BOMA -- You've got to be kidding me, right?

[Cee]

I think I'll stick with breakfast.

 

[goofy4prez]

Gripe if you want, jsut hope your fair about it.
That you gripe about your local grocery store where you can't get a 1/2 gallon of ice cream anymore because it's .475 gal.
Or you can't get a 64oz of OJ instead it's 58oz.
oh and both cost more.

It's the reality of the world in a current decline.
Costs go up, prices go up too.

Personally, I don't think she is griping, she is expressing a personal observation. With that said, you are correct, the world is in a decline and costs do go up and manufactures insult us with smaller packages. But in the "world" of Walt Disney, those costs and cuts have gone up many times more than those in the real world over the same time period.

 

[Tiger926]

Personally, I don't think she is griping, she is expressing a personal observation. With that said, you are correct, the world is in a decline and costs do go up and manufactures insult us with smaller packages. But in the "world" of Walt Disney, those costs and cuts have gone up many times more than those in the real world over the same time period.

This is exactly what many of us have been discussing. I gave the example of how much character meals have risen in just a few short years - for a family of 4, a character breakfast is like $30.00 more. That is ridiculous.

In the real world of mom/pop restaurants and stores (the world my family has lived in my whole life), they can hardly raise prices, but if they did as much as Disney, every single business would be closed.

Disney uses its corporate muscle, and audience captivity to keep raising prices, yet lowering food quality and service. When will it end? Where is guest threshold? I don't think we can ever really know, as Disney is in charge of the artificial value scale they have created with rising meals to overinflate the DP.

Tiger

 

[Laketravis]

Marketing is a large part of my professional background and one of my marketing friends, who learned that I just got back from WDW, made a comment that "I wish I knew their secret".

What secret? I asked.

"How Disney can get people to pay extremely high prices for what is a borderline miserable experience and have them lining up to come back for more"

I had never really thought of it that way. But I guess it's kind of like Apple and the iPhone. From an outside perspective, it's not really a perfect device and it certainly has it's flaws. But don't you dare try to point that out to the scores of loyal iPhone owners.

 

[Tiger926]

Marketing is a large part of my professional background and one of my marketing friends, who learned that I just got back from WDW, made a comment that "I wish I knew their secret".

What secret? I asked.

"How Disney can get people to pay extremely high prices for what is a borderline miserable experience and have them lining up to come back for more"

I had never really thought of it that way. But I guess it's kind of like Apple and the iPhone. From an outside perspective, it's not really a perfect device and it certainly has it's flaws. But don't you dare try to point that out to the scores of loyal iPhone owners.

Interesting perspective...but I would disagree that WDW is a borderline miserable experience. After many trips, I can't say that it's miserable. Have we had a few miserable experiences? Sure we have, just like we have at a grocery store, bank or restaurant.

By and large, Disney isn't miserable on a general scale, IMHO. They are marketing geniuses with how they confuse and confuzzle people with their overinflation of their products, such as character meals or Dining Plans.

When it comes to magic, I think we can all agree that some people have bottomless wallets. What this thread hopefully shows from many of us loyal and regular Disney guests, is that we have have noticed the changes in product, and are getting to a point where we are concerned about that product.

I still greatly enjoy WDW, and have 45 more years to enjoy it as a DVC member, so I wouldn't say it's miserable at all!

Tiger

 

[eliza61]

"How Disney can get people to pay extremely high prices for what is a borderline miserable experience and have them lining up to come back for more"

I probably would not call it miserable but I get her point. LOL.

A large part of disneys appeal and marketing is based on "emotions". face it, Disney markets itself pretty much as "perfection". Their commercial, print ads, internet ads are all based on the perception that if you come to disney you will have a vacation worth the money.

It is also that very marketing that gets them into trouble. Guest have extremely high expectations of a disney vacation, maybe a bit unrealistic. I remember going on vacation and hearing a grandfather in Pecos bill complain because they had not seen Mickey Mouse in the park. In the commercials Mickey was always in the MK, arms wide open waiting for kids to run into them, so that's what he was expecting.

Now one of my problems is that I'm an "old timer" so I remember when I could get a meal that I would describe as "outstanding". It's hard for me to lower my expectations. Which is why I never, ever accept the excuse people love to give "what do you expect for a theme park". I do expect the "magic" you advertise. I expect that if you charge 40 bucks for a piece of beef, it should be (and there is no reason why it cannot be) certified, melt in your mouth, kobe beef, cooked to order and with flavor.

 

[brunette8706]

Personally, I don't think she is griping, she is expressing a personal observation. With that said, you are correct, the world is in a decline and costs do go up and manufactures insult us with smaller packages. But in the "world" of Walt Disney, those costs and cuts have gone up many times more than those in the real world over the same time period.

*
Hi Goofy4Prez-

Well said, and "THANK YOU"! I couldn't agree with you more.

