Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I thiu

I thought getting those silly DAS users out of line was going to make G+ so much better?

Guess not.

Just like hackers…I’m sure people schemed ways around the safeguards before they ever went into effect.

Free escape from inconvenience tried men’s souls

 

[seabreezept813]

Visited a friend in Easton MA and stayed in her home with NO AC. That was worse than a day in MK with at least you can retreat to some AC.

I always tell people Disney is more pleasant in summer. So much indoors with AC. Hollywood Studios is the exception, Toy Story Land and Star Wars land are rough.

 

[SamusAranX]

That's not how parks run. Parks need crowds to run.

Crazy how people still fall for that “Disney strategy”. Disney wants crowds.

 

[Tha Realest]

Crazy how people still fall for that “Disney strategy”. Disney wants crowds.

Hopefully no one is that gullible or naive.

It’s useful spin so they don’t confront the obvious (softening demand).

 

[PREMiERdrum]

An interesting moment in time.

They know fully well exactly what would reverse this trend. They also know that the risk of spooking the market with those measures is incredibly high.

So, they won't.

Expect further, quiet rack rollbacks. Expect wholesaling blocks of value rooms to third party resellers. Expect a big uptick in unique PIN offers.

And, if you think you're seeing more and more of the "lifestyle" set posting cherries-and-sweetcream content on social... it isn't your imagination.

 

[jpeden]

An interesting moment in time.

They know fully well exactly what would reverse this trend. They also know that the risk of spooking the market with those measures is incredibly high.

So, they won't.

Expect further, quiet rack rollbacks. Expect wholesaling blocks of value rooms to third party resellers. Expect a big uptick in unique PIN offers.

And, if you think you're seeing more and more of the "lifestyle" set posting cherries-and-sweetcream content on social... it isn't your imagination.

In all seriousness - why would the market get spooked by them restoring some on-property perks such as Magical Express or Bag delivery? I’m not saying bring back by 3 get 2 ticket deals but I would be more concerned about rack rollbacks versus adding an on-site benefit.

 

[Tha Realest]

In all seriousness - why would the market get spooked by them restoring some on-property perks such as Magical Express or Bag delivery? I’m not saying bring back by 3 get 2 ticket deals but I would be more concerned about rack rollbacks versus adding an on-site benefit.

Because I suspect those sorts of initiatives wouldn't go far enough. It seems he’s suggesting a fundamental reshaping in a way that corrects some things done in recent years. I don’t think market would get spooked by return of DME.

 

[DisneyHead123]

In all seriousness - why would the market get spooked by them restoring some on-property perks such as Magical Express or Bag delivery? I’m not saying bring back by 3 get 2 ticket deals but I would be more concerned about rack rollbacks versus adding an on-site benefit.

Maybe it involves Genie? A bit of a Catch 22 if something involving that much profit on paper simultaneously drives away so many park goers that it ends up breaking even.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

In all seriousness - why would the market get spooked by them restoring some on-property perks such as Magical Express or Bag delivery? I’m not saying bring back by 3 get 2 ticket deals but I would be more concerned about rack rollbacks versus adding an on-site benefit.

DME - as much as I miss it - doesn't have data on its side in terms of supporting bookings. There are too many inexpensive, convenient transportation options now that crush its initial purpose of fortifying "the bubble."

The pricing model is broken, and there isn't a sly way to fix it. They'd have to admit to the world that they overstepped.

Bob can't.

 

[HauntedPirate]

DME - as much as I miss it - doesn't have data on its side in terms of supporting bookings. There are too many inexpensive, convenient transportation options now that crush its initial purpose of fortifying "the bubble."

The pricing model is broken, and there isn't a sly way to fix it. They'd have to admit to the world that they overstepped.

Bob can't.

I guess Bob’s words about “listening” on pricing concerns after he ousted replaced $lappie were hollow. Bob, talking out of both sides of his mouth and meaning none of it? Gee. Color me shocked.

 

[V_L_Raptor]

Give it time. This picture isn't frozen in place.

