New survey .. proposal .. Tiered Ticket Prices

[BugsDaddy]

I think that Disney, like many companies, does rely on guest feedback for a lot of what they decide or what direction they choose to take. I remember reading about Disney adding the option of the 4th FP based on guest feedback, so I searched and found this blog post from about a year ago pertaining to just this topic:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/04/mymagic-adding-even-more-magic-to-fastpass/

From the post:

As we’ve said from the beginning, MyMagic+ will continue to evolve over time with the aim of continuing to improve our guests’ experience with us and in response to feedback from our guests. Today’s news is another chapter of that story and we look forward to sharing more with you as we continue to roll out and refine MyMagic+. Continue checking the Disney Parks Blog for more details.


So, bringing it back to the topic of this thread, hopefully Disney will listen once again to the feedback they receive from this survey when they move ahead with any new pricing structure.

I don't disagree that Disney solicits feedback from its customers. The latest survey with the suggested tiered pricing is a good example of soliciting feedback from a selected segment of their customer base probably based on several factors. However, I can tell you that the statement regarding "and in response to customer feedback" is a pretty popular statement used by a lot of guest centric organizations. It still does not mean that they didn't already have a plan in place to increase FP allocation. In fact, I would find it hard to believe that they didn't.

 

[Angel Ariel]

It still does not mean that they didn't already have a plan in place to increase FP allocation

No it doesn't. But it also doesn't mean that they didn't listen to customer feedback and take that into account in their decision process as well. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I think a blog post from the company itself stating "y" as one of the reasons that they did "x" is a pretty valid source when answering a question of "How do you know they did x because of y".

I absolutely agree that "in response to customer feedback" is a popular marketing sentiment...that the statement is rather generic and not exactly earth-shattering doesn't mean there's no truth to it either, though. It is possible for both things - Disney having a plan, and customer feedback influencing that plan, to have happened.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Remember, you could be enjoying the overall experience rather than the minutiae of wait times.

It's interesting, the people I've heard when in the parks or on the bus over the past 2 visits aren't talking about how much they got done, it's about how much they spent for so few things in a day and wondering if it was worth it.

Just because we can spread out costs over a single 10-day ticket to $45/day doesn't fix the lack of value for people who are there for 1 day. Paying the $100+, getting 3 FP+ attractions, then waiting in lines for several hours isn't a good experience, no matter if lines should or should not be expected.

For me, waiting an hour in line for 2 attractions is too long based on what the trip costs, but I bill hourly rates for work, so time is money.

That's a shame. Waits weren't actually bad at all and less than an hour. Not an hour.

I guess if you get to charge people a lot of money for an hour of your time, I can see how that would make you especially sensitive to idle time where it seems you are getting nothing but staring at people's backsides.

In the course of our 8 hour day we did 6 attractions plus 2 repeats (kids using unused FP+ from our party.)

Now before parsing that as seeming so little, 2 of those attractions were near half an hour long shows plus egress. Then there was our own personal family logistics. We don't get around fast and we have an infant. And had we not done the repeats, 2 additional attractions could have easily been done and possibly a 3rd of the posted wait time was accurate.

In my opinion, the only one that counts for how I feel our day went...we had a great day. Not rushed. Not hurried. And we did a lot.

So, using the single day price.
$100 for the day is $12.50 per hour, per attraction. (8 hours, 8 rides/shows)

Now, that person does not get the benefit of volume discount--but such is life. It is a HUGE decision to decide if spending full price on anything is worth it.

Most often, it never is no matter where you go or what your are buying. Pick any theme park and I cringe at paying the full single day price.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The reasons behind why travel has picked up are far more than people love Disney. What's more things like public opinion can change. The public may only be willing to absorb so much increase for declining service.

I find it curious that we have not witnessed this, yet. Prices go up and attendance still goes up.

As was posted, published, mentioned somewhere--they have not reached the point where the public has said enough.

It almost seems "yes, sir. May I have another?"

 

[Mickey&Mouse]

No it doesn't. But it also doesn't mean that they didn't listen to customer feedback and take that into account in their decision process as well. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I think a blog post from the company itself stating "y" as one of the reasons that they did "x" is a pretty valid source when answering a question of "How do you know they did x because of y".

I absolutely agree that "in response to customer feedback" is a popular marketing sentiment...that the statement is rather generic and not exactly earth-shattering doesn't mean there's no truth to it either, though. It is possible for both things - Disney having a plan, and customer feedback influencing that plan, to have happened.

True, "in response to customer feedback" is a popular marketing sentiment; however, that was one case in particular (adding the 4th FP option) where the guest feedback was very consistently zeroed in on having a 4th added. So, I do agree with your last statement for it to have been possibly a combination of both a plan and a response to guest feedback.

I think that overall guest feedback does play into Disney's decision making process, and certainly some things cannot be planned out completely until they hear from guests- such as the New Fantasyland expansion which evolved based on feedback from the public. They actually ended up scaling back their original design because of the feedback they received. So, while plans can very well be in place for anything at Disney- it's not ever set in stone, and I think guest feedback at times factors into that predominantly.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

In MK riding a headliner 7 times a day, only taking into account the mountains as headliners, could be something like:

Splash - 2 rides
Thunder - 2 rides
Space - 2 rides
SDMT - 1 ride

I really don't understand what is excessive about that kind of touring. I'll grant I could be missing something here, but that doesn't seem like an unusual breakdown of headliner rides for a long MK day. Riding one attraction 7 times in a day with FP - yes, I could understand that being considered unusual, but spreading those 7 rides out over all of the MK mountains doesn't come across as unusual to me.

It doesn't. And to some degree, my family has accomplished this in some form or another in the current system several times.
(With and without the benefit of rider swap.)

