Another future failure for Disney bean counters

[rob0519]

Radical idea. Allow those who paid a small fortune for a days admission to attend.

Or set the price of a MNSSHP ticket a decade ago.

Radical is a word for this idea, but not one I would use. After decades of customers paying for these events, making them part of standard admission would be a bad business decision. Is WDW expensive, yes, but not exactly a small fortune for what you get in return. Let's say you pay $100 for admission and stay in the park for 12 hours. That breaks down to 8.33 and hour. Not a bad deal for the amount of attractions and parades that you cannot see or do elsewhere except another Disney property. Compare that to say a $100 sporting event ticket. The game last between 3 and 4 hours or $25-$33 dollars per hour of entertainment. In my opinion, that makes Disney the much better entertainment value.

I look at the transportation to and from Florida, the lodging, especially staying on property and the cost of food to be the small fortune, not the price of admission.

As far as setting the price of an MNSSHP party back to a decade ago, how about setting the salaries of the cast members back to what they were ten years ago as well to make up the difference for that night? Like it or not, (and I don't always like it either), Disney is a profit making, publicly traded corporation, not a not-for-profit.

 

[marni1971]

As far as setting the price of an MNSSHP party back to a decade ago, how about setting the salaries of the cast members back to what they were ten years ago as well to make up the difference for that night? Like it or not, (and I don't always like it either), Disney is a profit making, publicly traded corporation, not a not-for-profit.

Funny how they used to do it better, give better value, and still make a profit.

You do remember for example when EPCOT Center was open from 9am to 11pm every day for everyone, had more attractions than today, was better maintained, had more places to eat and cost less for admission in relative terms than today?

 

[Ted Daggett]

Why? A child is likely to get the same enjoyment from the offerings at a Disney park, so why shouldn't they be charged the same.
If the event included alcoholic beverages I would want child prices to be much lower, but for most cases I think the current Disney ticket pricing where children are about $10 cheaper than adults is fine.

According to Disney pricing, Children become adults at age 10. I think the child pricing for the admission is based on height, since there are many rides that small children cannot ride on, and therefore they are limited in the number of rides, and therefore pay a lower admission price. Disney must estimate that by age 10, the children have grown enough to be able to go onto all of the rides.

Similarly with dining - children under 10 eat much less food, so it doesn't make sense for them to pay the same price for a buffet, for instance.

 

[Ralphlaw]

On other threads, people are complaining that Studios is a shadow of a park with very little to do. Now they're trying to do something to enhance things and some are complaining about that.

I don't understand the furor. If I lived in the south, I'd probably be there. If we hadn't gone over Christmas, I might plan my trip around it.

 

[epcotisbest]

On other threads, people are complaining that Studios is a shadow of a park with very little to do. Now they're trying to do something to enhance things and some are complaining about that.

I don't understand the furor. If I lived in the south, I'd probably be there. If we hadn't gone over Christmas, I might plan my trip around it.

So you are not offended or concerned by the stupidity or moronic staff?

 

[Jon81uk]

According to Disney pricing, Children become adults at age 10. I think the child pricing for the admission is based on height, since there are many rides that small children cannot ride on, and therefore they are limited in the number of rides, and therefore pay a lower admission price. Disney must estimate that by age 10, the children have grown enough to be able to go onto all of the rides.

Similarly with dining - children under 10 eat much less food, so it doesn't make sense for them to pay the same price for a buffet, for instance.

I agree with dining and the height argument for rides (particularly for DHS). But under 10s only get a $2 discount compared to a one day adult ticket so I do t really think Disney are thinking that way.

 

[21stamps]

According to Disney pricing, Children become adults at age 10. I think the child pricing for the admission is based on height, since there are many rides that small children cannot ride on, and therefore they are limited in the number of rides, and therefore pay a lower admission price. Disney must estimate that by age 10, the children have grown enough to be able to go onto all of the rides.

Similarly with dining - children under 10 eat much less food, so it doesn't make sense for them to pay the same price for a buffet, for instance.

They don't make the distinction with APs though.. neither do most amusement parks. My local park also doesn't have a child's price for the dining plan, it's exact same as adult.

If it was height alone I'd agree with that, but at Disney especially, most kids can do everything by age 6 or 7. I am not complaining when kids are discounted (I love when they are!).. I just agree with @Jon81uk that not having a large margin in price between adult and child is pretty much the norm anywhere you go.

 

[21stamps]

So you are not offended or concerned by the stupidity or moronic staff?

I was during the Jingle Cruise.lol

 

[Ralphlaw]

So you are not offended or concerned by the stupidity or moronic staff?

