Disney alienates 90% of their guests......What is going on?

[PolynesianPrincess]

I can't speak for anyone else but I'm at the point where my next trip will be significantly pared down unless positive changes are made.

My stays are typically on property with all meals on property and extras like MNSSHP added. Next time out, I'm almost certain I'll stay off property and will likely scrap the majority of in-park meals minus a handful of select breakfast/dinner choices. And there's no way I'm doing the extras. The value just isn't there.

I love being in the bubble but my recent trip was incredibly marked up vs. our last stay and the quality of the experience was down across the board (resort, perks, restaurants, parks, etc... all of it). The perks of being on property are so watered down now that I'd rather stay off and save $1K+.

They're definitely trying to get us to pay more for less. And while it seems like many people are fine with that, I'm not one of them. They've lost thousands of my dollars the next time I visit.

I am feeling this way as well. For what we pay now compared to 10 years, even 5 years ago, we're not getting the same park experience. Taking away things like DME, entertainment that always set Disney apart from the rest of the theme parks in the world, extra magic hours, yet still raising the prices just doesn't sit well with me. We have APs and are not likely to renew them. We tried cruising on DCL in 2013 and fell in love, but it was always so much more expensive than WDW once you factor everything in like adult dining, excursions, gratuities, etc.. but now when comparing WDW and DCL, for us, WDW's value is going down and DCL's is going up. The experience you get on DCL is worth the price tag while WDW is no longer. The past couple trips we have stayed ether value or the Swanphin and cut our dining back drastically. We're heading to DL in the spring and then maybe back to WDW in January 2023 for the marathon but even then, we're still debating doing a cruise after the races instead of more park time. Disney has seen that they can give the guests the bare minimum and people will still give them money hand over fist.

 

[Pickles516]

Agreed to all of the above...is it bad that I've been going for 30 years and still have fun? Kinda wonder if I'm the last one who enjoys the hotels and the parks, or maybe pricing doesn't look that crazy cause I could pay just as much staying in a hotel 30 miles from my house on a Tuesday night in NYC as on property, or maybe people don't remember how often over the years Disney almost ran itself into the ground financially.

Sure I'll miss some things that went away, but I avoided EMH parks like the plague anyway on mornings, I don't drive so don't care about parking, always thought a good TouringPlan was better than a FP anyway, and the DME thing I really will miss but I also remember vividly a time before DME and somehow we all got along just fine.

Let my roasting begin, but just saying.

I feel like as New Yorkers, our perception is skewed lol. I could walk down the turnpike and sleep at a motel where people sell crack and stab each other for the same price as pop century.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

I feel like as New Yorkers, our perception is skewed lol. I could walk down the turnpike and sleep at a motel where people sell crack and stab each other for the same price as pop century.

I have stayed in some very nice digs in Manhattan that were priced far below what they want for a night at the Grand Floridian. Gotta remember too, NYC limited real estate vs Central Florida????

 

[Oddysey]

? Ummmmm so you are just blathering on throwing out figures based on your personal opinion
with nothing to back it up. Just wanted to make sure I understood.

If the title had read "Disney is likely alienating the majority of guest." would this have met your requirements and helped with your understanding? 90% may or may not be hyperbole, but I get the overall implication of the title and post.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

If the title had read "Disney is likely alienating the majority of guest." would this have met your requirements and helped with your understanding? 90% may or may not be hyperbole, but I get the overall implication of the title and post.

I think part of the issue with the title is that I highly doubt that Disney is alienating even a majority of it's guests. The people on these forums are not indicative of the WDW guest at all. And 90%? The poster is real good about throwing out bogus numbers, kinda like all the news media nowadays just looking for clicks.

 

[Oddysey]

I feel like as New Yorkers, our perception is skewed lol. I could walk down the turnpike and sleep at a motel where people sell crack and stab each other for the same price as pop century.

That would indeed skew perception. LOL!

I think part of the issue with the title is that I highly doubt that Disney is alienating even a majority of it's guests. The people on these forums are not indicative of the WDW guest at all. And 90%? The poster is real good about throwing out bogus numbers, kinda like all the news media nowadays just looking for clicks.

Yeah I probably should have stayed out of it. The implication of the post was clear to me, but it does not mean that it is so clear to others. On top of that, I am not really familiar with the OPs history of throwing out numbers. I just found the post to be unnecessary bickering, but then just added to the unnecessary bickering myself. Taking a step back, yeah I should have stayed out of it. Like writing a poor email and the deleting it instead of hitting the send button. In this case I probably should not have hit the post button.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

We hear it again and again and again that "Disney has gone too far this time" and yet, the people keep coming.

Actually, WDW's attendance for 2020 was way down.

