Out of control WDW ticket prices

[Yert3]

Where are you getting $18 from? That is a significant discrepancy from the research combined by @ParentsOf4, which includes a graph that compares prices to inflation.

I remember hearing it on a documentray I watch many years ago like a fun fact before the commercial break. I think it was on the travel channel or something. I haven't checked the accuracy on that though. I guess I should have, huh?

 

[Yert3]

Where are you getting $18 from? That is a significant discrepancy from the research combined by @ParentsOf4, which includes a graph that compares prices to inflation.

I did a search and found another source saying $18
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/14/business/disney-mulls-big-florida-expansion.html

 

[lazyboy97o]

I did a search and found another source saying $18
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/14/business/disney-mulls-big-florida-expansion.html

The article says $18 was a decade prior to its publication which would be 1984.

 

[Yert3]

The article says $18 was a decade prior to its publication which would be 1984.

Hmm okay. For some reason I though that paragraph was talking about the 80's and when it said a decade ago they were talking about the 70's. My bad. But I did hear as a fun fact somewhere that a 1971 ticket was $18

 

[ParentsOf4]

Hmm okay. For some reason I though that paragraph was talking about the 80's and when it said a decade ago they were talking about the 70's. My bad. But I did hear as a fun fact somewhere that a 1971 ticket was $18

Allears.net is the best single-source for historical WDW ticket prices.

Check it out. They even have photos of many of the tickets. Pretty cool!

I started this thread using ticket prices as metaphor for a change in management philosophy at The Walt Disney Company. Similar trends exist for quality of show, attraction stagnation, maintenance, food & merchandise prices, etc. but ticket prices are easiest to digest.

For those growing up in a post "Greed is good" Wall Street society, it's difficult to emphasize enough just how much Walt Disney, Roy Disney, Card Walker, and Donn Tatum believed in providing top-quality entertainment at a reasonable (but still highly profitable) price. In the company's lean years after Walt Disney's death until the advent of The Modern Classics, Disney's theme parks pretty much kept the company from closing its doors.

WDW's management continued to be led by those trained in the "Disney Difference" until Eisner forced them out in the mid-1990s.

Details mattered and quality of show nearly always came ahead of cost, the classic "Disney Difference".

Today's "Disney Difference" is a joke. It's a baloney reason corporate Disney uses to justify to its Cast Members why they should work harder while being paid less.

 

[ParentsOf4]

The article says $18 was a decade prior to its publication which would be 1984.

Yup. In 1984, a 1-day ticket was $18.

 

[Lucky]

Yup. In 1984, a 1-day ticket was $18.

And adjusted for inflation that's $40.36 in 2013.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

The really shocking price increases, for me, are the resort prices. A room that costs $29 at the Poly in 1971 is now over $600/night. That is some pretty impressive inflation.

 

[ParentsOf4]

The really shocking price increases, for me, are the resort prices. A room that costs $29 at the Poly in 1971 is now over $600/night. That is some pretty impressive inflation.

Adjusted for inflation, the Poly and the Contemporary cost about the same back then as today's "Value" Resort rake rates.

At the rates WDW charged, their hotels were 100% booked year-round.

I recall my sister and brother-in-law heading down to WDW in mid-September because that was the only time of the year that they could get a room at the Contemporary.

People who think WDW is no more expensive today then back in the 1970s and 1980s simply didn't live it.

 

[fosse76]

Adjusted for inflation, the Poly and the Contemporary cost about the same back then as today's "Value" Resort rake rates.

At the rates WDW charged, their hotels were 100% booked year-round.

I recall my sister and brother-in-law heading down to WDW in mid-September because that was the only time of the year that they could get a room at the Contemporary.

People who think WDW is no more expensive today then back in the 1970s and 1980s simply didn't live it.

While admission prices are deplorable, current on-site rack rates for all levels of their "resort" hotels are disgusting and obscene.

 

[willtravel]

While admission prices are deplorable, current on-site rack rates for all levels of their "resort" hotels are disgusting and obscene.

Other than spring break, Thanksgiving and Christmas thru New Years, (maybe missed one or two weeks), I wonder how many people pay rack rate?

 

[rob0519]

That's all awesome info, but I was just making a gentle jab at the poster's statement that the food sucks, is too expensive, and wouldn't ya know, he's anmoyed that he can't get in to the restaurants to experience this overpriced crappy food. It's funny. At least it is to me. It's like that line in some old Woody Allen movie. Something like: "The food here is awful and they give you such small portions."

And it was taken as a gentle jab. It does sound contradictory, I admit. However, I said overpriced and ever lowering quality food, I didn't say "crappy". Having gone to WDW more than two dozen times since 1996, I've seen the quality of food decline in many restaurants while the prices continue to go up. Quality can decrease and still be above "crappy", which for the most part, it still is.

