Disney adds a premium package to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

[patrickpiteo]

You're are 100% correct... But there are still enough Sheep out there that don't see the butchers knives being sharpened inside the slaughterhouse

Ha? Sheep?

 

[Suger Mag]

I guess I don't see the issue... if you don't want to spend the money to go to a hard ticket event or the premium upgrade... then don't, no one is forcing you to atttend.

People spend 'mad' money on extravagant items all the time. I for one will never fathom why someone wants to spend $500+ for an ugly vinyl handbag with little G's or C's all over it... so why stress if someone wants to blow money on pricy eclairs and Lady Tremaine's singing. Whatever makes you happy as long as it does not hurt someone else is my motto.

 

[patrickpiteo]

I guess I don't see the issue... if you don't want to spend the money to go to a hard ticket event or the premium upgrade... then don't, no one is forcing you to atttend. People spend 'mad' money on extravagant items all the time. I for one will never fathom why someone wants to spend $500+ for an ugly vinyl handbag with little G's or C's all over it... so why stress if someone wants to blow money on pricy eclairs and Lady Tremaine's singing. Whatever makes you happy as long as it does not hurt someone else is my motto.

Exactly ... Calling people sheep cause they chose to do something you wouldn't just ain't right IMHO. I would never question anyone on how they chose to spend their $ and neither should someone do they same to me.. Let alone categorize...

 

[Planogirl]

There's talk that a couple of very popular villains won't be available at the party now and that you'll have to go to the hard ticket within a hard ticket to see them. Interesting if true.

 

[L&Lfan]

I'm going to be amongst those who can't/wouldn't fork out extra money for this dessert party on top of what I've already paid for me and my boys to get in to MNSSHP, which is on top of what we've paid for our parkhopper tickets. While my reasoning is at least partly financial (yes, okay, the credit card is already screaming and there are only so many overtime shifts this single parent can work), my real reason is a shameful:

I haven't the faintest clue who Lady Tremaine is or why the devil I would want to hear her sing. Neither do my boys.

(creeping away doing The Walk of Humiliation)

Lady Tremaine is Cinderella's stepmother.

 

[patrickpiteo]

There's talk that a couple of very popular villains won't be available at the party now and that you'll have to go to the hard ticket within a hard ticket to see them. Interesting if true.

Saw that ... But no one knows for sure.. No official word.. Until the reports come in from the first party. Which is Monday..

 

[jtwibih]

I don't think many of you are really seeing the debate here. The discussion is not about how ridiculous you are for spending the money. It's about Disney putting together these hard ticket events, charging an absurd amount of money, and doing nothing else to enhance the customer experience. The big problem has been the number of new attractions the company is putting out recently vs what they did in the past. They are only focusing on short term gains. Disney will not change course unless their customers change their spending habits. I have yet to experience the feeling of being totally fed up because they still offer experiences that I and my family enjoy. That being said, I think this premium offer is absurd and I would not pay an add'l $150 for what amounts to 5 hours of time in a park in which I just shelled out $100 for the day's admission.

 

[patrickpiteo]

I don't think many of you are really seeing the debate here. The discussion is not about how ridiculous you are for spending the money. It's about Disney putting together these hard ticket events, charging an absurd amount of money, and doing nothing else to enhance the customer experience. The big problem has been the number of new attractions the company is putting out recently vs what they did in the past. They are only focusing on short term gains. Disney will not change course unless their customers change their spending habits. I have yet to experience the feeling of being totally fed up because they still offer experiences that I and my family enjoy. That being said, I think this premium offer is absurd and I would not pay an add'l $150 for what amounts to 5 hours of time in a park in which I just shelled out $100 for the day's admission.

I understand the debate here ... Disney will continue to offer these events if they continue to sell out as they have been doing. So speak with your wallet as you chose and your right to do so but IMHO there are enough out there that will spend the $ and Disney sees that..

 

[Planogirl]

Again, I'll say that just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Disney used to be all about creativity and something everyone could enjoy. Them making previously expected things exclusive isn't admirable no matter how anyone tries to spin it. It looks greedy and self-serving and yes, any company would do that yadda yadda.... It's still not very admirable and Disney used to definitely be very admirable.

Luckily, I don't care about this because we prefer our Halloween edgier than anything Disney does. I do have sympathy for those people who feel so frustrated about all of this though.

 

[Suger Mag]

Again, I'll say that just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Disney used to be all about creativity and something everyone could enjoy. Them making previously expected things exclusive isn't admirable no matter how anyone tries to spin it. It looks greedy and self-serving and yes, any company would do that yadda yadda.... It's still not very admirable and Disney used to definitely be very admirable.

Luckily, I don't care about this because we prefer our Halloween edgier than anything Disney does. I do have sympathy for those people who feel so frustrated about all of this though.

What was previously available that is now excluded?

