New survey .. proposal .. Tiered Ticket Prices

[Praying Colonel]

So printed info about Disney and the 10% got leaked? Or just he said/she said thing? Very interesting.

In the comments section, the author responded to a comment by saying:

Thanks Jennifer! I have some marketing material from Disney that indicates they’re really targeting households in the top 10-20% of income earning in the US. There are enough people to do that … for a while.

 

[Marionnette]

Thanks Jennifer! I have some marketing material from Disney that indicates they’re really targeting households in the top 10-20% of income earning in the US. There are enough people to do that … for a while.

The top 20% is a heck of a lot more people than the top 10%! According to NPR, the top 20% make $111K annually per household. While that's still a comfortable income in some areas of the country, it's not what I would consider to be wealthy or elite in any way.

 

[WillAustin]

Touring Plans has a blog entry explaining 3 things to like about the new plan, and 3 things to despise:
http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/0...twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

Best quote from the article: "Yeah, you’re reading that right: the proposed scheme is a 10 to 90% increase in admission costs for most tickets. If your first thought after reading that is not “You’ve got to be &^%#-ing kidding me,” congratulations – you’re a better person than I."

 

[cakebaker]

It's a household income of about $150,000 and up (the top 10%)

The top 20% has a household income around $90,000.

I pay little attention to stats of this kind so I'm really surprised that the top 10% includes the 15Ok per year level.

If that's true - I'm
not surprised if that's their target- they have said they want to encourage longer stays, onsite. Honestly I'm not sure how people making a great deal less than that can afford a long, onsite WDW trip or how they ever did.

That said, their target market doesn't mean they want to get rid of anyone who isn't in that group- it means that group is who they're working hardest to attract.


I simply don't believe the price increases predicted by Testa. He's working on not much more information than anyone else and it's guessing- which if fine, but I'm giving it the weight I think it deserves- and that's not much.

 

[WillAustin]

I simply don't believe the price increases predicted by Testa. He's working on not much more information than anyone else and it's guessing- which if fine, but I'm giving it the weight I think it deserves- and that's not much.

The numbers aren't fabricated, and there's a lot more here than just floating an idea. If they end up increasing prices just 30% of what was in the survey, it's still ridiculous.

I'm sure they'll spin it by saying most people only do 3-4 days so won't be significantly impacted but don't think for a minute they'll figure out a way to charge "the top 10%" without affecting everyone else.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I simply don't believe the price increases predicted by Testa. He's working on not much more information than anyone else and it's guessing- which if fine, but I'm giving it the weight I think it deserves- and that's not much.

I'm confused. I read Testa's article quickly yesterday, and my impression of the % increase in ticket price data was simply comparing the chart Disney released in its survey (one of them) to current prices and showing the % increase that would be. Maybe I read it wrong, but that was my impression. If that is the case, then how can the price increases be attributed to Testa, if the numbers came from Disney itself?

Whether this all comes to fruition is speculation, of course, I'm not saying otherwise. But the above makes it sound as though these are increases that Testa is predicting himself, not a comparison of data from Disney.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I pay little attention to stats of this kind so I'm really surprised that the top 10% includes the 15Ok per year level.
If that's true - I'm not surprised if that's their target- they have said they want to encourage longer stays, onsite. Honestly I'm not sure how people making a great deal less than that can afford a long, onsite WDW trip or how they ever did.

That said, their target market doesn't mean they want to get rid of anyone who isn't in that group- it means that group is who they're working hardest to attract.

That's a nationwide average from 2012 I believe and obviously what percentage a household falls in will depend on the area of the country as well.

I don't think it means that they are the only ones they are interested in, just that they are the target right now for marketing. And it may just be saying that their target are the households most likely to be able to afford a trip. It may not be saying much at all.

 

[cakebaker]

I'm confused. I read Testa's article quickly yesterday, and my impression of the % increase in ticket price data was simply comparing the chart Disney released in its survey (one of them) to current prices and showing the % increase that would be. Maybe I read it wrong, but that was my impression. If that is the case, then how can the price increases be attributed to Testa, if the numbers came from Disney itself?

Whether this all comes to fruition is speculation, of course, I'm not saying otherwise. But the above makes it sound as though these are increases that Testa is predicting himself, not a comparison of data from Disney.

I've only skimmed the last few pages but I thought there had been some suggestion that the chart he was using didn't match with what was originally posted here-

Even if it did- I don't take an example posted in a survey as any indication that this is anything close to a final pricing structure. It's because I think Disney would be insane to make that kind of jump that I don't believe they'd ever do it - I don't think they're stupid.

I'm sure enough of it that it doesn't worry me in the least. As I've said before, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong should that be the case.

Keep in mind -TP is the site who studied standby times and came up with significantly lower results than Josh- they were soundly denounced as unreliable at that point. So while it makes for an interesting read - it's not based on facts.

I do believe the claim about their target market- makes complete sense to me. But unless one is a lot better at managing their money than I am,80% price increases isn't going to include folks at the 150k income level. Even where I live that is not a lot of money.

 

[cakebaker]

That's a nationwide average from 2012 I believe and obviously what percentage a household falls in will depend on the area of the country as well.

I don't think it means that they are the only ones they are interested in, just that they are the target right now for marketing. And it may just be saying that their target are the households most likely to be able to afford a trip. It may not be saying much at all.

I agree completely.

 

[MKMomma]

I've only skimmed the last few pages but I thought there had been some suggestion that the chart he was using didn't match with what was originally posted here-

Even if it did- I don't take an example posted in a survey as any indication that this is anything close to a final pricing structure. It's because I think Disney would be insane to make that kind of jump that I don't believe they'd ever do it - I don't think they're stupid.

I'm sure enough of it that it doesn't worry me in the least. As I've said before, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong should that be the case.

