Ticket discounts

[kmchisholm]

Have you looked at undercover tourist? If I don't get tickets through Run Disney then I've found they're the next best price.

 

[Dean]

I just find it hard to believe that I am the lone DVC member that will not plan a short trip if I have to pay gate price for a 3-day tix. If we DID go then I know my spending habits while there. We would probably eat at least 6 meals in the parks (2-3 TS) and buy some sort of souvenirs (likely DVC merchandise). As a rough guess, knowing our spending habits I would say that we would spend somewhere around $500 while there for a long weekend. If Disney gave us say a $30 disc. per person they would still make about $400 off of us IF WE CAME. But we will not. While we will certainly return the following year when we CAN take advantage of buying AP's they will lose a trip out of us for this year.

And because we cannot get a discount on our DL tix for the 4 days we are there this summer I am thinking of not planning ANY TS meals. If I could get a discount on my park tix then I would probably plan 2 or 3 TS meals. But the money has to come from someplace and if it ain't comin' from any discount / incentives then it probably isn't going to happen for us. And as a trickle down this will likely in turn affect how many meals we eat onsite at Aulani as well. I read mixed reviews about the dining choices there and from what I've read Ama Ama is downright expensive. If we can go across the street to Monkey Pod Kitchen or Roys and dine at places that I read GOOD reviews on for less $ then why wouldn't I just go there instead? It all comes down to our bottom line for our budget. If DL costs us an arm & a leg then we'll have to cut back at Aulani too. Right now, next to our flights, the park tix at DL are our next biggest expense. Just sayin'. A little incentive goes a long way for some of us.

Disney does extensive research, I'm comfortable they know where they stand in such areas. plus they don't want everyone to go to the parks or the same park at the same time. With DVC someone will be there in the villas and they will spend x amount of money on average.

I think far too many people look at their situation and assume it really has meaning, in almost every case, it doesn't. All that has meaning is the aggregate choices. If one doesn't go using DVC, another will, which is different than the cash guests to a degree, esp without extra incentives. We've seen a lot of people threaten DVC through DIS and similar boards over the years. Threat's to sell, threat's to not recommend others buy, etc and it has no meaning unless it actually affects the bottom line when Disney looks at that group's demographics, and it essentially never does. I'm always amused when people threaten to complain like Disney or DVD or DVC will actually change the decision based on a single complaint. I'll again reference the valet parking and reallocations issues.

 

[Deb & Bill]

With a new VP who is also VP for Adventures by Disney, I'm gonna bet we see a few more DVC ABD offerings.

 

[Anal Annie]

Disney does extensive research, I'm comfortable they know where they stand in such areas. plus they don't want everyone to go to the parks or the same park at the same time. With DVC someone will be there in the villas and they will spend x amount of money on average.

I think far too many people look at their situation and assume it really has meaning, in almost every case, it doesn't. All that has meaning is the aggregate choices. If one doesn't go using DVC, another will, which is different than the cash guests to a degree, esp without extra incentives. We've seen a lot of people threaten DVC through DIS and similar boards over the years. Threat's to sell, threat's to not recommend others buy, etc and it has no meaning unless it actually affects the bottom line when Disney looks at that group's demographics, and it essentially never does. I'm always amused when people threaten to complain like Disney or DVD or DVC will actually change the decision based on a single complaint. I'll again reference the valet parking and reallocations issues.

Glad I could amuse you but I am not threatening anything. I'm just not going to go to WDW with a rack rate price for hopper tix. Period. I won't do it. I am not selling my DVC and I am not telling people not to buy. DL is different in that we wanted to stop there on the way to Aulani so they have us by the big kahunas so to speak. It is not something we will do again for many years. And I could give 2 hoots about the valet parking thing. We use DME so that doesn't affect us. All I was trying to say was that some sort of discount on park tix would be THE ONE THING...THE ONE BENEFIT / PERK that would serve EVERY DVC owner. It would just be nice to be able to go sometimes on the spur of the moment or without having to plan out 3 trips during the course of a year in order to get a discount.

 

[Dean]

Glad I could amuse you but I am not threatening anything. I'm just not going to go to WDW with a rack rate price for hopper tix. Period. I won't do it. I am not selling my DVC and I am not telling people not to buy. DL is different in that we wanted to stop there on the way to Aulani so they have us by the big kahunas so to speak. It is not something we will do again for many years. And I could give 2 hoots about the valet parking thing. We use DME so that doesn't affect us. All I was trying to say was that some sort of discount on park tix would be THE ONE THING...THE ONE BENEFIT / PERK that would serve EVERY DVC owner. It would just be nice to be able to go sometimes on the spur of the moment or without having to plan out 3 trips during the course of a year in order to get a discount.

