Disney forcing us to $pend even more at their re$ort$

[eliza61nyc]

I like your style of posting @eliza61nyc . I thank you for the manner in which you presented your viewpoint.
I must admit that my wife and I had the long range goal that once our daughter who is a college sophomore....once she graduated...she'd get married...then have a child....then we as future grandparents would "gladly" take our daughter, her husband and our grandchild to Disney. That hypothetical wish is far in the future but I do in a way feel that we middleclass folks (I'm an experienced teacher) should be able to have that dream. Not just the rich. I know Disney owes it to their shareholders to make profit, not keep things affordable for the middle class. I understand that.....but I don't like it. Others don't like it. I certainly could buy my milk at Wawa but I get it at Aldi. I have a ton of savings but God didn't bless me with that savings so I could spend $600 a night at Pop Century just because it is peak demand season. I still have to be a good steward of what I have.
That's what I have to do. Others are free to do whatever they want as well.
I'm just sharing my thoughts in case anyone is actually brave to agree with me

Thank you so much. Oh I definitely agree with you. Disney is a weird but wonderful animal. I think that part of the secret to it's success was the ability to capture the hearts of just about everyone in the different financial comfort zones. So I totally understand the fear that the current policies are definitely undermining the very thing that was so great about it.
I'm a step or two ahead, finally got that heavy tuition burden behind me (lol my youngest is currently running around Philadelphia begging young ladies to love him ) and done with mortgages but definitely can relate to watching the budget.
Here's hoping Chapek will retire soon.
Thank you for being a teacher, one thing this pandemic made clear was we need to give you guys anything you want. I would have committed hari-kari if I had to homeschool my minions. Love them to death

 

[unmitigated disaster]

I stayed at the Royal Pacific a few years ago and my room was $250-300 less per night than a room at any Disney deluxe at the same time.

I'm not making this up out of thin air; their rooms are far cheaper than Disney's rooms despite providing a much larger benefit. I suppose that could have changed significantly in the past 4 years since I was at Universal, but it seems unlikely. I paid almost the same price for a room at Port Orleans last year as I did for my room at Royal Pacific.

EDIT: I just looked them up. Right now, with no discounts of any kind, a standard room at the Royal Pacific is $424 a night. A standard room at the Polynesian is $702 a night. I think the rooms at the Royal Pacific are nicer than the new Polynesian rooms, and the Unlimited Express Pass is a much bigger benefit than anything you get at the Polynesian -- the monorail is nice, but you can walk to everything at Universal from the Royal Pacific so that kind of transport is unnecessary. Polynesian does have more overall theming, and I generally prefer that about Disney resorts, but that's nowhere near enough to make up for an almost $300 a night difference, especially when the Royal Pacific gives you the best hotel perk available at any theme park.

That $404 a night is out of reach for many, many people. Sure it's cheaper than the $700 rate, but it isn't affordable to the masses either.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

At the beginning of this thread there is a poll and one of the things seems to be that the free fast pass system will be abandoned and replaced by something customers have to pay for???

 

[Ayla]

They're not forcing anyone to do anything.

You can choose to stay on property or not. It's either affordable for you, or it isn't.

Stop whining.

Nice.

Why do some assume the criticism is always about not being able to afford it? In mine, and others, that is not the case at all.

 

[Ayla]

At the beginning of this thread there is a poll and one of the things seems to be that the free fast pass system will be abandoned and replaced by something customers have to pay for???

Free fastpass is gone. The new system started on October 19th.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

Free fastpass is gone. The new system started on October 19th.

The new system costs how much per day?

 

[John park hopper]

At Disney's Hollywood Studios, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway has increased by $2 to $10.

Avatar Flight of Passage has increased by $3 to $14.

At EPCOT, both Frozen Ever After and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure have increased by $2 to $11.

Finally, at Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain is up by $2 to $9, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is up by $2 to $12

Didn't take them long to up the prices what was once Free(fast pass) you now have too pay for

Steve there is a blog here that explains it all --I find it confusing

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

At Disney's Hollywood Studios, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway has increased by $2 to $10.

Avatar Flight of Passage has increased by $3 to $14.

At EPCOT, both Frozen Ever After and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure have increased by $2 to $11.

Finally, at Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain is up by $2 to $9, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is up by $2 to $12

Didn't take them long to up the prices what was once Free(fast pass) you now have too pay for

Steve there is a blog here that explains it all --I find it confusing

John since I am not going to Disney I won't bother with that blog. Thank you for your response here

 

[Lilofan]

At Disney's Hollywood Studios, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway has increased by $2 to $10.

Avatar Flight of Passage has increased by $3 to $14.

At EPCOT, both Frozen Ever After and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure have increased by $2 to $11.

Finally, at Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain is up by $2 to $9, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is up by $2 to $12

Didn't take them long to up the prices what was once Free(fast pass) you now have too pay for

Steve there is a blog here that explains it all --I find it confusing

I still can't get my head wrapped around paying to ride the attractions . No wonder there is a petition with thousands of signatures to fire the CEO.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

It's an optional program? People can pay admission to the parks and then get in lines at rides without this new system?

