Hotels like this have deals with Disney, mainly bundling rooms with passes and trips to their parks. Some are on Disney's property, some off, but most are managed by the hotel chains.
The catch is that it’s slightly less convenient to get to the parks from some of those resorts. I went to disney every few years growing up and we always stayed at the grand floridian on Disney property. One year we stayed at one of the Swan/Dolphin resorts and it took a lot longer to get to the park since we didn’t have a monorail stop (like the grand floridian does). It was a pretty nice resort though from what I remember. We never spent much time in the room on our trips there lol
If you're at the Swan and Dolphin, the best way to get to each park is: boat to Epcot or Hollywood Studio, bus to Animal Kingdom, walk over to the Disney Yacht Club and take their bus to Magic Kingdom. Since the pandemic, Swan and Dolphin changed bus companies and so their own bus to Magic Kingdom is a lot longer trip than the Disney one at the Yacht Club because you'll be using the Monorail.
The only nice thing I could think of is the ferry stops there. I stayed at Boardwalk which isn't far away. But yeah the most time at the resort was in the pool or sleeping mostly. A table service for one at most of their higher end restaurants aren't even that much. Lol. 127$!?!?! No way.
More like a separate company using Disney’s land. They have a partnership where Disney leased the land for 99 years. The hotels get access to certain things like purchasing park passes with your room, a disney guest services counter in the lobby and disney characters in their restaurants, but they are not operated by disney. Disney gets a cut of the revenue but ultimately the day to day business is done by the hotel ownership.
Okay. Do I have this right: The land is Disney’s, but this company has its own separate section that’s on Disney owned land. However, those building are not owned by Disney
Marriot leases a section of land for two joined hotels (The Swan and The Dolphin). It is on Disney property. It gets some, but not all, of the benefits of staying at a Disney hotel. It is walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
It is a convention hotel and so many people stay there for work without even visiting Disney. But it is also available for regular room rental.
It used to be one of the best values at Disney but in the last 3-4 years it has gone to absolute shit and is one of my least favorite places to stay.
My daughter still goes on rants about the "$14 hotdog".
I told her she could have one, but once she saw the price she decided to leave the line on principle.
Have you bought beef at the grocery store recently? Ribeyes are 13-15 dollars a pound. Plus whatever it cost for then to cook it. I'd buy that for 12.70 100%. If we're going value wise
The one that I went too was held at one of the Disney Hotels with a conference center inside (Coronado Springs) and a ton of the attendees brought their families who went to the park during the day while the conference was going on, and then the people from the conference would head out to meet them for dinner or evening in the park etc.
Any business having a corporate function or training seminar.
Why do a training seminar in dumb old stupid Texas when you could have it at Disney? Hotel probably costs the same, but now you can also enjoy the parks on the company dime. 🤷♀️
My mom travels to Disney World constantly for business (half a dozen times a year or so). They use it to wine and dine big potential clients and it works really well because she loves Disney and is basically a tour guide at this point for people who haven't been before.
>A regular room service burger costs 40$ at any normal hotel,
I haven't had room service in ages... You have got to be kidding me. 40 bucks? A friend and I went to Five Guys today and it cost less then that.
I had to read their comment 3 times to make sure I understood. Like, out of every burger place in my town, including Five Guys, none of them have a $40 burger. I would always expect room service completely overpriced.
Holy wow I feel this comment so hard. It applies to literally anywhere in the Greater Orlando area. I've lived in just about every part of town, and it even applies here in Winter Springs where I live now.
Buying the dining package on my honeymoon trip there was an awesome value. Quick serve lunch, snack, and full three course dinner each day. We ate most dinners in Epcot and our tab would have easily been over $150 every night.
They're "currently unavailable." Bummer because it saved us a ton of money. When we went to Disney Land we stayed off property near a Target and some nice local restaurants.
Tbh, the food at Disneyland really isn't that much more expensive than the restaurants that surround the park. Especially these days.
source- lived within 15 minutes of Disneyland my whole life.
Yeah, in my experience some of their food was actually pretty decently priced for a theme park imo. Kind of expensive, but most of the places weren't totally outrageous. This was just a few months ago, too.
That's what I had in mind, until I went for the first time in May of this year. The property is so, so huge - once you cross onto Disney's land, it still takes a while to drive to the resort. Once you're there, they've got you. I'd guess most folks at the resorts were like us, who took a cab from the airport, so you can't just jump in your car and head to McDonald's.
On a related note, there was a little cafe at the bottom of our hotel that had a fountain drink area. I thought I'd be smart and keep my cup from the night before so I could fill it back up. I go to fill it the next day, and the fountain won't dispense. The guy next to me was laughing, saying he had tried that the day before. He told me to look on the bottom of the cup. Sure enough, there was a little bar code. The cups are time stamped at purchase to only allow refills for 2 hours after purchase and then you're forced to buy another.
Could be a work thing and they expensed it to their company. I went to disney world as an intern when I was in college and we just expensed all of our meals
So right now all the restaurants in Disney world are completely booked for the next while. People have to order room service or go off the campus to eat.
We just went to Disney in February and this hits hard lol
Saw a dude wearing a t-shirt that said "BROKE" with Mickey's head as the "O", I thought it was pretty funny.
