Is Disneyland shooting themselves in the foot?

[Susie63]

There has been discussion on these boards today about 8 day hoppers for Canadians being discontinued.It seems that the poster has found a solution but I called Disney to see if I could get some answers.
This is not something that the first CM,nor the supervisor,or the customer service person were aware of. I think it must be a deal between the travel companies and Disney. The same for the 14 day hoppers that the Aussies get.
I did ask the supervisor why the 6 day hoppers were discontinued and she said that....NO ONE EVER BOUGHT THEM and if they were going for more than five days people usually bought AP's(maybe that was before May 20 )
Originally our trip was 10 days including travel days but we have stretched that out and will stay off site for one night and do an early check in at the GCV.
I had planned on doing 8 day hoppers and then decided we would do AP's and be able to go everyday(including travel days).
Like everyone else, that will now cost more.However,my stay at GCV is paid for and cannot be changed so we are committed to DLR.
Going forward,I am not sure that DL would be the first choice though. Yes,everyone wants to see Carsland...but after you have been there,would the diffence in ticket prices between DLR and WDW send you to the World instead.
Of course, this is for people who must travel long distances and will only make one trip in a year and stay more than a week.The difference in price for tickets between an AP for DL and a 10 day PH for WDW is $125 per person.
Since the resorts are sooooo much cheaper than DL and they have the dining plan,I can see a lot of people choosing WDW if the airfare was comparable.
I would think that it would have made sense to do the more you play the less you pay scenario,like WDW and entice more travellers to head west.If I am dropping $2000 to fly to California,I am staying more than a week and the longer I am in the parks.....the more money I spend.

Does this make sense to anybody else but me?

 

[blackjackdelta]

I may be wrong but if I remember WDW is not doing so hot with the financials...the population base is made up locals, those that travel are a drop in the bucket, so I understand your point but do not agree from the money, if you in one of their hotels they make a bigger margin...have a great trip and thanks for visiting our home.

Jack

 

[Disney Dreams]

I understand your thoughts. However...

Disney, I'm sure, did quite a bit of research before raising prices. Surely they feel they are still asking a price that people will pay.

People who are equidistant between WDW or DLR may choose to head Eastward to WDW, but people who are coming from Australia, China, Japan, even Hawaii save a significant amount in both airfare and travel time when going to DLR over WDW. These people will still come to Disneyland if they are going to come to the States. Likewise, Europeans are going to most likely go to WDW over DLR due to travel distance.

You comment "...but after you have been there [Carsland], would the diffence in ticket prices between DLR and WDW send you to the World instead" puzzles me. I think the key piece that is missing from this thought process is: Price is not the only reason people choose DLR or WDW. They are different places. They are different types of vacations. I think price is a factor, but it is not the only difference. They are NOT the same and people choose one or the other for a myriad of reasons.

I adore everything about Disneyland, but I can't imagine buying a 14 day PH. That's a lot of days. Of course, most Americans cannot take that much time off all at once so it's just a completely different mindset, as well.

While we here on the DISBoards many think that the 6 day PH was very popular, maybe it wasn't. DIS members do not necessarily reflect your "average" park-goer.

I don't know if I have answered your question (not really sure what you are asking), but there's my thoughts for you.

- Dreams

 

[squirrel]

I have to agree with you on some things.

For WDW, I'd love it if they came out with a 12 or 14 day park hopper for Canadians. I always go for 2 weeks now and 10 days is the most I can get without doing an AP, which doesn't work for two trips as I take turns taking my niece's.

I haven't had the need for a longer DL/DCA tickets as I have spent only a short time visiting when on this side of the US. I understand some people would like 6, 8 or more days at DL/DCA-to me that's longer than I would stay.

I love going to WDW. I hope to be able to go back one day. I won't risk it until they make changes at the resort. I hope I don't have any problems on the DCL as I'm already thinking about my next trip which I hope to do US/IOA and a DCL cruise.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

I may be wrong but if I remember WDW is not doing so hot with the financials...the population base is made up locals, those that travel are a drop in the bucket, so I understand your point but do not agree from the money, if you in one of their hotels they make a bigger margin...have a great trip and thanks for visiting our home.

Jack

wow really jack? I didnt know anything about that..in fact, I have a really close friend who lives just a few minutes from the parks at wdw...and am mutual acquaintances with a number of people that have AP's but they are not local...they come down 2 and 3 times a year and stay on property and they are from out of state...my friends said the majority of people who come there are not local..basically what you are saying is what Ive always seen as the way it is at DL..thats so weird

 

[Rhonna]

I may be wrong but if I remember WDW is not doing so hot with the financials...the population base is made up locals, those that travel are a drop in the bucket, so I understand your point but do not agree from the money, if you in one of their hotels they make a bigger margin...have a great trip and thanks for visiting our home.

