I actually don’t think Disney is specifically targeting wealthy customers, they are targeting anyone who is willing to pay what they are charging. If a lower middle class family who can’t afford a trip to WDW saves for 10 years for a week long stay at the Polynesian (or more likely instead of saving and waiting goes now and charges it on a credit card
) they add as much to the bottom line as a “wealthy“ customer staying in the same room. What Disney is not looking to do is make WDW more affordable for everyone which would ultimately lead to even larger crowds and a lesser experience for everyone and more importantly for Disney, less profits overall. Supply and demand wins out and they will keep raising prices until the demand drops enough that they have to pull back to maximize profits.
This is not a unique problem for WDW. Has anyone been to a pro sports game lately? Season tickets for any team are far out of reach for anyone who isn’t at least upper middle class or a business owner. When I was a kid I went to Phillies games and general admission seats out in the outfield were $4 a ticket. A family of 4 could go to a game for about $20 including parking and another $20 got you dogs, drinks and even a few beers for my dad. Now for 4 seats in the cheapest section, parking and food you are looking at $200+ for 1 night out. It’s something a working class family might do once in a while but not something that would be affordable to do on a regular basis. Despite that fact these teams aren’t going bankrupt or hurting for business. Same goes for cars. You think everyone driving a Lexus or BMW is “wealthy” and “can afford it”?
I think one thing that people discount is the average person’s appetite for going into debt for leisure activities or luxury items is much higher today than it was in the past. People don’t think twice about charging that trip to WDW or season tickets for a sports season to a credit card and paying it off over time. Back in the day that was not as common. If the only people who went to WDW were people who could pay for it outright based on their income level then they would be limiting it to the “wealthy” but that’s not really the case. Anyone is welcome as long as they are willing to pay.
For all of this it's: can we hit capacity?
For argument's sake, let's say capacity is 25,000 people in the MK. (I don't know what the real number is). This number, however, represents, "Oh, we're about to go through the limited entries through the gates procedures like we do on Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Independence Day!" (you're shoulder to shoulder)
If they're charging $100/head/day and hitting capacity, then they are charging too little. If they charge $125 and still hit capacity then, yeah, they're charging too little. If they charge $150 and then capacity drops by 1% then they're pretty much on-target. The goal isn't to drop the crowds (not saying
@GoofGoof was saying that just adding to it) but to maximize profits. They want the maximum number of people that they can have on that day paying the maximum price for that day.
It's literally what tiered pricing is all about. On perceived slower days they will charge less to encourage more people to show.
I think that people, wrongly, look at this the other way around as, "Oh, they'll charge more on super busy days to discourage people from showing." (like they're doing you a favor) Either way, the goal is: max people * max daily ticket = max profit.
It's much like the hotel industry. People don't think about it but you can only sell that one room one time each night. Once that night is over you can NEVER sell that room on that night again (and you lose profit). It's like milk but the room "goes bad" each and every night. The goal is to sell all of your rooms at the maximum price possible for that night to get the maximum profit.
Disney has figured this out and the other thing that they've sorted is selling the parks multiple times/day. Not only are they going to get you to pay the maximum price/day to get the maximum number of people in that park, but they're also going to close the park early and re-sell it again that night.
They've proven that this works (except breakfast - I think they'll eventually figure that one out).
