Ticket price increase / FP+ changes coming?

[FigmentForver96]

Does anyone want some Tylenol from banging your heads against brick walls? That seems to be all that’s happening here.

The only note I will add is Disney advertising new rides or not is not really gonna make a difference. Social media is now the easy way for businesses to spread the word without trying. Whether Disney advertised or didn’t to avoid more crowds coming, the people would still know through social media and show up.

 

[el_super]

As I said before, it creates more fastpass availability in the park for popular attractions.

Ok I get it... but to what end? Why do you want more Fastpass availability? You already know that Fastpass isn't booked to capacity, since lots of low value Fastpasses go unused. And the Fastpass demand for the new popular attraction will always exceed supply.

So while yeah, there may be more Fastpasses available for Big Thunder and Splash Mountain because everyone is picking Tron, Space Mountain and Mine Train... Now people are angry that Fastpasses for Tron are in high demand and unavailable. The situation hasn't changed, just the attraction names. The same complaints expressed today are just as valid with a new attraction open.

 

[MrPromey]

Ok I get it... but to what end? Why do you want more Fastpass availability? You already know that Fastpass isn't booked to capacity, since lots of low value Fastpasses go unused. And the Fastpass demand for the new popular attraction will always exceed supply.

So while yeah, there may be more Fastpasses available for Big Thunder and Splash Mountain because everyone is picking Tron, Space Mountain and Mine Train... Now people are angry that Fastpasses for Tron are in high demand and unavailable. The situation hasn't changed, just the attraction names. The same complaints expressed today are just as valid with a new attraction open.

I don't care that it isn't booked to capacity because lots of low value fastpasses go unused and neither should you. In an ideal world, neither should Disney since this is evidence that these attractions probably shouldn't have it to begin with but again, Disney is padding the system with these passes most people don't want for this very reason - "what do you mean you came today and can't get a fastpass? I see a slot open for Mickey's Philharmagic, Alladin's Magic Carpet, and for Monster’s, Inc. Laugh Floor*. The system is working just fine!"

It's like seeing a sign that says "FREE CANDY - tons to choose from" but once you get inside the shop you go up to where the free candy is and your choices are black licorice and horehounds. You ask about the tons to choose from and they tell you there were but now these are your two choices but you still get to choose so lucky you!

Except we aren't talking about candy and we're certainly not talking about free since a trip to Disney is anything but. They don't charge directly for fastpass but it's included in your ticket cost and that it exists, guarantees you will be negatively impacted if you don't use it so there is a true cost to the average guest in both money and experience.

Again, It isn't about more Fastpass availability in general but about more availability for attractions that people care about and want to do and which they perceive an actual benefit for being able to get one to.

You're absolutely right that people will never be 100% happy if they're unable to get it for the attraction they want most but being able to now get a fastpass for Space Mountain or Mine Train, an attraction that they perceive an actual benifit from because it's popular and they'd actually have a real wait for if they didn't have a fastpass will, I believe, make them happier.

Don't you?

TRON isn't the answer. A single attraction isn't going to fix fastpass in any park but it may result in an incremental improvement.

That they're opening new e-tickets in other parks in the future and putting effort into making them more of a draw for guests will improve your chances of getting that Space Mountain fastpass, too, as more people ae inclined to spend more time and do more with the fastpass system outside of the Magic Kingdom.

But Disney doesn't want to completely "fix" the current system. It creates artificial scarcity while pushing more people to lower-end or outdated attractions.

The scarcity allows them to keep upping room rates and ticket prices.

Being able to push attendance to things like JIYI creates the case on paper for not needing to update or replace them since it still sees x-number of people each day.

Speaking of which, do you realize that JIYI - an attraction that was literally never popular, even at opening and even as a supposed improvement to their first failed attempt at a redo - has been there for nearly 20 years in it's current form now?**

*Not to pick on Philharmagic and Laugh floor - it just seems that in most cases, these kinds of shows don't seem to provide much benifit to guests with a fastpass.

**This doesn't have a lot to do with our discussion. I'm just still bitter that this is what they replaced the original atttraction with.

 

[MrPromey]

The only note I will add is Disney advertising new rides or not is not really gonna make a difference. Social media is now the easy way for businesses to spread the word without trying. Whether Disney advertised or didn’t to avoid more crowds coming, the people would still know through social media and show up.

If this is the case, someone should probably tell Disney because they're wasting an awful lot of money, then.

Believe it or not, there are plenty of people out there that don't know Disney has opened anything new having to do with Star Wars. I live in Florida where the number of friends and family posting trips to theme parks on social media is at it's apex... For what it's worth, the billboards seem to have not had an impact on these people, either.

I think diehard Disney fans (remember that's us which makes perspective on this topic hard) and people already planning a trip are the groups social media will have a major impact on but these were people already coming or strongly thinking about coming, anyway.

There will be others that go "Hey honey, they have something new down there in the swamps. I just saw Jim and Margret post about their trip. Lets plan a trip for next year, maybe" after seeing a friend on Facebook, but I suspect it's not in the numbers you're imagining.

Same with Twitter.

On the other hand, I remember when 7DMT opened, those banner ads and that stupid Dwarfs-pretending-to-be-ZZ-Top video ad followed me around the web, relentlessly.

All that said, you know how companies like Facebook make all that money, right?

 

[Josh Hendy]

But Disney doesn't want to "fix" the current system. It creates artificial scarcity while pushing more people to lower-end or outdated attractions.

Say what you like ... but they know their customer base really well. They couldn't get away with shoddy maintenance, half-built or stagnating parks, massive upsells and blatant ride rationing in Disneyland CA, Tokyo or Paris and still rake in huge profits but in FL there is zero pushback on these.

My own family must be typical because they've told me repeatedly that other than Harry Potter there is nothing about Universal, SeaWorld or BG Tampa that appeals to them anywhere near as much as WDW especially (in order) MK, DAK and Epcot.

"MK-ing" the non MK parks with cartoon characters will increase their preference for WDW even more.

 

[MrPromey]

Say what you like ... but they know their customer base really well. They couldn't get away with shoddy maintenance, half-built or stagnating parks, massive upsells and blatant ride rationing in Disneyland CA, Tokyo or Paris and still rake in huge profits but in FL there is zero pushback on these.

My own family must be typical because they've told me repeatedly that other than Harry Potter there is nothing about Universal, SeaWorld or BG Tampa that appeals to them anywhere near as much as WDW especially (in order) MK, DAK and Epcot.

"MK-ing" the non MK parks with cartoon characters will increase their preference for WDW even more.

For my family, it's a combination of nostalgia for the adults and kid-friendly attractions for the kids that can also be enjoyed to at least some degree, by adults.

Those other three you mention fail big-time on that last point. Sea World has upped their game a bit with the new Sesame Street area but unless you're a kid of the right age, everyone is just tolerating it for the joy of the child while they wait to get back to coasters. Bush Gardens is even more so since there kids area is smaller and much more dated.

Universal, has a few token kids rides and some generally family-friendly rides but many that aren't a problem in terms of height, still may be in terms of intensity for young kids.

Legoland on the other hand, is almost pointless without a child of the right age.

That's the formula Disney's mastered and that nobody else seems to try that much to emulate, for some reason.