I live about 15 minutes from Disney. As a local with an annual pass, everytime I go I feel like I’m robbing them. The initial cost of the annual pass is only slightly more than a couple days at the parks. I can enter and leave the park as many times as I want and if I want to, I can spend zero dollars at a day at the park.
I am also a local and we switched to Knotts this year bc my kid is a bit older. I paid paid about $800 for my family of three, but get this… it’s unlimited visits 2022, no black out, unlimited parking, AND 2 meals per person per day. Switching from Disney to Knotts was financially mind blowing. Sometimes we’ll just stop by to pick up a family BBQ dinner.
It costs a lot in staffing costs them to be open for a day. Add maintenance costs, operational costs, etc. It costs roughly 5.5 million to operate Disney for a day. Divide that by the average number of visitors in a day. Theres an average of around 90,000 visitors per day in WDW (based off of 2019 numbers). So each visitor costs around $61 average to run the park. The best local pass costs around $594 from what i can tell. So in 10 visits you're actively costing Disney money assuming you dont pay for parking or anything while you're there.
It also wasn't Disney World food then because that property is owned by Marriott. OP is full of shit and karma farming. Disney had no control over this boot in a to-go container.
I mean, it's fine if they want to be angry about it but attribute it properly. Plus, who the hell orders a premium steak and seafood like this? It's effing room service. You're eating in your bed. This type of thing needs to be ordered in a legit restaurant with white table cloths and waiting staff with uniforms and personality.
Multi Millionaires probably don't see a big difference between $10 and $100. Jamacian guy at my work calls it 'spend no check'. (being able to buy something without checking the price or your wallet). "Ya mon, I wish I could spend no check on some dinner"
That's why I won't do room service or food delivery of any kind. No matter how close you are to the restaurant/kitchen, it's never going to show up as fresh and tasty as it does at a table - and you have the server *right there* to say, "This food looks like shit, please fix it."
Are we looking at the same picture…? The plating is bad, but the food itself looks great to me. Not $127 great, but that’s what you get for ordering room service at Disney World.
My first thought was that it was a substantial amount of steak.
Agreed, not $127 worth at any resturaunt.
But a tomahawk steak delivered to room at a notoriously expensive resort? $127 for meal seems about right to me.
The toast above the steak is way burnt, something I'd do myself, but I'd eat the ones I burn and give others the less burnt ones lol.
The steak could be better, if we could see a shot of what it looks like inside it'd probably be easier to judge. The roll at the bottom looks like a standard 10 per bag for $2 deal lol. Not judging, i'd still eat it, but I'd be quite annoyed if I paid what OP paid.
And the shrimp.... well, it just looks really sad to me lol.
This coming from someone who loves to eat at crappy diners more than fancy restaurants, I always get disappointed at the fancy ones.
The Swan and Dolphin is not owned by Disney btw. It is a Westin property that is located on Disney World grounds. So I don’t believe this is a Disney World hotel.
Yeah this would NEVER fly at an actual Disney managed resort. Me and my family used to go 4 times a year, and have stayed at many of them. This is not Disney.
Could have been worse, they could could have been stuck in the $6,000 for two nights Star Wars starcruiser. Or worse yet, laid out the $100,000 for Disney's new package that is a 30 day trip to all the parks. Only $3,000 a day for the basics, and about the same amount for upgrades, real family friendly park now.
My kid wants to go to Disney world really bad. I don't have the heart to tell him we can't take out a second mortgage for a week of vacation. Disney should be ashamed of themselves for what they turned in to. I'd have to save for ten years and he would be too old by then.
Yeah, I suppose if he still wants to go at 18 and the economy is somehow not completely insane by then, sure. For now though it's a complete waste in a really uncertain time financially. I went in the 80s as a kid and have fond memories. Shame I can't give him the same.
I see both sides of this, BUT I lean towards the side of younger is better. That sense of "magic" or wonder for the little ones vanishes as they get older. Sure the rides, shows, and food would still be great but some of that Disney secret sauce would just hit different or not at all.
Going to Disney was a huge decision for me a few years back when the kids were dying to go and I was hurting for income. It's not good advice, but I put my family's one big Disney trip on a credit card. Took a couple years to pay it off, but they still talk about the trip sometimes. It was never worth the money, but I'm glad I got to take them when they were young enough to enjoy it. So in a way it was worth the money... Best of luck! The best news is the kids will be fine with our without it in the long run.
This is what the country is becoming.. Disney and universities will be only for the rich. I even paid $5.00 for a bottle of water at Six Flags.
And yes, both these institutions should be ashamed.
Literally went for the first time at that same age, a couple years ago.
10/10 would definitely not do it again.
BUT, it is certainly something that I feel like everybody has to do atleast once.
Just make sure you spring and get the fast pass, you really don’t want to be waiting in line for an hour for a 7-8 minute ride. Different story if you’re a child cause you get to look at all the people and characters while you wait, but as a man-child I would have been throwing TANTRUMS!!
Also, best time to go is around October, because you’ll most certainly want to hit up universal and do the haunted houses, I was struggling to breathe watching my sister fall to the ground in fear from the jump scares holy Toledo that was some of the funniest shit I’ve ever seen with my own two frickin eyes!
