Pixie Dust was sprinkled!!!

[DVCBELLE]

OR -- to use your example -- they already pad their budget by determining that cost per day per guest is $15 PLUS an additional $2 per guest to cover contingency or incidentals. So they charge guests $17.

49 guests come into the park at $17 each = $833
Actual cost to Disney for those 49 guests = $735
Extra available to Disney for "pixie dust" = $98

Disney builds Guest Recovery into the budget on the front end. The price you're paying today already includes the free ticket the OP got last week. To say that "they have to pay for it somewhere" is true. But that's true of everything at Disney, from adding another trash can to Main Street to adding another character experience in DAK. You can't say that Disney is raising prices because they're giving away free stuff. The giving away of the free stuff is already factored in.

Exactly...they pad their profits so they can do this. It's smart business and like I said one of the reasons I love Disney. But they do account for this in their profit margin.

 

[smidgy]

They aren't going away, they just won't be advertised anymore as an option. If you ask, you can still get no expiration. This was posted on a different thread.

I know you have to ask for the no expiration now. but I did hear that they are phasing it out, and in the future it will not be available.. chesire figment?

or maybe she posted on that other thread.. do you have a link to it? thanks.

 

[TLSnell1981]

OP, happy your family received some

 

[aleksandr]

Think about the massive profit margins that are built into EVERYTHING at Disney. They take bottles of water that cost them about $0.20 each and mark them up to $3.50. That's a 1650% profit on a bottle of water.

Disney can easily afford to spread around a little magic to make someone's vacation special (and ensure they return) without seriously impacting the bottom line.

I think people are just upset that they didn't get a magical freebie on their trip.

 

[Kaspar Houser]

Think about the massive profit margins that are built into EVERYTHING at Disney. They take bottles of water that cost them about $0.20 each and mark them up to $3.50. That's a 1650% profit on a bottle of water.

Disney can easily afford to spread around a little magic to make someone's vacation special (and ensure they return) without seriously impacting the bottom line.

I think people are just upset that they didn't get a magical freebie on their trip.

Do you really think people are upset because they don't need to cry to get free into MK?
Obviously people go on a expensive vacation and when even the slightest thing goes wrong there is no money for plan B.

 

[davedmaine]

Do you really think people are upset because they don't need to cry to get free into MK?
Obviously people go on a expensive vacation and when even the slightest thing goes wrong there is no money for plan B.

I kind of think the op should be ashamed of herself. Pay for the ticket or don't go in. I would have said, 'my mistake' and walked Away or taken out my wallet -- not stood there blubbering and putting the cm in a very uncomfortable position..

 

[LaurenT]

Do you really think people are upset because they don't need to cry to get free into MK?
Obviously people go on a expensive vacation and when even the slightest thing goes wrong there is no money for plan B.

What?
I'm sorry, I just don't understand what it is you're trying to say.
Are you saying that op should have just plunked down $170 to avoid disappointing her two kids on their last four hours at Disney?
Or that she didn't because she didn't leave herself any money for plan B?
Because I would not have spent that money for four hours, and I certainly would have had enough to do it if I felt like throwing that much away...

And I'm at a complete loss to understand the "upset because they don't have to cry" sentence.

 

[LaurenT]

I kind of think the op should be ashamed of herself. Pay for the ticket or don't go in. I would have said, 'my mistake' and walked Away or taken out my wallet -- not stood there blubbering and putting the cm in a very uncomfortable position..

Wow. Just wow.
Where in ops post did it say she stood there blubbering? She said she was near tears and that the ticket girl seemed upset for her and that she was collecting her bags to leave after going through her different options.
I guess if the ticket cm had offered you three tickets, you would have refused and just dragged your kids off, being too proud to let someone help you out.

 

[princessallegra]

Wow. Just wow.
Where in ops post did it say she stood there blubbering? She said she was near tears and that the ticket girl seemed upset for her and that she was collecting her bags to leave after going through her different options.
I guess if the ticket cm had offered you three tickets, you would have refused and just dragged your kids off, being too proud to let someone help you out.

Unbelievable! I wonder if he would have the guts to say that to the OP's face. She should be ashamed of herself?? Wow!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Do you really think people are upset because they don't need to cry to get free into MK?
Obviously people go on a expensive vacation and when even the slightest thing goes wrong there is no money for plan B.

I kind of think the op should be ashamed of herself. Pay for the ticket or don't go in. I would have said, 'my mistake' and walked Away or taken out my wallet -- not stood there blubbering and putting the cm in a very uncomfortable position..

Two very strange comments.

 

[Love Tink]

I kind of think the op should be ashamed of herself. Pay for the ticket or don't go in. I would have said, 'my mistake' and walked Away or taken out my wallet -- not stood there blubbering and putting the cm in a very uncomfortable position..

It's a completely normal human reaction to get emotional and even teary when you realize you have made a big mistake - especially a mistake that affects your children. It's nothing of which to be ashamed.

My guess is that the CM could see that the reaction was real and not for effect...which is probably why she offered the pixie dust.

 

[disnut8]

OR -- to use your example -- they already pad their budget by determining that cost per day per guest is $15 PLUS an additional $2 per guest to cover contingency or incidentals. So they charge guests $17.

