Josh D'Amaro claims recent positive changes not due to "leadership change"

[BrianL]

Even little things like a free magicband & the magical express made a difference. You felt you were getting more value for your money & were a valued customer with that little extra effort made. Yes I know free doesn’t really mean free as you will be paying somewhere but it was nice regardless.

That's the key. I don't mind paying higher prices as long as I am getting that premium experience. The erosion of that experience is what has been tiresome. I do see signs of it coming back though, slowly but surely, which is a good thing.

 

[Disney_lost_it]

Even little things like a free magicband & the magical express made a difference. You felt you were getting more value for your money & were a valued customer with that little extra effort made. Yes I know free doesn’t really mean free as you will be paying somewhere but it was nice regardless.

The magical express was huge. We live in VA and only bought season tickets (2019) due to the fact we could fly direct to Orlando, step on the express and be dropped off at the resort, same for the return. From our door to the resort inside of 5hrs. No worries or issues. Our kids loved to pick the seat next to their favorite character. Once we sat down on the ME and watched the Disney cartoons we knew we were in their world.

That is a huge loss now. If it's only about rides, I can drive 30 minutes and be at a Kings Dominion or 50 to be a Busch Gardens.

 

[B1GxFOOT]

The magical express was huge. We live in VA and only bought season tickets (2019) due to the fact we could fly direct to Orlando, step on the express and be dropped off at the resort, same for the return. From our door to the resort inside of 5hrs. No worries or issues. Our kids loved to pick the seat next to their favorite character. Once we sat down on the ME and watched the Disney cartoons we knew we were in their world.

That is a huge loss now. If it's only about rides, I can drive 30 minutes and be at a Kings Dominion or 50 to be a Busch Gardens.

I actually don't mind that ME is gone now. We used to use it and it was fine, but on our last trip we just picked up an Uber and it was much nicer to not have to wait for the bus to arrive and/or fill. We also got taken straight to our resort and didn't have to stop at 3 others first. When you leave, you leave when you want, not when ME says so 3 hours early.

 

[OKW Lover]

After Tron there really is nothing in the works coming which is something that is desperately needed. The parks severely lack attractions.

Isn't there something new coming to Epcot as well? They still haven't finished the reimagining of the "communicore" area. And there will be a new nighttime show.

 

[B1GxFOOT]

Even to be able to pre buy before you holiday would be nice so I’m not setting the alarm at 7am when I’ve just flown 3,000 miles. The getting up at 7am to get rides booked while you are on holiday is insane and needs looking at.

I agree with this.

I wonder if a hybrid solution would work. Maybe resort guests could buy G+ ahead of time and book 1 ride/day at the 60-day mark. Then once on site, be able to book the next one once the park opens and you've checked in. Non-resort would have to use the 7 am window. This would value-add the resorts without really costing Disney anything. You would at least have 1 favorite attraction hopefully set up and could sleep in if you choose.

 

[Liquidice]

I'm not sure if vloggers and discussion boards count as "press". I did recently see a national story on the local news about how people were having to go deep into debt to afford a DW vacation. That was the only time I remember seeing a national story about Disney that focused on price vs. some political issue.

Either way, it is a good optics move. I'm sure I'll be paying more for my Dole Whip this spring though.

There is plenty of negative press about Disney (not just parks) that has gone beyond vloggers... you're not going to see it make Front Page news or anything because lets be honest, Disney World prices is not a top story though.

Just read some of the articles here (not all are related to parks but there has been a lot bad press lately):

https://www.wsj.com/story/its-not-just-youeveryone-is-paying-more-at-disney-97d7699b

https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney...=pslchjrpm9io8p2&reflink=share_mobilewebshare

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alison...-of-bob-chapek-departure-ceo/?sh=278f14ec7cc5

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/12/disney-world-genie-plus-price/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/03/07/disney-world-disneyland-ticket-prices-fees/

