Prices just hit my threshold :-(

[BSmithington]

Like I said. Check the attendance numbers for Universal next year and see how much faster they grew than Disney year over year. Then it won't we what we think or guess. It will be hard numbers. It's really more of a long term play. Disney has spent the last decade trying to KEEP people on their site and out of Universal. That is no secret. This is going to result in the opposite. Again though. only time will tell. Let's see when the next attendance figures are published by the trade groups.

Are they checking against Disney HK or China? Or just the Orlando area. WDW is one part of the Disney Corporation. I can double my money and still not be as rich as Bill Gates...

 

[Roxyfire]

I am not saying absolutely everyone knows dining with characters in an option. I do not, however, think that the number of people who know about that as an option is small, nor do I think that those who know about it are limited to those "in the know" about all the ins and outs on disney chat boards.

I'm sure you're right, I'm sure people come in knowing a lot more than I did just from having friends who went or going themselves. But I think part of the problem might be people don't think they get their money's worth unless they go have that breakfast with cinderella or see A&E with a fastpass. Then they feel like they ruined their vacation before it even started or didn't get their money's worth. Personally I'm going to be glad if I can go 10 days on vacation without a stress headache.

 

[BSmithington]

That really is a fallacy. Where are those 10k new people now? Unless they are there on a day the parks reach capacity, there's nothing keeping them away right now.

They don't need 10,000 customers spending $2,000. Just a few thousand spending $10,000. It's not apples to apples.

Look we can all play arm-chair CEO and pretend that we can run a multi-billion global conglomerate. But I'm going to go with they ran a few thousand monte carlo simulations and know exactly where they will end up.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Who doesn't know you can eat with Cinderella? I sort of stopped listening after that - until I got to:




My kids have a great time at the zoo. I drop about $100 for an annual pass. It's the mom and dad that need to live with the ROI. And I must run with a different crowd, because five or six attractions would not cut it.

Agree, 5-6 attractions on a $100+ ticket - that would be a lousy day. 10+ attractions (or $10/each or less) should be a minimum to enjoy, since families will be looking at $40-$80 attraction (even at 10 attractions). I'd say 12-15 should be the minimum desired number per guest - 2 attractions/hour with 2-3 hours for eating lunch, snacks, and dinner and bathroom/rest breaks. The only way there should be a slightly lower attraction number is if the attractions are long and involved (like the LMA show), then maybe 1-1.5/hour would be a goal. But that's still 8-10 per day, minimum, and they best be REALLY good.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I'm sure you're right, I'm sure people come in knowing a lot more than I did just from having friends who went or going themselves. But I think part of the problem might be people don't think they get their money's worth unless they go have that breakfast with cinderella or see A&E with a fastpass. Then they feel like they ruined their vacation before it even started or didn't get their money's worth. Personally I'm going to be glad if I can go 10 days on vacation without a stress headache.

TBH, I think that reaction gets overexaggerated here. I don't personally know anyone, myself included, whose trip has been "ruined" beforehand by not getting a reservation or a FP+. Disappointed in not getting that reservation or FP+? Yes, absolutely. But that's not the same thing as a trip being ruined before you even go.

The aforementioned friend I spoke of...her trip did *not* go according to her plans. Her DD ended up being very scared of all of the rides..not just dark rides or headliners, but many rides in general. They didn't use 90% of their FP+ (they did use the character meet ones). Nothing they could have planned for ahead of time...no idea how their DD would be til they got there. They still enjoyed their trip. They just adjusted their expectations while they were there (and in their case, it meant lowering their ride expectations completely).

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Agree, 5-6 attractions on a $100+ ticket - that would be a lousy day. 10+ attractions (or $10/each or less) should be a minimum to enjoy, since families will be looking at $40-$80 attraction (even at 10 attractions). I'd say 12-15 should be the minimum desired number per guest - 2 attractions/hour with 2-3 hours for eating lunch, snacks, and dinner and bathroom/rest breaks. The only way there should be a slightly lower attraction number is if the attractions are long and involved (like the LMA show), then maybe 1-1.5/hour would be a goal. But that's still 8-10 per day, minimum, and they best be REALLY good.

You didn't include time on the few park benches remaining to take in the ambiance. Those are very important attractions from what I'm told.

 

[Angel Ariel]

But I'm going to go with they ran a few thousand monte carlo simulations and know exactly where they will end up.

