WDW to prevent AP holders from visiting parks many mornings

[BeachClub2014]

Make no mistake, they are not capping attendance because they're kindhearted. Agreed fully.

But let me give you a specific example that proves that the current situation isn't their goal: most of the massively high profit VIP tours they offered previously have not come back. You get a group of 15 who paid $400 a piece for Day of Thrills and two cast members making maybe $400 total for the day. That's a $5,000 plus profit from people who ALREADY PAID TO GET IN!!! It's found money.

So why haven't they brought them back yet? They simply don't have enough cast members to facilitate. They're leaving money on the table. Not as a business choice but because they don't HAVE a choice until they get more labor.

I haven't argued that WDW isn't properly staffed. In fact, I have said the opposite. I would love to see Disney staff the parks to allow for more people to enter, ride rides, see shows, eat, shop, and do all of the things that used to be available.

I am not going to give them a free pass on the reservation system, under the guise of the enhanced guest experience, because they cannot operate their business at full steam. Fix the underlying problem(s), don't treat the symptoms.

Last thing I will say, and then I am bowing out. If anyone believes that Disney hasn't already determined how they will monetize this wonderful new reservation system, then I think they are mistaken. I am willing to bet a lot that they have and are just getting people acclimated until the next shoe drops and reservations will be had at a cost. I hope not, but time will tell.

 

[babydoll65]

Make no mistake, they are not capping attendance because they're kindhearted. Agreed fully.

But let me give you a specific example that proves that the current situation isn't their goal: most of the massively high profit VIP tours they offered previously have not come back. You get a group of 15 who paid $400 a piece for Day of Thrills and two cast members making maybe $400 total for the day. That's a $5,000 plus profit from people who ALREADY PAID TO GET IN!!! It's found money.

So why haven't they brought them back yet? They simply don't have enough cast members to facilitate. They're leaving money on the table. Not as a business choice but because they don't HAVE a choice until they get more labor.

If your talking about the wdw private VIP tours, they have been back for a while now (Nov 2021)

 

[Jonfw2]

If your talking about the wdw private VIP tours, they have been back for a while now (Nov 2021)

Yes. Yes they have. Thank you.

 

[Genie+]

They also announced that a Disney hotel reservation guarantees you access to the parks (as they also have a park reservation system).

Sounds like a good business decision. People stay at Disney resorts to visit the parks. They purchase room reservations and very specific dated park tickets.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Sounds like a good business decision. People stay at Disney resorts to visit the parks. They purchase room reservations and very specific dated park tickets.

This is for TDL specifically but I agree. I've been to that resort and other than the parks there's not much to do as the resort is outside of Tokyo. I think they should have this be the case for WDW as well.

 

[RoseGold]

I had also never seen as many plaids as I did this summer, except maybe when I went right at Halloween.

There were plaids everywhere. It makes sense with a system this complicated. FP was complicated, but the current system is a whole different level of moving parts and mess. Even the LL lines can be crazy. The more complicated and uncertain it all is, and that's A LOT right now, the better the plaids look. I'd wager the plaids are the best money makers in the parks.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Do you think this is a matter of not WANTING more staffing or not being able to find it/train it?

It's a matter of not WANTING to pay the wages necessary to hire the appropriate staff. It's short-sighted for their long-term profitability, but everything is short-sighted these days in corporate decisions because managers like Chapek are rewarded handsomely for short-term gains.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Make no mistake, they are not capping attendance because they're kindhearted. Agreed fully.

But let me give you a specific example that proves that the current situation isn't their goal: most of the massively high profit VIP tours they offered previously have not come back. You get a group of 15 who paid $400 a piece for Day of Thrills and two cast members making maybe $400 total for the day. That's a $5,000 plus profit from people who ALREADY PAID TO GET IN!!! It's found money.

So why haven't they brought them back yet? They simply don't have enough cast members to facilitate. They're leaving money on the table. Not as a business choice but because they don't HAVE a choice until they get more labor.

And because they're making the short-sighted decision not to raise the $400 a day for staff-members across the board to $500 a day.

 

[Jonfw2]

It's a matter of not WANTING to pay the wages necessary to hire the appropriate staff. It's short-sighted for their long-term profitability, but everything is short-sighted these days in corporate decisions because managers like Chapek are rewarded handsomely for short-term gains.

Do you think the labor shortage is unique to Disney?

 

[SL6827]

Do you think this is a matter of not WANTING more staffing or not being able to find it/train it?

Both.

 

[Jonfw2]

Both.

Fair. So why wouldn't they want more staffing?

 

[Madame]

Fair. So why wouldn't they want more staffing?

At a certain point it has to be more financially beneficial for them to raise prices (astronomically since we started going in 2014) and have fewer guest which equates to less staff, less pressure to add, maintain, update infrastructure.

I’m not privy to their calculations, but it has to play a role. They’re still feeling out the upper limit on pricing, but maximizing profit from each guest is their goal - I think we can agree on that much.

