Hey guys!
Seriously busy 2 weeks - son had his surgery, and ear tubes have been safely removed, so hopefully, no more surgeries for my baby boy!
I haven't been on the boards too much, so I'm getting caught up on a few things. I think the Priceline thing is no big deal, as they aren't doing the Name Your Price program. It makes sense, since they've been with Expedia and Travelocity for years.
I am sure I'm going to get yelled at, but I really don't want Disney giving rooms, food or packages away at all. Everytime they 'give' something away, whether it be free or seriously discounted, it costs us all. I don't want Disney giving anything for a steal - sure it's good on a personal basis, but on an overall basis, it's not good. I'd much rather them do small discounts for certain time periods, eliminate buffet surcharges, AP room discounts more often, etc.
Should they lower prices? Perhaps a bit, but I don't think they need to make Disney affordable for all families to attend. They are high in certain areas, but I don't think that every family needs to stay in Deluxe rooms. Disney has rooms within a bunch of ranges, so there are pricepoints to suit many families. Sure, you can get rooms cheaper off-site, but off-site is not on-site. They have to discount in order to draw people away from Disney. Disney may need to discount as their numbers are down, but remember, they have very high expectations at Disney. They announce that profits are down, and people think it means that they didn't make money, and that is far from the truth! Disney's lower profits are still in the billions, so that's still high.
Not sure what the right answer is, but I really don't like them constantly discounting. Sure it's good for individual families, but it's not good for the company on a whole. We see this with DVC - Disney overbooks Value rooms, and then sends families to our DVC rooms for no charge. These rooms then see wear and tear, and who pays for that? This normally would come out of our dues, so not sure how they handle this? Also, with more people in the parks during discount periods, that means more maintenance in parks, resorts and restaurants, and I'm not sure Disney can keep up at times.
Disney's occupancy rate was down 8% during that period, but that was during a slower spring season. I can guarantee that during the summer, these numbers were up. I was there for our normal 2 weeks at beginning of July, and all resorts we stayed at were at full capacity, so I assume that they made some of that up over the summer. Also, Disney has future bookings, so perhaps their numbers are down for the holidays too?
It's all very interesting, Tiger
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