Walt Disney World
My family has enjoyed each of our Walt Disney World trips for familiar and new reasons with each experience. We get it’s not for everyone, but we’ve experienced the magic. Disney knowingly relies on that and wisely builds upon it. My family hasn’t returned to Walt Disney World for about two years. Quite simply, we wanted a break. We figured we’d eventually visit again, but we’ve decided to put it off a bit longer. It was a remarkably easy decision.
Our Situation
On a quiet, late evening recently, my wife and I looked ahead to 2026 and our travel priorities. Among other options (one which I’ll describe later), we decided to look at a Walt Disney World return over our little ones’ school winter break in mid/late January. Given our other plans in the year and our many previous trips to Disney World, we considered the timeframe – the trip length and time of year – as optimal for our situation.
I hopped on the Walt Disney World site to get a general idea of ticket rates during that time of year. Our most recent experience during that time of year was several years ago. We also know other ways exist for discounting a Disney trip, including working with an excellent travel agent like Joe. I wasn’t presupposing how I would book other than planning to use discounted Disney gift cards acquired and stacked with various credit card rewards currencies and plays. At any rate, I conducted my search for our given dates and family size. Get ready.
Good Gosh Almighty
The Walt Disney World site greeted me with this:
Egads! That’s an average of $174.19 per person per day at the park. To be more than clear, that’s park singular. I looked up the rate for the no-frills option – just one park per day, no hopper option, etc.
I know Disney experiences are expensive. I’ve booked them for years with different points currencies and gift cards. We felt they were rewarding redemptions meeting our highest-priority travel goals. But something about this estimate over a few clicks didn’t sit right with me. I’m acquainted with Disney’s diabolically-genius dynamic pricing and wasn’t surprised rates were higher in January compared to, say, August. And I know Disney could potentially offer relatively-minor discounts, but I consider those savings negligible. Regardless, when I saw the per-person daily rate is much closer to $200 than $100, I pushed back from my desk.
Of course, this is all relative. Disney has calculated their rates as reasonable, and it definitely can be when compared to other entertainment options. While what many individuals rationalize spending on sporting events and certain concerts doesn’t make sense to me, it can make that Walt Disney World daily ticket amount seem remarkably moderate. And, I’ve paid more than that per person for our family to attend special concerts here and there. A whole day of Disney World for just under $200 can sound surprisingly sensible when up against similar or higher numbers for a few hours. Disney is betting the value proposition still works enough to fill the parks, and it’s apparently working – on affluent visitors, others going into debt for their entire vacation, and every situation in between.
Meanwhile, we experienced another timely development offering additional perspective.
Re-upping with Busch Gardens
Coincidentally and independently, my family and I recently chose to go for another round of Busch Gardens Williamsburg memberships. We’ve held such passes for years, usually opting to cancel at the end of the term in order to take a few months off. At the right time, I strike again when I feel a solid-enough membership deal appears.
As is my usual routine, I went for the top-end pass which Busch Gardens Williamsburg offers, the 11-park Platinum membership. Including all taxes and fees, my pass came to $368.49 and also includes $100 in gift cards throughout the year (in addition to free preferred parking, discounts, tickets, and a plethora of other perks I may discuss another time). I purchased Busch Gardens Basic memberships for other family members; this pass offers many of the same lower-end-but-useful perks the Platinum does. With all taxes and fees, these passes were $170.99 each.
That’s right, my family members each obtain a whole year of visits to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for less than a single day at a Disney World park for the dates we had selected above.
I know this is a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. For better and worse, Disney World is not Busch Gardens, and vice versa. Disney takes certain experiences to a level Busch Gardens cannot reach. On the flip side, Busch Gardens offers much Disney World cannot. I’m definitely not alone in thinking the Busch Gardens Williamsburg setting is clearly superior to Disney World’s. Indeed, this theme park has been named the most beautiful one in the nation for the past 35 years. It also comes with higher thrills and lower maintenance for my family.
Again, I want to underscore that my Walt Disney World decision had nothing to do with my Busch Gardens one. But I can’t ignore how stark the valuation difference is.
Our Disney Future
While our Disney World future remains somewhat uncertain, we have plans for a family trip to Disneyland in Summer 2026. I haven’t been as an adult, and my immediate family has never been. Many I trust overwhelmingly prefer Disneyland to Walt Disney World. We’re looking forward to a longer Disneyland and Southern California vacation for about the same (at most) sticker price as three days in Walt Disney World – and that’s before taking into account award redemptions.
Walt Disney World – Conclusion
So, basically, our 2026 Disney plans have gone from “yes, and” to “either, or.” This isn’t out of necessity. Rather, the value proposition simply isn’t there for us – in this instance, Walt Disney World wants too much in return for us having a compressed, repetitive experience. We’re prioritizing our Disneyland visit for next year. Eventually, we’ll return to Walt Disney World, but we currently have no idea when that will be. I’m fine not knowing.
Meanwhile, we’ll continue collecting experiences and memories in other ways, at home and while traveling. For the foreseeable future, Disney will play a role occasionally, but not with a “World” attached.
So then, Disney theme park fans, how do enjoy the parks (or not) these days?
Last time I was on a family trip to Disney the park goers were completely trashy. I know money can’t buy class, but I don’t think these people had either. The only thing I could think of was how much debt people are accumulating to pay for an Orlando vacation. If Disney tickets required a 650 or above credit score, the number of people in the park would likely drop in half.
Disney and Universal prices are just insane. It’s really tough for non-rich people to find value for the cost.