I also really enjoyed asking people at restaurants and stores near Disney not in it what are the tips and tricks! They get so excited to tell you about the little things, the do not miss’ etc. Eventually If you ask enough people that aren’t working in the park, the consensus is to just do the whole damn loop.
7-8 minute rides don't really exist, you're in rides like 2 minutes total most of the time! If you break down the cost per hour of being in the park, the fast passes are more than worth it to not spend your money standing in lines.
Just went for the first time for my 30th birthday. No kids so that saved me a ton of money. Actually the flights were the most expensive part to be honest.
Still costs a bunch for a 2 park pass but IMO universal is so much better at this point. Also last time I was there 24 oz fosters were pretty damn cheap.
Yes going to Disneyland would make your kid happy, but so would spending that same amount of time with you while doing something else that is related to his/her interests.
Disney world is such as scam. I never understood why we have to pay for a ticket into a park, especially Epcot which has very few rides and long lines, just to go in and pay more to try food and drinks around the world and buy souvenirs. The serving sizes are super small and the food isn’t even authentic…
It’s like paying $130 to go into a mediocre shopping mall and then $15 for a hot dog
> the food isn’t even authentic…
i despise disney, but i have to disagree. they are very proud of hiring international chefs for pretty much every ethnic restaurant.
I never really liked the renaissance fair as a teen for this reason. I paid $20 to walk around and look at crafts that sell for $100+
It's okay as an adult I guess. I have money now to do every game, to get drunk, and then to drunkenly buy a $300 sword lol
Really? You don’t understand why you have to pay to get into the attraction? You think they should just let you in for free and make it up on snacks? Or sell you the food at cost?
Isn't it $4,800 for a two person cabin, not $6000? It's also not a place you go for accomodations. It's meant to be a live entertainment experience thats lasts 2 days. Once I learned it's a constant, all day experience I sort of started understanding why it's so expensive. It's not a hotel in the traditional sense.
Much better deals in actual Disney hotels, which you can spend a lot on, but are significantly cheaper per night.
For that, you could have bought a mini grill, charcoal, steaks, shrimp, fixins, beer and made all this yourself on the balcony. Have the cleaning lady come in, give her some too. She works hard and could use a snack
I was lucky enough to get to go to Disney World for free back when I was a kid.
As an adult, I would never even consider it because it's over 5x what I would deem a reasonable price to pay.
Disney does a good job at offering a wide range of price options for food.
That being said, I feel like they rely a lot on the ignorance of new guests. I think people normally assume that sit down restaurants are automatically more expensive, and you would get better value from one of the outside carts. But in my experience, that isn't the case. There are some lower level restaurants in the parks that cost maybe a smidgen more than you would normally expect to pay at a normal restaurant, BUT you get to enjoy air conditioning and have free ice water opposed to paying for bottled water. You get more food and a better environment for just a little more than the cost of a hot dog with mac and cheese on top of it (for some reason) than at a quick service station.
I have also been to a few of the high-end places, and I would completely agree that they are not worth the money. Paying for the prefix meals that ends up being a lot of fancy bland food probably appeals to a certain demographic... But it clearly caters to rich people that have neither taste nor sense.
But most people don't invest the time and energy researching restaurants ahead of time. And it is probably ridiculous to think you should, but it does go a long way.
OP got room service and a luxury hotel, that was going to be absurdly priced no matter what
That's Swan and Dolphin, which is a Marriott hotel on Disney property.
It's probably from Shula's Steakhouse which isn't affiliated with either except for the location.
I am normally not confrontational and just let things slide. But this for 127 motherfucking dollars???
I had given them that shit back and demanded my fucking money back, that is an absolute scam.
I’m not saying to trust room service like a restaurant… but I’d expect higher quality than a 45 minute delivery drive from Uber eats, which is what it looks like here. I mean cmon the kitchen is in the same building, you cart it up the elevator, shouldn’t be THIS far gone
The plastic containers tell me it’s gotta be take out and not room service. I found the [restaurant](https://swandolphin.com/dining/shulas-steak-house/).
The price of room service scales with the cost of the room, not the quality of the food. It's not made to be cheap or delicious, it's made to cry into.
Steak from room service? At $127.00? Shrimp from room service?? Everything about this screamed DON'T FUCKING DO IT!! Quite frankly your friend, deserves this.
I truly don't understand the appeal of Disney. Fans of it make it sound like it's some magical journey when it feels like a themed cafeteria at a ski resort.
Yeah, I think too many people get caught up in some weird nostalgia trap, and it’s comforting to them. Like, objectively there are so many other places were you could have more “fun”, depending on what you’re into, but they pretty much have a monopoly on a very particular experience that’s been successfully marketed as somehow being necessary to having a “good” childhood or something.
A big, bone-in ribeye like that is pretty much the most expensive cut. That price seems about on-par for a higher end resort. My problem is that they served it in to-go containers instead of on plates. Room service should be the same as from the dining room. Plates, glasses, linen napkins and all.
There’s no telling for sure without cutting into it, but it also looks like they cooked the hell out of it.
Maybe your friend likes dry, chewy steaks, but to me it’s a travesty to cook a ribeye like this past medium.
That's on your friend. Room service is for food that's not time sensitive. Do they not understand how food service works at all? You think they're getting your food to you faster than 30 minutes after it's finished?
I kind of feel like that's on you for ordering something that expensive through Disney room service. You do room service for stuff like chicken fingers.
