Need your thoughts, Heard Disney actually looses money entertaining some guests

[dtum]

I had a feeling that you may have been from another country. Too many people on here seem to assume everyone speaks perfect English. My goodness walk around at Disney and see how many people are speaking English. Another board that I read is based in Canada and I can always tell when someone is posting in English, but French is their native language. I do have to say that lately more and more people seem to be saying just plane mean things to get their posts up because they have nothing to say that really relates to the topic. (Now I'm in trouble!) Let's play nice with everyone and not pick apart how the write.

 

[bleeps]

I'm not an economist.
I don't follow the market action on the entertainment/theme park industry.
I don't personally know anyone who works for any of the Disney parks or any other theme park.

I just vacation at WDW and I listen to what the town car driver says.

Anyway, last month when we were in the town car leaving WDW and chatting with the driver, we asked about attendance and business and how things were going in Orlando. He, whose wife works for WDW and who claimed to read the theme park trade rags (whatever expertise that lends him -- or not) said that when you hear about numbers being 'down' for Disney (and WDW in particular), what it means is that the projected PROFIT margins are down. That they are still making money, but just not as much money at the moment. They aren't losing money.

Otherwise, apparently, things would be very different. What we may be perceiving as deep discounting (the AP thing, free dining, 4/3, etc.) really isn't an indication that the parks are losing -- again, only that they aren't netting as much profit. At the moment.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

My guess would be that Disney has the best accountants and marketing teams at their disposal. I seriously doubt they lose money on many people. If you are in the park you are likely spending money in some fashion, because frankly, they force it down your throat in their wonderful, magical way. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney and would rather spend my money there than anywhere, but they are almost evil in how smooth it is to be there and have the cash leave your wallet.

LOL
I agree with this. It's really HARD to try to be on a budget at Disney. Atleast for us. LOL

 

[TDSAXX]

I doubt Disney loses money on any guest. It costs Disney virtually nothing to have an additional person go through the gate. So the worst they could do is break-even if the person spent nothing, and really what are the odds a person could spend an entire day at the park and spend nothing.

 

[WeddingPavilion]

This from a person who uses the word "loose", which is what pants are when you "lose" weight.

I would take it with a grain of salt.

Thank you!!!!

 

[wdwpins]

With my first annual pass I went 52 times, which came out to less than $7 a visit (excluded any parking savings from the AP on top of that). Sure, I bought some things, had meals, etc., I thinking Disney lost money on me that year.

 

[johnGorski]

Good points here
thanks "dtum" for posting that! We live in the Midwest and hardly get grief for the grammar. My brother lives in Boston and gets treated like crap because of this. I was taken back by how the grammar subject was the focus on this post.
The post driving the town car said it right! I am willing to be they are down, but again i sit and think about how may 4-5 day park hoppers are being sold.

 

[bookwormde]

Business analysis of a situation as the variability of guests, which use so many different services at different levels, is at best an “art”, while the raw data is ok the number of assumption you have, makes it so that two analysts using moderately different assumption would come up with totally different conclusions.

Of course as long as each incremental revenue source is profitable, then people who spend more money make WDW more profits.

Since it is rare for the parks to fun to max capacity I think it is more about what the market will bear while maintaining a reasonable guest flow.

bookwormde

 

[skier_pete]

So your friend is saying - essentially - that Disney makes more money off people that spend more money...that never occurred to me!

Seriously though - Disney doesn't truly "lose" money on anyone. They do not consider it a "cost per person" to operate...they have an overall income and overall expenses, but of course look at ways to maximize profits.

DVC is of course a huge moneymaker - that group of people is essentially willing to pre-pay their vacations for the next 20 years. (That's about the point at which they "break even" and start to save money on their vacations.) That is why they only build DVC now. Plus, because their vacations are pre-paid, they tend to spend a lot more on property, making them doubly profitable.

SkierPete

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I am an English teacher, so don't bother correcting my posts.

Anyway, I am sure Disney does lose money on some FL residents. When I was an employee, some elderly couples would come to the park and just sit, have a picnic lunch or buy a small meal and enjoy the atmosphere. After awhile, I could even recognize them as the regulars.