Our only trips to Disney with a child were with DD when she was 8 months old and 15 months old. On the trip at 8 months old, we were with my 6 and 3 y/o nephews. We rode headliners more than once, because the boys wanted to ride headliners more than once. DD was 8 months old, we used FP and RS, and she was just happy to be wherever we were whether we were on a ride or not.

On the 15 month old trip, we were with DH's family who hadn't been to Disney in over 20 years. We rode multiple things more than once, including headliners, again because ofmultigenerational aspect of the trip and meeting the needs of everyone on the trip. DD was again just happy to be wherever we were.

Now I will grant, we have a very chilled out DD. She's pretty happy wherever she is, and she wasn't mobile on either of those two trips. I expect our trip to DLR this year will be a bit different. I'm really hoping she'll finally be walking by then, she's getting close. But I do also expect that DH and I will ride headliners more than once because we enjoy them ourselves. I highly doubt I'm only going to ride the new Thunder Mountain there, or Indy, or Radiator Springs, just once..because the trip is just as much for us and my parents as it is for her. Now don't get me wrong, we will be doing *plenty* for her as well. We're not going to spend all day every day riding headliners, and we'll have 6 days worth of tickets (2 3-day Armed Forces Salute tickets/person for the 3 of us)..we'll have plenty of time to get the multitude of family friendly rides in too

(Note - I don't say this to argue any point. You just said you couldn't imagine a scenario with small children where riding headliners multiple times would happen. I'm just providing examples from our own experience to illustrate it, not discount anyone else's experience.)

Rider swap is great for this and we have also done as you.

Even without rider swap, when the opportunity presents, my kids like to Re-ride. It is fun. That said, we typically do this with standby when there is no line. Since a december, we have done this several times with our touring style.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The point is that that kind of devotion isn't ironclad. It can take a very long time for people to become dissatisfied with any major company and I have complete faith that Disney keeps this in mind.

I don't doubt that they do just that.
But even has guests claim they will never go back--attendance is on the rise.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Megatron. He's a hoot.


View attachment 101222

Is that a person in there? These would be so cool to see. I had no idea. Is this IOA or US?

 

[mesaboy2]

Is that a person in there? These would be so cool to see. I had no idea. Is this IOA or US?

Yes, presumably on stilts of some kind. Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee meet at Universal Studios.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yes, presumably on stilts of some kind. Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee meet at Universal Studios.

Thanks! May have to get over there sooner rather than later while my son still thinks they are cool.

 

[mesaboy2]

Thanks! May have to get over there sooner rather than later while my son still thinks they are cool.

If he's like me, you've got plenty of time.

 

[PirateD]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only 2 blocks of time I'm seeing where a guest could hold a 7 day bronze ticket is: April 27-May 8 & September 2-19. Right?

Yes, you are correct! My apologies. I thought they said January in the podcast and when I quickly looked at the chart to see if they were correct, I looked at the first month assuming that it was January. I see now that it starts with May.

Come to think of it it is interesting that there are no platinum days for days like July 4th and New Years etc or the requirement to buy hard tickets specifically for these dates

Yikes! Please don't give them any ideas, lol! Maybe that is the next step!

 

[Josh Hendy]

I am wondering if people who are commenting on the "cruise" mentality have ever actually been on a cruise? I have been on a lot of cruises and I can tell you that the entertainment on cruises are NOT part of a strict system of reservations and rationing. You want to do something on a cruise you pretty much just show up. Even dining for the most part is flexible. Same goes with Disney. As much as some people want to spin it differently, you can dine and ride rides and be as spontaneous as you want. However, if you want to dine at the most popular places and play on the most popular rides, advanced planning might be required.

I think you're actually making my point. You question if I've ever been on a cruise when I compared cruising to visiting WDW, then you go on to explain why cruise ships are similar to WDW. Such as, "if you want to ... play on the most popular rides, advanced planning might be required."

Besides, Sam Gennawey is with me on this. I mean, he's with us. He wrote the book "Universal versus Disney: The Unofficial Guide to American Theme Parks' Greatest Rivalry" and other books about Disney. I just listened to Sam talking on the WDW Today podcast and here's a paraphrase of one of his points:

Disney decided to go to a whole different business model ... a cruise ship that doesn't go anywhere. You're able to pre-plan your vacation, create special experiences, and feel comfortable that it's been set within an itinerary. You don't even have to worry about taking a key or anything, you just make sure that there's something on your wrist. While Universal has decided to follow the business model that Walt Disney created ... an immersive environment that you cannot find anywhere else in the world with an attraction that's so wonderful, you'll write and tell your friends. And secondary attractions and shops that reinforce those environments. And build capacity so that a lot of bodies can go through that space ... Whereas Disney has said, "we're going to allow technology to assist us in making the person's vacation feel different" ... They're trying to play their own game and not play tit-for-tat with Universal.

Emphasis added. To summarize, Disney's business model at the moment is to cram more tuna into the hold of the boat and to manage the problem with pre-planning, variable pricing, cell phone apps and wrist-thingies. Universal's business model, which is the old Disney model, is to build more rides.

 

[Barnabe]

I prefer WDW to Universal, I just wish they would return to their previous business model. I realize attendance is up, but the tourism industry is experiencing this up tick across the board. Everyone is increasing their prices. I just think Disney is going to increase their prices more than anyone else.

I just hope Universal is smart enough not to increase their prices to match Disney's. If admission is less expensive than Disney, it will increase guest loyalty to their brand.

 

[Praying Colonel]

In light of the recent announcement, BTTT.

Guess this wasn't one of those "don't worry--WDW is always taking surveys" situations, after all.