Soon to be charging for ME?

[jlewisinsyr]

I agree with your observations and it saddens me. To look back and remember the beliefs Walt stood for and the way he ran business and to look at how the CEOs run things now, it's a shame. If the company continues to lose sight of Walt's vision and dream, I will sell my DVC contracts and stop visiting. I bet the Robert Iger wouldn't mortgage his own house and everything he has in order to build a new park or extend the Disney dream.

Although I agree that Disney has evolved and many of the small touches are gone, to be honest if Walt ran the organization as he saw fit, Disney World wouldn't be Disney World, it would have exhausted its financial resources many years ago or the prices would cater only to the very wealthiest of people.

Walt was a great visionary, no doubt, but he was not a financial expert. Sometimes these two attributes come together, but not often and one must ground the other.

 

[skier_pete]

They won't charge for ME...here's why:

If you use ME...you don't have a car.
You therefore are more likely to do all of your buying on property.
Disney therefore gets a lot more of your money.
Disney is much smarter to wrap this "free" service into the hotel rates. (And don't think that it is.) Everyone who stays on site "pays" for ME whether they use it or not.

We are the perfect example. I love ME and the Disney transportation system. I gladly pay more for other things for what I consider the convenience of not having a car.

Not everyone agrees, and many people still rent a car, or drive to Disney. But, by charging EVERYONE for ME, they are able to spread the cost across the total operation of the resort.

For example: Let's say an average trip length is 7 nights, and let's say it costs them $10 per person to transport us back and forth from the airport (This number is probably high for the cost of a busload of people driving 20 miles each way.) That's $40, or $5.71 per night of our stay. But, perhaps only 25 % of their on-site customers use ME. In that case, the cost on the hotel room is $1.42 per night. Now, for budgetary reasons, they might spread that out at different rates for different resort levels ($0.75 per room for a value, $2 per room for a deluxe), but it's a very small fee per night of hotel stay.

Why change it so people see it? Call it a free service and people clamor for it.
What's the use of charging a $2 per person fee...that's nothing. If they charge $10 per person, a lot more people would say, "OK, I'll just rent a car." So, I don't think you'll see a change here.

 

[DisDreaminMom]

When you speak of "value" you must be referring to just the financial bottom line. In my opinion, if we cannot afford to take a nice family vacation, then we need to stay home and save more or do a more local trip.
When I think of value while on vacation I think of the various things my family values such as:
-not worrying about my luggage once I drop it off at the CLE airport...I'll see it in my room
-not having to drive at all while on vacation---not an issue for some but definitely for us!
-prepaying for our food and going out to eat at various on-property restaurants everyday (ddp)
-going back to the resort during the middle of the day without fighting thru parking lot crowds and drama-got a drama story if ya wanna hear it...
-having packages delivered to the resort and not being forced to lug them around all day
-being able to get into the parks an hour early or stay 3 hours later than the off-property guests

I may pay a little more per night for my room, tho we use our dvc points, but to me, there is more value in staying on property vs off property....and if someone is concerned about the bottom line, there are always the value resorts, which include every value listed above for close to off-property rates.

If the company began charging for these values or not giving them at all, then the value would be gone for us and we would either not go anymore or stay off property when we did go.

Yep, this is exactly what I'm talking about-Perception of Value. Just too lazy to write it all out, but you nailed it! This is exactly why we do WDW and stay on Property instead of going other places. Or we just stay home (strict definition of value).

 

[bgohre]

They won't charge for ME...here's why:

If you use ME...you don't have a car.
You therefore are more likely to do all of your buying on property.
Disney therefore gets a lot more of your money.
Disney is much smarter to wrap this "free" service into the hotel rates. (And don't think that it is.) Everyone who stays on site "pays" for ME whether they use it or not.

We are the perfect example. I love ME and the Disney transportation system. I gladly pay more for other things for what I consider the convenience of not having a car.

Not everyone agrees, and many people still rent a car, or drive to Disney. But, by charging EVERYONE for ME, they are able to spread the cost across the total operation of the resort.

For example: Let's say an average trip length is 7 nights, and let's say it costs them $10 per person to transport us back and forth from the airport (This number is probably high for the cost of a busload of people driving 20 miles each way.) That's $40, or $5.71 per night of our stay. But, perhaps only 25 % of their on-site customers use ME. In that case, the cost on the hotel room is $1.42 per night. Now, for budgetary reasons, they might spread that out at different rates for different resort levels ($0.75 per room for a value, $2 per room for a deluxe), but it's a very small fee per night of hotel stay.

