Bean Counters and shortsightedness

[Minnie1222]

Disney counts on its hardcore fan base, which they have said they don't care about, being stupid enough to keep coming even after raising prices and cutting back the experience. So far they have been correct.

Cost and experience are highly subjective. I'm unconcerned on whether Disney "cares" about me or not. It's a business, not a kinsperson. The amount of fun we have still exceeds the monetary value.

 

[Brian Noble]

This reminds me of something I've been saying for years.

Disney is a company that makes money by selling happiness. That's not the same as "Disney wants me, specifically, to be happy." It is easy to believe the latter is true, until something happens that makes it clear that it is not. That something could be the elimination of a beloved offering. It could be a price or policy change. It could even be the way we are treated during a visit. No matter what, even the most dedicated Disney fan eventually encounters that something--and the longer it takes to get there, the worse it feels.

When you reach that point, you have a few options. You can take your ball and go home. You can stick around and be unhappy about it. Or you can decide to enjoy the parts you can, and let go of the other stuff.

At the end of the day, the only thing Disney cares about is that enough people pay them enough money such that Disney continues to grow its bottom line. If I'm one of those people, Disney thinks that is great. If I'm not, Disney will not miss me. If Disney over-corrects, they will discount and promote until things are back in line, and when they are the discounting/promoting will stop.

As Don Corleone put it: It's not personal, it's strictly business.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

When you reach that point, you have a few options. You can take your ball and go home. You can stick around and be unhappy about it. Or you can decide to enjoy the parts you can, and let go of the other stuff.

Agreed!! And if folks think about it realistically, this has been the case not just now, but for the many decades Disney has been in business. Many just tend to filter out the things they didn't like 10-20-30-40 years ago, and focus on how annoyed they are with things today. It's never been perfect. But (for us) it's almost always magical and a place we still want to spend our time and money.....

 

[BrianL]

Agreed!! And if folks think about it realistically, this has been the case not just now, but for the many decades Disney has been in business. Many just tend to filter out the things they didn't like 10-20-30-40 years ago, and focus on how annoyed they are with things today. It's never been perfect. But (for us) it's almost always magical and a place we still want to spend our time and money.....

Yeah, I don't like everything that they do for sure, but I can either stew about it and let it upset me or I can find something to enjoy about it. Things do change, and not everything is always perfect. I do still enjoy Disney overall though, and they are sort of clawing their way back to the full-strength offerings. I do wish they would do it faster, but I understand. They've alwyas had ups and downs too, so it's not like that's new.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

Disney, Nike, Amazon, Apple,Target,NFL,USPS,Redbull, politicians count on a hardcore fan base, which they have said they don't care about, being stupid enough to keep coming even after raising prices and cutting back the experience. So far they have been correct.

As I see it.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.travelandleisure.com/disney-world-area-hotel-discounts-8362648

 

[AquaDame]

https://www.travelandleisure.com/disney-world-area-hotel-discounts-8362648

Those aren't Disney owned hotels, FWIW...

 

[wabbott]

Those aren't Disney owned hotels, FWIW...

Correct. But it still can be an indicator of overall tourist traffic in the Orlando area market.

 

[Cfabar1]

The ones in the area have been becoming more and more reasonable over the past year. I am not sure how that indicates what will happen inside the bubble, but worth noting nevertheless.

 

[wabbott]

The ones in the area have been becoming more and more reasonable over the past year. I am not sure how that indicates what will happen inside the bubble, but worth noting nevertheless.

Money is fungible. Always has been, always will be.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fungibility.asp
Fungibility is the ability of a good or asset to be readily interchanged for another of like kind.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

The rise of Airbnbs and other home rentals will definitely have an effect on local conventional hotels.
Were staying in 8/6 home in a gated community with pool and amenities for $600 total for one night and $120 each additional.
As more rental centered communities are built it will probably have an effect on all the park properties.

 

[middlechild]

The rise of Airbnbs and other home rentals will definitely have an effect on local conventional hotels.
... As more rental centered communities are built it will probably have an effect on all the park properties.

As new hotel rooms on property are built to the Marriott standard, look like Marriott, avoiding costly theming (see new Polynesian bldg) will have an effect on people staying there.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

As new hotel rooms on property are built to the Marriott standard, look like Marriott, avoiding costly theming (see new Polynesian bldg) will have an effect on people staying there.

