With the Price Increases and Cuts, Are you Delaying your Visit?

[DisneyChik17]

I tried telling people Disney will increase prices at least in PART to control crowds. Disney themselves even confirmed that is part of the goal here (something like "reduce congestion during peak times").

This will deter people at least in part, but I still think prices need and will be going higher. The expansion will likely do nothing to mitigate crowds and will probably offset any reduction in crowds from increased pricing due to a new wave of visitors to see Star Wars, Avatar, and Toy Story.

Life is expensive and entertainment is expensive everywhere. Disney is not alone in price increases and they have to do what they have to do with the limited space. Iger should have invested a lot more in expansion and not doing so forced their hand to increase prices to ensure a quality experience.

Make no mistake...they want you to have a good time, come back, and tell others how great it is. They are starting to see that insane crowds are good for business on the day, but probably aren't great for the brand long term. Happy guests = more spending.

Being local, the price increase doesn't really have a huge effect on me, and I understand the thought process Disney is using here from an economic perspective, however, I would just lower the caps for phasing. Plain and simple. Then raise prices because you can guarantee that there are no more than "X" amount of guests in the parks at a time. Lines are lower, other options more accessible, dining less crowded, and an overall more pleasant experience.

That is something I would pay more for everyday. Hands down.

 

[Hockey89]

I don't plan on heading out until 2021 when the 50th kicks off, that is if there is a celebration and all the construction is complete.

Same... They need a lot more done before I'll go back.... As someone that has gone 30 times, I need new things.... AK, Ecpot, MGM, and MK are all half days for me now....

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I guess Disney knows what a lot of people have said here - plans were already made or in the works. People probably don't think, "Gee, I wonder what attractions will close by next year while I am planning a year in advance."

This happens to be our scheduled year off (sort of.) We get a Florida resident weekday select annual pass (for around $250) every other year. We typically buy each other the tickets for Christmas and take our first trip in January, leaving us to take our last trip on that AP the following January. So we never actually miss an entire calendar year, but you get the idea.

We went this January, and made a surprise lunch stop at the Yacht Club and Disney Springs in February. But we won't purchase our next annual passes until Christmas 2016. (Although I am rethinking that right now - do we know when the next price increase will be? Maybe it will make sense to buy them sooner to save the next increase - assuming they still don't begin until the first day of use.)

Anyway, our plans had nothing to do with what was opening or closing, but I think it's a good year to have an "off" year with everything that's [not] going on.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Being local, the price increase doesn't really have a huge effect on me, and I understand the thought process Disney is using here from an economic perspective, however, I would just lower the caps for phasing. Plain and simple. Then raise prices because you can guarantee that there are no more than "X" amount of guests in the parks at a time. Lines are lower, other options more accessible, dining less crowded, and an overall more pleasant experience.

That is something I would pay more for everyday. Hands down.

I would pay 2X current ticket price if crowds were reduced by 30%...they don't even have to cut them in half.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Yeah, we're definitely prepared for the crowds. The crowd calendar for our dates is in the moderately crowded range, but we'll be flexible and just enjoy the experience of being there in the likely event of massive crowds.

The bad part about DisneySea was that even if you were not riding, the lines to get food were well over an hour (outside) and then another 30 minutes when you got inside.

I would recommend going to DisneySea to experience it, but spend more time at Tokyo Disneyland. The food we had at DisneySea was not good (tasted canned) and the waits for the experience were not worth it. Disneyland was an entirely different and more positive experience. I'm still not mad at DisneySea...it was just super crowded and they couldn't handle the crowds. I only blame them for even allowing it to get to that point.

 

[Phonedave]

We (the family) are going this summer (2016) as we already have the trip booked. My wife and I go for a few days every other year for F&W, and I don't think we will stop doing that. However, we will be cutting back on the family trips. Kids are getting older, and there are plenty of other things to do in this world. WDW quality has been going downhill for the last decade or so, and now pricing is far outstripping normal inflation increases. For us, the value is really not there. we do own DVC, so we will continue to use points for our F&W visits, but will start gong to Hilton Head instead of WDW for family vacations, as well as other non-Disney related locations.

Part of it is due to pricing and part of it is due to the decline in quality of the parks. Airfare is only going up (despite dropping fuel costs) and don't get me started on the drop in quality of United.

it's funny, but United and WDW are very similar in situation for me. I pay to be a member of United Presidents Club, I used to be a die hard United customer (Continental before the merger). I felt I may be paying more, but was getting a product and treatment that justified it. With the changes in the lounges, planes, and services, I am thinking of not renewing my Presidents Club membersip this year, and just going with Jet Blue - they have better service and amenities, and for a lower cost. Same case goes for WDW. I used to be an every year AP holder, I am a DVC owner, and used to go to the parks multiple times a year. Not anymore. We are slowly migrating away from WDW, because the value is just not there. I have no problem paying for somthing if it is worth it, but if you ask me to pay more, and then give me less, well thats when I walk away.

