Greed

[MaryJaneP]

Saw an interesting story over on Yahoo about Michigan football and the precipitous drop in student ticket sales that the author (John U Bacon) apparently thinks is related to price. If you substitute WDW in the article for every mention of Michigan, I get the exact same feeling about how TDO is alienating WDW fans. One of the more telling sections states:

After a friend of mine took his kids to a game, he told me, "Michigan athletics used to feel like something we shared. Now it's something they hoard. Anything of value they put a price tag on. Anything that appeals to anyone is kept locked away -- literally, in some cases -- and only brought out if you pay for it. And what's been permanently banished is any sense of generosity."
After Brandon became Michigan's 11th athletic director in 2010, he often repeated one of his favorite lines: "If it ain't broke ... break it!"
(Full article http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/roa...um-students-business-tv-ncaa-michigan-tickets )

I might even be inclined to forgive some (very little) of the drop in maintenance, but combined with the shift in attitude, I wonder how many others feel we are no longer "guests" and that we are just "customers" to be bled dry?

 

[Kuzcotopia]

I'm just going to quote a single phrase. . .

the precipitous drop in student ticket sales . . .

Unfortunately, ticket sales are up every year at WDW. I WISH sometimes that the increase in prices did drop attendance, but it hasn't yet.

 

[wendysue]

I'm just going to quote a single phrase. . .



Unfortunately, ticket sales are up every year at WDW. I WISH sometimes that the increase in prices did drop attendance, but it hasn't yet.

But it will, eventually. We are going to use the tickets we had already purchased last year, and a room only discount we got this year for our next vacation there, but after that, we will be checking out other destinations. The park tickets are what has changed our minds. We are also adding a 4 day to UNI this year, and that may be an option for the future. (I wish UNI would pick up at the airport)...

 

[rob0519]

I might even be inclined to forgive some (very little) of the drop in maintenance, but combined with the shift in attitude, I wonder how many others feel we are no longer "guests" and that we are just "customers" to be bled dry?

As the previous poster wrote, ticket prices go up every year and instead of going down, ticket sales continue to go up each year as well. It's a solid testament to Disney's global marketing team. So, in my opinion, yes, the Disney corporation no longer sees any of us as guests, but customers to be taken for every possible dollar aat every possible turn and in every possible way. It's what every coroporation does; maximize shareholder value.

In a management seminar, I once asked a finance person how they could justify charging 29% interest on their credit card accounts. His response was two sentences. 1). Becuase legally we can. 2). Never apologize for making as much money as legally possible. I think this pretty much sums up the new Walt Disney Company.

However, there are still thousands of Castmembers, who for some unknown reason continue to treat us like guests. That and the uniqueness of the resort built by previous management teams are the reasons we continue to return until we can simply no longer afford to do so.

 

[crispy]

Parentsof4 has a very good analysis of WDW ticket price increases and how WDW resorts went from a 90% occupancy rate to a 76% occupancy rate in a few years. People are still buying tickets because they want the Disney experience, but they are cutting costs in other areas like choosing to stay off-site instead of paying the extremely high prices for WDW resorts. WDW price increases aren't sustainable, but we are currently seeing the hit at the resorts and not necessarily the ticket lines. I think that will come soon enough UNLESS WDW starts giving people a reason to continue to visit (and no, Avatar isn't it.).

OP, I quoted and linked this thread on the Spirited Seventh Heaven thread. I think it's a really good picture of what's happening at WDW.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Is good