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

[DLgal]

It went to 100% Memorial Day weekend.

Not exactly. It went to "100% of what we can support at the current level of staffing."

It did not go back to 100% of the pre covid capacity. It's about 85% of what that used to be. Chapek confirmed that.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Not sure why they couldn’t offer Fantasmic nightly though? I guess it’s a little loud, trough not like the fireworks.

The first time I saw Fantasmic in 2015, the fireworks were not part of the show. When we went in 2020, they were part of the show and we were surprised (She hates fireworks so this was not a good thing). Our theory was that the weather conditions during the first trip were such that Fantasmic was good to go, but not with the fireworks portion of the show.

This is a long way of saying that it is possible to do an amazing version of Fantasmic without the fireworks.

 

[ddwlms]

I'm going to be the dissenting voice here. It seems like basic economics to me. Demand is high, supply is low. The best way to decrease demand is raise prices. And, don't shoot me please, I don't think that prices are high enough, - because the parks are way to crowded.

If I want a decent seat at a concert, I pay 2x (or more) what a day in DL cost. And that is for just a few hours of entertainment. And if I can't afford it, I don't go. There are plenty of things I would love to do that I don't, because I can't afford to.

Disney does not owe us anything. They are a business. They put out a product, and we keep complaining about it, but we keep buying it. So, we (the collective we) must think that it is worth the money.

 

[Pluto468]

It went to 100% Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks!

 

[lcp9]

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.

Personally, we are already committed to Disneyland this year so we have to go, but instead of 3 days I think we're only doing 2. For a lot of reasons, it's more than likely our last year visiting as a family with little kids which means I don't necessarily see another trip in the next 5 years. My youngest is 4 and for whatever reason - whether it's the lack of content or just personality differences - has not become super involved with Disney like my oldest was with princesses or my middle two boys were with Cars. He likes Cars, but there really haven't been any new movies or exciting characters in his era that he's attached to.

It's also not even about the money. Presumably, we are the kind of guests Disney would like to see? We are a top tax bracket family and repeat visitors from out of state. As opposed to our first visit with kids in 2014, now DLR trips are kind of miserable and do not feel like they have value anywhere close to what it actually costs. I suppose VIP tours exist, but even with a VIP tour, the feel of the parks does not make it worth a $3000 day. I thought I'd be sad thinking this is our last visit but I actually don't even care and I'm kind of dreading going in a couple weeks. I'm really glad I didn't buy OBB tickets because I haven't heard great things and the MHP we went to a couple years ago was not worth the current $180x6 people price tag.

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.

 

[DnA2010]

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.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

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.

I have had this conversation with many friends and family in recent months. Infrequent visitors (Disney lovers!) who went and had a miserable time and don't want to go back. It's so sad to me!

When people ask me lately if it's a good time to go I have honestly been saying no. The summer the parks opened after the pandemic when there were no fast passes and all the lines were short and it was limited capacity I was telling people GO! GO! Now, I can't in good conscious recommend it to the infrequent visitor who may only go once every few years.

 

[lcp9]

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.

totally agree. Maxpass strategy especially made for great days. Genie+ can't be manipulated in the same way though, and rope drop only gets you so far. But yes, everyone I know who has gone and not been hyperaware of Disney strategy has come back miserable.

 

[RamblingMad]

Isn't capitalism great? People love it until it affects them.

 

[GatorChris]

The Hyperion Theater can seat nearly 2,000 guests and it used to run a show three or four times a day! Now it sits empty while people wander around DCA seeing ever longer lines.

Yes! The Hyperion! It's been years since they opened back up, but this people eater sits empty. Why? Because that would cost DL money and they don't have any interest in improving the experience right now.

I read online the ticket increases averaged at an 8% increase, and inflation is currently at 8.3% I believe. It was interesting to me because I couldn’t remember a time in recent years when the ticket increase was below inflation.

The multi-day tickets have gone up 9-11%.

Here I am 6 days out & I still don't feel I've wrapped my head around the best way to do things.

Hoping with all my learning & planning that once we get there it will be a blast & not a lesson in futility.

This is exactly where I am right now. I used to be able to fly high at DL. But it so confusing and always changing at the moment. It's impossible to keep up. I'll go next week feeling lie a rookie.

Everytime I read someone post this I get confused. Except for the 50th anniversary in 2004/2005, Disneyland has always held fireworks and Fantasmic! to weekends, and non-school periods. An agreement they hold with the City of Anaheim. In the 60s and early 70s, the 5 min firework show was only on Fri and Sat (not even Sundays.)

My argument is with F! on weekends only. We've all seen the show. The fireworks they have are not gunpowder launched, so they have minimal sound. You can barely hear the report from Downtown Disney during this show. I feel like I always have - they don't do it nightly because it saves them a ton and they can still charge us the same. Well, until tiered pricing came along.

Great sentiment, OP.

But aren't you going to be at Disneyland next week? Didn't I see that in another post?

That's why Disney keeps doing this stuff. People come anyway. So why not?

Yip, I'm there next week. But only because my oldest daughter is a senior and she specifically asked to go to DL for the week. That out of the options of Hawaii and Universal Orlando. I preferred the others because the value is better these days (if you VRBO in Hawaii, not the hotels). But she has nothing but childhood memories and wants our last family trip together to be DL. Can't blame her. But...after this trip, I'll be hard pressed spend this kind of currency again for the limited value.