-dave

 

[Tony the Tigger]

What the price increases have done is made us stop considering DVC at all. To make that kind of commitment and then see such huge ticket price increases pop up at any time and be stuck in a DVC contract - no, thank you.

 

[ford91exploder]

That's what I'm kind of wondering.. They're packing people in now and cutting services while charging a premium.

If people go and don't experience that "premium" that's going to hurt them long-term. It may take 5-10 years to really work through the people who are going to get there but once it starts dying off, it's going to be really hard to recover. I think people will even accept a bad experience for a WDW vacation and consider it a one-off (based on the good and nostalgia Disney has fostered over the years). On the other hand, if people feel like they're paying a premium and then, when they get there, they feel fleeced by all of the up-charges (like the MNSSHP special ticketed event and then the upcharge for M&Gs on top of that), and they continue to see things dormant (Epcot) or down (Monorail) or just the general state of the park starting to look dirtier because of cuts int he custodial staff it's going to leave them scratching their head as to why they paid so much for a mediocre vacation.

Now, there will always be the die-hard who will go no matter what. They've drunk the kool-aid and they're no talking them out of it. Even those,though, when they do switch because of a series of (costly) bad experiences, tend to switch really hard (goes from love to hate).

Anyway.. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out.. They've kind of lost me as a customer, for the most part. I don't hate them or anything, I just don't want to pay a premium and experience dirty/down monorails or packed stagnant parks (because of some festival) or 1/2 day parks and it kind of bugs me that to see the MK at night after around Sept 1 I typically have to buy a second ticket. All of that plus dining went from being pretty expensive (which I just accepted) to really expensive (which now makes me feel like a chump for paying for it). Oh, and everything has to be planned now. There's a lot of little things that have just added up to me going elsewhere. Not never visiting again, just normally going elsewhere from now on.

Same here I refer to myself as a reformed 'Pixie Duster', Let's just say I was forced into some of the early testing of MM+ when it first rolled out when you stayed at BLT/Contemporary there was a test where MM+ was MANDATORY and you did not get regular FP+ Well at least for me my MM+ never worked and hosed my account until last year so for years I was unable to make FP reservations,

Did not care much because I was never a FP commando being DVC 'hey if I don't get it this time I'll ride next time' but as FP became mandatory to ride ANYTHING because of the huge crowds. Let's just say my opinion of Disney took a huge hit because of that and I'm disinclined to give them a pass on anything anymore and DW and I gave up our premier passports last august because the VALUE was no longer there for the price charged.

 

[EOD K9]

I'm just waiting for the day when they will increase prices daily based on attendance. Slow day, no increase, busy day, jack the prices up, later that same day, crowds increase, so will the cost of a ticket.

 

[AndyS2992]

I'm just waiting for the day when they will increase prices daily based on attendance. Slow day, no increase, busy day, jack the prices up, later that same day, crowds increase, so will the cost of a ticket.

Sounds good on paper but it wouldn't work since most people buy their tickets in advance and so that would only apply to ticket sales at the gate on the day however if it was a 'cheap' day then people who paid more in advance would be angry so it's not feasible.

 

[EOD K9]

Sounds good on paper but it wouldn't work since most people buy their tickets in advance and so that would only apply to ticket sales at the gate on the day however if it was a 'cheap' day then people who paid more in advance would be angry so it's not feasible.

There are plenty who buy day of tickets. I can see them doing it. (Not going to, but I wouldn't put it past them) And yes, I'd be miffed too if I know the day trippers who were there early paid less than myself.

 

[POLY LOVER]

This is very simple, when people feel the offering does not justify the price they will stop coming. This has nothing to do with crowds and has everything to do with increasing revenue. if they wanted to reduce crowds there are many ways to do other than creating some tiered pricing plan.

 

[Nossit]

My wife and I have been twice a year for two years. We usually spend 4 days in Thanksgiving for the Christmas activities and 1 or 2 during the summer.

We were discussing the possibility of going this summer to see the River of Lights and Star Wars fireworks. The total was over 400 dollars for 2 days and we decided that was not a good value. For the first time, we are going to spend our money at Universal. My wife said she feels like she is cheating on Disney. We may actually spend one day at Blizzard Beach thpugh since that is the only park we have never been to.

I'll be looking forward to Disney adding some new things and upgrading what they have. For people like us who go frequently, they are killing any value by constantly raising prices on everything.