Do You Think Non-Dis Vets are Beginning to Notice Penny-Pinching?

[Aluminum Falcon]

Here's the thing... Sure, there's probably a lot of business decisions that needed to be made because of problems caused by Covid and I can understand those. But there's also things that at least are seeming to be done because Covid gave them the opportunity to do it as sad as that sounds. There's really no excuse for the change in the fastpass system other then looking to get more money out of people and give them less. They have probably been itching to be able to take away "free" fastpasses for years and Covid gave them the chance to take it away and bring it back for some service they'll claim is better for the guest experience but charge them for it. Nothing anyone says will ever change my opinion on this. That may seem stubborn but this specific change has really angered me because it feels like they used Covid to their advantage to get more money out of people and give them less.

I agree that fast passes were planned, I believe there was a post on these boards from a decade ago saying as much. I think it makes a lot of sense though, literally every other theme park offers a paid for line skipping offer, Disney was just about last, and compared to others, relatively cheap. I also think it was put in place to help a problem, the problem being FP+, which was leading to outrageous waits if you didn’t have a FP, I believe that there was a fair bit of research done on how to reduce wait times, because that was one of the biggest complaints they got from their guests. I think Covid forced Disney into unloading all at once to recoup some of the costs they built up during Covid, I just think it’s foolish to think some of the major things put in place, (baring Covid direct things, meet and greets buffets ect) were just put out there On a whim

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I agree. Some perks I understood them taking away such as the free dining plan with the appetizers and desserts. Disney was definitely losing money by having guests get so much free food. Heck, I was even happy to pay for the dining plan for the sake of convenance. At least food is understandable because we all need to eat and it was an optional service.



For arguments sake, I will agree with you even though I personally disagree. Think about all the non-cost related changes Disney has made. Sure, if you really wanted to, you could link money to anything. Let's talk about the magic and stellar service. That doesn't rly cost them extra. Oh yeah, let's not forget parking. Again, sure you could argue that Disney has to pay for parking lot maintenance....but let's think about it, I don't think it's my problem to pay for parking lot maintenance if I'm already paying $$$ to come here. Disney should find more creative and appealing ways to market their upcharges. Charging cars per night as opposed to per stay? That is ridiculous. Changing of the times with business practices would fairly suggest to me that they charge a car per stay, not per night. So if I'm parking 1 car at my hotel for the duration of 8 nights, I pay one flat rate for 8 nights. If Disney did fine without charging parking in the past, I'm sure they could do just fine without it or at least with the flat rate I stated above, and if I recall correctly, this was prior pandemic. ALSO, let's not forget that it doesn't make sense to charge guests at more deluxe hotels more money to park per night. Yes, from a money perspective you'd think wealthier guests will afford higher parking rates, but this again speaks to the issue of returning guests. If I'm spending $$$ on a wdw vacation and already paying for a deluxe hotel room, I DO not want to return to this. Why not go to the cheaper hotel that has cheaper parking?

Let me ask this, if Disney took all of their individual fees, and just added them to the ticket price, would that be better? At least Disney is only putting those costs on people who use those amenities, services, ect. I think that if people were “blind” to being charged for it, then it would be more palatable, even though they’d really be picking up the tab for things they may not have even used

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

You can add Magic Express to that as well. A lot of the cuts were things they always wanted to do. You can add limiting APs as well.

I think magical express went away bc of the vendors Disney was using to facilitate it, they may still replace it down the road, juries still out on that one. Just my opinion, but I feel like limiting APs was a shot at Floridians, essentially for bogging down the stores at the parks so that they could resell product online, just look back to the 50th, and how crazy the store lines were for that day only

 

[Arielfan98]

Let me ask this, if Disney took all of their individual fees, and just added them to the ticket price, would that be better? At least Disney is only putting those costs on people who use those amenities, services, ect. I think that if people were “blind” to being charged for it, then it would be more palatable, even though they’d really be picking up the tab for things they may not have even used

You're justifying an act that I think some of us are getting fed up with. Guests are already paying outrageous prices for hotel rooms and I think you and I both know that. I, too, used to root for Disney and look the other way, but I'm beginning to get turned off by things that go beyond just cost. I shouldn't have to reserve a spot at a park so Disney can see how many CMs they need for that day. Not my problem. I shouldn't have to pre-order snacks or drinks or most QS meals....to me that is a spur of the moment vacation aspect. I am 25 years old. 25! I HATED being glued to my phone on my last trip in October, constantly checking to see when I could apply my next LL or when I needed to order my food by. I wanted to live in the moment....not the stress Disney was contributing to. I pay to ESCAPE stress, not be in it.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

