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

[Chef Mickey]

It is proven that supply and demand affect price in luxury good models. Not really even a question. Price will affect demand for the park at some point. They just have to find it.

I would be interested to see a true market price on a park ticket on New Year's Eve.

To make that work, you still have to somehow limit the amount of ticket you're willing to sell. If you do market pricing with 50,000 tickets, the market price will be different than market pricing with 25,000 tickets.

 

[Chef Mickey]

FWIW the Disney cruise line already does this. $4200 regular, $6400 holiday price. ...thats for 4.

Yes, very common in the hospitality/travel business.

 

[jloucks]

I would be interested to see a true market price on a park ticket on New Year's Eve.

To make that work, you still have to somehow limit the amount of ticket you're willing to sell. If you do market pricing with 50,000 tickets, the market price will be different than market pricing with 25,000 tickets.

Wild speculation (not that wild tho) I'd say an allday New Years Ticket is worth $500. That is based on capping the park capacity at 'tolerable' and not 'cattle car' levels. I base this on another popular pastime, pro sports. People pay that much for a 3 hour experience, I suspect they will pay that much for an entire day experience.

 

[JillC LI]

-right now, MK is the only full-day park option for most people who visit WDW.

I would have to disagree. EPCOT is a full day park as well.

 

[NelsonRD]

I would suggest that it is working - Disney has already priced me out of multiple trips in one year, and following this trend, we will switch to every other year. I cannot be the only one, even a fan of the parks, to start to reconsider.

 

[LynnB]

I would suggest that it is working - Disney has already priced me out of multiple trips in one year, and following this trend, we will switch to every other year. I cannot be the only one, even a fan of the parks, to start to reconsider.

I agree! I haven't been to WDW since late 2003 and every time I start to put together a trip, I see the expenses adding up to ridiculous amounts. Combining the $$ with the growth of crowds and less attractions (meet and greets are NOT attractions IMHO), I always find another destination that costs less and delivers plenty of happiness. I would love to go back to Disney, but I'm terribly afraid that all I would do is constantly compare today's lesser experience and higher cost, with 2003's better experience and lower cost. I don't want to tarnish my happy memories of past trips, so buh-bye, Disney! It was lovely sharing several years with you but I am moving on. And don't worry - I will not be adding to the crowds on your diamond-encrusted-platinum-sparkly super high demand days.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I think no matter what pricing Disney raises to, guests will still come. Disney offers enough to draw guests in and if they want to come they will find a way to save for the trip. That doesnt mean everyone will be a multiple time guest, but Disney wins out even if someone just comes once. Guests that do come multiple times a year may scale back but the die hard ones will come no matter what, while others will save more to get there and just do less of the extras. The park will continue to feel just as crowded. Disney will do the free dining thing as an incentive or other perks to get people to come if and when when the numbers start slipping. Once the new lands are added youll see lots of eager guests flocking in no matter the cost to try the new things. So even if the cost continues raising people will find a way to afford one more trip. Crowds will only disperse when more parks are added to visit. Adding lands within existing parks isnt enough.

 

[Disnee4Me]

The sad thing about price increases is for those families who save for years to get to the parks, now will have to struggle to save more. So the rich will reap the benefits of higher ticket costs (bringing crowds down) that the less financially secure families can no longer afford to go. We used to go a lot when my both me and my DH worked --- married in '87, went '89, '91, '92, '94 (twice), '97, '98, '01, '02 and then my DH got "early retired in 2003", so we didn't go again in '07, '08, '09. We are finally going back this Christmas but it took 6 years and building up tons of Disney $$$s and Discover $$$s, so we are practically going for free, otherwise we really couldn't afford to go anymore. This may be our last trip as a family, as the DSs are 20 and 25. I'm thinking this is not Walt's dream. Maybe expanding and adding a fifth park would help, or as some suggest another US park.

 

[Chef Mickey]

The sad thing about price increases is for those families who save for years to get to the parks, now will have to struggle to save more. So the rich will reap the benefits of higher ticket costs (bringing crowds down) that the less financially secure families can no longer afford to go. We used to go a lot when my both me and my DH worked --- married in '87, went '89, '91, '92, '94 (twice), '97, '98, '01, '02 and then my DH got "early retired in 2003", so we didn't go again in '07, '08, '09. We are finally going back this Christmas but it took 6 years and building up tons of Disney $$$s and Discover $$$s, so we are practically going for free, otherwise we really couldn't afford to go anymore. This may be our last trip as a family, as the DSs are 20 and 25. I'm thinking this is not Walt's dream. Maybe expanding and adding a fifth park would help, or as some suggest another US park.

I struggle with this. Do people deserve a trip to Disney? Disney (or any vacation) is a luxury. Vacations are an expense for people with enough disposable income to go.

