RUMOR: Disney to charge for extra FP+ after AVATARland and StarWarsLand are built

[ParentsOf4]

I very seriously doubt that. It would be a dumb business decision. Why, when you have parks that can support both on site and off site guests would you restrict it to on site guests when the offsite guests pay to get in, buy food, and buy souvenirs? Upon reaching capacity I understand only letting your resort guests in. It may work well for water parks in your area. It probably would not work well for Disney.

Why provide onsite guests with preferential treatment?

Because WDW lacks sufficient ride capacity on many of its marque attractions to accommodate both onsite and offsite guests.

Because attractions such as Peter Pan, Dumbo, Soarin’, Test Track, and Toy Story Mania can handle only a fraction of the “guests” who visit the parks each day.

Because onsite guests also buy food and souvenirs. In fact, since many don’t have their own transportation and are captive to the WDW bubble, they tend to buy more of WDW’s food and souvenirs.

Because in addition to those dollars spent at the parks, Per Room Guest Spending was an extra $278 per night during the most recent quarter.

For some perspective, most U.S. hotels run at about $70-80 PRGS.

WDW's hotels are obscenely profitable.

WDW's hotels and timeshares have much better ROI than the theme parks.

Today's WDW management philosophy is that the theme parks are reasons to fill hotels and sell timeshares. Strategically, WDW’s theme park business is secondary.

When you have limited resources, you either invest to expand those resources or you prioritize your customer list based on their value to the company.

Disney has decided to prioritize rather than increase capacity.

FP+ gives Disney complete control over who gets which FP+ selections.

Walt Disney is not running the company anymore. It’s being run by a group whose primary concern is stock price. Higher profits equals higher stock price. Higher stock price equals higher stock options and bonuses for corporate officers. Period.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be harsh but everyone really needs to stop with the pixie dust and recognize that The Walt Disney Company is a mega conglomerate whose primary allegiance is to their own officers and to shareholders, in that order. “Guests” come in a distant third.

Now, explain to me again why providing onsite guests with preferential treatment is a dumb business decision?

 

[Next Big Thing]

nevermind

 

[marni1971]

Still harping on?

 

[JimboJones123]

Why provide onsite guests with preferential treatment?

Because WDW lacks sufficient ride capacity on many of its marque attractions to accommodate both onsite and offsite guests.

Because attractions such as Peter Pan, Dumbo, Soarin’, Test Track, and Toy Story Mania can handle only a fraction of the “guests” who visit the parks each day.

Because onsite guests also buy food and souvenirs. In fact, since many don’t have their own transportation and are captive to the WDW bubble, they tend to buy more of WDW’s food and souvenirs.

Because in addition to those dollars spent at the parks, Per Room Guest Spending was an extra $278 per night during the most recent quarter.

For some perspective, most U.S. hotels run at about $70-80 PRGS.

WDW's hotels are obscenely profitable.

WDW's hotels and timeshares have a much better ROI than the theme parks.

Today's WDW management philosophy is that the theme parks are reasons to fill hotels and sell timeshares. Strategically, WDW’s theme park business is secondary.

When you have limited resources, you either invest to expand those resources or you prioritize your customer list based on their value to the company.

Disney has decided to prioritize rather than increase capacity.

FP+ gives Disney complete control over who gets which FP+ selections.

Walt Disney is not running the company anymore. It’s being run by a group whose primary concern is stock price. Higher profits equals higher stock price. Higher stock price equals higher stock options and bonuses for corporate officers. Period.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be harsh but everyone really needs to stop with the pixie dust and recognize that The Walt Disney Company is a mega conglomerate whose primary allegiance is to their own officers and to shareholders, in that order. “Guests” come in a distant third.

Now, explain to me again why providing onsite guests with preferential treatment is a dumb business decision?

Best post I have seen here in a long time.

 

[lebeau]

Ha Ha! You said "after Star Was Land is built".

