The Spirited Sixth Sense ...

[alphac2005]

Somewhere along the way with all this crap they are throwing at us, WDW has forgotten that sometimes simpler is better, and that most important things in life...well, they aren't things. Top of the list for me...time. Time with my family, enjoying each moment with each of them. I learned recently how quickly that can be taken away.

Far from a rant, rather a great post! I think that most of us around here can agree that one of the terrific things about Walt Disney World of the past was the idea that you could leisurely relax and stroll around places. Whether it was going down the quiet pathway between the train station in Toontown to Tomorrowland or just exploring the foliage, buildings, and even the unique shops. Fast forward to today and the Magic Kingdom, for example, looks like one of those cable news channels where you have a rotating channel ID bug, scroll, a scroll on top of a scroll mixed in with BREAKING NEWS and other flag waving graphics. It's relentless and all too much.

Last Sunday, we took our kids hiking up a mountain. I realize that isn't for everyone, but I'll tell you, the several hours of doing that and the payoff of everyone being together, talking, exercising, and having fun is priceless. It didn't require a FASTPASS (R), a rubber band bracelet, or scheduling as to how much oxygen we were allocated.

I think that many times people are very backwards looking and like to put on those rose colored glasses. I've noticed over the past several years that the forum has taken a turn into reality that the past product of Walt Disney World was vastly superior and it's getting to the point of being a chore rather than a desire to go there. I'm very forward thinking and don't like living in the past, but one thing is for certain, the past product was vastly superior to today's product and @ParentsOf4 has so accurately provided us with countless data points that show that not only was it better, yet so much more affordable even in inflation adjusted dollars.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Offsite offers many great family deals. There is no lost magic while eyes are closed during sleep. A kid might love a themed Disney pool, but, they will get equally excited over a rectangle one with water in it. A family of 6 gives no incentive to Disney. Of the six only two are actually making decisions about how much money to spend and they don't make a fortune selling kids meals, so no incentive on their part to worry about large families.

Yet Disney built the AOA "Family Suite" to accommodate families of up to six.

Disney recognized a need to increase its offerings to a certain market segment.

AOA's problem is that the "Value" Resort Family Suite starts at $299/night even in the slow September season.

During Christmas, that "value" suite is $511/night.

Remember that the suite consists of 2 small Value Resort rooms. From a square footage perspective, it's pretty small, only 565 sq. ft.

For comparison, a 945 sq. ft. suite at the Waldorf Astoria (near Caribbean Beach Resort) in September is $289/night.

Only someone used to charging $1000/night for a theme park view room at the Grand Floridian could think that $299/night was a bargain; that it would appeal to a cost-sensitive market segment.

That's why the only Value Resort room category being offered to DVC members for exchange is the AOA Family Suite; because they cannot fill those rooms.

It's another an example of Disney slowly losing touch with its market base.

For the last several years, Disney has been making business decisions that eventually will end up biting it on the butt.

WDW is not the Detroit auto industry but many of the decisions it is making today mirror Detroit's mistakes. It took an energy crisis and Japan to knock Detroit on its butt.

WDW is a couple of wrong steps away from seeing a serious decline in business. It's already experiencing a decline in hotel occupancy. Keep it up and the parks will be affected next.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Yet Disney built the AOA "Family Suite" to accommodate families of up to six.

Disney recognized a need to increase its offerings to a certain market segment.

AOA's problem is that the "Value" Resort Family Suite starts at $299/night even in the slow September season.

During Christmas, that "value" suite is $511/night.

Remember that the suite consists of 2 small Value Resort rooms. From a square footage perspective, it's pretty small, only 565 sq. ft.

For comparison, a 945 sq. ft. suite at the Waldorf Astoria (near Caribbean Beach Resort) in September is $289/night.

Only someone used to changing $1000/night for a theme park view room at the Grand Floridian could think that $299/night was a bargain; that it would appeal to a cost-sensitive market segment.

That's why the only Value Resort category room being offered to DVC members for exchange is the AOA Family Suite; because they cannot fill those rooms.

They must have seen the movie that says..."build it and they will come!" And they probably will.

 

[wogwog]

"...lots of experiences with MyMagic+ over the last few years..."

Last few years? Am I missing something?

Script was written by Iger for them.

 

[ParentsOf4]

They must have seen the movie that says..."build it and they will come!" And they probably will.

WDW onsite occupancy has declined from 89% in 2008, to 81% in 2012, to 79% in 2013.

They are building it and, in increasing numbers, people are not coming to WDW's hotels.

When you analyze a business, you don't look at the bottom line. You look at key indicators and look for trends in those indicators in an attempt to predict what will happen in the future.

