Increasing ticket prices?

Yep...heard about that one.

Of more important news for me, and maybe some others out there, was the annual pass news...sounds like those renewing APs after Aug 2 are going to get an extra 3 months - so renew for a year but get 15 months.

I hope that deal sticks around until my next AP renewal - apparently it's valid for standard or FL resident passes.

 

That's interesting Justin. ; Seems to jive with what seems to be planned for DL, since they've reached critical mass with the local APs, somewhere over 800k.

 

It's official, over 5% for adults, and almost 8% for kids:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/s ... rices.html

 

Ouch! ; And Disney just showed signs of slowing the bleeding yesterday in their quarterly financials...looked like they were pulling around the corner from the recession and wouldn't need to make any drastic moves.

For me, the sad thing is that they are raising the ticket prices while at the very same time giving away all kinds of freebies and promotions to get more people to come. ; Sort of contradictory if you ask me - stop giving things away, and you wouldn't have to raise the prices to make up for it. ; All this 4 for 3, free dining, free upgrades to DVC rooms, etc is packing the parks, but not gaining Disney very much, if not actually costing them.

 

yeah, what Justin said. the biggest problem for my family is that none of the free "perks" pertain to us as DVC members with annual passes. ; can't get free dining or a 4/3 package since it wouldn't be financially prudent to pay for a MYW ticket with an AP just to get the free stuff yet we paid $$$$$ for DVC and a pile more each year for passes. ; frustrating.

it's ironic how the DVC sales pitch stresses "owning" over "renting" yet the renters get most of the perks. ; and... ; good luck getting good ADRs during the promotional periods unless you want to eat very early or very late. ; I am not a fan of the DDP, what is has become, and what it has done to the restaurants/menus/service either. ;

 

Dina and I asked about adding free dining to our trip coming up. No problem at all, it would just add $2000 to our room price!
But we could PAY for the DDP and only add $1000.
We told them to forget it!

 

Good point! ; I keep forgetting about the latter, how it used to be that you could find little unique foods at certain restaurants, even the counter service ones, but the DP has homogenized the menus across all the parks, even at DLR.

 

I concur with the merchandise, I know that started before the DDP, and I know the source (the Empire[nb]Where did Paul Pressler come from? ; I rest my case. ; Remember that after he was in charge of Disneyland he was promoted to overseeing all Disney Park operations....[/nb].

But I'm convinced that the dining changes was due to the DDP in an attempt to reduce costs while offering an apparent "value". ; Kevin Yee worked for many years while he was getting his doctorate in Disney Foods, and while it's not as relevant with the advent of more timely publications, spent plenty of time after he relocated to Orlando focusing on the restaurants. ; And it was right around the same time that the portions started getting smaller and more homogenized. ; One example, although I haven't seen it myself, is that the infamous Monte Cristo sandwich, usually only available at the Blue Bayou for lunch only - is now available at Cafe Orleans. ; Of course, it used to be that you could only get reservations for the Blue Bayou - the same day, so it was something special. ; Now, not so much other than it's the original sit by the river attraction restaurant.

 

i am reading that a new DVC AP will cost $392, up from $369.... ; a 6% jump.
a $75 one day base ticket becomes $79... a 5% jump.

 

What are you talking about they posted a huge loss for the last quarter after having a huge gain the quarter before that. ; The news here is reporting that Disney took a huge swing in the wrong direction over the past quarter and I blame all the freebies and give aways. ; According to my CM friends, they are saying the promotions have brought the wrong kind of clientèle into the park as guests. ; They parks are now full but full of people who are bargain hunters and don't spend money on souvenirs and higher priced dining experiences

 

For people like me who doesn't invest any money in the stock market other than the bare minimum required to get the full employer match, there really isn't any fuzzy math behind the purchase into the DVC. ; That's because I'm only losing 3% interest on the money that is tied into the DVC. ; The amount of money I pay for my DVC loan, plus dues, plus interest is less than what I normally paid for accommodations each year because if we had to stay in a value resort, we would stop going to WDW. ; To us, the trip isn't worth making if we have to stay in a value or moderate resort. ; Yes, we are that big of a resort snob.

 

DL's prices went up:

to $72, single park adult ticket (little less than 5%)

to $62 single park child ticket (bit more than 5%)

$429 for a premium AP (just over 10%)

The last one I'm kind of glad, the APs have been a thorn in DLR's side since the Pay-for-Light Magic Preview[nb]Actually I don't blame them for being angry about paying for an exclusive preview to be told that it's actually a dress rehearsal.[/nb], and their numbers are getting out of control. ; Apparently the park was the busiest mid-June, right before most of the passholders were locked out for the summer. ; Also, the AP price has finally caught up to where it was in Feb 2001, when you had to pay $399 to get both parks. ; Granted, it didn't take long for DLR to revise their pricing structure...

