A Mega-Fan's Response to Disney's Price Increases

[RoseGold]

Edit: wrong park. carry on californians.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

What is interesting about this to me is that they aren't going to just lower prices. So what happens when there's a recession and a 2 day visit to the parks for a family costs $2000? they've committed to this business plan and I'm not so sure it's going to work here in the near future. I mean, gas is $4.60/gallon for us - when people have to choose between driving to work or taking kids to DLR, I don't think there's much of a choice.

It’s $6 a gallon in Southern California… And we still drive to Disneyland from San Diego. We’d take the train but service has been discontinued indefinitely due to a landslide. Taking the train used to be a luxury but now it’s cheaper than driving.

Finally, considering all of these things, it interests me how busy the parks still are at current rates. It makes me feel like I have been lied to my whole life about the state of American finances - if we, who have plenty plus some discretionary income, think it's overpriced and the value isn't there, who are these hundreds of thousands of people who are paying and totally cool having a meh time? It makes me want to cry thinking about someone who makes $60k a year going and spending a few thousand on a Disney trip and getting horrendous lines, broken down rides, shoulder to shoulder people in NOS, no daytime parade, and half the time no real nighttime entertainment either. I just don't understand.

I think all of these people still going that are not regular or well-researched visitors have no idea what they are walking into. Disney is shooting themselves in the foot with this business model. They are sacrificing experience for profit instead of finding a balance and creating a large multi-generational group of people who will not return to Disneyland willingly. We have Keys because we’re still holding onto the nostalgia of the magic we’ve experienced from being APs as kids and then as adults with children. That magic is dwindling. We have the money to continue to visit DLR (as semi-locals that stay onsite and love a good experience upgrade), but I’m not sure we will anymore once our Keys expire… I don’t mind paying for Keys or tickets, but I do mind not being satisfied with my visits time and time again.

 

[RainyDayPixie]

Totally agree OP and this was it for us. We do a trip every year or two- Family of 5. 5 day passes, add on extras, sometimes stay on site, G+, LL. We just decided to do Europe instead of Disneyland this spring. Last February we still had a good time, but we spent a lot of money for the experience. I think it’s time for us to try other things.

But I know someone will just take our place.

We’ll be back, but it’s no longer a must do.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Every year we see the same thing happen to Disneyland and there is really no answer to the question of why Disneyland loves to increase ticket prices every year. But why I think Disneyland has started to do this habit is so they can get more visitors to the park each year by using the simple trick of raising the prices of tickets and this ticket price increasing began in 2004 when Disneyland recieved it's first ticket price jump in the spring of that year. And it has incredibly gotten worse every year especially when there's big events and holiday events such as Oogie Boogie Bash in October to Christmas related events even big affairs like Star Wars Weekends and ABC Super Soap Weekends used to happen. But with those two events no longer happening Disneyland still feels the need to increase ticket prices on non-event months. But what I think is really hurting Disneyland a lot is Genie+ and since it was invented it has made Disneyland not worthy of going. I mean who wants to pay money for waiting in shorter lines for rides that may not even be in operation? When Disneyland had Fastpass it was free and easy to get in line for rides and shows with no problems and they should've made a new version of Fastpass instead of Genie+. Second why I think we are seeing a lot of ride breakdowns and show problems a lot at Disneyland is because due to the pandemic they don't have enough entertainers and cast members to fix the rides and shows and if they were to hire more staff and fix rides and show problems Disneyland would lower the ticket prices very fast in a heartbeat. And finally the main reason why you don't see many characters do autographs during meet and greets is because I think Disneyland is trying to focus on character photos rather than autographs with characters during meet and greets is to save time and money and even when Disneyland had Fastpass they even had Fastpasses for character meet and greets as well and I hope in the future they do not become part of Genie+ because nobody is gonna want to pay money to meet the princesses or Mickey Mouse. But in my mind if Disneyland improves itself in the future the prices for tickets will be lowered and people will go. Because it used to be that with every Disneyland park ticket everything from shows to parades to meet and greets with characters was free with park admission . But Disneyland should learn not to increase ticket prices every year and lower the ticket prices to get more people to visit in the future
Dodger

 

[Malcon10t]

Because it used to be that with every Disneyland park ticket everything from shows to parades to meet and greets with characters was free with park admission . But Disneyland should learn not to increase ticket prices every year and lower the ticket prices to get more people to visit in the future
Dodger

1. From 1955-1982, Disneyland charged an entrance fee, and you paid for each ride you wanted to ride. They weren't free with admission.

