Tropical Wilds
The Command considers us a bunch of losers.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,478
Disney doesn't always put the info out there. I found out about the parade closing about 3 weeks before it did, long after I could get any sort of refund, and it was due to paving. Habit Heroes was hyped in-park, but closed suddenly after 5 days. Rides that are closing for good habitually close with little-to-no notice. In fact, if I remember right, Dumbo was just such a ride. It's in the terms of your booking... Not all features will be operational at all times. Some may close at any time, with or without notice, due to everything from refurbs to weather.
As has been stated, the track was closed for construction at a hotel, but also because a portion of the track needed to be repaired after damage this winter, and another portion had planned work that needed to be done. Disney opted to get this all done in one 7-hour daily closure for one month as opposed to 3 closures over who knows how many months. Given that all the usage research for it was being done 5 days before the change, it seems like what probably happened is that either the crane for construction became available when they weren't expecting and Disney opted to do the work now as opposed to during the summer, or more probably, the damage from the tracks this winter (that was causing the monorails to go slowly, spawning more threads here about the how useful the monorail really is) was bad enough that it needed immediate repairing and Disney was able to coordinate the 3 service-impacting needs around the track for only March.
And yes, a bus does transport you as well as a monorail. When I get on the bus to go from A to B on a bus, I get there just as if I'd done the same thing with the monorail. It's not as unique or sexy, nor does hopping on a bus to go to your resort have the same prestige as getting on a monorail, but yes, the bus will get you from point A to point B as well as the monorail.
As I stated earlier, the drastic price increase comes from a number of factors... The fact that the resorts in question have a grand total of 3 different Disney-provided transports to the parks (as opposed to the one, the dreaded bus, that most other resorts have), the fact that they are in very close proximity to the parks and therefore can enjoy park features (fireworks, water parade) even outside of the parks, the hotels in question have onsite character dining as well as in some cases fine dining, the rooms are more upperscale, and the resorts themselves have a history and layout that makes them more desirable. That all factors in to the price you pay per night. Because one of the multitude of features those resorts offer over others is out of service for 7 hours does not mean the hotel is now a useless, pointless, undesirable location that needs to be discounted to get people in the doors. Having the resort monorail unavailable for use for 7 hours a day for one month does not make a deluxe resort hotel an All-Star.
I never said that they wouldn't lose bookings at those resorts, but statistical trending in the scenario is quite clear that those people would simply book elsewhere on-site, and Disney would most likely have predicted this and not lowered the rates on the hotels people didn't want (because people will still pay it, monorail or not), but raise the rates of the moderates. Even if they didn't raise the rates of the mods, they wouldn't lose money as the people have simply opted to stay elsewhere still onsite. Disney still gets the money regardless of where they stay. In fact, I think Disney has probably figured out that the people they could most afford to "irritate" are those who are staying where they stay due to ease of access to the parks. Those people are paying money for the perception of easier access and when they think their need for convienence has been compromised, they will choose to stay elsewhere, but that elsewhere will almost certainly just be another resort on-property... Either one in walking distance to the park of choice or one with mutiple travel options. By their initial resort choice of a Deluxe with a monorail have shown will spend money in order to have that ease they want, and Disney has very effectively cultivated that in transportation around the park.
Compare that to the people who stay at the values, which is the crowd that, Disney has said themselves, are the parkgoer that they are at the highest risk for losing and therefore are very, very careful to keep an eye on what they like and don't like because they're the ones who've demonstrated they vacation on value at the expense of convenience, meaning they're the most "at risk" for simply not going or staying offsite (Disney loses money).
Notice even by what you said... You didn't say you wouldn't go, or you'd go and stay offsite. You said you'd go at a different time (Disney gets your money) or stay at another hotel (Disney gets your money). And that's exactly what I said people would have done if Disney had known and announced it earlier... So withholding the info doesn't save them or lose them any money, if they had the info ahead of time to begin with, which I don't think they did.
It truly makes me sad to see Disney's decline, under Iger and Co.
"Ride the bus with the commoners", .
It is all a money game.. Disney must do the work, but won't budge on the rates.. and that is wrong. 
).. we were originally going to stay 2 nights in Kissimmee, but used a pin code for a room discount.