I'm planning for my kids' college educations (youngest is 5), but I don't plan that far ahead!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Why provide onsite guests with preferential treatment?

Because WDW lacks sufficient ride capacity on many of its marque attractions to accommodate both onsite and offsite guests.

Because attractions such as Peter Pan, Dumbo, Soarin’, Test Track, and Toy Story Mania can handle only a fraction of the “guests” who visit the parks each day.

Because onsite guests also buy food and souvenirs. In fact, since many don’t have their own transportation and are captive to the WDW bubble, they tend to buy more of WDW’s food and souvenirs.

Because in addition to those dollars spent at the parks, Per Room Guest Spending was an extra $278 per night during the most recent quarter.

For some perspective, most U.S. hotels run at about $70-80 PRGS.

WDW's hotels are obscenely profitable.

WDW's hotels and timeshares have much better ROI than the theme parks.

Today's WDW management philosophy is that the theme parks are reasons to fill hotels and sell timeshares. Strategically, WDW’s theme park business is secondary.

When you have limited resources, you either invest to expand those resources or you prioritize your customer list based on their value to the company.

Disney has decided to prioritize rather than increase capacity.

FP+ gives Disney complete control over who gets which FP+ selections.

Walt Disney is not running the company anymore. It’s being run by a group whose primary concern is stock price. Higher profits equals higher stock price. Higher stock price equals higher stock options and bonuses for corporate officers. Period.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be harsh but everyone really needs to stop with the pixie dust and recognize that The Walt Disney Company is a mega conglomerate whose primary allegiance is to their own officers and to shareholders, in that order. “Guests” come in a distant third.

Now, explain to me again why providing onsite guests with preferential treatment is a dumb business decision?

Preferential treatment is one thing. Exclusive treatment is certainly another.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Joined: Tuesday - welcome to the boards?

My friend knows someone who is a member of the Disney's Corporate Finance area, who I also met on my trip to FL.

Translated: I heard this from a bus driver.

I'm waiting for @marni1971 or the Spirit to throw the BS flag on this thread.

 

[lebeau]

Joined: Tuesday - welcome to the boards?

Translated: I heard this from a bus driver.

I'm waiting for @marni1971 or the Spirit to throw the BS flag on this thread.

Why wait for them? I'm calling shenanigans.

 

[dstrawn9889]

Why wait for them? I'm calling shenanigans.

everyone go get your brooms

 

[rle4lunch]

Why provide onsite guests with preferential treatment?

Because WDW lacks sufficient ride capacity on many of its marque attractions to accommodate both onsite and offsite guests.

Because attractions such as Peter Pan, Dumbo, Soarin’, Test Track, and Toy Story Mania can handle only a fraction of the “guests” who visit the parks each day.

Because onsite guests also buy food and souvenirs. In fact, since many don’t have their own transportation and are captive to the WDW bubble, they tend to buy more of WDW’s food and souvenirs.

Because in addition to those dollars spent at the parks, Per Room Guest Spending was an extra $278 per night during the most recent quarter.

For some perspective, most U.S. hotels run at about $70-80 PRGS.

WDW's hotels are obscenely profitable.

WDW's hotels and timeshares have much better ROI than the theme parks.

Today's WDW management philosophy is that the theme parks are reasons to fill hotels and sell timeshares. Strategically, WDW’s theme park business is secondary.

When you have limited resources, you either invest to expand those resources or you prioritize your customer list based on their value to the company.

Disney has decided to prioritize rather than increase capacity.

FP+ gives Disney complete control over who gets which FP+ selections.

Walt Disney is not running the company anymore. It’s being run by a group whose primary concern is stock price. Higher profits equals higher stock price. Higher stock price equals higher stock options and bonuses for corporate officers. Period.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be harsh but everyone really needs to stop with the pixie dust and recognize that The Walt Disney Company is a mega conglomerate whose primary allegiance is to their own officers and to shareholders, in that order. “Guests” come in a distant third.

