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

AdventureHasAName

AdventureHasAName

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
I'm also not sure what people think they should be doing against Epic Universe. I get the impression people think Disney should be opening big new attractions against it to try and crush it in some way. That doesn't actually seem like a very good strategy to me and, if anything, having things ready to go in the years after it opens, the hype goes down, and they have a better sense of what its opening has meant for the Orlando theme park market seems smarter. I say that as someone who doesn't even like much of what they have in the pipeline for Orlando.
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I agree that it is not a good strategy, but it is a strategy that Disney employed for quite a while. When it was operating under a "get them on property, then keep them on property" philosophy, Disney used to go after competitors all the time.

Universal was pulling guests? Let's build Disney-MGM Studios. People are going to Church Street Station at night because there's nothing to do at WDW? Here comes Pleasure Island. Busch Gardens is pulling away some of the money? Animal Kingdom gets built.

Hell, the entire Disney California Adventure park on opening day was a series of lands designed so that guests wouldn't leave and go explore the surrounding areas of Los Angeles.
 
TheMaxRebo

TheMaxRebo

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
I agree with most of that. Where I disagree is with Disney doing nothing. Not saying to add new attractions to counteract Epic but more in the way of incentives to visit. Like ticket deals and resort offers with really good discounts.

IMO the perfect storm is happening this summer, Disney has priced a lot of people out that do fill the summer months. As big as Epic is, it's still a Universal property. Which means many still have the mindset that Universal is an add on to a Disney vacation.
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And even what they do have coming - the new night time parade, TT 3.0, the Villains show, etc don't have opening dates so even if you wanted to plan something for the summer would be hard to set anything

I do assume some ticket deals are coming - like the 4 days, 4 parks for $99/day - but will take more than that to really get people excited
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
TheMaxRebo said:
And even what they do have coming - the new night time parade, TT 3.0, the Villains show, etc don't have opening dates so even if you wanted to plan something for the summer would be hard to set anything

I do assume some ticket deals are coming - like the 4 days, 4 parks for $99/day - but will take more than that to really get people excited
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Normally yes it would. My view with Epic opening it shouldn't much to get people to add a few days to Disney.

What IMO is happening is people don't want to pay the Disney prices right now. At the same time Epic and Universal isn't a big enough draw for a weeks vacation.
 
Agent H

Agent H

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
I agree with most of that. Where I disagree is with Disney doing nothing. Not saying to add new attractions to counteract Epic but more in the way of incentives to visit. Like ticket deals and resort offers with really good discounts.

IMO the perfect storm is happening this summer, Disney has priced a lot of people out that do fill the summer months. As big as Epic is, it's still a Universal property. Which means many still have the mindset that Universal is an add on to a Disney vacation.
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That’s fair even I have problems with the up charges sometimes what I feel like people aren’t discussing is universal cheating by making people visit the other 2 parks
 
TheMaxRebo

TheMaxRebo

Well-Known Member
Agent H said:
That’s fair even I have problems with the up charges sometimes what I feel like people aren’t discussing is universal cheating by making people visit the other 2 parks
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so far, they have said other ticket options will be available before the park opens. So I get wanting that barrier to entry for the people that *have* to be there for the opening week. Guess they could have also just charged like $300/day for the first week or something

if it stays like this and the only way to get into Epic for the next year or something is with those three day tickets then I will have a bigger issue
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
Stripes said:
Nothing is stopping anybody from buying several ticket packages and going to Epic for 10 consecutive days. It’s going to cost them, but it’s possible. A better system would be *gasp* a park reservation system.
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Nothing is stopping them except price. Nobody is paying $450 10 times to visit Epic Universe for 10 consecutive days.

The backlash that Disney and other parks got for reservations isn't worth it.
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
Stripes said:
Even with Epic, Universal isn’t a week long vacation. Also, none of those ticket packages are a week long.
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I’m still very curious to see how Epic affects the other parks in the area, I think it’ll add a few more people/days to the Orlando market but my guess is 90% of its guests are going to be poached from the other Uni/Disney/SeaWorld parks.

I think the only parks that will increase attendance as a result of Epic are IOA and MK (and maybe EP) as they are the only parks in Orlando that the vast majority “can’t” skip.
 
Stripes

Stripes

Premium Member
Jrb1979 said:
Nothing is stopping them except price. Nobody is paying $450 10 times to visit Epic Universe for 10 consecutive days.

The backlash that Disney and other parks got for reservations isn't worth it.
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You mean to tell me that nobody is going to buy multiple ticket packages so they can go to Epic several times? It’s a cash grab.

10 days was an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. The park reservation criticism from certain people was unreasonable and especially with the opening of a new park I think most members of the public would completely understand the need to manage attendance. It’s for their own benefit.
 
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Stripes

Stripes

Premium Member
Vegas Disney Fan said:
I’m still very curious to see how Epic affects the other parks in the area, I think it’ll add a few more people/days to the Orlando market but my guess is 90% of its guests are going to be poached from the other Uni/Disney/SeaWorld parks.

I think the only parks that will increase attendance as a result of Epic are IOA and MK (and maybe EP) as they are the only parks in Orlando that the vast majority “can’t” skip.
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I think DAK and USF are at high risk. The others? Maybe.
 
D

DarkMetroid567

Well-Known Member
The prolonged availability of the 3-day requirement is imo a clear sign that Uni is worried about USF and IOA. And I would believe the strategy would work if demand for Epic were super high and tickets were selling out… but they’re not. You can still buy an opening day ticket right now so long as you agree to spend two more days at the legacy parks. If the demand for a full Universal vacation + Epic were so high you’d imagine at least something would be sold out.

I think we see another decrease in Disney attendance this year but any impact from Epic itself will be incredibly minimal — most of the Disney GP doesn’t know it exists. It’ll be entirely self-inflicted or explained by some market conditions.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
DarkMetroid567 said:
The prolonged availability of the 3-day requirement is imo a clear sign that Uni is worried about USF and IOA. And I would believe the strategy would work if demand for Epic were super high and tickets were selling out… but they’re not. You can still buy an opening day ticket right now so long as you agree to spend two more days at the legacy parks. If the demand for a full Universal vacation + Epic were so high you’d imagine at least something would be sold out.

I think we see another decrease in Disney attendance this year but any impact from Epic itself will be incredibly minimal — most of the Disney GP doesn’t know it exists. It’ll be entirely self-inflicted or explained by some market conditions.
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Like i said earlier, it's the perfect storm this summer. Epic not being the draw that was hoped so no overflow of Orlando visitors and people not interested in paying Disney prices. This is what they end up. IMO I really believe the Orlando market is tapped out.
 
networkpro

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
In my personal opinion and economic circumstances, the price point that Disney provides for my vacation dollars is economically viable, but I know it is not for many families. The economic question that Disney is trying to solve for is at what point does that last upcharge add the straw that breaks their budgetary back. What exactly are the budgetary allocations external to Parks and Experiences that require siphoning off so many dollars ?
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
networkpro said:
In my personal opinion and economic circumstances, the price point that Disney provides for my vacation dollars is economically viable, but I know it is not for many families. The economic question that Disney is trying to solve for is at what point does that last upcharge add the straw that breaks their budgetary back. What exactly are the budgetary allocations external to Parks and Experiences that require siphoning off so many dollars ?
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IMO for most they are already at that point.
 

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