HMF
Well-Known Member
If you consider cynical and dethatched brilliant.
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Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV
- Thread starter WDW1974
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HMF
Well-Known Member
I prefer observational humor that is constructive.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
While constructive observational humor is good, there is nothing wrong with a little spot on scathing sarcasm occasionally.
WDWDad13
Well-Known Member
Nubs70
Well-Known Member
Dry humor is best. Dry humor.makes.you think, it takes effort and is simply not just given out for free.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
I like my humor like I like my Martinis. Dry, and a little "dirty" is OK too.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Wikkler
Well-Known Member
Honestly, it would have been the same as the first movie, so that's why they made it radically different.
Different place, different time, different characters to an extent.
Wikkler
Well-Known Member
Funmeister
Well-Known Member
Bambi lake is a little bit past the MK toll plaza on your left if you are going to Epcot. If you are in your car going towards the toll plaza Bambi lake will be on your right. It is a smaller lake but you can see people fishing around it. One of those things where they are not supposed to be fishing but security looks the other way. Tourists should not expect to go fishing at Bambi lake.
Blueliner
Well-Known Member
The AKL was a special case. Disney pumped some serious money into that resort and thought cash customers would flock to it to experience the exotic African savannah. Instead, its location turned off a lot of potential guests and Disney found themselves scrambling to convert parts of Jambo House into DVC to dump excess inventory.
Even at popular Deluxe Resorts such as the Poly, occupancy is down. Let's face it, at over $600/night (with tax) for even a Standard View, even with a 30% "Room Only" discount, the Poly is now outrageously expensive for what it is. Heck, I can't believe it but the Poly even has some rooms, mind you, these are just rooms, that are over $1000/night with tax. Are they nuts?
No they are not. They recognize that, at those prices, the Polynesian is never going to fill up again. Better to convert excess inventory into DVC to recoup some cash. At a minimum, a DVC Poly will start at $150/point and probably will have over 3 million points to sell. Simple math suggests Disney has close to half-a-billion tied up in excess inventory. From a business perspective, heck yes they should convert those rooms to DVC.
Long term, could they build more Poly DVC rooms? Sure. However, what they really need (not what we need) is a large DVC in a popular location, something they could sell for a number of years. I think there's room between TTC and the Contemporary but the most commonly mentioned options are near Fort Wilderness or a stand-alone Epcot DVC, perhaps something with its own entrance into the World Showcase. This is just speculation though. I've been making inquires and have yet to hear anything concrete.
What apparently has changed in the attitude within the halls of Disney Vacation Development, Inc (DVD). 12 months ago, there was genuine concern that DVC was reaching its saturation point, hence the small DVC at the Grand Floridian. Now after 8 months of strong sales, they've convinced themselves to return to their old ways; sell lots of heavily financed DVCs at high prices to unsuspecting rubes who are relaxing on their WDW vacations.
It's really shocking to watch how many DVCs at SSR, AKV, and BLT are going through foreclosure. Even more are getting rid of their DVC memberships at a loss on the resale market after owning for only a few years. They just didn't take the time to think it through. People who bought DVC directly years ago or those who bought via resale more recently might have gotten a good deal but those buying directly from Disney today are not.
What's weird to me is that the price for resale points at my home resort (Boardwalk) and other resorts appear to have gone up pretty dramatically since the time of my resale purchase in the spring of 2011. We bought at $67 per point, and now it looks like Boardwalk is selling between $80 and $90. This, even with the restrictions on resold points that took effect shortly after we purchased. There must be pretty high demand across the board.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
That increase seems to have been in the last year to 18 months. I don't know if its just the economy continuing to improve or if its driven by the steep increase in direct from Disney prices or a little bit of both, but there has been a pretty big push upward in resale prices. We bought in at BLT for $90 and I'm regularly seeing resales with sale pending for over $100. The older resorts which had lower prices are seeing an even larger percentage increase.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I thought I mentioned "The Avengers Hotline" a few weeks back. Probably got lost in the thread somewhere....
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I know a few people who have similar opinions. They won't spend that kind of money for an amusement park.
Here's the thing. All of the publicly available information suggests that through the first half of this year attendance at WDW is up. All time attendance highs in Q2 and room occupancy overall is pretty flat. So while we are hearing a lot of buzz about people not going and hotels that are half empty there seems to be a disconnect between that info and the public earnings releases coming from the company. The only viable theory I have heard is that there is a steep increase in foreign tourists (Brazil) and that the US tourist market is lagging behind. If that is true it would explain why the public numbers are up but the vibe seems to be people are going less.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
It should also be noted that not everyone feels the need to go to WDW for days on end in order to feel they have gotten the "exprience". For many, a day at MK is a good, fun day in "Disneyland". Asking someone like that to drop thousands in order to get the best "value" or "magical memories" is likely to be meet with eyerolls.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
The DVC resale market changed in February when Disney offered free theme park tickets with the purchase of BWV and AKV points. Obviously (at least to me
), Disney was sitting on excess BWV points and wanted to clear these out.The response was tremendous. Not only did Disney sell its entire inventory of BWV points but a waitlist formed as well. Then in March, Disney raised direct purchase prices for all WDW DVCs to $130/point. (Except for BLT, which remained at $165/point, and AKV, which remained at $150/point with incentives.) This created a feeding frenzy at existing WDW DVC resorts, with additional waitlists forming as buyers rushed to lock in at old prices. (For example, BWV and BCV were $115/point.)
Disney's activity on the direct purchase market had an immediate impact on the resale market, which had been languishing in 2010-2012. Suddenly, Disney began exercising Right of First Refusal (ROFR) in large numbers once again in order to satisfy waitlist demand. (Previously, with the notable exception of OKW, ROFR activity had been modest.) Resale prices quickly went up and resale inventory declined.
As an example, with some diligence, it was possible to purchase at BCV for under $70/point in January 2013. Now, even the least expensive BCV resales are going for over $90/point. Similarly, BWV could be obtained for under $60/point but now is selling for over $80/point. Compared to direct purchase prices ($130/point), these still are relative bargains but still, not the prices available even a few months ago.
These price trends have not gone unnoticed by Disney Vacation Development (DVD). Sadly, the lesson they learned is that the best way to create demand is to raise prices.
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