I'm sure they did run many simulations. But also keep in m ind that when Disney has had attendance drops before it was because of situations outside Disney's control. I'd be willing to bet that Desert Storm played a major part in the serious attendance decline from 1991 to 1992. And there was another drop after 9/11. The recession hit people hard and it's taken Disney quite some time to recover their attendance. Disney can do all kinds of simulations, but if something significant happens in the world to disrupt leisure spending/travel again (be it an economic reason or a defense reason), then who did Disney rely on to keep coming? The long time return customers.

 

[BSmithington]

I'm sure they did run many simulations. But also keep in m ind that when Disney has had attendance drops before it was because of situations outside Disney's control. I'd be willing to bet that Desert Storm played a major part in the serious attendance decline from 1991 to 1992. And there was another drop after 9/11. The recession hit people hard and it's taken Disney quite some time to recover their attendance. Disney can do all kinds of simulations, but if something significant happens in the world to disrupt leisure spending/travel again (be it an economic reason or a defense reason), then who did Disney rely on to keep coming? The long time return customers.

Again, Disney is not just the Magic Kingdom. Big, huge, global conglomerate. We being arm-chair CEO's assume they only care about attendance. I would bet they also care about net revenue per customer.

They also have the China expansion, movies, tv and even a piece of Hulu if you want to stay home to boycott losing Off Kilter.

 

[WillAustin]

I am intrigued by some of the positions that seem to be asserted here. One being that a WDW trip is only fun/successful if I (or my kids) can do everything they want, without waiting in lines, and do so multiple times in whatever number of days I scheduled for my trip.

I think that's a bit of hyperbole. I think some people just expect to be able to do what they've done successfully on their past trips.

 

[mom2rtk]

They don't need 10,000 customers spending $2,000. Just a few thousand spending $10,000. It's not apples to apples.

Look we can all play arm-chair CEO and pretend that we can run a multi-billion global conglomerate. But I'm going to go with they ran a few thousand monte carlo simulations and know exactly where they will end up.

Disney wants the 10K customers spending $2,000 right along with the few thousand spending $10K.

 

[Happy_2_B]

First, the financial statements do not back it up.

The increases just occurred, and are not on any 'financial statements' I have seen. I would not expect to see what they intend to do with the expected revenues until this year's 4th quarter earning statements come out at the very earliest- and more realistically after an entire year goes by so as not to generate expectations from stockholders. After a year, they can demonstrate with hard data (rather than expected revenues) the actual increase in revenues from the gate price increases- if there are any- and would then be able illustrate what those revenues are being funneled into. It seems there may be some that have inside information that others are not privy to- or these price increases would have been old news a long time ago had they been 'published' in whatever 'financial statements' you are referring to.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Again, Disney is not just the Magic Kingdom. Big, huge, global conglomerate. We being arm-chair CEO's assume they only care about attendance. I would bet they also care about net revenue per customer.

They also have the China expansion, movies, tv and even a piece of Hulu if you want to stay home to boycott losing Off Kilter.

I am well aware that disney is not just the magic kingdom, thank you. The recent part of this thread has been discussing attendance, and so I focused my reply on attendance. That doesn't mean I'm not aware that Disney is more than the theme parks.

 

[Slapshot1188]

Are they checking against Disney HK or China? Or just the Orlando area. WDW is one part of the Disney Corporation. I can double my money and still not be as rich as Bill Gates...

As we are in the Disney WORLD section of the forums discussing the price hikes at Disney WORLD I thought that was self-explanatory. But apparently not so: That was referring to the ORLANDO based attractions that compete with each other for attendance and dollars.

 

[disneyseniors]

No. You?



Maybe people I run into are less abhorred by the thought of booking a restaurant reservation if they want to go somewhere popular. I don't know. You're making it sound like this horrible process. I, for one, do not think it is. Nor is it required, for only some 2% of guests can see CRT even if they want to, most do not know or want to.



No one cares, and I welcome the discussion! It's you who A) questioned why I comment to you, and then B) says we should discuss because it's a forum.



Most people on here. Exactly. Most people on here need to plan. But we are collectively the top 1% of planners. What most people on here don't always keep in mind is that most people out there are by the fact that they aren't out here, not as into planning! It is wrong to assume other guests are like you or plan like you do when you are among the top 1% of planners when you discuss out here.



Aren't you on a roll. Going back to A) and B) above, we now add C), you post on a forum, and then are disinterested in responses that are contrary to your views.

OMgosh, Mr. I, you are too funny! ROFL. Thanks for all that have a good day!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm going to be honest and say I didn't really know this when I started all of this research and I'd been when I was a kid too. So clearly my parents didn't love me enough to take me for breakfast with a Princess (/kidding). But seriously it wasn't even on my radar as an option. I think either Tusker House or Garden Grill was recommended when I got my booklet in the mail but that's about it.