You're justifying an act that I think some of us are getting fed up with. Guests are already paying outrageous prices for hotel rooms and I think you and I both know that. I, too, used to root for Disney and look the other way, but I'm beginning to get turned off by things that go beyond just cost. I shouldn't have to reserve a spot at a park so Disney can see how many CMs they need for that day. Not my problem. I shouldn't have to pre-order snacks or drinks or most QS meals....to me that is a spur of the moment vacation aspect. I am 25 years old. 25! I HATED being glued to my phone on my last trip in October, constantly checking to see when I could apply my next LL or when I needed to order my food by. I wanted to live in the moment....not the stress Disney was contributing to. I pay to ESCAPE stress, not be in it.

I feel like we are getting to the crux of the issue. People hate the fact that the price is higher, itemizing the extra costs just seems to be a front for what people are actually upset about. I do agree with you about hotel rooms, but if you don’t like the price, there are literally hundreds of hotels off property, and since there are no perks, what does it matter anymore. I think your point about phones is a little antiquated, they’re here, and every company worth their salt uses them, mainly because most guests, or customers have come to expect it. I just think you may be in the minority on that issue.

 

[Arielfan98]

I feel like we are getting to the crux of the issue. People hate the fact that the price is higher, itemizing the extra costs just seems to be a front for what people are actually upset about. I do agree with you about hotel rooms, but if you don’t like the price, there are literally hundreds of hotels off property, and since there are no perks, what does it matter anymore. I think your point about phones is a little antiquated, they’re here, and every company worth their salt uses them, mainly because most guests, or customers have come to expect it. I just think you may be in the minority on that issue.

I doubt I'm the only one with that opinion. I've seen it plenty on here, including before Genie+.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I doubt I'm the only one with that opinion. I've seen it plenty on here, including before Genie+.

I don’t disagree, you are entitled to it

 

[potterfanatic]

I think Disney has had to cut back on a lot because of Covid, there are problems all over the country with hiring right now, and they lost a lot of experienced staff when Poop hit the fan, (we can argue about whether or not they should have released so many CM's, but that's beside the point). I do think a lot will return over the next few years, but it is going to take time to recover.

1000% this. Sadly, eating at Disney world for my family of 5 for a week is similar to what I pay in groceries for a week at home, therefore is cheaper than eating out every meal for a week at home.

And the reduced customer service … We’re tired, everyone is tired. Most people, if not all people, are living a life with more stress than 2 years ago, how can an experience be just as magical when both CMs and guests alike are doing the best they can on any given day while operating in a pandemic that has lasted almost 2 years. We all have to give ourselves and others a pass for just a little bit. The magic is still there.

 

[MouseyMin]

A lot of posts here compared the costs at Disney World to what it costs to go to a football game or a concert and said that therefore they are reasonable. The problem is that those high costs are only for ONE DAY. The average Disney trip is probably around 5 days. I would think that people would be more willing to pay these fees on occasion for a super special day. But these prices would break the bank (or not be worth it) for 5 days or more. That's where the problem is in my opinion.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

A lot of posts here compared the costs at Disney World to what it costs to go to a football game or a concert and said that therefore they are reasonable. The problem is that those high costs are only for ONE DAY. The average Disney trip is probably around 5 days. I would think that people would be more willing to pay these fees on occasion for a super special day. But these prices would break the bank (or not be worth it) for 5 days or more. That's where the problem is in my opinion.

I think that there are people on both sides of that. I could see a family going all out on a WDW vacation, as well as a 1 day event like a Super Bowl. It’s not really apples to apples, just a convenient argument

 

[Illinois76]

Yeah this is the problem. Nobody is expecting more for less. What we should expect is at least the same for more because price increasing is unfortunately just something that happens everywhere. It's the constant removal of things that aren't replaced or "free" things changed to worse systems at an extra charge that is making people upset.

This is a different argument.

They’re trying to increase their top line… by increasing income streams and eliminating costs.

So, to be clear, I just get tired of the ‘greedy’ comment.

A value argument is fair game… but they don’t owe anyone anything. It’s up to the consumer to determine if the product is ultimately worth the price.

