Surge Pricing Holding Up (Semi) Annual Increase ...

[WDW1974]

Yes, folks, that is why UNI raised its prices last week and WDW didn't follow suit.

They have a BIGGIE coming, but with all the 'bad PR' they're getting for running WDW like it will be out of business tomorrow, there has been a delay as Disney works on a PR strategy (AKA a line of fetid BS) to allow for that eventuality without the outrage sure to follow. Or seeing it to a minimum.

Disney's mantra in the swamps under the leadership of Robert A. Iger and oversight of George A. Kalogridis has been one where you constantly charge more and offer less. And even rubes are starting to realize that the Crumbling Timeshare Kingdom of the World ain't even what she used to be after the 9/11 attacks and the few final years of MDE's reign.

This won't be surge pricing like in Shanghai or Paris where you actually get a discount for visiting on a random Tuesday in February versus a Saturday during Spring Break for instance. Nope. The bottom line, obscenely priced one-day admission as well as multi-day passes will remain the baseline ... prices can only be MORE under this strategy, never less. Because Disney really values you, your family and your loyalty.

Again, this is all because SDL is in so much more trouble than anyone will tell you. And because Bob Iger is only concerned with his Legacy at this stage. From Thor to Star Wars, Nemo to the Gardens of Imagination, etc etc etc.

Oh, and that sickening piece of alleged journalism by Sandra Pedicini was vomit inducing. What a PR hack for Disney that woman is. Truly. Do any of you Tweet her? I know her line will be "I have to go with what Disney tells me" ... but, no dear, you don't. A real bulldog reporter actually looks into a story and may well include a company response, but her/his story doesn't read like that PR point is the true tale. Your stories always do. Go back to journalism school and let's not pretend the Tommy Bois and Ex-Cons still conning the community are true sources. You actually need to get off your lazy and work.

 

[danv3]

This is unfortunate but not surprising. The fact that Disney let Universal raise prices without a match should have told us something.

Bought my tickets for this fall a couple of weeks ago.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

If there's one positive thing about the Weatherman staying in charge until 2018, it's that he'll be there to see his house of cards crumble on top of him.

 

[matt9112]

Well done.

 

[ford91exploder]

If there's one positive thing about the Weatherman staying in charge until 2018, it's that he'll be there to see his house of cards crumble.

Trouble is who picks up the pieces after the Weatherman's rampage in the Disney china shop???.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Trouble is who picks up the pieces after the Weatherman's rampage in the Disney china shop???.

That guy.

 

[ford91exploder]

That guy.
View attachment 130992

The one on the left?

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm enjoying the show watching P&R self destruct exactly as I predicted it would with a nice bowl of popcorn, The only thing I could not predict was WHEN P&R would self destruct I was fairly confident that something related to SDL would be the catalyst though.

Yeah a healthy business does massive cuts right after supposedly their most successful quarter ever, If you believe that I have a bridge in NYC for sale along with a tower in Paris for sale to interested buyers...

 

[ford91exploder]

This is unfortunate but not surprising. The fact that Disney let Universal raise prices without a match should have told us something.

Bought my tickets for this fall a couple of weeks ago.

It did actually, It told me at least that there was a huge shoe to drop at Disney because price increases by one are usually matched within a few days by the other, My guess is since the cuts are hitting now, Disney will probably delay the price increase until Mid-march or so so as to grab the revenue for Easter. We'll probably see another in November.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Good. Raise prices more. The parks are too crowded. They should raise them and raise them until they feel some resistance from the market.

 

[tissandtully]

Where is the 'bad PR' for the coming cuts? I've only seen it mentioned on the fan sites like this one.

 

[tissandtully]

Good. Raise prices more. The parks are too crowded. They should raise them and raise them until they feel some resistance from the market.

The reality is the price for resistance would be really high. People feel they are entitled to a WDW vacation and people have credit cards, so, I don't think a price increase is going to slow down enough to prevent overcrowding, if anything, it seems, it has made the parks more busy somehow.

 

[ford91exploder]

The reality is the price for resistance would be really high. People feel they are entitled to a WDW vacation and people have credit cards, so, I don't think a price increase is going to slow down enough to prevent overcrowding, if anything, it seems, it has made the parks more busy somehow.

I don't think the resistance price is as high as it once was, The crowding and waits are making people think about vacationing elsewhere and not just in Orlando. When you devalue the overall experience you decrease the resistance price.

 

[tissandtully]

I don't think the resistance price is as high as it once was, The crowding and waits are making people think about vacationing elsewhere and not just in Orlando. When you devalue the overall experience you decrease the resistance price.

Then can someone explain why the parks are busier than ever and more expensive than ever? Just curious.

 

[awilliams4]

Spirit, thanks for the update. Sorry if I am not following, so no tiered updates for now? I.e., $xxx in February, $xxxxx in June on Multi Day tickets? If/when that happens, I am assuming there will be hard expiration dates as well on the tickets purchased.

 

[fbb]

The reality is the price for resistance would be really high. People feel they are entitled to a WDW vacation and people have credit cards, so, I don't think a price increase is going to slow down enough to prevent overcrowding, if anything, it seems, it has made the parks more busy somehow.

Until a guest demonstrates intelligent behavior, it's difficult for Disney to determine exactly how stupid he is.

 

[ford91exploder]

Then can someone explain why the parks are busier than ever and more expensive than ever? Just curious.

South American guests, Disney has a huge discount program to bring them to Orlando. Disney is going for the One and Done guest who will buy lots of merchandise and the South Americans certainly load up on the merchandise to take back home.

