So just why is Disney raising ticket prices so early

[mom2rtk]

I agree with our agreement

Have a great day, I'm taking the kids crabbing. Crabs don't have filing requirements or shareholder pressures.

But the kids can sure eat into your profit margin!

 

[GadgetRick]

I agree with our agreement

Have a great day, I'm taking the kids crabbing. Crabs don't have filing requirements or shareholder pressures.

LOL! Yeah, we're just waiting for friends to come by so we can head over to the beach. Have a great one!

 

[PrincessKara22]

I haven't read the whole thread but I thought they announced the ticket price changes around this time every year.

 

[The_Alice]

I haven't read the whole thread but I thought they announced the ticket price changes around this time every year.

They usually wait until August (What, first or second Sunday usually?) Which is why we are all wondering what is going on.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I love the romanticized views of Disney. Sorry but it is a simplistic view because it is a simplistic answer.

Why do they do all of this? Because it's the product they sell. And you're missing the fact that a lot of the little kinds of stuff you're mentioning has been lost over the years. They don't do as much of the little stuff as they used to.

As far as why make good attractions? Again, it's what they do. Of course they're going to go the extra mile in making attractions. If they didn't the value would be seriously diminished and the attendance would fall off drastically and they'd make much less profit.

I have never attended a Disney board meeting but I'm pretty sure they don't sit around and talk about how much they can do for the guests. I am sure, however, they talk about things which will bring in more profits.

Again, it's not a knock on Disney, they're a for-profit company. However, it doesn't mean I'm happy about the price increases. Heck, I'm not happy about the price of gas being so high or a gallon of milk being so high or anything else. However, I have to buy gas and milk, etc. And people complaining about that (obviously) has no affect on the price of these necessities. However, if enough people complain, and enough people stop going or spending as much, Disney will listen because profits will be down and the stockholders will ask why.

While you may not be upset with the price increases I doubt you're terribly happy about them either. Trying to justify them by saying (essentially), it's the price for the, "magic," doesn't help the experience at all.

Sorry but I don't agree. Disney is a for profit company...period. The company, overall, could care less whether you or I felt, "loved," at Disney as long as we spent money there. The Imagineers, etc. are not part of this equation. They are the workers who don't make the business decisions. I'm sure they care but they're not part of the problem (or the solution).

If anyone thinks Disney gives a rat's butt about us, think again. They're about the dollar...and that's not a bad thing. It is what it is and that's the way our economy is built. For better or worse.

For someone with so many long posts about this you appear to know very little about the company's history.

And business.

And you continue to get it backwards. Profits FOLLOW, they don't lead. And what they follow is customer satisfaction. That is the top priority and that is the focus of WDW and yes, it is discussed at board meetings for sure. This is true of any customer service business that is worth its salt, including the one I work at (and I sit on 2 different boards at our US subsidiaries).

Try educating yourself on the topic of business and profits. Read about the Malcolm Baldridge Award. Try and understand why companies come up with a Mission Statement (and I have yet to see one that said "Our Mission is to Make Profit" or "Customers: We Don't Give a Crap About Them"). Read about Walt and his vision for Disney.

 

[rt2dz]

Well, not really the question, the question is why Disney raised prices early this year and why they continue to raise them. The answer to that is very simple...profitability.

As far as what you're asking, that's a much deeper (and harder to answer) question.

That's actually where the conversation has turned when posters weren't looking. It's all connected.

I'm guessing them buying the Marvel franchise had something to do with WWOHP coming (at the time). Once the contract Universal has with Disney runs out, I expect to see some major Marvel attractions coming to WDW. That is going to hurt Universal. WWOHP is great but it's not like everyone is into HP (I know myself and my wife aren't and I know of many others who are). However, everyone seems to dig the mouse. And with an extra incentive to bring people there (i.e. Marvel stuff), I see good things on the horizon. I just hope they don't make it so darn expensive many people can't (or won't) pay the prices...

I highly doubt it. That is how Disney will make a profit from every guest Universal gets. Make better sense to keep Marvel at Universal.

 

[GadgetRick]

For someone with so many long posts about this you appear to know very little about the company's history.