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/disney-raises-ticket-prices/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/20/disney-ceo-chapek-iger-falling-out.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/21/disney-chapek-iger-disney-plus-price-decision.html
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/1085130633/disney-response-florida-bill-dont-say-gay
https://www.latimes.com/business/st...y-feud-advances-with-new-proposed-legislation
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/disney-desantis-reedy-creek-dont-say-gay-1235392328/
https://www.newsweek.com/disney-bru...idow-legal-fight-streaming-box-office-1614589
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/11/15/disney-world-ticket-prices/

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/arts/...u-at-the-most-magical-place-on-earth-30280948

https://www.islandernews.com/news/f...cle_18df6fb6-3523-11ec-a348-7fc62afe7850.html

They have definitely been in the news about it. A lot of people I talk to who aren't big Disney fans but would like to go to a Disney theme park have essentially said they feel like it is too expensive, too confusing with Park Passes and the biggest one they always bring up is that you have to pay for Fastpass now.

The anecdotal stories they hear too always are bad press - about how an elderly couple couldn't get into Disneyland because they didn't have a park pass (not from a major news site, but I've had people mention stories like this to me ... https://doyouremember.com/162502/elderly-couple-denied-entry-disney-park ) or an International guest who couldn't get a reservation to Magic Kingdom ... https://wdwnt.com/2022/04/internati...ss-reservations-in-magic-kingdom-parking-lot/ (also not a major news outlet, but again - regular people see these stories or hear about them through the grapevine).

 

[jecarnl]

Pete has stated many times that D'Amaro is a politician. The one thing most politicians struggle with is leadership and they change their positions depending on how the wind blows.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I'm not sure if vloggers and discussion boards count as "press". I did recently see a national story on the local news about how people were having to go deep into debt to afford a DW vacation. That was the only time I remember seeing a national story about Disney that focused on price vs. some political issue.

Either way, it is a good optics move. I'm sure I'll be paying more for my Dole Whip this spring though.

Id count vloggers as press, in fact, we've relied on vloggers to explain things to us better than disney has.

It's good to see disney make this move.

 

[Jrb1979]

I agree with this.

I wonder if a hybrid solution would work. Maybe resort guests could buy G+ ahead of time and book 1 ride/day at the 60-day mark. Then once on site, be able to book the next one once the park opens and you've checked in. Non-resort would have to use the 7 am window. This would value-add the resorts without really costing Disney anything. You would at least have 1 favorite attraction hopefully set up and could sleep in if you choose.

They can't or they would have done it already. They don't have enough attractions to do that. Realistically Genie+ shouldn't be offered to as many as guests as it is. It's why LLs run out so quickly. I said earlier it should be $50 a day per person and capped at 25% of guests. By doing that every guest who buys it wouldn't be on their phone all day as there would be availability all day.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Interesting, there's probably a lot of underlying reasons for that. As you said, the good FP memories, maybe more cranky little kids on lines at WDW, maybe more scheduled stuff to do at WDW - i.e. dining reservations, show times, etc. that stresses people out more. And, if some people I know are any indication, time spent on line takes time away from shopping! I would imagine shopping is a much bigger attraction at WDW than Universal.

Most of the stuff we saw was people just in general more understanding at Universal waiting line. Yes Universal has way less scheduling and planning, there's less conflict in whatever plans you make when it comes to Universal. That will often make people more relaxed although the type of person who says "I won't wait in an hour line" it's not about having other things to plan, they just don't want to wait that long.

As far as shopping I'd say eh....try being in Harry Potter areas Shopping is very big in Universal but much more concentrated in Harry Potter merch. You'll see a lot of people in Harry Potter robes and such, the wands obviously being a big sell. Other merch...hmm..most of what I would see if Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts.

I'm going to disagree with the PP regarding free FP. I don't think it was necessarily that FP was free. It was just that they had a system in place that everyone had access to but that which not everyone knew and utilized (it wasn't as well known as Genie+ is). It was a system that Disney utilized as a gesture of goodwill when things went wrong or someone complained--they would hand out FPs. People did get used to it but more than anything over the years people got used to waiting less when utilizing it. Paying for it only amplifies that feeling but it has been a feeling by Disney guests for years.