Brunette

 

[parkedgourmet]

That is why the Disney Dining Plan makes since economically - if you want to try those kind of restaurants! We enjoy it, but alternate between real meal days and others that we just eat popcorn in the park.

 

[Pumbaa_]

thread going way off topic.

Let's leave the miserable vacation posts to trippy reports

(I am kidding )


(mostly)

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I saw that too when I went last month and freaked out. But when we got to Boma it was $35.99 which is still nuts. I remember last year it was "only" $28.99!

. . . but, you still ate there

WOAH! Boma really ... Kinda ... well, let's face it ... Sucks. It's just an average buffet in a really nice hotel with average buffett food. Yikeso shmikso dominikso!

. . . as long as there is DDP, it will increase and stay high
. . . WDW has to justify the price of DDP
. . . with a cheaper cash price, people would move from DDP
. . . and, DDP makes Disney TONS of profit

 

[iloman]

It's for all of the reasons above that we didn't do as many TS meals as we have in the past. We did do a breakfast at the castle because I wanted my DD to have that experience, and I also wanted to try Hoop-Dee-Doo so we did that as well. Everything else was CS or stuff we brought from home (heck the only reason I brought stuff from home was because of the recent price increases). Often we would order three meals and split it between the four of us, saving us a bunch of cash.

We stayed a few nights at AKL. My DW wanted to try Boma until she saw the prices. That was a little bummer in my book for what was otherwise a great trip.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

. . . but, you still ate there


. . . as long as there is DDP, it will increase and stay high
. . . WDW has to justify the price of DDP
. . . with a cheaper cash price, people would move from DDP
. . . and, DDP makes Disney TONS of profit

Yeah, but I have gotten sick every single time I've eaten there.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

. . . but, you still ate there


. . . as long as there is DDP, it will increase and stay high
. . . WDW has to justify the price of DDP
. . . with a cheaper cash price, people would move from DDP
. . . and, DDP makes Disney TONS of profit

And i ate there because my daughter's liked it. But no more, even they have noticed the lack of effort.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

. . . but, you still ate there


. . . as long as there is DDP, it will increase and stay high
. . . WDW has to justify the price of DDP
. . . with a cheaper cash price, people would move from DDP
. . . and, DDP makes Disney TONS of profit

Kind of surprised you're taking issue with me since we almost always agree on things.

 

[donutz022]

i ate at boma on 12/5 we were a party of six. i was on the dlx dp when i saw the bill with the mandatory 18% tip i was amazed at the actuall cost if i had paid cash for the quality of food that was served, i mean this is no bellagio buffet a bunch of cheap starch based salads, watermelon rined salad which i liked but thats the part of the watermelon you would throw out. what i learned from this trip was i will no longer be eating at boma and this was one of my favorite places in the past and i will no longer use any of ddp again and i always did the dlx, because overall the quality of food everywhere was not good at all. next trip tiw card and im gonna dine at places that dont accept the ddp.

 

[eliza61]

You know actually it worries me that there are so many complaints. Look at it this way, we're pretty much die hard disney lovers.

 

[donutz022]

You know actually it worries me that there are so many complaints. Look at it this way, we're pretty much die hard disney lovers.

 

[Planogirl]

True. It seems that no matter how much people find wrong, here they still eagerly plan their next trip.

I'm puzzled as to why the Dining Plan makes Disney so much money. It seems like discounts on hotels and then charging everyone a lot for food would be even more profitable.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I'm puzzled as to why the Dining Plan makes Disney so much money.

1) DDP makes Disney bunches of bucks.
2) There are several reasons.
. . . fills capacity, and thus more easily spreads overhead
. . . more meals can be made in bulk, thus saving manpower
. . . most guests do not eat the real value of the meals, so more profit each

 

[eliza61]

True. It seems that no matter how much people find wrong, here they still eagerly plan their next trip.

I'm puzzled as to why the Dining Plan makes Disney so much money. It seems like discounts on hotels and then charging everyone a lot for food would be even more profitable.

I really think it has to do with human nature.

1) FREE!! is a powerful aphrodisiac. LOL.
2) How we look at travel. I think room discounts work well with the deluxe level resorts but for John q. public right now even the word "Deluxe" is a word to be avoided at all cost. Those of us that hang out here, while we may not be rich, we're pretty blessed in that we still have a means to vacation. A lot of people feel that the dining plan is sort of the great "equalizer", the may not be able to stay in the "best" category but they can eat at any restaurant at the world via the dining plan.


I'd love to know how many yearly visitors are first timers and how many are repeat visitors.

While I still love the world. I spend waaay less money that when I first went. Not by necessity but by choice. I use to eagerly save for buying souveniers (why can I never spell this. ) each year we would treat ourselves to a really cool tee shirt or sweat shirt. I use to love the Villians shop in HS. Now all the stuff is the same. and as God is my witness if I see "the nightmare before christmas" in one more resort shop, I'm gonna scream.

This year was the first year in the last 10 we skipped a trip to the world. so I definitely see my trips changing.