No, I am, but I don't see this as necessarily an obvious "This will certainly lose money" kind of thing. We have paid a couple times to go to Mickey's Christmas Party. People line up for the Halloween party. People pay a premium to see certain events during the Food and Wine Festival. This may be a disaster. Who knows? Of course, without the link in the original post, it was hard to determine what was going on. And charging less for kids doesn't seem to be unusual. It happens all over.

In short, I was perplexed overall at the anger. I still am to a certain extent.

 

[epcotisbest]

No, I am, but I don't see this as necessarily an obvious "This will certainly lose money" kind of thing. We have paid a couple times to go to Mickey's Christmas Party. People line up for the Halloween party. People pay a premium to see certain events during the Food and Wine Festival. This may be a disaster. Who knows? Of course, without the link in the original post, it was hard to determine what was going on. And charging less for kids doesn't seem to be unusual. It happens all over.

In short, I was perplexed overall at the anger. I still am to a certain extent.

Me too. It seems a little odd to me the OP was so upset over this. I don't think they are making anyone do it.

 

[Ralphlaw]

I also assume it will be like the Christmas and Halloween parties, and even extra magic hours. If you want to linger in the park, you can. You just can't enter attractions unless you paid the extra price. Still perplexed by the anger. Again, if we were in Florida at the time, I'd be there.

Just so you know, here are a few of the things that we have paid extra for:

1. Mickey's Christmas party.
2. Epcot's segue tour.
3. Dinner shows, like hoop-de-doo and even the German Restaurant.
4. Lunch with an Imagineer.
5. The Behind the seeds tour.
6. My son's pirate adventure from the Grand Floridian.
7. Various character meals.
8. The Candlelight Processional dinner priority seating.

That's just some, and I'm not even including Extra Magic Hours, which can be a big perk for staying on property. Face it, Hollywood Studios is quickly becoming Star Wars Land. Extra events like this are fine. If they bomb, oh well. At a minimum, it will help Disney determine what specific Star Wars things are good and which ones are less than good.

To me, it shows that Disney is trying to do something extra. A scavenger hunt, for example, could be great. Extra Star Wars characters running around could be fabulous. In the meantime, all the additional switches to a Star Wars based theme park are in the pipeline. Events like this can help focus what direction the eventual rebuilt park should go in. Again, I don't understand the anger.

 

[WDWTank]

I also assume it will be like the Christmas and Halloween parties, and even extra magic hours. If you want to linger in the park, you can. You just can't enter attractions unless you paid the extra price. Still perplexed by the anger. Again, if we were in Florida at the time, I'd be there.

Just so you know, here are a few of the things that we have paid extra for:

1. Mickey's Christmas party.
2. Epcot's segue tour.
3. Dinner shows, like hoop-de-doo and even the German Restaurant.
4. Lunch with an Imagineer.
5. The Behind the seeds tour.
6. My son's pirate adventure from the Grand Floridian.
7. Various character meals.
8. The Candlelight Processional dinner priority seating.

That's just some, and I'm not even including Extra Magic Hours, which can be a big perk for staying on property. Face it, Hollywood Studios is quickly becoming Star Wars Land. Extra events like this are fine. If they bomb, oh well. At a minimum, it will help Disney determine what specific Star Wars things are good and which ones are less than good.

To me, it shows that Disney is trying to do something extra. A scavenger hunt, for example, could be great. Extra Star Wars characters running around could be fabulous. In the meantime, all the additional switches to a Star Wars based theme park are in the pipeline. Events like this can help focus what direction the eventual rebuilt park should go in. Again, I don't understand the anger.

The best theme parks are well-balanced. I don't want to be paying $100 for Grocery-style Star Wars Advertising

 

[21stamps]

The best theme parks are well-balanced. I don't want to be paying $100 for Grocery-style Star Wars Advertising

I think all of the things that @Ralphlaw mentioned are what make WDW well-balanced.

It's nice to have options.

 

[raven]

On other threads, people are complaining that Studios is a shadow of a park with very little to do. Now they're trying to do something to enhance things and some are complaining about that.

I don't understand the furor. If I lived in the south, I'd probably be there. If we hadn't gone over Christmas, I might plan my trip around it.

And I believe everyone is happy that Studios will be receiving some love...in about 4 or 5 years when it finally opens. But currently it is indeed a shadow of it's former glory. They are the ones who decided to take away from the park rather than add to it. So now it looks like they are trying to gain back that money and popularity loss from guests.

 

[thomas998]

Why? A child is likely to get the same enjoyment from the offerings at a Disney park, so why shouldn't they be charged the same.
If the event included alcoholic beverages I would want child prices to be much lower, but for most cases I think the current Disney ticket pricing where children are about $10 cheaper than adults is fine.

