Thoughts on ticket price increases?

[DeeCee735]

I am not one to complain about all things Disney, but I'm shocked at the prices increases going on there. My DH and I just got back from our trip "home". We were sticker shocked at the increased prices on certain things, like the BW bakery, and souvenirs, food, beverages, etc. Tee shirts that used to be $24.95 now up $5.00 - $10, with the same shirts being sold off property at half the cost. Hats? Holy cow, $30 for a hat???? I bought my dad one in Publix for $14!!! Same hat as on property too!

The bakery, OMG! $4-$5.00 for a piece of cake half the size from a year or two ago? Outrageous and disconcerting.
We've been going to WDW for 20 years, and I really think the most recent increases have been the highest.

Then, the news about the tickets going up. Really? Really???? No more NON-EXPIRE tickets?? What?
I've been buying renewal AP's at the discounted DVC member rate, and DH has always purchased a no-expire park hopper as he only goes once a year, (whereas I go a few times). I cannot believe a $44 increase in the renewal AP, and no more NON-EXPIRE tickets!

So, we really had to sit down and discuss our continuing Disney trips. We decided from now on, we will put money into renting a car, only go to the Disney parks one day in a 5 day or shorter trip, and now start to venture off property for other area attractions and restaurants. We've decided to now make our DVC more timeshare vacationing and less Disney vacationing. Affordability to the side, it just seems to have become to us long time Disney visitors more like blatantly ripping us off than just normal inflation.

Maybe I'm wrong, I didn't do any kind of actual analysis, but knowing what it cost just a few years ago to what it costs now?! Wow! It's just got to be less Disney and more trading out or something.

Not that we don't still adore our DVC membership, but it's gotta work both ways.

 

[tjkraz]

Pretty simple...I think Disney will charge whatever the market will bear. Their attendance and profits are still on the upswing. Across town Universal Studios is still growing its business.

Individual reactions aside, there appears to be tremendous demand for this type of entertainment.

Note that DVC owners got something of a double-whammy in the form of both AP price increases and a reduction in the member discount. Prices to the general public only went up about 4% while DVC rates are up 7-9%.

IF guests suddenly start thumbing their noses at Disney, they will respond accordingly. Could be a lower increase next year. They've done coupons for merchandise discounts in the past. DVC owners could see another limited-time ticket special.

But until the revolt occurs, Disney will keep chugging right along in spite of the grumbling from some of their target market.

 

[chalee94]

But until the revolt occurs, Disney will keep chugging right along in spite of the grumbling from some of their target market.

Yep, talk is cheap.

You can complain as much as you want but until a lot of us change our behavior, the prices will keep going up.

 

[DeeCee735]

Oh how true, but we really will have to change our stays. 20 + plus years in going calls for it anyway. This was just the little push we needed. I will always love staying on property, just not hitting the parks and restaurants as much....

 

[LvsTnk]

hoping for a ticket special really soon AP's need to be renewed and that increase def has a sting to it

 

[dwight16]

i think people are too sensitive about Disney and price increases its a fact of life prices go up (unless your flat screen tvs then seems to always go down) . its healthy that prices go up think about the workers busting there A** to make sure you have a nice time don't you think they deserve a raise every year? Disney made a commitment to get workers close to 12 dollars an hour with in the next year. everyone just thinks Disney is putting it in their pockets do you have any clue how much money it take to run that place down there? billions per quarter Disney runs around a 15% profit margin in the parks division. its not much when apple makes 55% off my phone or GM made 35% off my SUV i bought from them.....how about you complain about that? Next time you complain that that cake you bought think about the people who made it for you and how their life is do you think they took real nice vacations for the last 20 years?!?!?!?!?! probably not put things into prescriptive and you always have a choice dont go anymore if its too much......

 

[disneynutz]

Disney seems to be banking in newbies to keep their numbers up. As long as their advertising keeps them coming, they can afford to lose some old timers.

Old timers have seen behind the curtain, look for the best deals and some took advantage of non-expiration tickets, Disney took care of that. They will probably make millions on the expired days not used on tickets.

Bill

 

[DougEMG]

While ticket prices and food prices and everything else at Disney has gone up which kind of sucks, at least we own DVC points which does help quiet a lot in containing the costs.

 

[ludari]

Obviously I do not like the ticket increase but this will not stop me from purchasing an AP. I do wish DVC was more consistent with it's perks and discounts for ticket prices/APs at both WDW and DLR. Park tickets and AP are more expensive at DLR and I'm not asking for that to change but I would like to have DVC offer a similar discount as they do at WDW for tickets/APs. At DLR DVC members can get a discount of $20 on AP which my employer (which has nothing to do with Disney) also offers but I would expect more from DVC especially being a member. I did write DVC member services hoping that maybe sometime in the near future that DVC members can get ticket/AP discounts at both WDW and DLR. Maybe other DVC members can do the same. Okay, I'm off my soapbox.

 

[Husurdady]

Please correct me if I am wrong.......didn't I read somewhere where Disney's CEO made something like $47 million this past 2014?

 

[tjkraz]

Please correct me if I am wrong.......didn't I read somewhere where Disney's CEO made something like $47 million this past 2014?

Whatever the number, he lead the company to a $7.5 billion profit last year. Those dollars aren't just lining the pockets of other wall street fat cats...those are OUR 401Ks, pension plans, college savings accounts and other investments.