I wasn't referring to you, sorry you took it that way, that's why I made it a separate paragraph. I was simply recanting the statements we've seen over the years in such situations.

 

[tjkraz]

I just find it hard to believe that I am the lone DVC member that will not plan a short trip if I have to pay gate price for a 3-day tix.

Certainly you aren't the only one.

Problem is over the course of the year Disney sells THOUSANDS of 3-day passes at the current full rate. If they discount your ticket, they will also be discounting thousands of other tickets for which the buyers would have otherwise paid full price.

Imagine that over the course of a year, DVC members buy 10,000 3-day passes at $200 each. That's $2 million in revenue.

Discount the price by 25% and they are only $150 each. To make the same $2M on tickets, Disney now needs to sell 13,333 passes. That's a 33% increase in volume just to break even, much less turn a greater profit.

Disney does make extra dollars on food, souvenirs and other expenses. But those dollars aren't pure profit. For every $9 cheeseburger you purchase, Disney has ingredient costs, food prep, staff, etc.

It's a complicated machine. But as Dean said, Disney is pretty good at weighing the additional crowds generated by lower prices vs. getting top dollar from a smaller population. If Disney thought they could net higher profits by lowering ticket prices 25%, they'd do it tomorrow.

In the end Disney did not get YOUR money, but they did get more of SOMEONE ELSE'S money.

 

[Sammie]

TJ and Dean always make very good rational arguments for these discussions and the thing to always remember is Disney is basically a huge company made of many smaller interior businesses that have to balance their particular budget.

The ticket division owes nothing to DVC or its members. Even if a DVC member plans additional trips due to a discounted ticket offer, ticket division is getting no return on that nor is DVC. So as both TJ and Dean stated what is in it for DVC and ticket division to do this. Nothing.

Plus I am afraid many do personalize the situation, Disney does not care if I, Sammie are happy, always come back, they simply need to make enough John and Jane Does happy to be profitable.

 

[Lynne M]

The ticket division owes nothing to DVC or its members. Even if a DVC member plans additional trips due to a discounted ticket offer, ticket division is getting no return on that nor is DVC. So as both TJ and Dean stated what is in it for DVC and ticket division to do this. Nothing.

Plus I am afraid many do personalize the situation, Disney does not care if I, Sammie are happy, always come back, they simply need to make enough John and Jane Does happy to be profitable.

Spot on. And this goes back to the fact that there's a misperception that Disney gives promotions to the cash customers and not DVC members because they like cash customers better, or they don't appreciate all the money we paid for our membership.

Key fact, and it applies to discounts in general, not just to Disney: businesses do not give discounts in order to benefit the consumer. They give discounts when discounts benefit THEM.

An example: There's a clothing retailer that I like. I frequently get e-mail coupons from them. The e-mails always say something like "an exclusive sale for our best customers", "customer appreciation days", "to thank you for your business". That's marketing stuff. They're not sending me coupons cause they love me. Like any smart retailer, they track customer behavior, and they know I'm a sucker for a 30% off coupon. They know that in the past, when I've gotten a big fat coupon in the mail, I've bought a boatload of stuff, way more than I usually buy. They're baiting the hook, and they know I'll bite.

Disney does the same kind of tracking. Their data has shown them that when you give DVC members a discount on an AP, they spend more money at WDW. If they had data showing that discounts on other types of tickets produced the same result, then we'd get a discount on those, too.

And if the pattern changes, and the AP discount ends up costing them more than they're getting back in increased spending....the AP discount is gone.

 

[Anal Annie]

TJ and Dean always make very good rational arguments for these discussions and the thing to always remember is Disney is basically a huge company made of many smaller interior businesses that have to balance their particular budget.

The ticket division owes nothing to DVC or its members. Even if a DVC member plans additional trips due to a discounted ticket offer, ticket division is getting no return on that nor is DVC. So as both TJ and Dean stated what is in it for DVC and ticket division to do this. Nothing.

Plus I am afraid many do personalize the situation, Disney does not care if I, Sammie are happy, always come back, they simply need to make enough John and Jane Does happy to be profitable.

Which reinforces what I said in post #9. Once we commit to buying DVC they don't really care if we're happy campers or not. That's why there are no other discounts. They've already "got us".

 

[disfanforlife]

Sad but true. And everyone's vacation habits are different. I am hoping that ours change someday to take advantage of an annual pass. So far, we only go to Disney once a year. We usually use a 6 or 7 day MYW pass. Hopefully, we will be able to to go twice a year and take advantage of using a pass for two or more trips!

 

[tjkraz]

Which reinforces what I said in post #9. Once we commit to buying DVC they don't really care if we're happy campers or not. That's why there are no other discounts. They've already "got us".

