Another example of “pay more, get less”..water park hours reduced

[bcrook]

If we did not care about the 'magic' we would not make an effort to hold Disney to the standards that are important to us.

Thanks for posting that.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Exactly. I don't find this much different from the outcry when Disney announced their rules for costumes. So many were positive they wouldn't even be allowed at the parties. And lo and behold, they are allowed. Disney adjusts things all of the time. It is more than likely the hours will be extended as the dates become closer.

It also strikes me that many of the complaints are from people who liked going early because the water parks were not busy. How does it make good business sense to be open and not have many guests? It doesn't make sense to pay all of the park CMs and the bus drivers when there is not much of a demand for them. Again, as the dates become closer and if the parks trend to be more busy, the times will probably be extended. But it makes no good sense for a company to be open when there is not much demand for them to be open.

After seeing the water park opening crowd I questioned why the even bothered opening that early. The parking lot had like 5 cars in it and there may have been 10 people in sight.

 

[Slapshot1188]

I read this opinion all the time. I just don't understand it. As consumers, we need to constantly monitor what businesses offer. Currently, Disney is cutting back significantly and raising prices at a staggering rate. My AP jumped over $200.00 this year! The food prices at the Quick Service places jumped 20-30% this week! Hours are being cut across the board in a mind numbing way.

This is all great information to help me make the best decision for my family and budget. Escalating prices and cuts and services are very difficult to be rosy about (unless of course I had an unlimited income - then I wouldn't care).

Absolutely!

Disney Parks (parks only) Operating Income (so minus expenses) made $3 BILLION in 2015 and that was DOUBLE what they made 5 years ago!
Despite this, they have continue to raise prices ridiculous amounts, nickle and dime for extra fees, and on top of that cut employee costs.

The problem isn't with fans complaining and cancelling their tickets. The problem is pure corporate greed. I'm all for making a profit but when you cut staff and hours while MAKING $3 BILLION it's just greed. May not hurt then short term, but eventually it will boomerang.

 

[kandb]

Don't understand why Disney would shorten the water parks by 2 hours during mid summer? I understand they have to employ CM's for the 2 extra hours but could the cost be that much that it's worth closing for those 2 extra hours?

 

[kandb]

After seeing the water park opening crowd I questioned why the even bothered opening that early. The parking lot had like 5 cars in it and there may have been 10 people in sight.

We went to the water parks this past August, when they opened at 10, believe me there were ALOT of people waiting to get let in. They held us behind a rope .

 

[bcrook]

After seeing the water park opening crowd I questioned why the even bothered opening that early. The parking lot had like 5 cars in it and there may have been 10 people in sight.

This is interesting. I like going to lunch at 11:15 because the crowds are lower and the lines are short. Using this logic, they should close and only be open when they have maximum crowds.

I like to go to Red Lobster on a Tuesday night at 8:30 pm because the restaurant is clearing out and I don't have to wait for 45 minutes for a table, but using your logic - Red Lobster should close their doors right after that 7:00 pm peak.

I enjoy playing golf on weekdays in the morning, but I guess golf courses shouldn't be open unless all the tee times are full.

During holiday shopping, I like to wander around the mall on Thursday night around 8:15. They should only be open on the weekends I guess.

Having a few hours a day with lower crowds allows the employees and guests to ease into a busy day. After all...it is a VACATION! Why not have an opportunity to show up without a long line to get in and fight for chairs and shade.

With the prices Disney is charging, there is no excuse for not staffing their parks with longer hours.

 

[siskaren]

We went to the water parks this past August, when they opened at 10, believe me there were ALOT of people waiting to get let in. They held us behind a rope .

I'm assuming BigAlsGal is referring to a 9:00 opening. If there's only 5 cars there at 9:00, then I agree, there isn't any reason to open that early.

 

[kandb]

We are planning on going down to stay at my parents place in FL in August for 10 days. I told my mom that we should visit a waterpark while we are there. We were just at WDW in Feb/March. I would love to take my kids to Typhoon Lagoon, but after looking at the options, prices, hours, attractions we have settled on Aquatica. It's also our year to be down in FL at Christmas and this has basically cemented the fact that we will be doing Sea World & Busch Gardens. We can get Aquatica, Sea World, and Busch Gardens for $109. We can use Aquatica in Aug. and we have 6 months to use the other two, which we will do in Dec. Those not with us in Aug. will get the two parks for $99. We really can't beat that deal anywhere. My nephew has never been to WDW but it's going to wait awhile longer. We used to go to MK every time we went down for Christmas but it's just not affordable any more, we are at the point where we can do a couple things or just a WDW park and we choose more for our $$$.

Acquatica is awesome. The fast lazy river, Roa Rapids, is the funnest ride I have ever been on.