Is he overpaid? Perhaps. But this isn't a job you can just toss at any old executive and assume similar results. Look no further than Michael Eisner and Ron Miller to see what can happen with an ineffective leader at the helm.

 

[Brian Noble]

Disney seems to be banking in newbies to keep their numbers up. As long as their advertising keeps them coming, they can afford to lose some old timers.

It's a pretty smart strategy. There's a new crop of 5-year-olds every single year, and a Disney trip has nearly become a childhood right of passage for certain slices of the socio-economic pyramid. Most of those people have a great time. Some of them have so much fun that they decide to bottle that magical vacation feeling for "decades of vacations at today's prices."

 

[rmcildw2m]

I am not one to complain about all things Disney, but I'm shocked at the prices increases going on there. My DH and I just got back from our trip "home". We were sticker shocked at the increased prices on certain things, like the BW bakery, and souvenirs, food, beverages, etc. Tee shirts that used to be $24.95 now up $5.00 - $10, with the same shirts being sold off property at half the cost. Hats? Holy cow, $30 for a hat???? I bought my dad one in Publix for $14!!! Same hat as on property too!

The bakery, OMG! $4-$5.00 for a piece of cake half the size from a year or two ago? Outrageous and disconcerting.
We've been going to WDW for 20 years, and I really think the most recent increases have been the highest.

Then, the news about the tickets going up. Really? Really???? No more NON-EXPIRE tickets?? What?
I've been buying renewal AP's at the discounted DVC member rate, and DH has always purchased a no-expire park hopper as he only goes once a year, (whereas I go a few times). I cannot believe a $44 increase in the renewal AP, and no more NON-EXPIRE tickets!

So, we really had to sit down and discuss our continuing Disney trips. We decided from now on, we will put money into renting a car, only go to the Disney parks one day in a 5 day or shorter trip, and now start to venture off property for other area attractions and restaurants. We've decided to now make our DVC more timeshare vacationing and less Disney vacationing. Affordability to the side, it just seems to have become to us long time Disney visitors more like blatantly ripping us off than just normal inflation.

Maybe I'm wrong, I didn't do any kind of actual analysis, but knowing what it cost just a few years ago to what it costs now?! Wow! It's just got to be less Disney and more trading out or something.

Not that we don't still adore our DVC membership, but it's gotta work both ways.

You ARE not wrong at all , Disney is sticking it to us all who go there with a smile on there face . I have one more trip planed for thanksgiving this year and then I am done. Tired of saving all year for a 3or4 day trip ,even owning DVC is not enough anymore .

 

[WilsonFlyer]

It's a pretty smart strategy. There's a new crop of 5-year-olds every single year, and a Disney trip has nearly become a childhood right of passage for certain slices of the socio-economic pyramid. Most of those people have a great time. Some of them have so much fun that they decide to bottle that magical vacation feeling for "decades of vacations at today's prices."

Indeed. Plus the fact that we often ignore the fact that WDW in FL is a global destination. For those reasons alone, it will be hard for Disney to ever overprice their product within any definable sort of reason, and they know that as well, unfortunately.

 

[Sur]

I would like Disney to be available to all- that would be ideal. With the vast appeal, if costs were too low, it would be unimaginably overcrowded.

 

[quirty30]

Price increases are a fact of life. We all know it's going to happen every year, whether we like it or not, and sometimes it's sooner rather than later. But I'm really bummed about the end of non-expiration tickets. We had AP's for 27 months from 2009-2011 (got AP's in June of 2009 and when they renewed there was a special that gave us an extra 3 months.) We went on a lot of trips over that time span and opted not to renew after that. Instead we got 10 day NE WP & More in December of 2011. We still have those tickets - I think we have 3 regular park days left and 8 "and more" days. Our vacations have become more resort-centric with just a few days of theme parks interspersed. The NE tickets really suited our style. And if I had about $2400 in disposable cash last week, I might have purchased another set of them. I guess I'll hold out hope for DVC to offer those 4 day/4 park tickets again over the next few years. I did buy 2 of them for DD and I as we are visiting next month without DS and wanted to leave all our NE tickets with the same number of days.

 

[dwight16]

What was the price difference between a 10 day no exp pass and an dvr annual pass????? I don't think its that much if any Disney really jacked the NEpass if I remember correctly

 

[peabody58]

Saw the writing on the wall (the wall behind the curtain) years ago. As part of our retirement strategy, DW and I have stocked up on enough AP vouchers and No-Expire/WP tickets to last us through 2022. By then we will be ready to sell our BLT points. This year we saw a 9% increase in our ticket value. Retire April 17th!!!

 

[jodifla]

Yes, the increase in ticket prices has us rethinking our Disney trips as well, and I've been going there regularly since 1972. We stayed at our DVC last year but went to Universal instead, and did a short Disney cruise on our points. We'll likely buy APs this year and to to WDW this year and next, then take another break and use our points elsewhere.

 

[a742246]

Disney prices keep on going up, to combat it we make 3 stays instead of 2 for our annual passes. We now do late lunches instead of dinner, make our own breakfast, stay in studios more, and signed into the SW credit card for flights. With those savings Disney is actually much cheaper for us then it was 5 years ago.

Note: That SW credit card savings is the greatest savings I ever had. I got 50,000 points on their regular, premier, and business cards that = 150,000 points plus a free companion pass that was worth about 90,000 points over a course of a year. That is 240,000 points for $267.00 for me that equals about 12 round trip airline tickets for the price of $267.00. Anyone who never looked into this should.