I think the best option would be to simply have two tickets available one that include alcohol and one that doesn't, in the end kids or adults take the same amount of space in a park.

 

[Phonedave]

Get real. We will be seeing the same pricing of "enhanced events" after Iger and his "moronic staff", as you called them are gone.
Do you really think the next CEO will somehow decide that charging less money than people have already shown they will pay for these events is a good business decision?

Yep, like it or not, DIsney is a publicly traded company and the street wants to see EPS go up. There comes a tipping point where people look at pricing and then decide it is not for them. I don't think they have reached that tipping point yet. WDW does a very good job at spreading a guest costs out over time so that you don't really see one bill and say "wow, I paid a lot of money for that". You pay for your room in advance, you buy hard ticketed event passes in advance (seperately), you buy the DDP and then "forget" about how much the food costs. All examples of how they get your money in little chunks, and I don't fault them one bit.

I will say, that I have reached that tipping point with dining. We do not use the DPP, and we were planning our June trip a few weeks back. We were making dining reservations and looking at the signature venues, and we decided that they were just not worth it. Not that we could not afford it, thats not the point I am trying to make. Rather that we could afford it, but looking at the prices and what you got for that price, we decided it was too far out of controll, even for WDW, and we booked different restaruants.

WDW will keep raising prices and charging extra for things untill it results in a decline in revenue. People can scream, yell, and complain all they want, but as long as they keep paying what WDW demands, nothing is going to change - and it should not. Disney is not in the business of making people happy, despite what people believe that Walt would have done, or the orginal Disney management, or whatever pixie dust they can generate. Once they became a publically traded company, they became beholden to the Street. Now, if they can do things like be a good corporate citizen, contribute to charities, and make people happy and it prooves to be good for business and the bottom line, then all is good. But to do those things just for the sake of doing it - I don't see it happening.

-dave

 

[RobidaFlats]

Yep, like it or not, DIsney is a publicly traded company and the street wants to see EPS go up. There comes a tipping point where people look at pricing and then decide it is not for them. I don't think they have reached that tipping point yet. WDW does a very good job at spreading a guest costs out over time so that you don't really see one bill and say "wow, I paid a lot of money for that". You pay for your room in advance, you buy hard ticketed event passes in advance (seperately), you buy the DDP and then "forget" about how much the food costs. All examples of how they get your money in little chunks, and I don't fault them one bit.

I will say, that I have reached that tipping point with dining. We do not use the DPP, and we were planning our June trip a few weeks back. We were making dining reservations and looking at the signature venues, and we decided that they were just not worth it. Not that we could not afford it, thats not the point I am trying to make. Rather that we could afford it, but looking at the prices and what you got for that price, we decided it was too far out of controll, even for WDW, and we booked different restaruants.

WDW will keep raising prices and charging extra for things untill it results in a decline in revenue. People can scream, yell, and complain all they want, but as long as they keep paying what WDW demands, nothing is going to change - and it should not. Disney is not in the business of making people happy, despite what people believe that Walt would have done, or the orginal Disney management, or whatever pixie dust they can generate. Once they became a publically traded company, they became beholden to the Street. Now, if they can do things like be a good corporate citizen, contribute to charities, and make people happy and it prooves to be good for business and the bottom line, then all is good. But to do those things just for the sake of doing it - I don't see it happening.

-dave

This is all true, up to a point. History is littered with companies that pushed things too far when it comes to perceived value. There are two points to make when it comes to pushing what the market will bear:

1. You have to ensure that you don't wait too long to account for price resistance. If customers not only feel that the value isn't there, but that they are also being cheated, duped, taken advantage of or any other of the emotional responses that may or may not be valid, they won't return even if the value proposition improves.

2. The higher you push price without corresponding value, the more you invite competition. The higher the margin, the more people will think that they can play the game too. While WDW and Universal are still two very different creatures, there are a lot more people viewing them as comparable products than there used to be.

The street is very short-sighted. It's a delicate dance to make sure that you are pleasing the shareholders now as well ensuring that those shares will continue to maintain and increase in value in the long run.

 

[rkleinlein]

There seems to be almost nothing for which Disney can charge extra that people won't happily pay.

 

[Nastory4]

What offended me the most is...wait, I am not offended. Seems like a fun event for Star Wars fans.

I don't have a problem with any themed night. However, I am a huge minority in the fact that I really don't care for Star Wars or the fact that a land is coming. Simply put, my curiosity will get to me so we will check it out however, if we continue not to like it, we'll avoid it, and hope every one enjoys it.