International Price Comparison for resorts

[davewasbaloo]

Well folks,

It's a new year. Here in the UK, the pound is worth little against the Euro (Cokes at DLP are now $6 and counter service is between $14 and $20 a person). I wondered how the different resorts stack up (just accommodation and tickets for 6 nights, 7 days). This does not include food, transport to get there or souvenirs.

This is for the week of the UK half term - Feb 14 - Feb 20th for a family of 2 adults and 2 children.

I thought you may be interested:

Disney Comparison 14-20 Feb - 6 nights
Pound Sterling US Dollars Jap Yen
HKDL - Hollywood £733.56 $1,078.67 ¥97,782.83
Santa Fe - DLP £940.00 $1,377.25 ¥125,416.18
HKDL - DLH £1,042.01 $1,532.84 ¥138,954.55
WDW - POP £1,194.00 $1,749.36 ¥159,305.23
DL - Paradise Pier £1,908.46 $2,795.00 ¥254,717.74
TDL Ambassador £2,119.44 $3,108.58 ¥281,800.00
DLH - DLP £2,248.00 $3,293.67 ¥299,187.36
TDL - Miracosta £2,376.14 $3,484.10 ¥315,800.00
DL - Grand Californian £2,592.63 $3,797.00 ¥346,078.50
WDW - Grand Fla £2,706.00 $3,967.77 ¥361,211.75
TDL - DLH £2,721.13 $3,991.07 ¥361,800.00

What are your thoughts?

[TDLFAN]

My thoughts?
Looking at those numbers, I can only come to the conclusion that both WDW's Grand FL and DL's Grand CA are grossly overpriced, especially when you compare it to Disney's best hotel in the World: TDS Miracosta, and especially! when you compare the Grand FL to it's more intimate and somewhat more lavishly designed little twin sis, the HKDLH.
Even more shocking is looking at the POP Century and HKDL's Hollywood Hotel. Based on your numbers, the HKDL Hollywood is cheaper than the Pop Century, and yet, the Hollywood is 5 times more of a hotel than the Pop will ever be, and more luxurious too. Heck, throw in the Paradise Pier and the HKDL Hollywood looks like an even better deal. (But those of us who have stayed at the Hollywood Hotel have known that for a while now..)

Now Dave.. do us a favor and compare the parks' ticket prices versus how much entertainment value you can find per each park.

[davewasbaloo]

Well my view is WDW offers the least value despite having more parks.

Well as I am viewed as the wicked witch of the WDW boards, I thought I would see other people's thoughts before replying with my own. That said, either the boards are very quiet, or it proves my hypothesis that most Disney fans are only really interested in their local park.

I suspect the ranking for me would be based on desirability and cost (including flight costs from the UK):

1. TDL/TDS
2. DL
3. DLP
4. HKDL
5. WDW

That said, because of the transport costs for a family of 4, DLP will be winning out for a while, as we can get there for about $200 compared to $1900 for DL or WDW, and $3200 for TDL and HKDL.

If I were a singleton, then all of them are a good deal and I would be heading to Asia instead of DLP or Stateside.

[WDWmemories]

Wow this is very eye-opening! Thanks for compiling and sharing the data!

I wonder if some of this falls into the category of 'they can, so they do'...

While many visitors to WDW are form outside the US, I would assume that most are from the US East Coast. An unscientific proof is watching the board at Project Tomorrow plot visitors, as shown in this picture:

Plot of visitor home-towns. You can see many come from the US East Coast.

BTW, more Project Tomorrow Pictures starting here:
Free high resolution pictures Disney World - Epcot - Future World - Project Tomorrow entrance sign - Inventing the Wonders of the Future, presented by Siemens
But I digress...

So, many of these folks don't or won't travel internationally, or doing so would blow the price of their holiday out of the water. They want a quality vacation experience, and Disney is a safe and consistent choice, expecially for families. And when they compare the total price of Disney - with travel - to similar quality vacation options around the US, the Disney prices don't seem so crazy.

Disney can, so Disney does.

Summary of my theory: Most visitors are from the US east coast. Their total cost of a Disney vacation, including travel, is "reasonable" compared to other options.


What do you think?

[davewasbaloo]

Summary of my theory: Most visitors are from the US east coast. Their total cost of a Disney vacation, including travel, is "reasonable" compared to other options.


What do you think?

I think this is a reasonable assertion. I remember seeing a paper a few years ago saying Chicago is the city who's population visit WDW the most overall. What is interesting is people from the Midwest and Texas who frequent WDW could probably go to Disneyland for the same cost flight wise, but their habits dictate other behaviours.

Local costs are likely to play a key role too. WDW has to support multiple parks, hotels, transport infrastructure and Magical Express, so this likely accounts for the price difference there.

Also, HKDL is probably cheaper because the income on the main land is much less than the catchment area for the other resorts.

But what prompted this is many UKers are asking whether it is cheaper to go to the US than to Paris due to the exchange rates, and the answer based purely on cost is no. But the difference in cost is less than last year, so there may be better perceived value in going to WDW.

It will be interesting to see what happens this year.

[flynnibus]

I think this is a reasonable assertion. I remember seeing a paper a few years ago saying Chicago is the city who's population visit WDW the most overall. What is interesting is people from the Midwest and Texas who frequent WDW could probably go to Disneyland for the same cost flight wise, but their habits dictate other behaviours.

1. Climate - Cali is not perceived as exotic as Tropical Florida. People from the North like to escape their cold to the warm south. Cali isn't warm in the winter and doesn't have the warm waters of the Gulf or Atlantic.

2. Length of Stay - When people travel cross country, they want to travel for an extended stay. DLR is not perceived as an extended stay location - which is what the DTD/DCA expansion was supposed to solve, but has failed to.

[davewasbaloo]

1. Climate - Cali is not perceived as exotic as Tropical Florida. People from the North like to escape their cold to the warm south. Cali isn't warm in the winter and doesn't have the warm waters of the Gulf or Atlantic.

2. Length of Stay - When people travel cross country, they want to travel for an extended stay. DLR is not perceived as an extended stay location - which is what the DTD/DCA expansion was supposed to solve, but has failed to.

Which is funny as very often we have had MUCH better weather at DL than Fla. I hate the FLA humidity and thunderstorms.

And again, there are nearly as many theme parks in So Cal as in the Orlando/Tampa area. But California also offers beaches, mountains, desserts, and culture near by. It is funny what marketing does.