If you choose to define Disney's "care" for you solely based upon the discounts offered (or lack thereof), then I suppose that is true.

Terms like "care" and "happy" suggest that there's emotion involved in the decision, which is not the case. Disney doesn't offer free dining or 25% off rack because it "cares" about cash guests. It's purely a business decision designed to fill hotel rooms and theme parks.

If Disney had a business reason to discount MYW passes, they would do it. It wouldn't mean they suddenly "care" more for members--just that they think they stand to earn more $$$ with the new pricing model.

 

[dizhoni]

We purchase 10 day park hoppers from Undercover Tourist that do not expire. I am aware that Disney is going to discontinue these tickets soon, so I have ordered them again. It's the only way I have been able to save anything on tickets. Honi

 

[goofy4tink]

Our thing now is having two in college. We went for spring break and got back last Thursday....4 of us got AP's but not our son who already had plans. SO....we will need to get him a regular park ticket in Aug. It's so hard to plan DVC trips now with the college kiddos.

Man, so true. I just had to buy an expiring 6 day hopper for my college freshman. She has always had an AP, but her's expired and I wasn't about to renew it.

With a new VP who is also VP for Adventures by Disney, I'm gonna bet we see a few more DVC ABD offerings.

Just did a survey for Disney today....a lot of questions about traveling with family, extended family and ABD!!!

Glad I could amuse you but I am not threatening anything. I'm just not going to go to WDW with a rack rate price for hopper tix. Period. I won't do it. I am not selling my DVC and I am not telling people not to buy. DL is different in that we wanted to stop there on the way to Aulani so they have us by the big kahunas so to speak. It is not something we will do again for many years. And I could give 2 hoots about the valet parking thing. We use DME so that doesn't affect us. All I was trying to say was that some sort of discount on park tix would be THE ONE THING...THE ONE BENEFIT / PERK that would serve EVERY DVC owner. It would just be nice to be able to go sometimes on the spur of the moment or without having to plan out 3 trips during the course of a year in order to get a discount.

The vast majority of us hold APs....we get a discount on those. And most of us go more than once a year. Do I wish we could get a break on regular park hoppers? Sure I do. But I'm not sure $50 is going to be all that big a deal...and it would probably be less. As I said above, just bought my dd an expiring hopper...she won't be back again too soon. And I have to buy my dh a 4 day expiring hopper for our trip in Sept.
When my AP expires on Dec 6, I'll be getting a two day hopper. Why? Well, with tuition and other college stuff, I doubt I'll be back again until Dec '14. I will be in London that fall with our dd (she's doing study abroad that semester in London)...so wasteful to get an AP.
Disney owes us nothing. We bought into DVC knowing full well what we were buying. Disney offers those 'discounts' to regular people because they want to fill up rooms. I would much rather pay rack rate (or at least Undercover Tourist rates) for park passes and get a discount on my lodging.

While I wouldn't turn down a discounted park pass offer from Disney, I'm happy with what I am given. And they do listen to us....let's not forget the great paper cup debacle when they took away the glassware from the studios!!! We complained, we got our glasses back!!! We were listened to.

 

[disfanforlife]

We purchase 10 day park hoppers from Undercover Tourist that do not expire. I am aware that Disney is going to discontinue these tickets soon, so I have ordered them again. It's the only way I have been able to save anything on tickets. Honi

We bought those twice in the past. Wish I had stocked upon more before they went up in my price so much!

 

[Dean]

Which reinforces what I said in post #9. Once we commit to buying DVC they don't really care if we're happy campers or not. That's why there are no other discounts. They've already "got us".

I don't think of it quite that negatively, it's no different than many companies that offer specials to new customers and exclude existing ones.

 

[keishashadow]

I understand that there is a promo for booking a vacation and get discount on tickets. Why do us DVCers not qualify. You would think that some discount would be given. People say it is because we are already getting g a discount on the rooms so what does that have to do with tickets? Please chime in on this topic if you wish to get others opinions.

The ticket discount didn't appear to be substantial when i priced it out. UT is always competitive. fyi, I booked the previous room only rate thru Orbitz via a promo code and received an additional 20% off what disney was charging. There was an option to buy tickets at a slight discount in connection with the reservation thru Orbitz that many here reported taking advantage.

We (DVC members) qualify the same as any other guest who wants to book a package that includes accommodations and tickets thru CRO. I'm happy to accept any/all percs but certainly wouldn't expect a tix discount, especially after the PAP offer.

When the DP was 'a good deal' and included appetizer/tip, we booked that package and banked our points. This year waited too long and our summer reservation @ BWV disappeared during the booking process phone call (i needed to buy some one time use points and by the time the transaction was complete the room had disappeared). Didn't like the other options open so onto plan b we bounced, just happy to be planning another visit.