A Spirited Perfect Ten

[wdwmagic]

Isn't that about the normal price at a nice steakhouse for such a cut?

Yep. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Although attention speaking websites headlining $100+ steaks and making it sound like per person are likely to blame.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Yep. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Although attention speaking websites headlining $100+ steaks and making it sound like per person are likely to blame.

Well, thats HuffPo for you. They're all about the page clicks and site traffic. They also don't pay very well for the few things they do pay for.

 

[GoofGoof]

With the conventions business they do the place will be busy. Plus many many people will want to eat a better meal.

This item won't move much but the 50-60 price items will. And no one will blink an eye for it if quality is right.

I agree it will have appeal to a lot of people. Where I'm a little skeptical is the number of high end restaurants being built and their size. The Boathouse is huge. They are also building a rather large Morimotto restaurant that seems promising to be pretty high end. Plus another steakhouse (STK) and whatever the Edison property turns out to be. These are the former PI club buildings. They are all pretty big. Combine all of the new stuff with the nice restaurants already there and its a lot of high end dining.

Current demand isn't likely enough for all that supply. I'm assuming the plan is to attract more convention visitors and locals too adding additional visitors. They won't be canabalizing the existing Disney style dining like T-Rex or RFC. 2 different demographic groups.

 

[WildcatDen]

It all starts with the meat cart....

Miss Candy's "Back Room Bordello" supposedly has a meat cart as well, but I think that is where the similarities end.

 

[GoofGoof]

I wonder if these locations were forced to take the DDP. One might guess it was in the contracts.

For fun sometime, ask the folks at HoB or Portobello what they think of the DDP and what it does to resort dining and the way they run their locations.

Do you think all of these new locations will be forced on DDP? I hope not. In order to have the flexibility to offer unique items they really can't follow the DDP model. It will also potentially lead to 180 day reservations and lack of availability. People traveling for work to a conference aren't going to book 6 months in advance.

 

[Cesar R M]

Rumor floating around on Twitter from Wondercon that Disney's considering doing a movie based on these guys headed by the Wreck it Ralph crew.



Between this and Microsoft's expressed desire to want to see Banjo as Smash DLC now that Nintendo's polling for possible new characters, it makes you wonder...

considering Banjo Kazooie weren't THAT popular. (but then.. movies about Sony's RATCHET AND CLANK and SLY COOPER are coming this and next year...)
I'm surprised they haven't tried other movie franchises (like metal gear solid, final fantasy, etc..)

 

[Cesar R M]

The price of this isn't meant to be attractive, it is meant to make everything else on the menu seem more affordable by comparison. There will be a few people that purchase for the novelty of saying they did it, like people do with the $500 Kobe Beef burger (or whatever ridiculous price they put on it), but most people won't bother to purchase and The Boathouse won't care.

But after you see the $115 steak, the mid-$50 steak looks like a steal, and that is the purpose behind offering this high priced item. Without the $115 steak, if all the menu items were around mid-$50s, you would probably perceive them to be all over priced.

Agree!
that's pretty much the "bait" they use in every cinema theatre.
They offer a highly priced "bait"(either a medium size with more than 3/4 the price of the bigger one or a big one 2x or more the price of a smaller one) and then a "reasonable" priced product.

 

[chiefs11]

Shula's is consistently very good. Morton's used to be my favorite in that sector, but then the economy collapsed, my finances changed and they were bought by Landry's. You should read some reviews nationally. I'd rather go to the Outback, like I did last week, and get a decent quality sirloin for $15.79 or a decent filet for $20.49, than pay expense account prices sans the account for a mediocre experience.

We tried Shula's at the Swolphin last year and didn't care for it. Maybe we should give it another try. Or perhaps their other locations are better? Its a shame if if Morton's is going downhill, we always liked it.

 

[lobelia]

Clearly many of you are more flush than I am. I cannot imagine paying $115.00 for two, before tip, for dinner and drink. I guess I'll go hang out the tank top and jorts crowd.

For what it's worth.....I also usually won't pay money to see sequels at the movie theater. It's just like putting my money where that $115 steak will eventually end up.

 

[71jason]

I bet you a billion Stanley Nickels that it's a 45 minute wait to get in, minimum, every Friday and Saturday night for the first three years (at least).

We'll see who's "out of touch" then.

Happy to scope it out from Raglan with you.

 

[WDW1974]

Looking from the outside on TDL, few of their recent additions really have me impressed. (Not saying it's better at WDW, it's not) Near stagnation is how I'd describe it.

Then all of a sudden they announce this big logistical overhaul/expansion. This is after they had been saying they might go forward with other ventures, and Disney wouldn't be part of the picture.

What made them change their MO, and 180 into one of their most aggressive periods of Disney expansion in their history? Are they having MK like issues with too many guests? Are they threatened? Did they decide there was more money to be made?

Mixed signals...

One thing I did catch in their Annual Report, was them being completely caught off guard by their high attendance.

OLC has been involved in talks with Disney for expansion for years. They did look into ventures that wouldn't have included Disney as well as for a third park (not necessarily at TDR).

I would guess they felt this plan, of aggressively expanding both parks, made the most sense. I am sure crowds play a factor, although people at TDR seem much more accepting of waiting in lines for hours (the kind of waits that MK sees only a handful of days a year are normal at TDR).

I also don't see stagnation there. They constantly introduce new and seasonal entertainment that you'd never see stateside.