2. Your park ticket includes all the shows, parades, and meet and greets with characters.

3. The parks are packed (on of the gripes on this thread.). Why would they lower the price to get more people to visit when they already have crowds?

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

Yeah I don't see Disney changing their model anytime soon, the parks are packed they seem to think its working and it is.
Also Chapek isn't the only one to blame for the parks being bad but it seems he is the one people only complain about.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think Disneyland is doing with Genie+ is make it the new version of the E-Ticket that Disneyland used to have and they think that this invention is selling a lot. But if you ever have seen the movie National Lampoon's Vacation in your lifetime you probably remember the scene where the Griswold's finally get to Wally World after waiting so long for the trip only to find Wally World closed that movie will bring to mind the people who are anticipating their Disneyland trip after so long only to find that it is not the same Disneyland they grew up going to. But I think with the new rides and the return of daytime parades coming in 2023 Disneyland will finally start to do what people want them to do and that is fixing rides and shows and parades. And the prices for Disneyland souvenirs such as autograph books and clothing and custom Mouseketeer ears will be lowered as well. Because I cannot figure out when autograph books became so pricey and they should be priced well

 

[dreamtripper]

Disney has been pretty upfront with :
Our solution to crowd control is higher prices. We will raise the cost of tickets till crowds get in line.
We also want to change to the experience at the parks.

Disney has been pretty upfront with :
Our solution to crowd control is higher prices. We will raise the cost of tickets till crowds get in line.
We also want to change to the experience at the parks.

Why can't they just limit the number of people allowed in the parks daily? Isn't that the purpose of the reservation systems? They can also raise ticket prices to balance out this restriction somewhat, but the constant and consistent increase of EVERYTHING has nothing to do with crowd control and everything to do with corporate greed. The company can still make profits limiting the number of people allowed in the parks every day, but they won't do that when they can overcrowd and overcharge.

 

[Csaks]

Being a Dis- member and having done a number of trips to Disneyland (and a couple to WDW) I feel I know how to “do” Disneyland in a way that makes it successful...I knew how to stack fastpasses, do rope drop, get free stuff etc, but a lot of the people that save up to Disneyland do not, and that makes me sad. I know several families from here where I live (BC Canada) who have just been to DL in the last months and none of them had a good time, and all swore off DL. One had gone before and couldn’t believe it was the same place…the crowds, the lack of fast pass, many many rides down, the prices of everything…they couldn’t believe how different it was.

This is what will bite them in the end. The one and done folks who come back and just badmouth the Mouse because of their experience. Get enough of them and it will haunt you. We went in 2001 to WDW for our honeymoon, loved it so much we went back every other year after, till just before Covid. Used to promote it to anyone that would listen, not anymore. We go to Universal Orlando as well when visiting Florida, it reminds me of how Disney felt all those years ago, spontaneous and fun. Never been a slave to my phone there like Disney is now. I long for the day when my biggest planning came down to what day was historically busy for what park to avoid and going to guest services for a reservation at a table service where ever we were. Standby lines moved at a reasonable rate.

Going to DL in two months because my wife has never been and now I'm just hoping it will be ok regardless of the dumb amount we've paid to go. I'm sure we will have fun because of the newness of it compared to our World trips but I doubt we will be trying to figure out what we have to do to go back as soon as possible like we did once apon a time, long long ago for World.

They will be fine in the short term but I think their short sightedness will bite them in the end.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

This is what will bite them in the end. The one and done folks who come back and just badmouth the Mouse because of their experience. Get enough of them and it will haunt you. We went in 2001 to WDW for our honeymoon, loved it so much we went back every other year after, till just before Covid. Used to promote it to anyone that would listen, not anymore. We go to Universal Orlando as well when visiting Florida, it reminds me of how Disney felt all those years ago, spontaneous and fun. Never been a slave to my phone there like Disney is now. I long for the day when my biggest planning came down to what day was historically busy for what park to avoid and going to guest services for a reservation at a table service where ever we were. Standby lines moved at a reasonable rate.

Going to DL in two months because my wife has never been and now I'm just hoping it will be ok regardless of the dumb amount we've paid to go. I'm sure we will have fun because of the newness of it compared to our World trips but I doubt we will be trying to figure out what we have to do to go back as soon as possible like we did once apon a time, long long ago for World.

They will be fine in the short term but I think their short sightedness will bite them in the end.

Disneyland is a bit of a different beast. I went to WDW right before genie plus and I don’t know how it is in FL but in CA it was somewhat manageable and also DL is so much more compact and the wait times aren’t near as chaotic in Florida. I highly recommend listening to Carlye Weisel’s Very Amusing podcast on DLR. very informative.


