What are you thinking?

[Chef Mickey]

Here is my thinking. As a local with 2 teenage daughters.

Disney FL Resident AP No Blackouts:

$691.19 X 3= $2073.57

Universal FL Resident AP No Blackouts

$299.00 X 3= $897

$2073.57 VS $897 is a significant difference. And Universal's AP gives 10% discount on merch and food including Quick Service Restaurants. And great discounts on rooms.

Disney > Universal

It's not just a price game.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

That right there is the killer of most kids Disney Dreams. When they get old enough to work for the company, their memories and dreams are destroyed by finding out whats really behind the mouse ears. Low pay, diminishing perks and poor management makes it very difficult to see through the rose colored glasses you are trying to wear when you are onstage. It's a pitiful shame that all of these price hikes, upcharges and rising cost of Disney merchandise and food doesn't make any difference to the wages for the front line Cast Members who are doing the grunt work for their greedy executives.

Yes, sad. On one end, Disney is squeezing out its traditional American middle class customers for their every penny, to record profits. Even working your back off with overtime every day is not good enough for Disney anymore, they want your pension and college fund too if you want to take your kids where your parents took you.

Meanwhile on the other end, Disney's war on the American middle class consists of crushing their employees into poverty, or even replacing them with foreign workers.

WHY DOES DISNEY HATE AMERICA!!?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Disney > Universal

It's not just a price game.

The first part is subjective. For us, Universal offers a lot more of what we enjoy doing over Disney. My 15 and 19 year old daughters would look at me like I lost my mind if I asked them if they wanted to queue up for a Disney M&G.

Therefore me paying $1200 more to have access to stuff we don't want to do is illogical.

 

[NearTheEars]

The first part is subjective. For us, Universal offers a lot more of what we enjoy doing over Disney. My 15 and 19 year old daughters would look at me like I lost my mind if I asked them if they wanted to queue up for a Disney M&G.

Therefore me paying $1200 more to have access to stuff we don't want to do is illogical.

Yep, that comparison should only be for size and number of parks. It really comes down to what you want as a consumer. Some buy both, some one or the other and others none at all. And your daughters are definitely in the stage of their lives where Universal would likely be more appealing. And it saves you quite a few bucks!

 

[Goofyernmost]

The point I was getting at was more along that second part you mentioned. Idle buildings look bad, especially if there is no reason why they can't be used. Odyssey would be a fine location for some more meet and greets. For instance... they didn't have to shutter half of Innoventions for meet n' greets when* a reasonably sized already abandoned building that would be fine as a nice "Character Spot" location exists... Innoventions just needs to drop the sponsorship idea and be the new "DisneyQuest" within EPCOT... But actually taking the care and time to update the exhibits once and a while.

While I agree that the Odyssey location would work for that, it is also still being used, but, for special events. They make big bucks on special events and not a nickel more on anything in Innovations. Innovations is looking sad because fewer and fewer businesses think that they get enough bang for the buck by having a minor showcase in Epcot. Since that leaves a lot of space in those buildings, a M&G is a perfect location to bring people in and while they are there to see what the remaining businesses are displaying.

Yes, sad. On one end, Disney is squeezing out its traditional American middle class customers for their every penny, to record profits. Even working your back off with overtime every day is not good enough for Disney anymore, they want your pension and college fund too if you want to take your kids where your parents took you.

Meanwhile on the other end, Disney's war on the American middle class consists of crushing their employees into poverty, or even replacing them with foreign workers.

WHY DOES DISNEY HATE AMERICA!!?

They don't hate America, but, nice rallying cry there! What they do is love money more and that, if my college economics class was any indication, is known as a, very American, free enterprise system. You cannot have a free system and then tie up the hands of those in that system. So then it becomes which do you want? A tightly controlled system regulated by people with less theme park experience then the idiots that run it now or a free enterprise system, complete with warts, that continues to function under the rules of supply and demand? You cannot have them both.

