News Round Up 2016

[rteetz]

Read his signature... I wouldn't expect much in the way of discussion...

I am on mobile so I don't see the signature right now.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I am in mobile so I don't see the signature right now.

It isn't much to look forward to

 

[Eoghann]

I am in mobile so I don't see the signature right now.

Disclaimer: All posts by user Dean Marino are Personal Opinion only - any post may be removed by a Moderator at any time as specified by Board Rules, with my full permission and cooperation. I choose to not reply to any quotes, PMs, or comments, as I have personally found this action to be counterproductive.

So basically he posts stuff but won't respond. Makes for a fun discussion board participant...

 

[Eddie P.]

So I take it you are in favor of price raising? If so then I have a question. What is too much for you? What would be your price break point? Assuming you aren't a millionaire or something.

Just jumping in. My top breaking point is relative to inflation. $50 A ticket in 1995 is the equivalent of $100 today to get into disneyland

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

If we're talking about breaking points for Disney raising ticket prices...I'll just post my feelings once on this thread and then leave it up to more rumors and news.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but I am beginning to think that Disney was stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I think they had to respond to the increased crowds. I might be totally off base here, and I'm sure a few of you will point out if I am, but Disney had to try to find a way to balance out, or even lower crowds. With how absolutely packed both WDW and DL have been the past year something needed to be done. I'm sure Disney wants to get all the money they can, but I also believe that they kind of depend on lower seasons to get major refurbishments completed and give CMs somewhat of a breather. Disney also has to be aware that people do not have as good a time when the parks are slammed, they must realize jam packed parks every month of the year might eventually come back to bite them. So they want to keep making money, but they also don't want the parks slammed every day. Maybe tiered ticket pricing is a good strategy. I don't know.

These are just my jumbled thoughts on the matter.

 

[Eddie P.]

If we're talking about breaking points for Disney raising ticket prices...I'll just post my feelings once on this thread and then leave it up to more rumors and news.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but I am beginning to think that Disney was stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I think they had to respond to the increased crowds. I might be totally off base here, and I'm sure a few of you will point out if I am, but Disney had to try to find a way to balance out, or even lower crowds. With how absolutely packed both WDW and DL have been the past year something needed to be done. I'm sure Disney wants to get all the money they can, but I also believe that they kind of depend on lower seasons to get major refurbishments completed and give CMs somewhat of a breather. Disney also has to be aware that people do not have as good a time when the parks are slammed, they must realize jam packed parks every month of the year might eventually come back to bite them. So they want to keep making money, but they also don't want the parks slammed every day. Maybe tiered ticket pricing is a good strategy. I don't know.

These are just my jumbled thoughts on the matter.

I think you're right on the mark. Disney is worth billions of dollars. For people to say it's just to raise money seems silly. The real money maker for Disney parks are vacationers and their word of mouth when they go back home. Less families will travel to Disney if their friends told them it was a horrible experience due to the high level of crowds. A few extra dollars per one day ticket sales is counting cents for a company this large.

 

[luisov]

If we're talking about breaking points for Disney raising ticket prices...I'll just post my feelings once on this thread and then leave it up to more rumors and news.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but I am beginning to think that Disney was stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I think they had to respond to the increased crowds. I might be totally off base here, and I'm sure a few of you will point out if I am, but Disney had to try to find a way to balance out, or even lower crowds. With how absolutely packed both WDW and DL have been the past year something needed to be done. I'm sure Disney wants to get all the money they can, but I also believe that they kind of depend on lower seasons to get major refurbishments completed and give CMs somewhat of a breather. Disney also has to be aware that people do not have as good a time when the parks are slammed, they must realize jam packed parks every month of the year might eventually come back to bite them. So they want to keep making money, but they also don't want the parks slammed every day. Maybe tiered ticket pricing is a good strategy. I don't know.

These are just my jumbled thoughts on the matter.

I do agree with you. As a business guy myself I understand that they have to raise their prices for two reasons: to manage the crowds, and because they can raise the price as long as people are willing to pay for it, which apparently they are. My problem with this is that there are many reports of the overall quality going down. Service is not as good as it used to be, maintenance work is not being done as often as it should, and then the parks are not as clean as they should be.

What really can come back to bite them in my opinion is raising the prices while lowering the quality.

 

[Eddie P.]

I do agree with you. As a business guy myself I understand that they have to raise their prices for two reasons: to manage the crowds, and because they can raise the price as long as people are willing to pay for it, which apparently they are. My problem with this is that there are many reports of the overall quality going down. Service is not as good as it used to be, maintenance work is not being done as often as it should, and then the cleanliness is not what it used to be.

What really can come back to bite them in my opinion is raising the prices while lowering the quality.

Are we talking WDW or DL? Because nothing has changed at DL. Overall service and cleanliness couldn't be better.

 

[luisov]

Are we talking WDW or DL? Because nothing has changed at DL. Overall service and cleanliness couldn't be better.

WDW mostly. I agree that DL does get better treatment, and that has to do with the fact that the customers are a lot more demanding, and the fact that DL does not hessitate to refurbish and close attractions, something WDW can't afford due to their once-in-a-lifetime type of customers.

