Price Increases

[dizneyfiend]

Forgive me if this has been addressed to death. I wonder with all of the price increases if Disney is strategically trying to thin out the crowds. Trip protection has even gone up in price!

 

[SG131]

Forgive me if this has been addressed to death. I wonder with all of the price increases if Disney is strategically trying to thin out the crowds. Trip protection has even gone up in price!

Well they certainly aren’t trying to thin the crowds cause that would mean less money spend on food and merch. I do think they’re making a very slight attempt to more evenly distribute crowds. But ultimately they’re trying to hit that sweet spot of supply and demand where they are making the most money they can without greatly decreasing the demand for guests to come.

 

[Alesia]

No, they're trying to increase profits.

 

[snappy]

I think they raise prices because they can. People keep coming regardless. At least for now.

 

[BingoJoe]

Prices find their own level, they will keep raising them until it stops making them any more money.

Personally I think prices are still too low, the parks are simply overcrowded.

I am sure I am not in the majority here but I really hope they raise park admission prices and annual passes by a good chunk every year over the next few years, hopefully thinning out the crowds while maintaining income.

 

[epcotty]

They always say it's to thin out the crowds. Of course it's to increase profits as much as possible too. A reason it's gone up more in recent years than it had earlier may be because there have been more people in general going to the parks in recent years so they're trying to contain that as possible (while still pleasing their stockholders by making the price as high as they can get away with while people will still go). At this rate it's only a matter of time before they lose a lot of people though with people giving up because they feel it's too high or simply not worth the price anymore. The current management is only concerned with stockholders with as little consideration for guests as possible. This was not how it was before more recently. If Eisner had been in charge in more recent years they would've opened a 5th (maybe a 6th) park by now to help out with crowds (and probably wouldn't have raised prices as much as they've been raised more recently), but Iger and his crew take the easier way out

 

[LSUmiss]

I’m one that would be fine with price increases IF it decreased crowds. But, on our trip 2 weeks ago, I just experienced price increases & a decrease in service/experience (IMO). Parks seemed to be understaffed, restaurants all overbooked, Fps over distributed, food carts not opened while others had packed lines, & just awful transportation issues. I get that it’s crowded, but it should be adequately staffed. To me it was obvious that it wasn’t as crowded as it felt b/c of the inadequate staff & service. So that tells me it’s just about maximizing profits which makes me so sad. WDW used to be the industry standard, but, now it seems they’re just seeing what they can get away with like so many other businesses. Many rides were often down. There were many times we found ourselves wandering around looking for something to do especially in Mk. No other vacation destination would find it acceptable for you to show up & their service/product that is considered part of the price of admission is just not available. There was also often this cavalier attitude from many CMs like “yeah it happens”. I get it’s not their faults, but they’re in customer service, and that’s not how you treat paying costumers who expect your product to be available. Ohana breakfast was THREE hours behind & the “manager” came to our table & was very unapologetic & dismissive & just said sometimes this happens with the characters. We were on the dining plan so it didn’t matter to us, but we overheard many other ppl refusing to pay. I have heard similar complaints from many family members/friends & read similair things on these boards, but this is the first time I actually experienced it. We have been to WDW several times & at all different times of yr & crowd levels so it’s not like we didn’t know what to expect. This experience definitely felt like a decline in product & service &, yet, it was the most we ever paid for it. Very disappointing . The overall attitude seemed to be you should be happy we allow you to pay to be here.

 

[snappy]

I’m one that would be fine with price increases IF it decreased crowds. But, on our trip 2 weeks ago, I just experienced price increases & a decrease in service/experience (IMO). Parks seemed to be understaffed, restaurants all overbooked, Fps over distributed, food carts not opened while others had packed lines, & just awful transportation issues. I get that it’s crowded, but it should be adequately staffed. To me it was obvious that it wasn’t as crowded as it felt b/c of the inadequate staff & service. So that tells me it’s just about maximizing profits which makes me so sad. WDW used to be the industry standard, but, now it seems they’re just seeing what they can get away with like so many other businesses. Many rides were often down. There were many times we found ourselves wandering around looking for something to do especially in Mk. No other vacation destination would find it acceptable for you to show up & their service/product that is considered part of the price of admission is just not available. There was also often this cavalier attitude from many CMs like “yeah it happens”. I get it’s not their faults, but they’re in customer service, and that’s not how you treat paying costumers who expect your product to be available. Ohana breakfast was THREE hours behind & the “manager” came to our table & was very unapologetic & dismissive & just said sometimes this happens with the characters. We were on the dining plan so it didn’t matter to us, but we overheard many other ppl refusing to pay. I have heard similar complaints from many family members/friends & read similair things on these boards, but this is the first time I actually experienced it. We have been to WDW several times & at all different times of yr & crowd levels so it’s not like we didn’t know what to expect. This experience definitely felt like a decline in product & service &, yet, it was the most we ever paid for it. Very disappointing . The overall attitude seemed to be you should be happy we allow you to pay to be here.

Sadly we are experiencing the same thing this week. Many attractions down for refurb, or just down. Long wait for resort boat from MK to Poly. Like 45 mi items long. We compensated by hanging at the pool extra time. Value for this prices seems questionable. Heck even at the old prices I would scratch my head. We avoid extra charge events and have reduced our table service meals. We are drinking our water, snacks, and beer from our grocery stop and lounging on the balcony as well as the pool.

 

[LSUmiss]

Sadly we are experiencing the same thing this week. Many attractions down for refurb, or just down. Long wait for resort boat from MK to Poly. Like 45 mi items long. We compensated by hanging at the pool extra time. Value for this prices seems questionable. Heck even at the old prices I would scratch my head. We avoid extra charge events and have reduced our table service meals. We are drinking our water, snacks, and beer from our grocery stop and lounging on the balcony as well as the pool.

We were at Poly too & our family at Pop had a much better experience for a fraction of the price.
We stay at Poly for convenience & it was the opposite of that this time! One morning the monorail was down & the CM told us they had busses to MK. We go to the bus stop to be told by a different CM that they are only running busses to T&TC. Why??? That makes no sense!! But, she said we could take the monorail there b/c it was working there. So we walk to T&TC & wait in
a ridiculous security line since now it’s full of ppl from all 3 monorail resorts & parking lot. After waiting in that, we discover no monorails are working & that CM was also wrong. That’s unacceptable IMO. The lines for the busses to mk & the ferry to mk met in the middle b/c both lines were so long. We ended up PAYING even more to get a Minnie van to bring us to Mk. If any of the 2 CMs had given us the right info, we could have taken the boat to MK. This trip it was obvious to me that they are not able to handle their current capacity & I find that unacceptable.

 

[snappy]

Makes me wonder how it will be when Galacy’s edge opens. I am not worried though, we will be far away.

 

[LSUmiss]

Makes me wonder how it will be when Galacy’s edge opens. I am not worried though, we will be far away.

Yeah I said that. If they can’t handle this, then what are they going to do then. I kind of hope it’s just a disaster & gets bad media coverage. Otherwise, what is their motivation to improve??