It's the idea of monitoring orders of cardboard boxes because if companies are ordering more, then they must think business is about to tick up. If they are ordering less, then business is about to tick down.

In WDW's case, onsite stays represent the true luxury item, the predictor of future trends.

Guests still want to come to WDW and, in order to afford WDW's much higher ticket prices, have started to sacrifice onsite stays first.

Disney opened a new Value Resort hotel because they expected business was going to tick up as a result of MyMagic+.

Instead, WDW's onsite occupancy rate is down.

Last year, Orlando area hotel occupancy ticked up from 69% to 71%.

People want to vacation. They even want to vacation at WDW.

However, WDW's prices increasingly are pricing them out of the market.

It's a bad trend.

 

[wogwog]

Yet Disney built the AOA "Family Suite" to accommodate families of up to six.

Disney recognized a need to increase its offerings to a certain market segment.

AOA's problem is that the "Value" Resort Family Suite starts at $299/night even in the slow September season.

During Christmas, that "value" suite is $511/night.

Remember that the suite consists of 2 small Value Resort rooms. From a square footage perspective, it's pretty small, only 565 sq. ft.

For comparison, a 945 sq. ft. suite at the Waldorf Astoria (near Caribbean Beach Resort) in September is $289/night.

Only someone used to charging $1000/night for a theme park view room at the Grand Floridian could think that $299/night was a bargain; that it would appeal to a cost-sensitive market segment.

That's why the only Value Resort category room being offered to DVC members for exchange is the AOA Family Suite; because they cannot fill those rooms.

It's another an example of Disney slowly losing touch with its market base.

For the last several years, Disney has been making business decisions that eventually will end up biting it on the butt.

WDW is not the Detroit auto industry but many of the decisions it is making today mirror Detroit's mistakes. It took an energy crisis and Japan to knock Detroit on its butt.

WDW is a couple of wrong steps away from seeing a serious decline in business. It's already experiencing a decline in hotel occupancy. Keep it up and parks will be affected next.

I will also guess spending on food is down per guest with the advent of a $10 hot dog. Disney will not tell you but you are allowed to pack a sack lunch and take in the park.

 

[CDavid]

Disney will not tell you but you are allowed to pack a sack lunch and take in the park.

That sort of surprises me that outside food is permitted, because certainly they want you to buy their overpriced meals. Is it only bad publicity which prevents a prohibition on bringing stuff into the parks, or am I missing something?

 

[ford91exploder]

But that is inexcusable, not forecasting correctly. They got that pass for the 24 Leap Year, that was a successful mess. The lack of staff, lack of food and as the night went on the lack of attractions open so guests were wandering aimlessly for it to end so they could claim victory that they experienced 24 hours. There was an abundance of off duty CMs and AP'ers. To continue to make the same forecasting errors just isn't acceptable.

The forecasters don't visit the parks, they have no 'feel' for the numbers why should their projections be accurate

 

[Rodan75]

So @ParentsOf4 If it is a bad trend for Disney, wouldn't they be adjusting their room rates? Or instead of running commericials offering discounts for a 6 week - 8 week period, they would run them again for 4-5 months? From a business perspective their strategy seems to be working. Whether or not it can objectively be seen as a good deal.

I've never been able to quite pinpoint your exact concern. Are you unhappy that they can get away with their strategy? Or do you think it is a bad business move and that they would get more net profit if they lowered the pricepoint and therefore have a bad strategy from a business perspective?

 

[fosse76]

"...lots of experiences with MyMagic+ over the last few years..."

Last few years? Am I missing something?

It's got to be staged. No one, no matter how much you like MyMagic, would talk about it that way. So either Disney put them up to it, or they are doing it hoping Disney does something "special" for them (like a free room for the honeymoon).

 

[wogwog]

That sort of surprises me that outside food is permitted, because certainly they want you to buy their overpriced meals. Is it only bad publicity which prevents a prohibition on bringing stuff into the parks, or am I missing something?

I do not ever remember hearing of anyone being prohibited from bringing their own food. I have done so many times over the years. In my case not so much for the price but for the poor quality of QSR. Disney security will only confiscate alcohol and glass containers for safety they tell me. So paper, plastic, aluminum is allowed. I also take soda in cans as I dislike fountain drinks, plastic bottles for soda, and most coke products. They will stop you from dragging a giant cooler through the parks as it is a tripping hazard so I take some small cooler bags for snacks. If I want a bit of adequately prepared hot food I will find some at one of the Epcot joints. Yes at ridiculous prices for the meal but at least better than QSR. I see people often with obvious carried in food sitting in the QSR restaurants like Cosmic and whatever the current name for the "Noodle Kitchen" is these days.

