Even Disney Is Worried About the High Cost of a Disney Vacation

[Minniesgal]

I've been wondering this as there have been loads of discounts for UK tickets lately. We got 20% off for Black Friday then there was another 20% discount for January

 

[Minnie1222]

Attendance may not be down. But it's not up to the extent they want it to be. And that's a problem for Disney right now.

How do you know? Do you work for Disney? Considering that attendance still has not dropped with the continuous price increases, I think they're doing very well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

when the only viable alternative was renting a car for hundreds per week.

I agree with your comments with exception to this one. At least when speaking about rental car vs DME. I saw plenty of rental cars while staying on property in 2017 and would hazard that the average guest coming in was more likely to rent a car (as they might on other vacations), some obviously driving their own vehicles down. I know the figure mentioned earlier on in this thread so certainly a lot were using DME but were they using it because they did the cost analysis to a rental car or other alternative or was it more simply because they saw it as keeping on the Disney train vibe from start to finish never really considering another option and I think a good amount of that would have been comprised of the super fan or the once in a life time splurgy guest too.

My DISer friend whose parent owned DVC and went on several vacations a year to WDW and sometimes to DL where he grew up? He had never rented a car on property until he heard us talking about it, he just never thought to do it always using DME and Disney transportation to and from the parks. One trip (several years before the demise of DME) he decided to rent a car and promptly told us he didn't know why it took him so long and never looked back on subsequent trips. He drove to the parks just like we did instead of using Disney's transportation all the time and really loved it.

Unfortunately the pandemic did a number on the rental car market and it hasn't returned the same so pricing is hard to talk about these days however we also saw plenty of rental cars while on-site at Universal (both Surfside and Royal Pacific) in 2022.

I think once parking fees were added to the resorts in 2018 that started to really turn people off from staying on site among increasing per night rates. Maybe they thought it was an easy cash flow but if I go based on the slew of comments on the DIS it drove people more off-site than it drove people to use either Minnie Van or DME. They dropped that parking fee in early 2023 a bit over a year after DME stopped existing.

 

[dreamer17555]

I’m going to be very interested to see how the opening of Epic impacts the attendance at WDW.

 

[Brian Noble]

If it unfolds the way Potter 1.0 did it will be a rising tide lifts all boats thing—a net increase of visitors to Orlando.

 

[dreamer17555]

If it unfolds the way Potter 1.0 did it will be a rising tide lifts all boats thing—a net increase of visitors to Orlando.

I think with how universal is packaging Epic tickets… I’m not sure I would bank on that. Two parks definitely makes it where you have plenty of time for Disney but three parks plus a waterpark I would not be so certain that everybody is going to make time or spend the extra money to go to WDW.

WDW also does not have anything new and has some big attractions closed- having both big thunder and test track closed at the same time is an interesting choice…

 

[clarker99]

I think with how universal is packaging Epic tickets… I’m not sure I would bank on that. Two parks definitely makes it where you have plenty of time for Disney but three parks plus a waterpark I would not be so certain that everybody is going to make time or spend the extra money to go to WDW.

WDW also does not have anything new and has some big attractions closed- having both big thunder and test track closed at the same time is an interesting choice…

From the Q4FY24 Earnings call, this was CFO Hugh Johnston in reply to a question on Epics impact:
"Regarding Epic, we did model that into our expectations for the experiences outlook. As I mentioned earlier, the early bookings that we have next summer are actually positive, so that's certainly a positive indicator. We also looked at the history of other attractions opening up and other parks opening up in Florida, and it's generally been beneficial to us. So that is all very much captured in the in the guide that we provided."

Further from the Q1FY25 Earnings call, Hugh re-iterated:
"Basically, we are further into the curve, but the messaging is exactly the same as I gave you last quarter. Bookings are up in the summer right now, so certainly feeling positive, and obviously we have more of them (bookings) in given that we're 90 days later. So certainly, the outlook is good in that regard"

 

[New Mouse]

If it unfolds the way Potter 1.0 did it will be a rising tide lifts all boats thing—a net increase of visitors to Orlando.

