Why does UK get preferential pricing?

[havoc315]

Not that I begrudge our neighbors from across the pond...

But they already have a free dining offer out, that is combinable with a 15% room discount. And it even covers dates that I know will never be offered to US residents...

I'm traveling for a period overlapping President's Week..
For current US pricing, with a room at the Polynesian, plus tickets plus DDP... the total cost was about $5,500.
When I priced it through the UK page... there was a room discount, plus free dining... WHen converting pounds to dollars... it was about $4,000. What a massive difference...

Anyone have any explanations?

 

[snykymom]

My guesses:
1) To entice them to spend the extra travel expenses to "cross the pond."
2) Because of the distance traveled, they tend to stay longer, therefore spending more.

I guarantee you that Disney's marketing department has determined what price points are most profitable in which markets. So the short answer is "Because it works & it's profitable."

 

[sam portadown]

I live in Northern Ireland and we have a window of a few weeks in jul to fly direct, therfore we do not get the chance of the free DDP. Just to get there, staying at POFQ and tickets costs us over $6000. On top of that we still have food and spending money. Not only do we have very few direct flights now, it costs aprox $750 more to fly from N.Ireland than the mainland. So not everyone from the UK saves with the offers, but we pay it because we love Disney and will go without a holiday for a few years to save up for it.
This year the saving is done and we head at the beginning of Jul

 

[whacked]

I would guess that the average UK traveller to Disney spends quite a bit more time and more money at Disney then the average US visitor. Note that the best deals on UK tickets are two and three week tickets. There are no US tickets that long other than AP's, and the UK tickets are designed to be used for a single visit.

They also know that UK visitors have to plan travel much futher in advance to get reasonable deals on international airfaire, so deals come out earlier to allow for planning.

Most of the US deals are designed to fill in times that are low attendance, and many of the (US) deals come out later as Disney looks at advance bookings to decide if they need a deal at a particular time. They know we (in the US) can generally book closer to our travel time.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

I guess the reason why us brits get such tempting deals is because of the flight prices, take a Virgin Atlantic flight flying out on 30th March, returning 14th April (spring break time). if you booked it today for a family of four $7963
We have just booked a 17 night stay, Lowes Royal pacific C/L 4 nights,Yacht Club 13 nights, inc flights and tickets for both parks $13000(roughly).
If we didnt have well discounted rates it would be impossible to go, and as PP says we stay longer and spend more because for many its a once in a lifetime trip not an annual vacation.

 

[Missytara]

I think that is the best way to put it.

You pay 4 times the airfare we do; you often stay two weeks where we only stay one.

You may have to wait several years to afford to come again.

I think it is well deserved.

Wonder if we'll ever see William and Kate take a trip to Disney????

 

[mackay_j]

to put all in the picture the total price -

cheepest I can find is at studio OKW 3- 17 Aug (which means taking kids out of school as some of this is after summer hols are finished where I live). $9572

The free dining is still a good offer but not good enough as I can go to a villa for 2 weeks off site with 5day +water parcs for $5800 and this can be done in the school summer break. The flight prices are almost $300 more each in the free dining offer period.

I am holding off and waiting to see if the US site has any good deals that come out for july time. If not I will have to stay off-site.

These prices are for 2Adults and 2 teenagers

 

[pigletto]

Yes.. I am not going to complain. My family coming from Canada could take 3 or 4 week long trips for the price is it costing some of these posters to come for one trip!!
I mean take the person who just mentioned that their flights alone are going to cost what it would cost us for a week in a deluxe with deluxe dining

Frankly if there weren't deep discounts there would be very few who could afford to go all that way, let alone more than once.

 

[snykymom]

Wonder if we'll ever see William and Kate take a trip to Disney????

William already did, with Harry and Diana; if he had fun, he very well may bring the next heirs to the throne!

 

[jcieutat]

Well I for one think that it is a pile of you know what that people who actually live in the USA get the shaft when it comes to the breaks that people in Europe get. Nothing against them but I feel that if Disney would offer the same perks they would get much more business from Americans. Therefore it would be a win win for them.

 

[pigletto]

Well I for one think that it is a pile of you know what that people who actually live in the USA get the shaft when it comes to the breaks that people in Europe get. Nothing against them but I feel that if Disney would offer the same perks they would get much more business from Americans. Therefore it would be a win win for them.

Oh Please. How do you get the shaft exactly? There are promotions and discounts all over the place. And you pay less than half of what they pay to travel from anywhere in the USA. Apparently you missed every post above you explaining how much more they pay by thousands of dollars to come to Disney. But hey.. don't let that stop you from feeling entitled

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

Well I for one think that it is a pile of you know what that people who actually live in the USA get the shaft when it comes to the breaks that people in Europe get. Nothing against them but I feel that if Disney would offer the same perks they would get much more business from Americans. Therefore it would be a win win for them.

