Tusker House is now 2 dining credits!

[ChipnDale79]

Aside from the argument of 'it's within their right to do whatever they want, just read the fine print' I find it incomprehensible how anyone can defend Disney with some of these moves.

I'm not impacted by this change in the slightest ... but more and more I'm starting to regret this upcoming trip. I'm used to gladly paying through the nose for my Magical Experience , but jeeeez, come on already.

Before someone states the obvious --- yes I know, no one is forcing me to go / I can cancel my trip. It just saddens me - how much Disney has changed: very little to the better IMO.

People who use the argument, "they are a for profit business and are in business to make money", don't seem to understand that Disney is not hurting and is making record profits. Consumers have a right to complain about prices, when they feel the value does not equal the price, the consumer, just like the business, has the right to say "no".

We're all aware that businesses are there to make a profit, we're all ok with that. We all want them to make a profit, however when your profit starts to come across as greed to your consumer, your consumer is going to push back.

 

[LoveMMC]

This turns us off. Change after change. 2 dining credits for the buffets means we will be only counter service if we do another trip next year.

 

[ChipnDale79]

This turns us off. Change after change. 2 dining credits for the buffets means we will be only counter service if we do another trip next year.

We did Counter Service Plan last year for the first time, we've always been concerned that it wouldn't be enough food or wouldn't force us to relax. We were surprised with how much food we got, and if you do your research, you can find some great value (comparative of course).

Wolfgang Puck was awesome and a counter service.

 

[ParrotBill]

I think you are underestimating the ability of the consumer to adjust.

What I don't get is why Chef Mickeys? I get Tusker House and Akershus. .

I agreed quite a lot with your post. I have a theory about your question. It's supply and demand. it all aligns with Disney's latest attempts to get maximum yield. By raising CM to 2 TS credits, they push a lot of people off to other restaurants that may not fill up ahead of time. They have no problem filling Chef Mickey's at ANY PRICE. So why not raise the price and get the price conscious off to another place instead. Tusker House - obvious, demand will rise for dinner with the palce open late and linked to shows. Akershus - the hardest one to figure, but perhaps demand for princesses continues to be so high, and with the re-opening of Norway as Princess central, well once again, will fill at any price. raise it.

It is really, really sad to see the new Money-grab Mickey.

 

[Mac30188]

I agreed quite a lot with your post. I have a theory about your question. It's supply and demand. it all aligns with Disney's latest attempts to get maximum yield. By raising CM to 2 TS credits, they push a lot of people off to other restaurants that may not fill up ahead of time. They have no problem filling Chef Mickey's at ANY PRICE. So why not raise the price and get the price conscious off to another place instead. Tusker House - obvious, demand will rise for dinner with the palce open late and linked to shows. Akershus - the hardest one to figure, but perhaps demand for princesses continues to be so high, and with the re-opening of Norway as Princess central, well once again, will fill at any price. raise it.

It is really, really sad to see the new Money-grab Mickey.

You are right. I think the missing piece of puzzle was it is not just these 3 but likely ALL character restaurants. When I wrote this, I was comparing. 1 credit 1900 PF vs 1 credit Crystal Palace vs 2 credit Chef Mickeys. It is very hard for me to comprehend how Chef Mickeys is worth twice the other two. If the truth is it will be across the board and they are all 2 credits, it is really not likely to shift attendees from one to another.

 

[Legendofthehawk]

Now if it was a strategic leak though, who are they trying to ease the pain of? Us die-hard planners? The ones that pretty much know off the top of their heads what's 1 credit and what's 2 credits? I think we can all agree that we are in the minority of Disney visitors. I feel like the "laymen" would just be like, "Oh, ok".

Not saying you're wrong, just posing the question.

I don't think they are trying to "ease" the pain of anything. I think they are targeting the demographic of die hard disney lovers, who plan their vacations usually right at the 180 mark. Their "loyal" customers as the case may be, who usually always plan one or more TS and usually a character meal sometime in their trip. It would seem as if they want to see in advance how this is going to go over and if their market can bare to give such an increase.

This way, they can see this year vs last year with the price increase if there is a drop in reservations/cancellations, or if it is about the same. They can see if this pushes more people to upgrade to the DxDDP to get "more" of the character meals. If they see a dramatic decrease or no upgrades, it gives them time to drop/reverse what they are doing.

I am not sure that it will work out that way though. This year, we've seen a lot of rapid increases.. so they may expect because they are disney, they can take it.

 

[ChipnDale79]

You are right. I think the missing piece of puzzle was it is not just these 3 but likely ALL character restaurants. When I wrote this, I was comparing. 1 credit 1900 PF vs 1 credit Crystal Palace vs 2 credit Chef Mickeys. It is very hard for me to comprehend how Chef Mickeys is worth twice the other two. If the truth is it will be across the board and they are all 2 credits, it is really not likely to shift attendees from one to another.

There is a thought process inside disney, that says we need to control crowds so lets increase the price instead of making an investment and adding more options for our guests.