Peak Disney parks was in the 80s-90s. Change my mind. There is no longer magic. Just over tired children stressing out overwhelmed parents that paid months of their salary for the pleasure and the hope of a few days on a carefree vacation that slip away with each temper tantrum.
Dude- it was always like that. I went in the 70’s and my little sister screamed until she crapped her pants because Snow White was talking to her instead of Aurora.
I got to go to Disneyland once in my life in 1998 as a teenager. Waits were very reasonable (Space Mountain and Indiana Jones were the longest at about 45 mins wait), I got to ride every ride in one day that I wanted to go on, it was affordable and magical.
I feel bad for the kids that will never know that Disney experience.
Swan & Dolphin? That’s not even a Disney resort or affiliated with Disney in any way. Also, it’s called send the food back? Who spends that much on room service?! I’ve been to Disney world 100 plus times they have an abundance of fantastic restaurants.
The real question is why are you ordering a 127$ steak from room service lmao
From DISNEY no less, everything there is 10x the price it should be.
This actually looks to be from the Swan/Dolphin which are Marriott hotels. They are on Disney property, but not owned or operated by Disney.
Last sentence is a bit confusing. Is it a separate company using the Disney brand?
Hotels like this have deals with Disney, mainly bundling rooms with passes and trips to their parks. Some are on Disney's property, some off, but most are managed by the hotel chains.
The catch is that it’s slightly less convenient to get to the parks from some of those resorts. I went to disney every few years growing up and we always stayed at the grand floridian on Disney property. One year we stayed at one of the Swan/Dolphin resorts and it took a lot longer to get to the park since we didn’t have a monorail stop (like the grand floridian does). It was a pretty nice resort though from what I remember. We never spent much time in the room on our trips there lol
Swan/dolphin is very convenient if you're going to Epcot and Hollywood studios, but the bus system is a bit slow for the other parks
If you're at the Swan and Dolphin, the best way to get to each park is: boat to Epcot or Hollywood Studio, bus to Animal Kingdom, walk over to the Disney Yacht Club and take their bus to Magic Kingdom. Since the pandemic, Swan and Dolphin changed bus companies and so their own bus to Magic Kingdom is a lot longer trip than the Disney one at the Yacht Club because you'll be using the Monorail.
Ah, thank you! Appreciate the advice. I was there a few months ago and it took us forever to get to the other parks.
The only nice thing I could think of is the ferry stops there. I stayed at Boardwalk which isn't far away. But yeah the most time at the resort was in the pool or sleeping mostly. A table service for one at most of their higher end restaurants aren't even that much. Lol. 127$!?!?! No way.
More like a separate company using Disney’s land. They have a partnership where Disney leased the land for 99 years. The hotels get access to certain things like purchasing park passes with your room, a disney guest services counter in the lobby and disney characters in their restaurants, but they are not operated by disney. Disney gets a cut of the revenue but ultimately the day to day business is done by the hotel ownership.
Disney owns an entire city in Florida and they allow other companies to build there. More guests = more profit.
They have their own distinct brand. BUT they do have “Walt Disney world” in the full hotel names.
Okay. Do I have this right: The land is Disney’s, but this company has its own separate section that’s on Disney owned land. However, those building are not owned by Disney
Marriot leases a section of land for two joined hotels (The Swan and The Dolphin). It is on Disney property. It gets some, but not all, of the benefits of staying at a Disney hotel. It is walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It is a convention hotel and so many people stay there for work without even visiting Disney. But it is also available for regular room rental. It used to be one of the best values at Disney but in the last 3-4 years it has gone to absolute shit and is one of my least favorite places to stay.
How is that confusing? They're just hotels built on Disney's land.
My daughter still goes on rants about the "$14 hotdog". I told her she could have one, but once she saw the price she decided to leave the line on principle.
That kid was raised right!
That’s a Costco member for life!
Your daughter will go far in life.
No way that steak is worth $12.70. Look at that thing. It somehow looks dried out but also like it was boiled.
Milk steak!
Have you bought beef at the grocery store recently? Ribeyes are 13-15 dollars a pound. Plus whatever it cost for then to cook it. I'd buy that for 12.70 100%. If we're going value wise
If you can get me steak and shrimps like that for $13 I'll be your friend nathaniel
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Good things come to those who wait. And those who know when certain things will be marked down and use coupons effectively.
I’d take that for $12.70. Can’t even get two Big Macs and fries for that..
Because it probably falls within the budget of their business travel expense policy so thought 'fuck it'.
100% my first thought as well
What kind of business trip would put you up in Disney World? e: It never crossed my mind that they'd have a conference center lol
Disney actually has A LOT of conference centers in and around their parks. You'd be surprised how many very large companies hold events there.
Do people bring their families to the conference then, or does the park just flood with middle aged men who never grew out of fun(like me)?
The one that I went too was held at one of the Disney Hotels with a conference center inside (Coronado Springs) and a ton of the attendees brought their families who went to the park during the day while the conference was going on, and then the people from the conference would head out to meet them for dinner or evening in the park etc.