Going back to the original point of the thread, unlike a lot of people here, I don't think $90-$95 a day is an outrageous amount to pay for the type of all day entertainment you can get at the parks. Depending on the time of the year, with a parkhopper you can get up to 17 hours or so of activitiy on some days. On a per hour basis, that is actually pretty outstanding.

 

[jlsHouston]

It's not just the price of an admission ticket for a day that has spiraled far past what it should be adjusted for inflation. It is how many people who have been going to WDW for a very long time can easily draw the conclusion WDW has been using the raise prices philosophy to maintain profits rather than reinvestment and maintenance in the parks and resorts.
Which one can argue has been slowly over time eroding repeat guests quality experiences while costing them more and more.
It is not to say WDW has no value to people who love the brand or want a theme park/resort vacation experience. It simply makes the point that value has eroded over time and you can chart that erosion by ticket prices...

 

[lazyboy97o]

And it was taken as a gentle jab. It does sound contradictory, I admit. However, I said overpriced and ever lowering quality food, I didn't say "crappy". Having gone to WDW more than two dozen times since 1996, I've seen the quality of food decline in many restaurants while the prices continue to go up. Quality can decrease and still be above "crappy", which for the most part, it still is.

Going back to the original point of the thread, unlike a lot of people here, I don't think $90-$95 a day is an outrageous amount to pay for the type of all day entertainment you can get at the parks. Depending on the time of the year, with a parkhopper you can get up to 17 hours or so of activitiy on some days. On a per hour basis, that is actually pretty outstanding.

I would say my bigger issue is the love of growth through cuts. I don't think I'd enjoy the crowds if prices were lower. But how is it that when Disney charged less they had better maintenance, better/longer staff training, more effects working, more dining establishments open, more entertainment, etc. Disney accomplished far more with less money.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

It's all economics. Disney's parks still inhabit a majority of the top 10 in theme park attendance. So people are willing to pay the prices. When they start voting with their pocketbooks, then maybe they will do something.

As for quality, I will concede that there have definitely been some hits over the past 17 years (since I started going every year) and some very questionable decisions. However, I often wonder what price points would be if they had to pay the costs associated with maintaining that original 'Disney Difference'. It costs money to have all those details working all the time and the proper people to carry them out. What would the true cost of a 1 day ticket be if they had to maintain the 'Disney Difference' using today's dollars? I am not making excuses, but I am trying to see the balancing act between keeping things fresh, having competent and very good staff, and not making prohibitively expensive for Joe Family to come.

 

[Lucky]

It's all economics. Disney's parks still inhabit a majority of the top 10 in theme park attendance. So people are willing to pay the prices. When they start voting with their pocketbooks, then maybe they will do something.

As for quality, I will concede that there have definitely been some hits over the past 17 years (since I started going every year) and some very questionable decisions. However, I often wonder what price points would be if they had to pay the costs associated with maintaining that original 'Disney Difference'. It costs money to have all those details working all the time and the proper people to carry them out. What would the true cost of a 1 day ticket be if they had to maintain the 'Disney Difference' using today's dollars? I am not making excuses, but I am trying to see the balancing act between keeping things fresh, having competent and very good staff, and not making prohibitively expensive for Joe Family to come.

I don't understand. If quality was higher when ticket prices (even adjusting for inflation) were much lower, then why do you think increasing prices even more would raise quality again?

 

[jlsHouston]

I don't understand. If quality was higher when ticket prices (even adjusting for inflation) were much lower, then why do you think increasing prices even more would raise quality again?

I think you have to back to the OP's post and theory about the focus on the company stock price. If the focus of TWDC is to keep the price elevated because of the stock options afforded the board and the highest level of management, they will always make decisions based on what benefits stock prices short term.
I am not sure but I don't think TWDC was as profitable or a Wall Street darling from the 50's to the 70's.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

I don't understand. If quality was higher when ticket prices (even adjusting for inflation) were much lower, then why do you think increasing prices even more would raise quality again?

To attract the type of people as cast members who would provide the previous level of 'Disney Difference', you would have to pay more. You would also have to expend more money to provide the 'wow' factor that people have come to expect with new attractions and experiences. All of those costs need to be recovered. Some get depreciated over time, some need to be recovered immediately. Therefore they have to raise prices to get the same level of quality.

 

[lazyboy97o]

To attract the type of people as cast members who would provide the previous level of 'Disney Difference', you would have to pay more. You would also have to expend more money to provide the 'wow' factor that people have come to expect with new attractions and experiences. All of those costs need to be recovered. Some get depreciated over time, some need to be recovered immediately. Therefore they have to raise prices to get the same level of quality.

Then why haven't price increases been enough to maintain quality?

 

[Cesar R M]

I don't understand. If quality was higher when ticket prices (even adjusting for inflation) were much lower, then why do you think increasing prices even more would raise quality again?

agree, there is a high probability (higher than 80%) that this will be passed to the management as "better efficiency", "better productivity" and will in the end be moved to a fat check to the top management.. with null improvement in the lower base line(aka the clients).