When you're at Universal there's not really an expectation to get through the lines in 10-20 mins with Express Pass. You'll probably find enough times you're getting through pretty quick but if you're waiting 45mins in an Express Pass line it's not a nuclear meltdown that you'd see over at WDW. Hogwarts Express is one that you could find yourself waiting for a while even with Express just by the nature of the attraction. When we were there in May on slower times for Flight of the Hippogriff they were running 2 trains of Express Pass users to 1 train of Standby, when it got busier they were doing 1 to 1. A person in the Express Pass line would still get through faster generally speaking because there are less people in the Express Pass line on average.

I think Disney sorta has this Pandora's box that is too difficult to put back in. If they had started with a paid system (whatever it was) before legacy FP was around although it really ramped up with FP+ but set a way different expectation about line waiting I suspect at least some of the gripes would be less. You still hear things every now and then at Universal but it's just not on the same level at all like Disney.

Edited: correct word ordering

 

[Disney_lost_it]

I actually don't mind that ME is gone now. We used to use it and it was fine, but on our last trip we just picked up an Uber and it was much nicer to not have to wait for the bus to arrive and/or fill. We also got taken straight to our resort and didn't have to stop at 3 others first. When you leave, you leave when you want, not when ME says so 3 hours early.

have never, will never use a stranger. I'd rather wait for a comfortable, entertaining safe bus than wait for no telling what shows up. But, also what was free now cost $X's. The sum of the parts is the issue, not each individual dime here or there.

 

[Pyxie]

I agree with this.

I wonder if a hybrid solution would work. Maybe resort guests could buy G+ ahead of time and book 1 ride/day at the 60-day mark. Then once on site, be able to book the next one once the park opens and you've checked in. Non-resort would have to use the 7 am window. This would value-add the resorts without really costing Disney anything. You would at least have 1 favorite attraction hopefully set up and could sleep in if you choose.

The issue is that Disney doesn't want you purchasing Genie+ ahead of time because then they can't charge you that day's surge pricing depending on when you visit.

 

[Jrb1979]

Comments from Josh D'Amaro on the reservations system from an interview with Robert Niles -

"Robert: But you also have to push for capacity, because you just talked about the the reservation issue. I feel, from observing this, that when people talk about or push back against the reservation issue, it's not necessarily [just about] getting the reservation. It's that the [parks'] capacity is not big enough to accommodate all the people who want reservations.

Josh: It's a guest experience issue. This all starts with guest experience, and having been in this business for as long as we have been, we know what constitutes a great guest experience. We know that there are certain attendance thresholds that can potentially deteriorate the experience. So the reservation system change that we've made is completely premised on wanting to deliver [you] the best experience I possibly can. And to do that, I'm asking my guests to make reservations, which is change. Change isn't easy, particularly for Disney, where everybody watches every single move that we make, and if you change something that's tradition, or the way that it's always been, it's hard.

Judging by those comments reservations aren't going away anytime soon.

 

[B1GxFOOT]

The issue is that Disney doesn't want you purchasing Genie+ ahead of time because then they can't charge you that day's surge pricing depending on when you visit.

I think if they can figure out how much to charge me for my park ticket each day (which varies) they can figure out an expected surge charge as well ahead of time.

 

[B1GxFOOT]

Comments from Josh D'Amaro on the reservations system from an interview with Robert Niles -

"Robert: But you also have to push for capacity, because you just talked about the the reservation issue. I feel, from observing this, that when people talk about or push back against the reservation issue, it's not necessarily [just about] getting the reservation. It's that the [parks'] capacity is not big enough to accommodate all the people who want reservations.

Josh: It's a guest experience issue. This all starts with guest experience, and having been in this business for as long as we have been, we know what constitutes a great guest experience. We know that there are certain attendance thresholds that can potentially deteriorate the experience. So the reservation system change that we've made is completely premised on wanting to deliver [you] the best experience I possibly can. And to do that, I'm asking my guests to make reservations, which is change. Change isn't easy, particularly for Disney, where everybody watches every single move that we make, and if you change something that's tradition, or the way that it's always been, it's hard.

