Boy do they oversell this Halloween party!!!

[bryanb]

Wow, that is unbelievable. What extra expenses does Disney really pay for these parties then? They do parades and fireworks and do extra magic hours, so what do these parties really cost Disney??? Doesn't seem like much. They profit margin must be really high for these parties. I can't even imagine!

That's what is so crazy and frustrating. They shut the park to "regular" guests at 6pm and then get all the EXTRA $$$$$$$ from the MNSSHP guests for the 6pm-12am slot. Yet, in summer and back in the good old days, MK would stay open until 12am anyway and you would still get parade and fireworks as part of your regular park ticket. So all it "costs" Disney is the cost of designing a "special" (IMHO not-so-special) halloween parade and fireworks in place of the "regular" parades and fireworks.

Totally true, I'm sure the margins on these events are insanely profitable. But when you sell something, the price isn't just about what it costs you. It's about what it's worth to the person buying it from you.

For example, Coca-Cola sells its products to Disney at or below its costs and they pay Disney for the privilege of being a sponsor. Coke can't charge more, but they're happy enough because Disney also has negotiated to give Coca-Cola hundreds of millions in promotional value every year (printed materials, in-park signage/experiences, etc). Then Disney charges us $3.99 for a small fountain soda, where its costs are less than 15 cents combined for the cup, syrup, and use of the ice, carbonation, and filtration systems. And we, the guests, buy millions of gallons of that stuff each year from them.

The parties are the same. Even if it costs Disney very little to add the Halloween parties, there are many guests who really want to spend money to attend these events and would be upset if tickets weren't available, because they feel like they're getting a their money's worth of entertainment value out of the experience. So we can't really say their value is $0 even if it costs Disney zero net costs.