Fountain & Bottled Drink, Popcorn, Pretzel, and Other Snack Item Prices Exponentially

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So, and I'm just guessing here , that the long term strategic vision of the Disney Corporation is to have only 500 people visiting each of the four Disneyworld parks on a daily basis but each paying $25K per day. That should about equal the yearly revenue at the parks.

It’s to get the stock price as high as possible and give iger one day’s notice before he uses one of undoutebfly 38 out clauses in his contract and activates escalators at their highest possible value...

Which makes him every CEO in the modern world of a public company.

Nobody wants to hear it...it just happens to be true.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I can guarantee they aren't actually shooting for lower volume. That's just corporate PR spin for the attempted quarter-to-quarter band-aid of an attendence growth stagnation over the past couple years, IMO.

 

[DisneyDaver]

Except you’re wrong. Just because you are aware of the limited competition and price gouging before hand doesn’t change the fact of what it is. Traditionally price is determined by the intersection of supply and demand. In a monopoly supply and price are determined by the monopoly. There is no supply curve.

That's a very simple way to look at it. The high price of snacks are just part of the calculation of the total cost of a WDW vacation. Customers can compare that total cost of a WDW vacation versus many other vacation options. WDW does not a monopoly on vacation options.

Sure, once you are in a WDW park for the day (without snacks that you brought into the park), WDW now has a monopoly on your snack options. And last I was there, WDW permitted people to bring snacks so you always have that option.

And your repeated use of there term "price gouging" doesn't make it a fact. No doubt the prices are relatively very high to the same price of the product at a grocery store. That doesn't make it price gouging.

 

[erasure fan1]

This is incorrect and doesn’t do anything...it makes as valid a point as the muppet Manamana song.

I'm pretty sure Mah-na Mah-na, makes anyones point valid. Cause it's AWESOME!

Do do da do do!

 

[Indy_UK]

Disney can charge whatever they want and they will do because they know people will pay it. If people stop buying items then all they will do is hault any further price prices. They want drop the prices.

Disney have got themselves in an impossible loop where every quarter has to perform better than the last to show growth. They'll continue doing this while Igor is around and then hopefully in 2021 when Bob leaves that Chapek gets the chop too

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Do not mistake the recent price increases as standard regularly scheduled price increases. They are a quick way to prop up the numbers in the face of a dramatic drop in attendance. The price hikes along with entertainment cuts are a band-aid to make the financial numbers look good. There was no long term planning here.

And the term "price gouging" is actually the correct term in that they are taking advantage of the people "locked in" to the vacation already without looking at the long term impact of doing so. If they had been paying attention earlier, they could have started throwing out some discounts for September to draw people in. By the time they realized the situation it was too late for that. So they raise prices. Quite dramatically in some cases like Lunch at the Biergarten going from $35 to $44.

 

[John park hopper]

Once you are in the park they have you and can charge whatever they want. Others have posted it is supply and demand and others have said they have a monopoly; IMO it's a little of both the demand is there and Disney owns the supply (monopoly). If there were independent vendors in the parks you would see prices come way down. Disney has 100% control, therefore they can and do jack the prices up; is it price gouging IMO it's pretty close.

 

[Pirate Magic]

I was down there when the new prices went into effect. I believe it was the increase of guests checking into the resorts. We were staying at POP and the line for Magic Kingdom bus ( and that was on Monday, October 1), that line was at year numbers in the front of POP and in all the years of coming to Disney I haven’t seen a line like that. Also, there was never a price increase like that in the middle of our vacation. Disney usually announces a price increases before they go into effect, this time they didn’t. I think Disney saw an opportunity and took it.

 

[MissingDisney]

I was down there when the new prices went into effect. I believe it was the increase of guests checking into the resorts. We were staying at POP and the line for Magic Kingdom bus ( and that was on Monday, October 1), that line was at year numbers in the front of POP and in all the years of coming to Disney I haven’t seen a line like that. Also, there was never a price increase like that in the middle of our vacation. Disney usually announces a price increases before they go into effect, this time they didn’t. I think Disney saw an opportunity and took it.

