wilkeliza
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2013
Going from memory the issue with Competitor is that the fees for the races never went to the charities. The fees went to Competitor and the charities were really only allowed to be a presence. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I am not sure exactly how that works with Disney. If even a portion of the registration fees go the charities then I suspect this has nothing to do with that lawsuit. Of course I think all profit from the races should go to the charities like most races do after operating and promotional costs are deducted but that is something I previously mentioned on the saturation thread so I won't rehash it further here.
The accounting works differently at DL than WDW so this very well might not make it to WDW. At DL I suspect Disney is less likely to recuperate the lost ticket revenue with other in park purchases. This is because more guests (and I would bet as an extension more volunteers) are locals, more stay off property, more leave to eat, and more stay a shorter duration. At WDW giving away a single park day to someone more likely to be staying in your hotel, eating every meal in your restaurants, and paying to get into the parks more days before and/or after your one comped day makes more financial sense.
Back during the give a day get a Disney day promotion I volunteered and got a free day in the parks. Because I had that free day I registered for and ran the Wine & Dine half, stayed two nights in a Disney resort, ate every meal for two days in Disney restaurants, and bought merchandise. I would not have even made the trip without that free day. Disney made their single park admission back many times over on me. At WDW I think the free single park admission is a loss leader that translates better to net positive revenue than it does at DL.
Just some speculation on my part.
The accounting is the same at runDisney though. runDisney is a separate entity to the parks and there isn't a runDisney DL division and runDisney WDW division it is just runDisney under a global umbrella. So not sure if the different parks will have much change on it. This could just be a test since the DL races are smaller.