Fountain & Bottled Drink, Popcorn, Pretzel, and Other Snack Item Prices Exponentially

[MrPromey]

I guess it hasn't reached critical mass point yet.

That begs the question of Why are folks still going to Disney?
There has to be something we are missing, if people know they are getting screwed and still signing up to go, what are we missing.
That's a serious question for any vacation venue.

Well I still go... because I have (an admitted) problem that I have also instilled in a young child which just makes it worse.

For people that don't really think about money, the hassle alone of what has become a modern day trip there probably hasn't become enough to turn them off, yet.

A lot of other people that I know who go simply don't really grasp it all until they go, despite my warnings, links to planning sites, discussions about fastpass, and so on. They all just think I'm crazy and exagerating. Then they come back and say "never again".

They talk about the prices of everything, the crowds, the lines, how it's impossible to get into restaurants.

It's possible I just know a lot of bumpkins. (I'm not ruling that out)

That said, I think we take for granted that there is tons of planning involved but a lot of people who haven't been before (and this seems to get worse, the physically closer they are to the parks when you set out to get there) still don't seem to grasp this.

As an example of what I'm talking about, for as much as booking reservations half a year out and booking fastpasses 60 days out is a known thing around here, you always still see plenty of people at those ticket booths.

Most of those people won't be getting fastpasses for Flight of Passage, or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train... Or likely any of the good e-tickets. They'll stumble through the parks, balk at the rides with hour+ waits, mostly do the stuff with shorter waits which tends to not be as good, have sticker shock at the merchandise prices for stuff that feels cheap (especially a lot of the stuff geared towards kids), complain about the lousy QS food and the prices for said food. Then they'll go home complaining about how they paid such high prices to go in and walk around all day without doing much and about how what they did do hardly seemed worth it, saying their kids can go again when they're old enough to pay for themselves.

Outside of our slightly unhinged bubble, I think there are a lot of one-and-done families out there who gave their kids that requisite "once-in-a-lifetime" experience and I think Disney is cool with that, as long as new ones keep coming in.

 

[xdan0920]

Mickey ice cream bar in 2016 - $3.75
Mickey ice cream bar in 2018 - $5.75

Y'all can do the math on the percentages. (Hint: It isn't a small number)

And as an ardent fan of Mickey ice cream bars, I'm ****ed over the price increases.

Supply and demand.

Mickey Bars are very rare commodities. Supply is low. Demand is high. Price goes up. Econ 101.

Doy

 

[xdan0920]

FWIW.....

Here comes a humble brag....

I can afford $3.50 water. I can afford loads of $3.50 water. Loads!

I just don’t like feeling like a sucker constantly when on vacation at a (sort of) theme park. I’d like to feel like I wasn’t being made a fool of every time the register rings.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

To all those that dont want to lug around bottles to the parks. Bring a bottle with a Brita filter to get rid of the yuck taste. I will keep it empty in my backpack and then ask for 2 cups of water at the counter of QS places. Usually fills it most of the way up.

 

[Amused to Death]

Have these new soda prices already gone into effect? I was at Epcot on Monday night and I paid the same $2.80 (after AP discount) for a Coke Zero that I've been paying for the past year or so.

 

[Jon81uk]

Question for our UK guest.
I've been toying with a trip to London but heard that hotel and food prices are also expensive. this maybe hard because you live there but comparably speaking is it way cheaper than the mouseworld?

Depends where and what you eat in London.
Soda at the small supermarket is £1-1.50 for 500ml (just under 20oz) so about $2. A 2 litre is still only about £1.50.
Soda in a restaurant is £3 either a bottle (fancy) or self service refills (Pizza Hut style).
Beer is around £5.

Dinner out can be £10-15 per person for pizza etc
Or £20-40 for steak or similar at a fancier place.
So it is generally. cheaper than WDW but not super cheap in London.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Supply and demand.

Mickey Bars are very rare commodities. Supply is low. Demand is high. Price goes up. Econ 101.

Doy

Yeah...can’t find those (or something nearly identical from nestle) at the empty grocery store down the steet from you

 

[eliza61nyc]

I'm guessing that this price increase isn't just cost related but is profit-seeking, but labor costs are 25%-40% of total costs in food service. If Disney were maintaining constant profit margins on their food service, they might be anticipating their total cost going up by 15%. I don't know how they could be coming up with that figure, though.


As I said earlier in the thread, we get 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom units with a full kitchen, but we only cook breakfast and pack maybe 1-2 lunches per trip. We do pack fruit, other snacks, and bottles of water.