 

[Moliphino]

Wrong.

Disney is offering a 10% discount on the lightsabers right now, which is *far* more than the value of the junky bags they used to provide. They're losing money on this.

They may be making a little less money, but they certainly aren't losing money on a discounted lightsaber.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

They may be making a little less money, but they certainly aren't losing money on a discounted lightsaber.

They're losing money relative to a fully priced lightsaber with the crappy bag, which probably had an internal cost of about 50 cents.

The implication in the OP is that Disney is lying about supply chain issues to eliminate the bag and increase profits. But eliminating the bag and discounting the lightsaber represents a reduction in profit per unit sold.

 

[Moliphino]

They're losing money relative to a fully priced lightsaber with the crappy bag, which probably had an internal cost of about 50 cents.

The implication in the OP is that Disney is lying about supply chain issues to eliminate the bag and increase profits. But eliminating the bag and discounting the lightsaber represents a reduction in profit per unit sold.

Didn't they only offer the discount after they were called out on this, though? I don't think they're lying about the supply chain issue, but the discount was offered to save face.

 

[utahgirl]

Here is something I am noticing. I grew up with Disneyland, living just 30ish minutes down the freeway. My family and I, now living out of state go once a year ( pre-covid) and we loved it. My daughters loved the parades, meeting the charaters & my DH and I loved spending time as a family seeing the girls smiling faces. So my girls KNOW what Disneyland can be and with a rescheduled trip for this June they are not as excited as they have been in previous trips. We are even planning on a Tour one day. This is where with Disney’s cost cutting ways are going to hurt them. I will still go and probably drag my family along, but my girls, who are almost young adults, will not make the parks a priority vacation in their future family vacation plans. So unless things change Disney is losing out on future families because of their cheapness now.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Didn't they only offer the discount after they were called out on this, though?

No. That's the timeline of how news reached the internet, but it's not the timeline of how things played out on the ground.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Here is something I am noticing. I grew up with Disneyland, living just 30ish minutes down the freeway. My family and I, now living out of state go once a year ( pre-covid) and we loved it. My daughters loved the parades, meeting the charaters & my DH and I loved spending time as a family seeing the girls smiling faces. So my girls KNOW what Disneyland can be and with a rescheduled trip for this June they are not as excited as they have been in previous trips. We are even planning on a Tour one day. This is where with Disney’s cost cutting ways are going to hurt them. I will still go and probably drag my family along, but my girls, who are almost young adults, will not make the parks a priority vacation in their future family vacation plans. So unless things change Disney is losing out on future families because of their cheapness now.

I think a lot of the things you are referencing will probably be coming back in the future, Covid restrictions, staffing shortages, staff inexperience, in my opinion are currently holding Disney back from a lot of things

 

[Moliphino]

No. That's the timeline of how news reached the internet, but it's not the timeline of how things played out on the ground.

I have seen nothing reported to contradict it.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Didn't they only offer the discount after they were called out on this, though? I don't think they're lying about the supply chain issue, but the discount was offered to save face.

i think this is one of those situation where they are damned if they do damned if they don't. If they were ahead of it, people would complain that Disney wasn't giving them the same experience

I have seen nothing reported to contradict it.

Call me an apologist, but no matter what Disney does, people complain. They don't have bags, people complain, they give a discount because of the complaints, people complain that it should have been handled to begin with. I guarantee you that when the holders come back, people will complain that they should be given a choice to get a holder, or a 10% discount.

Disney did the right thing, it should only matter to the people who didn't get the 10% discount in this case, everyone else who ends up with a 10% discount doesn't have a leg to stand on

 

[Moliphino]

i think this is one of those situation where they are damned if they do damned if they don't. If they were ahead of it, people would complain that Disney wasn't giving them the same experience

Call me an apologist, but no matter what Disney does, people complain. They don't have bags, people complain, they give a discount because of the complaints, people complain that it should have been handled to begin with. I guarantee you that when the holders come back, people will complain that they should be given a choice to get a holder, or a 10% discount.

Disney did the right thing, it should only matter to the people who didn't get the 10% discount in this case, everyone else who ends up with a 10% discount doesn't have a leg to stand on

In the end they did the right thing. At first they thought they could get away with charging full price and saying the plastic bag counted as the carrying case included in the price. It was bad customer service and they deserved to be called out on that.