His Plan is Working / Youtube Video

[SteveBrickNJ]

Here is a Youtuber who is famous with his cruise focused videos.
Yet in this instance, he has made a video where he vents his frustrations with Disney.
A place that he has loved all his life...but now he is a bit angry.
Watch it here if you wish....
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[MinnieM123]

As the video host, "Just Don" (and others) have mentioned for years now, the prices are too high. (UNI appears to provide more services for the amount they charge, per his price comparison). WDW may lose some guests due to the current costs, while some other guests might have to space out their visits to every few years, or longer. (I haven't been since 2019.) Regardless, it seems that enough people will still visit WDW despite the prices.

 

[DryerLintFan]

He’s correct that it’s not necessarily about being priced out, it’s about watching the price go up exponentially on a product where the value doesn’t also increase. At this point, you really can go to Europe or Hawaii for the ticket cost of a Disney vacation, no forum arguing about it required, so it becomes so much harder to choose Disney when we feel we get so much more life experience and family reward from alternate vacations. And the hotels are loads better lol.

Disney isn’t pricing people out so much as putting themselves into a vacation price point they can’t compete as a top destination. But based on their earnings, they don’t really have to.

 

[Goofyernmost]

It was reported that in spite of the constant statements from people saying it is so crowded, the attendance is down 17% from pre-pandemic levels. Profits are up by a huge number but the alarming part ought to be that in spite of the pandemic causing cabin fever, a whole lot of people have either been priced out or have decided that it isn't worth the effort or the cost. I would think that over time the expense will get to everyone and if competition continues to take advantage of the opportunity to pull people from a Disney park to their own it will only get worse for Disney.

Boomers that were primarily the desired guest are now grandparents and great-grandparents. The further the generations are removed from Walt Disney and the history of Walt and the parks, it is predictable that they will find their own form of entertainment and Disney may possibly not be the one they decide is their thing. Everyone would like to afford a Rolls Royce but can only think it would be nice to have one. Are they owed a simpler, less expensive experience at Disney? No, they are not! Will some enterprising person, like Walt was, see a market available and come up with a way to fill that gap? Absolutely! Time will tell!

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

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This is an example of the type of videos Don usually posts.
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Anyway, back to our topic.
What does anyone else think of Don's DISNEY related video I posted at the top of this thread?

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

wdwmagic has so many forums.
Would another forum location have been a better fit for this thread?

 

[Vacationeer]

I haven’t finished watching yet but I think he’s mixing up his Joshes.
At just over one minute in, it sounds like he said Josh ‘Doo-mell’ twice already?

Josh Duhamel



Josh D’Amaro


Ok, back to finish watching…

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

I haven’t finished watching yet but I think he’s mixing up his Joshes.
At just over one minute in, it sounds like he said Josh ‘Doo-mell’ twice already?

Josh Duhamel
View attachment 669289


Josh D’Amaro
View attachment 669290

Ok, back to finish watching…

Any follow up thoughts?

 

[Vacationeer]

Any follow up thoughts?

I’ve thought alot about this issue. Our trip is a month out. That experience will be foremost in our future WDW trip decisions. I’m salty over some issues. We’ve become more selective where we spend and less confident in value. But we’ve not yet crossed over to where a trip’s not worthwhile compared to cost.

Overall the point in his video is valid. No doubt prices have rocketed into space while at the same time, scores of people are reporting declines in experience. No doubt TWDC has lost its finesse in public communications. The truth was stretched a little though. Paying WDW for buses? Universal costing one third of WDW prices?

WDW is very complex with millions of visitors doing the parks thousands of ways. Many changes in recent years seem to have a common goal: Closing the gap between what people can pay and what they can get. Gone are the days using non-expiring tickets or less expensive APs, enjoying all the great fireworks spots without paying extra, eating in the most popular restaurants al a carte, taking advantage of the FP+ system, predicting great package offers and holding rooms till they came out, etc. Park veterans had alot of tips and tricks to cut costs and still get the best of what WDW had to offer. We’re a tough bunch.

I wonder if Disney sees families who are willing to spend, but without experience they get lost in the dust behind those of us much more familiar. Is there an attempt to level the playing field? Are they cutting out the cheapest ways to have a premium WDW experience, while trying to ensure those spending above average actually do? What is the collateral damage?

 

[erstwo]

The truth was stretched a little though. Universal costing one third of WDW prices?

