Demand Based Pricing Will Be A Reality - Let's Be Objective

[DisneyFans4Life]

I am very curious, and would love to find out, how the dining plans figure into WDW's overall profit. A certain percentage of visitors will most likely intentionally order the most expensive items available on the plan, which would probably add up to more than what the dining plan costs. A certain percentage of visitors will order whatever they like, which would probably average out to being close to the dining plan cost. And, a certain percentage of visitors, however small, will end up ordering the cheaper items, not using the plan fully. Do the percentages work out so that it is basically a wash for Disney, or can Disney actually make a profit with the dining plans?

If I had to guess...they are partially banking on people not using all of their meals or forgetting about snacks. When we used the dining plan, we actually forgot to use our snacks one day and ended up being able to double up the next.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I am very curious, and would love to find out, how the dining plans figure into WDW's overall profit. A certain percentage of visitors will most likely intentionally order the most expensive items available on the plan, which would probably add up to more than what the dining plan costs. A certain percentage of visitors will order whatever they like, which would probably average out to being close to the dining plan cost. And, a certain percentage of visitors, however small, will end up ordering the cheaper items, not using the plan fully. Do the percentages work out so that it is basically a wash for Disney, or can Disney actually make a profit with the dining plans?

Menu choice is really a small part of the financial impact of the dining plan. It's much more important that it keeps families eating on property for every meal. In other words, it's not super important that a family on the dining plan orders the steak when they might have ordered the pasta if they were paying cash. It's much more important that they're eating on property versus the Applebees on 192.

 

[GoTheDistance]

Not only does the DDP discourage eating off property, it just generally discourages leaving Disney property at all. Families using the dining plan are less likely to spend days of their trip at other attractions like Uni or SW etc.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

I enjoy using the DDP. I'm already saving for the hotel so may as well save for my meals so that pretty much everything is paid for in advance.

 

[LilWalt]

The problem with this is that ticket sales are not for specific days, and, unless you buy a single, specific park ticket, the ticket sales won't even indicate which park a guest will visit on any day. Thus, the only way to control attendance is to deny entry to guest who have purchased a valid ticket. Not a very guest-friendly idea.

Assuming that park capacity does not change (adding guest-gobbling attractions), that leaves good ol' supply and demand economics. Disney would have to find the "sweet spot" where a higher ticket price reduced attendance, yet still maintained (or grew) revenue.

BTW, at some point, adding attractions may not be an option. Even if MK attractions could support a larger volume of guests, the WDW transportation infrastructure may not be able to handle that growth. Worse yet, the walkways in MK are likely to be an even bigger problem as there is really not much that can be done to expand the capacity of the walkways to handle continued guest growth

You know when people are booking vacations the dates they are going to use the tickets. Their has to be an answer outside of expand.

 

[LilWalt]

Just seems that Disney can come up with something. Whether it be only Disney Resort guest have excess to the parks or whatever.

I say this and people keep going no matter the crowd levels. Maybe it won't change and eventually it will always be packed.