Now, explain to me again why providing onsite guests with preferential treatment is a dumb business decision?

Shareholders are sometimes 'guests' as well. You could be a shareholder if you wanted to and your pocketbook was big enough. Personally, Disney is one of the most optimally ran operations in the world (on average). Think of their footprint on the world. They're going to come up short in some areas and excel in others.

If I were a business owner, I would probably model much of my company on Disney's 'evil' best practices. It's so easy to 'poo-poo' the 800lbs gorilla in a certain market, only to secretly use the same tactics that they used to profit themselves.

 

[TP2000]

Nothing is for sure. I doubt it all too. I don't have much information, so I can't confirm anything.


-EnchantedMouse

Welcome to the community!

While I appreciate your willingness to share an inside scoop, you'll have to excuse many of us if we don't quite buy it. Just because someone works in "Corporate Finance" in a cubicle farm in a Kissimmee business park doesn't mean they know the operational strategy for the parks five years in advance. If anything, it only cements the concept that the lunch room or copier supply closet of this Kissimmee cubicle farm has just as much idle gossip going on as the bus drivers break room at the TTC.

In the meantime, lets see if we can't get Avatarland actually coming out of the ground in initial construction phases before we consider what they'll do with FP+ after it opens in 2018. And Star Wars Land for DHS has apparently been cancelled, according to long-term and highly regarded inside sources on the Internet who've been at this for over 15 years.

But again, thank you for sharing. It's always fun to hear what low-level folks in the Parks Division are chatting about amongst themselves or to friends/family.

 

[EnchantedMouse]

Welcome to the community!

While I appreciate your willingness to share an inside scoop, you'll have to excuse many of us if we don't quite buy it. Just because someone works in "Corporate Finance" in a cubicle farm in a Kissimmee business park doesn't mean they know the operational strategy for the parks five years in advance. If anything, it only cements the concept that the lunch room or copier supply closet of this Kissimmee cubicle farm has just as much idle gossip going on as the bus drivers break room at the TTC.

In the meantime, lets see if we can't get Avatarland actually coming out of the ground in initial construction phases before we consider what they'll do with FP+ after it opens in 2018. And Star Wars Land for DHS has apparently been cancelled, according to long-term and highly regarded inside sources on the Internet who've been at this for over 15 years.

But again, thank you for sharing. It's always fun to hear what low-level folks in the Parks Division are chatting about amongst themselves or to friends/family.

@TP2000

I just thought to share something, since I love being a WDW-freak

Thank you for your feedback!

- EnchantedMouse

 

[HauntedPirate]

Does Disney do ANYTHING these days that isn't motivated exclusively by money & profit? FP+ will be monetized as soon as they can realistically make it happen. They've already "invested" $2 billion (or more, possibly) in a scheme that is nothing more and nothing less than a way to track guest movement and mine them for as much data as they can, and then squeeze as much money out of them as possible (before they wise up and figure out what's really going on). There is nothing convenient or simplistic about MDE/MM+/FP+, based on our experiences recently. And the second round of ticket price increases in 8 months furthers the point. "Oh, but they are *investing* in the parks!" B as in B, S as in S.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

On… Not this one very cheap piece of information you posted.

You live in Wisconsin? I thought you were a local living here in Florida.

No Florida for me yet, kids still in school for another 4 years, once they hit college or the military, my wife and I will be down there away from the snow once and for all.

Jimmy Thick- Only snow I want to see is on Main St. USA.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Okay, my first thought on this was, that's just crazy talk, and I still think it is, to a degree. But, It could potentially work, but would sure tick off a lot of APs who are local, that is unless APs were made an exception and allowed in.

If you consider the cost of a single day ticket, they already preclude a lot of single day visitors just because it's exorbitantly expensive.
Perhaps if they changed their pricing model where all off-property tickets were really expensive (more so than now), but on-site tickets/entry to the parks was just included with your stay, it might make sense. While it might make sense though, it would be a really crappy thing to do to the Orlando tourist industry, who would feel the brunt of this the worst. Of course, on the plus side, it would mean that quite a few of those crappy/seedy hotels around the are would close up.

