News Round Up 2016

[sachilles]

Develop ROA as a new land and a new alternate entrance, with convenient drive up parking lot. Ease the crowding, by adding more space and eliminate the bottleneck of the main entrance. Maintain main entrance for in resort bus and monorail traffic. Giving your in house guests the big show main entrance. Send the drive up "commoners" to the back entrance. You could still preserve the main part of Tom Sawyers island.

 

[Budshark]

But... if you go in Fall, stay at a deluxe, click your heels and believe in fairies... you might get free dining! I'm feeling particularly sarcastic today apparently.

I'm tired of the Disney is a business excuse. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you have to and that is true for businesses as well.

But I'm equally tired of people accepting the endless gouging and continuing to go one, two or three times a year for a vacation which while fun is not fundamentally more magical than all sorts of other trips. When you're at the point of scrimping, saving and thinking of picking up extra jobs just to afford Disney you should be asking yourself if Disney actually deserves that sort of devotion. What have they done to earn it?

I don't fault Disney for trying. They should. Heck, look at Hyundai and their $75,000 car. Can't fault them for trying. But if people don't buy it - they have to shift right?

In Disney's case, they shoot for the moon and people still buy. Who's fault is that? I say nobody's. Its unfortunate that some people are priced out, but if Disney has a legit market its not their fault. Is it Ferrari's fault I can't buy their car?

The other side I look at is what is the alternative? Lets play that game.

Let's say, Disney tickets were $75/day. And Dining Plan was $28/day. And Deluxe hotels were $175/night. Lets assume that Disney didn't raise their prices and held closer to inflation.

I for one am excited about my $3000 family of 4 all inclusive week at Disney!!!! Unfortunately it is scheduled for 2019 due to the current wait list to get into Disney since the park has been sold out every day for 5 years and no longer accepts walk-ups.

We are complaining about crowds, wait times, and all the associated headaches. At the same time Disney is raising prices and nickel and diming everyone. Can't fault them for trying because the alternative is unfettered demand that destroys the brand and the business. There is potential with cost increases and service degradation to do the same - but those are controllable and fixable. If they out price the market - shame on them. But evidence is they haven't.

 

[Eoghann]

We are complaining about crowds, wait times, and all the associated headaches. At the same time Disney is raising prices and nickel and diming everyone. Can't fault them for trying because the alternative is unfettered demand that destroys the brand and the business. There is potential with cost increases and service degradation to do the same - but those are controllable and fixable. If they out price the market - shame on them. But evidence is they haven't.

I actually rarely complain about wait times or crowds, though I realize many do. And as my post indicates I blame the eager consumers at least as much as Disney. But Disney could have done far more to address attendance levels than they've done, so to present it as "either they raise prices or their sold out" is rather misleading.

What I have a really hard time swallowing is the people (both paid by the company and brainwashed by them) explaining to me how it's for my own good. It's not. They're doing it to make more money. They could just as easily improve their brand value and ensure a high quality of experience by limiting attendance and making it exclusive in a way they always like to pretended it is. But they're not going to because they want to have their cake and eat it.

And despite that we've got people on here going into paroxysms over magic band colors (and I LIKE the magic bands), bending over backwards to explain how Disney isn't responsible for the conduct of workers they have through a contractor, or getting upset about the fact a 10 year old show might go away. This is not rational behavior and that sort of mindless acceptance is just as annoying to me as Disney's line of corporate BS.

<--grumpy

 

[rteetz]

News

Teaser trailer for Disney's Magic Kingdoms a game that lets your build your own Disney parks. No release date has been announced.

 

[Budshark]

News

Teaser trailer for Disney's Magic Kingdoms a game that lets your build your own Disney parks. No release date has been announced.

Cool... its about 6 months overdue though...

 

[pork]

But... if you go in Fall, stay at a deluxe, click your heels and believe in fairies... you might get free dining! I'm feeling particularly sarcastic today apparently.

I'm tired of the Disney is a business excuse. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you have to and that is true for businesses as well.

But I'm equally tired of people accepting the endless gouging and continuing to go one, two or three times a year for a vacation which while fun is not fundamentally more magical than all sorts of other trips. When you're at the point of scrimping, saving and thinking of picking up extra jobs just to afford Disney you should be asking yourself if Disney actually deserves that sort of devotion. What have they done to earn it?

Ive never understood the Disney shouldn't raise prices even though they can argument. A corporation has a responsibility to maximize the returns for its shareholders. They've also proven that it has zero effect so far on attendance. So the question would be if raising prices generates more money why should they intentionally not do what increases cash flow that can be used to grow the buisness and make up for other shortcomings?

 

[jade1]

But I'm equally tired of people accepting the endless gouging and continuing to go one, two or three times a year for a vacation which while fun is not fundamentally more magical than all sorts of other trips.

Why would you be tired of someone else's vacation habits? And how do you know what trips are more magical to someone?

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Not quite - it started out as a way to fill seats in the TS restaurants - that worked spectacularly. Before the DDP, it was rare to see a full restaurant.

The DDP then trained people that they MUST eat daily at the TS restaurants. That you HAVE to book them 180 days out to get those must dos!

THEN they hiked prices excessively for about 5 years - that's when the bait and switch scam took place. Only a few of us won't take the bait.

...right...so you agree with me then

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Ive never understood the Disney shouldn't raise prices even though they can argument. A corporation has a responsibility to maximize the returns for its shareholders. They've also proven that it has zero effect so far on attendance. So the question would be if raising prices generates more money why should they intentionally not do what increases cash flow that can be used to grow the buisness and make up for other shortcomings?