Keep in mind -TP is the site who studied standby times and came up with significantly lower results than Josh- they were soundly denounced as unreliable at that point. So while it makes for an interesting read - it's not based on facts.

I do believe the claim about their target market- makes complete sense to me. But unless one is a lot better at managing their money than I am,80% price increases isn't going to include folks at the 150k income level. Even where I live that is not a lot of money.

It means different people were shown different price charts to see reactions.

 

[WillAustin]

It means different people were shown different price charts to see reactions.

Yes. This.

 

[cakebaker]

It means different people were shown different price charts to see reactions.

And that's why I don't worry that those kind of prices are on the horizon. I'm confident they aren't going to get any kind of response that leads them to believe they can do it.

 

[MKMomma]

And that's why I don't worry that those kind of prices are on the horizon. I'm confident they aren't going to get any kind of response that leads them to believe they can do it.

People said similar things when FP+ was all speculation. I am confident major price hikes are on the horizon.

 

[Mikie]

Keep in mind -TP is the site who studied standby times and came up with significantly lower results than Josh- they were soundly denounced as unreliable at that point. So while it makes for an interesting read - it's not based on facts.

That's an interesting point about human nature! The "most reliable" isn't always the same source, it's whoever has the most negative/scary info! I suppose not an apples to apples comparison, as EasyWDW has not yet weighed in as far as I know, but TP was widely criticiazed here as less reliable.

On the other hand, as Angel Ariel said, this was a pretty straightforward arithmetic of current prices compared to one chart put out by Disney. . . A different one than posted earlier in this thread, though.

 

[WillAustin]

And that's why I don't worry that those kind of prices are on the horizon. I'm confident they aren't going to get any kind of response that leads them to believe they can do it.

I hope so. But there were a lot of people with that exact thought regarding advance ride reservations.

People said similar things when FP+ was all speculation. I am confident major price hikes are on the horizon.

Probably. As attendance rises with the economy, they have a lot of options. They'd have to really make a lot of people very uncomfortable before the numbers would drop.

 

[Mikie]

I hope so. But there were a lot of people with that exact thought regarding advance ride reservations.


Probably. As attendance rises with the economy, they have a lot of options. They'd have to really make a lot of people very uncomfortable before the numbers would drop.

I wonder if the economy effect is a deceptive "belly of the snake" bubble. . . The down times of the economy saw a lot of people postpone discretionary spending. The bounce back as evidenced by increased attendance may not be a new stable level, but rather a temporary high resulting from a backlog of people who had waited and waited to be able to afford Disney again. Attempting to capitalize on this inflated rise in numbers could result in a crash rather than a slow balancing out if they're not careful.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

People said similar things when FP+ was all speculation. I am confident major price hikes are on the horizon.

That is a fair analogy. While I am not 100% certain these tremendous price hikes are on the way, I am pretty darn close. Folks can stick their heads in the sand if they wish; after all, it is human nature to want to ignore signs of trouble.

It seems that TDC is going through a paradigm shift in its park management. I can speculate best on WDW because that is the resort I know and love. Disney has obviously decided to make only half-hearted efforts to improve park capacity, and instead reap profits by controlling guest activities (ADRs -180 window, FP+ -60 day window). Making a significant leap in admission price is a natural next step. I don't mean to make this sound insidious because as a corporation this is a brilliant tactic. By having fewer attractions to "waste" peoples' time, guests will find themselves with more time on their hands to browse gift shops and stand in line for Mickey bars. At the same time, if they are able to convince people to come and pay even more (a ton more) for the privilege to do so then they have achieved something that is brilliant and should be written about in marketing text books. I say Disney is unique in its ability to do this because its label has such a revered place in nostalgia, Americana, and pop culture.

Disney knows that WDW will thrive just fine whether average families save their pennies for biannual trips or not. Worst case scenario, when the domestic economy gets wobbly again, they can count on an increasing tide of foreigners to take advantage of a weakened dollar to come and play in Florida. Who cares if US families/individuals can afford to make occasional pilgrimages to WDW or not?! Just shut down a value resort or three and that little inconvenience is handled. The profit will already be practically guaranteed. And if the house of cards fails, then scrap it and move on. The Disney name will always have some value on the marketplace.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think a significant ticket price increase is on the way. Whether it comes in the form of this wacky tiering is a separate question. I think they have already maxed out their rack rates and probably their food prices as well. Tickets still have room based on how crowded the parks are. I keep coming back to the Wishes Dessert Party as an example and I'm sure there are other examples...they doubled the price of that this year..$27 to $53. Doubled! Now that is a relatively small event but I think it is a good example of where the company is right now in terms of their pricing strategy. They are going for it.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I've only skimmed the last few pages but I thought there had been some suggestion that the chart he was using didn't match with what was originally posted here-

As the other pps pointed out, different charts were sent to different people.

Even if it did- I don't take an example posted in a survey as any indication that this is anything close to a final pricing structure. It's because I think Disney would be insane to make that kind of jump that I don't believe they'd ever do it - I don't think they're stupid.

I don't recall seeing any claims in Testa's article or anywhere else that this was a final structure.

Keep in mind -TP is the site who studied standby times and came up with significantly lower results than Josh- they were soundly denounced as unreliable at that point. So while it makes for an interesting read - it's not based on facts.

I don't know who soundly denounced TP, but I wasn't one of them. There's a multitude of reasons that could account for different results on SB line studies. TP and EasyWDW are both reliable IMO

 

[Angel Ariel]

As Angel Ariel said, this was a pretty straightforward arithmetic of current prices compared to one chart put out by Disney.

Exactly. I'm not sure what is unreliable about percentage calculations. The math showing the percentage of increase from current tickets is pretty self explanatory. Whether the chart from Disney is a final chart is a separate matter entirely.