I'll Just Leave This Here For Pete

[Claudia Kellenberger]

And I still will miss terribly the Christmas show with the Country Bear Jamboree. I sure wish they would bring that back.

 

[DisneyKevin]

It's my belief that most companies trust that their loyal customers will act as their "unofficial" sales force. Word of mouth advertising is something that all companies count on and pray for.

In the business world, there is an old saying that I'm going to
butcher.....Make a customer happy and they will tell their friends. Make a customer unhappy and they will tell everyone.

Disney just offered their annual passholders the opportunity to get 15 months for the rpice of the usual 12. They also just offered (for the first time as far as I know) a "Monday through Friday" annual pass.

Something tells me that the "regulars" are seen as important.

Also, and I dont think I'm alone in this thought process....cut backs would be acceptable if they were not raising prices. Raising prices would even be ok if they were taking things away. Raising prices and taking away the things that people love seems short-sighted.

The Disney that "regulars" love seems to be disappearing as fast as Sting's rainforest.

As I mentioned above.....the "once in a lifetime" guests might tell their frieds, but the disappointed "regulars" will tell everybody

 

[jcb]

Also, and I dont think I'm alone in this thought process....cut backs would be acceptable if they were not raising prices. Raising prices would even be ok if they were taking things away. Raising prices and taking away the things that people love seems short-sighted.

This is what exactly what gets to me. I'm an "occasional" WDW visitor - though trips are more frequent as of late (probably because of DU and the Podcast).

I could tolerate raising prices for better product. I could stand cutbacks with level prices (which is what I think you meant). But price increases and cutbacks (especially those which are explained with rediculous reasons) are making it very easy for me to stay offsite, eat offsite and sharply limit purchases within the World.

I understand some folks may not notice the "cutbacks" but the price increases and cutbacks have generated a fair amount of negative publicity. No organization, especially one who sells "magic," needs that.

 

[dalt01]

[

QUOTE=DisneyKevin;34320004].....Make a customer happy and they will tell their friends. Make a customer unhappy and they will tell everyone.

LOL.......tell me about it i have been in the automobile business for 30 years.

Something tells me that the "regulars" are seen as important

. second only to the stockholders.

Raising prices and taking away the things that people love seems short-sighted.

only to the ones who love them...........these things may seem like knee jerk reactions to us but i would HOPE that there are people with great business acumen calling the dance.

the disappointed "regulars" will tell everybody

sometimes i think we are just telling each other.

 

[DisneyKevin]

[ . second only to the stockholders.

Yet stockholders are offered no "perks" to visit the parks. Disney took those away quite a while ago.

[ sometimes i think we are just telling each other.

I talk to other people besides you guys all the time.....err often....um somtimes......ok....occasionally.

 

[WDWGeek1971]

Things that have disappeared include the Magic Kingdom Club. Back when you needed a ticket book to experience the Magic Kingdom, you, through your employer, could participate in the Magic Kingdom Club which gave the the opportunity to buy a book of Magic Kingdom Club tickets. These were special. There was a discount off the regular book, and there were no A, B, C, or D tickets. Every ticket was an E-ticket equivalent. So you could use up all your tickets riding Space Mountain. You could get a really good discount on your resort stay. Later, once they introduced "day passes" and the Annual Pass, you could get MKC versions of these at a discount.

Later, maybe 10-15 years ago, it was discontinued and then resurrected as a club you joined for a small fee. This time all you got was a magazine and a pin. (Sounding familiar.) That was discontinued and 7 or 8 years later, we now have D23. D23 has special events, but the discounts are gone.

The nibbling away is not new, or recent, or showing any sign of reversing.

The good news is that now Disney is a profitable, "well-run" company. Before Eisner took over, there was some speculation that the whole thing might just go insolvent and be gone. Doesn't look like there is currently any danger of that happening, but the brand is now more flash than gold, Walt's Disney is gone, and while what we have left is less than we hope or expect, we still cling to it.

Sigh.

 

[doconeill]

I talk to other people besides you guys all the time.....err often....um somtimes......ok....occasionally.

Wait, there are...others? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?

Given the various bits of news, I came away with a few takebacks...

1) So there is a beancounter, and a chairman. They swapped positions. One of them made the decision to raise the "hard" prices (tickets, parking, etc.) that everyone needs to pay because people aren't spending the "soft" money. Which one was it? And the fact that the positions swapped, is that a good or bad thing?

2) Iger made rumblings that the swap was to give Rasulo a better vision of the "money" side of the business. There are whispers that he is being "groomed" for something - like Iger's replacement. But it could also be that Skaggs has been the one making the money decisions and Iger is trying to show Rasulo why. And that probably isn't a good thing.