Agreed, but only if Disney doesn't charge Marriot prices for a motel 6 room. We've stayed in most of the Disney hotels and the value resorts are overpriced the most but all fall short pricewise.
We can afford onsite stays but cannot reconcile price vs. experience.
GF comes close with the restaurants and lobby , particularly during the holidays.

 

[SL6827]

I bet Disney never builds a regular resort again in Florida. All DVC going forward.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

My bad , forgot AKL. Animals and food is comparable to how we feel about GF.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I bet Disney never builds a regular resort again in Florida. All DVC going forward.

honestly; i wish theyd stop building resorts in general. I wish they would focus on building out the parks to eat up the crowds that they already have.

Once they do that, id love to see a 5th gate, then more resorts.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

If Disney prices people out why is it still packed?

It is not packed.

Look at the food area. They "encourage" people to do mobile ordering and have 2 lanes with humans open (like Walmart with self-check out) vs the way it was in 2019 where almost all registers had CMs taking orders from both the left and right side. This sure looks like longer lines and heavier crowds, but it is not. You just wait twice as long for over-priced food that has dropped in quality.

Disney let many of the CMs go in 2020 and only a portion of them were brought back. In addition, Disney has had layoffs since. They have substantially dropped the number of CMs that service guests. This is not only for dining, but also in the stores, rides, guest relations, etc.

Disney has closed and shrunk many of the original stores in Downtown Disney (springs). When people go to Disney, they do not visit DTD to shop at Sephora, Lacoste, Levi's, etc. They want Disney. Much of that no longer exists and what does exist has only a fraction of the product. As a result, there is more movement in the outside areas, more in and out of the stores. Also, DTD is free and appeals to locals and people there on business. Also, check-out lines are longer due to the lack of open registers for Disney-owned stores.

Wait times for buses is longer because they do not have the number of bus drivers they did pre-2020. It may seem like things are more crowded, but when a bus comes along every 30 minutes instead of every 12, it just means the bus is packed and many have to stand. It does not mean the crowds are larger.

Ride times are long for various reasons. One major reason is this awful Genie system and everything that comes along with it. And even bigger....rides break down A LOT these days. That sends riders to other attractions, which increases those lines. Example: Went in March, compliments of the in-laws. There isn't that much to do in AK compared to other parks. On the day we went, Dinosaur, FoP and Everest were all down at the same time. Had a maintenance engineer come rescue us from Dinosaur. He said this happens constantly. He said he was with Disney for 27 years at that point and never saw the maintenance issues and break-downs like he has over the past 3 years. He mentioned he liked his job, but the hours are now very long, a lot of OT and every park has issues like this. This was not a guy who just "complained". He was the lead engineer for RotR and FoP.

Also, on of our MK days, PPF, Space Mountain, the TTA, Pirates and Big Thunder were all down at the same time! That is a lot to send people to other lines and increase wait times. They only cleared the line for Big Thunder and Space Mountain. For the others, guests stayed in the line and waited. (I did not think they did that) During that time, the lines built and a CMs never told the guests getting in the line for PPF or Pirates it was broken down. We only knew because we asked!

In both EPCOT and Disney Studios, there were ride breakdowns. We were there 6 days. Happened every park day.

 

[bholbert81]

Disney is not going anywhere an continues to expand. As the number of fans grow they have to find the correct price so the parks are not overrun but also make a profit. No one would go if they wait in line 2 hours for every ride. Unfortunately and sadly, Disney is a business and is not a right for everyone to go..it is a privilege and not all get to enjoy it.

 

[Minnie1222]

On the day we went, Dinosaur, FoP and Everest were all down at the same time. Had a maintenance engineer come rescue us from Dinosaur. He said this happens constantly. He said he was with Disney for 27 years at that point and never saw the maintenance issues and break-downs like he has over the past 3 years. He mentioned he liked his job, but the hours are now very long, a lot of OT and every park has issues like this. This was not a guy who just "complained". He was the lead engineer for RotR and FoP.

The fundamental rule for a person who is in a "lead" position is to never put your company in a negative light. I don't doubt you spoke to someone that day, but I seriously doubt he was a "lead" of anything. He sounded like a person who's been with the company for 27 hours, not 27 years.

 

[Jrb1979]

I posted an article over in the crowd outlook thread that had the following quote.

"The parks have become much more expensive with complexities,” said Len Testa, who runs the website Touring Plans, which harvested ride data to estimate that attendance is down by 15% this year. “The average guest is spending more, and cutting back the length of stay.”

It hasn't been that down since 9/11.