Planning our families 2014 Disney trip for this summer has been nothing short of a complete mess. Reservations were set up for staying on property months ago, and the dining reservations were secured exactly 180 days out from the trip. However, Mother Nature decided not to be too nice this past season, and as a result our school district was going to require kids and teachers to go a couple extra days to make up the lapse of days missed for calamity days.

So the trip was cancelled, and pushed back another week. However, that meant trying to reserve all new dining reservations, now a lot closer than the 180 window. As a result, our families did not get to reserve at select locations we previously had secured.

Until, we found out our school district officially decided on alternative plans and not require additional school days.

As a result, we are now trying to reschedule the trip, adding additional days onto the front end.

For the most part, my wife has handled everything with planning and securing Disney reservations because it is her thing.

I am more the judgement maker at this point, and this past weekend I got to my breaking point. Honestly, Disney requires way too much preplanning, with the constant threat of the new system hindering getting to see or ride anything outside of the new FastPass system.

My wife could go on and on, and may just write an article about how broken the Disney website is to use. The traffic on their servers must be really high, as they are often extremely slow. The big problem I have personally experienced is after setting up a My Disney Experience account for myself, after my wife initially set up the entire family, my account would be void of information. I had gone in and set up My Magic Band information and everything, only weeks later to see my account have nothing.

My final tipping point this past weekend had to do with tickets, and most notably Disney ticket prices. Our family had purchased 5 Day Magic Your Way Disney tickets from UndercoverTourist back in June 2013, right after a price increase. We were therefore able to secure Disney tickets at 2012 prices for use during our 2014 trip.

The biggest challenge back then was trying to estimate the number of days we would need in the park, for a trip a year into the future.

We ultimately selected the 5 day tickets, assuming we would get 1 day in each park with my wife’s family to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday, as well as one additional day my immediately family could spend in an extra park.

We paid:

5-day MYW tickets cost thru Undercover Tourist at 2012 Prices
Adult (10 +) $259.74 ($243.89 w/o tax)
Child (3 – 9) $242.29 ($227.50 w/o tax)

So once we started planning, and replanning, and planning again our trip, we found we might like to add an additional day onto our tickets. You simply pay the difference to add days, and beyond the first 4 days, the additional cost is pretty minimal.

For example, looking at current prices, the difference between a 5 and 6 days pass is only $10.65 per adult. It is typically a no-brainer to add on additional days, as the cost becomes minimal, as you have already paid the upfront surcharge.

So imagine my surprise when our family was hit with a $220 request to upgrade from 5 to 6 days? I could not believe it and had to research the numbers myself.

5-day MYW tickets cost thru Disney at 2014 Prices
Adult (10 +) $323.76 ($304.00 w/o tax)
Child (3 – 9) $302.46 ($284.00 w/o tax)

Then upgrading to the 6-day,

6-day MYW tickets cost thru Disney at 2014 Prices
Adult (10 +) $334.41 ($314.00 w/o tax)
Child (3 – 9) $313.11($294.00 w/o tax)

Sure enough, comparing the 2012 prices we paid for tickets to the now 6-day Disney prices resulted in an over $220 surcharge to add on one additional day in the parks. I was flabbergasted to say the least.

The problem ultimately became that we bought the tickets “so cheap,” that adding additional days at today’s prices became cost prohibitive. Not to mention the incredible price hikes on Disney tickets over the course of not even one year since we originally bought our tickets.

Another issue we noticed is that buying tickets thru Undercover Tourist prevented us from being able to add the Disney Dining Plan to our stay because we did not get the tickets directly through Disney. Frankly, I was not too disappointed as I have never been convinced the Disney Dining plan has been worth the cost, but it was still a frustrating roadblock.

In the end, after encountering a huge surcharge to upgrade our Disney tickets for an additional day, we elected to not spend another day in the parks.

So what is the point? I guess my biggest takeaway, besides the crazy price increases in such a short period of time, is quickly feeling a sense of loss from the big mess Disney has created my moving towards their FastPass+ system. Planning a Disney vacation, especially for the inexperienced family, has always been a tremendous “Help Me” plan mentality. Disney vacations have always been overwhelming. Now for the first time, all the preplanning has even gotten overwhelming for our family.

In addition, even though we have saved money by purchasing our tickets last year at the 2012 prices, making any changes come with a steep price tag.

I know once we get on property, and start experiencing everything Disney offers, as well as the glow in my children’s eyes, and the great memories my father-in-law and brother-in-law will experience getting to see Disney through my kids eyes, it will all be worth it. Disney is just making all the preplanning a difficult road to travel, and frankly, after this trip, I may have a hard time justifying a return visit for quite some time. Eventually, Disney “may” create a tipping point where the price increases will start effecting park attendance, and ultimately their bottom line. When that will happen though, is hard to see in my crystal ball.

Save Money, Travel More!

Source: InACents