Disney and Prices

[Chef Mickey]

I wish Disney would raise prices and price more people out so they wouldn't crowd up the parks.

I'll get beat down as usual on this, but I'd gladly pay double, yes double, what I do now to half the crowds and class up the experience.

 

[LAKid53]

I spent $6 - $7 grand for a weeks trip to San Francisco for two people back in 2006. That included air, hotel, meals, snacks, a little shopping, etc. Nice room in good hotel was $300/night without taxes, back in 2006. Just checked same hotel, same room type, $450/night. And almost $65/day for parking. And not nearly the amenities that were in my GF room I paid $350/night last week - free parking, free transportation, cheaper food costs (granted, no where near the quality of SF). And the hotel in SF doesn't have shuttle service from/to airport and that was $25 each way back in 2006; will be higher now. I probably spent a total of $2300 for my 5 day trip last week. I couldn't get a decent hotel in the financial district in SF for that price for 5 days. And I didn't have to pay $65 a day to park my car or pay for transportation around the "city".

 

[Matt_Black]

As far as food goes, at least as far as counter service goes, WDW "fast food" is easily the quality of an average sit down restaurant in my area while being the same price roughly, and you get some decent sized portions.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Disney is crazy expensive, no doubt about it. For me, going to Disney is not a vacation, it's just something to do for fun for the day. When I take an actual vacation, I go to different cities or states.

Speaking of other cities and states, why are people comparing visiting another state/city to going to a theme park(s)? That just doesn't make sense to me.

I'm grateful I live in a city where there are plenty of other things to do besides theme parks.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I wish Disney would raise prices and price more people out so they wouldn't crowd up the parks.

I'll get beat down as usual on this, but I'd gladly pay double, yes double, what I do now to half the crowds and class up the experience.

That apparently would be wasted on you.

 

[Chef Mickey]

That apparently would be wasted on you.

Just a crowd control measure...

 

[Sans Souci]

Wealth does not equal class.

See: Trump, Donald

 

[cw1982]

Just a crowd control measure...

That's not what you said. You said you want them to "class up" the place by getting rid of people who can't afford to pay double.

I hate to break it to you, but no matter how much you seem to think that others don't deserve to be there if they don't make a certain income, Disney disagrees. They may not care if the lower class is throwing themselves further into to debt to get there (hence rising prices yearly), but they're not going to raise prices enough that their food, alcohol, and merchandise sales are cut in half due to having half the attendance. You may as well put that idea from your mind and deal with it.

I took offense to your statement and actually responded a few times and had to delete each of my replies because they were all too emotionally driven, but I will say this much: DH and I work hard for what we have. I'm a school teacher with two degrees and he's in law enforcement. We could both be easily making far more than the salaries that are tied to our jobs but we choose not to do so because some things in life are more important. Just because we don't make as much as you (apparently) do does not mean we are not sophisticated or don't deserve to be in the parks at the same time as you.

So, because DH chose to work in civil service, and because I chose to spend my career preparing future leaders as best I can, does that mean we shouldn't be allowed in to WDW because we're members of the lowly middle class?

I hate to say it, but I think I know what your answer would be. No need to reply unless I have this completely wrong, but I don't think I do. I even came back to this 12+ hours after I first saw it and read your statements again in hopes of interpreting it some other way with a fresh mind. Nope. It's still there with no better connotations than the first time, and I even think your remarks were intended to upset or demean people. Why else would you have posted three separate posts that became increasingly obvious in their intent in ten minutes? Way to "class up" the discussion.

 

[Chernaboggles]

Disney pricing kept us out of the parks for years. I knew Mr.Chernaboggles wanted to go, and I can't tell you how many times I priced out different packages. Every year around our anniversary I'd run the numbers and give up because it just seemed so outrageous in comparison to other types of trips. I wondered why on earth anyone would be willing to pay that kind of money, and I finally had to throw out the vacation package model entirely (and get a dog*) before I found a way that works for us.

The thing is, now that we've experienced WDW in an optimal way for our particular little family, we're totally hooked on the place. I think that now, even if we lost the flexibility that allows us to do WDW for insanely cheap per day, we'd be much more willing to pay the resort prices in order to still visit the World. I'd still do my best to get the most for our money, but I now have a much easier time understanding why people would pay so much to go.


*Dog was responsible for out-of-box vacation planning, but does NOT visit the parks with us. Please do not flame.

 

[Mr Anderson]

To be honest, for the memories my family makes and the true bliss we experience when fully engrossed in the a disney environment, it's worth every penny regardless the cost. Life is too short for me to worry about dollars and cents.