 

[Eddie P.]

WDW mostly. I agree that DL does get better treatment, and that has to do with the fact that the customers are a lot more demanding, and the fact that DL does not hessitate to refurbish and close attractions, something WDW can't afford due to their once-in-a-lifetime type of customers.

Very true. It feels like at least two attractions are closed when I go to Disneyland. I'm an AP from Seattle so I only go about 4 trips a year.

 

[Eoghann]

That logic just doesn't hold up for me. The amount their increasing it by isn't going to provide sufficient deterrent to actually reduce attendance given that those numbers have been increasing year on year. I don't think it will even keep them at the current level. And since the largest groups Disney World caters to (families) don't have flexible vacation schedules I very much doubt it will spread the load differently.

If Disney really wanted to handle the crowds better they'd simply implement more things for people to do (it doesn't all have to be expensive rides). This is simply about getting more money because they can.

 

[luisov]

For me the question is will the increase discourage people from going to Disney at all? Going to Disney is already a big deal financially speaking for many families. If a family can only travel in summer and they see a significant increase in the cost of their vacations, up to what point are they willing to simply stop going to WDW?

 

[pork]

That logic just doesn't hold up for me. The amount their increasing it by isn't going to provide sufficient deterrent to actually reduce attendance given that those numbers have been increasing year on year. I don't think it will even keep them at the current level. And since the largest groups Disney World caters to (families) don't have flexible vacation schedules I very much doubt it will spread the load differently.

If Disney really wanted to handle the crowds better they'd simply implement more things for people to do (it doesn't all have to be expensive rides). This is simply about getting more money because they can.

I'd agree this price increase does little to impact crowds but I think the logic behind it holds. If they made the big jump like 150 for a one day they'd also run the risk of angering people that would still come at that price.

I look at this as Disney playing the long game. They're slowly bumping the price to midigate the effects and lower crowds gradually. In the meantime they're also upping revenue like any business wants to do.

 

[MommaBerd]

@rteetz - If you have an iPhone, turn it "landscape," and you can see signatures, etc.

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

@rteetz - If you have an iPhone, turn it "landscape," and you can see signatures, etc.

Same with Android.

 

[Eoghann]

I'd agree this price increase does little to impact crowds but I think the logic behind it holds. If they made the big jump like 150 for a one day they'd also run the risk of angering people that would still come at that price.

I look at this as Disney playing the long game. They're slowly bumping the price to midigate the effects and lower crowds gradually. In the meantime they're also upping revenue like any business wants to do.

They've been "slowly bumping the price" well above inflation for most of a decade now, hows that working crowd mitigation?

 

[Madteaparty001]

I'll throw my 2 cents on the table. From what I saw on my trip in October the level of crowds being experienced in the parks is not because there's so many more people, it's that Disney is operating its parks at the same ratio of people to ride capacity. Example, MK is 100% full, space mountain is running at 100% capacity with enough CMs to make things run smoothly. MK is 50% full so they run the rides at 50% capacity and so on. So no matter how big or small the crowds get, with how the park is being staffed the amount of people and wait times are always the same. I tried for months to get a table at Akershus, finally got it and when I got there the restaurant was half empty, no wonder I couldn't get a table if they weren't using half the available seats! And the Halloween Party was so packed without dance parties and other things to spread the crowds out, people were at the Hub the entire night, we will never do a party again.

 

[pork]

They've been "slowly bumping the price" well above inflation for most of a decade now, hows that working crowd mitigation?

This one's more about the structure change though. It ultimately gives them more flexibility to adjust prices at each level at different rates depending on crowd patterns. Before this it's just been flat increases that don't add incentives based on the date you travel. Whether or not it will work though is anyone's guess.

 

[cmash95]

Dl has experienced larger than normal crowds for the past few years because of a couple of things. The redo of DCA and carsland and the 60th. Changing the amount of a one day ticket isn;t going to do much to disperse crowds because people don't want or schools don't want kids taking vacations during regular school times and some schools penalize kids that do it. So that leaves the typical high times to go still the times to go. People will either not go, or just payh the extra or in the case of orlando, drop the one day at disney and spend extra time at sea world or universal.

 

[soniam]

So I take it you are in favor of price raising? If so then I have a question. What is too much for you? What would be your price break point? Assuming you aren't a millionaire or something.

Maybe he (maybe she) is just thankful that multiday tickets didn't go to tiering. I know I was. I can't ever see buying a single day ticket. I am wondering if/when they do go to seasonal pricing on multiday tickets, if APs will be even more advantageous, especially for multiple trips. The way it is now, it takes 2-3 trips to really pay for itself, depending on the number of days, but seasonal pricing on multiday tickets could push it closer to 2 trips or even long single trips during peak times. I am at least glad that they will release pricing far in advance, which I assume they will do with multiday, when they go to that. It's still a hassle though and really does lock you in to your plans even more so. However, with the difficulty trying to get some FP+ and ADRs closer to your trip, I pretty much don't switch my park days now.