WSJ: Even Disney Is Worried About The High Cost Of A Disney Vacation (gift link)

BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
Chi84 said:
Start a Disney v. Universal thread. It would take all the Universal stuff out of this thread to make it easier for people who care what Disney costs but couldn't care less about Universal.
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Since I started it In part, it’s extremely relevant to the discussion. The trouble is a lot of posters seem to immediately think it’s some sort of fanboy battle. It’s not for me, my trip to Epic is long booked.

As Disney has been found to have hit the price ceiling, their competitor has made an extremely expensive Investment based on the premise they had a longer run way to increase their own prices.

It’s a very friable time for both companies and when you’ve marketed yourself as the cheaper option since the 90s, but your goal was to close the gap on Disney… where does that leave you and the broader market for ongoing lumpy capital heavy investment?

In a not great scenario… which was the only point I was trying to make.
 
D

DarkMetroid567

Well-Known Member
BrianLo said:
Since I started it In part, it’s extremely relevant to the discussion. The trouble is a lot of posters seem to immediately think it’s some sort of fanboy battle. It’s not for me, my trip to Epic is long booked.

As Disney has been found to have hit the price ceiling, their competitor has made an extremely expensive Investment based on the premise they had a longer run way to increase their own prices.

It’s a very friable time for both companies and when you’ve marketed yourself as the cheaper option since the 90s, but your goal was to close the gap on Disney… where does that leave you and the broader market for ongoing lumpy capital heavy investment?

In a not great scenario… which was the only point I was trying to make.
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Yeah, and I don’t think many realize how symbiotic the Disney-Universal relationship is post-Wizarding World.

Universal prices closely track Disney’s on both coasts but now always lag a little bit behind, which is justifiable after Potter. A lot confuse this strategy of pricing tickets and hotels as some sort of compassionate pro-consumer approach — and no, it’s because the demand isn’t there and the cost of a Universal vacation can’t surpass Disney’s. It’s not like the tickets are particularly cheap. A ticket to USF or IOA today is $159, only $20 less than Disneyland. That’s a lot of money!

It puts both companies in a kind of interesting boat. Consumers, for better or worse, see Disney as a superior good. If the prices are equal, more people are going to choose Disney. But then you make investments like Epic while Disney is twiddling their thumbs — can you raise your prices to Magic Kingdom levels? Even if Epic is an unambiguous better-than-Disney hit, I don’t think so.

Disney hitting a price ceiling makes things really weird. Universal is going to need to boost prices sooner or later. But if that happens, will Disney even have an incentive to invest beyond what they’ve already announced? Or are the prices still going to go up?
 
networkpro

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
To me it brings into question exactly how much of the Disney price structure is inflexible ? If the margins are wider than average (as a lot of us suspect) exactly how much is this business segment propping up others are currently not going concerns ?
 
Chi84

Chi84

Premium Member
BrianLo said:
Since I started it In part, it’s extremely relevant to the discussion. The trouble is a lot of posters seem to immediately think it’s some sort of fanboy battle. It’s not for me, my trip to Epic is long booked.

As Disney has been found to have hit the price ceiling, their competitor has made an extremely expensive Investment based on the premise they had a longer run way to increase their own prices.

It’s a very friable time for both companies and when you’ve marketed yourself as the cheaper option since the 90s, but your goal was to close the gap on Disney… where does that leave you and the broader market for ongoing lumpy capital heavy investment?

In a not great scenario… which was the only point I was trying to make.
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No I don’t care. I was just suggesting a way to comply with the mod’s statement that any future Disney versus Universal posts would be deleted.
 
Ayla

Ayla

Well-Known Member
LittleBuford said:
Maybe some of us just aren’t interested in Universal?

Everyone has different tastes. I wouldn’t criticise someone for choosing Universal over Disney if that’s what actually appeals to them. On the contrary, I would applaud them for spending their hard-earned money in the manner that’s likeliest to make them happy.

I’ll never understand why some here feel the need to pathologise those whose opinions they don’t share. Live and let live.
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Good to see you again. :)
 
Ayla

Ayla

Well-Known Member
BrianLo said:
Since I started it In part, it’s extremely relevant to the discussion. The trouble is a lot of posters seem to immediately think it’s some sort of fanboy battle. It’s not for me, my trip to Epic is long booked.

As Disney has been found to have hit the price ceiling, their competitor has made an extremely expensive Investment based on the premise they had a longer run way to increase their own prices.

It’s a very friable time for both companies and when you’ve marketed yourself as the cheaper option since the 90s, but your goal was to close the gap on Disney… where does that leave you and the broader market for ongoing lumpy capital heavy investment?

In a not great scenario… which was the only point I was trying to make.
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(Vows to use “friable” in at least one sentence today.)
 
D

DisneyHead123

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
It got too crowded due to them not keeping with capacity. They should have been adding new attractions to each park yearly. Instead they have been playing a game of crowd management and finding ways to lower attendance.
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I have mixed feelings on the capacity thing. Of course we'd all like increased capacity and things to do at the parks, but at some point I think they risk spreading themselves too thin - there are already a lot of complaints on here about the customer service now compared to the Disney of the 1970s and 80s, and I think staying staffed and stocked with all the material things they need is probably harder than ever. I don't know what the answer is.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
DisneyHead123 said:
I have mixed feelings on the capacity thing. Of course we'd all like increased capacity and things to do at the parks, but at some point I think they risk spreading themselves too thin - there are already a lot of complaints on here about the customer service now compared to the Disney of the 1970s and 80s, and I think staying staffed and stocked with all the material things they need is probably harder than ever. I don't know what the answer is.
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That's fair. I feel each park should have roughly the same amount of attractions numbers wise.

I don't think pricing people out is the answer either. IMO Disney's most loyal guest are those in middle to upper middle class. Pushing them out and chasing the 1-10% of the population isn't sustainable. From my view most of those people aren't into Disney or theme parks in general or at least not enough of them to maintain profits
 
D

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
Walt's business model was a park that the middle class could afford so that he could attract a high volume of those people and make a good profit.
Because of the reputation earned in Walt's day and the early WDW years, the current company's business model is to charge as much as possible and get people who can't really afford it to vacation there anyway and make even bigger profits.

If Walt had started DL with the current business model WDW probably wouldn't exist.
 
Laketravis

Laketravis

Well-Known Member
DisneyCane said:
If Walt had started DL with the current business model WDW probably wouldn't exist.
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When we were all complaining about some aspects of WDW fifteen or twenty years ago, little did we know how much worse it was going to get.

Those days of reasonable resort, QS and TSR prices, DME and FP and EMH and FD and a host of other acronyms seem even more desirable now that they are gone.

I wonder if they were restored what price WDW would have to charge and whether or not it would even be worth it anymore.
 

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