Respectfully, what you experienced was another grand idea ...cutbacks on transportation. Pop didn’t get any bigger and it’s always crowded. They just moved us out faster with keeping transportation dispatched steadily to the resort to keep it moving. The decrease in dispatched busses and increase wait times have been seen resort-wide for some time, and getting worse. It’s like they cut the fleet back now for the anticipated demand drop when the gondolas are up and running.

 

[epcotWSC]

This is why I bring camelbacks loaded with water into the parks. These prices are insane.

 

[peter11435]

This is why I bring camelbacks loaded with water into the parks. These prices are insane.

Disney will give you free ice water.

 

[John park hopper]

This is why I bring camelbacks loaded with water into the parks. These prices are insane.

Water in WDW is a necessity in the Florida heat and humidity. Soda snacks are not. One would think WDW would be considerate of their guests and charge a marginal mark up on bottled water. I'm sure they get a major discount on water buying in volume as I'm sure they do. I know some will say they have free Ice and water fountains ; honestly the water tastes like --- crap

 

[networkpro]

Better is relative. I think they're going to continue to try to price out the middle class which to me seems like a poor business plan. .

Incredulous statement .

 

[larryz]

... honestly the water tastes like --- crap

Sulfur, actually...

 

[Smiley/OCD]

That's a pretty good trick, since Disney pays their 1.45% dividend semi-annually.



Interesting fact, though I hope it is a computer programming issue (Disney NEVER has these) rather than a change in strategy. I was on my passholder page yesterday to see how much my new renewal will be, and it went up approximately $2/month (Gold level). Upgrading to Premium was going to cost about $20/month. Needed to think about this, and discuss with the SO. Went back today, and the only passes available for renewal were Premium and Water Parks only. Gone were the Gold and Silver levels, and the EPCOT After 4. Obviously, will be going back sometime in the next few days to see if things revert back. Otherwise, we will be taking a very hard look at continuing to give WDW our money.

I realize that...I get dividends from several different stocks and they go into my slush fund account...I withdraw them quarterly.

 

[Jenny72]

When I was a kid, my family lived in Florida close to Disney and we didn't have much money. We went to Disney when we could (man, I could NOT sleep on the nights before those trips!) and we'd economize on *everything.* It was tickets then, and we'd just pick up other people's discarded tickets or ride the free rides over and over and over, and we always brought our own food and drinks. As a kid I just knew that buying stuff in the park was for other people.

Now, I have enough money to afford a proper Disney vacation. Not often, mind you, but we could do it. And we were going to...but the fact is, even though I *can* afford it, I just don't enjoy spending, for example, $4 on a bottle of water. Maybe it's my upbringing, but it almost physically pains me. So we stay offsite so that we can have a kitchen and make sandwiches, and pack lots of food when we go.

We had planned to do a vacation where we stay onsite for once and get the dining plan and all, but when I saw how much it would cost.....again, we *could* afford it, but, it just doesn't seem reasonable! So we'll do our little trips here and there with our offsite place, unless I catch a really, really, really good deal. I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable paying an outrageous price for something like a pretzel. At least with a watch or a car there's resale value...

 

[eliza61nyc]

When I was a kid, my family lived in Florida close to Disney and we didn't have much money. We went to Disney when we could (man, I could NOT sleep on the nights before those trips!) and we'd economize on *everything.* It was tickets then, and we'd just pick up other people's discarded tickets or ride the free rides over and over and over, and we always brought our own food and drinks. As a kid I just knew that buying stuff in the park was for other people.