WDW is very complex with millions of visitors doing the parks thousands of ways. Many changes in recent years seem to have a common goal: Closing the gap between what people can pay and what they can get. Gone are the days using non-expiring tickets or less expensive APs, enjoying all the great fireworks spots without paying extra, eating in the most popular restaurants al a carte, taking advantage of the FP+ system, predicting great package offers and holding rooms till they came out, etc. Park veterans had alot of tips and tricks to cut costs and still get the best of what WDW had to offer. We’re a tough bunch.

I think about this all the time when I read people comparing Universal to Disney prices vs. value. I can't really intelligently argue the point because we so rarely go to Universal, but I can tell you I couldn't believe the prices the first time I bought Universal tickets.

It was 2014 and my son had just finished reading the Harry Potter series. I priced out tickets and to purchase a one-day park hopper (required if you wanted to ride the train thing between the parks and see both areas) with the (required to have a good time according to everyone on the internet) express pass - it was $234 PER TICKET in October. As much as I wanted to experience the Harry Potter areas of the park with my child, I decided not to buy tickets for myself and my daughter because my daughter didn't ride thrill rides at the time and I knew she would be bored and I'd spend the day sitting with her outside the rides.

It's taken Disney until now - 2022 - to match those ticket prices. I just priced it and a one day, park hopper at Universal with the Express Pass (not unlimited express pass, just the 'basic' one) is $324. Disney (for the same day in October) would be $226 for a one day, park hopper with a $17 Genie.

So what gives with the comparisons between Universal and Disney???? Drives me nutty.

 

[DryerLintFan]

It was reported that in spite of the constant statements from people saying it is so crowded, the attendance is down 17% from pre-pandemic levels. Profits are up by a huge number but the alarming part ought to be that in spite of the pandemic causing cabin fever, a whole lot of people have either been priced out or have decided that it isn't worth the effort or the cost. I would think that over time the expense will get to everyone and if competition continues to take advantage of the opportunity to pull people from a Disney park to their own it will only get worse for Disney.

Boomers that were primarily the desired guest are now grandparents and great-grandparents. The further the generations are removed from Walt Disney and the history of Walt and the parks, it is predictable that they will find their own form of entertainment and Disney may possibly not be the one they decide is their thing. Everyone would like to afford a Rolls Royce but can only think it would be nice to have one. Are they owed a simpler, less expensive experience at Disney? No, they are not! Will some enterprising person, like Walt was, see a market available and come up with a way to fill that gap? Absolutely! Time will tell!

We learned from going in the “off season” that the parks feeling crowded isn’t necessarily about how many people are there, it’s more about ride capacity. If they don’t have all the lanes of all the rides staffed and open and all the ride vehicles deployed, the parks feel very crowded when the crowd calendars have them at a level 4 or 5. All those people are jammed into narrow walkways.

So even if the park attendance goes down 17% the parks can feel way more crowded depending on what’s open and what’s staffed and what percentage of ride vehicles are actually going.

 

[Vacationeer]

I think about this all the time when I read people comparing Universal to Disney prices vs. value. I can't really intelligently argue the point because we so rarely go to Universal, but I can tell you I couldn't believe the prices the first time I bought Universal tickets.

It was 2014 and my son had just finished reading the Harry Potter series. I priced out tickets and to purchase a one-day park hopper (required if you wanted to ride the train thing between the parks and see both areas) with the (required to have a good time according to everyone on the internet) express pass - it was $234 PER TICKET in October. As much as I wanted to experience the Harry Potter areas of the park with my child, I decided not to buy tickets for myself and my daughter because my daughter didn't ride thrill rides at the time and I knew she would be bored and I'd spend the day sitting with her outside the rides.

It's taken Disney until now - 2022 - to match those ticket prices. I just priced it and a one day, park hopper at Universal with the Express Pass (not unlimited express pass, just the 'basic' one) is $324. Disney (for the same day in October) would be $226 for a one day, park hopper with a $17 Genie.

So what gives with the comparisons between Universal and Disney???? Drives me nutty.

Yeah… so many variables comparing the trips. It’s hard to do apples to apples. Great differences occur between scenarios. His scenario was a solo visitor booking a Uni room that included Express Pass. What comparable trip to WDW would be triple that cost?

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

How is the pricing at California's Disneyland?
I wonder if it is slightly more favorable?
I'm gonna do a little searching.
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I'm back with an answer.
No. Disneyland is NOT cheaper.
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