Is Walt Disney World Florida worth it anymore?

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With increasing prices and fewer perks, has anybody been recently that could vouch for this being a holiday to look into and consider or would you suggest spending the money on going elsewhere?

I went in 2019 (so not recently) and didn't particularly enjoy it. It's far too small for the sheer amount of people they allow in.
You can get priority passes to skip some of the huge queues, but that just adds expense to an already expensive trip! DS was only 4 at the time and wasn't bothered about being there at all.
I wouldn't go back

We went in 2018 and are (hopefully) going back next month. Ill let you know then if it's still worth it!

We haven't been since 2019- just before the pandemic hit. I wouldn't go now unless they bought back all the extras that made it worthwhile- fastpasses, free dining etc. Not worth starting onsite now imho and as parents of an only child on-site was amazing for us. Might still be ok if you are self catering in a villa, but I have never done that. We loved it pre-pandemic!

I've been a couple of times but now it sounds very complicated with buying tickets and then having to book / reserve a day to go and all these fast / genie whatever you call it passes. Zapped all the fun out of it.

We did Disney this past summer. It was okay but not amazing. For the same price you could do Atlantis in the Bahamas, which I think is more fun!

I’ve been - family pressure to join US family on a trip - and no it was absolutely not worth the amount of money it cost even if the kids did absolutely live it. We could have gone to New Zealand or somewhere amazing for a month for the cost of going to Florida for 2 weeks, 1 week of that at Disney.
Am sort of glad we did it - box ticked- but no way would I have decided to spend that amount to go to Disney given an alternative.

We loved it pre Covid but I am wary now they have changed everything so much. We want to go next Easter but I’m hesitant.
We’ve done Disney loads but would want to do the new Star Wars stuff. We also want to do Universal. We’d be in a villa off site with my parents although happy to book the odd hotel night if it means good perks.

Pre pandemic we booked florida to go july 2021. I have been 5x dh 1x dc 0
I was so excited. Then obv pandemic hit and it ended up being cancelled just weeks before so I had gone through all the rigmarole of booking onto the parks for each day booking the resturants for lunch and dinner every day because of restricted capacity

Reading chats on the dibb really put me off too. The queues seem insane not as mucb perks as there used to be. I am glad it was cancelled and we ended up paying half of what disney was costing us to go to the carribean. We have booked disneyland paris this summer tagged onto a city break elsewhere in France and I genuinely believe dc will have just as good a time.

As it stands right now i am absolutely not in a rush to consider florida because being on the dibb chat site every day was making me stressed and made florida planning more consuming that my day job

How have people found the cost? (average cost for a family of 5 please) Sorry to highjack, we’ve been wanting to go forever but when I research the cost is ridiculous! How do people do it?

It really depends - if you shop around there are still deals to be made (TUI did have some good ones) Playair are opening up flights from September that are really good priced indirect flights via Iceland.

We went at Christmas on a really good (admittedly booked during lockdown) deal and it was definitely worth it. That said for me I do just like to walk around and look at stuff and not run around from park to park anymore.

Universal definitely is and International drive and the bigger area for me

We were lucky to go Jan 2020. Before Covid, actually we were reading about Wuhan at the poolside. We wouldn't go back with restrictions and extra costs however we did usually stay off site in a villa.

I've been 3 times (not recently) but would continue to stay on International Drive rather than onsite Disney, and would never go in school holidays. If we ever take DS I'll take him out of school for a week.

I love Disney and have been to WDW a lot pre pandemic. I'm desperate to go again (was booked to go in 2020 but you can imagine how successful that trip was!) Looking at the YouTube reports and stuff in The Dibb etc now it looks CRAZY busy!! Even for me it looks too busy to really enjoy (and I'm usually fine with the crowds). Even queues for food are crazy!

I'm also annoyed at all the changes (no more free Fast pass etc) and extra charges for stuff as well as the extortionate ticket prices!

I'm not happy spending that much and only getting on 3 rides a day and spending the rest of the days in bloody queues 🙄🙄🙄

‘How have people found the cost? (average cost for a family of 5 please) Sorry to highjack, we’ve been wanting to go forever but when I research the cost is ridiculous! How do people do it?’

