Spirited Lunchtime Pricing Musings:
I see a lot of attention and angst regarding WDW surveying Guests about what is basically dynamic pricing (your price rises and falls based on factors like time of year, day of week, expected crowds etc.) Understand this: Disney is absolutely considering it, much like ways of charging for 'additional' FP+ without calling it such. All of the chatter (here in this thread, on what is now a 163-post other thread on this forum, in the Twitverse) is being monitored by people being paid (a lot more than $9 an hour) to provide detailed reports on your thoughts about it.
It's just another way of Disney showing that not only are they not special, not only are they (yes, here it comes ... cover your ears) a business, but that they are a cutthroat business only interested in the bottom line.
I am waiting for one (or more) of the CNBC/FOX crowds to come in and justify this. I'm sure they won't let us down.
There was a time when Disney knew that dynamic pricing was something 'those other businesses engaged in' and 'something we'd never consider' ... understand, they've been moving toward this for about 15 years if not a bit longer in the swamps.
Some examples:
1.) There was a time that when you renewed an AP via phone/mail (no, Internet in the 90s, sorry), that your AP wasn't active until you went to a Guest Relations window and exchanged your certificate for the actual AP. That meant, that if your pass expired in February and you renewed in your 30 day window, but didn't visit until August 1st, then the AP didn't start until August 1st and was good for a year from that date. A very fair and very Guest friendly way of DOING BUSINESS. Disney had your money. You had your lower renewal price. And you weren't locked into an arbitrary date based on when you purchased it the last year. You weren't sitting on an AP that was paid for and you weren't able to use that was running down daily ...
But someone at Disney realized that some amount of people (a number that likely was made far more financially significant than the reality) were actually benefiting from doing this. They were getting 'free months' (not really, because if you don't use a pass, then it isn't free) and, over a lifetime of owning an AP, avoiding multiple price increases that had been become annual (and sometime twice). So, people were conditioned into renewing an AP that possibly wouldn't get used for two weeks, two months or nine months, which led to ...
2.) MAGIC Your Way Ticketing options. In the past you bought a WDW 5-day pass and let's say you only used two days and had three left. Well, they were good forever (or until China destroyed the USA and took over ... wait, bad example). It was simple. It was fair. Some might say it was good business. Why should you put a proverbial 'fuse' on ticket media? Oh wait, because what if someone bought that 5-day pass in 1991 and wanted to use those remaining days in 2003? How much (in money that again only existed in theory -- much like soda thievary) was that Guest saving? So, Disney added a 'no expiration' option. No longer would those 10-day tix that
@ParentsOf4 smartly purchased be good forever. Unless you paid a bit of extortion for that 'option' ... and people accepted that.
3.) Disney Resort Pricing. Hard to imagine now, but it once was easy. You had 3-4 seasons a year with prices for rooms based on category. If you arrived on the very last day of value season for a nine night stay, then that rate carried over for your entire stay. Again, putting Guests first, exceeding Guests expectations. I recall arriving on 12/25/99 for a two-week Milennium trip that was booked in 1994. It was the last day of regular season before peak season pricing began. I paid the regular season non-discounted rate of $119 to stay at Port Orleans. ... But look at all the that revenue ... all that profit that Disney lost. Whether they would have gotten it is another tale, but to those execs at Disney, they would have. Now, you can stay at WDW in the same room for two weeks and pay 4-5 different rates. Before again, because you know it's coming, someone points out that other hotel operators (most notably the Vegas casinos) use the same model, I'll again state that Disney has run its business on being unique and providing unparalleled Guest Service. Screwing people out of every last penny doesn't make most people want to come back and do it all again. ... Does that make you hungry? (I know I am, so need to make this short)
4.) Disney Dynamic Food Pricing and Discounting: It used to be so simple. You'd go to a WDW dining location (often without a reservation) and whether it was May 26th, Sept. 21st, Dec. 25th or Jan. 1st the prices on the menu were the same (specials excluded, obviously). And if you were eligible for a discount (be it DDE, AP etc), then you got it. But then someone decided that just like (some) other businesses, Disney could offer pricing based on time of year. If you were unfortunate enough to be spending a holiday with Disney, then they wanted to make sure you really got the white glove treatment. Suddenly, many dining locales (very popular ones, naturally) had 'holiday pricing' (basically, a surcharge) and those discounts that you used (or I did on Easter, July 4th, Christmas, NYE, etc)? They wouldn't be accepted on those days.
So, anyone who has watched Disney's Florida Business Model (DFBM from here?) shouldn't be surprised. Making the Ghetto Kingdom a more pricey one-day experience was just the first step. You want a cheap ticket, visit DAK or what's left of Disney-MGM on a week day in September. That's what Disney wants to do. Based on history, I very much see a day where you'd pay $180 to visit MK on Christmas, while paying 'only' $115 to visit DAK on Sept. 22nd.
Took so much time, that my thoughts on Tomorrowland (I'll give you a hint, I liked it) and my continued thoughts on China will have to wait.
I've not spent any real times on their forums.. but they used to give people a run for their money on DLR photo updates. But now that Micechat is a snowflake-protected-zone.. I've not been following DLR as much.