Guests will now be choosing which park to eliminate from their visit.

It's going to likely have an impact on some combination of Epcot, AK, DHS, US or IOA.

My guess is US and AK take a pretty big hit.

 

[Brian Noble]

I think with how universal is packaging Epic tickets… I’m not sure I would bank on that. Two parks definitely makes it where you have plenty of time for Disney but three parks plus a waterpark I would not be so certain that everybody is going to make time or spend the extra money to go to WDW.

WDW also does not have anything new and has some big attractions closed- having both big thunder and test track closed at the same time is an interesting choice…

I'm just recounting what happened with the Potterverse---there was more tourist traffic to Orlando, and the "otherwise Disney" guests who went to check it out were more than balanced by the "mostly Universal" guests who came to Disney for a day.

As for the ticket bundling: that's what is happening so far. But Universal continues to state that they plan to sell single-day tickets to Epic before the park opens. So, we'll see what happens.

As for e.g. Thunder and Test Track: You have to be Extremely Online (and a big Disney fan) to know that is happening. I'm pretty sure the average Orlando visitor has no idea what Test Track is, let alone that it is closed.

Disney's C-Suite folks are so far also sticking to the "rising tide" story. That might be convenient, or it might be what their models are actually telling them. We'll know in six to nine months.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Universal still not making single day Epic tickets available to every day guests says more about Comcast’s concern over attendance drops at USO/IOA than their impact to Disney

 

[Minnie1222]

I think with how universal is packaging Epic tickets… I’m not sure I would bank on that. Two parks definitely makes it where you have plenty of time for Disney but three parks plus a waterpark I would not be so certain that everybody is going to make time or spend the extra money to go to WDW.

Universal's clientele is different from Disney's. The stroller crowd is not going to leave Magic Kingdom en masse to seek out Monsters Unchained. I think the Epic package is designed to prevent their own guests from temporarily abandoning the original parks.

We have family and friends who will travel a long distance to see Epic this summer. They will also make time for Disney because, as they put it, a lot of efforts have already been made for this trip and Disney is only 20 minutes away.

 

[tjkraz]

WDW also does not have anything new and has some big attractions closed- having both big thunder and test track closed at the same time is an interesting choice…

Depends how frequently people visit. Most aren't making a pilgrimage to WDW every year, or 2-3 times per year.

 

[Minnie1222]

As for the ticket bundling: that's what is happening so far. But Universal continues to state that they plan to sell single-day tickets to Epic before the park opens. So, we'll see what happens.

Someone from the Epic thread recently called Universal regarding this issue. They were told that single-day tickets may be sold at X minus one month, depending on the number of packages and AP tickets sold for month X. So if you want to buy a ticket for July, you may have to wait until June to see if you can make the purchase.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I agree with your comments with exception to this one. At least when speaking about rental car vs DME. I saw plenty of rental cars while staying on property in 2017 and would hazard that the average guest coming in was more likely to rent a car (as they might on other vacations), some obviously driving their own vehicles down. I know the figure mentioned earlier on in this thread so certainly a lot were using DME but were they using it because they did the cost analysis to a rental car or other alternative or was it more simply because they saw it as keeping on the Disney train vibe from start to finish never really considering another option and I think a good amount of that would have been comprised of the super fan or the once in a life time splurgy guest too.

My DISer friend whose parent owned DVC and went on several vacations a year to WDW and sometimes to DL where he grew up? He had never rented a car on property until he heard us talking about it, he just never thought to do it always using DME and Disney transportation to and from the parks. One trip (several years before the demise of DME) he decided to rent a car and promptly told us he didn't know why it took him so long and never looked back on subsequent trips. He drove to the parks just like we did instead of using Disney's transportation all the time and really loved it.

