Len Testa - “Disney positions itself as the all-American vacation. The irony is that most Americans can’t afford it.”

[Splash4eva]

And the ones that do exist have unlimited vacation options due to their disposable income.

I think that’s what Disney is overlooking, they may convince the high earners to come for 1 week every couple years, between their other vacations, but that’s not enough to replace the loyal fans they’re losing who used to go several times every year.

It’s amazing they learned absolutely nothing from the Starcruiser fiasco.

Altho i see your point i think you are comparing apples to oranges. The Starcruiser wasnt a vacation it was a 2 day event the Ultra or even simply Rich dont want to be told a schedule etc. they want to pay one price upcharges etc and do their thing and do as least as possible. At least from my experience and people ive come across

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Am I the +1?

I'll post when I made mine for so you can book them!

Pam

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I did the River Cruise out of Budapest down through Slovakia, Austria and into Germany for the Christmas Markets, absolutely incredible trip, you will love it!! Marie

Anyone who speaks German…or any language “German adjacent” loves two things:

1. Christmas
2. David hasselhoff

 

[The Colonel]

For what it's worth, this new 40% off deal for APs seems better than average:

View attachment 883818

You can see the sailings by clicking "See offers" on the righthand side of the DCL site.

I believe they are giving that deal to everyone now, not just passholders.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

For what it's worth, this new 40% off deal for APs seems better than average:

View attachment 883818

You can see the sailings by clicking "See offers" on the righthand side of the DCL site.

They pushed this out across the board this morning and we pushed it out accordingly. From what I was seeing, the GTY rooms are going quickly now with this. I priced someone on the phone this morning and it was gone within 5 minutes for his sailing

Pam

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Anyone who speaks German…or any language “German adjacent” loves two things:

1. Christmas
2. David hasselhoff

I love Christmas! (I also love Halloween) and I used to live there many moons ago, does that count?

Pam

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

And the ones that do exist have unlimited vacation options due to their disposable income.

I think that’s what Disney is overlooking, they may convince the high earners to come for 1 week every couple years, between their other vacations, but that’s not enough to replace the loyal fans they’re losing who used to go several times every year.

It’s amazing they learned absolutely nothing from the Starcruiser fiasco.

This right here!! My 2 cents only because the agents and I hear it constantly. We are dealing with it first hand. Disney has priced out those loyal consumers that would go yearly or multiple times a year with the constant money grab. Yeah I said it. Many people also no longer see the value that they once did with the free fast passes, transfers, etc. They are being nickel and dimed for everything! Those that can afford it, choose not to also because of this. As I have said before, I have numerous long time Disney clients that are going with other destinations and cruise lines that offer more value for their money.

Pam

 

[lentesta]

I believe they are giving that deal to everyone now, not just passholders.

Good catch. I think that happened around lunchtime.

@Kingdom Konsultant Do you think it was always the plan to expand this from APs to everyone in 4 hours today?

 

[Disney Dead Head]

This right here!! My 2 cents only because the agents and I hear it constantly. We are dealing with it first hand. Disney has priced out those loyal consumers that would go yearly or multiple times a year with the constant money grab. Yeah I said it. Many people also no longer see the value that they once did with the free fast passes, transfers, etc. They are being nickel and dimed for everything! Those that can afford it, choose not to also because of this. As I have said before, I have numerous long time Disney clients that are going with other destinations and cruise lines that offer more value for their mone

I have a friend in Operations for DCL, and they have been running at a 60%-70% Gross profit for years. The DCL is what has been keeping WDC afloat for the most part, pun intended

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I have a friend in Operations for DCL, and they have been running at a 60%-70% Gross profit for years. The DCL is what has been keeping WDC afloat for the most part, pun intended

Will be interesting to see what happens as they expand the fleet. One thing to get the loyal fan base to pay a premium for DCL but will they be able to keep all those ships sufficiently filled at the same premium cost?

Or will we see a lot more promotions like this?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Hence the criticism regarding stock price as we have discussed but if a recession comes tough to single out any company really if business slows down. Personally the DCL from things ive seen and read discounts etc may be a bigger issue for him

The parks problem is they’re already throwing out discounts in the range of 2010 to try and get the occ and attendance up…

What happens when it’s in a “bad” economy?

They can’t discount 60%…and they’d have to do that and more

The prices are too high. That is Bob. It’s only Bob. The buck stops at Bob.

Full stop

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I have a friend in Operations for DCL, and they have been running at a 60%-70% Gross profit for years. The DCL is what has been keeping WDC afloat for the most part, pun intended

Doesn’t surprise me at all…

Disney parks have incredibly high overhead and always has…and they are more inline with their competitors in price

Dcl is double the price…and their operations is nearly identical to the other big players

 

[Splash4eva]

The parks problem is they’re already throwing out discounts in the range of 2010 to try and get the occ and attendance up…

What happens when it’s in a “bad” economy?

They can’t discount 60%…and they’d have to do that and more

The prices are too high. That is Bob. It’s only Bob. The buck stops at Bob.

Full stop

They bring back the pay for 4 days get 7 day deals… “free dining” and possibly let you combo some room discounts. I am in agreement but ill admit they have lasted longer than i would have thought with this model. Granted i get as you pointed out we havent seen a real recession in awhile.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

No no no

If you see a storm on the horizon…you hedge/contingency to address it

You don’t lean into it.

Is this the Nickelodeon School of Economics?

Whales cannot keep the Parks growing…you totally missed it

I think you have kind of missed the point here. You quoted a figure that suggests 20% of the population is responsible for 51% of ALL spending, and then suggest that a responsible business strategy for Disney is to pitch to the 80% who combined are responsible for 49% of all spending? How much of that do you imagine is disposable income used for vacations and other luxuries?

A contingency in case of a collapse would involve things like price elasticity and being able to cut costs, for example, through reduced capacity. It doesn't mean operating now as if they were in a post-collapse economy. Hedging for a collapse or downturn would also suggest they should not be expanding capacity right now, which I believe is the opposite of what you have been arguing.

This thread is a little eye opening for me. I really think a lot of people want to pretend Disney is some anomaly and the rest of the world is continuing along as though it was 30 years ago in terms of how the economy and distribution of income works. My impression is that it is more convenient for them to think that way than to consider there may be a fundamental problem with the economy and not just Disney.

 

[Splash4eva]

People live off credit cards and debt. Always have always will…. Even more so now then ever before whether out of necessity or luxury plus this generation to me has a sense of entitlement that multiple vacations are a birth right vs something that you do as long as you can afford it…. So i think Disney altho they definitely should be generating more in the parks are happy reaching whatever internal number they want to.

 

[Miss Bella]

Its not optimal weather. ~2 hours of sunlight a day (heavy cloud cover), daytime highs in the upper 30's. lows in the upper 20's. BUT You really need to visit Christkindl markets along the Danube at least once in your life, they are wonderful. Passau is a good one, but not as good as Striezelmarkt in Dresden.

I've never lived anywhere cold. Sounds like a challenge.