And business.

And you continue to get it backwards. Profits FOLLOW, they don't lead. And what they follow is customer satisfaction. That is the top priority and that is the focus of WDW and yes, it is discussed at board meetings for sure. This is true of any customer service business that is worth its salt, including the one I work at (and I sit on 2 different boards at our US subsidiaries).

And I'm not sure if you've ever attended a Disney board meeting yet you say things about what they discuss as if you know for sure.

Also, Disney is not a customer service company...they are an entertainment company. And they are a for profit company. There's no getting around that. Their product is the world they create in their parks (other than their other parts of the company of course). It's not about how they service the customer.

Try educating yourself on the topic of business and profits. Read about the Malcolm Baldridge Award. Try and understand why companies come up with a Mission Statement (and I have yet to see one that said "Our Mission is to Make Profit" or "Customers: We Don't Give a Crap About Them"). Read about Walt and his vision for Disney.

Hmm, a little bit insulting there...

Anyway, I do know a thing or two about profits and business. And I know quite a bit about Disney's history. Disney has this aura around them that they care, they really care about their customers. I'm not saying they don't care, I'm saying they don't care about us any more than any other company out there.

You're taking me totally literally. Obviously, customer satisfaction is important (at least on some level) or they wouldn't have people employed to read our letters/emails and to take our calls. However, at the end of the day, if doing something is going to make them less profitable, they aren't going to do it (generally). Sure, there will be some examples of where they might be doing things in spite of profits--many companies do this--however, at the end of the day, they must answer to the shareholders. The shareholders expect value in their Disney stock. If there are no profits (or lower profits), that value is reduced. You might want to read up on public companies and how they answer to shareholders not the customers...

 

[GadgetRick]

I highly doubt it. That is how Disney will make a profit from every guest Universal gets. Make better sense to keep Marvel at Universal.

It all depends on how the contract is written. I have no idea how it was written or what discussions they've had regarding this. You could be right.

However, I'd love to see a Thor Norway attraction at EPCOT...

 

[Planogirl]

It all depends on how the contract is written. I have no idea how it was written or what discussions they've had regarding this. You could be right.

However, I'd love to see a Thor Norway attraction at EPCOT...

I'm nervous about this. I'm a big Marvel fan and the characters are not all about pixie dust and magic. I hope that Disney doesn't try to change them someday to make them overly family friendly.

 

[TLSnell1981]

"We found that many of our guests under the age of 15 did not know Walt Disney was a real person," said Senior Show Producer/Director Roger Holzberg of Walt Disney Imagineering. "They thought it was just a company name."

I'm afraid, "one man's dream" will be forgotten, and Disneyworld will become "just an amusement park".

Of course, any business must be profitable to operate. Disney has remained, a cut above the rest, because it was unique....had Magic. Strip that away, and what's left?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

It all depends on how the contract is written. I have no idea how it was written or what discussions they've had regarding this. You could be right.

However, I'd love to see a Thor Norway attraction at EPCOT...

At the time of the purchase of Marvel, according to all reports, the contract USF had with Marvel was in perpetuity for exclusive use of the characters they currently had in attractions for any park in the US East of the Mississippi River.

So their use will not expire as long as they maintain the attractions and nobody else can use those character in a US Park in the East.

This would not preclude Disney using the same characters anywhere but in the restricted area, and nothing to prevent use of the other Marvel characters in any Park worldwide.

One interesting thing is now the royalties on merchandise sales and other licensing is subject to audit by The Walt Disney Company as the owner of Marvel and Universal has to pay Disney these royalties.

 

[flicx]

I'm afraid, "one man's dream" will be forgotten, and Disneyworld will become "just an amusement park".

Of course, any business must be profitable to operate. Disney has remained, a cut above the rest, because it was unique....had Magic. Strip that away, and what's left?

I couldn't agree more, the magic makes it unique.In my opinion the management has decided to take disneyworld in a new direction.That direction is one of extracting as much money as possible from its customers.I hope the damage they are currently doing doesn't hurt the franchise in the future!

 

[jayandstacey]

For someone with so many long posts about this you appear to know very little about the company's history.