As for the rest of the the scenario, no one is forced to go there. It is a completely voluntary action. If people are foolish enough to spend there pensions and college fund on a theme park, I'm not sure I can fault Disney. By the looks of the current gate clicks, a whole lot of people feel that it is worth it. The same goes for CM's, it is everywhere that the wages are low, some of the working conditions are tedious, but, there are a lot worse out there. Living in poverty is only an option if you have some other means, like education and drive. All those people the guests, the CM's, everyone by now either knows or has the ability to know what is going to happen. They will get a good experience, maybe not great like the oft remembered good old days, but, still fun and they find it worth the money. Why is that Disney's fault? Do we, as individuals, not have some control of our own logic and therefore responsibility for our own actions? When the public gets fed up... prices will be coming down. Until then, those of us that no longer feel that the experience is worth the money will find other things to do. It's not all that difficult.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

They don't hate America, but, nice rallying cry there! What they do is love money more and that, if my college economics class was any indication, is known as a, very American, free enterprise system. You cannot have a free system and then tie up the hands of those in that system. So then it becomes which do you want? A tightly controlled system regulated by people with less theme park experience then the idiots that run it now or a free enterprise system, complete with warts, that continues to function under the rules of supply and demand? You cannot have them both.

Well...

At the risk of us getting all too political here, but Walt was a Republican, as right wing as they came, a free market champion of American enterprise. And yet, by today's standards he'd be considered almost a communist, what with his mid-century ideals about egalitarianism, a strong middle class, social mobility, living wages, enterprises working to further the country rather than the reverse.
Something went terribly wrong along the way...

 

[Larry Mondello]

The man behind the popular Dad's Guide to WDW website just posted this regarding his opinions on the new upcharge stuff that will soon be unveiled at Magic Kingdom. It's an open letter calling out Iger for basically putting money over populus.

http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/what-are-you-thinking-an-open-letter-to-bob-iger.html

What do you think? Is the poster right in his ranting? Or is he just yelling at a tornado?

And also, let's watch this thread well. I don't want certain people (*cough*RonnieHare*cough*) using this to spread his bull.

"Putting money over populous". That's what big corporations do. It's supply and demand. They will find a price point that optimizes their profits. If they charge more and people still come they could care less it you don't come anymore.

From the article "When Walt died it cost less than $4 to get into the Magic Kingdom". So it cost $4 to walk through a swamp?

 

[WondersOfLife]

While I agree that the Odyssey location would work for that, it is also still being used, but, for special events. They make big bucks on special events and not a nickel more on anything in Innovations. Innovations is looking sad because fewer and fewer businesses think that they get enough bang for the buck by having a minor showcase in Epcot. Since that leaves a lot of space in those buildings, a M&G is a perfect location to bring people in and while they are there to see what the remaining businesses are displaying.

But they already have the Wonders of Life pavilion and Millenium Village abandoned as well?? And surely a meet n' greet location can easily be transformed into an event center.... There's also that really long, huge hallway that could be used for what the Odyssey is being used for.

 

[Chef Mickey]

The first part is subjective. For us, Universal offers a lot more of what we enjoy doing over Disney. My 15 and 19 year old daughters would look at me like I lost my mind if I asked them if they wanted to queue up for a Disney M&G.

Therefore me paying $1200 more to have access to stuff we don't want to do is illogical.

Just get both.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

"Putting money over populous". That's what big corporations do. It's supply and demand. They will find a price point that optimizes their profits. If they charge more and people still come they could care less it you don't come anymore.

Just to point out....many peeps on this forum are saying the price increases are NOT going to reduce crowds, and crowds will continue to grow! It that is true, Disney can raise prices EVEN HIGHER and have more profits, if they could care less!!

And whatever became of Fred Rutherford?

 

[JIMINYCR]

All is not lost!! Go over to Disneyland. It's still got that wonderful magic!

Maybe some day. But unfortunately travel wise, its East Coast .... WDW for us.

 

[Larry Mondello]

Just to point out....many peeps on this forum are saying the price increases are NOT going to reduce crowds, and crowds will continue to grow! It that is true, Disney can raise prices EVEN HIGHER and have more profits, if they could care less!!

And whatever became of Fred Rutherford?

You're right. I have been going every year since 1990 and it is getting more expensive, more crowded and with less to offer every year. I went the 2nd week of September last year (traditionally the slowest time of the year) and it was more crowded than ever. If and when I go again it will be well after all this new stuff is built.

As for Fred Rutherford, he became Mel Cooley.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Maybe some day. But unfortunately travel wise, its East Coast .... WDW for us.