Disney give more discount because of flight prices (see my PP for an example)
If we didnt have to fly and pay those prices then i would 100% agree that it would be unfair to offer bigger discounts to Europeans.If you work out how much your Disney holiday will be, then add around $5000-$8000 (based on 2xadults 2xchildren, also depends on time of year) then would you be able to go?
Unfortunatly we have to fly.Im a good swimmer, but not that good

 

[aubriee]

Well I for one think that it is a pile of you know what that people who actually live in the USA get the shaft when it comes to the breaks that people in Europe get. Nothing against them but I feel that if Disney would offer the same perks they would get much more business from Americans. Therefore it would be a win win for them.

You're kidding right? Our UK friends spend alot more to get there, stay longer, and spend alot more on food and souvineers. They also do alot of shopping offsite that helps the Orlando economy. We also get deals that they can't take advantage of. As an AP holder, I go to WDW several times a year. Because I do go so much, I seldom find anything to buy down there anymore. There are alot of trips, where I bring absolutely nothing home. I normally use the AP discounts, so get a big percentage off my rooms. Since I have a Disney VISA (which the UK folds don't qualify for, by the way), I normally have enough Disney points to get my AP every year, without spending any cash. Consequently Disney gets very little money from me, even though I go several times a year. For the price the Europeans pay for one trip, I can pay for all four of mine and probably have money left over.

Our economy sucks right now and I have no problem with Disney trying to lure the Brits over here. It helps Disney fill rooms (and gift shops) and helps the Orlando economy. We still get our share of deals. Again I go to WDW several times a year (try to get at least four trips out of each AP every year) and I've never gone without some sort of good deal. Now if we weren't getting deals too, I'd be upset. My upcoming trips for Sept and Nov/Dec I originally booked last Jan using the GP code that came out for most dates in 2011. When we were down there last month, I switched them to the bounce back deal, because it beat the GP code I had used. I'm currently waiting for the AP disounts to come out for those dates and if they are better I'll be switching deals again. Free dining has already come out for my Sept dates, but the bounceback code beat it. So for my Sept trip Disney has already offered me three different deals and another GP code and an AP discount will probably still be coming out for those dates, so I'll have a choice of five discounts just for that one trip.

 

[Brandis]

While the offers are on the UK Disney site, I have many friends in Germany who use those offers as well. So, couldn't someone from the US book in the UK as well? Or don't they accept US adresses?

 

[mom2rtk]

So then Disney offers the US similar offers to cross the pond and attend DLRP, right????????

 

[Brandis]

So then Disney offers the US similar offers to cross the pond and attend DLRP, right????????

I don't think this can be compared, DLRP has mostly a european target audience, whereas WDW is pretty much a worldwide vacation destination.

Even within Europe, Disneyland Paris markets itself differently in different countries. Extremely strong in France and UK, less so in Germany and even less in Switzerland.

For example, there are special discounted tickets which only show up on the french language website, but when you know where to look, you can buy them even if you don't live in France.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't think this can be compared, DLRP has mostly a european target audience, whereas WDW is pretty much a worldwide vacation destination.

Even within Europe, Disneyland Paris markets itself differently in different countries. Extremely strong in France and UK, less so in Germany and even less in Switzerland.

For example, there are special discounted tickets which only show up on the french language website, but when you know where to look, you can buy them even if you don't live in France.

I didn't really think so. But my point is that if you're making the argument based solely on airfar, it should cut both ways.

 

[Brandis]

It's probably not worth the expenses.

DLRP is by many not seen as a destionation in itself, most Americans who are visiting France or Paris anyway will just add Disneyland Paris since they are there anyway. By offering special discounts, DLRP probably couldn't convince a lot more Americans to come to Europe.

WDW on the other hand, by offering those UK discounts, might convince quite a lot of people from the UK (and also the rest of Europe) to choose WDW over DLRP.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's probably not worth the expenses.

DLRP is by many not seen as a destionation in itself, most Americans who are visiting France or Paris anyway will just add Disneyland Paris since they are there anyway. By offering special discounts, DLRP probably couldn't convince a lot more Americans to come to Europe.

WDW on the other hand, by offering those UK discounts, might convince quite a lot of people from the UK (and also the rest of Europe) to choose WDW over DLRP.

Regardless, I'm sure there are a lot of Disney fans here in the states who would love to have a great deal to find out firsthand.

 

[pigletto]

So then Disney offers the US similar offers to cross the pond and attend DLRP, right????????

Ok.. well we have WDW and DL at our disposal but I'll bite. Let's say they do offer us free dining plus 15% off. It still isn't going to make up the gigantic difference in price to fly. Not by a long shot.