How Disney's Hotels Fake Luxury at Ridiculous Prices

My wife and I honeymooned at the Grand Floridian. I, having never been to Disney World before then, was super excited to stay at such a nice hotel with a view of the Castle. The approach to the resort, foyer, and resort itself looked so nice! You can imagine my disappointment when we opened the door of the room and found furniture fresh from the 90s, a tiny bathroom, and a balcony for squirrels. That, combined with every other over-inflated price, is among the biggest reason why I will be fully content never going back to Disney.

There is really not much difference between the hotels - they just look different. That's all. Just looks.

Cocoa Cocoa Beach is a better value, great restaurants, great hotel rooms, and great service at a much lower price point.

This explains better than a lot of things how "easy" it is to cheat the "smart" people on this planet. :(

Disney's market is the gullible and the stupid.

Disney has completely overplayed the appeal of its brand; prices at the theme park and season tickets giving access to all the services on offer are astronomical, which means that its target customer base of middle-class and working-class people is steadily shrinking. As is the case everywhere, corporate greed is putting our wallets to the test.

2:19 Bit of an unfair comparison here. Grand Floridian is a full-fledged resort with more pools, less people, a spa, full service sit down restaurants vs All Star Resort. Additionally, it’s the theming and grounds are miles better. The room is bigger. The location is better with it being on a loop. I’m sure we can disagree with on how much that value actually is, but bland box vs bland box is disingenuous

Lazy chatgpt script with automated stock video...

Why would a Best Western be awful?

I took me 3 days to have a cast member enter my room it got so bad I ran out of toilet paper and towels

The budget friendly ones are still mentally priced

There's so many other factors that this content creator isn't taking into consideration. Of course the rooms are the same, but the value of the room comes from external factors, like proximity to parks, or convenience with restaurants or other things. You don't just pay for the room...

A decade after the original opened? You mean a century?

What a surprise... the company that deals in made-up crap makes up crap when it gets into the hotel business...

I have many fond memories of Best Western who kept the lights on for my family. They were nosqolofic like old rest stops. I guess we weren't pretentious. A clean bed a roll-out cot cold air conditioning and a pool were perfect and memorable. I can still smell the clean rooms.we could have easily afforded any of the theme park hotels but used our money in the parks.

We just wrapped up a trip to Disney and stayed at the Swan. It was just under $300 per night. Perfectly in line with what we’ve paid at other nice hotels with good amenities.

Disney overall wasn’t cheap but the plane tickets were easily the most egregiously priced items of the trip.

The ultimate proof of what you're saying here: The Galactic Cruiser debacle
Disney (and their influencers) were convinced that they could charge luxury prices for a niche, mediocre experience
and just rely on ppl's love of the Star Wars IP to make it profitable

Imagine equating Disney and luxury in any universe

Don't watch this video, doesn't say anything connected to the title. Doesnt show how disney's hotels fake luxury or how he took notice of that or anything useful. Even a AI video would have more consistency.

this really makes you think...

You are not accurate about the history of Anaheim at all. I think you need to do your research and definitely pay respect to our culture and history

So more a history lesson than what the title suggests.

It’s one of the memories of childhood that I often look back on fondly. Staying at the contemporary with my parents and my brothers. Running around Walt Disney World I remember I got on all the rides. No waiting. It was just plain fun… I live in Florida and I wouldn’t spend my money there now

lol as someone who worked at Disney hotels, it’s absolutely ridiculous to compare an Allstar room and a Floridian room. You’re not meant to spend time in your room. The location is a huge part of the cost. Floridian has monorail access, many high end restaurants and amenities. The Allstar is a motel with a cafeteria and bus stop out front.
Both are overpriced- welcome to Disney

I just priced a disney vacay for family of 5. 9k-22k. Not gonna happen. The 5 figure vacation i take wont even be near disney.

So, theoretically, a family of 4 could spend $2,100 for a 3 night stay at the Grand Floridian. Not to mention the flights to and from Florida, plus whatever madness they charge for every little thing at Disney World. So, a $10,000 3 day vacation.

This video doesn't actually explain how Disney "fakes" luxury. Is there some amenity that the Hotel Coronado has that the Floridian doesn't? Do the TVs not work in the rooms? I don't give a ** about Disney, but I do find it annoying when people just make a vague, negative statement without any substance behind it.

Just went to the four seasons in Orlando. Absolutely amazing. It’s not $1.2k per night great. If they priced it around $750/night then it would absolutely be the best Disney luxury hotel in Orlando

The rooms arent expensive because of the actual rooms. Theyre expensive because you get extended hours at the park, free food at some hotels, a bus that goes directly to each park at all times, and whatever other extra disney stuff they have. Greed sucks, but saying "they look the same so how does it cost more" isnt a good argument.

2:19 Who in there right mind is paying over 750 dollars for a room looking like it was decorated on a budget in the 1960ies? This looks horrendous!

I don’t get adults’ obsession with a kid amusement park. At least go to an adult one like 6 flags.

Opened in 1888....hmmm. Maybe consider that this film maker is NOT very definitive or truly skilled at research. But yes. Disney World Resorts and Park are NOT what WALT DISNEY would have wanted by way of its seriously over priced cost to those of use wanting to go there.

Disney is absolute proof that most American consumers are STUPID. Spending ridiculous amounts of money on entertainment. Las Vegas is another. Americans bemoan their finances but shovel money to be entertained. Spending $5k-$10k on a vacation is ridiculous for MOST consumers.

Disney is for people who don't have a passport (because they think international travel is "too expensive" for them) and ironically this demographic gets trapped into overpriced cheesy crappy US travel options. These people are, obviously, not very worldly or wise, so they don't know how to look around and find hidden gems. They just book the first place that comes to mind, and Disney is such a strong brand that a Disney resort fills that slot.

Seriously like 50% of USAmericans don't have a passport. Because it's "too expensive". 😂 Instead of paying for a $250 piece of paper, they pay $750 a night when you can get a better place abroad for $150 a night. So as you can see, hitting the demographic of dumb fearful people who are bad with money is quite lucrative.

0:08 - it's Architecture, not Architexture... Christ

First they ruined Star Wars, now they ruined family vacations.

I don’t think Disney will stop being popular anytime soon but I do think they’re going to run out of people willing to shell out the money theyre asking. Times are tough and if other prices keep skyrocketing then they might see slower numbers. They have a fanbase so loyal that there are lots of people willing to put their whole $10,000 trip on a credit card just to see disney world, but they’re going to run out of those people and people who can afford to sign up for DVC, and while at the same time running out of casual fans who are willing to fork the cost once in a lifetime. As the middle class gets squeezed itll be harder for them to justify going to disney, and idk how much longer their IP is going to hold them up but this kind of rapid exponential growth can not be sustained forever

* ridiculous prices that people have no issue paying.

To be fair, Disney includes the ticket to the park if you stay in their hotels.

An anachronism. And an expensive one.

Disney resorts for non traveling Americans only. 😂

Too many ads bro

If I had all the money I’ve spent on Disney world I’d still be broke.

It's for the rich. Always has been.

I've heard for the price of staying a week in the US Disney parks, one could easily go to Disney Paris or Japan. Stay a week there and have another week or 2 to travel around France or Japan including all costs and travel tickets. To be honest the same money can probably put you in the worlds most beautiful alpine villages and ski/snowboard or have a dream holiday. If you really are into theme parks, there are other theme parks 2, some (even though smaller) are often rated above the Disney experience.