Jack

I was under the opposite impression. That WDW has more international vistors who stay longer and DL has more local (AP holders) base that has always kept DL going. Maybe that's changed in recent years??? I know the brits go to WDW in October in large numbers. Although they may have overbuild their resorts at WDW in relation to the number of visitors. We'll see if that improves when the new Fantasyland and Avatar land (or whatever they're calling it) both open. I see a huge influx for those lands just like Carsland will bring in more.

 

[Rhonna]

To OP - once we see Carsland we would indeed consider another trip to WDW - IF (and that's a big if for us) we can do another large trip down the road. It's been a number of years since we went to WDW and now that we've been back to DL, we would like to see a number of things WDW offers. We would choose WDW over DL even though we are west coasters. But that has nothing to do with the Canadian ticket situation you are talking about. We are Oregonians.

Plus, the cost at DL/CA and the on property resorts are outrageous. Earlier at DL this month I kept saying "We could have done a 2 week stay at WDW with a deluxe resort (in off season) for the prices we are paying here at DL."

Don't get me wrong, we like both places but feel we'd get more bang for our buck at WDW.

However, I don't know that changing just that ticket situation for Canadians that you are talking about will really make a big difference to most Canadians or to disney's bottom line. If either coast parks were seriously losing revenue, they'd look to see why and I doubt that one type of Canadian ticket would be affecting their bottom line that much. They get so much revenue from CA AP holders - that supports DL probably more than anything else.

 

[squirrel]

That's what I thought too. DL has more locals and WDW has more international visitors.

WDW is larger and more people stay for longer trips.

 

[cgh]

I wonder if no more 6 day hoppers means that none will be able to add days after they begin? Or just they couldn't be pre sold? One thing I learned planning our next trip is with the Costco packages, the maximum number of days they will sell are 4 nights. I needed to book 2 separate reservations and order a 6 day hopper for my 4 night package. I'm hoping/expecting that I'd be able to add a 7th day.

I can imagine that the 6 days wouldn't be THAT popular because I think if we didn't have a 3 yo who needs a nap and has an early bedtime we wouldn't be staying so long. Part of me doesn't want to in the sense that there's just SO MUCH more to be doing in southern California. I also do like the more leisurely experience. I, perhaps erroneously, think after we get a good dose this year, then depending on when we'd be back we wouldn't need as much time. We don't have to see EVERY ride, or event, and we could divide and conquer. (last year, I wanted to go on every ride with DS)

The AP for more then 6 days I'd think would be applicable for visitors not going during the summer months. We would need deluxe passes to go on the days we are visiting which would cost more then $400 more! Um...no. If we couldn't have the time, we'd just shorten our trip or go experience something else. Endless possibilities.

 

[Rhonna]

You'd think they are "shooting themselves in the foot" by raising AP prices more than anything else. But the market will bear it.

 

[HydroGuy]

I may be wrong but if I remember WDW is not doing so hot with the financials...the population base is made up locals, those that travel are a drop in the bucket, so I understand your point but do not agree from the money, if you in one of their hotels they make a bigger margin...have a great trip and thanks for visiting our home.

Jack

Jack knows his stuff and I am sure in context he was saying that DLR was made up of locals. Obviously WDW is not.

And I agree in that since DLR has a larger proporation of locals then the concerns expressed by the OP of DLR vs WDW do not apply very well.

 

[Susie63]

I understand your thoughts. However...

Disney, I'm sure, did quite a bit of research before raising prices. Surely they feel they are still asking a price that people will pay.

People who are equidistant between WDW or DLR may choose to head Eastward to WDW, but people who are coming from Australia, China, Japan, even Hawaii save a significant amount in both airfare and travel time when going to DLR over WDW. These people will still come to Disneyland if they are going to come to the States. Likewise, Europeans are going to most likely go to WDW over DLR due to travel distance.

You comment "...but after you have been there [Carsland], would the diffence in ticket prices between DLR and WDW send you to the World instead" puzzles me. I think the key piece that is missing from this thought process is: Price is not the only reason people choose DLR or WDW. They are different places. They are different types of vacations. I think price is a factor, but it is not the only difference. They are NOT the same and people choose one or the other for a myriad of reasons.

I adore everything about Disneyland, but I can't imagine buying a 14 day PH. That's a lot of days. Of course, most Americans cannot take that much time off all at once so it's just a completely different mindset, as well.

While we here on the DISBoards many think that the 6 day PH was very popular, maybe it wasn't. DIS members do not necessarily reflect your "average" park-goer.

I don't know if I have answered your question (not really sure what you are asking), but there's my thoughts for you.

- Dreams

I guess I am wondering if people who are new to Disney travel (and there are more every year)would choose WDW over DLR based on the price of tickets alone.
I am sure there are a lot of repeat trips that are 4-5 days. We see that on here all the time. How many days? As someone who has only been once,I say the more the better,but most of the time the answers come from people who have been multiple times and yeah...5 or 6 days would be too much.