And business.

And you continue to get it backwards. Profits FOLLOW, they don't lead. And what they follow is customer satisfaction. That is the top priority and that is the focus of WDW and yes, it is discussed at board meetings for sure. This is true of any customer service business that is worth its salt, including the one I work at (and I sit on 2 different boards at our US subsidiaries).

Try educating yourself on the topic of business and profits. Read about the Malcolm Baldridge Award. Try and understand why companies come up with a Mission Statement (and I have yet to see one that said "Our Mission is to Make Profit" or "Customers: We Don't Give a Crap About Them"). Read about Walt and his vision for Disney.

Sure, that's nominally true. And yes, customer sat comes prior to profits -it is a solid business foundation on which to build profits. And yes, Disney does reap the benefits of a hyper-focus on customer sat.

But think of it this way - if over the next year, either
a) customer satisfaction was way down, but somehow profits rolled in as before, or
b) customer satisfaction was up but profits were way down...
Which is more likely to cause the doors to be shut?? I'd say B. In the long run, profitable companies will continue operations, while non-profitable ones will not - regardless of how happy customers are.

for example: The "flip" video camera was recently discontinued. It was the far-and-away market leader and had RAVING fans, the kind companies kill for. It was rugged and known for its user-friendly design. But it wasn't profitable and had low hopes of being so later. So it gets cut, despite consumer pleas.

Disney provides a uniquely high-quality product and provides customer sat at an insane level.

Still, customer sat is only the means. Profit is the end.

 

[TisBit]

I couldn't agree more, the magic makes it unique.In my opinion the management has decided to take disneyworld in a new direction.That direction is one of extracting as much money as possible from its customers.I hope the damage they are currently doing doesn't hurt the franchise in the future!

I think this is the misconception that I have mentioned before. Extracting the most money as possible has always been the direction that Disney has moved in...from the beginning. Yes, they use magic and pixie dust to make it feel a little better while they are doing it, but most of the decisions at WDW has always been about making the profit.

From having magical express offered for free (I think for my honeymoon it cost us 60 bucks for two people round trip from MCO on Meers) to free dining. They disquise the profits of keeping you on site and spending money there with a "free" service. I remember in the early 1980's being in the car wiht my parents and they were saying these EXACT same things....how it was too expensive, Disney was no longer about Walt's dream and that Roy Disney was ruining the company....blah blah blah.

They usually wait until August (What, first or second Sunday usually?) Which is why we are all wondering what is going on.

If you look at the price increases over the last decade you will actually find the anomaly is that they raised the prices at the same time for a couple of years in a row, not that they are raising them at a different time this year.

It is simple, if they raised the prices the same time every year, people will figure that out and buy their tickets accordingly (just before the price increases). By changing the time of year, they do not develop a predictable routine and in certain cases can raise the prices a little more often than annually (lets say they raise them every 10 months...it feels like every year, but over a 6 year period they can actually raise them 7 times).

 

[GadgetRick]

I think this is the misconception that I have mentioned before. Extracting the most money as possible has always been the direction that Disney has moved in...from the beginning. Yes, they use magic and pixie dust to make it feel a little better while they are doing it, but most of the decisions at WDW has always been about making the profit.

From having magical express offered for free (I think for my honeymoon it cost us 60 bucks for two people round trip from MCO on Meers) to free dining. They disquise the profits of keeping you on site and spending money there with a "free" service.

Well said. Everyone talks about the, "free dining," but, and I've said it many times before, it's all to keep people onsite longer. The more time people stay onsite, the more money they spend (with Disney). The more money they spend (if Disney does their homework) the more profit they make.

I'm not complaining about it, just stating the fact that Disney makes these decisions based on their profit margin, not whether we'll be happy about them or not. If we like their decisions, that's a bonus for them.

 

[DebbieB]

The "free dining" is a marketing scheme that people go for but they don't realize that each year Disney gets more money out of them. Rack rate for the hotels go up. They eliminated the appetizer and the tip. They took away the full dining plan for values, you have to pay to upgrade. By doing it gradually, people don't feel the sting but if you look back at what you paid and what you got 5 years ago you will see a big difference. For the ticket price increases, it was about 6 or 7 weeks early. If they do it gradually, it's not noticed as much.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

A critical point is that about 70% of WDW Guests are first-time visitors.