Unfortunately the pandemic did a number on the rental car market and it hasn't returned the same so pricing is hard to talk about these days however we also saw plenty of rental cars while on-site at Universal (both Surfside and Royal Pacific) in 2022.

I think once parking fees were added to the resorts in 2018 that started to really turn people off from staying on site among increasing per night rates. Maybe they thought it was an easy cash flow but if I go based on the slew of comments on the DIS it drove people more off-site than it drove people to use either Minnie Van or DME. They dropped that parking fee in early 2023 a bit over a year after DME stopped existing.

DME was viable only if you were staying onsite your entire vacation. Obviously many people don’t, and it wouldn’t surprise me if more people were increasingly staying fewer days onsite to compensate for swelling rates (e.g. 3 nights onsite, 4 nights off).

People are impatient so I don’t doubt that more people staying onsite were turning to ride shares. I regularly read posts on here where people recommend hiring expensive car services over ride shares, because vacation time is valuable. What’s another $500 when you’re already spending $5,000? Some people are well off but many lack financial sense/ discipline. The number of people who pay for ride shares to get to a minimum wage job would surprise you. Doesn’t make any sense to spend an extra $20 to save an hour of time when you’re only paid $10 an hour.

 

[Brian rhymes with dyin]

The number of people who pay for ride shares to get to a minimum wage job would surprise you. Doesn’t make any sense to spend an extra $20 to save an hour of time when you’re only paid $10 an hour.

THAT CAME OUTTA LEFT FIELD

 

[Cfabar1]

Magical Express undoubtedly was very effective at keeping people on Disney property 10+ years ago when the only viable alternative was renting a car for hundreds per week. If Disney getting 2-3 meal purchases per person, per day and effectively blocking people from accessing Universal, Legoland and other competitors, sure it pays for itself.

Now we're living in the age of Uber and Instacart. DME does nothing to block people from visiting competitors because everything is a $30-40 Uber ride away. It does nothing to steer people to Disney restaurants and bars because you can have $100 in snacks and drinks delivered to the hotel and eat for days.

I understand why people miss DME. But it's pretty clear why Disney felt they could no longer justify supporting it. It was never "let's be nice and give people a free ride from the airport." It was "if we drive people to and from the airport, they'll spend every dollar on our property and we'll make up the difference." The original motivation is entirely gone. There's a reason Universal and others have never gone down that road.

I would also add, that for the 70% of folks who did not use ME, on a certain level, they were subsidizing it... so... for those of us who didn't use it, do we want our tickets going up even more?

 

[New Mouse]

I would also add, that for the 70% of folks who did not use ME, on a certain level, they were subsidizing it... so... for those of us who didn't use it, do we want our tickets going up even more?

Did your prices go down when they eliminated it?

 

[Tatebeck]

They should just include a Minnie Van ride for anyone staying deluxe or something

 

[LAS2AMS]

I don’t get all the complaining about DME. It wasn’t designed to make your vacation magical - it was designed to fill Disney’s hotel rooms and keep guests on property. When DME was launched, Mears was more expensive that it is today (in real dollars - not inflation adjusted). Thus, many people rented cars and stayed offsite for value and convenience. Even into the late 2000s, $5 breakfast buffets where kids ate free were plentiful around the area.

It’s a different world today. We now have a core group of Disney fanatics who want Disney properties at any cost as they absolutely do not want to be outside the Disney Bubble.

Again… you can initiate change if you vote with your wallet. If you don’t, then don’t complain.

 

[LAS2AMS]

This thread reminds me of those memes where people in 2025 look at the present unfavorably and at 2015 favorably, whereas people in 2015 viewed it unfavorably and couldn’t wait for the future.

Many people who claim “the magic ssarted wearing off” in eras where other people insist it peaked. Disney didn’t change, you did. There’s a big difference between being a young couple starting out in life, watching your 3 and 6ths embrace Mickey… and now you’re in mid career, the Disney trip couldn’t have come at a worse time for you work wise, your 13yo needs braces and your 16yo is demanding a car. Of course Disney was better then…