Waiting for a discount?

[npcougar]

You might want to read this:

http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/05/10/disney-second-quarter-earnings/

 

[Small Town Princess]

Not liking the sound of this at all.

 

[TheRatPack]

Weaning us of discounts? Ummm, Disney has ALWAYS offered something. It may be a % off, or maybe a freebie of sorts....but they've never just said "book rack rate and only rack rate" have they? I mean we've only been going every year for the past 17....but seriously there was a time that they had absolutely NO discounts?

If they do that we'll move back off property. We're not too proud LOL....you can stay off property for 1/2 or less than the on site resorts...and while we enjoy the little perks like dining plans and such, we've done it without those before and would do it again before not taking a vacation at all.

I can't imagine paying more for our vacation...we're already upwards of 4 grand for 2 value rooms and the 'free' dining plan. We only go to the parks 4 days, stay an average of 10 (slow season) and don't add hoppers or water parks. We add in MNSSHP for the 7 of us and so again....I can't imagine going higher.

 

[mommyrosa2]

I don't believe for one minute that Disney will stop offering discounts all together. Sure their "room only" bookings may be up now, but they have to know that with gas prices rising the way they are and airlines raising their ticket prices, if no discount is offered, they will see a lot of those "room only" bookings get cancelled. Already you see folks on certain boards talking about how they've had to cancel their upcoming trip for one reason or another - the economy is still bad and a lot of folks are still struggling. As for the comment to the investor of "weaning the consumers of discounts"...they'll tell investors whatever they think they want to hear. Now, do I believe they'll be more selective on which type of discounts they'll be offering? Maybe. Will they try to hold off as long as they can to publish these discounts? Probably. But I hardly doubt they won't offer some sort of discount - the economy and their numbers are no where near that but the discounts may not be what people have been used to in the past but then again, who really knows....

 

[Steven41782]

No discounts would be fine with me if they would quit jacking prices up every year! It looks like you should book a value and hope to get "traded up" to a moderate.

 

[I-Bike]

There actually was a time when Disney did not offer discounts and I believe a year from now, free dining will be gone as will the large room discounts. They will still offer AP discounts but I believe it will be less of a percentage. I firmly believe Disney intends on offering discounts only through pin codes if they even do that. Why would a store have a sale if they are selling product fine at full price? Same thing.

I hope Disney will go back to the model they once had. Quality over quantity.

I also think you'll see a greater push for people to buy into DVC.

 

[jacdolfin]

Is getting a discount nice Yes hands down but I have never expected one. I have gotten 2 pin codes which I cant use. One during school and one for dates that I have already booked and paid in full for a vacation home. Would I love to stay onsite deffinatly but I am not not going to go just because I didnt get a discount from Disney. It is all about the budget and so far staying off site is way more cost effective. Id rather stay offsite than not go at all. I will go with whichever is more cost effective and stil have a great vacation. As far DVC who knows maybe the PP is right. But as for me and my family I will be caught dead before we ever purchase a timeshare.

Nuts and bolts people will stil go to Disney whether they get a discount or not. How many people that is the question It all comes down to what one is willing to pay

 

[Muddypaws]

Discount or not, I just had to tell my DD10 that our tentatively scheduled vacation to Disney next year will probably not happen. Flight prices have continued to climb so high in the last couple of month that when I checked again this morning they had now doubled in cost to what they were just a few months ago. It is very hard to justify $1000 each just for our flight. Combine that with no discount and it is more than we can afford. It makes me rather sad to think that a Disney vacation is priced beyond the average family.

 

[beachclub]

As i've been saying all along. They are sticking to their word.
Are we believers now? or still in denial?

Im gonna call back for my October reservation and tell them to add a
celebration to the reservation. And when they ask me what am I celebrating.
It will read "My last ever disney resort discount".....Its gonna be a mad fun time...gonna live it up on this discount, especially since its food and wine...
Thanks for all the good times and extra trips disney in the last 5 years giving me good rates.
Its been a good run!!

 

[Steven41782]

As i've been saying all along. They are sticking to their word.
Are we believers now? or still in denial?

Im gonna call back for my October reservation and tell them to add a
celebration to the reservation. And when they ask me what am I celebrating.
It will read "My last ever disney resort discount".....Its gonna be a mad fun time...gonna live it up on this discount, especially since its food and wine...
Thanks for all the good times and extra trips disney in the last 5 years giving me good rates.
Its been a good run!!