 

[Nemo14]

Years ago they did not allow it, but somewhere along the line, they changed their policy.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

WDW onsite occupancy has declined from 89% in 2008, to 81% in 2012, to 79% in 2013.

They are building it and, in increasing numbers, people are not coming to WDW's hotels.

When you analyze a business, you don't look at the bottom line. You look at key indicators and look for trends in those indicators in an attempt to predict what will happen in the future.

It's the idea of monitoring orders of cardboard boxes because if companies are ordering more, then they must think business is about to tick up. If they are ordering less, then business is about to tick down.

In WDW's case, onsite stays represent the true luxury item, the predictor of future trends.

Guests still want to come to WDW and, in order to afford WDW's much higher ticket prices, have started to sacrifice onsite stays first.

Disney opened a new Value Resort hotel because they expected business was going to tick up as a result of MyMagic+.

Instead, WDW's onsite occupancy rate is down.

Last year, Orlando area hotel occupancy ticked up from 69% to 71%.

People want to vacation. They even want to vacation at WDW.

However, WDW's prices increasingly are pricing them out of the market.

It's a bad trend.

I really wish I could "like" your posts more than once.

I wonder if the same is true around Disneyland. The hotels around the DL resort are much, much cheaper than DL hotel itself, and most offer either free parking, free breakfast, or transport from airport to hotel. Since I've been eying a DL trip this September (not sure it's going to happen, but I'm comparing prices now) I've been barraged with DL hotel ads and no matter what season, what discounts, what added bonuses, the hotels around DL are always a better value, price wise.

 

[flynnibus]

I do not ever remember hearing of anyone being prohibited from bringing their own food

It's technically against the rules... but Disney is completely complacent about it now.

 

[wdwmagic]

It's technically against the rules... but Disney is completely complacent about it now.

This is what disneyworld.com says:


Can I bring my own food into theme parks and Disney Resort hotels?

A.

Guests are allowed to bring food items—such as snacks or foods that do not require heating—into Disney theme parks. Inform a Security Cast Member of any food items when you enter the park.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This is what disneyworld.com says:


Can I bring my own food into theme parks and Disney Resort hotels?

A.

Guests are allowed to bring food items—such as snacks or foods that do not require heating—into Disney theme parks. Inform a Security Cast Member of any food items when you enter the park.

Ah, so the person I saw w/ the McDonald's bag eating the BigMac was within his right. Nice. Must've been cold...

 

[flynnibus]

This is what disneyworld.com says:

Yes, but given an inch.. people take a foot.

It's much worse at DL... where people will sit down and take out their KFC meal and eat at the eatery's tables. DL used to be a lot more strict and would direct people to the picnic area.. but less so now.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Yes, but given an inch.. people take a foot.

long

 

[Funmeister]

This is what disneyworld.com says:


Can I bring my own food into theme parks and Disney Resort hotels?

A.

Guests are allowed to bring food items—such as snacks or foods that do not require heating—into Disney theme parks. Inform a Security Cast Member of any food items when you enter the park.

The rule gets blurred because as you are allowed to bring food into the park, you are not however allowed to bring in coolers. When a guest is told they cannot bring in a cooler they hear it as they cannot bring in food. When guests bring coolers in the front gate they are told they either have to go put it back in their car or check it in at Guest Relations.

 

[janoimagine]

WDW is not the Detroit auto industry but many of the decisions it is making today mirror Detroit's mistakes. It took an energy crisis and Japan to knock Detroit on its butt.

Having lived just outside the 'D' my entire life, and spending much of my career working around or alongside the Automotive Industry, you hit the nail on the head. The main issue with GM (and Chrysler and to a lesser extent FMC) was that they lost touch with what the consumers wanted ... and not only that, but they were cannibalising themselves within their own brand's ... 4 or in some cases as many as 6 of the same vehicle's, with different nameplates, all with poor quality, and bad mileage specs, and all upwards of $30 to $40K.

Disney, primarily in terms of Orlando, to me, has lost touch with it's consumer, and much like the Auto Industry has the mentality, (and it's a very troubling mentality), that they can simply increase the prices, while continuing to dilute the product, because they think the have a commodity people can't live without.

What I don't understand, is how a brand can have a 5 star product like the Cruise Line, DisneyLand, Tokyo Disney Sea, Tokyo Disneyland, Shanghai ... and look at the state of the union at WDW and think it's acceptable by comparison.

Disney World will always be my favorite, having visited the park since the late 70's, my wife and I are DVC members, but I won't say that I am thrilled with the current direction, policies, and what has become a spreadsheet managment style within WDW.