Is Disney Pricing themselves out of the Middle Class???

[Bloopers]

What stumps me is how Disney LOVES to increase prices on everything and yet they're paying most of their employees barely above minimum wage. I love working for Disney, don't get me wrong, but there's a problem when I spend a day's worth of money on gas that will last me a week, commuting back and forth from work. I'm a college student, so I'm not complaining, since I'm just treating this as a hobby, but I wish they would just pay a bit more!!!

 

[rob0519]

Bounceback.. 14 nights of free dining at a moderate for 5 people ( 3 of whom are adults or disney adults) less than $4900..

Outstanding! Have a great time.

 

[Britt]

Well, they are pricing themselves out of loyal and repeat customers. most people I talk to with kids these days consider WDW a "one time thing"..something "you have to do once" before they grow up. A big, expensive, one time only thing.
WDW used to be the premier spot for yearly family vacations, but I think the tide is turning, and they are seeing this, and catering to the once in a lifetime types.
The rest of us they are trying to sucker into dvc.

I think though, that most "loyal" guests, know how to use things to their advantage...we know the best times to go, we know how to use the PIN codes, bounce back, and we go when there are specials (free dining and room discounts), where as the one time only guests may not realize those are out there.

Like now...Josh and I are looking at an adult only trip, but are only looking when there are discounts or in the fall when we know free dining is usually offered.

So I think eventually it balances out : )

I'd love to do the DVC thing...we just dont know if we'll be able to return as often as we'd like!

 

[DfromATX]

Well, they are pricing themselves out of loyal and repeat customers. most people I talk to with kids these days consider WDW a "one time thing"..something "you have to do once" before they grow up.

Yep... We know several people who just "dream" of going one day or went only once when they were kids themselves, but then we know others who go almost every summer. I think for us our trips will slow down once our kids graduate high school, but only until we have grandchildren then we'll take them.

 

[DfromATX]

What's "bounce back"?

 

[baymenxpac]

the answer to this question is complex. as @captainkidd alluded to, the definition of the classes largely carry some kind of contextual prejudice. if you ask most americans what they consider themselves, they say middle class. based on purely statistics, many would seem to be mistaken. and that's always been the case.

so how can we evaluate this in a neutral manner? have the prices gone up above their projected values when adjusted for inflation? yes. are we getting a superior product to 20-30 years ago? no. so maybe the more apropos question is: is disney weeding out the discerning theme park goer? and that answer is undoubtedly, and unfortunately, yes.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think though, that most "loyal" guests, know how to use things to their advantage...we know the best times to go, we know how to use the PIN codes, bounce back, and we go when there are specials (free dining and room discounts), where as the one time only guests may not realize those are out there.

Most every vacay destination has value seasons...so this aspect isn't unique to Disney. Still, if we're talking Disney discounts and pricing schemes, I don't really think you can take that perspective if you return to Disney year after year and watch the prices climb and discounts decrease. I just find it hard to celebrate the discounts and value seasons when rack prices have climbed so sharply in such a short period of time. Example...the room I stayed at back in 2010 costs $76 more per night in 2013. I had some 40-45% room discounts for that room in 2010, but the discounts we saw in 2012 were 15%...sometimes 20-30% in some of the deep value times. I'd hardly celebrate that. No matter how you cut that, no matter when you go...you are still paying a lot more.

Sure, there's free dining, but most people wind up leaving $ on the table with that or at least find they would have made out better with a good room discount just as a result of eating habits. The cost of the DDP has also gone up a crazy amount. While I won't turn down free dining if it's my only discount option, it's sad that I'd spend less OOP vs. paying for DDP - even with a ton of TS meals.

It's like my dad always used to tell my mom when she went a little crazy at a sale...just because you've got a discount doesn't mean it's a good deal.

 

[koryadams]

I remember when it was $1500-1700 for a value resort for 4 people for a week that was 2003...just fyi

 

[George]

Feels like most people in this thread are 'upper-middle class or "firmly" upper-middle class'. I don't have a comment, I just find that to be pretty incredible.