I hope you don't mind me laughing at that, but I couldn't help it! Maybe they'll even make a button for us! Instead of 1st Visit .... "Last Visit"!

 

[TheRatPack]

LOL at BeachClub Maybe I'll add that to mine too. Gosh, I remember way back when my husband and I first married....we could afford to go stay 3 days or so. We had sandwich stuff in our room and had food vouchers for 1 or 2 counter service meals in the park. We didn't go to any of the parties, didn't have hoppers....and didn't even realize they had sit down meals LOL

Then we stayed off site for years, and had quite a few favorite restaurants and other hang outs off site. We visited Universal for 2-3 days and then picked our favorite park for a 1 day visit to Disney, sometimes we'd manage 2 days if we saved extra hard that year LOL

If Disney stops giving discounts, I'm sure a lot of people will stay offsite or just make Disney a quick 1 or 2 day visit while staying at the beach or elsewhere. They know that...and I'm sure they factor that in.

My tiny little 4000+ is a drop in the bucket for them, but 10 people or even 100 people that choose to take the same route of staying offsite? I'll miss it if they do indeed follow through with no discounts...but it won't force me in to DVC or shorter trips...etc. I'll budget accordingly and who knows...maybe I can get 2 vacations out of that 4 grand

 

[CarrieR]

I have to say I'm baffled by this. I booked a vacation over 4th of July week -- a major holiday during the summer season. I budgeted for, and fully planned to pay, rack rate. In fact, we rented DVC points for the latter half of the trip since the cost was just about the same as it was to stay at a value. Of course, we hoped for a discount, but we didn't hang the moon on it.

Since then, we have been able to get not just "a" discount, but what some consider the mother of all discounts -- free dining! With four adults in a value, the cost of the food probably surpasses the cost of the room. Since then, another discount has come out as well as that time period, which represents a significant savings on rack rate, albeit not as significant as free dining.

Granted, those are both pin codes, but many people received them. I don't get how this holds them to their word of discontinuing discounts. Seems to me that that they're doing just the opposite.

 

[shystalips]

I would love to see the amount of cancellations disney would get from those anticipating a discount for the fall. Me thinks there would be many people cancelling at, oh maybe the 46 day mark Disney I'm calling your bluff on this one and will book when the fall discount comes out, or say, after you get all of those last minute cancellations and you send me a pin code!!!!

 

[disney*mom*82]

Dh and I were just discussing this and I think with the cost of gas going way up, not to mention other costs, I dont think they will be able to pull off the no discount thing. We LOOOOOVE Disney and we have been going there twice a year, but each time has been with discounts (free dining 4+3, etc) and we will not be going to WDW very often unless there are discounts, we are already looking to staying off property our next trip, as much as we hate to.

 

[beachclub]

OMG now I am totally making a t-shirt or 3 that says this too and wearing it in the parks....Big letters:
"Our last trip ever using a resorty discount code/bounceback"
"Thank you disney!!!"

And then Ill have stictch on the back of the shirt tearing up one of those BB offer cards

Omg this is going to be a fun trip....definitely gonna have fun with this...

I hope you don't mind me laughing at that, but I couldn't help it! Maybe they'll even make a button for us! Instead of 1st Visit .... "Last Visit"!

 

[beachclub]

Disney doesnt care about gas prices/oil prices/inflation.
They are a monopoly who knows that no matter if its a recession or a great great depression, they know people will still flock to them....
We are all addicts, we find ways to go when times are tough and go more when they are better...Disney knows that and takes advantage of it....
The business will always be there for them with or without discounts....
I swear they mean it this time no matter how many cancellations they get or how underbooked the rooms are.....

I mean look a them, all though this 3-4 year recession...sure they offered us room discounts but I swear In the last 4 years of going DURING THE RECESSION I must have spent a years salary on their food and merchandise, shows, spas, shopping,etc. to make up for it....
They're just tired of giving the rooms away.....I just have this bad feeling
and so far its been right on par

Buckle in, its going to get worse,,,,not only will the discounts stop but prices will just keep going up....mark my words....and us addicts will find a way,...we always do

Its like our addiction to gas.....gotta have it.....

Dh and I were just discussing this and I think with the cost of gas going way up, not to mention other costs, I dont think they will be able to pull off the no discount thing. We LOOOOOVE Disney and we have been going there twice a year, but each time has been with discounts (free dining 4+3, etc) and we will not be going to WDW very often unless there are discounts, we are already looking to staying off property our next trip, as much as we hate to.

