Rumors. Musings. Casual.

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Don't worry. Bob will buy Europe next.

/s

…great…those public toilets in Paris are NEVER gonna get the ILL scanners right

 

[Nubs70]

Focus like a laser on valuing people and organizing them to be the best they can be. It’s not complicated.

They need to practice hospitality instead of industrial engineering/business process optimization.

 

[networkpro]

Not long ago I priced out a week in Belgium and the Netherlands from a city in the southeastern US that I might be moving to vs a week in WDW from the same location.

Travel time would be similar (9 hour flight+5 hours in ground transportation & logistical waiting vs 14 hour drive)

Using similarly rated/ranked lodging and restaurants for our budget, going to Europe was a little more than half the price of WDW current exchange rate. And if I were to go to cheaper European destinations, it could be even less.

Efteiling is an hour from Antwerp!

 

[mkt]

…great…those public toilets in Paris are NEVER gonna get the ILL scanners right

I can't wait for the hidden mickey bidets.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I’d be interested to see the math on this. What attractions / activities did you factor in?
What level of resort at WDW?

Disney World prices are high, but you can still make them make sense.

If your math says $145 a day for a ticket for a 3 year old…$60 if you want to hop…$320 for a room at Caribbean…$45 for breakfast…

Then the math is never gonna work out for sweater Bob.

You know who’s keeping the place afloat now?

Me. Or others that have dvc and long histories of spending…that because of this, can skip spending that we know to be frivolous when other newbies might get frustrated they can’t afford, give up, and go somewhere else.

The Eisner backbone client…in other words

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Efteiling is an hour from Antwerp!

For your Disney nostalgia…you can go to Tivoli gardens

And euro…which still has the most beautiful castle park ever built

 

[mkt]

If your math says $145 a day for a ticket for a 3 year old…$60 if you want to hop…$320 for a room at Caribbean…$45 for breakfast…

Add in a rental car, and because toddler, LOADS of snacks. And booze for the parents. And mandatory merch.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Add in a rental car, and because toddler, LOADS of snacks. And booze for the parents. And mandatory merch.

No amount of booze is “too much” on a genie day

 

[PREMiERdrum]

That's across the board though, not Disney specific.

Anecdotal for sure, but just in the past few weeks, Universal discounted our AP renewals and gave us another 3 months if we paid in full. It was a no brainer.

I can only speak to what my little corner of the business and 15 agents are experiencing, but we're seeing:

- Dramatic increase in family travel quoting and booking Universal;

- Dramatic increase in lead time before travel that clients are quoting and booking Universal;

- Increase in group travel requests for Universal-only tours. Our domestic large group travel has been almost exclusively Disney as long as I've been around. We suddenly have 4 student groups (3 performing arts, 1 student achievement) booking Universal trips;

- Quote conversion rate is tipping to favor Universal over Disney for the first time ever.

I'm a Disney guy and Uni thus far doesn't do much for me, BUT for our business the trendline is clear and concentrated.

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

So now that we've unpacked that the SS Disney is steaming straight ahead at the iceberg, what do they do now?

The obvious answers is they should have course corrected on some of this years ago. So is it just rearranging the deck chairs or something else?

"Oh look the band has started playing out on the promenade and the life boats are being lowered, probably just coincidence."

I don't know if this has been mentioned but I have a few ideas:

1- Stop buying stuff- Just Stop. Create your own or leave it alone. Seems like the surest way to stop losing so much money and might increase creativity of your own products.

2- Sell off Hulu- cut your losses, if you MUST have streaming move whatever you want off of it to DisneyPlus. Sell the rest.

3- The Simpsons- This doesn't fit the brand and might actually be worth something- sell it off

4- Stop buying stuff- Again- bears repeating- This isn't Pokemon. You don't have to catch them all. Do you really need 20th Century Fox?

5-Streamline what you do now own- Marvel has been milked dry. License it out with approval of character use. Do something worthwhile with the Muppets who actually do appeal and are appropriate to all ages.