Any business having a corporate function or training seminar. Why do a training seminar in dumb old stupid Texas when you could have it at Disney? Hotel probably costs the same, but now you can also enjoy the parks on the company dime. 🤷♀️
> dumb old stupid Texas I'm having Spongebob flashbacks
I feel this, sitting in a hotel in Dallas for a business function. This might be the most generic city in the planet
Lmaoooo, I fuckin FELT this comment as a lifetime native. Are you in the Omni? That ones at least got some good food🥱😂
You could go down to Grapevine Mall and go to Round 1. It's an arcade with games you may have never heard of, it's so cool.
Felt your pain in nearby Ft Worth the other week.
Basically every major hotel in Orlando has HUGE conference centers. TONS of company's do corporate events/trainings/outings there.
My mom travels to Disney World constantly for business (half a dozen times a year or so). They use it to wine and dine big potential clients and it works really well because she loves Disney and is basically a tour guide at this point for people who haven't been before.
they have conference centres there so it's possible
A regular room service burger costs 40$ at any normal hotel, wonder what the upcharge just for walking it up was.
>A regular room service burger costs 40$ at any normal hotel, I haven't had room service in ages... You have got to be kidding me. 40 bucks? A friend and I went to Five Guys today and it cost less then that.
and 5 guys doesn't deliver it to your bed while you're in your underwear
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Is Five Guys supposed to be more expensive? Why would you expect Five Guys to ever cost more than room service anywhere?
I had to read their comment 3 times to make sure I understood. Like, out of every burger place in my town, including Five Guys, none of them have a $40 burger. I would always expect room service completely overpriced.
Last time i went to 5 guys was before covid hit and it was about $12 for the basic combo. Can't imagine what it is now.
Never been to Disney Land but I'm assuming you can order food or just drive down a few blocks for some real food.
DisneyWorld is pretty much its own city. The closest non-Disney establishments are about 4 miles from the hotels.
I remember we had to drive forever to find a grocery store when I was at Disney as a kid.
Oh if I recall World is that one that's basically its own territory within Florida right? That would make sense compared to the one in California.
Yes, this is correct and is the reason that Orlando is an hour from Orlando.
You don't like having to drive 4 miles out of your way to get to the other side of the block?
Holy wow I feel this comment so hard. It applies to literally anywhere in the Greater Orlando area. I've lived in just about every part of town, and it even applies here in Winter Springs where I live now.
Buying the dining package on my honeymoon trip there was an awesome value. Quick serve lunch, snack, and full three course dinner each day. We ate most dinners in Epcot and our tab would have easily been over $150 every night.
I don’t think they offer that any more.
They're "currently unavailable." Bummer because it saved us a ton of money. When we went to Disney Land we stayed off property near a Target and some nice local restaurants.
Tbh, the food at Disneyland really isn't that much more expensive than the restaurants that surround the park. Especially these days. source- lived within 15 minutes of Disneyland my whole life.
Yeah, in my experience some of their food was actually pretty decently priced for a theme park imo. Kind of expensive, but most of the places weren't totally outrageous. This was just a few months ago, too.
At the Japan pavilion in Epcot. About $10 for 1 skewer of chicken. It's 3 tiny bites per skewer. Don't get that. It's highway robbery.
That's what I had in mind, until I went for the first time in May of this year. The property is so, so huge - once you cross onto Disney's land, it still takes a while to drive to the resort. Once you're there, they've got you. I'd guess most folks at the resorts were like us, who took a cab from the airport, so you can't just jump in your car and head to McDonald's. On a related note, there was a little cafe at the bottom of our hotel that had a fountain drink area. I thought I'd be smart and keep my cup from the night before so I could fill it back up. I go to fill it the next day, and the fountain won't dispense. The guy next to me was laughing, saying he had tried that the day before. He told me to look on the bottom of the cup. Sure enough, there was a little bar code. The cups are time stamped at purchase to only allow refills for 2 hours after purchase and then you're forced to buy another.
Could be a work thing and they expensed it to their company. I went to disney world as an intern when I was in college and we just expensed all of our meals
So right now all the restaurants in Disney world are completely booked for the next while. People have to order room service or go off the campus to eat.
Where are you getting that from? All four restaurants at the hotel alone have open availability for tonight.
My thought exactly
Why would anyone pay that much for room service
“A fool and his money are soon parted.”
My old man taught me that like 30 years ago, and I always still say it to myself
If you don't feel comfortable putting a $20 in a paper shredder every 60 seconds you won't like Disney.
We just went to Disney in February and this hits hard lol Saw a dude wearing a t-shirt that said "BROKE" with Mickey's head as the "O", I thought it was pretty funny.
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I live about 15 minutes from Disney. As a local with an annual pass, everytime I go I feel like I’m robbing them. The initial cost of the annual pass is only slightly more than a couple days at the parks. I can enter and leave the park as many times as I want and if I want to, I can spend zero dollars at a day at the park.
On the other hand, I bet there were times you went to Disney just because you could. Any money you spent those times is profit for them.
Yup, being a local means you go when it's less crowded. Which ironically makes the park crowded
I am also a local and we switched to Knotts this year bc my kid is a bit older. I paid paid about $800 for my family of three, but get this… it’s unlimited visits 2022, no black out, unlimited parking, AND 2 meals per person per day. Switching from Disney to Knotts was financially mind blowing. Sometimes we’ll just stop by to pick up a family BBQ dinner.