3) Disney Parks has been the tentpole in the business, with profits from the parks propping up the rest of the business. Now that the rest of the business is recovering, and the parks are down a bit, are they reciprocating? Doesn't look it. "Thanks for helping us through this. You need to raise you margin by end of quarter."

4) For some reason I've got this eerie feeling - like all the discounts they are giving are a way of countering all the bad press about raising the prices in the first place. "Sure, we've raised prices, but then you are effectively giving you the old price through the discount if you at least get a package through us...", but then the discount will eventually get smaller and disappear, and we won't be as shocked when that happens because we have always known that that was the price...

 

[WaltD4Me]

sometimes i think we are just telling each other.

I don't know about this. I've read many, many threads on these boards about how everyone thinks of them as "The Disney expert" and how all their friends, family, co-workers and aquaintances come to them for advice about going to Disney. Happens to me all the time. I don't think Disney would be very pleased with what I have been telling people recently versus even just a year ago. I don't recommend the dining plan anymore. I don't try as hard to convince them to stay on-site anymore. I tell them the advantages of eating off-site and I didn't usually do that before. I don't recommend MVMCP anymore (especially after seeing part of that new awful show in Tomorrowland on You Tube) I'm honest when people ask and sometimes when they don't.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

YAY!!!

More people are coming and we're making less money!!!!

YAY!!!

Let's not put up the Christmas lights this year and raise prices.

YAY!!!

I'm sorry, but I can picture you jumping up and down saying this.

I talk to other people besides you guys all the time.....err often....um somtimes......ok....occasionally.

Nope, don't buy that for a second. We are YOUR LIFE.

 

[trivial]

My wife and I went to WDW a few years ago, fully expecting it to be a "once in a lifetime" trip. Well, we both fell in love with WDW despite the hefty price-tag, and we swore we'd be back. A few months after returning, I took the initiative to start planning a large, extended-family trip.

Now I'm wondering how much of WDW will still be there by the time we go back, and how much more it will cost than we were expecting. I'm sure Walt would be spinning in his grave if he hadn't been cremated.

Up until this point, I was certain we'd be staying on-property, if only to take advantage of free dining, but I don't care if the food is free if it's crap. Time to look off-site.

 

[kswm30b]

What cutbacks have been done to Fantasmic? I haven't seen the show in 2 years & we got the dinner package to make sure we wouldn't miss it (then they add Fantasmic everyday during our yrip, go figure!)

 

[lugnut33]

Ahhhhh Haaaa!! I think I figured out what bugs me about the price increases. Probably what bothers a lot of the fanatics about Disney raising prices.

While reading a biography on Walt, it is suggested that the reason Walt wanted to build Disneyland was as a way to get away from reality. For him, it was a way to escape the pressures of a studio that was stagnant both creatively and financially at that time. He was able to enter into his own fantasyland while creating what would become Disneyland.

One of the main ideas was to create a "land" that was not intruded on by the outside world. Hence, that's why you see a big berm all around Disneyland. It's why the trainstation hides Sleeping Beauty's Castle. When you enter the parks you are transported to an imaginitive world so you can escape.

Well, when Disney goes about raising prices we feel like they are intruding on our fantasyland. The business world is influencing our escapeism. We feel like the bean counters are trying to taking this little peice of paradise away from us by raising prices. Darn it, it's the real world, the corporate world, that is making us squirm.

 

[kaligal]

YAY!!!

More people are coming and we're making less money!!!!

YAY!!!

Let's not put up the Christmas lights this year and raise prices.

YAY!!!

And have no Christmas Country Bears. And have no "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" show at MVMCP. "How little can we provide before people give up on us entirely?" is what they keep asking. One day they're going to find out.

 

[WDWGeek1971]

What cutbacks have been done to Fantasmic? I haven't seen the show in 2 years & we got the dinner package to make sure we wouldn't miss it (then they add Fantasmic everyday during our yrip, go figure!)

Fantasmic only ran two nights a week for most of the year (2009). Lately, they have been adding shows, usually very last minute. Looks like coming up on the holiday season this year, they are back to nightly shows.

 

[Castaway Dave]

One thing that Pete and the podcast team are correct about is that people are indeed waiting for deals before they book a trip. The discounts are changing mentality, however they are also getting people in the park as evidenced by the 3% up. Perhaps it's not wise to be raising prices on everything?

However, the parks saw a 17% drop in profits and a 4% drop in revenue eventhough attendance was up. Problem is, those numbers include all Disney parks, so we'll have to sift through the numbers and see how WDW faired.