6- Actually put the money into the parks. Listen to what people are saying about LL and Genie and being nickel and dimed to death. Let people control their own AC in the resorts for heaven's sake. Revamp the food. And stop raising prices because people aren't coming as repeat visitiors as they have in the past. The mindset needs to change. Clearly Disney can't afford to alienate people who would do trips every couple of years especially since Uni is stealing some of their thunder with the new park.

I'm sure I can think of more but these are the first things that came to mind.

 

[mkt]

I can only speak to what my little corner of the business and 15 agents are experiencing, but we're seeing:

- Dramatic increase in family travel quoting and booking Universal;

- Dramatic increase in lead time before travel that clients are quoting and booking Universal;

- Increase in group travel requests for Universal-only tours. Our domestic large group travel has been almost exclusively Disney as long as I've been around. We suddenly have 4 student groups (3 performing arts, 1 student achievement) booking Universal trips;

- Quote conversion rate is tipping to favor Universal over Disney for the first time ever.

I'm a Disney guy and Uni thus far doesn't do much for me, BUT for our business the trendline is clear and concentrated.

Have you asked them why they chose Universal over Disney?

 

[Willmark]

4- Stop buying stuff- Again- bears repeating- This isn't Pokemon. You don't have to catch them all. Do you really need 20th Century Fox?

I think we can end the thread, you summed it up perfectly!

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Have you asked them why they chose Universal over Disney?

My direct clients and group leaders, absolutely... ease of travel, more transparent pricing model, and fewer restrictions on performance opportunities.

FWIW I personally don't think the Uni product is "there" yet, at least until Epic opens, but the swing is moving.

 

[ChrisFL]

Universal is just so much easier now to visit than Disney, a lot less restrictions and jumping through hoops

 

[Willmark]

My direct clients and group leaders, absolutely... ease of travel, more transparent pricing model, and fewer restrictions on performance opportunities.

FWIW I personally don't think the Uni product is "there" yet, at least until Epic opens, but the swing is moving.

Likely all it has to do is just be "close enough" and problems are likely to mount for the Mouse.

As we have been hashing in this thread they don't have quite the nostalgia grip they once enjoyed (amongst other things.)

 

[DisneyHead123]

I’ve always said, the math behind streaming makes zero sense to me. Instead of charging $20 to see one movie you charge less than $20 to see all the movies. And lose DVD sales and cable licensing money as well… I just think there is a consistent trend of things going nuts in business where new internet technology is concerned. From the dot com bubble to the NFT bubble to Streaming… this gold rush mentality always tends to take over.

The parks seem like they’re fine in terms of long term potential. Genie+ was a bit of a disaster and I think people are fed up at the moment, but will still return if things improve. The cruise lines are doing well. I haven’t heard anything about licensing money but it seems like Target toys and Gap tee shirts still sell well. On the physical merchandise / vacation side they seem pretty well poised, but it seems like something’s gotta change with streaming. Either they license to other streamers or price individual content, but again, I just don’t see how the math on “everything for the price of a movie ticket, or less” works.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

If your math says $145 a day for a ticket for a 3 year old…$60 if you want to hop…$320 for a room at Caribbean…$45 for breakfast…

Then the math is never gonna work out for sweater Bob.

I just got back. $300 for 2 days at Epcot, $260 a night at riverside. Lived on Joffreys coffee and counter service. Haha.

I was tempted to pay for hopping to say goodbye to the bears but I didn’t haha.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

Do they feel like they need a response for Epic or are they really still planning resting on their laurels? Their "response" to Potter altered their whole philosophy on theme park expansions.

I do hope Epic really takes a bite out of how many days families spend at WDW vs. UOR.

 

[dmc493]

4- Stop buying stuff- Again- bears repeating- This isn't Pokemon. You don't have to catch them all. Do you really need 20th Century Fox?

Has there been proof of a solid ROI from the Fox deal? I'm probably just ignorant here, but Disney had and executed very clear plans with Marvel and Lucasfilm acquisitions, and it's just harder to see what's been done since 2017 w/ 20th Century

 

[JD80]

Visiting Japan from the U.S. is pretty cheap too. Being able to visit much better Disney parks costing 1/3 the price is also a good thing

Sure only a couple thousand per flight.