Are any Disney guests average income people?

[OhDannyBoy]

I think a big misconception is everyone who goes to Disney is going for an average of a week. I'd wager that average is likely a lot lower than that.

There's a LOT to do in Orlando and the surrounding areas. Not everyone is hypnotized by the Disney bubble. I have a lot of out of state relatives that come in to Florida and spend maybe one park day at a Disney park, but they don' spend the entire time at Disney and certainly don't stay at the Disney resorts. I have friends that like hitting up EPCOT, but then go to Seaworld, and IOA the same weekend.

The idea of spending an entire week at a theme park is foreign to a LOT of people. I've lived in Florida my whole life and have been going to Disney for pretty much all of it and NEVER spent more than 3 days in Disney parks on any given trip. Only once did we stay at a resort (does the Swan qualify?) and I doubt there will be a second time.

I think this board forgets that this is Disney fan page for hardcores and not the majority. Most people don't own DVC. Most people don't have AP.

 

[Sakiki]

I think a big misconception is everyone who goes to Disney is going for an average of a week. I'd wager that average is likely a lot lower than that.

There's a LOT to do in Orlando and the surrounding areas. Not everyone is hypnotized by the Disney bubble. I have a lot of out of state relatives that come in to Florida and spend maybe one park day at a Disney park, but they don' spend the entire time at Disney and certainly don't stay at the Disney resorts. I have friends that like hitting up EPCOT, but then go to Seaworld, and IOA the same weekend.

The idea of spending an entire week at a theme park is foreign to a LOT of people. I've lived in Florida my whole life and have been going to Disney for pretty much all of it and NEVER spent more than 3 days in Disney parks on any given trip. Only once did we stay at a resort (does the Swan qualify?) and I doubt there will be a second time.

I think this board forgets that this is Disney fan page for hardcores and not the majority. Most people don't own DVC. Most people don't have AP.

Just to add my two penn’orth…

I think you’re probably spot on about the length of stays, with the notable exception of a lot of overseas visitors - which is why we in the UK and Ireland get special offers on 7 and 14 day tickets that aren’t available to the US domestic market. Because of the cost and rigors involved in long-haul international flying, folks from our side of the pond spend significantly more in both time and money than domestic visitors just to get to Florida and tend to visit WDW on ‘inclusive’ 7 or 14 day packages. Most (again only my impression from speaking to friends) also wouldn’t think of driving in the US (you drive on the wrong side of the road ) and rely on MDE from MCO, tend to stay onsite or at least very locally to WDW (the 192 and I-Drive corridors) and use Uber, regular taxis, Lynx - we’re used to buses over here - and WDW transportation as applicable and available and don’t go much offsite during the day and evening. Our friends are always aghast that we hire a car and that we’re happy to drive in the US, and pretty much think we’re nuts for mixing it with your traffic! (DW really likes driving in the US - she says at least the roads and parking spaces are designed with cars in mind, not horses and carts, and drivers are mostly more courteous than in the UK…) We tend to come over for 3 weeks at a time but we stay offsite when doing that…

 

[CanadaDisney05]

I think a big misconception is everyone who goes to Disney is going for an average of a week. I'd wager that average is likely a lot lower than that.

I think your right. But I also think this is what they are hoping to change. They want to discourage the day/weekend trippers and convert them to weekly trippers. They want to make it illogical to just pop in for a day or two. That's why single day tickets are outrageous.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I think your right. But I also think this is what they are hoping to change. They want to discourage the day/weekend trippers and convert them to weekly trippers. They want to make it illogical to just pop in for a day or two. That's why single day tickets are outrageous.

It's hard to argue with that.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Just to add my two penn’orth…

I think you’re probably spot on about the length of stays, with the notable exception of a lot of overseas visitors - which is why we in the UK and Ireland get special offers on 7 and 14 day tickets that aren’t available to the US domestic market. Because of the cost and rigors involved in long-haul international flying, folks from our side of the pond spend significantly more in both time and money than domestic visitors just to get to Florida and tend to visit WDW on ‘inclusive’ 7 or 14 day packages. Most (again only my impression from speaking to friends) also wouldn’t think of driving in the US (you drive on the wrong side of the road ) and rely on MDE from MCO, tend to stay onsite or at least very locally to WDW (the 192 and I-Drive corridors) and use Uber, regular taxis, Lynx - we’re used to buses over here - and WDW transportation as applicable and available and don’t go much offsite during the day and evening. Our friends are always aghast that we hire a car and that we’re happy to drive in the US, and pretty much think we’re nuts for mixing it with your traffic! (DW really likes driving in the US - she says at least the roads and parking spaces are designed with cars in mind, not horses and carts, and drivers are mostly more courteous than in the UK…) We tend to come over for 3 weeks at a time but we stay offsite when doing that…

There used to be Florida resident 3 day tickets that wouldn't expire for a year. It was awesome. Grab a 3 day ticket and 3 times I could make the 3 hour drive and spend a Saturday wandering Disney. Once they did away with those I started going less and less. Not because of money, but because I get bored easy I guess. If I have 21 days in a row for a vacation (or is it sabbatical) I wouldn't spend all of it in one spot. That's a personal thing though as I never in my adult life have had 21 days off, even when my kids were born. And I think I'd go insane if I was at Disney for 21 days.

You are right though that overseas visitors tend to have the time and money as just getting to Florida is quite the ordeal I'd imagine.