 

[bcrook]

I'm assuming BigAlsGal is referring to a 9:00 opening. If there's only 5 cars there at 9:00, then I agree, there isn't any reason to open that early.

But what about 9:15 or 9:45? A nine o'clock opening doesn't mean how many people at 9:00, but from 9:00-10:00. And don't forget the people en route on those buses. by 10:00 there is already a substantial number of people in the water parks.

 

[kandb]

Don't know about how others feel but Disney's water parks aren't anything that great anyway.

 

[pa. dad]

We ate at BB once and were REALLY disappointed. Food was not good, and battling the crowds was chaotic. It was such a negative experience for us that we vowed never to eat in the park again. Since we are local and have AP's, it works for us to just stay in the park for a few hours. We really like that there are so many choices at the AoA food court and think the food is a step above other Disney counter services.

The food in the water parks is usually bad all over. In addition to bad overpriced food, they are almost always understaffed and the wait times are also bad.
That used to be the thinking at most theme parks and sports arenas too- that they had a captive audience and that quality of food and service were minimal. Gradually they realized that they could make more money by offering a better experience.
That newer way of thinking hasn't arrived to the water parks yet. Fast food delivered very slowly is still the norm.

 

[kelleybean]

There are definitely decent crowds there at 9:00 opening, of course not as many as at 10:00. It seems to take people a while to settle in though ... getting a locker, finding a place to put their stuff, putting on sunscreen, etc. We have our openings down to a science ... we sunscreen before we leave and when we get there we dump our stuff near the chair lift at BB and near the three water slides at TL (which get crowded quick) and go. Even on crowded days we pretty much get to do everything we want at least once.

Of course Disney is allowed to change their hours to whatever they want. But if they are going to start routinely opening at 10 on days that last year they opened at 9, water park AP's are no longer a value to us. That 9-10 is what makes those tickets worth it for our family. Disney's decisions are so frustrating. Years ago we switched our AP's to Universal because of the price but get our Disney fix in with the water parks and the Halloween and Christmas parties. Watching the after hours event at MK for $150 makes me think the party ticket prices are about to go up drastically. At a certain point it is hard for my family to justify the cost, which makes me sad because I love Disney.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Real shame, the 6-8 pm timeframe was a GREAT time to be in the water parks.

7:00 pm closing seems REALLY early in the heat of Summer. Whitewater in Branson is open until 10:00 pm in August.

 

[pa. dad]

Disney is pissing a lot of people off with this stuff. The record attendance they have now is great but I believe that they are wrong that the public will tolerate continued service cuts and price raises. Once people start to push back on this then it will be a bit of a snowball for Disney and could take years to recover from it. I will certainly not be renewing my annual passes this year and am considering selling my DVC contract over the constant price increases and service reductions as well

I agree with you New Deal. I was reading a business article today online about the recent closures at DHS and how Universal is catching up as far as attendance. This is from that article:
Theme Park 2009 2014 Change
Magic Kingdom 17,233,000 19,332,000 12.2%
Epcot 10,990,000 11,454,000 4.2%
Animal Kingdom 9,590,000 10,402,000 8.5%
Hollywood Studios 9,700,000 10,312,000 6.3%
Universal Studios Florida 5,530,000 8,263,000 49.4%
Islands of Adventure 4,627,000 8,141,000 75.9%
Source: Themed Entertainment Association.

Those numbers do not reflect the past 15 months either so the "gap" is actually less than what the end of 2014 numbers indicate. Universal FL may never catch up to the MK but the other 3 are well within range especially the DHS which is losing numbers now. The addition of a new waterpark will only shorten the gaps.
I know that Disney is planning many new things but until they open, they are just construction zones. Disney has done well competing against an old Wet and Wild park with a so so location but they'll have to do better competing against a new Universal waterpark that is right in their complex. I don't think offering less hours and offering no new rides or improvements in the waterparks will be seen as doing better.
I don't think that people deciding what to do on their 4th day in town or 7th day in town really care about how much Disney is spending in China. They just care about what will be the most interesting thing for them to do while on vacation.

 

[bcrook]

Real shame, the 6-8 pm timeframe was a GREAT time to be in the water parks.

7:00 pm closing seems REALLY early in the heat of Summer. Whitewater in Branson is open until 10:00 pm in August.

It means more people in the MK at 9:00 pm.

 

[georgina]

Don't know about how others feel but Disney's water parks aren't anything that great anyway.

Some of us like them and have tickets for them on our park tickets, I happen to enjoy the waterparks a lot and it is not something I do at home.

With each change or cutback, some people care and some don't. Some of the changes have not affected me, so I haven't been personally upset by it, but I can sympathize with those who are. Eventually they will cut back something that bothers you, but might not bother me at all.

