I'm not sure it's necessarily an effort to push out the Average Joes. I think they'd like to pull in more once in a lifetime visitors in the hopes they'll be content with what frequent visitors may label stale offerings, won't notice if everything isn't operating with all effects working, will want to commemorate their visit with any type of souvenir that says Disney or WDW and isn't going to notice if the customer service isn't up to traditional Disney standards because they only are experiencing it for the first time and may accept good enough as acceptable. In short, I think they'd like to push out the return visitors who complain about declining service, stale or poorly maintained attractions and who don't want another bland WDW sweatshirt and decide to go to a great place offsite for dinner instead of spending $20 each for Disney fast food or $60 each for Disney Olive Garden food they booked a table for months ago.
I don't think it's an effort to do that, either. It's a sad side effect. The sad reality is that the population of the United States continues to grow through birth and immigration, and an ever populated world increasingly sees WDW and DLR as an attractive destination. I get that Disney is a for-profit company, and I get that if they make tickets $10 per day, they will have to capacity-close the parks every day of the year. I'm the biggest proponent of pricing until supply meets demand that you'll ever see. So they have a choice between building more and more parks until supply meets demand, which may not be prudent long-run if the current international Disney fervor wanes, or price up. It's
how they are choosing to price up that disturbs me. As a hotel guy, because I'm not a Disney guest, ever. I don't see the value in it for myself, personally. Frankly, decades of hotel associate discounts have jaded me, so I struggle to justify any expensive accommodation. But that's my weakness, and I wouldn't for a moment suggest that others steer clear of Disney if they see value in the proposition.
It bothered me in the hotel industry that we would come up with underhanded ways of increasing revenue, like resort fees, and it bothers me that Disney is even considering it after building a reputation of being an expensive stay but giving some real value in the form of competitive advantages against non-resort guests. Now, after having built that reputation, and amid various reports that world-class Disney resort service ain't what it used to be, they are suggesting that you are really paying that high resort price for a hotel room with Mickey on the door, and perhaps some garish and tacky design features of the resort itself if you are in Pop or AoA. So, because that nice room alone is really worth the $400 per night you pay for it, I'm gonna go ahead and charge you a resort fee on top of that. And yes, of course you'll pay it, because if you don't, you can stay offsite and lose 180 ADR, 60 FP, Magic Express, EMH, etc.
