CarolA said:
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I guess I just don't understand the fuss....it's an option? So if you don't like it, don't use it?
The fuss is:
1) It was communicated poorly. It is extremely easy to read it as replacing the current system instead of supplementing it.
2) If I understand it correctly, it seems like a pretty terrible option at the moment. You may or may not get a discount, but either way you lose your deposit if you cancel, or get smacked for $50 if you have to change? Sounds like a way to fill the coffers without giving anything in return, just like so many of our corporations keep looking for.
As others have posted here, I could live with the restrictions IF I am know the rate before hand. Any rate (that is discounted from rack, that is)! The simple existance of penalties and restrictions should be enough to guarantee me the lowest rate possible as that adds tremendously to my risk (as compared to staying offsite with more generous terms, or waiting too see if discounted rooms are released).
It makes no sense for me to reserve a room at $199 on the expectation that they will release a discount approximately equal to the previous year, only to have no discount show up. Show me a small discount (say half of what is expected to be released anyway), and I'd be likely to go ahead and make plans. It might mean that I choose a cheaper resort, it might not. But at least I have something to plan with and know what I am getting into. If I am forced to use rack rates, I'll be staying at the values everytime, which means that Disney actually gets less of my money than if they gave a discount.
Perhaps the worse part is that this appears to be a progressive penality against those who want to stay for longer periods (read: those that want to spend more days dropping money in the parks and restaurants). How so? Taking Wilderness Lodge for example, the rack is $199 with a current discount of $75, making it $124 a night. Say I make a reservation under this new program with the expectation of a similar discount within +/- $25, a reasonable expectation given discount history to date.
Ok, let's say that no discount code is released, which could certainly happen if they so decide. If I was looking to stay 1 night, it is going to cost me $75 (+/- $25) more than I expected. No biggie.. time to hit the coin jar for the extra. 10 nights? It just cost me $750. Two weeks? $1500 extra, thanks for increasing the value of our stock. On top of that, it'll cost me $199 to cancel if it is before the 45 days, and $50 if I want to make a change to a Value resort because I would rather buy a new laptop computer than just donate it to the Disney CEO.
The upshot to all this is that I am going to make the most reasonable decision I can to get the most value for my $, and this ain't likey to be it unless I am going to stay a very short time in the park. I will certainly be looking at other options such as offsite accomodations, and that makes it more likely I am going to rent a car and go to other places. Given that one of the presumed reasons for Magical Express was to prevent people from renting cars and tie them into Disney properties for their whole stay, this really seems counterproductive.