Right now it's a no decision on Meg "The Cleaning Lady" Crofton.

Another intereting fact, Jay Rasulo is no longer in charge of Disney Parks. Jay will now be CFO and the current CFO Tom Staggs will be the head of parks and resorts. So, we'll have a bean counter in there. This might not be good.

Here is an Article from Variety.com 11/13/09.

ESPN, ABC Family boost bottom line as parks, pics sag
By MARC GRASER

Entertainment congloms have posted better-than-expected numbers this earning season, and the Mouse House didn't disappoint, with the last of the majors reporting an 18% jump in profits over the last three months.
Disney can thank ESPN and ABC Family for much of that coin, with higher fees collected from channels that especially air the sports cabler's programming offsetting sluggish, if not outright dismal, performances at other Mouse House divisions.

That includes the film studio, where watching the latest changes unfolding there has almost become its own fulltime sport.

Despite a slight 3% increase in revenue of $1.3 billion for the studio, it lost $13 million during the period on a decrease in DVD sales and weak performers at the box office like "Surrogates" and "G-Force," the latter of which resulted in a $50 million writedown. "Up" and "The Proposal" were cited as successes.

The poor performance of its film slate this year gives Disney prexy-CEO Robert Iger even more leverage as he initiates a complete overhaul of the film biz's top executive ranks in an effort to turn around that side of the company.

Overall, Disney reported quarterly profits of $895 million, up from $760 million a year ago, on sales of nearly $9.9 billion, up 4.5%.

Revenue at Disney's theme parks fell 4% to $2.8 billion during the period, with the recession continuing to hurt attendance levels, causing profits to drop 17% to $344 million.

Theme parks rep Disney's second-largest business, accounting for 30% of its overall revenue. The company is moving forward with plans to open a new park in Shanghai and continues to retool its California Adventure park in Anaheim, Calif., to boost earnings.

Only a month after tapping former Disney Channel topper Rich Ross as chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Iger initiated a round of musical chairs: Thomas Staggs, senior exec VP and chief financial officer of the Walt Disney Co., and Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, will switch jobs at the end of the year.

Staggs has helped oversee several acquisitions for Disney, including the takeover of Capital Cities/ABC, Pixar and Marvel Entertainment. Rasulo has recently been heading up the expansion of Disney's California Adventure and the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland.

"Jay and Tom are both dynamic and versatile executives who have done a great job over the last several years and have helped me to shape Disney's strategic direction," Iger said in a statement. "By giving them exciting new challenges that build on both their strengths at a time when each of their respective areas are on the right strategic track, the change is good for them and good for the company.

"It's incredibly valuable to have executives gain experience in different parts of the company," Iger added during a conference call with investors.

On the TV front, profits from ABC and cablers like ESPN and Disney Channel rose 26% to $1.5 billion on a 14% gain in revenue to $4.7 billion. ESPN earned $128 million more from affiliates than it did during the quarter a year ago, and the division also posted a gain from the merger of A&E Networks with Lifetime's channels.

Despite lower ratings and ad rates, Disney's broadcasting biz posted a $2 million profit, helped by domestic and international sales of ABC Studios productions like "Grey's Anatomy" and "According to Jim."

"Although last year was a difficult one due in part to the weak global economy, I'm pleased with the way our businesses have responded to the downturn," Iger said in a statement. "We've stayed focused on our long-term strategy, efficiently managed costs and continued to invest in initiatives to deliver future growth. We also have adapted our organization to respond to and take advantage of the changes taking place in our businesses and will continue to do so as we position Disney to thrive for years to come."

 

[doconeill]

Despite a slight 3% increase in revenue of $1.3 billion for the studio, it lost $13 million during the period...

Accountants would have been shot if the studios had actually turned a profit...Hollywood accounting rules border on the mystical...

 

[AlexDurrani]

YAY!!!

More people are coming and we're making less money!!!!

YAY!!!

Let's not put up the Christmas lights this year and raise prices.

YAY!!!

You know the funny part of it is that I don't see the increase as a big push. I believe that someone said when the buy 4 get 3 nights free promotion back in January had ended, the actual profits just were not there. People are getting into the parks and getting the deal but the actual income that the parks are making is just not there. I saw it in April when I was there for Research. I just did not see the amount of packages being taken onto the DME as I did in December or even in May of 2k8.

The only people making money off the last minute vacations is the airlines. That being said This December was a bear to get a room for DAP last minute until the deadline for full payment for the rooms past. After that I was able to get a room easily.

Well that's my thoughts on the matter. See some of yah in december.

Sikandar "Alex" Durrani from the Lone Star State