 

I'm basing my comments about the quality of the clientle based on discussions I've had with friends who work both on and off stage at WDW and DL. ; They have noticed a definite change in the clientele. ; They are saying they are definitely not the same people and the first thing they noticed was the increased disregard for respect of the parks and it's image. ; There is increased shoplifting and vandalism. ; Include those observations with the decrease in retail purchasing and paying for dining experiences outside the scope of the DDP, it's easy to see that the people who are coming are a lower class group of people. ; It's much easier to see it at DL where the level of respect for the parks is greatly reduced compared to WDW, but WDW is catching up. ; A friend of mine at DL said that the people who frequent DL treat the park with as much respect as teenagers who go to a house party.

My wife and I have also helped at least 5 families plan WDW vacations who have said the only reason they are going is because of the buy x nights get X nights free promotions and the free dining and they want to cash in before Disney "comes to their senses" and puts prices back to normal levels. ; Heck most of these families admit they don't really care for Disney products but they could not turn down a good deal. ; It really saddened my wife and i to hear such things because we don't think you should take a vacation to a location simply because the price is right and don't really care about where you are going. ; A few of these families came back saying they had a horrible time and I think it's because they went with the wrong attitude. ;

I have been wondering though how many of these people have taken these vacations purely on credit and are paying for it over time? ; I've noticed a mentality of Americans that they will buy just about anything if they think they are getting a great deal and they'll even spend money they don't have to get it. ;

I think Disney's best bet right now is to not care enough about growth and just maintain the status quo for awhile

I have no idea where people get the idea that purchasing into the DVC is an investment. ; My guide and every piece of marketing I've read has clearly stated that buying into the DVC is a purchase of future stays at WDW at today's prices. ; I think if people buy into the DVC viewing it as an investment deserve the disappointment they receive when they realize that it isn't. ; I do think that the biggest mistake Disney made was allowing the term timeshare be applied to their product because it isn't and that is the only way I can think that people think it's an investment because timeshares, by definition, are viewed as investments because real estate is often viewed as an investment. ; But, I've been hearing a lot of the last 5 years that real estate shouldn't even be considered an investment anymore.

 

dvc is NOT an investment. ; it is only a hedge against future room prices. ; the price you paid to join vs. the price you would pay in a calendar year is the "return on investment". ; but, it's a flawed argument when you factor in dues and fees and the fact that you simply CANNOT and WILL NOT get your money back out of the product should you decide to sell it. ; there is a reason that dvcbyresale.com sells contracts for over 30% off the "rack rate" on a regular basis. ;

that being said, i just checked the dvcmember.com page and an annual pass for a dvc member increased from $369 to $389. ; i can live with a $20 increase, even if i am not crazy about it.

 

After my AP expired last year, I divided the amount I paid for my AP with my DVC discount by the number of park days I used it, and got something like $15/day. ; Even with a $20 increase, I could no complain about the value I got out of the AP. ; But, with the incoming 2 kids into our family in the next 6 months, I probably won't repeat that for 2009. ; But if we renew we could probably use that extra 3 months to cash in during 2009-2011 AP period (Dec 2009 - Feb 2011)

 

Sorry...being in the financial business, I think like a broker and not like a consumer. ; First off, Disney's Q2 wasn't a huge gain, but more importantly, analysts were expecting huge losses for Q3. ; What impacts a stock badly is when expectations are not met - in other words, if analysts put an expectation for a 25% loss, and a company loses 30%. ; In this case, Disney actually met analysts' expectations, which not many companies have done this past quarter. ; Moreover, signs hint at recovery in a few key sectors, with the biggest chunk of that loss coming out of the studios sector (lack of POTC franchise installment, Up! being only recent success, and no large releases on DVD). ; That's why I didn't say they made a profit, just that there are signs they may be stemming the bleeding.

I'm with you there. ; I can live with the increase in AP price. ; I get mine with the Florida Resident deal, which is I think slightly less than the DVC. ; Of course, as often as I go, they could raise the price another $100 and I'd still get my money's worth - Looking at the last pass which expired in June, I got 28 days off of it. ; Figure 28 days of multi-park passes, and I'm way ahead.

Got that right. ; Sure, you'll get something back if you sell your DVC, but nothing close to what you put in...and considering what you have to pay each year for maintenance fees, it keeps costing you down the road. ; Still, I basically waive the initial $25K I bought in for as a one-time extravagance, and justify the annual dues against what it would cost to stay at Disney 30 days a year. ; Even if I landed on Disney's special deals and stayed value all the way, I'd be well over the annual dues. ; And I don't like to stay value all the way, so I'm certainly able to justify the purchase of DVC that way. ; After about 20+ years, even the original investment will likely be close to break-even...and I'm on 13 years now. ; Plus, for those of us who bought in early, the price per point was a lot lower than it is now, so we at least stand a better chance of recouping close to our original investment if reselling (I got 440 points from $25K, so that's around $55 a point. Cost was around $65 a point, plus incentives and deals from buying into Boardwalk when new worked out a nice).