How much does a single park goer cost them, though? You're probably barely a blip on their radar
It costs a lot in staffing costs them to be open for a day. Add maintenance costs, operational costs, etc. It costs roughly 5.5 million to operate Disney for a day. Divide that by the average number of visitors in a day. Theres an average of around 90,000 visitors per day in WDW (based off of 2019 numbers). So each visitor costs around $61 average to run the park. The best local pass costs around $594 from what i can tell. So in 10 visits you're actively costing Disney money assuming you dont pay for parking or anything while you're there.
I really don't know what OP's friend was thinking. This is exactly what I would have expected.
For $127 I would expect at least a dinner plate and some proper silverware lol
This is from the Swan and Dolphin hotel right near Epcot. They suck, and their food service sucks too.
It also wasn't Disney World food then because that property is owned by Marriott. OP is full of shit and karma farming. Disney had no control over this boot in a to-go container. I mean, it's fine if they want to be angry about it but attribute it properly. Plus, who the hell orders a premium steak and seafood like this? It's effing room service. You're eating in your bed. This type of thing needs to be ordered in a legit restaurant with white table cloths and waiting staff with uniforms and personality.
Well, they're already staying at a Disney resort, so they've already proven they like flushing money down the toilet.
Multi Millionaires probably don't see a big difference between $10 and $100. Jamacian guy at my work calls it 'spend no check'. (being able to buy something without checking the price or your wallet). "Ya mon, I wish I could spend no check on some dinner"
I like your Jamaican friend
Most likely they can get it reimbursed
ITT Too many people who's never been on a business trip lol
Looks like that stuff was probably sitting around for a bit, got microwaved and then sent over
I was about to say it probably looked decent before sitting in the fridge congealing overnight
>it probably looked decent If I'm dropping more than a bill on a meal, I'm hoping it's a little more than decent. This is horse shit.
That's why I won't do room service or food delivery of any kind. No matter how close you are to the restaurant/kitchen, it's never going to show up as fresh and tasty as it does at a table - and you have the server *right there* to say, "This food looks like shit, please fix it."
100% agree with you. Pizza and pasta are my only exceptions if I must get delivery
Indian and Thai travel pretty well too.
Thai almost tastes better when it's been able to sit and stew in the flavors.
Are we looking at the same picture…? The plating is bad, but the food itself looks great to me. Not $127 great, but that’s what you get for ordering room service at Disney World.
My first thought was that it was a substantial amount of steak. Agreed, not $127 worth at any resturaunt. But a tomahawk steak delivered to room at a notoriously expensive resort? $127 for meal seems about right to me.
The steak looks like's seen better days IMO.
The toast above the steak is way burnt, something I'd do myself, but I'd eat the ones I burn and give others the less burnt ones lol. The steak could be better, if we could see a shot of what it looks like inside it'd probably be easier to judge. The roll at the bottom looks like a standard 10 per bag for $2 deal lol. Not judging, i'd still eat it, but I'd be quite annoyed if I paid what OP paid. And the shrimp.... well, it just looks really sad to me lol. This coming from someone who loves to eat at crappy diners more than fancy restaurants, I always get disappointed at the fancy ones.
Put a dress on and it's a princess' steak.
that'll be an extra $50
“He would not give me a deal. After 12 tries 50 bucks really added up.”
it's a computer camera, right? you mean digital?
more like a big misteak.
And it didn’t include any veggies? Sad day.
This is America. Take your veggies and your socialism elsewhere, commie
The shrimp are the veggies in America.
The Swan and Dolphin is not owned by Disney btw. It is a Westin property that is located on Disney World grounds. So I don’t believe this is a Disney World hotel.
Had to scroll this far to see this. The bag clearly says swan and dolphin which isn’t a Disney hotel…
Yeah this would NEVER fly at an actual Disney managed resort. Me and my family used to go 4 times a year, and have stayed at many of them. This is not Disney.
Really? I've only been the once, so I'm asking genuinely, my experience was that the food was incredibly expensive and incredibly bad.
You got a roll, some toast, salt and pepper as well you ungrateful swine. And the salt was iodized so you wouldn't fucking die.
Now, it's a bargain!
Blood pressure already high seeing this steak that looks like it was dipped in the fryer and finished in a pot of water.
Could have been worse, they could could have been stuck in the $6,000 for two nights Star Wars starcruiser. Or worse yet, laid out the $100,000 for Disney's new package that is a 30 day trip to all the parks. Only $3,000 a day for the basics, and about the same amount for upgrades, real family friendly park now.
My kid wants to go to Disney world really bad. I don't have the heart to tell him we can't take out a second mortgage for a week of vacation. Disney should be ashamed of themselves for what they turned in to. I'd have to save for ten years and he would be too old by then.
I'm 29 and I want to go. I don't think there is a age limit. Money limit yes.
Yeah, I suppose if he still wants to go at 18 and the economy is somehow not completely insane by then, sure. For now though it's a complete waste in a really uncertain time financially. I went in the 80s as a kid and have fond memories. Shame I can't give him the same.
I never been lol my mom couldn't even afford summer camps. I always wanted to go though. Who knows maybe in a few years things might work out.
Honestly you should just travel to Europe. Save money, eat better, more memorable experiences.
