bluejasmine
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2005
- Messages
- 9,176
I ran tests on the thread that popped up over in the DDP forums yesterday. (I linked to it up thread as well).
My test findings found that the pricing for Oct 19-20 and Dec 25-26 (Oct timing is solidly in "normal" time, Dec is solidly in "holiday" time) was identical. Unless... there is a bug where it's looking at the pricing for right now and applying that? It's still over by a couple dollars, but that would explain the lack of holiday upcharge for Dec? (Or, perhaps the prices did rise, and there's a bug that only determines the current season?)
As you can probably tell, I'm very skeptical that the holiday upcharge is going away .
I do have some free time tonight (a certain MMO keeps me busy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights from 7-10pm CST ), so I'll run some more test cases and see what I can see.
The Mousesavers update is just from yesterday so I think this is really new and many of the reps probably don't even know yet.Ahhhh, I was just going to book today a package that I had quoted a few days ago -- and it went up over $100. I was barely talking DH into going...now I have to talk him into an extra $100 (probably not going to happen).
I called Disney to see why the increase and the rep said that the prices didn't change, and that maybe I had mixed up on the room request or something (ummm, no - I spend lots of hours on the website...I know my room types! haha). He then said that if a travel agent quoted me, that they were just trying to make extra money for themselves! I then asked about the dining surcharge going up, and he denied it (maybe the reps haven't been filled in yet??). Ugh.
Man, I was --> THIS <-- close to going during my Fall Break!
This is crazy. I have always been a DDP lover. But this is getting ridiculous. I never thought I would go oop, but now i may check off site hotel pricing since the dining plan is now really hard to make a value and magic hours have decreased. The value of staying onsite is really diminishing. I'm really disappointed with Disney.
Have you thought of taking what the dining plan would have cost and putting it on a gift card and using that for food? I think (especially with these new prices) that many people can come out better dining out of pocket. Just avoid the more expensive places and buffets and you should be able to do better than the plan.
I did run a bunch more tests early this morning (starting at 3am... I fell asleep at 9pm and woke up early ), but didn't get to finish before I got all sleepy again.I looked at the other thread with your chart and I see what you are saying and I agree with you about the peak season pricing not going away, after all Disney already has their guests expecting peak season upcharges. Very confusing to say the least.
I did run a bunch more tests early this morning (starting at 3am... I fell asleep at 9pm and woke up early ), but didn't get to finish before I got all sleepy again.
The listed prices certainly were consistent throughout 1, 3, and 5 night stays with 1-2 adults and 1-2 children over a timeframe in October. I ran out of steam after doing 1 day testing over Christmas, but the numbers weren't changing for then either.
However, I did see that Premium/Platinum packages did not change with this, so it looks limited to the dining plan only. I'm also expecting changes to come to light once 2014 packages are released that include a further seasonal upcharge. My thinking is now, since these are higher than the post upcharge before, they are the new base for 2014, then upcharge will then be additional to them for 2014 holiday periods.
The quiet increase in the middle of a year effective immediately is a really sneaky way to do this. Granted, tickets do the same, but it's announced AND they're the same price between increases. This was a fully off-schedule (schedule consisting of nearly 10 years worth of changes) and with absolutely zero announcement or anything. Even room rates typically have some announcement (since they also typically come with next year's package updates). The fact they're also on a record-setting year attendance-wise makes me think that it's more about milking the guests than anything else.
Sadly, I'm hearing signs of pure money grab more than anything else here.
(Also note, I'm in a cynical mood today.)
Phew! Another reason I'm glad we abandoned the DDP. It's not nearly worth it for our family. We use TiW and that works perfectly for us!
I was curious, so went and priced out a vacation with the QS plan. Guess what? Those prices have increased as well.
Looks like the QS plan for adults is now $39.64 per night (up from $37.58). I didn't check to see what the kid prices are. So now if you use $4 as a price point for your snack, you need to spend almost $18 at each QS just to break even.
Yes, all 3 dining plans have increased according to the site.I was curious, so went and priced out a vacation with the QS plan. Guess what? Those prices have increased as well.
Looks like the QS plan for adults is now $39.64 per night (up from $37.58). I didn't check to see what the kid prices are. So now if you use $4 as a price point for your snack, you need to spend almost $18 at each QS just to break even.
Now that my oldest is an "adult," even the QS dining plan makes no sense for us. Assuming a dollar increase for kids, we'd have to spend $150 per day on food just to break even. When I ran the numbers before, we'd spend at least $200 OOP, and that's adding in two TS meals during the week.
He then said that if a travel agent quoted me, that they were just trying to make extra money for themselves!