Well if you ever decide to take a cruise to Hawaii... Stop by Disneyland for two days. I convinced my parents to do that both times we took a cruise to Hawaii!

 

[mousehockey37]

Gotta say, he's hit it on the head. There's threads everywhere of people asking "how do you save for Disney?" or "how often do you visit?".. Well, it's only getting tougher. This year's big push in the states is 30% on rooms. What's the international offer(s)? Disney in Orlando seems to be pushing more on the international side. Things have gotten better with the economy, but the job world is still behind. The 99%/1% debate keeps pushing on, and I agree with the open letter, Disney is appealing more to the 1% because they'll drop the big money and not think twice. The other 99% of us, whether we went every year, every other year, etc, we're now having to think further out or not plan at all. The advancements that have been made are good, but having to book trips up to a year or more in advance? Dining and Rides reservations starting at 6 months ahead? That's a lot of time for these small 99%'ers to have things go wrong and need that money back... Sadly, WDW is bad, but going over to the cruise line thread makes affording the parks look easy...

Something is going to have to give at some point, but when it does, it may already be too late. Right now people are having a lot of tough decisions because prices are going up, along with the construction walls. It's great to expand, but raising the prices isn't helping. The MK is going to take the brunt of this hit, due to DHS being a construction zone. AK, we're gonna wait and see how this new night show works out and don't forget get Avatar Construction Land, Epcot is Currently Empty Future World, and Norw-endelle coming to completion (still walls)...

Sure people will always go to Disney... it's just a matter of when the 99%er's want to mortgage their vacations to do so...

 

[LindsaySue2]

I love WDW and I will continue to go there but there are some valid points that were made and some things that concern me
1. The staffing cuts.
2. Whole buildings that are empty and rides that are seriously outdated (FutureWorld Epcot)
3. Too many new things "in the works" at one time.
Will it be worth it in the long run? Don't know yet. I'm ok with putting a little extra magic into keeping the parks great but is that where it's going? With some of their decisions they have been making I have some doubts but will give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[alissafalco]

He's right on with that letter. Here's the answer to still being able to afford that Disney trip. Stay off property.

 

[Goofyernmost]

He's right on with that letter. Here's the answer to still being able to afford that Disney trip. Stay off property.

Stop pushing that! It will cause the outside rates to climb as well. Not that they could ever reach the altitude that Disney has created.

 

[bjlc57]

The man behind the popular Dad's Guide to WDW website just posted this regarding his opinions on the new upcharge stuff that will soon be unveiled at Magic Kingdom. It's an open letter calling out Iger for basically putting money over populus.

http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/what-are-you-thinking-an-open-letter-to-bob-iger.html

What do you think? Is the poster right in his ranting? Or is he just yelling at a tornado?

And also, let's watch this thread well. I don't want certain people (*cough*RonnieHare*cough*) using this to spread his bull.

this open letter, said things that I have been saying for over the past 10 years.. this letter is DEAD ON POINT and needs few adjustments or corrections. OUTSTANDING!!!

 

[networkpro]

Yes, sad. On one end, Disney is squeezing out its traditional American middle class customers for their every penny, to record profits. Even working your back off with overtime every day is not good enough for Disney anymore, they want your pension and college fund too if you want to take your kids where your parents took you.

Meanwhile on the other end, Disney's war on the American middle class consists of crushing their employees into poverty, or even replacing them with foreign workers.

WHY DOES DISNEY HATE AMERICA!!?

Nice diatribe. First of all you need to consider the plight and composition of exactly what is "Middle Class" and what shifts have occurred in the economy.
There are at least five different ways that economists, federal agencies and even the White House measure and characterize "Middle Class", its not just whats left over when you remove the top and bottom 20% "poorest" and "wealthiest"
Income, wealth, consumption, aspiration, demographics

Strictly by income you can see that its shrinking.

"Hate America" A bit strong and inaccurate. They are a business, not a charity. If they can employ a worker who does a commodity skill that anyone with reasonable training can perform, why should they be forced to use a higher cost employee who provides no more value than the lower cost one ? Disney as a company had very little if any ROI during the high discount years following 2008.

 

[DarthMileZ]

I love WDW and i will continue to visit every summer.

however it upsets me that i cant have family come with me because its so expensive