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

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We were at WDW two weeks before, and a cruise the week before, but it’s not comparable because it was 70 and sunny during our Disney days and the weather was freezing for our Uni days.

Apples and oranges, it was frustrating for so much to be down though, soured my first experience.

Exhaustion likely played in as well, it was a long vacation and my patience level for issues and crowds was substantially lower by Uni than it was at the start in WDW.

Perhaps the best news of the week was no more parking fees at resorts, we ended up spending a couple hundred dollars on Ubers over the last couple weeks so next trip will include a rental car which will allow us to drive over for Velocicoaster and Hagrids whenever we want.



This was one of my big takeaways, if all of Epic is like the new stuff it’s going to be very impressive, UOR has 2 distinct feelings, the before HP stuff and after HP stuff. Bit of Jeckyl and Hyde. The one thing I forgot to mention was Spider-Man, that’s one older ride I thought held up well, very fun.

No I get that…

Two weeks ago it was 81 in wdw

My last time at uni it dropped down to 55…


There’s just no way to make that temp in Orlando “good”

Just like you can’t make 97 “nice”


If you’re tuned to wdw…there’s no way to make a 1:1. My point is that universal is building better than they were…Disney is flat.
So today? Yeah I get you…but I’m interested if the gap “narrows”
Disney isn’t running like secretariat at the Belmont these days

 

[MisterPenguin]

They found the tipping point on admission and ancillary spending. This is why they struggle selling as much in park food and merch as they used to.

That's not true. They're holding back selling APs because jacking the price up didn't stop their sales. And quarterly reports have reported quarter after quarter that spending per person in the parks has gone up. The record-breaking quarterly revenue figures are due to 'increased yield.'

 

[Jrb1979]

That's not true. They're holding back selling APs because jacking the price up didn't stop their sales. And quarterly reports have reported quarter after quarter that spending per person in the parks has gone up. The record-breaking quarterly revenue figures are due to 'increased yield.'

Then they didn't raise the price high enough and need to get rid of the monthly payment plans

 

[celluloid]

That's not true. They're holding back selling APs because jacking the price up didn't stop their sales. And quarterly reports have reported quarter after quarter that spending per person in the parks has gone up. The record-breaking quarterly revenue figures are due to 'increased yield.'

What you said makes little sense. The company is for profit. Spending per person may have gone up, does not equal more guest spending. They thought they could get the more out of families traveling without passes than with.

 

[MisterPenguin]

What you said makes little sense. The company is for profit. Spending per person may have gone up, does not equal more guest spending. They thought they could get the more out of families traveling without passes than with.

Except what I said is repeating what Disney execs said on a quarterly financial call.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Except what I said is repeating what Disney execs said on a quarterly financial call.

I read the same thing.

 

[Jrb1979]

Except what I said is repeating what Disney execs said on a quarterly financial call.

A lot of that can be traced back to all the nickel and diming and price increases. Not once did they mention attendance being up.

 

[celluloid]

Except what I said is repeating what Disney execs said on a quarterly financial cas bad as they do when they say it.

A lot of their job on a quarterly call is to reassure all their investors things that are not earning as much is not their bad desicions.

I am not saying that per guest spending is not up, but it is not the same as guests spending more ancillary money. Words and how they are presented are tricky.
Uni raises prices and are not afraid of a tipping point. Said prices are comparable and the public market shows a similar value in results, so why is Universal not afraid of a tipping point but Disney is?

 

[Ayla]

Disgusting news.

Now we can look forward to annual passholders contributing to huge queues, bringing in picnics and drinks, and taking up space with their 'free tickets'. Whilst us poor international visitors will have to endure them causing the horrific crowds, paying massive amounts for hotels, merch, and restaurants - essentially meaning we get a terrible experience, whilst the locals get a freebie.

 

[matt9112]

Then they didn't raise the price high enough and need to get rid of the monthly payment plans

Would alienate a lot of locals to probably only to to universal at that point. Remember many locals have both. But I know I know got to keep the poors down and out! Literally out.

