OK, I am not defending Disney, nor defending higher prices. But let me interject an economics lesson in today's post...
Scarcity of Goods... There is only one Castle Suite at WDW. Only one family at a time can stay the night in that suite. If Disney were to open up that suite to the public, charging $10,000 a night, and with the reservation requiring payment in full at time of reservation... with in 24 hours the wait list would be over 5 years. Why? Cause you would be part of a small select group, cause your 5 year old would love you forever, cause it is completely unique. What if we increase that price to $100,000? Are there, would there, still be people that would pay that price? Yup, and you would only have to sell the room one out of 10 nights to make the same money, the group of people that can and will pay that money become a smaller group. For something completely unique, you can charge what people will pay... which in this case, would be a lot.
A commodity is something that is made by a lot of people and price must be competitive, because it is something that is common enough that many people can get into the market, you make very small margins. Like the price of apples at the grocery. If grocer A is charging too much, you goto grocer B for a lower price or maybe you like the service at grocer A and are willing to pay more for the service?
What folks are trying to do is compare The princess breakfast to other breakfasts as a commodity, which it is not. There is only one place on earth that you can eat breakfast with all the Disney Princesses ('cept Cindy). This is a unique item, but many can buy that unique item at the same time. there is however a limit to the number of people that can buy that item in a given day. There are only so many tables and seating's. During high demand (during the holidays) you can charge more, and according to Adam Smith ( the free market, and capitalism) you should charge more. This maintains the balance between price and demand. This is the system of economy we have adopted in this country.
So during the holidays, when the parks are busy... the hotel rooms cost more because demand is up... in Sept they offer free
DDP because demand is down. The show has discussed before how there is not really a slow time at WDW any more, as they have normalized the population and increased business in the slow times... it also is true that by increasing the prices, they decrease demand in the busy times. This has to do with supply and staffing levels. If staff were infinite they could charge the same price all year and staff to the level where they have enough people on-site to handle the Christmas/new years crowd all year. But that wastes money, paying people salary and benefits all year when they are only used at that capacity one week a year. So instead of staffing to that level, they normalize the population... increase prices in the busy times (which covers the cost of overtime and increased supply, and increased waste during that period) to decrease demand, and lower prices in Sept. to increase demand... so that they can maintain a fully utilized work force all year.
The answer is not so simple as they are robbing you and are being greedy. I have only begun to touch on the variables that make business sense to increase prices when you are busy, and decrease price when you are slow. There has to be more supply, the suppliers might charge more for increased delivery, or charge more to deliver on a holiday, or on a day that is not normal for delivery. Do you think the suppliers are going to miss an opportunity to up their price? Because you are not staffed to 100% holiday capacity you have to pay the cooks and bussers, etc. over time (it is not logical to staff to 100% of a peak, as you would have idol employees the rest of the time, not that some employees are not idol anyway).
I hate to throw cold water on every ones pyre, but it is good for business to charge more when you are busy, and demand justifies the increase in price.