Judging by those comments reservations aren't going away anytime soon.

I went to DW a couple of times in the 90s and then not again until the pandemic. So this question is pure ignorance on my part. How did they manage before park reservations? Were the parks so completely full that it was unbearable to manage every day? I've seen the wait times over the past couple of years and I don't see that the reservations have made lines shorter.

 

[BrianL]

I went to DW a couple of times in the 90s and then not again until the pandemic. So this question is pure ignorance on my part. How did they manage before park reservations? Were the parks so completely full that it was unbearable to manage every day? I've seen the wait times over the past couple of years and I don't see that the reservations have made lines shorter.

They managed by using standard forecasting techniques to assume how crowded a day might be and then staffed accordingly, probably overstaffing by a small percent. Now they want to run the bare minimum staff that they can based on the reservations, which is the real problem.

 

[Disney_lost_it]

I think if they can figure out how much to charge me for my park ticket each day (which varies) they can figure out an expected surge charge as well ahead of time.

I went to DW a couple of times in the 90s and then not again until the pandemic. So this question is pure ignorance on my part. How did they manage before park reservations? Were the parks so completely full that it was unbearable to manage every day? I've seen the wait times over the past couple of years and I don't see that the reservations have made lines shorter.

My family's first visit was 2019, we bought season tickets in 2019. With the free Fast Pass we easily managed the morning without the FP. It wasn't until later in the day did we use the FP, then we added extra ones after the first 3.

that approach was easy. We've only been back for 1 day since, back in July to the MK on the way down to the beach. We did not waste our money on the paid passes. Lines we're OK. Over at Universal, at their nicer resorts, you get free speed passes. Disney should do the same. If you spend $700 per night at the Grand Floridian, or other like resorts, you should get free passes. Whoopie, free parking.

 

[StarCruzer]

The not charging for parking thing honestly makes me roll my eyes.

Disney straight up was not checking who was parking in their lots the last time we visited.

We're DVC and brought a rental car during our last visit (Dec 2021). We asked the front desk if we needed to provide them with the car info so we wouldn't get charged or towed from the lot. The CM said they didn't need that info. So I mean, unless Disney has an EZ-pass level system of cameras monitoring their resort lots, the only way they'd know to charge you for parking would be if you voluntarily offered that information at check in.

 

[Disney_lost_it]

The not charging for parking thing honestly makes me roll my eyes.

Disney straight up was not checking who was parking in their lots the last time we visited.

We're DVC and brought a rental car during our last visit (Dec 2021). We asked the front desk if we needed to provide them with the car info so we wouldn't get charged or towed from the lot. The CM said they didn't need that info. So I mean, unless Disney has an EZ-pass level system of cameras monitoring their resort lots, the only way they'd know to charge you for parking would be if you voluntarily offered that information at check in.

This was posted above as a quote from Josh: "we know what constitutes a great guest experience".

Hummmm, based on your private experience the parking is not a big deal???? how could Disney possible be wrong about what you and every other individual values?

Obviously I'm be sarcastic and not attacking your comment, but pointing out what I think is a theme here. Disney may have lost touch with what the many individual guests really value.

 

[StarCruzer]

This was posted above as a quote from Josh: "we know what constitutes a great guest experience".

Hummmm, based on your private experience the parking is not a big deal???? how could Disney possible be wrong about what you and every other individual values?

Obviously I'm be sarcastic and not attacking your comment, but pointing out what I think is a theme here. Disney may have lost touch with what the many individual guests really value.

I gotcha. My point was mostly, it was something that I'm sure plenty of guests avoided paying anyway, it likely cost more money to enforce than it was making, etc. So removing the parking fees gives them good press, while potentially having little impact on their dollar bottom line.

To me, the most laughable upcharge at the moment is MagicBand+, which is more expensive and has very little integration into the parks. When you compare it to the Nintendo World wrist bands, which track "coins" you earn through park interactions and rides and then have a score leaderboard for guests, MB+ is pretty underwhelming.