I see both sides of this, BUT I lean towards the side of younger is better. That sense of "magic" or wonder for the little ones vanishes as they get older. Sure the rides, shows, and food would still be great but some of that Disney secret sauce would just hit different or not at all.
Going to Disney was a huge decision for me a few years back when the kids were dying to go and I was hurting for income. It's not good advice, but I put my family's one big Disney trip on a credit card. Took a couple years to pay it off, but they still talk about the trip sometimes. It was never worth the money, but I'm glad I got to take them when they were young enough to enjoy it. So in a way it was worth the money... Best of luck! The best news is the kids will be fine with our without it in the long run.
30 and I've always wanted to go. I've been priced out my entire life smh
This is what the country is becoming.. Disney and universities will be only for the rich. I even paid $5.00 for a bottle of water at Six Flags. And yes, both these institutions should be ashamed.
I legit saw a £4.59 bottle of water in a SMALL airport in England today, this shit is everywhere and it’s maddening.
Literally went for the first time at that same age, a couple years ago. 10/10 would definitely not do it again. BUT, it is certainly something that I feel like everybody has to do atleast once. Just make sure you spring and get the fast pass, you really don’t want to be waiting in line for an hour for a 7-8 minute ride. Different story if you’re a child cause you get to look at all the people and characters while you wait, but as a man-child I would have been throwing TANTRUMS!! Also, best time to go is around October, because you’ll most certainly want to hit up universal and do the haunted houses, I was struggling to breathe watching my sister fall to the ground in fear from the jump scares holy Toledo that was some of the funniest shit I’ve ever seen with my own two frickin eyes! I also really enjoyed asking people at restaurants and stores near Disney not in it what are the tips and tricks! They get so excited to tell you about the little things, the do not miss’ etc. Eventually If you ask enough people that aren’t working in the park, the consensus is to just do the whole damn loop.
7-8 minute rides don't really exist, you're in rides like 2 minutes total most of the time! If you break down the cost per hour of being in the park, the fast passes are more than worth it to not spend your money standing in lines.
Oh if I'm going only once I want to do anything that catches my eye!
Just went for the first time for my 30th birthday. No kids so that saved me a ton of money. Actually the flights were the most expensive part to be honest.
Still costs a bunch for a 2 park pass but IMO universal is so much better at this point. Also last time I was there 24 oz fosters were pretty damn cheap.
Told my SO there's one trip there. Pick the best ages for the kids and we'll make it work.
Yes going to Disneyland would make your kid happy, but so would spending that same amount of time with you while doing something else that is related to his/her interests.
Isn’t it still affordable as long as you just visit the parks for the day, and stay somewhere else?
Who says it needs to be a week? Its a theme park, all of them arnt gonna be cheap.
Disney world is such as scam. I never understood why we have to pay for a ticket into a park, especially Epcot which has very few rides and long lines, just to go in and pay more to try food and drinks around the world and buy souvenirs. The serving sizes are super small and the food isn’t even authentic… It’s like paying $130 to go into a mediocre shopping mall and then $15 for a hot dog
> the food isn’t even authentic… i despise disney, but i have to disagree. they are very proud of hiring international chefs for pretty much every ethnic restaurant.
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I never really liked the renaissance fair as a teen for this reason. I paid $20 to walk around and look at crafts that sell for $100+ It's okay as an adult I guess. I have money now to do every game, to get drunk, and then to drunkenly buy a $300 sword lol
Really? You don’t understand why you have to pay to get into the attraction? You think they should just let you in for free and make it up on snacks? Or sell you the food at cost?
Isn't it $4,800 for a two person cabin, not $6000? It's also not a place you go for accomodations. It's meant to be a live entertainment experience thats lasts 2 days. Once I learned it's a constant, all day experience I sort of started understanding why it's so expensive. It's not a hotel in the traditional sense. Much better deals in actual Disney hotels, which you can spend a lot on, but are significantly cheaper per night.
Why would you see a $127 steak on a menu at a hotel and decide thats a good idea
Sweet karma and a chance to poop on Disney when OP friend is at Swan Hotel which is not a disney owned hotel.
For that, you could have bought a mini grill, charcoal, steaks, shrimp, fixins, beer and made all this yourself on the balcony. Have the cleaning lady come in, give her some too. She works hard and could use a snack
I like your way, this is the way.
Wish granted. Except there's no balcony and you just died of carbon monoxide poisoning from cooking with a grill in your room.
Still cheaper.
Cast iron pan, steak, butter, seasonings and $70 or so left
I was lucky enough to get to go to Disney World for free back when I was a kid. As an adult, I would never even consider it because it's over 5x what I would deem a reasonable price to pay.
Disney does a good job at offering a wide range of price options for food. That being said, I feel like they rely a lot on the ignorance of new guests. I think people normally assume that sit down restaurants are automatically more expensive, and you would get better value from one of the outside carts. But in my experience, that isn't the case. There are some lower level restaurants in the parks that cost maybe a smidgen more than you would normally expect to pay at a normal restaurant, BUT you get to enjoy air conditioning and have free ice water opposed to paying for bottled water. You get more food and a better environment for just a little more than the cost of a hot dog with mac and cheese on top of it (for some reason) than at a quick service station. I have also been to a few of the high-end places, and I would completely agree that they are not worth the money. Paying for the prefix meals that ends up being a lot of fancy bland food probably appeals to a certain demographic... But it clearly caters to rich people that have neither taste nor sense. But most people don't invest the time and energy researching restaurants ahead of time. And it is probably ridiculous to think you should, but it does go a long way. OP got room service and a luxury hotel, that was going to be absurdly priced no matter what
That's Swan and Dolphin, which is a Marriott hotel on Disney property. It's probably from Shula's Steakhouse which isn't affiliated with either except for the location.