When corporations price gouge, they end up sucking or failing

Gordon gecko lied to you

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Why would you be tired of someone else's vacation habits? And how do you know what trips are more magical to someone?

I mean...you're messing with us, right?

Accepting price gouging is bad for EVERYONE...you're freedom of choice schlepps the negative side effects off on everybody.

When they feel like they don't have to earn your business...quality is sacrificed to pursue profits. Econ 101

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Offsite hotels may charge extra for some things, but their nightly charge is significantly less than Disney. The wifi thing could backfire on them. I don't think I would pay it. I would just use my data at the hotel and use the wifi at the park or a restaurant. We rent a car anyway, so I don't care about ME anymore. We have never done the children's activities at WDW, because they usually don't have anything or anything interesting going on while we are swimming or we are at the parks. Nickel and dime me death, will ya

Problem is that $15 won't be optional - you will have to pay for the available services whether you use them or not

 

[Sweettears]

I have noticed that wifi is often free at the cheap hotels but charged for at the expensive ones.

I'm sure it is hit or miss. The last few years I did quite a bit of traveling and don't recall ever paying for wifi.

 

[Sweettears]

Problem is that $15 won't be optional - you will have to pay for the available services whether you use them or not

This is the point. I see it as a disguised method of charging for ME.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This is the point. I see it as a disguised method of charging for ME.

Hard to disguise anything in plain view.

It's just another "why give it to them when they'll pay"

The floodgates are open

 

[Sweettears]

Hard to disguise anything in plain view.

It's just another "why give it to them when they'll pay"

The floodgates are open

It's certainly not disguised to those in the know but to the thousands of uninitiated they will never realize that they are paying for a service that is advertised as free. I think it's called marketing.

 

[pork]

When corporations price gouge, they end up sucking or failing

Gordon gecko lied to you

Terms like price gouging may sound neat but it doesn't apply here. Luxury items don't have price gouging laws because you don't actually need them. If you don't like the price you don't go.

There's also options like six flags providing cheaper services. 55 bucks gets you in there but you lose the option to bring in food and pay similar food prices to Disney inside.

Good old Gordon would be ashamed you lumped him in such mundane normal business practices.

 

[skier_pete]

...right...so you agree with me then

In this case I do.

However, I disagree about expecting Disney to not raise prices as often as they can. When they can't any more, they'll find out the hard way, they'll have a few lean years, then they'll recover.

This is the point. I see it as a disguised method of charging for ME.

But that's the thing...they already have a disguised way to charge you for ME. It's called "exorbitant hotel rates". It makes little to no sense for Disney to do this.

Here let me play Disney: Should I tack on a resort fee to my hotels? I know, I'll just raise their $550 a night hotel rate to $565 a night! Who will notice that? There - I've increased the profit by $15 and no one noticed - or at least it is less noticeable than a resort fee since my pricing structure is already so convoluted no one knows why it costs $565 on a Thursday in April except when there's a full moon and then it's $585.

The idea of doing this is dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Not claiming it's impossible that they would do it, but it makes very little practical sense.

By the way, does everyone remember when the surveys were going around that they were going to have different # of FPs based on what hotel you were staying at and that you could pay extra for extra FPs?? There was a HUGE uproar over that. So, maybe we should stick to complaining about the price gouging they are actually doing versus what they MIGHT someday do.

 

[twebber55]

The math becomes increasingly difficult to justify each time they do this...

The quick serve is already wrong. If I eat the best quickserve on property - Wolfgang puck express - twice a day...I'm still only barely getting to $40 a person. Where's my savings? Laying under the tap at pop century and chugging mr. Pibb?

Can we finally call the dining plan what it was always meant to be? A bait and switch scam.

stopped doing the dining plan many years ago, its a rip off

 

[EricInPA]

By the way, does everyone remember when the surveys were going around that they were going to have different # of FPs based on what hotel you were staying at and that you could pay extra for extra FPs?? There was a HUGE uproar over that. So, maybe we should stick to complaining about the price gouging they are actually doing versus what they MIGHT someday do.

I definitely remember that, and agree: it's difficult for me to worry or get worked up over theoretical price increases/changes.

I'm not going to hand-wave away or apologize for other price increases, but this screenshot of a resort fee question seemed strange to me. Not that it's photoshopped or faked, but the answers and other questions aren't included so it's difficult to judge the context. The context seems to be all inclusive vs a la cart pricing, but it's hard to say.

 

[Budshark]

A resort fee would be a detriment to Disney.

Today you pay $350 which is high for what you get. But you get ME, free parking, extra magic hours, free shipping to hotel, etc. We all know we are over paying, but it's inherently "worth it".

Add on a resort fee to cover those things. $15! Heck yeah I'd pay that! But wait - you're telling me the room is $350 and I'm paying only $15 for the things that make it worth $350? The room is a ripoff!!!

Hmm. Ok. Let's go the other way. My room is $195 (not bad. It's convenient on property $30 more than offsite - I can hang!). A resort fee of $170 per night for ME, EMH, wifi, shipping?????? What a fricken JOKE! No way I'm playing that game. Those things aren't worth that!

This is a case where the whole is better than the pieces. If you separate them out you can't win. Better to play the shell game and say look at the combined value! Yea it's a lot but you get so much! It's part of the magic...