JohnD
Well-Known Member
You would hope they do what you can do with theme parks now and water parks now -- leave your bags with baggage services.
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News Walt Disney World Adds Water Park Perk for 2025 Resort Guests
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
From what I've seen I don't expect any major swings in either direction.
The goal, as I understand it, is to:
- Reincentivize onsite hotel stays to address occupancy levels;
- Reinforce the Disney bubble;
- Better capitalize on marketable promotions and discounts.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Perhaps you will need to go to the hotel first to collect your ticket. In that case, there’s no reason not to leave bags with Bell Services.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
I can hear the “levers” being pulled all the way from here 
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
One of the smartest decisions they could make. They have no interest in offering airport transportation, but this easily allows them to market something "free" for people potentially planning trips to Epic. When people google and start planning for 2025, I would imagine WDW will have FREE WATER PARK ACCESS in capital bold letters on every single advert they run.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Would you need a ticket? You could show your app or they could scan your MB to see that you checked in that day.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
It highlights 2 things off the top (for me):
1. It solidifies one waterpark as permenant policy
2. It shows how bad their hotel/ticket demand is down…-and they’re running out of options. It also shows what a mess genie is…to a lesser degree
pigglewiggle
Well-Known Member
Our family was never a big waterpark family, so this wouldn't sway us.
And it being the arrival day only - I just can't imagine this convincing that many people to book a stay at a Disney resort unless they were already leaning towards doing so.
I could be wrong and wish them well.
And it being the arrival day only - I just can't imagine this convincing that many people to book a stay at a Disney resort unless they were already leaning towards doing so.
I could be wrong and wish them well.
pdude81
Well-Known Member
Definitely would be a big help for split stays. Takes some of the sting out of the dining reservation hole we find ourselves in.
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
This move is much more about two goals:
- Marketable incentives increasing perceived value.
- Keeping those that *do* book from going elsewhere. A "free" Disney (water)park day might be enough to stop guests from paying the extra money to go visit a different property.
The fact that attendance might tick up at the water parks, increasing food & bev sales, is a happy extra.
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
Disney got very bullish on hotel pricing back in 2022 when they saw "unprecedented demand" which was eventually going to decline at some point. Over the past few years, there have been a decent amount of new (or updated) resorts that provide a far better value and include pools with water parks (Gaylord, Marriot, etc.) that would keep a family from visiting a water park. Aquatica has become the locals park with all the specials and free tickets, and Volcano Bay has become the "premier" water park in Orlando.
bmr1591
Well-Known Member
All Star Music.
Ya know, I've always been in the camp that Genie+ isn't hard to use, it's just annoying to have in place and makes standby lines slower and provides the normal guest a more frustrating experience. This past week, I encountered so many people that were frustrated with the system, some who'd been going a long time, some on their first ever trip. I really do think they have to make a change to it and fast. It's sending people home with a sour taste that makes them not want to come back.
Also, on a somewhat related note, I understand cast members are busy and have a lot to deal with in their jobs, but they need someone at Guardians and Tron to explain VQ to guests who come up wanting in and have no clue how the VQ works or that it was even a thing. People have traveled thousands of miles and spent thousands of dollars to come to Disney World. They shouldn't have to leave not having an opportunity to ride because of a policy they didn't know existed. And we can blame those guests for their ignorance and not doing research, but it wouldn't be hard for a cast member to give guests an explanation of how the VQ works when they come to the scan in and don't know what a VQ is, especially before 1 pm.
I have to give them credit; this is a pretty creative lever to pull. I also think that this policy should actually be justifying reopening both starting April 2025 but who knows.I can hear the “levers” being pulled all the way from here
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
Bouncing some messages around my channels, something to noodle on...
The baseline staffing for water parks is less adaptable than the other parks without reduction in attractions or offerings. There are fewer food & beverage outlets to adjust to crowd levels, and a certain amount of safety staff are required regardless of gate clicks.
So if you can successfully market both water parks as an incentive to purchase a mostly-unrelated offering (in this case, vacation packages), you've further monetized a fixed operations cost with minimal balance sheet impact.
The baseline staffing for water parks is less adaptable than the other parks without reduction in attractions or offerings. There are fewer food & beverage outlets to adjust to crowd levels, and a certain amount of safety staff are required regardless of gate clicks.
So if you can successfully market both water parks as an incentive to purchase a mostly-unrelated offering (in this case, vacation packages), you've further monetized a fixed operations cost with minimal balance sheet impact.
I can only speak from personal experience, but my wife just texted me saying "i think we need to plan a trip in 2025 now because of this". Our plan was to skip this year and next to do Aulani in 2025. And just for reference, my wife doesn't bite on every thing that comes up...
My point of this anecdotal story...I think this will sway more people than you think.
I plan to travel from NJ directly to Blizzard Beach in my speedo.
It certainly will make going through airport security a breeze!
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
Putting that username to the test, huh?
lentesta
Premium Member
I think the thing that's being missed here is the move to an 8-day resort reservation cancellation window. That would indicate the rumors are true about upcoming changes where you'll be able to book Genie+ seven days in advance.
My assumption is that it's cheaper to change the cancellation window than to pay programmers to have the resort reservation system talk correctly to the Genie+ reservation system.
My assumption is that it's cheaper to change the cancellation window than to pay programmers to have the resort reservation system talk correctly to the Genie+ reservation system.
Willmark
Well-Known Member
You got to what I was wondering and verbalized it far better.
Disney isn’t really losing anything by this move.
1. It looks like goodwill to the customers and public at large.
2. It doesn’t cost them that much as it’s utilizing something that is already in operation and comparatively underutilized.
3. Starts in 2025?
4. Provides the appearance of doing “something.”
Last ten day trip was 2017, we did one day at one of the water parks. Kids had a great time and we drank
but even at a ten day stay we had to justify it to ourselves.It’s as if the big wigs (ears?) got together and said “what is the minimal amount we can do to juice attendance?”
Now in their shoes this is probably a huge step but when really looked at? It’s simply shuttling a fraction of guests to the underattended parks.
Who knows, perhaps it simply buys them time and is delaying the inevitable?
“Hey Disney: you know why people aren’t staying on prem? It’s really simple, the cost is in no way shape or form proportional to the value!”
I mean it was always bad, but it’s just more obvious.