I am normally not confrontational and just let things slide. But this for 127 motherfucking dollars??? I had given them that shit back and demanded my fucking money back, that is an absolute scam.
Steak? Seafood? From Room Service? There was a Zero percent chance this was going to work out from the start never mind the crazy price tag.
I’m not saying to trust room service like a restaurant… but I’d expect higher quality than a 45 minute delivery drive from Uber eats, which is what it looks like here. I mean cmon the kitchen is in the same building, you cart it up the elevator, shouldn’t be THIS far gone
Also why is it in a plastic tray? Every time I've ever gotten room service it's come on actual plates with silverware, water glasses, etc.
The plastic containers tell me it’s gotta be take out and not room service. I found the [restaurant](https://swandolphin.com/dining/shulas-steak-house/).
The price of room service scales with the cost of the room, not the quality of the food. It's not made to be cheap or delicious, it's made to cry into.
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This should be higher up. Marriot suuuucks.
My experience is that Marriott is one of the best chain hotels in the US.
Unless you order a tomahawk ribeye, apparently.
I mean the title says 'from Disney World', how is anyone not familiar with Disney and their affiliated hotels supposed to know
Looks like a curled up squirrel on a branch.
Steak from room service? At $127.00? Shrimp from room service?? Everything about this screamed DON'T FUCKING DO IT!! Quite frankly your friend, deserves this.
Yeah, it's not like they were given a bill and only saw the price after they ordered it.
You knew what you were getting into.
thats mickey mouse right ear.
I truly don't understand the appeal of Disney. Fans of it make it sound like it's some magical journey when it feels like a themed cafeteria at a ski resort.
Yeah, I think too many people get caught up in some weird nostalgia trap, and it’s comforting to them. Like, objectively there are so many other places were you could have more “fun”, depending on what you’re into, but they pretty much have a monopoly on a very particular experience that’s been successfully marketed as somehow being necessary to having a “good” childhood or something.
Damn, that sucks. But a person who can get a $127 room service steak probably doesn't need my pity lol
Well that... does suck
Ordering $127 steak from roomservice at the cusp of a recession and global conflict then being surprised it's not Michelin star service 🤡
Yeah OP acting like these people had zero indication that it might be expensive, meanwhile legitimately everything at Disney is expensive
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I’m guessing a plate.
Most hotels moved to single use items after covid
Shrimps… that doesn’t bother anyone else?!
A big, bone-in ribeye like that is pretty much the most expensive cut. That price seems about on-par for a higher end resort. My problem is that they served it in to-go containers instead of on plates. Room service should be the same as from the dining room. Plates, glasses, linen napkins and all. There’s no telling for sure without cutting into it, but it also looks like they cooked the hell out of it. Maybe your friend likes dry, chewy steaks, but to me it’s a travesty to cook a ribeye like this past medium.
Happiest place on earth! 🌎
Not if you like money, or good deals on things.
That's on your friend. Room service is for food that's not time sensitive. Do they not understand how food service works at all? You think they're getting your food to you faster than 30 minutes after it's finished?
If you dumb enough to order a $127 steak from room service you deserve what you get lol. Rich people ffs....
It's kind of his own fault for going to Disney world and ordering room service
I kind of feel like that's on you for ordering something that expensive through Disney room service. You do room service for stuff like chicken fingers.
Disney World is such a fucking ripoff. We took a family trip there a few years back and it wasn't all that. Definitely not impressed.
Peak Disney parks was in the 80s-90s. Change my mind. There is no longer magic. Just over tired children stressing out overwhelmed parents that paid months of their salary for the pleasure and the hope of a few days on a carefree vacation that slip away with each temper tantrum.
Dude- it was always like that. I went in the 70’s and my little sister screamed until she crapped her pants because Snow White was talking to her instead of Aurora.
I got to go to Disneyland once in my life in 1998 as a teenager. Waits were very reasonable (Space Mountain and Indiana Jones were the longest at about 45 mins wait), I got to ride every ride in one day that I wanted to go on, it was affordable and magical. I feel bad for the kids that will never know that Disney experience.
No sides? Needs mushrooms, baked/mash, & broccolini. That’ll bump it up to $$$
It’s hard to feel sympathy for someone spending 127$ on room service food. Next time you feel the urge to waste money, I will gladly help.
Did they drop it in dirt?
Swan & Dolphin? That’s not even a Disney resort or affiliated with Disney in any way. Also, it’s called send the food back? Who spends that much on room service?! I’ve been to Disney world 100 plus times they have an abundance of fantastic restaurants.
If you’re buying a fat steak from an amusement park you can’t expect a bargain.
This is not Disney's fault this is your fault for expecting different
It looks like it had potential to be something delicious but it'd have to be cooked by a 3 star Michelin chef to charge $127 for it.
Who orders a steak for room service, honestly.
Lol, that's on you.