Cubs fans are not pixie dust snorting delusional fans who think they are World Series contenders. The dream of a WS title are usually dashed by late June/ early July yet continue to attend games. Cubs fans accept that they are perennial non contenders but yet they still would not pass on the chance to experience an afternoon at the park.You means WDW fanatics on about a dozen websites are not?
What's going on at WDW right now is successful brand marketing.
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What's going on at WDW right now is successful brand marketing.
U.S. families with young children treat WDW as a rite of passage while WDW is better than anything in South America. It's those two market segments that are keeping the WDW engine chugging right now. (Even if the Magic Kingdom steam engine might soon disappear.
Universal is benefiting from International tourists as much as WDW, something that would have been unheard of in 2009. Universal also is benefiting from smart investments in new lands and attractions producing impressive organic growth.
At WDW, there are signs of multiplying quality issues while recent Parks & Resorts investments have been ineffective. WDW remains financially successful today because of wise investments in prior decades coupled with much higher prices. There hasn't been any appreciable organic growth at WDW in the 21st Century.
Ticket prices can only go so high. WDW price increases have far outpaced people's ability to pay them. As I've posted elsewhere, ticket prices have increased at a rate about 5 times faster than Median Household Income in recent years.
For those of you keeping track, a WDW 3-day base ticket is the same price as a Universal Preferred Annual Pass. WDW might have 4 theme parks but it doesn't really matter if families cannot afford 4-day WDW tickets.
We are seeing the effect of WDW's higher ticket prices in WDW's hotel occupancy rate, which was at 79% in 2013, down from 89% in 2008. IMHO, consumers are beginning to forego their onsite stays in order to be able to afford WDW's higher ticket prices.
Wall Street is not stupid. They look at the 10-K filings; they know this. This is why for the last 5 straight quarters they've repeatedly asked Iger and Rasulo for some sign that MyMagic+ is working. They want to see organic growth at WDW.
Like Detroit auto makers in the late 1960s and early 1970s, WDW currently is surviving off brand loyalty and a lack of competition in certain market segments. It took the Japanese knocking Detroit on its butt and a government bailout to effect change.
WDW is not Detroit but if Universal starts targeting lands and attractions at WDW's core family audience, then WDW could be in for a world of hurt.
Hey, if you feel better about yourself by acting superior, knock yourself out. I believe in helping others and not being condescending, so, I will continue to post what is obvious to you for the benefit of those who may not be as smart as you. Late or not, the conversation is the ticket price increase and why and how it happened. Flame away!!!
This is a concept that my brain cannot accept. MOST people only get single day passes? Someone at some point mentioned a figure of 80%! What? 80% of locals that don't have AP's, perhaps, but, generally? If someone comes from another state, they are not going to be one day ticket buyers. I'm talking about offsite visitors here. They have already purchased their multi-day tickets, know how many days they are planning to stay and that is what they set up for. It would not make any sense at all to buy one day tickets ahead of time. Another thing that I would point to is if 80% is the number why aren't the ticket sales booth backed up to the parking lot. They don't even open most of them. My guess would be 20% day tickets. That would mean that the remainder buy multi-day tickets and do not pay that awful, almost $100.00 per day charge. That is why they can get away with it.
Your problem here is that you have tried to enter logic into the discussion. If your stand doesn't support their particular viewpoint then you will be bombarded with the silliest of silly reply's.
No comparison! I mean after all you pay $163 for two to three hours of entertainment, whereas you can get all day, 12 or more hours, at Disney. How dare they charge $100.00 for that. The argument concerning the connection with inflation rates is also as bogus as bogus can get. A place like Disney doesn't have to adhere to any cost of living scenario's, they do not provide a life supporting service, they provide a luxury item that even at a lower price is not accessible to many people. To even think that Disney has some kind of moral reason why they have to get only what we would like them to charge is the ultimate in silliness. It sounds snippy, but it is reality, like it or not, if people are willing to pay that price, extreme or not, then all the griping in the world is not going to change anything. If you stand there at the ticket booth and pay your $100.00 all the while you complain about the fact that Disney people are greedy, profit motivated idiots, they are going to laugh at that remark all the way to that bank. What the public will bear is the key phrase here. Until that point is reached, and we can give it lip service forever, it will continue to go up until no one pays it anymore. When that is going to happen is anybodies guess. If it happens at all. The bottom line is that Disney (and any other business for that matter) can raise prices because they want too. They do not have to justify it to anyone. Then we, the public, have to make up our minds, individually, whether or not it's worth the cost. That is the true value of it, not some chart of comparison. That influences nothing in this type of business.
That's just weird. I'm assuming this woman was not blind, right? She had working vision, a basic grasp of the English language, and at least 4th grade math skills?
If the answer is yes to those questions, then I have absolutely no sympathy for her. How on earth do you walk up to a Disney World ticket booth for eight days straight and not see the giant signs touting various multi-day ticketing options and all the associated hype on saving money with them???
If a woman did in fact purchase single-day tickets from a WDW ticket booth for eight days straight, then she must be profoundly stupid. Or drunk.
Hey, I lived in Chicago for 11 years.
I got to see the Bears Superbowl season.
I got to see Jordon's championships.
I got to see the Cubs.
The problem with using professional sports as an analogy with theme parks is that sports have winners and losers.
Theme parks don't have to.
But if you want to use a baseball analogy, then right now Universal is the Boston Red Sox with 3 World Series titles in the last 10 years.
Right now, WDW is the Cubs.(How was that 66-and-96 season anyway?
No, I don't think it shouldn't be discussed. but it is a separate issue. It's just that Disney and the public has placed a value on what exists currently, not what used to exist or will exist. If the public feels that what is currently there is enough to justify the expense then they will continue to support it. It is an individual decision, but, it has to be exercised individually by just not going. You don't decide not to go as a protest, because that is cutting off your nose to spite your face, you do it because your idea of the value is not as high as Disney's idea.
