News Round Up 2017

rteetz said:
News

Summer Travel to WDW is down so much so that Disney turned down Colle Program students after they were already accepted.
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That's like so wrong on so many levels...gonna really encourage next year's recruiting class when these horror stories come out...
 
jlundeen said:
Nope, I've never been a fan...from as far back as they started pushing the Macs into the school system. Felt to me like a drug dealer - "first one is free....then...." But I know I'm in the minority as practically everyone I know has an "i-something"
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It didn't work in the long run. Chromebooks are the hot thing at schools these days.
 
luisov said:
I won't get too political, but a lot of travel agencies, airlines and hotels are reporting a significant decrease in international tourism coming to the US due to the current political landscape. Quite a few tourist destinations are already feeling the impact, so I'm sure it will have a noticeable effect in both Florida and Anaheim.

Of course there's other implications involved. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
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I think this may be a global issue. I believe there's also been a trend of US travelers holding off on international travel due to the feelings of increased danger abroad.
 


beer dave said:
I think so (like polar express, and Star tours) except polar express at one point simulates the motion of a falling leaf while you are watching the leaf fall, not " being" the leaf. Total nausea generator, by design it seems. Never been to US or the counterpart. My kids have and their reviews are all I need. And if you are saying the simpsons ride is like the new thing they are planning, then no-- the simpsons ride doesn't actually move in distance, just up down left right sway.
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I don't think I've ever seen the Polar Express ride. Where was it?
 


TheMaxRebo said:
Saw they officially released the summer discounts - for stays May 28 - Aug 31st .... is this normal for them to have the discounts during the summer? Including up to 20% off at Values

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/summertime-room/
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The 20% off at the values is a little higher than normal - I think they usually do 15%. The rest is pretty much standard. There's ALWAYS a discount available for rooms somewhere on property except maybe peak holidays. What you don't know is how many rooms are available for the discounts.
 
I think at this time we've reached a tipping point. The economy is good, so things like Disney Parks attendance should be up. The fact it is not tells me people don't see the value in going at this time. Whether that is international and a byproduct of our politics and the increasing strength of the dollar, or domestic and a function of where the economic strength is located, or a function of ticket prices, the answer is most likely all of the above. I do not doubt international travel is down. There are plenty of studies that are starting to be born out from NYC to LA. I also see a lot of economic strength at the bottom of our economy, less in the middle and top. So you can't pass a fast food restaurant that doesn't have a "help wanted" sign, but you can pass a lot of companies that are still cutting management to keep profits up. With employment strength at the bottom, there is little help for $100+ a day park tickets.

Disney needs to do a comprehensive overhaul of their ticket and room strategy, and it needs to come quickly if they want to stem the bad news. There aren't enough upcharges and price hikes that can make up for a drop in room occupancy and dropping attendance. Rich people don't go to the same vacation every year. Disney every few years to see what's new? Yes. But Curacao, luxury cruises, and especially luxury European trips look nice now that the dollar is strengthening.

Of course the flip side is that Disney has a lot opening in 2019. If you are like me, and go every few years, why book now and 2018? If you hold off until the end of 2019 or early 2020, you are likely to have major new attractions in 3 of the 4 parks. 2018 simply looks like a loser year.
 
jknezek said:
I think at this time we've reached a tipping point. The economy is good, so things like Disney Parks attendance should be up. The fact it is not tells me people don't see the value in going at this time. Whether that is international and a byproduct of our politics and the increasing strength of the dollar, or domestic and a function of where the economic strength is located, or a function of ticket prices, the answer is most likely all of the above. I do not doubt international travel is down. There are plenty of studies that are starting to be born out from NYC to LA. I also see a lot of economic strength at the bottom of our economy, less in the middle and top. So you can't pass a fast food restaurant that doesn't have a "help wanted" sign, but you can pass a lot of companies that are still cutting management to keep profits up. With employment strength at the bottom, there is little help for $100+ a day park tickets.

Disney needs to do a comprehensive overhaul of their ticket and room strategy, and it needs to come quickly if they want to stem the bad news. There aren't enough upcharges and price hikes that can make up for a drop in room occupancy and dropping attendance. Rich people don't go to the same vacation every year. Disney every few years to see what's new? Yes. But Curacao, luxury cruises, and especially luxury European trips look nice now that the dollar is strengthening.

Of course the flip side is that Disney has a lot opening in 2019. If you are like me, and go every few years, why book now and 2018? If you hold off until the end of 2019 or early 2020, you are likely to have major new attractions in 3 of the 4 parks. 2018 simply looks like a loser year.
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I think you are right on - it isn't one thing but I do think the strengthened dollar has a lot to do with it -> people from other countries see their vacation to WDW go up by a lot and either don't go or decide to wait and see if things change and then people in the US see that their dollar goes further outside of the US so great time to go to Europe, etc.

And combined with not a lot new in WDW (at least until now that Pandora is opening) and more coming in 2019 people figure, let's do Europe now while the dollar is strong and do WDW later when more is open

the Theme Park War between Disney and Universal is great in that it is forcing them to create new things but that investment does come with a price so just not sure how they can change the ticket structure that much, to attract that lower income family more. I saw tons of photos on Facebook over the weekend of crazy long lines at WDW now with Spring Break so it isn't like they are hurting for crowds that much
 
jknezek said:
Of course the flip side is that Disney has a lot opening in 2019. If you are like me, and go every few years, why book now and 2018? If you hold off until the end of 2019 or early 2020, you are likely to have major new attractions in 3 of the 4 parks. 2018 simply looks like a loser year.
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I think this is a huge problem for them this year and next. We'll see what happens after that.

The risk they face with that is...that as people try alternative vacations over the next two years...they may discover things they enjoy better than WDW and either not return at all, or with much lesser frequency.
 
Of course that is always a shell game.
20% off of this years rack rate may very well equal 14% off of last summers rack rate.
 
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