Now, I am not impressed when I see some of the clones going into that resort. But you'll see more unique product in the not too distant future.

 

[WDW1974]

On the discussion of a slower Easter/Spring Break period, I have to wonder if the snowstorms have forced schools in most of the United States to shorten their days off to make up for lost time affected travel plans.

I'd guess that parents would take their kids out of school before losing money on pre-paid airline tickets and the like. Could have had some effect, I just don't see a big one.

 

[WDW1974]

Spirited Rip UNI Musing:

If Disco Yeti is so bad, and he is, then what do you call blowing your money scene on Gringotts by having a giant hole in the wall visible when your finale effect fails most of the time? Where's the angst and indignation?

 

[Nemo14]

I'd guess that parents would take their kids out of school before losing money on pre-paid airline tickets and the like. Could have had some effect, I just don't see a big one.

I know that up here in New England a lot of schools have an April vacation (usually the 3rd or 4th week of April) so you'll probably see crowded parks during that time, considering how bad the winter was.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Spirited Rip UNI Musing:

If Disco Yeti is so bad, and he is, then what do you call blowing your money scene on Gringotts by having a giant hole in the wall visible when your finale effect fails most of the time? Where's the angst and indignation?

The first rule of universal is you don't talk about universal. The second rule of universal…

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Well, thats HuffPo for you. They're all about the page clicks and site traffic. They also don't pay very well for the few things they do pay for.

Don't pay very well? I had to get an article pulled down of HuffPo not that long ago. Cost me a fortune.

 

[WDW1974]

Have you ever read a restaurant trade magazine those franchises of those concepts hate the 1 burger because they don't make money on it. It is a play to make the revenue on the drink and fry sale then.

The cost of Mcd bun alone is 13 cents. Add in the 1/8 lb of mystery meat which is still priced at roughly 2.25 per lb at their discount and you are looking .30 cents. Add in the two pickles onions ketchup and you have another .15 cents.

That is not a good margin.

I ran a 3000 unit chain so this in my wheel house so believe me the margins everyone is thinking are here on food is not.

Restaurants hope to make 10 percent profit. With the exceptional ones making 20-25 percent.

Based on disney puré volume they are on the higher end here but a place like boathouse is a independent that is paying them rent etc and based on rent figures I have seen for dwtn disney they are high.

I am not saying disney is not high on other things they are and can they serve a better product for the price they are at. With out a doubt but this item is actually priced fair.

I am not arguing the merits of the 32 oz slab of beef. I agree with you on that.

I am talking about pricing in general. Like that $44sirloin at Le Cellier or, indeed, any/all of the food and beverages WDW serve. There is a very large to huge profit on most of their menus.

Universal isn't losing money when they serve a filet at Mythos for under $20, while Disney is well over double that price. UNI isn't losing money on a cup of great soup they'll add on for $2.99 while Disney will charge double that.

Oh, and I know all about how there is very little profit in $1 or $1.29 burgers. A friend of mine writes for QSR.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

Clearly many of you are more flush than I am. I cannot imagine paying $115.00 for two, before tip, for dinner and drink. I guess I'll go hang out the tank top and jorts crowd.

For what it's worth.....I also usually won't pay money to see sequels at the movie theater. It's just like putting my money where that $115 steak will eventually end up.

Given the super-inflated price of just about anything in WDW, food and otherwise, it seems odd that anyone here would cry poor over paying $55/person for a steak at a nice steakhouse.

 

[WDW1974]

Here is why to a company like disney a 4-5b investment over a three or four year period is a fair risk for the potential return they can get.

If I am looking at where to grow parks in the world today you had two choices India and China.

So they took the gamble on China. I have turned down options to bring my brands to China as I think they are horrible market and I don't think my American style food will do well and nearly impossible to hit my standards For quality of product.

I don't dount it is going to struggle and they may fail miserably at it, but taking the risk is not a bad business decision. When your other arms are able to handle and support it.

As for the missing money or the corruption I don't know if it is true or not. Or the holdin media back on it. I do know it is very common practice for stories to be killed in the business world. Like it or not it happens not right but it happens all the time. Their is a reason PR agencies make millions off of big companies

The risk is far greater than Disney's 43% investment in the creation of SDL. Their BRAND will truly be at the mercy of others for the first time. They won't have final say on anything, no matter Bob's spinning. If Disney fails there, it will have far reaching impacts across the Disney Company.

India was never an option for Disney parks. Way too much poverty. Way too much instability. Way too open to terrorism and radicals. Disney was never going there.

Since I don't know what your company is, I have no idea whether it would succeed. I do see American dining chains doing great business over there. To walk into a Pizza Hut and see what it can be in a market like China is truly eye-opening. Heck, even walking into a McD's is a wonder compared to the vast amount of its US units.

And whether corruption and censorship exist in the USA isn't a justification for them existing. Again, I'd like to believe that we're better than that.

 

[OSUgirl77]

I'd guess that parents would take their kids out of school before losing money on pre-paid airline tickets and the like. Could have had some effect, I just don't see a big one.

I know that several families here in Maryland chose not to plan vacations over spring break or in June because of the chance of snow day makeups. It's possible this was the case in other states as well, although I wouldn't know if it was enough to affect attendance numbers at WDW. What I do know is, as long as school districts here continue to cancel school every time an inch of snow falls, then families should just get used to no longer having a week long spring break.