Has anyone seen any official predictions or forecasts from media or the Mouse as to how the insane price of gas will affect attendance at the resort this summer?

Is anyone here from out of town changing their travel plans due to the gas prices, and how? One less day in the parks, less expensive hotel, eating in your hotel more,etc?

As a local I take for granted that it only takes about 1 gallon of gas round trip for me to get to the parks, even that costs more than a bag of grapes and a bottled water now (our usual snack in the park - hey, you can't eat churros and Dole whips every time when you go as often as us!). I was just curious to see how the increased cost of gas - and everything else - had affected fellow Padders' plans.

It hasn't really changed our plans...yet. We booked our flights months ago (though last I checked, the flights were similar in price to what we paid), we have AP's that we got through airmiles (so no big $$ there) and we generally try to eat at our hotel vs. many of our meals in the resort, anyways.

We're still planning on going in November and driving from Nor Cal. I pray gas prices go down by then but I'm not holding my breath. We're going to rent a bigger vehicle so I need to make sure it has comparable gas mileage to our car.

I've felt the pinch since gas prices have gone up. It's about 100 miles round trip, so that's about 4 gallons at an increase of about a dollar/gallon. Add the additional $1 for parking and the trip is costing about $5 more than six months ago!

I cut back by drinking water at the park and less snacks. Also choose less expensive restaurants at times. Friends who usually buy a couple of pins each time, purchase fewer or none at all.

My income hasn't gone up to cover the higher transportation costs, so we just go with less "fringe" stuff.:crying:

We are still driving the end of this week. We did however book a rental car that gets better gas mileage. What is the gas going for in So. Cal?

http://www.orangecountygasprices.com/

What is the gas going for in So. Cal?


More than it was yesterday. And, it'll be even higher tomorrow.

I just paid $860 per ticket for Honolulu to LAX in July for a week and we're at GCH. I didn't want to change where we stay but we'll probably be more careful about our consumption in the parks. I'll be more vigilant about bringing water and snacks and will consider souvenirs more carefully. I might start letting the kids share an entree when we eat out because they never finish their own and never eat it the next day when we take it back to the room. Looking back, we are quite wasteful at the parks.

I guess because we have to fly to get here I feel like I want to get my money's worth on this trip so we're also hitting San Diego (Legoland, Zoo, Seaworld). With airfare continuing to rise (it was only $350 in March), who knows when I'll be able to come back. And with school schedules as the kids get older, we'll most likely try to come twice a year rather than our normal 3 times per year.

More than it was yesterday. And, it'll be even higher tomorrow.

HAHAHA, That is so true, that was good for a laugh (I live in SoCal near PCH by the beach and we are in the thick of it too - that's the price we pay for living in a tourist destination!)

And just to point out to the earlier poster... those online gas prices are usually showing you the lowest they could find with lots of research. Unless you are going to drive around OC trying to find those, you are likely going to be paying around $4.50 (this week anyways) for anything near a freeway, amusement park, airport, etc. Basically everywhere an out-of-towner would be passing. The cheap stuff, you gotta hunt for. :-)

We are going to be staying at a less expensive hotel this trip (Howard Johnson). Our choice was to cut it down to only staying 3 nights or stay someplace other than the DLH. We are thinking gas is going to cost us over $350 round trip if we just go straight down and back.

Doesn't really affect our plans at all. We are driving again in October, just because airfare for 5, plus the fact that we would still rent a car, is far more expensive than just driving our own car, even if you include the wear and tear of 2000 miles RT on our car.

We thought about driving down to Sea World, but are staying an extra day at DLR now.

Actually, the sites list the lowest and highest gas prices in an area - reported by ordinary folks.

The two stations near Disneyland with the best prices are an Arco ($4.399) and a Shell ($4.419)

I'm going in September, by car from Northern California. I think instead of driving my own vehicle (an older Toyota truck with less-than-stellar mileage) I 'll rent something fuel-efficient for the trip. I saw a TV ad for one rental compnay thet rents out hybrids. If they don't cost too much, I might go that route.

We will be driving down from Portland and will not change our plans ! I don't know about anyone else but an extra $150 or $200 is not going to change our vacation plans, we work hard all year so we can take at least one good vacation each year.

The gas in Bellingham today is $4.49/gallon. So, it certainly isn't going to hurt us to drive to CA! It will almost be an escape! :D

I know that I won't be coming up to DLR as often, and it's less than a 20 mile drive for me.

I went to DL on Sunday, expecting crowds but to my surprise, it was actually really nice! The weather was beautiful and we walked on a few rides. I started thinking about the summer crowds. With gas expected to reach over five dollars per gallon, will this have a significant impact on the crowds this summer? Was Sunday a peek into the impending summer season? If I didn't live so close I think I would think twice about going to the parks and if I just paid for the day, WOW! Right now I am just lucky I get to keep my teaching job.

Just curious about all your thoughts!

While it is not ideal, we have decided to cut back on a few items now to save for the higher prices in gas during our trip.

We are still driving down in July from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Actually.... your gas prices are still lower than what we are paying! Currently we are at 1.39/litre which is OVER $6.00 a gallon! :mad:

We live about an hour or so away and were going to wait until the end of summer to renew our passes. I have other family moving out here then and we all want to go together as often as possible!
Anyway, with gas prices the way they are now, we won't be going as much as we planned to....when we moved out here we had big plans of going every week--more during the summer--but that is on hold for now....

Currently we are at 1.39/litre which is OVER $6.00 a gallon! :mad:


Aaaaaaaaaaaaa I hope it doesn't get that high here! We won't be able to afford to commute to work!

All I can say is I'm certainly glad I was able to move from Santa Clarita (60.5 miles up the 5 from DL) to Anaheim (5.3 miles from DL) earlier this year. Otherwise I probably would have had to quit. Now I can bike to work in 35 minutes for free!

We typically fly down every couple of years, and although tickets are expensive, I tend to pay more for the convenience of choosing my flights for comfort and quickness, so I have some wiggle room if I need it. Since I drive a Corolla 8 miles round trip to work, and DH is riding his Vespa to work, we haven't really felt the direct impact of gas prices in our daily lives, except for the increase in groceries.

What got me more this year was the increase in the price of staying on site. We are staying at the Sheraton for free this time because I just couldn't bring myself to pay $400+ for the Grand.

There was a recent article on Forbes.com about this, and the general opinion was that "local" parks like Knott's and Sea World and Magic Mountain won't be hurt as much as you might think because people are looking for something closer to home to replace their long-distance vacation plans.

"Regional" parks like Disneyland, and to a much greater degree, Walt Disney World continue to benefit greatly from the international tourism spurred by the weak US dollar. Disneyland reported per-capita spending was even up 6% I believe.

AVP