First of all, cute image macro.
It's nice to see that quickmeme is still in service.
It is within their ability.. they just know its EASIER to just raise prices and get the same short-term effect.. without any spending at all. Why invest when you can just increase prices over and over?
Why indeed?
Whatever they're doing, it's working just fine.
Perhaps you believe Disney could have made more money overall had they invested to the extent Universal has during the same time period.
That may or may not be true, but the hard fact is that Disney chose not to and expanded their business greatly on that decision.
This hasn't been a short-term strategy or effect, either. Disney has slowed expansion and been steadily raising prices for over a decade with great success.
It's not that the ROI isn't feasible.. it's that they have an even easier out because of their legacy.
Reduce cost by reducing offerings.. and raise prices... keep doing so until the camel's back breaks. That's not a bottomless well.
No, but since all we have to go by is the numbers, we're not at the bottom of the well or at the point at which the camel's back breaks- whichever metaphor you liked better.
A lot of people thought Disney's attendance would crest when they raised the single-park admission for the Magic Kingdom above $75
These people were wrong.
A lot of people thought Disney's attendance would crest when Disney closed attractions at the Studios without having new ones ready.
These people were wrong.
A lot of people thought Disney's attendance would crest when they raised the single-park admission for the Magic Kingdom above $100.
We'll see if they're wrong, but given Disney's recent survey efforts exploring date-dependent raises in prices, it would seem that the bottom of the well is still no where in sight.
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What planet do you live on? You really think Disney wants the higher operation cost of running one park at stress levels, while still having to run all the overhead of other parks at lackluster levels?
The parks are insane costs to run... once you open the door you want the maximum return on that spend. Your own narrative falls flat in front of Disney actually trying to do things like extend days at DCA, DAK, etc with more evening entertainment.
Greater attendance and retention in each of the parks = higher capacity for the resort. Higher capacity for the resort = greater potential revenue. More balanced utilization = best efficiency and greater margins.
Raising park attendance equally across the parks is not one of Disney's core goals.
Selling park admission is.
If the Magic Kingdom is the shiny, popular park that drives the multiday hopper ticket sales for the rest of them, that's all they need.
The data we have from TEA doesn't reflect how many of the "first-click" admissions are for multi-day hoppers, but the impression I get is that this is still the most popular ticket type Disney sells. As long as the overhead from the second-tier parks is enough to justify people buying the multipark tickets and booking an on-property resort stay, Disney is getting what it wants.
The bottom line is that while a lot of people on this forum enjoy giving themselves an ego trip by imagining that they know how to run Disney's park division better than Disney does, the company employs hundreds of analysts and strategists far more educated in these matters and has access to much better and more detailed data than the fans do. In light of the company's record attendance numbers and profits, I listen to voices on this forum second guessing this success, and am not persuaded.