There are billions of people outside the US that can't even afford food , so I can't feel sorry for people, particularly in the US missing a trip to Disney. It's just life. Is it fair? Maybe not, but it's not fair for 75% of the world to be born outside of the US/Europe/Japan and not be afforded the same opportunities we have.

You can extend that argument to anything in life. If BMW increases prices, are they narrowing their market for the people buying cars and should we lament them?

People with most money get to do the most things and do them more often. That's just simple economics and applies to every purchase in the economy. Airfare, hotels, restaurants....any destination. Even the price of food increases.

We can blame Disney for is not expanding enough, closing attractions, and moving too slowly on current projects.

 

[shipley731]

I agree - but the flip side is ANY increase in guest count will add guests to MK. No one is coming to WDW and NOT going to MK.
All 4 parks need added capacity IMHO.

I'm probably in the minority here, but MK is the park I visit the least. DH & I have had AP's for the last 12-15 years and only live about 2 hours away. We come down for the weekend or a long weekend about 6-8 times per year. I've been to MK twice in the last 3 years. We generally go the other 3 parks when we are visiting. (Full disclosure - we do not have kids. If we had little ones, I'm sure the opposite would be true.) We also have some friends that live in Orlando & have AP's and do have a 6 year old child. They tend to stay away from MK as well, and frequent the other parks more.

 

[Killnme]

How about instead of Demand pricing stop giving every tour group/sports group a massive ticket/hotel discount for coming? Charge them the full prices and I bet that cuts down the crowds. As an added bonus there goes the chants too.

 

[Chef Mickey]

How about instead of Demand pricing stop giving every tour group/sports group a massive ticket/hotel discount for coming? Charge them the full prices and I bet that cuts down the crowds. As an added bonus there goes the chants too.

While I agree with that, tour groups are a drop in the bucket.

 

[EOD K9]

Does anyone know if this would be set in stone for certain times of year? Meaning, can all of a sudden, during the slow season, they hit a magical park attendance number, and the price that day goes up? Can the prices fluctuate in one day? Any thoughts on that?

 

[gaga4disney]

How about charging an extra fee to enter MK more than once during your stay?

 

[Hockey89]

I would have to disagree. EPCOT is a full day park as well.

No, it isn't.... If you make it one, that is great....But I can do it in a half a day in sleep and do a few rides a few times...

 

[Chef Mickey]

No, it isn't.... If you make it one, that is great....But I can do it in a half a day in sleep and do a few rides a few times...

While EPCOT has its problems, the restaurants, shows, shopping, World Showcase, and attractions make it a multiple day park.

We've been over this here. I can do MK in one day, but it's not a one day park. As with everything, the parks are what you make of them. Skipping a bunch of stuff because you don't like it doesn't make it a one day park.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

I think this is a good idea, but it can only apply to people who buy one day tickets. For those that have an AP, there would be no way to charge them a different amount to enter MK at a different time of year.

 

[JourneysEnd]

I struggle with this. Do people deserve a trip to Disney? Disney (or any vacation) is a luxury. Vacations are an expense for people with enough disposable income to go.

There are billions of people outside the US that can't even afford food , so I can't feel sorry for people, particularly in the US missing a trip to Disney. It's just life. Is it fair? Maybe not, but it's not fair for 75% of the world to be born outside of the US/Europe/Japan and not be afforded the same opportunities we have.

You can extend that argument to anything in life. If BMW increases prices, are they narrowing their market for the people buying cars and should we lament them?

People with most money get to do the most things and do them more often. That's just simple economics and applies to every purchase in the economy. Airfare, hotels, restaurants....any destination. Even the price of food increases.

We can blame Disney for is not expanding enough, closing attractions, and moving too slowly on current projects.

Excellent point. I would imagine the majority of Americans have never been to Disney or Universal. Some can't afford it, others don't feel it's worth the expense. This goes into entitlement disorder, which a lot of Americans suffer from. The world (or Disney) does not owe you a trip to Disney World.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

While EPCOT has its problems, the restaurants, shows, shopping, World Showcase, and attractions make it a multiple day park.

We've been over this here. I can do MK in one day, but it's not a one day park. As with everything, the parks are what you make of them. Skipping a bunch of stuff because you don't like it doesn't make it a one day park.

This is very true! I think the only true "partial day" park is AK and that is only because it closes early.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

How about instead of Demand pricing stop giving every tour group/sports group a massive ticket/hotel discount for coming? Charge them the full prices and I bet that cuts down the crowds. As an added bonus there goes the chants too.

I like this idea. It seems that the international groups, especially in the summer, dominate the park. It's pretty easy to spot them too because they're all wearing the same shirts, there's usually 50 of them in a group and they're all chanting something. Granted that might be the only time or way they get to visit WDW...but others have said...it's not like visiting WDW is something that is owed to you.