49 guests come into the park at $17 each = $833
Actual cost to Disney for those 49 guests = $735
Extra available to Disney for "pixie dust" = $98

Disney builds Guest Recovery into the budget on the front end. The price you're paying today already includes the free ticket the OP got last week. To say that "they have to pay for it somewhere" is true. But that's true of everything at Disney, from adding another trash can to Main Street to adding another character experience in DAK. You can't say that Disney is raising prices because they're giving away free stuff. The giving away of the free stuff is already factored in.

As an accountant, I would LOVE to see how Disney does their accounting. I know we, as a regular normal business, have an account set up for "contingencies". It's $25K and it just sits there on the balance sheet and waits to be used. I'm sure Disney's is in the millions if not more. It's a normal process used by companies all over the world. It doesn't drive up prices because it's on the balance sheet and it does NOT hit the income statement. It's a fund set aside where things like this go. So you can take all your talks about profits being hit and move those off the discussion because these things NEVER hit profits.

 

[disnut8]

I kind of think the op should be ashamed of herself. Pay for the ticket or don't go in. I would have said, 'my mistake' and walked Away or taken out my wallet -- not stood there blubbering and putting the cm in a very uncomfortable position..

Wow. Just wow.

You aren't the OP and you weren't there. You don't know her or her kids and you don't know the exact situation. I can tell you I was in a panic once because I had forgotten our annual pass renewal vouchers. They were sitting nice and safe in a drawer 500 miles away. I had to have those vouchers to renew our passes. When I explained the situation to the Cast Member, they somehow found our purchase in the system and gave us access just for the time we would be there. True, it didn't cost Disney World any money at all but they could have made me pony up the bucks for another renewal. Which I wouldn't have done and we would have driven back home. How many other theme parks would work with the guest in a situation like that?

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Very glad it worked out for you!

 

[keri125]

I'm almost afraid to comment, but I have a genuine question that is just bugging me! I'm not questioning the validity of ANYTHING, I promise, and I can totally see how the confusion would happen between the "hopper" and the "occurance." But what I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around is OP's comments that:

So here's our pixie dust story!
Every Other trip we have been on, to Disney we have always gotten park hopper tickets. We usually use them on Animal kingdom day, and then again on our last day, to hop and just ride our faves, on the last day. Works well.

I price out the differance between a 5 day ticket and a 4 day hopper... I can't remember the difference, but went with a five day, non hopper, thinking I could just use my 5th day, after we went to Animal Kingdom, and head back to Magic Kingdom. how much can that cost...DON"T ASK! So okay thats not an option... So I will but a one day ticket for each of us... (me and my two kids) AGAIN DON'T ASK THE COST!!!

So OP has priced out tickets many times before (so not dealing with annual passes or a travel agent) and yet she doesn't have a general idea of what a one day ticket would cost? : I have been to WDW exactly one time two years ago, and I know the general costs of a one day ticket! : Not to the exact penny, but enough to know it would be out of my budget to all of a sudden pay for them out of pocket for an afternoon in the park. I think it's WONDERFUL that she received the pixie dust, and as a single parent, I know there have been times that I haven't planned ahead or messed something up because I didn't have all the information, so I am so glad she was able to enjoy the park with her children. That just struck me as a little strange that she didn't in general know what the cost of a one day ticket would be to know that it most likely wouldn't be do-able. Please don't flame me *ducking*

 

[pktbMouse]

OP cant tell you how glad I am you posted this , we had planned to do the exact same thing with a 6 day ticket instead of a 4 day hopper!!!! thank goodness I read your post. I also took it as "occurances" and would have been left up the creek with out a proverbial paddle!! Im soo glad everything worked out for you hun, ignore the negative replys on here, you always get them and they are not worth bothering about...so happy for your Pixie dust!! what a lovely story and nice ending to your vacation : ohhhh p.s... sooo buying a 4 day hopper now!! lol

 

[*TheWigs*]

Not being mean hear or trying to stir the pot, but I would buy that if it was her first trip. But she mentioned at the start of her original post:
"Every Other trip we have been on, to Disney we have always gotten park hopper tickets. We usually use them on Animal kingdom day, and then again on our last day, to hop and just ride our faves, on the last day. Works well. "

So to me this means she has been before and knows the difference between park hopper tickets and non hopper tickets.

We have been to WDW several times ourselves with and without hoppers and I can honestly say, I wouldn't have known that I couldn't use 2 tix on the same day. My mind doesn't think "how can I skirt the system". I would have just been crunching numbers and coming up with what I thought was the best value. I'm glad OP got some truly unexpected pixie dust! Not everybody is out for the scam and sometimes, just sometimes the good guys are rewarded!

 

[andyman8]

Great cm to do that, but A hopper is a hopper and you knew you paid for non hoppers. I'm confused as to why you thought you could do both parks on the last day of your tickets? Not being mean just curious.

It's actually a fairly common misconception even here on the DIS. In fact, at least one thread appears a month but sometimes more. I think Disney needs to be much clearer in their language regarding park "days" and the Park Hopper option.

 

[nebo]

oops, sorry dear!

 

[smidgy]

as far as the crying is concerned (or near tears):

I cry at the drop of a hat.. can't help it. the owner of the restaurant yells at me, my eyes tear up (a lot of yelling goes on behind the scenes). a touching tv commercial, I cry..
the time I forgot our water park tickets in the room, I cried all the way back on the bus.

I don't think it's very nice to imply that she cried on purpose. believe me, she was probably trying her best to fight back the tears.
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