 

[ellie05]

I agree with you New Deal. I was reading a business article today online about the recent closures at DHS and how Universal is catching up as far as attendance. This is from that article:
Theme Park 2009 2014 Change
Magic Kingdom 17,233,000 19,332,000 12.2%
Epcot 10,990,000 11,454,000 4.2%
Animal Kingdom 9,590,000 10,402,000 8.5%
Hollywood Studios 9,700,000 10,312,000 6.3%
Universal Studios Florida 5,530,000 8,263,000 49.4%
Islands of Adventure 4,627,000 8,141,000 75.9%
Source: Themed Entertainment Association.

Those numbers do not reflect the past 15 months either so the "gap" is actually less than what the end of 2014 numbers indicate. Universal FL may never catch up to the MK but the other 3 are well within range especially the DHS which is losing numbers now. The addition of a new waterpark will only shorten the gaps.
I know that Disney is planning many new things but until they open, they are just construction zones. Disney has done well competing against an old Wet and Wild park with a so so location but they'll have to do better competing against a new Universal waterpark that is right in their complex. I don't think offering less hours and offering no new rides or improvements in the waterparks will be seen as doing better.
I don't think that people deciding what to do on their 4th day in town or 7th day in town really care about how much Disney is spending in China. They just care about what will be the most interesting thing for them to do while on vacation.

As Disney fans we can only hope that universal surpasses attendance of AK,HS and EP. Disney has been leading the market for too long and has become complacent. They are going to have to step it up or move over.

People keep saying how Disney is doing so well that they don't care about their customers, but they released some big summer promotions we haven't seen in a long time in summer months, which only gives me hope that they are starting to realize they are loosing their customers.

 

[nicko]

Re: “hey you shouldn’t have such a negative attitude. The glass might be half full instead of half empty”.

How can reducing park hours ever be a positive for a guest? The water parks are absolutely not empty at 9:00 AM or 7:00 PM. Instead, the crowd levels are low enough that you can actually enjoy the various attractions without standing in the hot sun for 45 minutes for a 30 second slide. Opening at 9:00 AM also gives you a reasonably long park experience before the afternoon thunder showers roll in. This is nothing more than a cost reduction that will boost profit in the short term.

I wonder what this recent change (along with many others in various threads on this board) will impact the company in the long term? Many of my family’s best Disney memories were at rope drop or late at night. I’m sure that’s true with thousands of other families. Now that Disney is trimming at both ends, future visitors will have a less enjoyable experience. They won’t go home and rave about it to friends and family, which of course then encourages the friends and family to visit.

I’m sure all these cuts will help mask the Shanghai cost over runs or the ESPN problem in the next couple of quarters, but eventually park attendance will start to drop. Attendance is a lagging indicator. Other than us die hard fans, few are aware of the cut backs and price hikes that are occurring right now. Also, who wants to tell junior that the Disney vacation is cancelled because food prices were hiked 20% or the parking fee went up 17% or theme park hours were trimmed. However, once this years set of vacationers cycle through 2016, how many fewer will book in 2017? As others have said, I am negative regarding these changes because I still care.

Finally, someone ask how come we don’t care about the cast members in all these cuts? I care. Working at WDW used to mean you were paid a premium and the cast members had a career. Now it’s easy to get a job at WDW because the pay rate is no different than any other entry level job. If all these cuts and monetization of previously free experiences were going to give the first line cast members a substantial raise, than I would be totally OK with them.

 

[bcrook]

As Disney fans we can only hope that universal surpasses attendance of AK,HS and EP. Disney has been leading the market for too long and has become complacent. They are going to have to step it up or move over.

People keep saying how Disney is doing so well that they don't care about their customers, but they released some big summer promotions we haven't seen in a long time in summer months, which only gives me hope that they are starting to realize they are loosing their customers.

Help us Universal, you're our only hope.

It's true, we need The Competition to help rein in Iger and his cost slashing crew.

 

[anna08]

We, too, are water park lovers and our latest trip we had plans to meet up with friends in Tampa at the end of our trip. So after a bunch of research we bought tickets for Discovery Cove - which then gives you unlimited admission for 14 days to Sea World, Aquatica & Busch Gardens. We LOVED Discovery Cove. The number of tickets sold is capped and it does not feel crowded at all. It includes all your meals, starting with breakfast and drinks, including alcoholic beverages. The park itself is oriented to snorkeling and marine wildlife, but if you like beaches, a lazy river and a really nicely landscaped tropical escape (I'm a gardener at heart and judge this pretty hard) - they beat Disney. Disney increasing prices without increasing new experiences has us exploring other options in the area. We have now taken two trips in the past year with DVC and not entered a Disney park. And have not been disappointed at all in the competition.