I do agree this will hurt them in the end with genie plus but I think that dining card while not the dining plan (and my family never used the dining plan it wasn’t worth it for us) I think is a step in the right direction in finding out what people want.

I also said when Mr. Iger was reinstated that you’re gonna see small changes first. And then a big or slightly big one. After commenting on a post here about the rumor of Steakhouse 55 possibly reopening that it could very well be one of the little things, I consider the WDW railroad reopening and the D23 email a slightly bigger thing and this dining discount as well as the end of the 50th anniversary celebration discounts I’ve seen advertised on TV some of the big things. He’s definitely feeling some stuff out for sure.

 

[GatorChris]

We went in 2001 to WDW for our honeymoon, loved it so much we went back every other year after, till just before Covid. Used to promote it to anyone that would listen, not anymore. We go to Universal Orlando as well when visiting Florida, it reminds me of how Disney felt all those years ago, spontaneous and fun. Never been a slave to my phone there like Disney is now. I long for the day when my biggest planning came down to what day was historically busy for what park to avoid and going to guest services for a reservation at a table service where ever we were. Standby lines moved at a reasonable rate.

This is me/us. We did USO in 2020 (because California was closed ), and we loved it. Even with masks and 90 degree heat and 100% humidity. It totally reminded me of when we Honeymooned at WDW in 2002. Magical. We went back to USO and WDW in Dec 2021 and USO won hands down. Just a better experience.

Iger will need to make some major changes to both domestic parks before I'm tempted to dump a bunch of money there again.

 

[GoofyGoofyGoofy]

Dear Disneyland,

Today, we were informed that you would be increasing your ticket prices to enter your parks. As a long-time business owner and director, as well as a free-market adherent, I completely understand the need to increase revenue in order to cover rising expenses and meet projected profit margins. Especially during this time of rapid inflation, we all are doing what we can to balance the books. That said, as a long-time mega-DisneyParks fan, I do feel I need to address some issues.

First, it seems that most of your ticket prices went up at a higher proportion to inflation, which we all know has been your calling card for the last decade. The price hikes have always been out of proportion with the national economy. We've put up with it for quite some time, though I feel our patience is wearing thin. The fact that you took away a free service, FastPass, and replaced it with a pay-to-play daily fee called Genie+ actually felt like a ticket price increase. You either pay the extra money to have the same thing that was free two years ago, or you lose value in the park by spending so much more time in lines. In essence, my ticket price went up with Genie+ in order to keep the same "product." And with a family of five, that went up $100/day just to stay in the same place we were before.

Second, the aforementioned Genie+ has now gone up in price along with the ticket increases. Not only did you raise the price on multi-day tickets by 9%, you raised the price even more by adding yet another $5/day for Genie+. And as if you hadn't gouged consumers enough, Individual Lightening Lane prices increased, and there's information that Genie+ may go up by even more than $5/daily on certain busy days. Is it me, or do these price increases seem out of control?

Third, you have increased prices, but the experience of visiting Disneyland has lost value. With crowds soaring, the constant breakdown of rides and attractions, an awful dining reservation system that has no written rules, the crashing of the Genie+ app, and the lack of adequate (in number and training) cast members, it seems odd that you would ask your customers to pay even more for an increasingly disappointing product.

Finally, if you're raising prices, where are the extra entertainment options that should come with those increases? I'm not talking rides. Where is "Mickey and the Magical Map"? Where is a daytime parade? Where is "Paint the Night"? And for the prices we pay for tickets, Genie+, and the way over-priced dining packages, why isn't Fantasmic! played every night, especially with the large crowds you're letting in during the month of October? The fact that NONE of these things are happening is a slap in the face to all guests who have faithfully made you their annual choice in vacations year after year. Quit hiding behind "it's the Virus thing slowing us down". Everyone else has moved back to normal, but not Disneyland?

As someone who's made trips to Disneyland all my 47 years, and even taken half-a-dozen trips to Walt Disney World, I feel like I understand your product well enough to say this: you are currently doing a terrible job and a great disservice to the Disney brand and reputation. I believe I speak for the majority of your theme park customers that we know you are capable of doing so much better.

So...do it.

Sincerely,
THE DisneyGator

Well said!
I will humbly add, the valet parking at the hotels should come with a car wash, detailing, rotating the tires and a car air freshener. P.S. Bring back the Mickey Head toiletries. P.S.S. and high tea at Steakhouse 55.
P.S.S.S Onsite guests should get 1 hour early into the parks, not a half hour. There is so much more value needed to be brought back. Meatloaf at Carnation Cafe, for example.