 

[Nubs70]

I guess Bob’s words about “listening” on pricing concerns after he ousted replaced $lappie were hollow. Bob, talking out of both sides of his mouth and meaning none of it? Gee. Color me shocked.

Bob's hand are tied in this Inflationary environment. He has to raise prices 20% just to meet baseline. Add another 10% for the traditional price increase trajectory. Now being an inflationary environment that affects everything and everyone, the customer has nor seen wage increases to keep up with inflation, the customers purchasing power has decreased 20%. This is gives an relative price increase of 50% in the eyes of the customer.

 

[jpeden]

DME - as much as I miss it - doesn't have data on its side in terms of supporting bookings. There are too many inexpensive, convenient transportation options now that crush its initial purpose of fortifying "the bubble."

The pricing model is broken, and there isn't a sly way to fix it. They'd have to admit to the world that they overstepped.

Bob can't.

That really surprises me regarding DME. Anytime we used the service it always seemed pretty busy. But that was before the proliferation of Lyft and Uber so that makes sense.

I still think that people would rather pay a hidden fee in their room than figure out their own transportation and add an additional cost on their vacation but if the data doesn’t support that then I guess there is no hope of return.

 

[Tha Realest]

Bob's hand are tied in this Inflationary environment. He has to raise prices 20% just to meet baseline. Add another 10% for the traditional price increase trajectory. Now being an inflationary environment that affects everything and everyone, the customer has nor seen wage increases to keep up with inflation, the customers purchasing power has decreased 20%. This is gives a relative price increase of 50% in the eyes of the customer.

Good point. Couple this with their acknowledgement in the recent quarterlies that increase in revenue was due in part to inflation…

 

[Dranth]

That really surprises me regarding DME. Anytime we used the service it always seemed pretty busy. But that was before the proliferation of Lyft and Uber so that makes sense.

I still think that people would rather pay a hidden fee in their room than figure out their own transportation and add an additional cost on their vacation but if the data doesn’t support that then I guess there is no hope of return.

Except they overextended the pricing on rooms (amongst other things) so I am not sure they can just add another chunk of cost to them without even more pushback. I do think they could keep current pricing if they brought back stuff like MDE and added a number of actual unique and useful benefits.

 

[Nubs70]

Every company that has reported increased revenue is primarily due to inflation. This is why reliance on simply raw $ numbers. One needs to look at the ratios. For example ROCE where DIS is running about 1/3 their competitors. Yes DIS is investing money but not in the right places.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I
If inflation has eased why are prices still going up. Why are prices still higher than 2 years ago?

Inflation easing doesn’t lower prices. But you know that.

 

[Dranth]

I
If inflation has eased why are prices still going up. Why are prices still higher than 2 years ago?

Inflation easing doesn't mean prices go down, it just means they don't go up as fast.

 

[JD80]

The parks are a profit engine for the company right now. They will never reduce the cost of tickets and hotel rooms publicly in a way that would signal "it costs too much money so we are slashing prices!" It would kill the stock. So they have to do it slowly and secretly like @PREMiERdrum is alluding to.

• PINs are "secret" as in they can target a lot of people with individual rates that aren't published on a website somewhere for mass market consumption (by consumers or media).
  • Social Media people may describe PINs from antidotal evidence but you'll never truly know how many are going out.
• I'm not sure if they were ever reduce the cost of rack rates in any significant way, but they might a few bucks here and there (I'm talking via their own website). Eventually they will just either increase via inflation or keep them even and let inflation catch up.
• Ticket prices are way too high, so I expect more ticket deals like 4x $99 for each park.

I am still waiting for them to get desperate where they start offering pre-package deals like cruises to get you in to a week long vacation. One price for dining/tickets/hotel and can do all sorts of discounts without actually showing where cost reductions are coming from and the rack rate isn't impacted.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I don’t think they would ever reduce prices of anything. The most we can hope for is a pause on price increases.

It would be great if they started a loyalty program; the more you spend, the more you “save”.