Price increase show discussion

[North of Mouse]

While not as bad as Action Park, River Country wasn't perfect as far as safety goes either. The one slide ended a good 6 feet above the surface of the water so there was a nice drop at the end. One time I came down weird and smacked my face on the water resulting in a bloody nose. And I'm sure more than one person got hurt on the rope tire swing things.

Actually, River Country was built at a time when people still had, and used personal responsibility - didn't wait for others to build a safety cage around you. We brought our two children many times and never had any bad experiences there or saw anything untoward happen. Had lots of fun on the swings over the water. Now people have to be so protected from themselves and things that should be common sense, and was in the day.
Takes a lot of fun out of things that we once could enjoy.

 

[disneysteve]

@disneysteve Are you in North Jersey or South?

South, just outside of Philly.

 

[disneysteve]

Do any of you like high thrilling rides?

I do. I'll ride anything and everything, coasters, spinner rides, giant swings, drop towers, whatever. I like it all.

 

[disneysteve]

Actually, River Country was built at a time when people still had, and used personal responsibility - didn't wait for others to build a safety cage around you. We brought our two children many times and never had any bad experiences there or saw anything untoward happen. Had lots of fun on the swings over the water. Now people have to be so protected from themselves and things that should be common sense, and was in the day.
Takes a lot of fun out of things that we once could enjoy.

Certainly there's some truth to that, but some safety features actually are important. I remember when water parks first became a thing and there was more than one story of someone getting thrown over the side of a slide. So now slides have much higher sides or are totally enclosed tubes. Me getting a bloody nose at River Country wasn't because I was doing anything wrong. It was because of the way the slide was designed. I doubt you'll find a water slide like that anywhere today. Even though most people probably did it without incident (as did I numerous times), the potential for injury was higher than it ought to be and I'm sure I'm not the only one who got hurt.

A lot of the things we used to have fun with were actually pretty dangerous. I'm old enough to remember when the playground only had concrete under all of the equipment. No mulch or ground up tires or bouncy rubber matting. If you fell off, you hit rock. I certainly don't think we should go back to doing that.

 

[YesterDark]

Actually, River Country was built at a time when people still had, and used personal responsibility - didn't wait for others to build a safety cage around you. We brought our two children many times and never had any bad experiences there or saw anything untoward happen. Had lots of fun on the swings over the water. Now people have to be so protected from themselves and things that should be common sense, and was in the day.
Takes a lot of fun out of things that we once could enjoy.

Not to be offensive, but it's going to sound like it, this post is very ignorant.

 

[North of Mouse]

Not to be offensive, but it's going to sound like it, this post is very ignorant.

Thanks for your opinion, can tell you did not live 'in the day'! Things were great!

 

[disneysteve]

Thanks for your opinion, can tell you did not live 'in the day'! Things were great!

I did live 'in the day'. Yes, it was a simpler time without so much safety stuff and regulations and such, but death and dismemberment was quite common. Kids got seriously injured at the playground. Deaths in auto accidents (no seat belts, airbags, collapsible steering columns) were higher. Work-related injuries were common and often quite gruesome.

I do think we've probably gone a bit too far in the opposite direction but life is much safer today.

 

[Poohspaleeyore]

Just my 2 cents worth on this topic -We are planning our 7th trip to WDW as I have always loved WDW. It's a wonderful escape. It's Been four years since we visited WDW. Our last trip was Christmas 2015. Our children are becoming young adults and life has been seriously the busiest and most stressful than it has ever been. The trip In 2015 to WDW was the last time I took a vacation of any kind. The difference in cost between our visit to WDW the week of thanksgiving in 2009 in comparison to the week before thanksgiving 2019 has more than doubled for the same tickets and experiences. The only difference being that my children are adults now but they were considered adults by 2010. Both trips took advantage of discounted packages. Prices doubling in ten years seems a little much. And will not make visiting WDW each year possible.

But it's not just the price that's discouraging, it's the complication and advanced planning thats required (6 months) to optimize and validate the amount of money spent . The number of fast passes per day needs to be increased, if possible, to 2 tier ones per day. Rope drop always worked for us in the past but I am worried for this upcoming trip if it will still be enough for us to have the experiences we would like to. ADRs are have been difficult to get Disney is up charging by blocking out ADRs for special experiences that they are charging 200 dollars per person for. And this seems to be happening with parade experiences to. They really need be mindful that they are not taking away from the overall Disney experprience for guests who don't want to pay extra for experiences.

Also it is hotter than satans attic during the summer at WDW- after visiting WDW in June 2013 I would not pay current prices for a trip during the summer.

 

[mcd2745]

I do think we've probably gone a bit too far in the opposite direction but life is much safer today.

No question. And it's because we have become such an overly-litigious society. Every bad thing that ever happens has to be someone else's fault (personal responsibility doesn't exist), and they must be sued for it.

 

[tlmadden73]

For me it is not so much the ticket increases, there are (or at least were) ways to keep those prices manageable. For me it is the less advertised increases to food and hotels (and parking fees added to the hotels).

Not counting the tickets,the difference in price for going to my sons 3rd birthday in 2015 and now my daughters 3rd birthday coming up in October is crazy. Character buffets are probably $20+more a person, hotels are easily $40/ more a night (when you calculate in parking fees).

And all these price increases are WITH annual pass discounts.

When the price of a similar vacation only 4 years later is increased by 33% .. that is pretty insane.
That being said, I am paying these prices because I find value in what I am paying compared to similar things .. or we do things like the Annual Pass to go a bunch in one year to get it out of our system.