 

[patrickpiteo]

Again, I'll say that just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Disney used to be all about creativity and something everyone could enjoy. Them making previously expected things exclusive isn't admirable no matter how anyone tries to spin it. It looks greedy and self-serving and yes, any company would do that yadda yadda.... It's still not very admirable and Disney used to definitely be very admirable. Luckily, I don't care about this because we prefer our Halloween edgier than anything Disney does. I do have sympathy for those people who feel so frustrated about all of this though.

Disney has always been about the bottom line they just didn't get greedy as you say overnight..

Where's the stink when they raise ticket prices like every year??? People want to go so they keep paying again Disney knows this. For every one that doesn't go they get four others in their place.

People here up in arms about like two characters that may or be at mm or greets.. Nothing official from Disney other then people reading into verbiage that was taken out of a Disney blog.

 

[Planogirl]

Disney has always been about the bottom line they just didn't get greedy as you say overnight..

Where's the stink when they raise ticket prices like every year??? People want to go so they keep paying again Disney knows this. For every one that doesn't go they get four others in their place.

People here up in arms about like two characters that may or be at mm or greets.. Nothing official from Disney other then people reading into verbiage that was taken out of a Disney blog.

Do you really think that this is only about a few characters? It's about a lot of things for some.

I don't disagree that Disney didn't just turn greedy. I feel like they hid it more back in the day and also provided a better overall experience which made their desire for profit a little easier to take.

 

[patrickpiteo]

Do you really think that this is only about a few characters? It's about a lot of things for some. I don't disagree that Disney didn't just turn greedy. I feel like they hid it more back in the day and also provided a better overall experience which made their desire for profit a little easier to take.

Sure do from just about every post I read...

So what are all the other things for some that you know about??

 

[wallrock]

Sure do from just about every post I read...

So what are all the other things for some that you know about??

This isn't about a few characters, or even all of the characters in Disney's library. It's about charging more and giving less, which is something that Disney has been doing with increased frequency over the last several years.

Look at the price of admission: Twenty-six bucks at the end of 1986 and it took it nearly two decades before the price doubled from that point. The price was around 55 bucks in the middle of 2004 and a decade later we're practically double that. Nearly a one hundred percent cost increase in about half the time. At this rate the price of admission will be two Benjamins by the time Avatar opens up. Will they do it? Who knows, but their appetite for greed has shown no limits.

To divert from jacking the admission fee up at an even faster rate we're now seeing more hard ticket options on some things were part of the admission cost not long ago. Regarding the subject of this thread Disney has now gone and placed a hard ticket event within a hard ticket event. The Halloween party tickets went on sale back in May and now those who paid the price are seeing that they will have to either cough up an additional hundred bucks or be forced to perhaps give something up. I'm not aware of what your tastes are, but what if you purchased a ticket to a football game or other sporting event only to find out just prior to game day that you were going to have to pay double the cost of your ticket if the game goes into overtime? You don't want to pay? No problem, we'll escort you out of the park at the end of the fourth quarter.

While new prices have suddenly appeared or old prices have increased we see a limited investment in the park or downright disregard for the customer experience. Look at the most recent hard ticket for the Villians show. Disney has decades of experience in crowd management so no one can convince me that they somehow 'accidentally' oversold that event. They knew good and well what they were doing. So they had to give a few refunds, they still cleaned up on the event.

In other cases things are being removed. Much of it may be trivial, like not cleaning bathrooms at a regular rate or pulling the PUSH trashcan from Tomorrowland, but each one puts a couple of pennies back into corporate's pocket - and they're charging you extra for that privilege.

This is what frustrates people like myself and others. But hey, if you're ok with it…

 

[patrickpiteo]

This isn't about a few characters, or even all of the characters in Disney's library. It's about charging more and giving less, which is something that Disney has been doing with increased frequency over the last several years. Look at the price of admission: Twenty-six bucks at the end of 1986 and it took it nearly two decades before the price doubled from that point. The price was around 55 bucks in the middle of 2004 and a decade later we're practically double that. Nearly a one hundred percent cost increase in about half the time. At this rate the price of admission will be two Benjamins by the time Avatar opens up. Will they do it? Who knows, but their appetite for greed has shown no limits. To divert from jacking the admission fee up at an even faster rate we're now seeing more hard ticket options on some things were part of the admission cost not long ago. Regarding the subject of this thread Disney has now gone and placed a hard ticket event within a hard ticket event. The Halloween party tickets went on sale back in May and now those who paid the price are seeing that they will have to either cough up an additional hundred bucks or be forced to perhaps give something up. I'm not aware of what your tastes are, but what if you purchased a ticket to a football game or other sporting event only to find out just prior to game day that you were going to have to pay double the cost of your ticket if the game goes into overtime? You don't want to pay? No problem, we'll escort you out of the park at the end of the fourth quarter. While new prices have suddenly appeared or old prices have increased we see a limited investment in the park or downright disregard for the customer experience. Look at the most recent hard ticket for the Villians show. Disney has decades of experience in crowd management so no one can convince me that they somehow 'accidentally' oversold that event. They knew good and well what they were doing. So they had to give a few refunds, they still cleaned up on the event. In other cases things are being removed. Much of it may be trivial, like not cleaning bathrooms at a regular rate or pulling the PUSH trashcan from Tomorrowland, but each one puts a couple of pennies back into corporate's pocket - and they're charging you extra for that privilege. This is what frustrates people like myself and others. But hey, if you're ok with it…

Yea I just love handing Disney more of my $$ lol Speak with your wallet don't go it's your choice.

