News Disney CEO Bob Chapek suggests price hikes are coming to the parks thanks to guest demand

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fgmnt

Well-Known Member
GimpYancIent said:
Everything the opponents of the project did not want to happen is exactly what did happen.
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Yeah, the method of development over the last 30 years in Northern Virginia has been so disastrous that Disney operating a theme park in that region would be preferable to the typical land use there: giant house for defense contractor employees, suburban office towers for defense contractor employees to drive to, strip malls for defense contractor employees to shop at, massive yet still packed roads to connect all of these places.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
MrPromey said:
For starters, we're coming up on about a year from when that article was published and as I'm sure you're aware, inflation, which hits people on the lowest rungs hardest, has already eaten away at the value of much of that headline.

My local Target (in Florida for Peat's sake!) is hiring at the $15 level right now and even a McDs near me was recently advertising a starting pay at that* so it's not exactly an amazing job offer from Disney considering what a lot of their people have to put up with.

Second, two things hold true - there aren't fewer people around to employ and not every employer, as you suggested, is having trouble.

You want to employ more people, particularity in commodity-style positions, there's basically two ways you can do it: Make the job suck less** than the competition or offer more than the competition. Companies like Disney have been used to it being an employer's market for far too long.

Sure, Disney provided wage increases a year or so ago. Clearly it hasn't been enough to attract the staff they need or it would be Universal, and Chic-fil-A noticeably hurting for employees instead of them.

Really, this is the same thing as Disney raising prices because the "market" says they can. A whole lot of people feel the market can afford to pay more for labor and again, looking at their park and resort earnings, it doesn't seem as though that's an incorrect assessment.

My question to you is, why do you seem so opposed to the "market" working both ways?

I think Disney is just holding out for the cheap college and foreign labor to return but to be honest, things like mousekeeping may never come back to previous standards because if people are paying more than ever for those rooms, anyway, why should it, right?


*admitedly, that rate was probably for someone working overnight or for a shift manager type position but I was promoted to shift manager at a McDs at the age of 18 starting the last few months of my senior year at high school so it's not exactly a difficult job to land.

**Yeah, Disney can only do so much to make their work suck less. They loosened dress and appearance standards (not sure how many housekeepers were clamoring for that) but feeling overworked and like you're being spread too thin is kind of the opposite of making a job suck less, don't you think?
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Are you under the impression that working frontline QS F&B at Pecos Bill's is meaningfully different or more difficult than McDonald's?
 
MrPromey

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
Are you under the impression that working frontline QS F&B at Pecos Bill's is meaningfully different or more difficult than McDonald's?
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Not at all but if they want people to work at Pecos Bill's instead of McDonald's they need real incentive, especially since just getting to work every day is more difficult at Peco's Bill's.

Do you really not understand things like this or are you intentionally playing dumb?
 
F

fgmnt

Well-Known Member
larryz said:
But since we're all about costs here, this recent WaPo article spells out how to make a Disney visit "more affordable"...
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My top tip for an affordable Disney vacation: not a possible thing, but you absolutely would get more *value* for 3 days in Disneyland than you would for 5 days in the swamps at any tier of spending. You will pay more for travel if you're an east coaster, but off-site hotels are in walking distance and onsite hotels are built into the contiguous property, Genie+ actually "works" there if you choose to pay for it, you can eat in park, on property, or off property without the same time and logistics sinks you do in the swamp, and fewer captial T-tourists.

Don't tell anyone this (especially the folks in Burbank) and this discrepancy probably will not survive the decade.

If you want an amusement park vacation, Cedar Point has a great value for a family of 4 with kids between the ages of 8-16.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
MrPromey said:
Not at all but if they want people to work at Pecos Bill's instead of McDonald's they need real incentive, especially since just getting to work every day is more difficult at Peco's Bill's.
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McDonald's can't get people either. It's not a matter of workers choosing elsewhere over Disney, it's a matter of not enough workers in the first place.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Cliff said:
There is very likely a customer metric behind this. There is a cutomer buying pattern that tells Disney that operating this after 3pm is not what customers are interested in. (In strong numbers anyway)

Practically every decision that Disney makes is based on "our" patterns and "our" habbits. Its the old "cause and effect" principle. "We" are the "cause" and Disney implements the "effect".

If 50% of the crowd leaves the park every day before 8pm...that "action" has a calculated financial "reaction" for that habbit or pattern.
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Can for example DHS pump out the food smells into the streets to get some guests the munchies to spend more at night?
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
MrPromey said:
Not at all but if they want people to work at Pecos Bill's instead of McDonald's they need real incentive, especially since just getting to work every day is more difficult at Peco's Bill's.

Do you really not understand things like this or are you intentionally playing dumb?
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McDonalds is way less of a hassle…to get honest. I know what I’d pick if they offered more…
 
MrPromey

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
McDonald's can't get people either. It's not a matter of workers choosing elsewhere over Disney, it's a matter of not enough workers in the first place.
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I started with a different answer saying service was bad 12 months ago but isn't today in Central Florida but it felt familair and looking at the last few messages I've responded to from you, I realize I'm done.

You pointed out how the bonuses should be enough.

I made a case for why it wasn't nearly enough.

You pivoted to Disney's pay increase last year like it was the be-all-end-all answer and I illustrated how it wasn't in this job market and how other low wage places in the same market (including fast food) don't seem to be having the same difficulties staffing that Disney does.

You then pivoted to suggest Disney shouldn't need to pay any more than McDs for their employees and when I pointed out they kind of should, you defaulted back to the "everyone's" struggling argument... which I previously called bs on.

In short, you're now repeating yourself and I'm done falling for it with you so I'm stepping off the carousel.

Make excuses all you want but as Sirwalterraleigh pointed out, Disney could fix this if they actually felt they needed to.
 
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LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
Are you under the impression that working frontline QS F&B at Pecos Bill's is meaningfully different or more difficult than McDonald's?
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I think the fact it's not is the point. If I need to drive either 15 miles in Orlando traffic to Disney, or 1 mile to McDonalds for the same pay, I know what I pick. You are correct there are not enough people, but Disney can outcompete others if they think they need to. Cedar Point had this issue last year (they cut hours for the parks and such). They increased pay to $20/hour, and all of a sudden, it was the Targets and Walmarts complaining they couldn't hire people. Cedar Point actually sped up their full reopening once they did that they got such a large turnout and fully staffed. Disney has the profit margin they could outcompete the others in the area if they thought they had an issue. My guess is they don't think they do at this point.
 

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