These price increases are disappointing, but probably won't change our behavior, except to emotionally reward us for our original frugality in being able to execute the plan of saving money on water, snacks, and 1.5 meals a day.


I think you *might* be able to consider day 6-14 on multi-day passes and some aspects of the annual pass as being sold at a loss, but I don't consider either of those as being classic loss-leaders.


I'm probably an outlier, but I was lugging soda and water to the parks from back when it was $1 a bottle. So arguably, my enjoyment is actually increasing because I'm feeling less crazy now. The family complains less. (Actually, they never complained, we're very compatible in this aspect)


You're my hero!

Tell me more about using Amazon Prime to have food delivered. Is this Prime Now or Prime Pantry? Or PrimeFresh? Thanks!


Do you have any solution for making a half-frozen water bottle? It's been a request from my family.


I wonder if regional cost-of-living differences is actually a factor in people's emotions on this subject? Is part of the reason I feel less ire about these price increases because the comparable prices here are also high? Would I feel more anger if I were from a low cost-of-living area? If so, maybe we should accept these regional differences as supporting of people's feelings, but not accept them for generalized "I don't understand why person X feels this way" arguments. Though we shouldn't be having the latter at all, IMHO.


Do we need to archive the original prices?


If you get the one with the built-in filter let me know how well it worked out in the parks!

Oh no!

I freeze water overnight, when i wake up I take it out the freezer by the time i dress it's melting.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Have these new soda prices already gone into effect? I was at Epcot on Monday night and I paid the same $2.80 (after AP discount) for a Coke Zero that I've been paying for the past year or so.

Was that bottle or fountain?

I think it’s just fountain and if it broke on Monday it would have gone into effect yesterday if they followed typical pattern

 

[MrPromey]

Since folks like to draw parallels with going to football games, let’s look at the Atlanta Falcons. They actually lowered concession prices. Low and behind, they made more money. AND had happier fans. Imagine that.

“Although food and beverage prices were 50 percent lower in its new Mercedes-Benz Stadium than the prices in the Georgia Dome the previous year, fans spent 16 percent more.

‘There's a huge value in delighting your fan base, to make them as happy as they could possibly be,’ Cannon said. ‘We started with one of the biggest pain points and it paid off.’”

http://es.pn/2DFdFJK

Our local MLB basball stadium began offering free soda refill stations this year for people who bought souvenir cups. They didn't explicitly state you could bring those cups back to future games for additional free refills but a lot of people did and nobody was stopping them.*



*We'll see if that continues next year.

 

[Amused to Death]

Was that bottle or fountain?

Bottle. It was from inside a shop (Germany) as they still haven't seen fit to sell Coke Zero out at any of the carts. The original post mentions bottled sodas for $4.50 which, if true, would be a huge increase. I don't have a receipt in front of me, but doing the math in reverse, I believe a bottle is currently $3.29 before tax.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Bottle. It was from inside a shop (Germany) as they still haven't seen fit to sell Coke Zero out at any of the carts. The original post mentions bottled sodas for $4.50...which, if true, would be a huge increase.

I didn’t notice that but it would be a gigantic increase.

 

[NelsonRD]

As I said earlier in the thread, we get 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom units with a full kitchen, but we only cook breakfast and pack maybe 1-2 lunches per trip. We do pack fruit, other snacks, and bottles of water.

These price increases are disappointing, but probably won't change our behavior, except to emotionally reward us for our original frugality in being able to execute the plan of saving money on water, snacks, and 1.5 meals a day.

Are you packing 1-2 lunches per trip, cooking breakfast to save money? Or because you genuinely enjoy making, packing, carrying lunches, and cooking breakfast?

The point is, are these cost increases beyond what may have been predicted when signing up for DVC, actually subtracting from the pleasure of DVC ownership? Or are DVC members justifying these cost, or seemingly do not care making cutbacks.

Part of my vacation enjoyment is to not cook, carry rations, and indulge - where normally I do not. Personally, I would prefer to take a break during the day and enjoy a sit down air conditioned lunch, opposed to eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Food and snack is part of my vacation, and I would be upset if I had to alter my vacation behavior due to rising costs. As a non-DVC member, there less of a feeling of entrapment, even if the cost are rising elsewhere. I thought DVC members would be more upset about this, and I was curious to see if DVC members were more or less emotional about rising costs.

 

[jbolen2]

Sorry...I can’t take you seriously until you take down that redonkulous mascot photo...

It’s major creeps



Is the dining plan still a thing?

