bhg469
Well-Known Member
Well not really, Disney welcomes those who put their entire vacation on credit cards too. We Americans love those plastic IOUs. There are people that really think that they cannot enjoy themselves anywhere else.
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Big changes coming to Annual Passes
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
ItlngrlBella
Well-Known Member
Well, it was a little over 10 years ago and we paid cold hard cash (well, checks). We were smart (surprisingly) about credit as far as college students go. I think it was some kind of $75/day deal or something and we went through AAA.
Yankee Mouse
Well-Known Member
From the article:
“We have to look at ways to spread out our attendance throughout the year so we can accommodate demand and avoid bursting at the seams,” said Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Bob Chapek."
Because you know using some of those 27, 000 acres to build more attractions and less timeshares, hotels, and multi million dollar homes wouldn't spread out the crowds at all.
Also:
"Disney has been in the midst of a multibillion-dollar expansion of its domestic parks over the past several years, including the new Cars Land in Anaheim’s California Adventure, a revamp of Fantasy Land at Orlando’s Magic Kingdom, and “Avatar” and “Frozen” attractions under construction in Orlando. Those help to expand the parks’ capacity, Mr. Chapek noted, but spur even greater increases in demand, ultimately making the crowding problem worse."
Does it really expand capacity when they are simply replacing other rides and attractions?
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alphac2005
Well-Known Member
That's why while I can appreciate the time that people take to write long and detailed letters to the company, I also realize that they are exhausting a lot of energy to get a canned response of "magic" or a complete lack or response to their true concern. The consumer has absolutely zero sway with the company and is irrelevant as far as they're concerned.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Here's the thing. 50 million people went to WDW last year. It's pretty clear they haven't reached the tipping point yet.
WDW isn't a charity, I'm not here to spout off that's "it's a business", but let's be honest...It's not anyone's right to go to WDW. If you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. I can't afford to fly first class to Maui every year. So I don't go to Maui. WDW is a luxury item. They are pricing themselves as such.
The parking upgrade is very worth it for me. I live about an hour away and visit the park less due to how much parking costs. So I went to pay for the upgraded pass with parking yesterday and they upgraded it for free. So that was great and all. I just wanted to let others know to ask if they are interested in upgrading but not paying the additional cost. I upgraded at the ttc. I hate that the prices are so high and wish that parking was included without a price hike.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Re: parking: I don't know if this was a fluke (or several flukes in a row) but when we went in April of this year, we drove up to the booth and asked if they take the Chase Visa reward redemption card for parking.
I don't know if they misunderstood or what, but they asked if we were annual pass holders, we said yes, and they said just go ahead.
We are AP holders, but it's the Weekday Select AP, which I didn't think included parking, but I figured maybe they changed that rule or made a mistake.
Since then ( I guess about eight days total between April and September, often more than once per day) we pull up and say we have an annual pass. Sometimes they scan one of our magic bands – and still always say to just go ahead.
Sometimes we were staying on property, which would come with free parking, but sometimes not.
Just passing that along. Maybe it will be more scrutinized now with two versions of every pass floating around for the next year.
I don't know if they misunderstood or what, but they asked if we were annual pass holders, we said yes, and they said just go ahead.
We are AP holders, but it's the Weekday Select AP, which I didn't think included parking, but I figured maybe they changed that rule or made a mistake.
Since then ( I guess about eight days total between April and September, often more than once per day) we pull up and say we have an annual pass. Sometimes they scan one of our magic bands – and still always say to just go ahead.
Sometimes we were staying on property, which would come with free parking, but sometimes not.
Just passing that along. Maybe it will be more scrutinized now with two versions of every pass floating around for the next year.
bristol's mom
Member
This is clearly the case and while searching the forum about how to stop the over-crowding of the parks, I came across this astute individual's prospicient post:
flyerjab
Well-Known Member
I like the point that you make here. Many posters in the crucible here on the forums that have gone for years and are die hard fans are complaining that Disney is becoming too expensive and that it was a more magical, inexpensive experience in the past with less guests (and less strollers, but more trees). And yet, as prices continue to rise, so does attendance.
I tend to think that this is an approach Disney is willing to take to start managing overcrowding in the parks, especially MK. In total, due to multiple reasons, we will have visited 6 times this year (and we are in no way local). We have already visited 4 times already, and I will be back in the World tomorrow for 4 days. Each of the 4 times thus far, the parks have never felt comfortable except for the small trip we took over Labor Day. Heck, I even remember in March during a rainy, gloomy day at the F&G Festival, Epcot was crazy.
