How can Tokyo Disney keep ticket prices resonable when WDW can't ?

[drdisney]

A few months back, I had a chance to visit Tokyo Disney when I visited Japan for a few weeks. Right after walking up to the ticket booth, I was in shock at what I saw. For a 3 day ticket, the price was 13,800yen or around $138USD. This wasn't some sort of sale ticket, but just a normal average type. But it didn't stop there, inside the parks the price you paid for a bottle of soda was the same price that was charged all around Tokyo (125-150yen). Even the famous turkey legs were half the cost at $5 each. The land cost in Tokyo is much much more expensive then Orlando, yet everything is lower priced there. The parks were amazing, especially Disney Sea which is by far the most amazing Disney park I have ever been to! I kept wondering how this was possible, but then found the reason while researching the park on Wikipedia. Turns out that this is the only Disney resort that Disney doesn't own any percentage of. Disney was unsure of how attendance was going to be and didn't want to invest any of there money. So they licensed the park to Japan government and just receive a percentage of the sales. This model IMHO works much much better then what is going on at DL and WDW. You have the same great Disney rides and characters as you expect, except there are no shareholders needing to have there pockets stuffed full of cash.


Japan itself was amazing and wonderful! At first I was afraid that everything was going to be so expensive, but then found ways to keep it affordable. Even the airline ticket there was only $650 round trip from LA. I highly highly suggest Disney fans to check out that park at least once in their life, you will be stunned on what you see.

 

[tfc3rid]

You have to think about the audiences that TDR is catering to... TDR is not owned by Disney, but by Oriental Land Company, who is accountable to their shareholders in Japan.

The Japanese culture would not settle for rapidly increasing prices with very little return to show for it.

Of course, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are two of the best Disney Parks across the world (DisneySea is easily best) and many Japanese within the Tokyo area have Annual Passports, which cost about as much as our annual passes do here.

 

[glamdring269]

It's funny you mention this. I've been to Japan several times since 2009 and never really thought about it until now but the price in yen has not really changed on anything since 2009. At least not anything I buy there. You mentioned water price at around 150 yen and that is exactly what I remember paying in 2009. Yet the vending machine here at work has hiked prices at least twice since 2009.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Japan's 5 year GDP growth rate is negative, and their inflation rate is a flat 0.0%. Essentially, everything has been flat to down for the last 5 years or so. Even coming out of our recession, America's numbers look much better than that.

 

[patty57]

Can't hold down prices, and won't hold down prices are two different things.

 

[Magpie]

Business only charges what people will pay. As long as attendance numbers at Disney World continue to rise, they have no obligation to keep ticket prices "reasonable".

If we ever see attendance flatten out at Disney, then the price of a ticket will likely stop rising and there'll be more discounts.

Until then... charge what people will pay. That's Capitalism 101!

Clearly the economic conditions in Tokyo are very different from what they are in Orlando.

 

[surferdave]

Japan's 5 year GDP growth rate is negative, and their inflation rate is a flat 0.0%. Essentially, everything has been flat to down for the last 5 years or so. Even coming out of our recession, America's numbers look much better than that.

I was thinking before you posted this that their economy is probably still struggling to recover from the earthquake of 2011, much like ours did following the terrorist attacks of 2001. WDW was a lot less bullish about prices and policies during that time.

 

[drstrangelove]

A few months back, I had a chance to visit Tokyo Disney when I visited Japan for a few weeks. Right after walking up to the ticket booth, I was in shock at what I saw. For a 3 day ticket, the price was 13,800yen or around $138USD. This wasn't some sort of sale ticket, but just a normal average type. But it didn't stop there, inside the parks the price you paid for a bottle of soda was the same price that was charged all around Tokyo (125-150yen). Even the famous turkey legs were half the cost at $5 each. The land cost in Tokyo is much much more expensive then Orlando, yet everything is lower priced there. The parks were amazing, especially Disney Sea which is by far the most amazing Disney park I have ever been to! I kept wondering how this was possible, but then found the reason while researching the park on Wikipedia. Turns out that this is the only Disney resort that Disney doesn't own any percentage of. Disney was unsure of how attendance was going to be and didn't want to invest any of there money. So they licensed the park to Japan government and just receive a percentage of the sales. This model IMHO works much much better then what is going on at DL and WDW. You have the same great Disney rides and characters as you expect, except there are no shareholders needing to have there pockets stuffed full of cash.


Japan itself was amazing and wonderful! At first I was afraid that everything was going to be so expensive, but then found ways to keep it affordable. Even the airline ticket there was only $650 round trip from LA. I highly highly suggest Disney fans to check out that park at least once in their life, you will be stunned on what you see.

Prices are set by the market. If a business can raise prices, they will. If there are regulations precluding an increase, they obvoiously can't. I have no idea how business in Japen is regulated, but if it is a free amrket economy like the US, they will charge whatever the market can bear. Cars are cheaper in many parts of the world too. Its all about market driven pricing. If its too expensive to operate, then they would stop doing it too.

 

[Autumnslight]

I have no idea what drives the prices in Japan, as I don't keep up with the economy and business practices there.

However, the price increases here in the U.S. actually make a lot of sense. From almost all reports, WDW has been getting more and more crowded. People say that even times that used to be "low crowd" seasons are now getting much busier. Despite the prices and all this MDE/FP+ controversy, there is clearly still very high demand to visit WDW.

WDW parks and resorts have a finite capacity. If demand exceeds, or at least comes very close to, supply, what do you do?

You could just keep everything that way it is, and have the parks packed to the gills all the time. You'd end up turning people away sometimes, probably more often that that already occurs. And the people in the parks would probably have a less pleasant experience than they have now, because really, who enjoys crowd levels where you can barely move and even the People Mover is a two hour wait? Eventually, some people would decide to not come to WDW because the experience is perceived to be unpleasant or not worth it. Then the supply/demand problem will start to level out. But by then, you've damaged the reputation of the Disney experience.

Or, you can do what anyone who has taken an ECON 101 course would expect, and raise prices. That should lower the demand, thus easing the pressure on the supply, and ensuring that demand doesn't exceed supply. Although you'd have less visitors overall, the profits would still be there, because of the higher price per visitor.

I hate price increases as much as anyone. A WDW trip is very expensive for my family, and of course I wish it were less expensive so that we could go more often. But I totally get why they're doing it, and economically, it does make sense.

 

[ebtbmom]

May I ask how you found such an affordable flight? We are planning a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto in Nov and I'm expecting flights from RDU to be 1500$!

 

[drdisney]

May I ask how you found such an affordable flight? We are planning a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto in Nov and I'm expecting flights from RDU to be 1500$!

Keep checking Kayak.com You can put in your
Email address and be notified when prices drop.

 

[john398]

I was thinking before you posted this that their economy is probably still struggling to recover from the earthquake of 2011, much like ours did following the terrorist attacks of 2001. WDW was a lot less bullish about prices and policies during that time.

That's when Disney introduced free dining, because the economy was struggling.....

 

[bumbershoot]

So they licensed the park to Japan government and just receive a percentage of the sales. This model IMHO works much much better then what is going on at DL and WDW.

Trying to figure out how that would go over when many here don't want govt involved even in insurance.

May I ask how you found such an affordable flight? We are planning a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto in Nov and I'm expecting flights from RDU to be 1500$!

Flights to Asia change a lot. We got MIL a roundtrip to Korea for under $900 a couple years back. I think it does help to be in Seattle or California, though. Unfortunately for people elsewhere...

 

[mill4023]

If attendance isn't dropping, the price is still "reasonable". At least according to the people who are going.