News Disney CEO Bob Chapek suggests price hikes are coming to the parks thanks to guest demand

[larryz]

Yep! Crystal City is being renamed (something Amazon likes) and Arlington is the center of Amazon construction (large scale construction.) It is getting to the point that in order to expand and grow it's either up or dig down as sideways is kind of crowded.

Well, that's why the Triskellion was built in the Potomac...

 

[larryz]

Which is dumb. Six Flags is not on the radar of the affluent. That ship sailed long ago. It's bare bones carnival style entertainment for the masses. (And I love a good roller coaster so it's not a knock from me, just stating the obvious).

Not quite -- the well-to-do will deign to visit a Sicks Flags if they install a cutting edge coaster or other attraction.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You are evil and must be destroyed. You're trying to give the old guy a heart attack, the man called me a traitor for eating Boston baked beans

The records don’t lie…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Springs has its share of problems from time-to-time but I think the style and setup of it these days is more towards "mature" (with younger people in tow) along with the drama club kids (which if you knew me, you'd know is a loving remark and not a knock) where Citywalk feels like Times Square at night - totally different vibe with a much more lively crowd.

I haven't done HHN in years due to a young one but when I went, they used to advertise that our ticket would also get us into the clubs in Citywalk for free. I never understood why someone would leave a hard ticket event like HHN early to go to the clubs there but thinking about it, the audience for HHN is a lot more likely to hit up those clubs after than the ones at MNSSHP.

The Universal stuff all the way around is geared more towards young adults looking for slightly edgier and less kid-friendly stuff and frankly, if I were a teen in Orlando, Citywalk would look a lot more fun to me so I get why they would have a little more trouble than Disney with locals - especially with the demise of PI.

I never did PI when it was ticketed and spent very little time there after* but I can see how getting rid of it probably shed Disney a ton of headaches.


*If you're curious what I looked like when I was younger, just go to https://www.thesaurus.com, type in the word "cool" and then scroll down to the antonyms section. You'll se a picture of me from my early twenties which is still pretty much how I look today only more out of shape and with less hair.

PI in the day was glorious. The college program and a “depressed” heterosexual population.
…I’m gonna be daydreaming the rest of the day now…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Based on the fact that even the highest-cost Magic Key has blackout dates, I wouldn't be surprised to see the same for whenever WDW decides they need to fatten the coffers - uh, I mean, offer annual passes for sale again.

I think the problem is they want both gone and have no doubt they can do it in Florida…but can’t quite pull it off in Anaheim.

So they’re trying to make DL so disadvantageous that people walk away on their own…while wdw are gone - in essence - already.

Only the threat of long recession has kept them from ripping off the bandaid.

 

[MrPromey]

PI in the day was glorious. The college program and a “depressed” heterosexual population.
…I’m gonna be daydreaming the rest of the day now…
View attachment 661114

I thought "Game" was tick-tac-toe back then so even if I'd gone, I doubt it would have worked out as well for me.

 

[MrPromey]

All of the money spent on research trips when a simple walk to the end of Sunset Blvd at DHS displays exactly how to present an immersive narrative on a high-end thrill ride.

The queues of FoP and RoTR get it pretty right, but the multi-part preshow experience that inundates you with exposition like on FoP or drags it out across 4 rooms like RoTR are tough. I will say that at least these two attractions are a lot more experiential and tickles the brain a lot better than what was put together in New Fantasyland or TSL.

Runaway Railway is probably the closest contender to ToT for a modern "complete E ticket attraction".

ToT was built a quarter century before Runaway Railway.

True but I'll say that with FoP and Rise, a lot of that pre-show stuff is really just to extend the que in a way that's meant to not feel like you're still in line, even if that pre-show in the case of Rise, ends up being half the attraction.

Heck, even the ILL folks have to contend with that, don't they?

 

[fgmnt]

True but I'll say that with FoP and Rise, a lot of that pre-show stuff is really just to extend the que in a way that's meant to not feel like you're still in line, even if that pre-show in the case of Rise, ends up being half the attraction.

Heck, even the ILL folks have to contend with that, don't they?

Yeah, it's also a way to make a 5 minute attraction you waited 2 hours for to feel more like a 10 minute attraction. All fair game.

 

[bhg469]

True but I'll say that with FoP and Rise, a lot of that pre-show stuff is really just to extend the que in a way that's meant to not feel like you're still in line, even if that pre-show in the case of Rise, ends up being half the attraction.

Heck, even the ILL folks have to contend with that, don't they?

In the case of fop I feel like the queue is mostly for distraction. The rise queue, once the show starts, it's really kind of fun. As critical of Disney as I am these days, Rise is a pretty great experience even if the ride itself is a little problematic.