 

[Jrb1979]

Would alienate a lot of locals to probably only to to universal at that point. Remember many locals have both. But I know I know got to keep the poors down and out! Literally out.

They basically are doing that now by not selling them.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Then they didn't raise the price high enough and need to get rid of the monthly payment plans

So you advocate alienating most of the population of consumers that Disney turns to each and every time there is an economic downturn and they need people in the parks to prop up the bottom line?

Again - 36k hotel rooms on-site, and tens of thousands more off-site. I don't think APs are the problem.

 

[Jrb1979]

So you advocate alienating most of the population of consumers that Disney turns to each and every time there is an economic downturn and they need people in the parks to prop up the bottom line?

Aren't they doing that now by not selling them? I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying from their prospective if they really wanted to limit APs then they should have priced them higher or get rid of monthly payments.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Aren't they doing that now by not selling them? I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying from their prospective if they really wanted to limit APs then they should have priced them higher or get rid of monthly payments.

Florida residents have been able to purchase the lowest AP since AP's went back on sale in 2021. It's the sale of other levels of AP's that are currently "paused".

They have zero reason to limit AP's (outside of needing to extract maximum $$$ from every consumer, every day in an attempt to meet quarterly financial goals/prop up other money-losing divisions of the company). This is not a DL situation where there is an AP population of a million-plus and tens of thousands of them are flooding the parks every day and preventing families from Denver from doing their once-in-a-lifetime WDW trip.

 

[Jrb1979]

Florida residents have been able to purchase the lowest AP since AP's went back on sale in 2021. It's the sale of other levels of AP's that are currently "paused".

They have zero reason to limit AP's (outside of needing to extract maximum $$$ from every consumer, every day in an attempt to meet quarterly financial goals/prop up other money-losing divisions of the company). This is not a DL situation where there is an AP population of a million-plus and tens of thousands of them are flooding the parks every day and preventing families from Denver from doing their once-in-a-lifetime WDW trip.

The lowest AP is when they want you to visit. IMO the reason for the pause is they want those who do visit that are out of state to pay full price for their visit and not use AP discounts.

 

[HauntedPirate]

The lowest AP is when they want you to visit. IMO the reason for the pause is they want those who do visit that are out of state to pay full price for their visit and not use AP discounts.

Or... those DVC pains-in-the-*** people who want to use their points but since ticket prices are so high and there are no APs available to purchase, they simply don't do Disney parks and go elsewhere.

 

[Jrb1979]

Or... those DVC pains-in-the-*** people who want to use their points but since ticket prices are so high and there are no APs available to purchase, they simply don't do Disney parks and go elsewhere.

I understand all that and I don't get it either. They are slowly killing their brand.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So you advocate alienating most of the population of consumers that Disney turns to each and every time there is an economic downturn and they need people in the parks to prop up the bottom line?

Again - 36k hotel rooms on-site, and tens of thousands more off-site. I don't think APs are the problem.

Yep…that’s the reality of that “stance”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The lowest AP is when they want you to visit. IMO the reason for the pause is they want those who do visit that are out of state to pay full price for their visit and not use AP discounts.

That’s clearly the strategy…
The problem is the bobs said they can do that all the time, forever and they ran out of runway.

Here’s what they exposed themselves to by stopping sales: now when they resume them, it’s a crystal clear sign they’re struggling and the revenues are gonna tank.

And they’ll lose another $15 a share

 

[Jrb1979]

That’s clearly the strategy…
The problem is the bobs said they can do that all the time, forever and they ran out of runway.

Here’s what they exposed themselves to by stopping sales: now when they resume them, it’s a crystal clear sign they’re struggling and the revenues are gonna tank.

And they’ll lose another $15 a share

It's all blowing up in their faces. This is what happens when you see the parks as a place for Carnies. They just don't understand that industry at all.