Methinks it is just a product of the fact that the thread is full of people who have spent about 5K per WDW vacation in the last year or so.

Something else occurs to me. When you charge a certain price point for food and lodging, there are certain expectations for what you get with those prices. I have stayed in other $400/night hotel rooms and Disney doesn't compete with those. TBH, we often times spend a night or two in a "value" before or after our DVC stay and they may be the most over-priced for what you get. For $150/night you don't even get a hot tub with the pool! Also, as a caffeine addict, some coffee in the room would be appreciated. Even Days Inn can do that. IMO, the food is over priced for what you get as well, even in a "resort" setting. I've actually thought about the OPs suggestion of a price freeze and I think that is a very good idea. If they did that for 3-4 years it would put pressure on their competitors as well (you've got to do something if it takes you 18 years to build an attraction).

 

[jmb2676]

I think you bring up a very good point and I just had a similar conversation with my sister last week. To my sister, anytime "vacation" is mentioned, her only thought is WDW. I have been trying to get her to realize that there is more to see than WDW. To be fair, she is spoiled and generally uses our parents DVC points. She was recently pricing a non-DVC trip and was stunned at the price. I told her that the trip staying in a value resort for a week with tickets/food/spending $ was just outrageous. I spent a week in London recently for only $200 more than her planned trip. So for essentially the same cost, she could spend a week in London for the first time or go to WDW for approximately the 20th time and 3rd time in the last 18 months. Doesn't seem like a tough choice to me.

 

[Jillie Fish]

I am planning on going 3 times this year with my DB (vacations ranging from 6 days to 4 days), and I am below middle-class salary wise. We are both college students. I work full time in a call-center and go to school part time. He works part time in an ER and goes to school part time. However he is a car owner, and I am a home owner which helps cut the bills We are both NOT shoppers, clothes, shoes etc. We also don't have children which is a major money-saving factor. I agree with Britt also, Loyal guests know how to use Disney deals to their advantage. I "research" Disney a lot (almost everyday! ). I am constantly on the hunt for tips and tricks about ways to save money but still enjoy the parks like splitting meals, bringing snacks etc.

 

[Britt]

Most every vacay destination has value seasons...so this aspect isn't unique to Disney. Still, if we're talking Disney discounts and pricing schemes, I don't really think you can take that perspective if you return to Disney year after year and watch the prices climb and discounts decrease. I just find it hard to celebrate the discounts and value seasons when rack prices have climbed so sharply in such a short period of time. Example...the room I stayed at back in 2010 costs $76 more per night in 2013. I had some 40-45% room discounts for that room in 2010, but the discounts we saw in 2012 were 15%...sometimes 20-30% in some of the deep value times. I'd hardly celebrate that. No matter how you cut that, no matter when you go...you are still paying a lot more.

Sure, there's free dining, but most people wind up leaving $ on the table with that or at least find they would have made out better with a good room discount just as a result of eating habits. The cost of the DDP has also gone up a crazy amount. While I won't turn down free dining if it's my only discount option, it's sad that I'd spend less OOP vs. paying for DDP - even with a ton of TS meals.

It's like my dad always used to tell my mom when she went a little crazy at a sale...just because you've got a discount doesn't mean it's a good deal.

Oh, no, I know that...I just mean that repeat customers know how to take advantage of their offers, as small as they may be, where as a once in a lifetime guest, may not have the kind of experience we do : )

I was just pricing out trips and hate that you actually have to CLICK special offer for the discount, as opposed to it being applied automatically...so some newbie is booking their trip, without scrolling to the bottom to find the special offers. I guess they're smart in not just giving it away if people dont do their research...lol

 

[WED99]

Did you factor in healthcare and lawsuits? Opps... there goes the profit!