I still have a bunch of tickets saved up from before they expired,but now that my daughter is turning 3, I will need to start buying her tickets. That is where I will see how crazy ticket prices have gotten in just the past 5 years.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Just for fun, I went back and listened to the first few episodes of the podcast from 2006. In the third or 4th episode, Pete and the gang were discussing how its possible that Disney may have reached the tipping point. People were going to have to stop going, or shorten their length of stay. All of this because prices for a single day park admission was just raised to $67!

For context, $67 in 2006 is about $85 today. The cheapest single day park ticket today is $109

 

[disneysteve]

For context, $67 in 2006 is about $85 today. The cheapest single day park ticket today is $109

And this really highlights the problem. Disney raises prices much faster than inflation would account for. If prices went up 2 or 3% each year, people would still gripe but not to such a broad extent. Look at APs. The price jumped $200 overnight a few months ago from about $900 to about $1,100. That's a huge increase that can't be attributed to inflation.

 

[tlmadden73]

And this really highlights the problem. Disney raises prices much faster than inflation would account for. If prices went up 2 or 3% each year, people would still gripe but not to such a broad extent. Look at APs. The price jumped $200 overnight a few months ago from about $900 to about $1,100. That's a huge increase that can't be attributed to inflation.

At the same time, if Disney didnt raise its prices ... imagine how crowded it would be with ticket prices only at the rate of inflation ($85) considering how popular the Disney parks have become in the last 10 years!

Disney is raising prices with demand .. and when demand goes down (for whatever reason) ..they will adjust accordingly. It is easy (and sometimes even helpful to sales) to discount high prices. People love a deal. I mean we are already seeing that with the afternoon ticket. (Granted an afternoon ticket costs more than what a whole day ticket did a few years ago, but still .. )

There is only so much room in those parks, there is a fine line Disney has to tread with with ticket prices between having ticket prices too low and the parks get too crowded (and people complain) and having ticket prices too high and people complain (and stop coming).

To me .. the unneeded price increases (parking fees) are the ones that feel just greedy, rather than trying to control demand. There isnt a parking issue at the hotels like there is in downtown metro area.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

And this really highlights the problem. Disney raises prices much faster than inflation would account for. If prices went up 2 or 3% each year, people would still gripe but not to such a broad extent. Look at APs. The price jumped $200 overnight a few months ago from about $900 to about $1,100. That's a huge increase that can't be attributed to inflation.

To be fair, going from $67 to $109 over 14 years is an average rate increase of 3.814%. Its not that much higher than your 2 to 3%

 

[disneysteve]

At the same time, if Disney didnt raise its prices ... imagine how crowded it would be

Absolutely! I do think the pricing is starting to have some impact on the crowds. The summer was lighter than usual and it sounds like the fall may be as well. And I've said before, I'm happy to pay more for less crowded parks.

And I agree that some of the increases just seem greedy and have impact on crowds.

 

[hertamaniac]

What was the theme park parking fee in 2006? Actually, when did the theme park parking fees start?

My question is what is the rationale for even having a parking fee? I'd presume it was incorporated in the ticket price.

 

[disneysteve]

To be fair, going from $67 to $109 over 14 years is an average rate increase of 3.814%. Its not that much higher than your 2 to 3%

True but even 1.5-2 times the inflation rate is significant, especially over many years. And while those 1-day tickets start at $109, they actually go as high as $159 depending on the date, so there's that. When the tickets were $67, it was the same every day of the year.

 

[disneysteve]

What was the theme park parking fee in 2006? Actually, when did the theme park parking fees start?

My question is what is the rationale for even having a parking fee? I'd presume it was incorporated in the ticket price.

I know parking fees go back at least to 1982 because I have my receipt from parking at Epcot. It was $1.00.

Why a parking fee? Not all guests park a car so why roll it into the ticket price? That would mean every guest was paying for parking whether they used it or not. I'm okay with them only charging the people actually using the parking lot and trams.

 

[hertamaniac]

I know parking fees go back at least to 1982 because I have my receipt from parking at Epcot. It was $1.00.

Why a parking fee? Not all guests park a car so why roll it into the ticket price? That would mean every guest was paying for parking whether they used it or not. I'm okay with them only charging the people actually using the parking lot and trams.

Some guests (including myself) don't use Magical Express, but isn't there an associated cost/fee (yes, it's a free guest service) incorporated into our resort price?

 

[smiths02]

At the same time, if Disney didnt raise its prices ... imagine how crowded it would be with ticket prices only at the rate of inflation ($85) considering how popular the Disney parks have become in the last 10 years!

Disney is raising prices with demand .. and when demand goes down (for whatever reason) ..they will adjust accordingly. It is easy (and sometimes even helpful to sales) to discount high prices. People love a deal. I mean we are already seeing that with the afternoon ticket. (Granted an afternoon ticket costs more than what a whole day ticket did a few years ago, but still .. )

There is only so much room in those parks, there is a fine line Disney has to tread with with ticket prices between having ticket prices too low and the parks get too crowded (and people complain) and having ticket prices too high and people complain (and stop coming).

To me .. the unneeded price increases (parking fees) are the ones that feel just greedy, rather than trying to control demand. There isnt a parking issue at the hotels like there is in downtown metro area.

I don't think Disney is raising prices in some attempt to keep crowds low to enhance guest experience. I don't think Disney wants attendance to decrease and only per capita spending to increase, which appears to be what happened?
I think they want attendance to at least remain constant AND per capita spending increase. They are not experiencing park closures for crowds constantly. They can fit more people in the parks.

Ticket price increases are just as greedy as fees. I doubt there is someone at Disney higher up thinking "How can we keep the riffraff from ruining tlmadden73's vacation?" They are thinking, "I bet we can get some more money out of tlmadden73."