Prices just hit my threshold :-(

[3DisneyFanz]

As an update, one of my DVC contracts has sold in 1 day. LOL

Clearly you didn't ask enough money for it then. You've learned nothing from all your years with Disney.

 

[dlavender]

As an update, one of my DVC contracts has sold in 1 day. LOL

I hope that you didn't feel entitled to receive money

 

[momof2n2]

As an update, one of my DVC contracts has sold in 1 day. LOL

must have been bought by someone who hasn't been since the good old days - you know - circa 2010?

Glad it sold quickly. Next time - ask more!! LOL

 

[bpadair32]

As an update, one of my DVC contracts has sold in 1 day. LOL

The ultimate irony would be if Disney picked it up on rofr so they could sell it to someone else at 165 a point and therefore end up making more money off of your unhappiness than they did off of your original happiness.

 

[robinb]

Clearly you didn't ask enough money for it then. You've learned nothing from all your years with Disney.

*snork*

 

[mom2rtk]

#1 Disney is not a small cafe.
#2 Why wouldn't every business just serve a high end, niche clientele, then? Because in most cases, its a very hard strategy to implement and sustain. I'm sure Disney would love to fill the MK with 100000k people everyday at $5000/day tickets. If it was that easy, why don't they just do it?

Think of it this way:

You own the world's largest cafe, with 10000 seats. 1000 seats are filled with big spenders, feeling entitled to have all of the waiter's time to themselves, demanding that their steak is never cooked right, however, you notice your restaurant is empty....why are you wasting space? You either move to a smaller space, or entice others to fill the empty seats.

That's correct. Last I checked parks only reached capacity a handful of days each year.

 

[disneyfan2kids]

I am realistic- no more, no less. One can choose to agree to disagree with me- but be VERY careful with the insults. I do not need Kool- Aide, as I am not a child. My opinions and views are just as valid as anyone else's. Cyrano has already been on this thread and gently warned people about respecting other's opinions. It might be wise to heed that warning- or not- totally up to the individual poster how they view moderator input. As for me, I have been very careful to not insult other posters while making my views known, and am able to 'agree to disagree' with other posters and remain polite about it. Apparently, not everyone feels the same.

Seriously? Offering a cup of Kool-Aide is a far cry from an insult.
I think you may be taking things a bit personally.
If I did a search for Kool-Aide on this site...my browser would most likely freeze up.

 

[BSmithington]

#1 Disney is not a small cafe.
#2 Why wouldn't every business just serve a high end, niche clientele, then? Because in most cases, its a very hard strategy to implement and sustain. I'm sure Disney would love to fill the MK with 100000k people everyday at $5000/day tickets. If it was that easy, why don't they just do it?

Think of it this way:

You own the world's largest cafe, with 10000 seats. 1000 seats are filled with big spenders, feeling entitled to have all of the waiter's time to themselves, demanding that their steak is never cooked right, however, you notice your restaurant is empty....why are you wasting space? You either move to a smaller space, or entice others to fill the empty seats.

They have limited resources. There are only so many seats on a bus, tables in a restaurant and rides around the track. Disney has high demand and everyone wants the same thing.

It's smart to phase out the lower producing customers. Focus on those that can add to the bottom line.

I'm a business owner, I'd rather 500 high paying clients than 1,000 marginal ones.

 

[freediverdude]

Just wanted to chime in that I'm not surprised by the DVC going in one day. DVC resales are a very hot commodity right now, and listings are frequently gone same day, especially smaller contracts.

 

[mom2rtk]

They have limited resources. There are only so many seats on a bus, tables in a restaurant and rides around the track. Disney has high demand and everyone wants the same thing.

It's smart to phase out the lower producing customers. Focus on those that can add to the bottom line.

I'm a business owner, I'd rather 500 high paying clients than 1,000 marginal ones.

Then what do you advise them to do with those thousands of value resort rooms every night?

 

[dlavender]

They have limited resources. There are only so many seats on a bus, tables in a restaurant and rides around the track. Disney has high demand and everyone wants the same thing.

It's smart to phase out the lower producing customers. Focus on those that can add to the bottom line.

I'm a business owner, I'd rather 500 high paying clients than 1,000 marginal ones.

Duh. However, Disney has 20 million customers annually. Are you stating that the lower producing customers are blocking access for the higher producing customers? That there is a race every morning to the gates of the MK, and that the higher producing customers are behind the lower producing ones, trying to get through, but cant, so turn around and leave? I'm guessing that Disney already has 50% of their clientele as "high paying clients". They don't need to turn people away, saying, no, you don't spend enough, let Mr. Rich behind you through.

Why don't they demolish the All Stars, AoA, even the moderates? Make them all Deluxe?

 

[bpadair32]

Then what do you advise them to do with those thousands of value resort rooms every night?

Build more attractions and new lands of course, isn't that one of the biggest disappointments here, that they don't have anything new?

 

[3DisneyFanz]

This is kind of a misrepresentation/simplification of what happened. Disney was not so much in trouble (aside from the squabbling and the inability of the two families to work together) as they were sitting on piles of gold and doing nothing with it. Disney was an extremely valuable commodity, which is why they were so susceptible to corporate raiders. Many people think it was "Walt & Roy O. ideas" that had failed vs fighting=nothing. The old guard of Card Walker types were so paralyzed with "what would Walt do," that they forgot to actually do "what Walt would do." [note: WWWD is not a bad strategy, if you actually do it...fighting over what it means, resulting in nothing is something Walt would have NEVER done]. Walt was highly adaptable proven by being on the leading edges of use of sound/color in films, that whole animation thing, and going over the banker's heads to this emerging market of television to fund and market Disneyland. He bet big on progress, and it served him well. Walt never would have let what happened, happen, and I would have hoped that as financially creative as Roy O was he would have recognized the dangers of the shifting sands of the 80's corporate world.

