Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
Boardwalk is asking $824/nightly rack for Spring Break this year, *or* $429/night for Disney VISA cardholders.

Yikes.
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Says a lot about Disney's hotel rates if offering close to 50% off means you're still paying around $500/night after tax.

It's like they forgot they got rid of their own perks (most notably Magical Express...the one that was supposed to keep people on site), and that there's an increasingly competitive market for accommodations outside their bubble.

Not just in traditional hotels, but villas, timeshares, individual rentals like Air BnB, or people simply knowing they can crash at their relative's place.
 
Tony the Tigger

Tony the Tigger

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
I can't say I expect this exact discount to be rolled out more broadly, as it is extremely targeted and just a bonkers amount of money off of rack. However, I would expect something somewhat drastic soon compared to what we're used to seeing for spring and early summer.

Offering Caribbean Beach at nearly $200 off of rack for the VISA deal is just astounding to me. It's by far the most in-demand of the moderates and as recently as last year was hard to book for certain periods.
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This is really not that big of a deal. It's the AP discount rate. Up to 35% off. Not really bonkers.

With all the bookings I've done (for myself) over the last 20 years or so, whether via FL resident, AP, or Visa discount, there are almost always tiers of 20-35% off.

Now, they may be releasing them more in advance and leaving a few extra dates open, but these are the same standard discounts we've always gotten (and the room rates have gone way up in the meantime.) I used to routinely book CBR at a discounted $116-$135 per night as recently as maybe 5-7 years ago (?) I remember the last time was when the Skyliner was just being tested, so how long ago was that? We stayed there last week for about $240 with up to 35% passholder discount. The All-Star Values were always below $100 until more recently.
 
PREMiERdrum

PREMiERdrum

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
Says a lot about Disney's hotel rates if offering close to 50% off means you're still paying around $500/night after tax.

It's like they forgot they got rid of their own perks (most notably Magical Express...the one that was supposed to keep people on site), and that there's an increasingly competitive market for accommodations outside their bubble.

Not just in traditional hotels, but villas, timeshares, individual rentals like Air BnB, or people simply knowing they can crash at their relative's place.
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It's a completely broken model, and they genuinely fear they can't afford to fix it.
 
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JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
I just cruised through TA rates this afternoon, as we will be in FL a few times this summer and fall, and adding on a bit of cheese is tempting.

There are some crazy, crazy deals to be had.

They really, really need butts in rooms.
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It's very tempting, but ticket prices for my family of 5 is still the prohibiting factor for a quick trip.

Beginning of June, it's still nearly $3000 for a 4 day ticket for my family.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
JD80 said:
It's very tempting, but ticket prices for my family of 5 is still the prohibiting factor for a quick trip.
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Same for my family. We are looking at a Florida vacation in October. Tickets are just too much. Especially when you add in the exchange rate from Canadian dollars.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
JoeCamel said:
I don't run out and buy a diamond because it is guaranteed to appraise for double either. If you put a ridiculous price tag on it it is still a ridiculous price at half off
At least with a diamond I have something at the end of the day
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There is way to soften the price blow . We have done well with the rising stock market so we are looking to sell some shares and enjoy a future vacation even with higher pricing . There is nothing like when your money works harder than you do.
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
Same for my family. We are looking at a Florida vacation in October. Tickets are just too much. Especially when you add in the exchange rate from Canadian dollars.
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There's a 20% off discount for Canadians if you buy 5 days or more, but it's not much of a savings when the ticket themselves and the exchange rate are as high as they are.
 
JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
For anyone following along, I was able to get a substantial reduction in my group contract rate at All Stars for spring break... in line with recent promotions.

Overall attendance is down, and the picture would have been much, much worse if it weren't for offsite guests. Future package and room bookings are abysmal.
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You can ignore lack of new rides, lack of capacity, lack of general entertainment because in spite of all of that, people will still go, and most likely have a good time.

What is preventing people from going? Cost.

It's not even the hotel rooms, because people can still find offsite accommodations or even find a deal from Disney off of rack rate. $200-$300 is not bad for a moderate when I sometimes can't find a Hampton Inn in a mid-west state for less than $150 a night.

Disney offering hotel discounts is not going to get people to pull the trigger.

The Dining Plan - because it forces you to buy hoppers or even upgrade it for a Moderate/Value booking - is not going to entice people to pull the trigger.

The cost of a hotel is basically steady over the last 5 years in context of your whole trip. Even if your $120 a night value from 5 years ago is now $220 - for a 5 night stay that's only an extra $500. That's not a lot, and many people can swallow that.

The biggest - BIGGEST - factor in the cost of a WDW vacation is the price of tickets. For a family of 4 or 5 to get a ticket package to go to each park once is going to run them $2000 to $3000 depending on the time of year. JUST the tickets! Compared to 5 years ago, a 4 ticket package is +$1600. Remember when the price of a ticket was cheap going from 5 to 6 tickets? or 6 to 7?

Hotel discounts are more valuable the less people you have in the room. Ticket deals offer more value the more people in your family. You will know when Disney gets desperate when they start offering general ticket deals. That 50% off kid tickets (with the Dining Plan) was a trial balloon.

I suspect we'll see some hotel/ticket packages where they can hide the de-valuing of park admission if all these hotel discounts don't get the job done.
 
Laketravis

Laketravis

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
For anyone following along, I was able to get a substantial reduction in my group contract rate at All Stars for spring break... in line with recent promotions.

Overall attendance is down, and the picture would have been much, much worse if it weren't for offsite guests. Future package and room bookings are abysmal.
Click to expand...

Yup. I'll be back Monday for a few days - but only because we already have AP's, could find cheap flights on Spirit, and could book Pop for around $150 a night. I'm going to continue to seek out cheap onsite rates and flights thru the rest of this year, but that's the only way we would return. I can't imagine how someone would do otherwise.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Thread needs a title change. There was a noticeable lull in the crowds last summer when this thread was created that lasted a few months, but things have picked back up. Throughout the entirety of January, the parks were quite busy.
 

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