According to the AECOM- theme Index 2020, WDW was down a whopping 68.1% (MK 66.9%, Epcot 67.5%, HS68%, AK 70%), comparatively Universal was only down about 62% (US62.5% IoA 61.4%). Six percent is big in theme park numbers.

For a few reference points among the top 25 theme parks worldwide: Efteling in the Netherlands was down 44.5%. Chimelong's Paradise was down 45.3%, and Chimelongs' Ocean Kingdom was down 59.1%.

It remains to be see what 2021 and 2022 will be. It is not at all a given that people will return. For 2020, MK was still the highest attendance 6,941,000, but #2 was Shanghai Disneyland 5,500,000, followed by Universal Studios Japan 4,901,000, which was closely followed by Chimelong's Ocean Kingdom 4,797,000 visitors.

And WDW's 2019 attendance numbers were very flat: MK up .5%, AK1%, Epcot 0%, and HS 2%. Star Wars land was supposed to be a big hit, but HS attendance only rose a mere 2%. Given how flat the rest of WDW was, and how hard it was to get a Boarding Group in 2019, those numbers were not at all impressive. In 2019, Chemelong's Ocean Kingdom rose 8.4% and Universal's Island's of Adventure rose 6%. Hagrid's did great things for Universal in 2019! (source: AECOM-theme park Index for 2019 and 2020)
Actually worldwide in 2019, Disney dropped .8%, while their competition crept closer. #2 Merlin Group went up .9%, #3China's Oct parks went up 9.4%, Universal was up 2.3% worldwide, and Fantawild was up almost 20%! (19.4%)

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I think part of the issue with the title is that I highly doubt that Disney is alienating even a majority of it's guests. The people on these forums are not indicative of the WDW guest at all. And 90%? The poster is real good about throwing out bogus numbers, kinda like all the news media nowadays just looking for clicks.

Perhaps it would be helpful to read the theme Park Index report. WDW numbers for 2020 were down 68.1%. In 2019, WDW was pretty flat, and that was when Star Wars land opened as was supposed to be a big hit: MK up .5%, AK1%, Epcot 0%, and HS up a mere 2%. The same year Universal's parks were up 6% (IoA) and 2% (US). WDW's two water parks were both down 1% each, while Volcano Bay was up 5% in 2019.

I think the title of this thread is more about 2021 park changes, but - see my prior post or the report with more in depth 2020 numbers. Time will tell what 2021 numbers look like.

 

[Pickles516]

I have stayed in some very nice digs in Manhattan that were priced far below what they want for a night at the Grand Floridian. Gotta remember too, NYC limited real estate vs Central Florida????

This is also true. I was mostly joking but, coming from NY, a hotel room that is safe and clean is going to cost you about $300 a night. You can definitely get a nice hotel for less than the $6-800 rooms at Grand Floridian, though. I feel like that’s kind of intentional though, they want the deluxe resorts to be prohibitively expensive. Just like in NYC the rooms that are thousands a night don’t cost that much because of their quality, they cost that much to keep working class people out of them.

 

[Diamond Dot]

I can live without the MB, so long as I get the card we used to have. No more FP and EMH are a huge disappointment and I've changed who I book with to Virgin Holidays as they are still offering free airport transport and actually worked out cheaper for March as I had a Flying Club discount on my trip. I'll be honest I just don't understand why Disney are taking away perks like DME and EMH from resort guests, it's those little things that add that extra magic.
Not everyone can afford to stay at moderate or deluxe resorts, so it seems they are continuing to pander to the rich. I bet they won't get rid of any of the pricey add ons.

 

[Diamond Dot]

The perk of staying on site is that you’re staying on site. A lot of these things you’re talking about were added over the years for different reasons and now Covid gave them a chance to restart. The first time I stayed at All Star Movies there was:

No magical express
No extra magic hours
No magic bands
No fastpass
No poolside activity team
No outdoor movies

The park of being at a Disney resort was the included resort to park transportation, being close to everything, and knowing that you had a safe clean resort to return to each night. It feels like a lot of of people feel Disney “owes” them for staying at one of their resorts, but people need to look at what’s included in the reservation and see if they thinks it’s worth it or not. If you don’t think it’s worth it then there’s lots of other hotels to stay at off property. If you book it knowing what’s included you can’t spend the whole trip thinking you’re owed anything more than what was listed as included in the reservation you agreed to.

The transportation is important for me as an older non driving female solo guest. Knowing I can return safely to my resort after park closing is enormously important to me. I got stuck at Universal when my transport failed to turn up and that is the one time I have been truly scared on a vacation. I don't feel Disney owes me anything more than a safe vacation and staying onsite gives me the flexibility to return to my resort when I wanted. I had a severe tummy upset in Epcot one year and managed to get back to my resort via every toilet between Norway and the bus stop and then the short ride to my room, I would have hated to have been that ill and have to think about getting to a hotel off site on my own.