It’s this.
I am a local and I now know I basically have to buy it or I just don’t go. The moment I walked up and saw a 40 minute wait for Seas with Nemo and a 25 minute wait for Living with the Land, two rides that previously were walk on for the past decade or more, it puts me in a position to have to buy the awful service.
What they don’t realize is that for someone like me, I used to visit the parks much more frequently as a local to ride things with the kids on my days off and we would eat lunch in the parks and I would usually buy them a little something, but now I have to use that money for stupid fast passes so we don’t have to stand in the Florida heat and also because they are still young enough that they are too impatient to wait 40 minutes for a ride. So now we have to eat at home before we come to the park and there is not extra money to buy them anything extra. So yes, the overall experience for me as a parent feeling like we went to the park, and got on a handful of rides, had lunch with the kiddos and maybe brought them home with a small souvenir is much worse. I guarantee they used to get more money out of me that way but it just didn’t sting as much knowing we sat and had a meal together in a fun restaurant at the park and I was able to buy my kids a little gift.
No, unfortunately, Disney realizes this and is thrilled.
Restaurants require staffing. They require perishable supplies with fluctuating wholesale pricing and costly storage conditions and as we already know, there is limited capacity for operation of them, currently.
Merchandise has to be purchased. Disney buys in bulk and marks up to high heaven ($15 for a pin with their design on it manufactured wholesale for under $1) but it still has to be shipped from China and stored and they need people to work all those registers, to handle shrinkage, etc.
Genie+? Nearly pure profit. They have to pay people at the front of the lines, just like they did for FP+ but it's generating money now so compared to what came before, it's
practically pure profit.
They'd
rather make money off you without having to do anything to earn it so if it's betwen Genie+ and food and merch, the'd much rather you blow your money on Genie+.
As for that food and merch, someone else will buy it but not having you do it means less stress on their quick service and probably doesn't put a dent in their merch since their biggest success there is from out-of-towners ready to plunk down half a grand or more on a single visit snapping up their stuff rather than locals and semi-locals (like you and me) who buy things here and there but often aren't interested in the same stuff we see again and again on visits.
This is the company that for decades actively fought legalized gambling in Florida but is now actively trying to license one of their brands for sports betting.
They're no longer in the entertainment business - they're in the make a penny any way possible business.
Don't be surprised if the next time you go to a resort or parking lot entrance, if you find a cast member just beyond the gate/toll booth ready to spit on your windshield and then clean it off for $10. After all, as was used in the excuse to justify resort fees, it's a well established practice in many large cities already and they have to be competitive. No good reason they should be missing out on
those dollars, right?*
*that's bitter sarcasm for those who like to take things literally - I'd like to fend off any debates on that statement now, if possible.
_