I was hoping everyone wised up and dumped the thing...now that you have to commit to retail price on too much food than can be eaten?

I don’t know anyone that does myself, I was just looking at how this might temporarily close the gap the out of pocket vs quick service dining package

 

[Amused to Death]

Raising prices mid-festival seems over the top, even for WDW.

Perhaps those huge, beautiful Assholder cutting boards proved to be more expensive to manufacture than they originally thought.

 

[winstongator]

Question for our UK guest.
I've been toying with a trip to London but heard that hotel and food prices are also expensive. this maybe hard because you live there but comparably speaking is it way cheaper than the mouseworld?

We did two weeks combined in Ireland and London. I didn't find the prices too awful, but, for me, getting there is a lot more expensive than getting to WDW.

Question for our UK guest.
I've been toying with a trip to London but heard that hotel and food prices are also expensive. this maybe hard because you live there but comparably speaking is it way cheaper than the mouseworld?

Not from UK, but we visited Ireland and London this summer. The prices that got my attention were the flights and the cost of our rental apartment in Dublin. Costs were on par to higher than Disney, but I lean to volume over splurging at WDW - we live close enough to take weekend & even shorter trips. A highlight in London was seeing Aladdin the musical. Tickets were 50 pounds. Around $65. Is that what it would cost on Broadway? The tube was definitely cheaper than cabs, but my girls really wanted to take one. I need to check on the price of our accommodations in London, but it was awesome. We used onefinestay which is like a high end airbnb. My daughters loved the museums in London and historic sights in Ireland. They even appreciated Kilmanhaim jail.

We chose that trip over renewing our ap (for a while). My wife had business there and was something we couldn’t miss.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Perhaps those huge, beautiful Assholder cutting boards proved to be more expensive to manufacture than they originally thought.

...I fell of my chair..

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We did two weeks combined in Ireland and London. I didn't find the prices too awful, but, for me, getting there is a lot more expensive than getting to WDW.

Not from UK, but we visited Ireland and London this summer. The prices that got my attention were the flights and the cost of our rental apartment in Dublin. Costs were on par to higher than Disney, but I lean to volume over splurging at WDW - we live close enough to take weekend & even shorter trips. A highlight in London was seeing Aladdin the musical. Tickets were 50 pounds. Around $65. Is that what it would cost on Broadway? The tube was definitely cheaper than cabs, but my girls really wanted to take one. I need to check on the price of our accommodations in London, but it was awesome. We used onefinestay which is like a high end airbnb. My daughters loved the museums in London and historic sights in Ireland. They even appreciated Kilmanhaim jail.

We chose that trip over renewing our ap (for a while). My wife had business there and was something we couldn’t miss.

Aladdin tickets are WAYYYYY more expensive in New York...I think I paid $165 per for mezzanine last year

 

[smile]

prophecy - or rather, transparency - into a landscape which had been forever altered...
an interesting reality if those idiots would have been capable of making the distinction between satire and a blueprint

in fairness, they aren't the only ones doing the same thing to crichton fiction, even today
...alas, great clip

 

[DisneyCane]

At 50 cents a drink they are making one heck of a profit and people know it. Disney is in the business of guest satisfaction seems counterproductive to maximize profits when people know they are getting screwed. It's not just soda --water, Mickey bars etc.

I disagree that people are getting "screwed." Disney (or any theme park) is a voluntary recreational activity. If you choose to buy food and beverage at ridiculous prices while there it is part of the experience. When I buy a dole whip float for $6, I know that the cost of the pineapple juice and ice cream is probably under $1. I know I'm getting "ripped off" but I choose to buy it because it tastes good and adds to my enjoyment at MK.

For food or beverages, you have the option to leave the property. If you don't have your vehicle then the cost of Uber/Lyft or a cab is a factor. For drinks, you can get free water. I'm a passholder that always drives to WDW and the only time I will have a meal on property is maybe a small lunch/snack of chicken tenders and fries as long as they stay somewhat reasonably priced. For large meals, I always go off property to get better value.

The point being that food and beverages at WDW have to be considered as part of the experience of a resort/vacation and not as sustenance. I think the overall operating margin for the parks is around 18%. This seems in line with a high end recreational company. Vail Resorts had an operating margin of 18.89% in FY2018. If Disney's margins drop below comparable businesses, their stock price will suffer as will their ability to borrow at good rates to continue investing profitably in the operation. The price of soft drinks is just part of their overall revenue model but it has to be balanced with other prices in order to keep the overall cost vs. revenue equation at the "ideal" point.