More is not necessarily better.

 

[lowlight]

Fair. So why wouldn't they want more staffing?

Money. The answer is always more money. They would rather you lower your expectations or not come at all and replace you with a higher value customer. Their words, not mine.

 

[Jonfw2]

At a certain point it has to be more financially beneficial for them to raise prices (astronomically since we started going in 2014) and have fewer guest which equates to less staff, less pressure to add, maintain, update infrastructure.

I’m not privy to their calculations, but it has to play a role. They’re still feeling out the upper limit on pricing, but maximizing profit from each guest is their goal - I think we can agree on that much.

More is not necessarily better.

Money. The answer is always more money. They would rather you lower your expectations or not come at all and replace you with a higher value customer. Their words, not mine.

Okay, but back to my previous example: it still behooves them to bring back more VIP tours (the mid level ones) in which people are paying hundreds of dollars more than their ticket prices. But they haven't brought them back. Why?

 

[tjkraz]

I'm not so sure Disney would desperately like to hire more staff. Perhaps. I would hope so.

Disney currently has job postings for 72 different positions at Walt Disney World Resort, many of them with hiring bonuses of $1000+.

Maybe I am too cynical and jaded, but if anyone thinks Disney is capping attendance at parks as a goodwill gesture to enhance the guest experience, then I would suggest they haven't been paying close attention. Historically, Disney doesn't really do things out of the goodness of their corporate hearts. They make strategic decisions that add to the bottom line. Which they can do, it is a for-profit enterprise, after all.

No but not every decision made results in Disney being the clear "winner" and customers as the clear "losers". There are times when changes are mutually beneficial.

The common inference seems to be that Park Pass allows disney to reduce attraction staffing, which in turn leads to increased wait times. In my humble opinion, most Disney attractions don't see their rider capacity affected by staffing. Omnimovers like Buzz and Haunted Mansion keep absorbing guests at a steady pace. Dark rides and coasters always seem to be operated such that as soon as one vehicle arrives, it's unloaded and another group is ready and waiting to board.

Labor savings from Park Pass likely comes from support positions which may not be needed on certain days, plus avoiding over-staffing on days when the parks are not as busy. Up until 2 years ago, staffing the parks was never an exact science. Sure Disney knows how many guests are in hotels, how many tickets they've pre-sold and how many ADRs are booked (all of them, most days) but Disney couldn't predict what portion of the guests would decide to go to each park. Now they can.

But that doesn't mean they're cutting staff and running Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion at any lower capacity. Guests are still moved thru the queue and positioned to board as soon as a vehicle arrives. When I see a 45 minute standby wait for Haunted Mansion, I can only assume that it would be even longer without Park Pass limiting the number of guests in MK. Additional staffing isn't going to help that attraction--or most others--increase its hourly rider capacity.

We keep looking for nefarious reasons for long lines at all of the parks when the most obvious reason is there are massive numbers of guests visiting the Disney parks right now.

 

[Jonfw2]

We keep looking for nefarious reasons for long lines at all of the parks when the most obvious reason is there are massive numbers of guests visiting the Disney parks right now.

EXACTLY this. And again- and proven by your first note- they WANT more cast members. They WANT to offer more because then they get paid for more.

 

[Madame]

Okay, but back to my previous example: it still behooves them to bring back more VIP tours (the mid level ones) in which people are paying hundreds of dollars more than their ticket prices. But they haven't brought them back. Why?

Maybe because they have to reserve so many CMs for guest recovery for their G+ cluster . I honestly don’t know, but yours is the first post I’ve seen that’s mentioned it. I wasn’t paying close attention but the number of plaid tours I saw in Dec & Apr seemed to be the same number I’ve seen on a couple dozen trips since 2014.

 

[Jonfw2]

Maybe because they have to reserve so many CMs for guest recovery for their G+ cluster . I honestly don’t know, but yours is the first post I’ve seen that’s mentioned it. I wasn’t paying close attention but the number of plaid tours I saw in Dec & Apr seemed to be the same number I’ve seen on a couple dozen trips since 2014.

If you look at the "things to do" section on the main website, and click on VIP tours, you'll see that more than half are listed as "temporarily unavailable"- and that's after they straight up deleted a bunch of them from that page.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Disney currently has job postings for 72 different positions at Walt Disney World Resort, many of them with hiring bonuses of $1000+.

What's the pay for these positions? And are the positions ones that are generic or specialized?

We know some CMs and the pay structure for majority of positions isn't sustainable for a job that pays the bills. Hiring bonuses of $1,000 won't even pay half your rent of a month let alone be enough to entice enough.

 

[Madame]

If you look at the "things to do" section on the main website, and click on VIP tours, you'll see that more than half are listed as "temporarily unavailable"- and that's after they straight up deleted a bunch of them from that page.

I don’t know then but i think it’s possible that the 2 coexist simultaneously - that there’s a staffing shortage and they’re looking for ways to maximize profit per guest via newly implemented policy.