And by no means do I mean that this should only be for Canadians,but what about someone travelling from the east coast of the US.Would the option of more than 5 days make them stay longer and spend more.I just think the price gap between an AP and a 5 day is too big and Disneyland is losing out on some easy money.Wasn't the biggest knock on local AP's that they weren't spending any money in the park and now they have scaled back on the number of days that out of town guests will be spending their hard earned dollars in the parks.At $100 a day on meals and snacks times how many people....

 

[Zbugz]

I wonder if no more 6 day hoppers means that none will be able to add days after they begin? Or just they couldn't be pre sold? One thing I learned planning our next trip is with the Costco packages, the maximum number of days they will sell are 4 nights. I needed to book 2 separate reservations and order a 6 day hopper for my 4 night package. I'm hoping/expecting that I'd be able to add a 7th day.

I am surprised at this. I was able to book a 2 night/6 day parkhopper with Costco on May 20th for October 2012. Did you book it online?

 

[disneegrl4eva]

I guess I am wondering if people who are new to Disney travel (and there are more every year)would choose WDW over DLR based on the price of tickets alone.

Im not new to disney travel by any means and I live in CA so obviously the cost for someone like me is very different than for other people...but truth be told there is way more value to go to wdw than to DL...dont get me wrong...I love DL..its my home park but seeing how much the ticket prices are now, Im saying you get more bang for your buck by going to wdw...for example...if i used a discount site such as getawaytoday.com for tickets to DL..I could get 6 days for $246 (this is only good till the 10th of june then prices go up)..now that is for 2 parks...using undercovertourist to purchase wdw tickets you could get a 4 day ph pass for $50 more or a 5 day for $65 more...AND you're getting 4 parks..for myself, because the parks are so HUGE and it takes forever to get from one park to the other, I choose to do one park a day at wdw so for what a 4 day parkhopper pass costs I can get 8 days so for myself I would try to go to wdw first if I was having to fly into one or the other..on top of that, they are always having free dining offers and pkgs that are really low like $1500 for a family of 4 staying in a value resort with free dining for a week...

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

Most people I know who are out of this country, when they talk about Disney they want to go to Disneyland instead of WDW because it is the 'original' park, and to them they would rather see where it all started instead of going to WDW, where they feel is not original compared to the DL. And most of them have now gone to both parks and highly prefer DL because they feel like it's more homely.

I know someone who cried once cause she wanted to go to DL, but instead was going to WDW. I think it's all perspective, if I were out of the country I would rather visit DL cause it's the first park. Then visit WDW.

I think both parks are doing alright (WDW & DL), but I am not in the financial department, the thing is even with all these ticket prices I'm 100% positive that the same amount of people will come.

 

[mystic_path]

Well guess i lucked out just in time. I'm up in Canada, and each year For my one Disney vacation, I go to flight center and purchas 8 day hoppers. I like going into the park the first day. Even if I do day excursions to places like Sea World during the misdle of my trip, I'm generally back early enough I can get a few hours of Disneyland in before the end of the day. I noticed last week on flight centers website they still offered 8 day hoppers for $234. So my mom and I went down last Friday to get them. The travel agent we were talking to had issues as the agency reservation system didnt recognize the 8 day pass when the agent said it was there the day before. So she called their head office or whoever it is to get further info and they too were having problems looking it up. However they approved our 8 day pass but had to issue it differently. Instead of one 8 day voucher they gave us two. A one five day, and the other a three day. We paid the $234 per person and we were on our way. However another perk of this separation is that we now have two magic mornings we can use. So depending on the price of tickets next trip we may do the same thing. But I really don't hope they discontinue the 7-8 days.

 

[cgh]

I am surprised at this. I was able to book a 2 night/6 day parkhopper with Costco on May 20th for October 2012. Did you book it online?

The issue wasn't the hopper-it was the hotel room reservation so my reservation is through DLH for 2 nights and then through Costco for 4 nights + 6 day hopper. DLR would not let costco book me for 6 nights + hopper-I needed two separate reservations. (this was through the phone)

 

[cgh]

Oh-and maybe part of the issue is that they are trying to increase the independent visitors and think they'll have the demand now to do it. I'd imagine that on average 2 separate families with 4 day hoppers would pay more on property then a family with an 8 day hopper. Those with longer hoppers would be more inclined to go off property to visit other sights etc. Or just run into the park for fireworks

 

[jilld11]

Just checked the Fun Sun/HOliday House res system and the 6, 7 and 8 day park hoppers are not there this morning. They were there until Tuesday and as of Wednesday, gone. Sorry for the bad news for whoever's looking for them.
To the PP who got the 5 and 3 from flight center, very lucky. I would check to see if that's still on their website for anyone else and hurry up and buy them as they now know that it's an error and will probably change it soon.

 

[Zbugz]

The issue wasn't the hopper-it was the hotel room reservation so my reservation is through DLH for 2 nights and then through Costco for 4 nights + 6 day hopper. DLR would not let costco book me for 6 nights + hopper-I needed two separate reservations. (this was through the phone)

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I misunderstood.