Agreed!!! Friends of ours always eat about half of their meals off-site when they go to WDW. Yeah, sure, it saves a few bucks, but to me, I can't help but think of how much TIME it takes to:
walk out of the park...
go find the rental...
get out of the parking lot...
get off of Disney prop...
get to the restaurant...
wait for a table for who knows how long (no ADRs at random restaurants)...
order...
wait for the food...
eat...
pay the bill...
get back in the car...
get back on Disney property...
get back into the park...
WOW. That's an insane amount of time. Sure, a big chunk in the middle there you'd be doing at Disney, too, but at an off-site you wouldn't get to enjoy the sites of the parks, or any of the magical experiences or great, nay... AMAZING customer service the parks offer. We always eat all of our meals on-site, and as far as I'm concerned... we always will.

 

[Mr Anderson]

I wish Disney would raise prices and price more people out so they wouldn't crowd up the parks.

I'll get beat down as usual on this, but I'd gladly pay double, yes double, what I do now to half the crowds and class up the experience.

Most of the time, I am in general agreement with things you say on here, but... uhh... Can you further explain what you mean by "class up the experience"? If Disney doubled the cost of their prices, my wife and I would no longer be able to afford to go, and we're certainly not what anyone would label as poor or low class. So before I take the time to build up a response... do me a favor and do some 'splainin', Lucy.

 

[Chef Mickey]

My apologies. Didn't mean to offend anyone. I really meant pay double to lower crowds and price raising is the most direct way to do that. Just because you double prices, it wouldn't necessarily keep lower income people out and I'd be totally fine with that. My only care is reducing the park crowds while keeping Disney happy with revenues and profits. I only care about the number of people.

I realize it sounds like I meant to price people that couldn't afford to pay double out, but that's not my intention. I stand by the fact that raising pieces would thin out the crowds and would allow disney to "Class Up" the experience by using the extra income to improve things that need improving. I didn't mean to make it sound like revenue would remain the same and crowds would be reduced by half. Perhaps revenues would remain the same by raising the prices 30%, bt crowds would only decrease 15% for example.

I honestly don't care who comes but. I think Disney faces a huge issue with park attendance and preserving a high end experience. Disney is still a luxury brand and a lot of people who go expect a certain experience and certain quality standards. Overcrowding of parks has reduced those standards and I'd hate to see it become a cattle call (and it has become that in some ways, to its detriment).

Long story short, I apologize if I offended anyone regarding my comments, but I can assure you it had nothing to do with class of people. It had everything to do with Disney fixing things that need fixing, reducing crowds, and maintaining excellence with the added revenue and reduced crowd size.

 

[Chernaboggles]

In a perfect world, Disney would have realized that they can't keep up standards with the sheer numbers of people in the parks and put a lower cap on park capacity in order to preserve guest experience, preferably without jacking up prices to do it. Quality of experience over quantity of tickets sold would be nice.

Alas, that's not realistic in today's business word. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would pay for the privilege of lower-crowd Disney experiences (I suspect Disney realizes this and that's one of the reasons for all the hard-ticket offerings), but I don't think raising prices across the board is the solution to the crowd problem. What they really need to do is either lower capacity at each park so guests aren't crammed in like sardines, or expand each park with new offerings while holding the capacity where it is. That allow the same number of people that we have today, but it would spread them out over a bigger area.

Unfortunately, Disney guests have proven consistently that they'll wait in insane lines and put up with insane crowds, so until they see crowds adversely affecting the bottom line, they'll probably keep packing people in.

 

[cw1982]

In a perfect world, Disney would have realized that they can't keep up standards with the sheer numbers of people in the parks and put a lower cap on park capacity in order to preserve guest experience, preferably without jacking up prices to do it. Quality of experience over quantity of tickets sold would be nice.

Alas, that's not realistic in today's business word. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would pay for the privilege of lower-crowd Disney experiences (I suspect Disney realizes this and that's one of the reasons for all the hard-ticket offerings), but I don't think raising prices across the board is the solution to the crowd problem. What they really need to do is either lower capacity at each park so guests aren't crammed in like sardines, or expand each park with new offerings while holding the capacity where it is. That allow the same number of people that we have today, but it would spread them out over a bigger area.

Unfortunately, Disney guests have proven consistently that they'll wait in insane lines and put up with insane crowds, so until they see crowds adversely affecting the bottom line, they'll probably keep packing people in.