Now, I have enough money to afford a proper Disney vacation. Not often, mind you, but we could do it. And we were going to...but the fact is, even though I *can* afford it, I just don't enjoy spending, for example, $4 on a bottle of water. Maybe it's my upbringing, but it almost physically pains me. So we stay offsite so that we can have a kitchen and make sandwiches, and pack lots of food when we go.

We had planned to do a vacation where we stay onsite for once and get the dining plan and all, but when I saw how much it would cost.....again, we *could* afford it, but, it just doesn't seem reasonable! So we'll do our little trips here and there with our offsite place, unless I catch a really, really, really good deal. I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable paying an outrageous price for something like a pretzel. At least with a watch or a car there's resale value...

Which brings up a very basic reality, everyone's own personal experiences effect them differently.
Now for my outlook on things is different. the years between 2012-2016 were absolutely horrible. My wonderful husband of 30 years lost his battle to cancer. After scraping, scrimping and sacrificing for years and years what did it get us? me as a widow before 50. fat lot of good saving for retirement got him. then my baby brother dies at 45 and my best friend loses her battle to breast cancer again before 52.
So I am acutely aware of the phrase "you can't take it with you".

So now spending time and enjoying my life is way more important than a 4 dollar bottle of water. for me, my definition of reasonable is not wasting time or stressing about a lot of things. Yes, 6 bucks for a pretzel can be unreasonable, but 18 bucks for 3 pretzels while eating them with my sons and laughing hard after getting off of Haunted Mansion? well I'll pay that price. especially now that they are young adults and I know they will be moving onto other things and our time together will be becoming more and more limited.

lastly in my real life I tend to be pretty frugal and one of the reasons is so I can be very flexible on vacation. If I had to pay 4 bucks for a bottle of water every day? that probably be an issue, on vacation? not so much.

I'm sure at some point Disney will cross my line in the sand, luckily I know there is a great big blue wide world that I can move onto.

 

[Jenny72]

Goodness, I can totally see your point! And I'd say that if Disney is the place that gives you guys joy, you absolutely have the right attitude about this. Go for it

For us, Disney is just one of the places that makes us laugh and enjoy our time together. And it's not necessarily even the best one, especially for my husband, who loathes crowds (so...yeah). So if we can spend our vacation time/money in a place that gives us more bang for the buck, it makes more sense to keep Disney as a side destination and go other places too, some of which are free and some of which are expensive.

I assume there are a lot of people who have the same attitude as you and a lot of people who have the same attitude as me.

 

[tirian]

I was inspired to find this interesting study done about 10 years ago:
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/why-does-movie-popcorn-cost-so-much

It's true that movie theater concessions account for a disproportionate fraction of movie theater profits:


One of the more interesting observations:


So a theater could price tickets higher and would still retain the die-hard movie-goers, but would lose the casual viewer. They can optimize by increasing concession prices, which are disproportionately purchased by the die-hard moviegoers anyway. Interesting.



I'd hope that this concession price increase by Disney would mean that they'd be able to keep ticket prices low, but I don't think this is true because of the relatively unique primary offering. The only hope we have of this is increased popularity of Universal, which may ultimately become the competitor that keeps WDW in line. But I don't know that I'm confident about even that.

Also consider that people visit a theater for an hour or two and make a single trip to the snack stand.

Now compound the increased Disney prices by a typical 9-hour day in the parks, multiplied by a week-long vacation.

For decades, Disney resisted the temptation to treat Guests as captive audiences and price gouge them. It was one of Walt’s wishes and quotes that you won’t see along the “DL isn’t a museum” construction signs.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Also consider that people visit a theater for an hour or two and make a single trip to the snack stand.

Now compound the increased Disney prices by a typical 9-hour day in the parks, multiplied by a week-long vacation.

For decades, Disney resisted the temptation to treat Guests as captive audiences and price gouge them. It was one of Walt’s wishes and quotes that you won’t see along the “DL isn’t a museum” construction signs.

Who cares what dead hypocrite Walt thinks. It’s not like his name is on the place...


...oh wait.