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

[Lilofan]

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.

Does Cedar Point have multiple unions to negotiate with?

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I went to grade school in the 1970s , no school lunch , gym class everyday , played dodge ball at lunch everyday , I brought my GI Joe metal lunch box with bologna sandwich and an apple and no AC in school. The heat barely worked when it needed to be turned on. Different attitudes from 50 years ago to present time.

Sounds familiar. I went to grade school a long time ago, so most of them were like mine, I think. No prepared lunches at school, just packed lunch. I'll never forget the milk that was warm by the time lunch rolled around, Ugh!
My kids were in grade school in the 70's in the deep South with their sweltering heat and humidity. Their school did not have air conditioning! They didn't have any days off for heat; they just went to school anyway. Now? I don't know how they did it at the time.

Don’t worry. If attendance drops, so will staffing, so it will feel the same.

Don’t worry. If attendance drops, so will staffing, so it will feel the same.

We witnessed the decreased staffing and closing of one side of a ride during the slow times before covid hit! So disney was already cutting back on staff on these "slow" times, remember those? We only went to disney on the slow times, but it was very noticable that they reduced staff and slowed things down by having only one side of an attraction running. This was a couple of years before covid. Before that time, they fully staffed and ran all the sides of a ride.

 

[networkpro]

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.

Depending on which party is in control, you can interchangeably swap out "Defense" with "Social Welfare". I lived in NoVa for 5 years and it's still a white-collar ghetto.

 

[Disstevefan1]

…but what about the 30 minute window to get into the 75 minute queue for mine train or Dinky?!?

Yup, and I know time is money but staying offsite does save real money and there are indeed less on-site perks for staying on site these days and the article is about saving money.

 

[HauntedPirate]

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.

Population increases, workforce participation has been decreasing for years. This labor crunch was inevitable.

 

[HauntedPirate]

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.

DLP looks better and better all the time.

 

[zombiebbq]

I just hope Epic Universe absolutely kicks Disney in to touch.

I hope families switch their more expensive, serviced once a week rooms, to Universal Resort stays.

I hope families that spent 5 days at Disney start to spend 2 or 3 of that, at Universal.

Universal should be rewarded not only for their investment, but mainly because they dont treat their customers with utter blasé contempt.

Actually really offended by that news interview from Chapek earlier. A genuinely stupid man who’s landed a role several stations ahead of his capabilities.

It's what we are doing. Very excited to go back to Universal for the first time since 2006 (!!). And If it meets our expectations, it'll likely be where we primarily vacation in Orlando. The vibe already suits my husband better than Disney did anyway. And I cannot wait for Epic Universe.

Disney will always be special to me, but I'm not going to reward them right now with my hard earned dollars. Many, many feel differently obviously.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

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.

There’s a very easy way for Dow 30 companies to get enough help.

 

[RSoxNo1]

What would you do different to lower demand?



A lot of chatter today has been focused on recession cues lifting. Specifically the falling gas prices spurring more travel (and lower airfare costs too). It isn't just a post-covid boom as it is a return to "normalcy." Demand at the parks was strong pre-COVID, so no reason to assume that isn't still the case post-COVID.

Lowering demand isn't the only move. Expanding the supply is also an option, in fact it's the more logical option.

 

[UNCgolf]

Lowering demand isn't the only move. Expanding the supply is also an option, in fact it's the more logical option.

He usually argues that expanding the supply (i.e. increasing capacity) will increase demand a commensurate amount (if not more) and is thus pointless. I don't think the facts back up that assertion at all, but that's the argument.

 

[fgmnt]

DLP looks better and better all the time.

I think after my trip to Anaheim next summer as part of a layover to Hawaii, I will be done with the domestic parks indefinitely. Spending a month in Europe or Asia that includes time at TDR or DLP are infinitely more appealing to me than being in the swamps.

 

[el_super]

Lowering demand isn't the only move. Expanding the supply is also an option, in fact it's the more logical option.

He usually argues that expanding the supply (i.e. increasing capacity) will increase demand a commensurate amount (if not more) and is thus pointless. I don't think the facts back up that assertion at all, but that's the argument.

Yes and no. The argument before, related to Genie+, was that adding new attractions doesn't eliminate the demand on the specific attractions (the top rated ones) and instead just shifts demand from lower attended attractions. So adding attractions doesn't really reduce long lines, it just moves them around.

Slightly different argument here related to the demand on the parks (really resorts) themselves. You can't justify building out more attraction capacity, or additional parks, if the demand being generated is for the lowest cost experience with the highest volume. I was only slightly joking with the example I gave before, but if you chase lower admission costs, (assume everyone gets in free) you'd have to build hundreds of new attractions to accommodate that capacity, but you make nothing back in return.

If you keep the prices artificially low (where they are at now), you can get away with not building new attractions because people aren't expecting them and somehow the demand is still there.

 

[bhg469]

This discussion reminded me that I saw a guy at Epcot on Saturday wearing a shapeland shirt.
IYKYK!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Depending on which party is in control, you can interchangeably swap out "Corporate Welfare" with "More Corporate Welfare". I lived in NoVa for 5 years and it's still a white-collar ghetto.

FTFY

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

My theory…but I know nothing…is the “medium” is increase price - a tad - and increase capacity at the same time. They’ve already weeded the poors out. So they’d get what they’d want and they’d be happier/spend more/frequent more too.

 

[mysto]

This discussion reminded me that I saw a guy at Epcot on Saturday wearing a shapeland shirt.
IYKYK!

Sold out! Waah I want!

 

[fgmnt]

Depending on which party is in control, you can interchangeably swap out "Defense" with "Social Welfare". I lived in NoVa for 5 years and it's still a white-collar ghetto.

Boeing and Raytheon Technologies are relocating their headquarters to Arlington in 2022 with the ruling party in DC not the one that drapes themselves in the flag. The NDAA gets bigger every year and never faces real challenge. Don't know what you're on about.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Boeing and Raytheon Technologies are relocating their headquarters to Arlington in 2022 with the ruling party in DC not the one that drapes themselves in the flag. The NDAA gets bigger every year and never faces real challenge. Don't know what you're on about.

Yep! Crystal City is being renamed (something Amazon likes) and Arlington is the center of Amazon construction (large scale construction.) It is getting to the point that in order to expand and grow it's either up or dig down as sideways is kind of crowded.

 

[GimpYancIent]

My theory…but I know nothing…is the “medium” is increase price - a tad - and increase capacity at the same time. They’ve already weeded the poors out. So they’d get what they’d want and they’d be happier/spend more/frequent more too.

Hmmmmm. Make it difficult if not impossible for the lower strata to visit while relying on the upper strata to spend more and frequent more? I see the negative impact on the lower strata clearly, but, I do not see the upper strata spending more or frequenting more. Consider that many in the upper strata became part of the upper strata being cheap skates.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Interesting announcement today by CEO of six flags (are you allowed to put outside links here?) stating they are going to be raising prices across board and move to attract more affluent customers. They are looking to price out discount attendance with people latching on to sales and turning parks into "teenage day cares." Since start of program park spending per captia has increased since last year due to higher ticket prices and more sales of single day tickets.