I wasn't aware lawsuits were that common and rx

 

[George]

It can be almost impossible to take advantage of special offers if you have school age children, which is a large part of Disney's clientile. "I know school just started, but they've got free dining at Disney World so we'll pull the kids out of school for a week" or the end of the free dining deal where the holidays are starting and kids are home from school which creates enough planning issues (if both parents work which is the norm) without taking extra days off.. Almost all the special deals are aimed to get people to come who don't have school age children which is fine, but it's not the majority of guests. So, I wouldn't give people too hard a time for not knowing about deals/doing research. I rarely see a deal that has timing I can take advantage of now that I'm married with kids. Plus, they don't really discount kids theme parks tickets at all anymore...it's like they don't really care if families, who by default have to spend the most, ever get a break.

 

[George]

This thread seems like it's more of a therapeutic session than anything. Attendance is already down some. I wonder what the suits will do.

 

[DfromATX]

The best deal we ever got was in June 2010. We had already booked our trip, staying at Pop Century. One night we were browsing their website and saw they had a promotion going and were offering WDW gift cards when you booked your WDW resort room. Based on your deluxe, moderate, and value hotel determined the amount of the gift card. I don't recall the others, but because we had booked two value rooms, we got two $300 gift cards. Since we had already booked, I called to see if I could still get in on the deal and they honored it. $600 - that was fantastic!

 

[hiptwinmama]

Here is the catch... attendance may be down, but with the prices going up the families that are traveling are more affluent and are spending more money in the parks.

DVC is making $$$ and again, bringing in the more affluent families that are spending $$$ in the park.

Haven't you noticed the amount of merchandise for sale in the Parks seems to increase every year.

I think that Disney is looking to bring in those who will spend more $$$. I'm not saying it is the right thing to do, but I do think it is part of their business model.

 

[Pooh Lover]

We go every year for a week (2 of us) and also have started to ask the question "Are we really getting $5,000 out of this every year?" Some one here posted that they stay at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando for quite a bit less than the price of a WDW luxury resort and it's true. But the Disney fan in me said to myself "Well, its not Disney so I wouldn't stay there", but it really got me thinking about how much I'm paying and trying harder and harder each year to justify. Part of me is afraid that I will "stray" away to another vacation experience that I feel gets me more bang for my buck and possibly decide not to return. Disney should also be afraid of this as well.

 

[VoiceGuy07]

We used to hit WDW once or twice a year and buy Annual Passes every couple of years to get three vacations out of it - late summer, fall, early summer. We'd stay at a deluxe once then value for the other two trips. Then we downgraded sticking to the annual passes but always staying at a value resort. And occasionally we'd throw a 3 or 4 night Disney Cruise on a good year.

2013 will be the first year in probably 20 years where we're just doing a short cruise instead of staying at WDW. Park admission is out of control. A huge bummer but know that we're just going to have to vacation differently to get back to WDW.

 

[drp4video]

We used to also get AP's and go a minimum of twice a year for 7-10 days, sometimes 3 and one time a 4th time in one year. Those days are gone. As prices went up, our visit's went down to once a year, and even then we got 10 day non-expirational hoppers which would last for 3 years at once a year, and now every 18 months with 4 day hoppers. I am guessing as we were last there in September of 2011, it may become every 2 years or more.

I do have to say though that I never paid $5000 or even $3000 for a WDW vacation. I agree that knowing what codes to use, times of year, AP discounts or Disney Visa discounts helped. I also use my disney visa card points. The last time we did go, it paid for the hotel at POFQ for 6 nights. Including air fare, my trips averaged for two people (DD and myself) no more than $1200.00. One time we even went free...used an AP pass, frequent flyer miles or air fare, and disney visa points for the hotel. (I never count food as we have to eat no matter where we are and we do split food..never has done the DDP as it would not work for us money wise).

Bottom line though is that yes, I do agree that Disney is pricing out the middle class. I remember paying $49 a night for Allstar Music and POP. ANd that was NOT that long ago. I think it is going to become a once in a lifetime trip for many, who will have to save for a while to afford to go. I noticed the last time I was there that there were a lot more foreign visitors which I have no complaints with (not going to get into the Brazilian tour group thing), but for the vast majority of middle class Americans I think they have to think real hard about a disney vacation considering the crowds and frustration of not being able to do all or even most of the things in the parks. Lately, it saddens me that when I think of taking a vacay that WDW is not the first place I think of anymore.