 

[GoofyGoofyGoofy]

I totally get what everyone is saying about the decreased experience combined with the increased cost. I, too, have been dismayed by the difference in quality experience now as compared to pre-pandemic.

Can't lie; I'm also selfishly thinking that perhaps this will have the (possibly intended) effect of siphoning off a percentage of attendees, making the parks less crowded and, well, a nicer place to be. What's kind of awful about that is that it disproportionately affects families and those with lower incomes. I don't know how you balance providing quality family entertainment with lowering the ever-increasing demand and budgeting costs while making it financially within reach of most. I also don't know how to figure the costs for Disney to do what they do.

Most of us don't like to pay more for a lesser product, but we're also not privy to behind the scenes cost analyses. I've heard all sorts of statements about it, many contradictory. I just don't know.

Disney needs to take a long look at why the parks were so successful back in 1990-1999, then 2000-2010, then 2011-2020, then 2021 to 2023. There will be stark changes on how things were run, the quality (or lack of there of) product, service, perceived value, how quickly there were increases vs decrease in value/quality of a vacation. Getting rid of the payment plans for APs would thin the crowds drastically. The golden parachutes for suits need to be reevaluated. Keeping the parks in tip top condition should and needs to be their up there in top tier of must always do. Bring back standards to what Walt Disney had.

 

[GoofyGoofyGoofy]

I personally have always thought that this not about reducing crowds But Disney wanting to have its cake and eat it too.

Well said!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Since posting on here last time we had the week of theme parks news upon news joins news.


Someone else either on here or on a social media post or somewhere hit another thing right in the head: Some of this seems to be rapid fire style and was making them wonder if Josh D’Amaro had been wanting to implement some of this stuff and couldn’t until Mr. Over returned.

Very plausible thought imho

 

[twodogs]

Disney needs to take a long look at why the parks were so successful back in 1990-1999, then 2000-2010, then 2011-2020, then 2021 to 2023. There will be stark changes on how things were run, the quality (or lack of there of) product, service, perceived value, how quickly there were increases vs decrease in value/quality of a vacation. Getting rid of the payment plans for APs would thin the crowds drastically. The golden parachutes for suits need to be reevaluated. Keeping the parks in tip top condition should and needs to be their up there in top tier of must always do. Bring back standards to what Walt Disney had.

The problem with this philosophy (which I nostalgically and selfishly agree with) is that Disney execs CAN NOT return to what was successful in the 90’s or 2000’s or 2011. They need to be MORE successful than that; they need to grow shareholder value. You can‘t just do as well as you did last year, the shareholders expect you to exceed that. Year on year, you have to continuously exceed last year, last quarter, etc. So you have to get more money out of the same operation, the same concept, the same guests (or add new ones, or charge all of them more for the same experience or better yet, less of an experience). They literally don’t want to thin crowds. They want to maximize crowds and what they are charging and diminish what they, as a company, are spending to give you the experience, until people are unwilling to pay the price or endure the crowds or endure the reduced offerings. Only then would they pull back. If they are making more money having X number of people in the park, why would they ever cut it back to X-anything? Until people vote with their wallets and either don’t go at all or stop going if they used to go (and no one replaces them), Disney will continue to push. It is just economics. And I can tell you that shareholders don’t care at all what standards Walt Disney had back in the day; they care about making money (ie increasing shareholder value). Sad but true.

And the lifetime of the “suits” at most public companies is measured in a handful of years, not decades like it used to be. So the execs don’t care what their actions on the company might mean 10 years from now. They are making decisions for the next quarter or next year, at the most. Long term plans are just not their concern. They will be long gone when any repercussions of their short-sighted business decisions crop up.

 

[DizMe]

The problem with this philosophy (which I nostalgically and selfishly agree with) is that Disney execs CAN NOT return to what was successful in the 90’s or 2000’s or 2011. They need to be MORE successful than that; they need to grow shareholder value. You can‘t just do as well as you did last year, the shareholders expect you to exceed that. Year on year, you have to continuously exceed last year, last quarter, etc. So you have to get more money out of the same operation, the same concept, the same guests (or add new ones, or charge all of them more for the same experience or better yet, less of an experience). They literally don’t want to thin crowds. They want to maximize crowds and what they are charging and diminish what they, as a company, are spending to give you the experience, until people are unwilling to pay the price or endure the crowds or endure the reduced offerings. Only then would they pull back. If they are making more money having X number of people in the park, why would they ever cut it back to X-anything? Until people vote with their wallets and either don’t go at all or stop going if they used to go (and no one replaces them), Disney will continue to push. It is just economics. And I can tell you that shareholders don’t care at all what standards Walt Disney had back in the day; they care about making money (ie increasing shareholder value). Sad but true.