I wonder where a Disney wedding falls in this continuum? By my choice, I have brought Disney approximately 100 room nights at between $90 and $280 per night, not to mention my wedding itself, and what we will all spend on food and merchandise. I am sure when all is said and done, it will have brought about 100k of business to Disney. (Also, mine is a smaller wedding, not in a ballroom, not that many guests- imagine some of the platinum weddings?)

 

[KYMickey]

Anyway, I am sure Disney does lose money on some FL residents. When I was an employee, some elderly couples would come to the park and just sit, have a picnic lunch or buy a small meal and enjoy the atmosphere. After awhile, I could even recognize them as the regulars.

Why do you think that Disney was losing money on them? They didn't cost Disney anything during a visit and didn't even use the rides so they didn't even reduce ride capacity. I'm also quite sure they were very neat and cleaned up after themselves so anything they paid with profit for Disney.

 

[hookedondizney]

The reason I stopped looking at these boards was from the total disrespect ppl have for one another and this is a prime example when it comes to being rude. Who cares if they have bad writing skills.....get over it! Life is too short to point your finger at ppl and laugh. But, then again maybe you don't have a life.

 

[ransom]

The reason I stopped looking at these boards was from the total disrespect ppl have for one another and this is a prime example when it comes to being rude. Who cares if they have bad writing skills.....get over it! Life is too short to point your finger at ppl and laugh. But, then again maybe you don't have a life.

Hahahaha! You can't even spell "Disney" right, "hookedondizney"! Hahahaha!

Wait...what were we talking about?

 

[hookedondizney]

yea, the originial was taken.....darn! LOL
You are so funny!! Good catch

yea, we were talking about how Disney LOSES money silly......

 

[ransom]

yea, the originial was taken.....darn! LOL
You are so funny!! Good catch

yea, we were talking about how Disney LOSES money silly......

Oh, yeah!

I often wonder if the $$/person from a Disboards member is more, less, or the same as the general public. I mean, we know about all kinds of money saving tricks, but then we're also huge fans and more likely to spend money on Disney when we have it...

 

[Faldred]

I'd be surprised to find Disney losing money, on the whole, on any subset of guests, especially those buying tickets at public prices.

But even if we were to assume that the resident annual pass holders (at least some significant subset) were net losses for Disney, they'd still be worth it. There are other things that don't necessarily show up directly on the balance sheets that are affected by happy locals -- such as zoning, tax, and infrastructure issues. You can't point out the value of each of these variables on a per-local-guest basis, but they can affect the political climate around WDW that in turn affects Disney's bottom line.

 

[chrisw127]

I don't have a strong opinion on this either way, but I will say that when I lived in Tallahassee, we and our friends were exactly the type of guests that the OP mentioned. We went for a day or two once or twice a year and never ate a sit-down meal in the parks and almost never bought souveniers. That may have been due to the fact that we were all college students or poor 20-somethings in our first real job, though, so it's probably not representative of most guests. I know that if I could have afforded it then I certainly would have stayed at the Grand Floridian than where I stayed on I-Drive.

 

[ransom]

But even if we were to assume that the resident annual pass holders (at least some significant subset) were net losses for Disney, they'd still be worth it. There are other things that don't necessarily show up directly on the balance sheets that are affected by happy locals -- such as zoning, tax, and infrastructure issues. You can't point out the value of each of these variables on a per-local-guest basis, but they can affect the political climate around WDW that in turn affects Disney's bottom line.

That's a very astute point! And it shows the weakness of the current "every business unit must make a profit" model used by most large businesses. Some units will take a loss so that others can make gains. The business is supposed to be a unified entity, not a collection of disparate, competing units!

 

[Snowgod]

So your friends and or family live in Florida. You go to visit them. They have annual passes that they get a discount on so it cost them nothing more to take you to the parks where you now spend money saved by staying with them or they come visit you at the resort during your stay. Disney makes out either way. There are many variations on this theme but that is one reason they sell discount passes to locals. The other major reason is to keep up attendance during the slow periods.

 

[johnGorski]

just an estimate what dose the average person spend at Disney world/staying on property?
My guess is $2,000 this includes merchandise, food, tickets, lodging.

What is the percentage of guest that stay on property?

What dose the average person spend at Disney staying off property?


Finally what is the cost of the fantasy land expansion?

All of these answers can be your own estimates of your experiences or factual information.
Thanks!