 

[Lilofan]

It's an optional program? People can pay admission to the parks and then get in lines at rides without this new system?

Yes that is right.

 

[John park hopper]

It's an optional program? People can pay admission to the parks and then get in lines at rides without this new system?

yes, Gene+ (cost) replaces the once free FP you could arrange months a head of time. From what I understand you now have to get up at 7 am and try to arrange what you want to do that day. Must do that each day not my idea of a vacation a slave to the clock Personally I am done with WDW.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

yes, Gene+ (cost) replaces the once free FP you could arrange months a head of time. From what I understand you now have to get up at 7 am and try to arrange what you want to do that day. Must do that each day not my idea of a vacation a slave to the clock Personally I am done with WDW.

Good job John. There is an entire earth out there to explore. No need to go to Disney again and again and again and again, etc.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I still can't get my head wrapped around paying to ride the attractions . No wonder there is a petition with thousands of signatures to fire the CEO.

It's an optional program? People can pay admission to the parks and then get in lines at rides without this new system?

Lightning Lane access is "optional" in the sense that you can choose to pay for it on top of your park admission, or not. There is no longer any kind of expedited queue access included in the cost of your park ticket. So your options are:

- You can pay for regular park tickets only, which means you'll be relegated to standby lines (and/or virtual queues, where applicable) exclusively, watching wealthier or profligate guests skip endlessly in front of you using Lighting Lanes (f/k/a the Fastpass Queues) all day. Depending on your mindset and whether you previously got a lot of use and enjoyment out of the "free FP+" system, this will make you feel cheated and resentful, demoralized and inferior, or just mildly annoyed. Disney the honey badger does not care: it already has your money.

- OR, you can buy upgraded "Genie+" tickets in the first instance, or pay an additional, fixed amount per day, per ticket, to upgrade your regular park tickets, so you can use "Genie+" (not to be confused with "Disney Genie," which is merely a reformulation of the old Disney app, with additional planning tools). Genie+, the deformed mutant offspring of an incestuous liaison between Fastpass and Disneyland's Maxpass, allows you to make periodic, day-of, Lightning Lane reservations for attractions throughout the day, subject to requirements that limit you to one at a a time, unless it's been a certain amount of time since you last made one (this is a poor summary - it's rather complicated). Not all attractions are included: in fact, 2 of the most popular in each park are specifically excluded - see below. Lightning Lane reservations through Genie+ are, like FP+ used to be, subject to availability, and can be expected to "run out" for some attractions early in the day, especially on days with higher crowds.

- AND, you can also (with or without purchasing Genie+) purchase individual Lightning Lane ("ILL") access to some of the most in-demand attractions. Currently, there are 2 designated ILL attractions in each park, and they tend to be the newest and/or most popular, like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Flight of Passage, and Rise of the Resistance. These attractions are not part of the regular Genie+ offerings, so the only way you get in their Lightning Lanes is to buy your time slot a la carte. The cost for this is per attraction (so far around $10-$20 per person, per ride), and will fluctuate by the day depending on crowds and demand, subject to availability.

 

[UNCgolf]

That $404 a night is out of reach for many, many people. Sure it's cheaper than the $700 rate, but it isn't affordable to the masses either.

I wasn't arguing it was affordable for the masses -- I was just arguing you get a lot more value out of the Royal Pacific (or the other Universal deluxes). Better perks and arguably a nicer hotel for a much cheaper nightly rate.

 

[Ayla]

The new system costs how much per day?

Genie+ is $15 per person, per day and has all kinds of exceptions/restrictions. Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) is a separate cost and varies from day to day, time of year, crowd level and attraction.

 

[Ayla]

It's an optional program? People can pay admission to the parks and then get in lines at rides without this new system?

For now, yes. There are some rides that may revert back to virtual queues and in those cases, you either compete with the masses to get a boarding group, pay to ride or you're SOL.

 

[wendysue]

Yes that is right.

Yay! We can just leave our phones in the safe.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

I wasn't arguing it was affordable for the masses -- I was just arguing you get a lot more value out of the Royal Pacific (or the other Universal deluxes). Better perks and arguably a nicer hotel for a much cheaper nightly rate.

You were clear and perfectly fine.

 

[Benjamin_Nicholas]

Nice.

Why do some assume the criticism is always about not being able to afford it? In mine, and others, that is not the case at all.

Because- bottom line- it's really always about the price of things.

You don't want to pay, whether you can afford it or not, and that's an issue of price.

Disney has shareholders as well as their personal bottom line. They will always price up to what the market will bear. COVID saw continued upward numbers for park attendance. They didn't need to crisis discount like most other businesses.

I say, good for them

Frankly, It's their prerogative. This likely won't change anytime soon, so I say to anyone wanting to bemoan it to simply not go and find something else to obsess over. Disney fanatics seem to be some of the worst at taking every single change as a personal affront.

Repeat after me:

DISNEY IS A BUSINESS.
DISNEY IS A CORPORATION.
DISNEY HAS SHAREHOLDERS.
DISNEY WANTS TO TURN A PROFIT.




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