These character meals are popular, as a parent with young ones its great for us to get a meal and meet Mickey and friends. A lot of us are doing that. Therefore Disney's answer to control how many people want to do this, is to jack the price up instead of adding more meals. Iger and company are extremely lazy and will do anything they can to avoid investing a penny in anything if there is a way for them to make the same amount of money by increasing the price and running off the "rift raft".

I'm learning, that even though my family is middle class, that the definition of rift raft at WDW is changing, and families like mine are now considered "rift raft".

After all the money I've spent on vacations, movies, and the ungodly amount of money on Disney toys for my kids. Screw you Disney.

 

[Redcon1]

As a shareholder this scares me. I don't have enough shares for these price increases to be made up for in share price increases or dividend increases. Plus these price increase may have a long term negative pull on the stock price when people start refusing to pay.

As a non-stockholder, I've always wondered whether the value of share prices or earned dividends cover these extreme price increases at the parks. Seems to me that if the money you're earning on Disney stock is negated by having to cover the higher prices when you visit WDW, there's not really much benefit to the increased stock value.

 

[LeeAndRobin]

"rift raft"

Minor nit: The term is "riffraff" not "rift raft":

noun
1. people, or a group of people, regarded as disreputable or worthless: a pack of riffraff.
2. the lowest classes; rabble: the riffraff of the city.
3. trash; rubbish.

adjective
4. worthless, disreputable, or trashy.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Minor nit: The term is "riffraff" not "rift raft":

noun
1. people, or a group of people, regarded as disreputable or worthless: a pack of riffraff.
2. the lowest classes; rabble: the riffraff of the city.
3. trash; rubbish.

adjective
4. worthless, disreputable, or trashy.

Gee..how nice of you...thank you.

 

[jknc]

So you're living in a short term view point as well huh?

At some point, these increases are going to hurt your holdings.

You can't put a price on magic

 

[Lalalyn]

As a family with three young princess loving girls, this makes planning our tentatively planned February 2017 tough. At the end of the day, we will likely go and do maybe two character meals. That will be down from three last year.

We've gone the past two years. And have had an amazing vacation.

How long will we do annual trips? Probably not as long as I thought a few years ago because of crap like this. We will look into Universal, going to visit family in California more often etc.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Sorry, just catching up....but can someone please clarify:

What are the details of this rumor? I thought it was just related to an increase in thanksgiving day, and that prix fix meal prices have always fluctuated....

I think I'm in a state of denial that they would increase character meals so drastically. Surprised, no. But definitely entering denial and perhaps anger...

 

[LSLS]

Sorry, just catching up....but can someone please clarify:

What are the details of this rumor? I thought it was just related to an increase in thanksgiving day, and that prix fix meal prices have always fluctuated....

I think I'm in a state of denial that they would increase character meals so drastically. Surprised, no. But definitely entering denial and perhaps anger...

Nope, basically it was an accidental early update. This is supposed to be rolling out in October now (2 credits/serious hike in prices).

 

[Asellus]

See what I don't get, (and hence why I believe that their credit increase is doomed to failure) is why eat at Chef Mickey's when you could go upstairs to California Grille instead? The food at Chef Mickey's is mediocre, maybe even Golden Coral mediocre (but don't quote me on that, I haven't eaten there since I was 8...my grandmother loved the place...likely because of her depression era upbringing). If Disney really wants to bring in the wealthier folks with the lure of higher priced restaurants and shut out the middle class, do they really think the rich would put up with the unremarkable buffet fare even with characters? I don't think there's enough diehard Disney fans out there to make the credit increase profitable in the long run. (though honestly, it really does seem that Iger is not thinking long run, bad business decisions all around for sure)

 

[SugarRush]

This is first trip that we're going minus the dining plan - and after reading about these changes, I say, thank goodness!

Let me see ... California Grill or Tusker House??? .... Hmmmm????

Slightly off topic but let's not forget the cuts at signatures too, smaller portions and cheaper ingredients. I've cut all 2 credits off my list. This is the first and last time I'm doing free dining. Dining is getting the shaft at the expense of profit

 

[Eoghann]

You can't put a price on magic

Disney seems to be able to...

 

[Eoghann]

See what I don't get, (and hence why I believe that their credit increase is doomed to failure) is why eat at Chef Mickey's when you could go upstairs to California Grille instead? The food at Chef Mickey's is mediocre, maybe even Golden Coral mediocre (but don't quote me on that, I haven't eaten there since I was 8...my grandmother loved the place...likely because of her depression era upbringing).

Because.... Mickey... seriously.

That place is packed, and yes the food is not good.

 

[Asellus]

Yes, it's packed but that's as they intended. If its not packed after the price change then the credit change is failing. They still want to fill it after all.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Nope, basically it was an accidental early update. This is supposed to be rolling out in October now (2 credits/serious hike in prices).

To borrow a phrase from another thread...

"What the Cinderella?!?!"