"You are not the first to pass this way, nor shall you be the last."

Brother, you said it.

 

[Mseplover]

Please delete

 

[DizMe]

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.

 

[Sue M]

You hit the nail on the head. Not to mention the addition of the hated park reservations.

 

[kbelle8995]

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

 

[Disturbia]

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.

Can’t they just lower the park passes if it was truly about crowd control.

We go because we have a great time despite the negatives and there are still restrictions on cruises/overseas. Like others have said our younger 2 kids are not that into everything Disney. They like Jurassic world and Mario as well. The newer lands have very little to offer younger kids. Creativity is lacking: carasoul/mad tea party/mater’s junkyard like rides riding Jar Jar binks or a banshee/direhorse would have been so immersive; meet and greets like the raptor greet at universal; Maybe a play area where kids could climb pandoras trees or hop on the leaves or even in toy story land a playhouse/ground where you had large toys and stationary bouncing characters. They lost track of their target audience and are trying to grab universal’s target. Core Competency?

Milking the huge Disney fan base is very short sighted. The pandemic meant Disney had a captive audience to cater to after they reopened (esp. the pandemic babies) and not everyone is a Disney+ subscriber.

 

[mwmom]

OMG--I was EXACTLY thinking this yesterday!!

We did WDW 4x from 2007-2018.
It took a lot of learning to to it right.

Now been trying to plan ONE day in DL...my head is spinning.
And I retired in May so I HAVE the time to do the research!!
Here I am 6 days out & I still don't feel I've wrapped my head around the best way to do things.
I think I understand G+, trying to decide if I need to buck up another $43 to get those 2 ILL tickets...when I already have spent $214 for park hopper w/ G+ for 1 day. (so almost $260??!!)

Hoping with all my learning & planning that once we get there it will be a blast & not a lesson in futility.

Agree! I am retired, too, and have the time to research for our upcoming DW trip and my head is spinning trying to plan. And don't get me started on the cost of Genie +.

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

We've always been a WDW family. Been to DLR once for an anniversary trip and loved it. We are DVC and prior to covid, went to WDW once or twice per year. We loved crossing under the railroad and entering into a different, magical realm away from the real world.
Our last trip was in March, 2021. It sucked! Mostly cuz of the mask mandates, but the buses were slow, staff was in short supply and short fused, the food wasn't as good, the entire trip just didn't have that "spark" that previous trips have had. I will attribute a lot of it due to the lingering effects of covid and shortages.
We have a trip scheduled for March, 2023 and for the first time, I am honestly not looking forward to it. I'm hoping it will still be a good one, but with no Magical Express, Genie+, higher ticket and meal prices, rides breaking down, cleanliness of the parks, CM's being mixed as far as friendliness goes and several other issues, I'm not so sure. I know I don't want to be glued to my cell phone trying to figure out our next move.
We have discussed selling our DVC, but so far haven't as we want to see what this next trip brings and whether Disney will be able to provide the quality we are used to. If it's as bad as some say, we will consider our options.
Bob Paycheck and the board obviously are not paying attention to what the guests think, nor do they care. Image is everything, and so far, they are projecting an image that is solely monetarily based. It feels as tho the mouse has turned into a rat and the fans are the cheese.

 

[Kennywood]

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

 

[WonkaKid]

Dear Disneyland,

...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.

Yup. I agree absolutely with every point made by the OP. I especially hate that they created a problem by eliminating FPs/most single-rider lines... and then sold us a solution. They're damaging their brand and there's only so much nonsense that old-school fans like us will tolerate.

I've been to DL at least 200 times and I've visited all five of the other parks in the world. I think Disney is happy to do away with folks like us. They only want the people that come to the park(s) for a short time, spend thousands and then leave. The Disney execs strike me as people with strong business acumen but they also lack vision and that's something that can't be taught. I suspect that if Walt were alive and still in charge today, he'd fire these folks. While I understand the business choices, I don't like them. They seem cynical. Remember what Oscar Wilde once said: "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” I suspect that they've factored losing old-schoolers into their business model. We're an acceptable loss. I doubt I'll renew my AP next year. So: go ahead and damage the brand for short-term gains. But it may be hard to get it back.

 

[squirk]

I don’t disagree with anything said, but……we (as a community) have been saying this for many, many years already. “Prices increasing faster than inflation,” “damaging the brand,” “people will stop coming,” “the magic is gone,” “this isn’t Walt’s vision,” and so on.

COVID, as well as Chapek’s complete lack of charisma and his reputation of being an uncreative bean-counter, certainly exacerbated these issues, but the issues themselves have been long-standing.

Disney already knows how we, this fan community, feel. But we are such a small percentage of park attendees, we really aren’t “market movers” when we threaten to stay home.

So long as Disney can keep luring in new people - who have no knowledge or memory of how things used to be, and thus no reason to be upset by change - they have no incentive to please us. For every one of us that actually does walk out the door, two new families walk in.

Disney certainly isn’t infallible. Huge companies (with just as many smart executives and analysts as Disney) have suffered catastrophic falls due to decisions borne of hubris and greed. So we’ll see if this aggressive “squeeze more money from fewer (but wealthier) people” strategy pays off long-term.

I just don’t see the point of railing about it anymore - at least not to Disney. They know how we feel. They don’t care. And they won’t care unless and until it hurts their pocketbook.

So vote with your feet and your wallet. It’s really the only way to make them listen.