When we went in 2003 I had no idea what a character meal was. My XH had been every single year as a child and never did a TS meal. Ever. When we went back in 2008 I found the Dis a month before we left and I booked 3 character meals.

Are you a solo traveler? I'm really impressed and sincerely hope to have the same experience.


If I can do every ride (& reride) and show we did last trip when we go next May (same week) I will come back to the board and eloquently apologize for my negativity. I will also feel like I got a good ROI & the money will have been well spent.

But there are a lot of posters (on both sides of the FP+ issue) who suggest I need lower expectations.

We rode just about every ride and rode the headliners multiple times BUT we were there for 10 nights. We were also there during a lower crowd time. We had 8 day park tickets but only used 7 due to a 12 hour flight delay on arrival day.

We hit the headliners at RD, midday break and then used FP+ at night at a different park. So most times we did not hit headliners multiple times on the same day. But we did ride Splash 5 times over our trip because we were in the MK on 3-4 different days and my kids can hang until closing to ride rides when lines are very short.

I don't think we would have hit rides multiple times on a 5-6 day trip. But I refuse to wait longer than 15-20 minutes for any ride.

 

[disneyseniors]

OMgosh, Mr. I, you are too funny! ROFL. Thanks for all that have a good day![/QUOTE

Just had to add, even though I said I wouldn't because it is too ridiculous to respond to. I just don't understand why you have to focus in on my statements, because after all they are MY statements. I guess you must feel the need to comment on EVERYTHING. Don't understand all the attention but oh well!!!
Thanks for the laughs, as this is ridiculous

 

[mickeyluv'r]

You're saying the food quality improved when the peak season pricing kicked in?

Yes.

My experience is pure anecdote I know, but yes.

Many restaurants at WDW now offer so called seasonal menus. The menu is what they can offer with the budget they are given.

Now part of that is guest preference: hearty meat dishes in winter, chilled soup in summer. Part is availability: produce seasons, fluctuations in the cost of salmon.

Also, the quick serves at WDW have pretty consistent food. The pineapple Dole whip ice cream has been pretty consistent for years as far as I know. (Though they can always adjust portions).

So to be fair, both of those are important. Still, restaurants have flexibility in desserts: fritters vs. almond cake covered with fresh seasonal berries. Fritters are little more than flour, grease and sugar. Flour and sugar are also shelf stable. Berries cost more, might arrive bruised, and spoil in a few days.

Back about 2006, strawberries were easy to find at WDW. Not any more.

 

[AquaDame]

The first time we went to Disney was in 2007. Up until then we were cruising (on NCL) in fairly nice suites to very exotic Islands. We wanted to try something different and figured we would save a few bucks going to Disney. That trip was twice as expensive as any cruise to any island we had taken. We just cruised to Bermuda (one of the most expensive islands in the world) and again, didn't spend half as much as we do in Disney.

Sorry if someone beat me to it; ten pages is a lot to catch up with. NCL is also not a luxurious vacation - they have some of the cheapest fares around and one of my main sticking points has been you can go a lot of better places for a lot less than Disney charges, exotic islands included (especially if you aren't paying the resort prices to stay on them). Cruising one of the easiest/cheapest ways to do it (and I'm a big fan of them too for that reason!).

 

[Happy_2_B]

I think that reaction gets overexaggerated here. They still enjoyed their trip. They just adjusted their expectations while they were there.

Ultimately, these statements- in a much broader sense- are what this entire thread comes down to IMHO. DW and I do not go to WDW and 'critique' all of the supposed 'shortcomings' listed in this thread. How could someone possibly have a good time if they are going around 'nitpicking' everything they are 'disappointed' with? Why bother to go if that is the mindset? We go to have fun, and enjoy being in the 'bubble' for a couple of weeks. We have no 'expectations' one way or the other- except that the parks will be open with attractions up and running, our room will be clean, and there will be good munchies and a helpful concierge staff at CL. To spend the kind of money needed to enjoy an extended vacation at WDW, and not enjoy every moment of every day, seems counter-intuitive to me. We would go elsewhere if our mindset beforehand was otherwise.

 

[PAcpl]

Sorry if someone beat me to it; ten pages is a lot to catch up with. NCL is also not a luxurious vacation - they have some of the cheapest fares around and one of my main sticking points has been you can go a lot of better places for a lot less than Disney charges, exotic islands included (especially if you aren't paying the resort prices to stay on them). Cruising one of the easiest/cheapest ways to do it (and I'm a big fan of them too for that reason!).

If you're in a Haven suite and you're going to an exotic island (or even Europe for that matter) in my opinion that is a very luxurious vacation.