The Walt Disney World Resort is hyping a new Ultimate Christmas Package that includes tickets and an on-site hotel room for what's typically its busiest week of the year.
Given that Disney's crowds are usually wall-to-wall around Christmas week, it's unusual to see the resort offering anything resembling a deal to visit then. But this is hardly a typical year, so who knows what to expect from Disney's pricing anymore?
Disney's typical reticence to offer holiday deals on tickets and hotel rooms might raise your skepticism about this supposed deal. But since I actually love doing math, I ran some numbers to see just how good a deal this is... or isn't.
Walt Disney World's Ultimate Christmas Package includes a five-night stay at select Disney hotels starting December 21, plus a four-day Park-Hopper ticket for each guest in the room. It also throws in a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party ticket and a $50 Epcot food card for everyone, too. There's also reserved access to the Epcot Forever show that's replacing IllumiNations, plus "exclusive" nighttime access to the Pandora rides, Expedition Everest and Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom, as well as an unspecified in-room gift delivered on Christmas morning.
Let's break it down, shall we?
Using Disney's example of three adults (which is anyone over age 10 for Disney's pricing purposes) and a child, four-day Park Hoppers starting December 21 for that family cost $2,622.60. Three adults' and one child's tickets to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on December 22 cost $586.83. The four $50 Epcot food vouchers add another $200 to that total, bringing the known cost of the tickets and food vouchers to $3,409.43.
On its package webpage, Disney quotes a total package price of $3,980 to stay at the Coronado Springs hotel in a standard room and $4,780 for a standard view room at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Subtracting the $3,409.43 ticket/voucher cost from those prices leaves us $570.57, or about $114 a night for the Coronado Springs and $1,370.57, or about $274 for the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Those are actually pretty good rates for these hotels, especially at that time of year. And remember that this is not factoring in any value for the reserved attraction access nor for the Christmas morning gift, whatever it is.
So is this deal worth doing? Remember that you are still paying Disney's most expensive ticket prices of the year to visit around Christmas. And it's likely that the parks will be their most packed during your stay, even if you do have some attraction access reserved. But if you want to spend four or five grand to call it Christmas for the family (travel not included), then Disney would be happy to do that work for you. Booking for this offer must be done over the phone, +1-407-939-5268, and availability is limited.
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Do like that Walt Disney World has added more holiday overlays for The Magic Kingdom- and notice that Tomorrowland Speedway is part of this. Can't recall last time this long-forgotten attraction got positive news as opposed to calls for its removal or unsubstantiated rumors of new sponsorships that violate existing agreements. Ho ho vroom!
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I just cant wrap my head around paying $2622 for four (4) day hoppers during Christmas when the park is so crowded.
I haven't been to WDW for 5 years except for a Mickeys Halloween Party. That cost around $320 for all four of us and the park was relatively empty. That or another evening party/after hours event is the only way to go these days.
I also remember when I took the kids a few years in a row when they were younger we bought four 10-day non-expiring hoppers with water parks and more for around $2000. I still have unused water park days. I thought that was kinda expensive back then. I should have invested in them.