 

[disney*mom*82]

I dont think the "addicts" will keep Disney alive. Sure, there are plenty, but there are a ton of others that arent necessarly addicts, but go to Disney once in awhile, that if the prices are too unreasonable, will find their entertainment elsewhere.

I think about WDW daily, as well as my 3 year old DD who has asked me atleast 5 times today if she can ride Splash Mtn next time and made me measure her twice. But, if their prices continue to soar and discounts fade, so will our visits to WDW, we can find something else to do. I soo hope this is an over reaction though, I love WDW and cant wait to go there again, if worship and when possible.

Disney doesnt care about gas prices/oil prices/inflation.
They are a monopoly who knows that no matter if its a recession or a great great depression, they know people will still flock to them....
We are all addicts, we find ways to go when times are tough and go more when they are better...Disney knows that and takes advantage of it....
The business will always be there for them with or without discounts....
I swear they mean it this time no matter how many cancellations they get or how underbooked the rooms are.....

I mean look a them, all though this 3-4 year recession...sure they offered us room discounts but I swear In the last 4 years of going DURING THE RECESSION I must have spent a years salary on their food and merchandise, shows, spas, shopping,etc. to make up for it....
They're just tired of giving the rooms away.....I just have this bad feeling
and so far its been right on par

Buckle in, its going to get worse,,,,not only will the discounts stop but prices will just keep going up....mark my words....and us addicts will find a way,...we always do

Its like our addiction to gas.....gotta have it.....

 

[AngieInOH]

If nothing else it's a great marketing ploy. Say you're going to take away discounts and wean the public. Then when you do release discounts everyone will feel like they have to get one last trip in while they can still get a decent discount.

It's working on me. Only been to Disney twice. Once in 2005 to take our son on a once in a life time trip. Then they had free dining in 2008 and we thought why not go again because it's a great deal. Now, I'm hoping for free dining in November so I can take my son on a mother & son trip. Without the free dining it will be out of the question. If we don't go this time I will have to wait another 5 years, when we will take our twin girls on their once in a life time trip (unless of course they offer some decent discounts).

 

[Colleen27]

Honestly, I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think Disney is offering a product unique or high quality enough to justify their pricing; I think they've inflated those prices to compensate for discounts. With the Waldorf, the Hilton, the Swan/Dolphin - all deluxe resorts with amenities and qualities that even Disney's deluxes don't offer - at prices that frequently rival those of Disney's moderate resorts I don't believe for a second that anyone within the company honestly believes that the Disney name will get people to pay more for a cramped room with low-thread-count linens, carrying your own towels to the pool, and not having the option of room service, just because it has the Disney name.

They've made their bed, both with their pricing structure and by watering down the location factor by allowing third-party resorts to spring up on property. Without discounts they'd need a more competitive pricing structure to maintain high occupancy. I don't doubt that we'll see the more spectacular discounts - particularly the year-round free dining - scaled back but I don't expect we'll see rack rates as the norm so long as Disney resorts are so expensive relative to their competitors.

 

[aubriee]

When the general public code for the whole year came out in January, I booked two trips for this year (April 30th-May 8th and Sept 24th-Oct 2nd). When the AP discounts came out they were less than they usually are, but still beat the GP code, so I switched the May trip to that. While I was down there last week I found the bounce back code also beat the GP code, so I switched my dates by two weeks and changed my Sept trip to the bounce back deal. I also booked another bounceback deal for Nov 26th-Dec 4th. I've never received a PIN code, but know alot of people do. Being an AP holder who makes several solo trips a year down there and stays in a moderate the free dining doesn't work for me (since they now require the purchase of two day park tickets) but it is there if no other discounts were available. Anyway my point is that even though the deals are not as good as they were a few years ago the deals have still been there for this year. I'm hoping for an AP deal that will beat my current bounceback deals for Sept and Nov, but love knowing that I at least have something booked. Although the CM I booked the bounceback deals with last week did say that she didn't think the AP discounts would beat the bounceback code. I got about 35% off at the moderates which is about what the AP code has been the last couple of years. The only difference would be I could add the DDP without having to buy one day tickets I don't need, but I'm thinking about not using the DDP for my Sept trip anyway, so that factor would be nulled.