And the lifetime of the “suits” at most public companies is measured in a handful of years, not decades like it used to be. So the execs don’t care what their actions on the company might mean 10 years from now. They are making decisions for the next quarter or next year, at the most. Long term plans are just not their concern. They will be long gone when any repercussions of their short-sighted business decisions crop up.

I think you're absolutely right, but I also think it's an unsustainable system. The question is, what happens when you can no longer squeeze out more revenue? When the inevitable pull-back and backlash demolish the company? What happens when this occurs in not one, but a magnitude of corporations?

I think corporate America must get away from living in the moment and focus on long-term. I do think there are some who are trying, but I'm afraid The System will stick to its policies at the cost of economic stability.

 

[GatorChris]

Well said!
There is so much more value needed to be brought back. Meatloaf at Carnation Cafe, for example.

YES! I couldn't believe the meatloaf was gone. That's nothing compared to taking out Splash Mt. But still...

 

[dieumeye]

Maybe this is the wrong thread for this comment, but we had a great day at Disneyland on Saturday.

I’ve been going for years and I’m generally there nearly every week. Sometimes solo, sometimes with family, friends, or extended family from out of town. Sometimes long full days, sometimes just a quick visit for a couple hours.

The reopening of the parks after the closure was rough. There is no doubt that there were issues: staffing, service, cleanliness, quality, maintenance, you name it. Combine that with price increases, unfavorable changes to the parks/policies, and the general negative aura surrounding Chapek. It wasn’t good.

Now, I’m not saying things are 100% perfect (whatever “perfect” means) but I feel like things are much much better recently.

Regarding Saturday, we were on property from 6:30am to 9:00pm. We got genie+, and we were able to ride all the genie+ rides with reasonable return times. And the non-Lightning Lane attractions we did didn’t have bad waits. Our longest wait of the day was literally for Astro Orbiter when the posted 15 minute time actually took 30 minutes.

Now, I do know how to navigate the parks and genie+, but our pace was leisurely. We were not moving at a commando pace to accomplish any of this. And we encountered no breakdowns, no cleanliness issues, no unpleasant CM interactions, in fact we met a lot of great CMs. And despite not having reservations, we were able to get last minute dinner reservations for either Café Orleans or Storytellers (we ended up choosing Storytellers). It was a good visit.

Whether this is just the result of the long, slow process of recovering from the pandemic closure, or specific changes due to Chapek being ousted, I have no idea. But I feel like Disneyland is on an upward trend in quality. I’m optimistic.

 

[Csaks]

The problem with this philosophy (which I nostalgically and selfishly agree with) is that Disney execs CAN NOT return to what was successful in the 90’s or 2000’s or 2011. They need to be MORE successful than that; they need to grow shareholder value. You can‘t just do as well as you did last year, the shareholders expect you to exceed that. Year on year, you have to continuously exceed last year, last quarter, etc. So you have to get more money out of the same operation, the same concept, the same guests (or add new ones, or charge all of them more for the same experience or better yet, less of an experience). They literally don’t want to thin crowds. They want to maximize crowds and what they are charging and diminish what they, as a company, are spending to give you the experience, until people are unwilling to pay the price or endure the crowds or endure the reduced offerings. Only then would they pull back. If they are making more money having X number of people in the park, why would they ever cut it back to X-anything? Until people vote with their wallets and either don’t go at all or stop going if they used to go (and no one replaces them), Disney will continue to push. It is just economics. And I can tell you that shareholders don’t care at all what standards Walt Disney had back in the day; they care about making money (ie increasing shareholder value). Sad but true.

And the lifetime of the “suits” at most public companies is measured in a handful of years, not decades like it used to be. So the execs don’t care what their actions on the company might mean 10 years from now. They are making decisions for the next quarter or next year, at the most. Long term plans are just not their concern. They will be long gone when any repercussions of their short-sighted business decisions crop up.

The short term outlook for execs will be the downfall eventually. Not only for Disney but others as well. The need to keep the shareholders happy above everything else is not sustainable. Can't wait for the stay at home remote crowd being let go for third world employees because they have proved their job can be done from anywhere and don't need to come to an office. Increase the shareholder values baby, on the backs of the very people that buy their goods and services. Already gutted the manufacturing sector for shareholders, on to the administrative side now.