Maybe, in the 70s and a part of the 80s, there were more domestic guests as opposed to international guests. Well, WDW caters to the world now, and there are masses of people out there that apparently still find a trip to WDW to be a quality vacation that is affordable. This strategy will continue to be employed. And if guest dissatisfaction feedback that WDW receives speaks to insane crowd levels, what a better way (for Disney) to maintain park income than to constantly increase prices on park passes, food and merchandise, while watching crowd levels slowly diminish for certain income families. WDW will never say that because guests are complaining about crowd levels and wait times that we should therefore cap off attendance today at 50,000 (or whatever figure you want). Instead, let's continue to raise prices everywhere, until our net income has increased while crowds level off a bit. Less people means less trash, less staffing requirements, etc., as long as we continue to reach our financial goals we will continue on our path. And this will happen again next year, and people will continue to complain, etc., etc.
To be clear, I am not pretending that this is the morally right approach, nor am I saying that Walt would have been ok with this. Because Walt is not alive in this day and age, however, I do not believe that anyone has any idea as to what he would have truly done concerning pricing in the modern world. Also, I am always curious of how others that complain about cost would react from a business perspective if they ran one of the most well-known and popular companies in the world where people continued to spend their money no matter what they were charged. Altruism is easy to speak to when you are not running a multi-billion dollar corporation. They also won't de-value their product with the competition in the area. UNI might be more cost effective right now for Orlando bound vacationers, but that is only because they can't currently offer as much. If UNI had 4 parks, 2 water parks, 20+ resorts with golfing, etc., I would imagine that their prices would be no different (with the exception of their onsite resorts since UNI doesn't own them).
POLY LOVER
Well-Known Member
There is a YAHOO news item this morning about the increase and there seems to be a revolt going on in Disneyland. I don't see the big deal?
Baltar
$4 billion for EPCOT
I'm not trying to be snarky but how do you not see the big deal to some people? The increase might not affect you but APs at over $1000 per person is a lot for most families.
I have a few friends who are really bothered by it. Others not so much
Freshee61
Well-Known Member
I've been a consecutive pass holder since 2002. Before the AP had a payment plan disney was bliss and we AP were even appreciated a lil.
Now many years later with payment options we are getting the shaft And It will continue Down that path because as long as they have the payment plan most AP WILL continue to buy.
It comes down to this...which drives me nuts...Everybody now is a disney fanatic. Everybody has AP since the payment plan Began. Where were they before?
My point Is take away the payment plan and that would weed out tons of people That will not shell out the whole amout times the quantity of Thier family at once. But they don't want that. They don't care for the loyal pass holder. They care for the one who pays the most. Oh well. Never did and now never will.
End of rant
NEEDED to vent I'm extremely upset
Now many years later with payment options we are getting the shaft And It will continue Down that path because as long as they have the payment plan most AP WILL continue to buy.
It comes down to this...which drives me nuts...Everybody now is a disney fanatic. Everybody has AP since the payment plan Began. Where were they before?
My point Is take away the payment plan and that would weed out tons of people That will not shell out the whole amout times the quantity of Thier family at once. But they don't want that. They don't care for the loyal pass holder. They care for the one who pays the most. Oh well. Never did and now never will.
End of rant
NEEDED to vent I'm extremely upset
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POLY LOVER
Well-Known Member
Sorry, not trying to be insensitive here. I find it strange that a company is trying to discourage guests from attending their parks. Is that really the motive here.
seems like this might be a PR nightmare brewing.
Baltar
$4 billion for EPCOT
I mean, I can afford it but I'm not sure I'd want to pay that much. So I get the irritation by people. Right now I think they want to maximize profit while lessening AP holders. I do think that's part of it.
alissafalco
Well-Known Member
I'm not buying that they want to discourage certain groups from coming. They did this because they know they can! Everyone will still come and everyone will pay the increase, so why not? More money to be made by them. Unless they see some kind of drop in AP's they will continue to do this.
Baltar
$4 billion for EPCOT
I think they want to get more money out of APs and/or clear up space in the parks for new visitors.
JourneysEnd
Well-Known Member
Well, think about it. Do they really have any competition? I love Universal, but it's not the same thing.
POLY LOVER
Well-Known Member
maybe their AP numbers show too much multiple use and they view them as the reason for overcrowding. Maybe they are trying to discourage AP purchases.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
It's simple arithmetic. I go x amount of days. An Annual Pass costs y dollars. Divide x into y and decide if it's a good value for you. If not, don't buy it. My suspicion is, most people will still buy. Compared to MYW tix, it's still going to be a value for a vast majority of AP holders.
On that note....The dope(s) spouting off about Lifestylers don't get it. A guy like Brigante goes hundreds of days per year. Is he not gonna purchase an AP that effectively costs him an extra dollar per visit?
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
The parks are too crowded too often. Could they add capacity? Sure. Would it solve the issues? I don't think so. In September every park we went to was pretty much slammed. Weekdays in September. There has to be an ideal number of guests to income that WDW aspires too. Selfishly, I hope it's a lower number of guests then we currently see.