 

[CBMom01]

That math doesn’t add up. APs are an ongoing, predictable revenue stream. You know almost exactly how much you’re getting from them every year. Plus, they’re far more likely to be in DVC which has massive profit margins.

And regardless of how much a family that goes once splurges, any company would rather have recurring customers.

Not sure I agree with your math, there. The revenue per park ticket day per person is much, much, much less for an AP than for individual tickets.
For ease of math, for one person to park hop let’s say it’s $100/day average. For one of 365 people to each have access to park hop one day in a calendar year thats 36,500 too line. Sorcerer pass is $900 per person. Even the more expensive pass is only slightly more than that.
That’s before we consider that Florida pass holders and DVC owners are less likely to spend as much money on Dis resorts and restaurants.
It’s not even worth debating. APs are a predictable cash stream but will never drive decision making and should be limited the second they interfere with the more valuable customer base.

 

[CBMom01]

And even with the multi day discount, two days are more affordable than 7. And 2 days at an expensive resort are less than 7 days at a value.

The 2-4 day people are the money makers because for every AP holder there are hundreds of thousands of 2-4 day people

 

[Jonfw2]

Not sure I agree with your math, there. The revenue per park ticket day per person is much, much, much less for an AP than for individual tickets.
For ease of math, for one person to park hop let’s say it’s $100/day average. For one of 365 people to each have access to park hop one day in a calendar year thats 36,500 too line. Sorcerer pass is $900 per person. Even the more expensive pass is only slightly more than that.
That’s before we consider that Florida pass holders and DVC owners are less likely to spend as much money on Dis resorts and restaurants.
It’s not even worth debating. APs are a predictable cash stream but will never drive decision making and should be limited the second they interfere with the more valuable customer base.

I'm not sure APs go to the parks as much as you think. And again: when they do, they're likely staying at the resorts and buying food and merch.

 

[CBMom01]

I'm not sure APs go to the parks as much as you think. And again: when they do, they're likely staying at the resorts and buying food and merch.

Doesn’t matter. When Disney sells a ticket they are selling right to enter. The AP price per day right to enter is thousands of times less than the non AP right to enter over the course of a year

 

[CBMom01]

One person with Incredipass pays Disney $1,104
For the same daily rights to enter, non holder pays $36,500

 

[Jonfw2]

Doesn’t matter. When Disney sells a ticket they are selling right to enter. The AP price per day right to enter is thousands of times less than the non AP right to enter over the course of a year

Not if they don't go often enough it's not. If you pay $900 and only use, say, six park days, you paid more than if you just bought tickets.

And again: even if they take a haircut on ticket prices for some APs- which they do, of course- they get all those extra resort stays, food purchases, extras, and souvenirs.

 

[Jonfw2]

One person with Incredipass pays Disney $1,104
For the same daily rights to enter, non holder pays $36,500

Only if that person goes 365 days a year.

 

[CBMom01]

Not if they don't go often enough it's not. If you pay $900 and only use, say, six park days, you paid more than if you just bought tickets.

And again: even if they take a haircut on ticket prices for some APs- which they do, of course- they get all those extra resort stays, food purchases, extras, and souvenirs.

None of that is “extra” to Disney.
Look at it this way: If AP holders use more than 9days, Disney has lost money on them compared to what they would get from day tickets.

 

[CBMom01]

Only if that person goes 365 days a year.

Or 365 people go one day/year

 

[CBMom01]

From a top line revenue perspective using our round numbers, Disney only has to sell 10 one-day tickets over the course of a whole year to make up for the loss of a single AP holder

 

[CBMom01]

I’d bet anything that one of the drivers for keeping the park pass system is to know when AP holders plan to show up. As soon as I see that my AP reservations are inhibiting sales of day tickets I’d change my yield management and limit Passholders access

 

[Turksmom]

One person with Incredipass pays Disney $1,104
For the same daily rights to enter, non holder pays $36,500

Incredipass w/no add-ons, not inc. tax starts at $1299
ETA- regarding the 1/1 comparison for ticket price/AP. Parks very rarely reach full capacity. To say Disney could make $36,500 with 1-day tickets as compared to $1299 for one AP (if that AP holder even went every day) is faulty because the AP holder is not replacing a single day ticket holder

 

[CanadaDisney05]

I'm not sure APs go to the parks as much as you think. And again: when they do, they're likely staying at the resorts and buying food and merch.

I think you need to break out the AP holders into two different segments. The locals vs the out of towners. For example, we travel once a year. We buy an annual pass and go the second year 1 week earlier. Saves us a couple hundred bucks over two x 10 day tickets. All though we are technically an AP holder, our spending habits fall more in line with the annual traveller than the local AP holder. It's the local day tripper AP holder that they are trying to reduce.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

From a top line revenue perspective using our round numbers, Disney only has to sell 10 one-day tickets over the course of a whole year to make up for the loss of a single AP holder

And from a bottom line perspective, it's even less than that. Their is a cost/guest/day element. A single day ticket buyer who goes 10x costs half the amount as

 

[Jonfw2]

From a top line revenue perspective using our round numbers, Disney only has to sell 10 one-day tickets over the course of a whole year to make up for the loss of a single AP holder

Yes. But why wouldn't they want both? APs are an enticement to get people who might go for, say, seven days or one trip to go for 10-14 days or two trips: it's "cheaper to them" in that the cost per ticket drops, but it's more real dollars for Disney.