I very seriously doubt that. It would be a dumb business decision. Why, when you have parks that can support both on site and off site guests would you restrict it to on site guests when the offsite guests pay to get in, buy food, and buy souvenirs? Upon reaching capacity I understand only letting your resort guests in. It may work well for water parks in your area. It probably would not work well for Disney.

Ok, think about this.

How many people does Disney service a day, how many are resort guests and how many are off site? If Disney could control their parks to the point where you have to stay on site to visit the parks, who wins this financially? Yes, its terrible to think such things, but if Disney builds another 50k hotel rooms, what would be the fastest way to fill them up to over 95% occupancy?

This would be a master stroke from Disney's perspective business wise, it wouldn't do anything to WDW or force guests elsewhere. The public would get over it or honestly, I doubt they would care. Disney already offer free pick up from MCO, and basically that's to trap you at WDW, how many people use Magical Express? Magical Express is a smashing success, and everyone knows they will be trapped, for the most part at WDW.

This isn't far fetched as some want you to think it is, and I bet Disney already is either thinking about it, or has it already planned. I don't know. It may hurt peoples feelings because they can't use a cheaper alternative, but thems the breaks.

Imagine if they announced a 5th gate with announcing parks being made to resort guests exclusive, would the public even remember?

Jimmy Thick- Its the future, like it or not its how WDW will make boatloads of cash, and I applaud this.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Why wait for them? I'm calling shenanigans.

Why is Captain Hindsight calling Shenanigans?

As far as this whole mess with MyMagic Plus goes, wouldn't it be great if they decided to upgrade to the Centurion Package?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Ok, think about this.

How many people does Disney service a day, how many are resort guests and how many are off site? If Disney could control their parks to the point where you have to stay on site to visit the parks, who wins this financially? Yes, its terrible to think such things, but if Disney builds another 50k hotel rooms, what would be the fastest way to fill them up to over 95% occupancy?

This would be a master stroke from Disney's perspective business wise, it wouldn't do anything to WDW or force guests elsewhere. The public would get over it or honestly, I doubt they would care. Disney already offer free pick up from MCO, and basically that's to trap you at WDW, how many people use Magical Express? Magical Express is a smashing success, and everyone knows they will be trapped, for the most part at WDW.

This isn't far fetched as some want you to think it is, and I bet Disney already is either thinking about it, or has it already planned. I don't know. It may hurt peoples feelings because they can't use a cheaper alternative, but thems the breaks.

Imagine if they announced a 5th gate with announcing parks being made to resort guests exclusive, would the public even remember?

Jimmy Thick- Its the future, like it or not its how WDW will make boatloads of cash, and I applaud this.

I'm sorry, but this whole thing just sounds silly to me. Favoring your resort guests is one thing. Restricting parks to your resort guests is just silly. They would lose many seasonal passholders, as well as people who just plain can't afford to stay on property. True, it's becoming less expensive if you stay at a value, but even so, not everyone WANTS to stay at a value. Plus the amount of people who have vacation homes or have moved down there, as well as CMs...plus, and this is a big question, what percentage of guests do you believe actually stay on property? Even 15 percent of off-site guests represents huge revenue for the company. To restrict guests to only those staying in your resorts runs the risk of huge losses, which we know they don't want. Their current plan has their resorts booked, and that is favoring the guests, giving them extra benefits, but not making the parks exclusive for them, except for EMH (and they already seem to be cutting back on EMH as it is...)

 

[Sped2424]

So many rumors sprouting up lately.

 

[englanddg]

So many rumors sprouting up lately.

With spring comes the weeds.

 

[jmuboy]

Thanks for this. I "Lol'ed" for real!

Ha Ha! You said "after Star Was Land is built".

I'm planning for my kids' college educations (youngest is 5), but I don't plan that far ahead!