But Eisner/Wells actually did some of the things that Ron Miller wanted to do. History has warped the narrative to some extent with certain parties wanting to paint others as more inept than they were, and their role was more savior that it might have been. Everyone with any interest in this stuff should read John Taylor's book Storming the Magic Kingdom. It was published in 1987, so by being closer to the events of the early 80s, I think you get a more accurate version, then from some of the books that have come later. I need to reread it, it's been awhile. It's interesting that you do mention Eisner as numbers and Wells as creative...many people believe it was the other way around, and Eisner certainly seemed to envision himself as the creative one. Personally, I think it was mostly Wells...and Eisner was simply lucky that Wells did not want to be CEO. And we got to see that after Wells passing and Eisner suffered his own paralysis and crisis of confidence.

But the rest of your post is spot on, as I've posted before I believe it was the investments Wells & Eisner made in WDW, that is driving THIS current wave of growth, as the kids who witnessed that now have kids of their own, and have been waiting for that day all their life. More that, than the decisions made within TDO over the last 20 years. Do those "Eisner kids" like what WDW has turned into, and their children? Too soon to tell, I think. If we're only up to the "Eisner kids" as parents, we haven't even gotten to the kids who went for the first time under Judson Green's "every time we open something, we have to close something," philosophy, or Paul Pressler's "if we do only critical maintenance, the numbers look way better, what else can we cut" philosophy. Choices the current crop of managers, seems to have doubled down on. But then again, I doubt the current crop expects to be there when the "chickens come home to roost."

I didn't mean to imply they were in danger of going out of business but I do believe they were losing relevance and clearly were suffering from lack of creativity and forward thinking leadership. It was clear Walt surrounded himself with people who could make his dreams reality but they weren't dreamers themselves and I think that mix is critical for this type of company.

I'd say what happened after Wells death was a pretty clear indication of where the creativity and push to grow came from but I'm sure Eisner wasn't without ideas. I know many credit him for bringing back the focus on service which really was a big part of what made the park experience so good during their tenure.

Sadly though I think you're already starting to see the impact of Pressler in this thread. If you didn't go when maintenance was key you don't realize how much it's neglected now. If something's been broken everytime you've been then you just assume that nothing is what that fish was designed to do.

I'm going to check out Storming the Magic Kingdom.

 

[famy27]

Then why are they offering six types of APs to FL residents? One would assume that many FL residents are locals who do not stay overnight, who eat fewer meals in the park, and who buy fewer souvenirs. Obviously there are exceptions and some FL residents may spend a ton, but I know I personally spend much less when I go to my local Six Flags than when I travel to Disney.

Sure, the AP price just went up, but there is still a discount for DVC members and FL residents. The FL residents are blacked out of some of the highest demand dates with the cheaper passes but that may incentivize the locals to go more often during the available days to get more value out of their APs. They are counting on the locals to fill the parks during the "quieter" times. They'd rather have the locals there spending a little than nobody there at all. If they really didn't want the locals, they'd do away with FL discounts and possibly even APs. But I don't see that happening.

 

[BSmithington]

Then what do you advise them to do with those thousands of value resort rooms every night?

You continue to raise the price until you suck every single penny out of the demographic. Let's be honest the value resorts are pretty awful. If you moved them a few miles down the road they would sell for $50-$70 a night. At some point you will cross the line and consumers will not pay for a value. Is it $200 or $250 a night?

 

[crostorfer]

Then what do you advise them to do with those thousands of value resort rooms every night?

Knock out more walls, make those rooms 2 and 3 bedroom suites at $1100 per night, and turn it into a DVC resort, of course. That's the answer to everything, isn't it?

 

[bpadair32]

You continue to raise the price until you suck every single penny out of the demographic. Let's be honest the value resorts are pretty awful. If you moved them a few miles down the road they would sell for $50-$70 a night. At some point you will cross the line and consumers will not pay for a value. Is it $200 or $250 a night?

Not even close. Values start at $85 a night.

 

[BSmithington]

Duh. However, Disney has 20 million customers annually. Are you stating that the lower producing customers are blocking access for the higher producing customers? That there is a race every morning to the gates of the MK, and that the higher producing customers are behind the lower producing ones, trying to get through, but cant, so turn around and leave? I'm guessing that Disney already has 50% of their clientele as "high paying clients". They don't need to turn people away, saying, no, you don't spend enough, let Mr. Rich behind you through.

Why don't they demolish the All Stars, AoA, even the moderates? Make them all Deluxe?

That is exactly what I am stating. When you are stuck in a line you are not spending. And now they can track your movements and spending habits.

And that is what they are saying. You Mr. AP holder, you don't spend enough to be here during a busy time. If you want to be here it's X premium.

 

[BSmithington]

Not even close. Values start at $85 a night.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

 

[bpadair32]

I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

You said is it 200-250 a night for a value and I was saying its not even close to that for a value they are 85 a night.