But explain to me what exactly your are missing with this new party? What changed that Disney said before please tell me. The characters?? The what else???

In a DVC member have been going for over 20 years and the bathrooms still look just as clean today then 20 ago. The push can? Well Disney didn't own it decided to not renew the contract stuff like that happens all the time and not just at Disney. So it's your choice don't go vote with your wallet maybe Disney will get the message.

IMHO they will keep on going on adding more of these things and yes keep raising prices.

 

[manning]

The only true answer......more competition.

 

[patrickpiteo]

The only true answer......more competition.

Yup And they are getting that from universal which is good..

We split our vacation time between universal and Disney we are DVC members for 20 years. I don't give all my $ to Disney.. I vote with my wallet.

 

[Planogirl]

Yup And they are getting that from universal which is good..

We split our vacation time between universal and Disney we are DVC members for 20 years. I don't give all my $ to Disney.. I vote with my wallet.

We are big Universal fans. We always split our time too.

As for Halloween party losses, I haven't been (we like the Christmas party) but I'm relying on the word of trusted friends. I'm told that it's more crowded, some things that used to be free have high costs now and of course the possibility of making popular characters exclusive. If none of that is true, I'll be thrilled but so far it doesn't look so good.

As for losses all over WDW in general, there isn't time to list those.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I guess I don't see the issue... if you don't want to spend the money to go to a hard ticket event or the premium upgrade... then don't, no one is forcing you to atttend.

People spend 'mad' money on extravagant items all the time. I for one will never fathom why someone wants to spend $500+ for an ugly vinyl handbag with little G's or C's all over it... so why stress if someone wants to blow money on pricy eclairs and Lady Tremaine's singing. Whatever makes you happy as long as it does not hurt someone else is my motto.

You're points are taken...

But from my perspective...speaking only for me...if all these extra add ons sell/start to be expanded - then the revenues and most especially profits at wdw will increase.

Some take the optimistic approach and say "then they'll have more money for additions, right?"

Based on what we've...from at least this management...it take usually take the opposite - in that if they can charge hefty fees for the SAME things buy and large as you already pay for (most of these new "experiences" are small dining things combined with characters or some existing parts or parks and resorts), then they have a disincentive to invest. The goal is profit, any expenditures that eats into that -new rides - would be a red mark on the balance sheet...if you are supplying easy money to them as is.

These up charges are EASY profit for wdw, make no mistake.

 

[crostorfer]

You're points are taken...

But from my perspective...speaking only for me...if all these extra add ons sell/start to be expanded - then the revenues and most especially profits at wdw will increase.

Some take the optimistic approach and say "then they'll have more money for additions, right?"

Based on what we've...from at least this management...it take usually take the opposite - in that if they can charge hefty fees for the SAME things buy and large as you already pay for (most of these new "experiences" are small dining things combined with characters or some existing parts or parks and resorts), then they have a disincentive to invest. The goal is profit, any expenditures that eats into that -new rides - would be a red mark on the balance sheet...if you are supplying easy money to them as is.

These up charges are EASY profit for wdw, make no mistake.

Years ago, my first job out of x-ray school was at a very large, for-profit hospital. One day, through the grapevine, we discovered that we as x-ray techs were being paid less, in some cases significantly less, than competing hospitals in the area. When we brought this to our Director's attention his response was this, "We will never pay the most in the area, because we don't have to." Management's reasoning was that because they were the largest and employed the most people, they didn't need to offer more because there is always someone who needed a job, and was willing to work for what they were willing to pay. I see the same principle here at WDW. Yes, Universal is on their heels with growing attendance numbers and glowing reviews of guest experience, but comparing the two is really apples and oranges. Universal is competition, but they'll never be Disney World. And WDW execs know it. Why should they bother to compete, ride and experience wise? They have no reason to. Every member of the Dis could suddenly throw their hands up in the air and say, "I quit this $%$^$!", and they wouldn't bat an eyelash, and would probably still gain record attendance numbers. Disney doesn't have to offer more, and can continue to offer less, for more money, because they will always be the biggest dog in the yard. It's true, and it doesn't bode well for the repeat guest.