News Walt Disney World to resume sales of Annual Passes (New sales resume April 20, 2023)

[TrainsOfDisney]

It’s 100% a myth that Orlando is “cheap”

it’s also antiquated to think anyone wants to make “livable” at this point either.

I was saying $18 in Orlando because that is $3 per hour more than current. If it takes more, than give them more.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yeah im not sure why that trope still rides around. Sure its cheaper than the most expensive citys in America....like anywhere is. To be fair there are parts of Florida that are cheap and far below the national average but its not orlando.

Honestly…it makes those that muse all day - like me - feel better about themselves about pouring money into the coffers of a travel hub where the companies fight tooth and nail to keep those that work for them depressed…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I was saying $18 in Orlando because that is $3 per hour more than current. If it takes more, than give them more.

Yeah…but you know the constant rub is never going away there. Minimum labor for maximum price.

they do these stupid “bonuses” instead…which people shouldn’t fall for…but do

 

[wutisgood]

Disney could double the base pay of everyone and still make plenty of money without greatly raising prices. They just don't want to because the parks are a bank account for them and the execs won't be willing to make a little less. When cedar point is paying people $20 plus an hour in cheap ohio Disney raising prices due to "labor costs" is just another excuse.

 

[hopemax]

Are you being serious?

Everyone loves capitalism when it works to keep costs down. But the same rules and principles apply when it flips the other way. This is the system we have chosen. The free market sets the price of labor, so if you can’t get people you are underpaying even if the increases seem overly aggressive. It’s 30 years of transgressions squeezed into needing an immediate solution. It won’t come cheap.

The downside of capitalism has always been the volatility that would sometimes erupt under sudden changes like now. Business could have done a better job of meeting the needs of their labor before, but they didn’t think they needed to. This is the consequence. They prioritized cost over stability. Like that electricity business model in Texas. But it’s still the system we choose. We either accept it in full or find a different one, but no cherry-picking.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Everyone loves capitalism when it works to keep costs down. But the same rules and principles apply when it flips the other way. This is the system we have chosen. The free market sets the price of labor, so if you can’t get people you are underpaying even if the increases seem overly aggressive. It’s 30 years of transgressions squeezed into needing an immediate solution. It won’t come cheap.

The downside of capitalism has always been the volatility that would sometimes erupt under sudden changes like now. Business could have done a better job of meeting the needs of their labor before, but they didn’t think they needed to. This is the consequence. They prioritized cost over stability. Like that electricity business model in Texas. But it’s still the system we choose. We either accept it in full or find a different one, but no cherry-picking.

I'd argue that there is no such thing as a "free market" once Wall Street gets involved. It all becomes about feeding the monster, and those at the top have the ability to grease the wheels to ensure that things continue to move in their favor.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disney could double the base pay of everyone and still make plenty of money without greatly raising prices. They just don't want to because the parks are a bank account for them and the execs won't be willing to make a little less. When cedar point is paying people $20 plus an hour in cheap ohio Disney raising prices due to "labor costs" is just another excuse.

It is…

but they will always battle labor downward.

its Orlando…it’s all travel.

i know locals and wannabe imagineers will post “it’s not just travel!”

but it is…that town doesn’t exist without uncle Walt.

it would be Ocala

 

[HauntedPirate]

“Retraining customers”

Whoever’s on that…they aren’t bringing the kinda money Disney needs

…but you’re there

That would be abandoning the entire strategy of upselling the lines for 100% free and clear profit. Don’t think they’d consider that this soon.





…and yet…you’re THERE.

don’t aim the gun at your own buttocks…is my suggestion.

We were in town for something else. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here at all.

Bottles of soda at MK today are $5, up from $4.50.

 

[Oddysey]

CMs aren’t told anything. Last to know. It has been this way forever on purpose. I honestly don’t know why this isn’t a common knowledge concept?

Its the bus drivers that you need to talk too.

 

[MattM]

Must be nice to not worry about hitting phased closings.

Cancelling a whole program over a few days per year of phased closings is an odd strategy for the remainder of the year.

 

[Oddysey]

I can definitely see part of this being my fault. It’s just these passes have been out for 2 MONTHS. I didn’t think they would pull the plug so soon on these. It’s definitely a baffling decision. It’s not like the calendar has limited availability like Disneyland’s does (besides a few days) so this comes off as a move targeting people that want to upgrade their long holiday tickets.

This is not your fault at all. The park ticketing and reservation system has been made to be overly complicated and nobody would have thought that they would suspend the sales of APs after only 2 months. On top of that you were told by employees of the company to wait on the upgrade because there system is not efficient enough to recognize your existing reservations when you upgrade. While your penchant to hold yourself accountable is a respectable trait, you really shouldn't feel the need to accept responsibility here.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Must be nice to not worry about hitting phased closings.

Must be nice to offer all of your normal seasonal offerings and live entertainment.

 

[MattM]

Then let's do it!

But then I don't want to hear any complaints as a consumer when your price of a park burger goes up to $32.50 and your park ticket price increases over 200%.

That's a hard argument to make when Disney is charging what they are for a cheeseburger currently. We're already paying nose bleed prices for everything at Disney, but they're not wanting to put any of that money back into the parks.