Yep. Disney won't cut down on crowds any more than they have to, because the fewer people who are in the parks means fewer drinks, snacks, and merchandise sales. And raising the prices to weed out the people who can't afford higher prices won't work because those people will either pay on a credit card or not come, but if they don't come then the increased prices are only making up for the lack of other sales that occurs when those people don't show up.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but raising prices is clearly not it.

 

[Californian Elitist]

My apologies. Didn't mean to offend anyone. I really meant pay double to lower crowds and price raising is the most direct way to do that. Just because you double prices, it wouldn't necessarily keep lower income people out and I'd be totally fine with that. My only care is reducing the park crowds while keeping Disney happy with revenues and profits. I only care about the number of people.

I realize it sounds like I meant to price people that couldn't afford to pay double out, but that's not my intention. I stand by the fact that raising pieces would thin out the crowds and would allow disney to "Class Up" the experience by using the extra income to improve things that need improving. I didn't mean to make it sound like revenue would remain the same and crowds would be reduced by half. Perhaps revenues would remain the same by raising the prices 30%, bt crowds would only decrease 15% for example.

I honestly don't care who comes but. I think Disney faces a huge issue with park attendance and preserving a high end experience. Disney is still a luxury brand and a lot of people who go expect a certain experience and certain quality standards. Overcrowding of parks has reduced those standards and I'd hate to see it become a cattle call (and it has become that in some ways, to its detriment).

Long story short, I apologize if I offended anyone regarding my comments, but I can assure you it had nothing to do with class of people. It had everything to do with Disney fixing things that need fixing, reducing crowds, and maintaining excellence with the added revenue and reduced crowd size.

People want to visit the parks, just like you do.

No matter how you spin it, it still comes out the same; you want prices increased to reduce crowds...the higher prices become, the more middle and lower class folk won't be able to afford tickets, therefore eventually pricing them out. It all leads to the same point.

If you want less crowds, how about you and your family stay home to make it less crowded? Man, I wanted so badly to tell that to crowd-complaining guests when I worked at Disneyland. You're not the only one who wants to be at the parks.

 

[Chernaboggles]

Yep. Disney won't cut down on crowds any more than they have to, because the fewer people who are in the parks means fewer drinks, snacks, and merchandise sales. And raising the prices to weed out the people who can't afford higher prices won't work because those people will either pay on a credit card or not come, but if they don't come then the increased prices are only making up for the lack of other sales that occurs when those people don't show up.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but raising prices is clearly not it.

Clearly the answer is giving Team WDWMagic Forums control over park decisions. Because gosh darn it, we love WDW and could fix all these things if they'd just give us total control and unlimited money!

 

[cw1982]

Clearly the answer is giving Team WDWMagic Forums control over park decisions. Because gosh darn it, we love WDW and could fix all these things if they'd just give us total control and unlimited money!

I don't know about that... have you seen some of the crazies that have been posting lately? Just saying...

 

[Chernaboggles]

I don't know about that... have you seen some of the crazies that have been posting lately? Just saying...

TRUE. Which actually makes me feel better about it all, in some ways. I mean, if serious WDW fans can't agree on how to solve problems (without the challenge of trying to make money, even), it's no wonder that a for-profit corporation is having difficulties making the "right" decisions. They probably can't agree one what the right decisions are any more than we can. Walk a mile in someone else's glass slipper, and all that.

 

[cw1982]

People want to visit the parks, just like you do.

No matter how you spin it, it still comes out the same; you want prices increased to reduce crowds...the higher prices become, the more middle and lower class folk won't be able to afford tickets, therefore eventually pricing them out. It all leads to the same point.

If you want less crowds, how about you and your family stay home to make it less crowded? Man, I wanted so badly to tell that to crowd-complaining guests when I worked at Disneyland. You're not the only one who wants to be at the parks.

He's definitely spinning and backpedaling because he realized how bad his post sounded. If Disney wants to raise funds to make park improvements, reducing guest attendance makes absolutely no sense. He's still really saying the exact same thing, just trying to make it less offensive by trying to bend what he said about "classing it up."

It makes no difference to me. I'm still going to be enjoying the parks the next time that I can afford to do so, with or without his approval.

 

[Californian Elitist]

He's definitely spinning and backpedaling because he realized how bad his post sounded. If Disney wants to raise funds to make park improvements, reducing guest attendance makes absolutely no sense. He's still really saying the exact same thing, just trying to make it less offensive by trying to bend what he said about "classing it up."

It makes no difference to me. I'm still going to be enjoying the parks the next time that I can afford to do so, with or without his approval.

Just for those comments he/she made, I'm going to invite fifty of my family members everytime I visit WDW.