do you get for that money? Let’s ignore Swan and Dolphin for now and focus on Disney amenities. Disney offers hotel guests Extra Magic Hours access to the theme parks. That’s an hour each day, either before opening or after closing, where the only people in the parks are Disney resort guests. You can ride four or five attractions during this timeframe, as only the most popular ones have long waits.
Disney hotel guests also get to schedule FastPasses 60 days prior to the visit. Everyone else can select them 30 days prior to arrival. That extra 30 days is often the difference between getting a FastPass for Avatar Flight of Passage or Frozen Ever After or missing out completely. When you don’t have a FastPass, you have to wait in line, and both of these attractions regularly have waits of 90 minutes or more. That’s a huge block of time that you’re spending on a single ride. With a FastPass, you can cut that time to 30 minutes or less. The larger FastPass window gives you more control over your vacation.
The transportation system is a work-in-progress, but the hints are there that it’s about to become so much better. The Skyliner will allow guests at multiple hotels to go directly to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios without ever riding a bus. What’s the financial value of that to a theme park tourist? Everyone’s mileage will vary on it, but here’s the critical point. The Skyliner will have a stop in the area of the All-Star Resorts. Its specific purpose is to alleviate traffic in that area.
These hotels are also the cheapest onsite. While they’re not monorail resorts with the statue and history of the Polynesian or Contemporary, they’re a terrific value. For less than what you would have paid to stay onsite at Walt Disney World in 1971, you can stay at a place that provides all the amenities of a Disney resort visit. You also don’t have to break the bank to do so.
The addition of the Skyliner is a brilliant way for Disney to negate anyone’s need to stay offsite. Competitors in the hotel industry simply cannot match the combination of prices and amenities at Disney’s least expensive resorts. Meanwhile, anyone with a larger budget can stay at an even better Disney locale. That’s why a Disney resort stay makes even more sense today than it did when the park opened.
From day one of Walt Disney World, staying onsite has included a bit of prestige plus some incredible amenities. That hasn’t changed over the years, and the situation will only get better from now until the park’s 50th anniversary celebration. It’s a wonderful deal for the money.