We saved money by staying in a villa not in the park - and that was great as they all have little pools and it’s nice to de-Disney at the end of each day. We drove in but you can Uber in for the cost of parking.
We also self catered, including bringing our food into the park, and our own water.
Having said that the trip still cost around £12k a family of 4 - by the time we had factored in flights and spends for 2 weeks. And that was with grandparents picking up the tab for the park passes, and car hire.

Too much has changed since for the worse since we went a few times in the early 2000's. But I'd still love to go back.

I'm thinking that we'll go back after 2025 when the new Universal Epic park opens. Then UO will be a full competitor to WDW.

For anyone wanting to stay on WDW site (I loved it), check out DVC Rentals (type it in to Google). It allows you to rent onsite property from Vacation Club owners at around half the price of hotel rates. There's a much bigger range of suites and rooms with kitchenettes and kitchens!

We are going in August, but we don't stay on the Disney sites (I don't feel the "pros" of staying onsite were ever worth it for the price, even more so now). Last went in 2019, we are frequent visitors. We are going in a big family group this year, some of which haven't been to Disney before, which is the only reason we are going there. If it had been just us as usual I wouldn't have booked Disney tickets. The price increases, the removal of the free fast passes, the massive queues -it just seems a bit of a con. From the YouTube vloggers I have watched recently, it hasn't looked positive. If you don't get GeniePlus early enough on a busy day you get shitty ride times (say 8pm when you are in the park at 9am). They do refund if you go to customer services but what an absolute waste of time. Do I want to live on my phone while on holiday? Not really. Personally, I would spend my money elsewhere.

I think all the regimented planning that is necessary to get on rides and have meals etc has sucked the life out of it.

We have been to both Florida and LA, preferred LA, less touristy and well organised. Lots to see outside Disney as well if I returned it would definitely be the LA one, you can also see whales and Dolphins in their natural environment in the sea, they chase and play with the boats.

Ah sad to read this, I had a vague notion of looking into it for next year but might leave it a couple of years. DC are already pre teens so already done the Paris one when they were little and into the characters.

Did also take them to Florida WDW in 2013 pre school as we happened to go to a wedding in Florida and it was brilliant but outside of school holidays. I rode every single ride with fast pass while they were napping in the afternoons sad to hear that’s no longer available. DC too young to remember it.

I preferred the LA one, we visited for a few days before a cruise and I found it less crowded than Florida.

Universal is much better (depending on the age of your kids) if you stay at one of the universal hotels (we stayed at Cabana Bay) you can use the free water taxi's to get to the park. They do the security checks as you get on the boat, and drop you off at City walk, run every 15 mins. So you beat all the queues at the main entrance and don't have the long walk back to the car/bus at the end of the day.

Testarossa44 we did that and got in an hour early which worked out perfectly with our jet lag. The Harry Potter stuff was absolutely amazing as it was 99% empty. Diagon Alley was amazing and we did I think the three big rides in the first hour and then had something to eat at the restaurant there. It couldn’t have gone better.

Oh no! Don’t tell me that - although having done some research I have been starting to draw the same conclusion!

We went in 2019. It cost £10k for 2 weeks. Even back then it was a performance planning to do everything. We loved it and with careful planning we did manage to do what we wanted to, but it wasn't a free and easy holiday. I wouldn't go again with the current systems in place

We have been multiple times, including 3x with kids who will be 8,6 and 3 when we go in the summer. I am nervous about the crowds and it is much more expensive than it used to be (though I think this is driven by lent up demand and we have saved on not having any holidays for three years).

I honestly think it depends on what you want from a holiday. I love the fact that it is varied and ready made entertainment on your doorstep - I don't love holidays where I have to do all the entertaining and we've never loved kids clubs. I also love holidays where you can do all the planning before you get there and get going early in the morning. However if you like to do things spontaneously and aren't early morning risers it's not the holiday for you.

What I would say about Florida is that it's also very easy to combine WDW with other things like a week on the beach, city fun in Miami, sports, NASA etc