AP sales…

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Imagine an AP style product ONLY being available to DVC blue card members and no one else. Including Florida residents.

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DVC is selling just fine right now with now AP’s available unfortunately.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Ms Bibbidi]

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[DeeBee3]

I know it was mentioned yesterday, but no one has really "discussed" it - does the change at DL mean anything for WDW? What I gathered from the pause of DL passes was that they are waiting until summer is over and offering people a ticket deal now. I figure it means nothing for WDW

 

[Disney mac]

Maybe if Disney built a Fifth Gate instead if another massive hotel they would solve the crowding problems.

That’s like telling oil companies to build a new refinery this millennium so it can bring down the price of gas…no business is going to make a new product that will lose them money. A fifth gate wouldn’t break even for years. And all Chupunk cares about is his executive bonus.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Ms Bibbidi]

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[AnnaKristoff2013]

I know it was mentioned yesterday, but no one has really "discussed" it - does the change at DL mean anything for WDW? What I gathered from the pause of DL passes was that they are waiting until summer is over and offering people a ticket deal now. I figure it means nothing for WDW

The timing on the DL announcement strongly hints that we will see something similar for WDW in the next month. This is right before the 60 day renewal period would have started for all the magic key holders. June. For WDW that date is around July 9th. I expect to see them make the same move as DL by then and stop all renewals of current AP’s and all new sales of Pixie Passes to be replaced by whatever they’re cooking up. If you have a WDW AP that is eligible for renewal in the next 30 days, renew NOW or there’s a good chance you’re losing it. Of course, renewing only gets you another year anyway before you have only the choice of no AP or whatever crap sandwich they’re cooking up as a replacement for the current program.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Miffy]

I think I will advise not only to renew now, but also make every effort to activate any dormant voucher you want to use in the next year.

I just want to thank you again for your posts. Because of them I was very aware about renewing my AP--and was quite relieved when I was able to do it yesterday.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[RoseGold]

Disney has had three levels of passes just for them and we get a whole lot of mail adverts about Disney happenings.

This hasn’t been true for months. The only non-renewal pass left is for Florida residents, the weekday, heavily blacked-out passes. Even the most recent generation got rid of the locals Epcot only night pass.

Chapek was very clear that Disney wants money. They don’t care how much locals spent on houses, because they didn’t get the money. They’re still not spending money as offsite guests with APs. An on-site AP would be a direct target to the rich people staying at the MANY quite fancy hotels offsite or their fancy nearby houses. It would be a great tie in to the huge DVC project coming 2024 and the millions of unsold Aulani and RIV points.

And importantly, on site AP is limited in size, as opposed to the whole central Florida region. Hotel capacity is nowhere near park capacity, so at least they can actually accommodate this pass, as opposed to that Magic Key mess.

 

[tjkraz]

DVC is selling just fine right now with now AP’s available unfortunately.

For two months things have been selling well, aided greatly by an appealing product (VGF) at lower-than-anticipated pricing. AP sales have only been paused for 6 months; 3.5 months when VGF went on sale. Many members currently have valid passes and others are assuming they will return at some point in time. If it becomes clear that the only theme park admission option going forward is MYW tickets at $600-700 per person for a single week-long stay, I think it will inevitably hurt DVC sales.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[CarolMN]

Agree, let's not argue anymore or label groups of Disney guests.

This thread is about AP sales - and when/how they might return. That topic is very interesting to DVC Members, as well as to lots of other Disney guests.

 

[RoseGold]

Why do you care so much if the guest standing next to you in line goes home at night, swims in their own pool and sleeps in their own bed?

Chapek said Disney wants revenue, that's pretty clear. This isn't about what guest I want, it's about what guest he wants.

On-site as an AP category has two advantages. Money. And it's limited in size. It's a clear solution.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[CraigInPA]

While Disney Parks may break down the revenue in some obscure footnotes to the financial reports into smaller bites, the real key performance indicators looked at by analysts are the number of people going through the gate and the average revenue per guest. With the pent-up demand for a "vacation" after 2 years of covid, the number of guests going through the tapstiles has gone through the roof. With the introduction of higher day prices, Genie+, ILL's, and the elimination of AP's, gate revenue is up. In the hunt for more revenue and less cost, food prices are up (and some food quantity is down), souvenir prices are up, staffing is down (although, to be fair, some staff shortages are due to people not wanting those jobs), and things like shows and parades were curtailed for a LONG time after re-opening. So, right now, Disney Parks is clawing its way back after a couple of devastating years caused by a pandemic, and doing great with their key performance indicators (number of guests, revenue per guest).

As we seem to be headed into a recession, with high inflation, we should expect to see the demand for "vacations" drop. This will put pressure on Disney Parks. They need to keep the revenue numbers up, but if the number of people through the gate falls, they will have two choices;
1. Raise the gate prices and things like Genie+ and ILL's, which all go hand-in-hand. This could further cut attendance, as any price increase does. It's a risky move in a tight economy.
2. Go back to pushing AP's as a way to get more bodies through the tapstiles, which will trigger more sales of Genie+ and ILL's and Food and Souvenirs. The AP's give a big chunk of money up front, which pushes back the loss of day pass revenue for 6 or more months on average, long enough for Chapek to get his bonus.

 

[tjkraz]

Chapek said Disney wants revenue, that's pretty clear. This isn't about what guest I want, it's about what guest he wants.

On-site as an AP category has two advantages. Money. And it's limited in size. It's a clear solution.

Disney has known about the differences in guest spending for many years. Statistically DVC members aren't big spenders either, given the kitchen in most villas, lower demand for souvenirs among repeat guests, some owners don't even have park passes for trip.

There's a quote from Chapek making the rounds this week which dates back to August 2020 when the heaviest attendance limits (6' social distancing, etc.) were still in place. Disney absolutely wants as many big spenders in the parks as possible. That's nothing new.

What is new is the need / desire to dole-out capacity in a...ahem...revenue friendly manner. Prior to March 2020, the parks hardly ever reached capacity. Disney was able to sell as many MYW tickets as possible and still pack in a nearly unlimited number of pass holders without sacrificing revenue.

Today things are different. Seemingly due to ongoing staffing issues and other factors which impact park capacity. On some level, Disney must continue planning for the *possibility* that future covid variants will force them to pull back on attendance again.

It's unlikely they will be able to fill the parks entirely with guests willing to buy MYW tickets. Passholders DO still have a place in the Disney Parks. But until there's a clear path to full staffing and 2019 levels of "business as usual", concessions have to be made somewhere. From a business perspective (yes, Disney is a business), it doesn't make sense to sell a ticket that gives locals literally 300+ days of access to the parks while you're turning away MYW sales.