 

[flynnibus]

Are you under the impression that working frontline QS F&B at Pecos Bill's is meaningfully different or more difficult than McDonald's?

How long off the clock do you think mcdonalds workers invest to get to their jobsite?

How do you think the grooming standards compare?

Do you think your typical mcdonalds sees the number of customers that pecos bill does 7 days a week?

Disney has incredibly high expectations of their employees and generally pays less than their competitors

 

[flynnibus]

McDonald's can't get people either. It's not a matter of workers choosing elsewhere over Disney, it's a matter of not enough workers in the first place.

Therr are lots of workers available- a large portion of them are just not good employees so turnover is worse than ever.

It’s miserable when instead of the lowest 10% of your employees being unreliable- 60% of them are. The kind of things people think are valid excuses to just not show up or call out are sickening

 

[bhg469]

How long off the clock do you think mcdonalds workers invest to get to their jobsite?

How do you think the grooming standards compare?

Do you think your typical mcdonalds sees the number of customers that pecos bill does 7 days a week?

Disney has incredibly high expectations of their employees and generally pays less than their competitors

My first job was at a fast food restaurant. There was lots of downtime between busy meal times.

Granted the menu was much larger but I don't think for one second that it was equally as difficult as working a quick service at WDW. For starters I didn't have to walk a half mile in the rain to get inside the door.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

In the case of fop I feel like the queue is mostly for distraction. The rise queue, once the show starts, it's really kind of fun. As critical of Disney as I am these days, Rise is a pretty great experience even if the ride itself is a little problematic.

…dull city with bad IP. Beyond that…great!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Therr are lots of workers available- a large portion of them are just not good employees so turnover is worse than ever.

It’s miserable when instead of the lowest 10% of your employees being unreliable- 60% of them are. The kind of things people think are valid excuses to just not show up or call out are sickening

So what does the “free market” dictate an employer should do?

 

[flynnibus]

Depending on which party is in control, you can interchangeably swap out "Defense" with "Social Welfare". I lived in NoVa for 5 years and it's still a white-collar ghetto.

I’ve lived here for 30+ years and i think all this talk is wack.

 

[flynnibus]

Lowering demand isn't the only move. Expanding the supply is also an option, in fact it's the more logical option.

Expanding supply also means extending your built in commitment and overhead to support it all.

When you are spending adverse or unhappy with your current conversions… you find people will instead focus on reshaping rather than just trying to scale horizontal.

Wdw is also a special beast in that adding more doesn’t always mean the same utilization. And the history of adding more “like for like” capacity hasn’t really driven returns for disney. It’s more of a ‘necessary evil’.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Adding supply would be beneficial to the customers…which may lead to increased sales and return business…

But…it guarantees overhead and could also expose a weakness that Disney would hide at all costs: they may be drastically shrinking their customer pool with prices and lack of enough wealth to meet them.

They’ll die on a hill trying to defend that secret - hypothetically

 

[CaptainAmerica]

How long off the clock do you think mcdonalds workers invest to get to their jobsite?

"Commuting" from West Clock is paid time, and it only applies to Magic Kingdom CMs anyways.

How do you think the grooming standards compare?

In 2022? Equal.

Do you think your typical mcdonalds sees the number of customers that pecos bill does 7 days a week?

Proportional to staffing levels, yes.

Disney has incredibly high expectations of their employees

They used to.

and generally pays less than their competitors

They don't.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It’s miserable when instead of the lowest 10% of your employees being unreliable- 60% of them are. The kind of things people think are valid excuses to just not show up or call out are sickening

Completely agree! But you just finished telling me that WDW has "incredibly high expectations" of their employees.

Disney's expectations of their employees in 2022 are "can you be on time, or at least not SUPER late, and can you not be noticeably intoxicated?"

 

[flynnibus]

Its so sad for me to say this but I have to believe that so much of Disney's money goes into fine details that the vast majority of their guests are completely oblivious to...and just dont care.

The best design is one that people don’t know about - but still benefit from. In the case of disney that means things like credibility, suspension of disbelief, buy-in, enjoyment, etc.

You don’t need guests to understand how you did it - you just want the desired outcomes.

That was “the disney magic”. Eventually people start to reflect and try to look back and understand “why was it different?”. Not everyone is interested in understanding why.. many are just happy to ride the wave. You get some that become addicted and show interest in the news of things because they want more of the experiences. then you have those that show interest in understanding the “how its made” that see the art of it all as a hobby interest as well.

The fanbase is made up of all these types plus the noobs who are just there by word of mouth or ads.

They don’t need to appreciate the details to benefit from them.

What you don’t want is investing in details that don’t deliver in the end