 

[Oddysey]

I don’t quite understand the outrage. At some point they’ll need to limit the amount of passes available, the parks don’t have limitless capacity. Disneyland had to do the same. Why keep selling passes if people are going to have trouble booking reservations?

Before the system became overly complicated they had phased closures during the holidays. The phased closures for certain times of the year were routine and easy to see coming. No reasonable person was really upset when phased closures occurred because based on decades of history it was understood and baked into the cake when purchasing an AP. Lastly, the failure to expand park capacity has been a problem for Disney for over a decade. Instead of expanding capacity through new parks, attractions, and adding to the massive space they have owned for decades in Reedy Creek; Disney elected to construct a multi-billion dollar digital crowd/profit management system that serves them rather than the consumer.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Must be nice to offer all of your normal seasonal offerings and live entertainment.

You mean what should be included in the full price normal admission?

I know…crazy world

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This is not your fault at all. The park ticketing and reservation system has been made to be overly complicated and nobody would have thought that they would suspend the sales of APs after only 2 months. On top of that you were told by employees of the company to wait on the upgrade because there system is not efficient enough to recognize your existing reservations when you upgrade. While your penchant to hold yourself accountable is a respectable trait, you really shouldn't feel the need to accept responsibility here.

I agree…

let me explain my frequent stance: morons like me (us) make the situation worse by feeding this beast…it has no limits to its consumption of cash at the expense of its own goodwill/reputation…

but it’s absolutely on them for screwing around with tickets they damn well know their longest, most loyal, most VALUABLE Customers use.

there is no excuse for this one. I think this is more about them not wanting to explain that they wouldn’t have the room to accommodate the tickets they just jacked up (again) because they can’t run the place due to the situation and the mistakes made for years.

but they’ll blame labor.

and I’m not a guest comm kinda guy…but that’s what I’ll be doing with this. Enough. They messed with this for a year and a half and now messing with it again 2 months later. You can’t blame germs for this. It’s just management

I wonder if all the cms are talking about how great “Josh” is now?…pressler had more spine

 

[larryz]

I agree…

let me explain my frequent stance: morons like me (us) make the situation worse by feeding this beast…it has no limits to its consumption of cash at the expense of its own goodwill/reputation…

but it’s absolutely on them for screwing around with tickets they damn well know their longest, most loyal, most VALUABLE Customers use.

there is no excuse for this one. I think this is more about them not wanting to explain that they wouldn’t have the room to accommodate the tickets they just jacked up (again) because they can’t run the place due to the situation and the mistakes made for years.

but they’ll blame labor.

and I’m not a guest comm kinda guy…but that’s what I’ll be doing with this. Enough. They messed with this for a year and a half and now messing with it again 2 months later. You can’t blame germs for this. It’s just **** management

I wonder if all the cms are talking about how great “Josh” is now?…pressler had more spine

It's a simple decision: when the product doesn't provide the value you expect, you ditch it.

I just ditched my ISP because their product got too expensive compared to alternatives.

I'm now saving about $2500 a year over what I would have been paying them. Two years of those savings, and I could afford the Halcyon experience.*

*Ha! Fat chance that'll be worth $5,000+!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's a simple decision: when the product doesn't provide the value you expect, you ditch it.

I just ditched my ISP because their product got too expensive compared to alternatives.

I'm now saving about $2500 a year over what I would have been paying them. Two years of those savings, and I could afford the Halcyon experience.*

*Ha! Fat chance that'll be worth $5,000+!

The issue with wdw is this:

they will not be able to stop the bleeding if the push the prices and polices past red line.

it could sink the whole ship…it’s a lynchpin. Don’t fall for this streaming service misdirection.

its why you CAN’T have awful management.

what the hell was Iger doing…exactly…his last five years?

couldn’t get out of the tanning booth long enough to read a few resumes or make a couple of phone calls?

edit: dumb question…he was letting bad management attempt to sink Star Wars…
My bad

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Before the system became overly complicated they had phased closures during the holidays. The phased closures for certain times of the year were routine and easy to see coming. No reasonable person was really upset when phased closures occurred because based on decades of history it was understood and baked into the cake when purchasing an AP. Lastly, the failure to expand park capacity has been a problem for Disney for over a decade. Instead of expanding capacity through new parks, attractions, and adding to the massive space they have owned for decades in Reedy Creek; Disney elected to construct a multi-billion dollar digital crowd/profit management system that serves them rather than the consumer.

Dear god…this is great!
I’m Totally gonna be your groupie now…

I mean follow the band on tour and get a tattoo level

 

[Disstevefan1]

I just learned about WDW stopping sale of the APs yesterday!

While it was understandable over in DLR as there is a lot of locals that purchased the very expensive top tier new AP with no blackouts, and actually expected to be able to use it with the totally awful park pass reservation requirement in place, I knew that was not going to work.

At WDW it’s more of an international vacation destination and there are less locals percentage wise, and even with the totally awful park pass reservation requirement in place, you could still work around it for the most part with the park hop; get into any of the 4 parks then hop to the one you actually wanted to go to.

This shows us TWDC makes changes whenever is needed, “turning on a dime” (hey, that has dual meanings ), doing anything it wishes at any moment in time, this time they can blame the pandemic again.

One thing is for sure. When they resume the “New” annual passes again, they will have HUGE (copyright FunSpot America) price increases!!!