The DisBoards regulars are a very tiny percentage. The true number is probably less than 25% of the Member count on the Home Page. My wife died over six years ago and is still counted as a member. Anyone who ever registered, whether dead, a spammer caught and banned on their first day, or people who have just come on once or twice are still counted here.

So the greatest majority really have nothing to compare it to and see The Magic.

 

[mom2rtk]

The "free dining" is a marketing scheme that people go for but they don't realize that each year Disney gets more money out of them. Rack rate for the hotels go up. They eliminated the appetizer and the tip. They took away the full dining plan for values, you have to pay to upgrade. By doing it gradually, people don't feel the sting but if you look back at what you paid and what you got 5 years ago you will see a big difference. For the ticket price increases, it was about 6 or 7 weeks early. If they do it gradually, it's not noticed as much.

Yes, free dining is less of a "deal" than it used to be. But honestly, when you're looking to stay onsite, the value resort with free dining, even with the price of the upgrade, is the best deal going (assuming you planned to add the dining plan anyway, which we would). The best room discount at a value is what..... 30 to 35%? That's $30 to $35 a night in discount. If you have even 2 people staying in the room, it's still a far better deal than any alternative.

If you typically stay at a deluxe, then it's a whole different ballgame. But for the best onsite value, free dining is still it.

 

[rt2dz]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. For a family of six, when the tickets alone cost close to $3K, without all the kids paying adult prices at the ripe old age of 10, something has to give. At least eventually.

There are lots of options. We'll probably do a combination of the two below:

• Attending less frequently. Instead of 10 days annually. I'm thinking 2 years in a row go (to max out the AP) and then go elsewhere the next two years.
• Staying offsite, which will lead to eating offsite.

In the long run, Disney will catch less of our dollars. Our resort dollars will go to some vacation home owner. The restaurants around Disney will gain quite a bit of dining dollars. The grocery stores will earn our breakfast dollars, and some snack dollars. If we're not captive to Disney pricing, it would be foolish to not visit Universal, who will gain ticket dollars and souvenir money.

We were talking about buying DVC, and had been on the fence about it. I think this secures the "nope" of buying. Money Disney lost. I'm just afraid of how high the price point will eventually get. We're not talking 1-2 people. Or even 4. But 6. I think that can make a big difference (the number of people one is purchasing for) on how you see the price increase. But I will admit, it's more of the cost of rooms that has me

I won't be spending less, I just won't spend more. And in order to navigate around their price increases, I just need to make adjustments where possible. I just find it hard to believe I am the only one.

 

[rt2dz]

Yes, free dining is less of a "deal" than it used to be. But honestly, when you're looking to stay onsite, the value resort with free dining, even with the price of the upgrade, is the best deal going (assuming you planned to add the dining plan anyway, which we would). The best room discount at a value is what..... 30 to 35%? That's $30 to $35 a night in discount. If you have even 2 people staying in the room, it's still a far better deal than any alternative.

If you typically stay at a deluxe, then it's a whole different ballgame. But for the best onsite value, free dining is still it.

It's not just about if you were to buy the dining plan anyway. IMHO, most people who buy the dining plan are losing money. The only way to make the dining plan a value is to use it to its best advantage--where the vacation becomes about dining. And that's OK, but would you order that food normally? An appetizer for every person? No dessert ever? No adult beverages ever? Never a signature restaurant? ALL quick service (since that is the free plan for values)? People don't normally eat the way the dining plan is designed. Many waste credits--or splurge at the end of the trip on snack credits because it isn't something they ate.

Start talking about free dining and you're talking about paying rack rate on rooms. And premium prices on tickets. And taking away choice that might lower the overall quality of your vacation.

It's all for Disney's favor. Nothing wrong with it. But Disney knows that makes you pay rack rate for room, premium price on dining, a WDW capitive that will spend all souvenir money there, and won't cost them a ton on dining because the average guest (not DIS guest) won't use the dining plan to their best advantage.