 

[sshindel]

I'm enjoying the show watching P&R self destruct exactly as I predicted it would with a nice bowl of popcorn, The only thing I could not predict was WHEN P&R would self destruct I was fairly confident that something related to SDL would be the catalyst though.

Can you give a prediction as to when this self destruction will happen? Also, what are the signs that would signal to you that the destruction has completed? What would be the key indicators of the failure?

If cuts are an indicator, then this happened long ago, as we've seen people tracking various cuts for years. If reduced hours and/or increased pricing is an indicator, same. How does investment into the parks offset cuts? Is profitability an indicator? Attendance?

I'm just trying to gauge your predictions. It's quite easy to make vast/far reaching statements with no specificity and then assign events to them to prove that your predictive powers are top notch. I know you are aware however that in the world of predictions (in business), you cannot prove a prediction is correct unless that prediction comes with specific indications of what will mark that prediction's success/failure. Also, the whole correlation is not causation thing plays in, but since a theme park is such a massively complex ecosystem it would be impossible to control for enough outside variables in order to say that X caused Y, unless you are looking at something extremely small and specific.

Yeah a healthy business does massive cuts right after supposedly their most successful quarter ever, If you believe that I have a bridge in NYC for sale along with a tower in Paris for sale to interested buyers...

I'd assume that P&R has their own separate operating budget, and this is managed as if it were it's own entity. Disney can still have a massively successful quarter/year overall and need to make cuts in another. Overseas parks, coming out of P&R budget, can have a direct impact on other P&R areas and require cuts. Does not mean that the rest of the company cannot be having a massively successful year. Companies don't just slush budgets around. Large corporations assign budgets for different areas/businesses. These are set for the year, and only the direst of situations would pull money from one budget to assign it to another.
Parks is being required to fix a problem within their own area without impacting any other parts of the business. That is standard business practice, and in no way is an indicator on the health of the company overall.

But I know you are aware of this, you are a smart dude. It's just on-brand to overlook this part to make the point you would like to make.

 

[ford91exploder]

Can you give a prediction as to when this self destruction will happen? Also, what are the signs that would signal to you that the destruction has completed? What would be the key indicators of the failure?

If cuts are an indicator, then this happened long ago, as we've seen people tracking various cuts for years. If reduced hours and/or increased pricing is an indicator, same. How does investment into the parks offset cuts? Is profitability an indicator? Attendance?

I'm just trying to gauge your predictions. It's quite easy to make vast/far reaching statements with no specificity and then assign events to them to prove that your predictive powers are top notch. I know you are aware however that in the world of predictions (in business), you cannot prove a prediction is correct unless that prediction comes with specific indications of what will mark that prediction's success/failure. Also, the whole correlation is not causation thing plays in, but since a theme park is such a massively complex ecosystem it would be impossible to control for enough outside variables in order to say that X caused Y, unless you are looking at something extremely small and specific.


I'd assume that P&R has their own separate operating budget, and this is managed as if it were it's own entity. Disney can still have a massively successful quarter/year overall and need to make cuts in another. Overseas parks, coming out of P&R budget, can have a direct impact on other P&R areas and require cuts. Does not mean that the rest of the company cannot be having a massively successful year. Companies don't just slush budgets around. Large corporations assign budgets for different areas/businesses. These are set for the year, and only the direst of situations would pull money from one budget to assign it to another.
Parks is being required to fix a problem within their own area without impacting any other parts of the business. That is standard business practice, and in no way is an indicator on the health of the company overall.

But I know you are aware of this, you are a smart dude. It's just on-brand to overlook this part to make the point you would like to make.

Fair Enough, I don't have time at the moment to write the response your post deserves as it brings up multiple excellent points, But I will write it soon.

I'm watching but I think the countdown to fail begins NOW, How long it will take is anyone's guess, As to the cuts in P&R being based on business necessity I disagree because @ParentsOf4 had a recent post about how Disney spent more than it's operating profit for the quarter on Stock Repurchases and those are TRULY a discretionary use of corporate funds.

So WHY did Disney elect to make HUGE cuts in P&R which will directly negatively impact the guest experience while continuing to artificially inflate EPS with stock repurchases. My assumption is Burbank feels that the WDW Guests will continue to come no matter how badly the guest experience is degraded.

 

[sshindel]

Fair Enough, I don't have time at the moment to write the response your post deserves as it brings up multiple excellent points, But I will write it soon.

I'm watching but I think the countdown to fail begins NOW, How long it will take is anyone's guess, As to the cuts in P&R being based on business necessity I disagree because @ParentsOf4 had a recent post about how Disney spent more than it's operating profit for the quarter on Stock Repurchases and those are TRULY a discretionary use of corporate funds.

So WHY did Disney elect to make HUGE cuts in P&R which will directly negatively impact the guest experience while continuing to artificially inflate EPS with stock repurchases. My assumption is Burbank feels that the WDW Guests will continue to come no matter how badly the guest experience is degraded.

Ahh, the stock buybacks. I too am having a massively busy day/week/month, so I'm likely not going to be able to follow up on this either. I do know that the stock buybacks piece is far outside of my wheelhouse, I can't balance my own checkbook, but I know that the conventional wisdom here is that it was bad m'kay. I also know that there are disagreements on this. I've spoken briefly with a person I trust in this matter who disagrees with @ParentsOf4's assessments, and without speaking for him on it, I'll just say that I'd probably follow his guidance on the topic, he's basically written the book (or more like many) on more financial topics than I've read in my life. I can speak from no point of expertise though, so it would never be a factual argument from my side.