Why change it so people see it? Call it a free service and people clamor for it.
What's the use of charging a $2 per person fee...that's nothing. If they charge $10 per person, a lot more people would say, "OK, I'll just rent a car." So, I don't think you'll see a change here.

I agree. I do not think they will have a seperate ME fee because your first thought would be, "well, if I have to pay for it, I might as well rent a car."

And if you rent a car, you're more likely to go off property for food and shopping. I think the cost will be rolled into the hotel price for all and we'll never see it (except in a price increase).

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

If I were to wager, I would bet they add a modest fee --- perhaps $5 p/psn. This way, they can raise it by $1 or $2 each year and no one will complain!

 

[tjkraz]

If I were to wager, I would bet they add a modest fee --- perhaps $5 p/psn.

By when? What's the wager here?

 

[Chautauqua]

I agree with all of the reasons posted for why they won't charge a separate fee. Plus, it's all about advertising. When you advertise a product (in this case staying at a Disney hotel) you are trying to convince people to buy your product. ME is one of the gimmicks they can use to persuade people to stay there. Everyone has different needs/wants. ME is something that will entice a certain segment of people to stay on-site, just as there are others that will stay on-site because of the extra magic hours. Any of those entitlements by themselves isn't reason enough to justify the higher room rates, but put it all together and plenty of people stay (because of the 'perceived value' discussed earlier). Look at those commercials on TV where a company sells a product for say $19.99, and then to get you to buy it, they say that if you act now they'll throw in a second one absolutely free. It's not free - you are paying for it. $19.99 is really the price for two.
When you stay on-site, you're not getting free magical express, or free use of the monorails, boats, and buses, or free package delivery to your hotel, or even free extra hours in the parks. Your room rate is paying for everything from running the hotel to transportation to the cost of operating parks for hours that only hotel guests can be there.

You also have to figure that when they first started the program, if it wasn't successful in helping lure people to the on-site hotels, and if they weren't able to mitigate its operating cost(through room rates), it would have been discontinued long ago.

 

[PACVII]

Does anyone remember when they did charge for ME? When Mears ran it they charged $50.00 per person round trip.

With 4 in my group; that is when I would always rent a car and go off site for just about each meal, went over to Universal and other parks.

Many of you have great points, for the past 5 years I have been going by ME and stay on site and have not gone off for really anything - other then going over to the hess for a case - So you do the math.

They would be crazy to start to even think about a fee again! Rental car here I come. First stop for a few food items, and then to Universal, its been a few years since we been back for a visit.

 

[kmcl1952]

I have taken several trips this year where I arrived at MCO quite early in the A.M.
My wife and I were the only passengers on the ME bus in both directions for one trip and one way for another. As much as I like a good deal, there is no way to justify an entire bus for two people.
I would prefer the option of not renting a car. A $5-$8 charge per person per trip would not offend me.
One advantage to being an annual pass holder and having the luxury of taking several trips a year is the Tables in Wonderland discount card which provides 20% off food and alcohol at the sit-down restaurants. The food quality at WDW sit-down restaurants is really quite good and with the 20% discount, quite a value.
For years I did the stay off-site, eat off-site drill but now that we're older and able to travel more frequently, I am a fan of staying on-site. The room discounts the last year or so have been amazing!

 

[wdwtweets]

I really can't imagine that they were charge a separate fee for the ME service. I agree with the PPs who said that if they are to increase the charge for ME, they will just build the increase into the hotel cost.

Also, you have to consider your source. Why would this particular CM be in the know on these executive decisions?

 

[lugnut33]

Please don't read this Bob Iger.

If they really wanted to make people dependent on ME and DT, then they should make everybody entering a park in a car pay for parking. Yes, even those staying at resorts. That way everyone would use Disney Transportation and be captives. It's a brilliant plan if you ask me.

 

[manning]

Please don't read this Bob Iger.

If they really wanted to make people dependent on ME and DT, then they should make everybody entering a park in a car pay for parking. Yes, even those staying at resorts. That way everyone would use Disney Transportation and be captives. It's a brilliant plan if you ask me.

Well, that's when I stop going. $12.00 a day is a lot on top of paying for a room and lodging. for me anyway.