News Story about rising Disney costs in WaPo

[KYMickey]

I definitely won't argue that planning a Disneyworld vacation it more difficult than your normal vacation. I think it also depends on the individual because no matter what vacation I plan I'm always doing my research. I do have a friend who is the complete opposite who took a 2 week vacation to Europe with zero itinerary not even a hotel reservation. I get an anxiety attack just thinking about it.

Taking a vacation at Disney today is not a vacation in any sense of the word! There is no relaxation to it, you have to remember where you have to be when and heaven forbid you get behind your schedule. You have to have every been planned which at least for us takes all the enjoyment out of a vacation. If we get someplace and Roy like it we may want to hang around a little longer but says you have to have everything schedule so far in advance at Disney you can't do this. It's pretty much the end Disney vacation for us the way things have become.

 

[jujubiee4]

From that article "According to Disney, the company has spent more than $20 billion over the past several years to build new attractions and experiences at parks around the world. "

20 Billion is a a lot of money. How much of that went to the U.S parks?? Right before shutdown
I was at Disney in Paris and it sure wasn't crowded. My cousin and family went to Tokyo Disney
2019 and she said there were crowds but nowhere near DW. Plus she said the tickets were
cheaper.

So you read it . They spent 20 billion dollars billion on "new attractions and experiences." Maybe
they feel that is good enough......at least for now.

 

[manning]

I mean, I feel like Disney has always been known to be on the expensive side. I realize that it is moreso now more than ever before, but it's just funny to me how it becomes "news." It's not really all that surprising or anything.

Been going to Disney since 1972. Back then Disney was expensive. We got our monies worth. Not so today

 

[Linkura]

From that article "According to Disney, the company has spent more than $20 billion over the past several years to build new attractions and experiences at parks around the world. "

20 Billion is a a lot of money. How much of that went to the U.S parks?? Right before shutdown
I was at Disney in Paris and it sure wasn't crowded. My cousin and family went to Tokyo Disney
2019 and she said there were crowds but nowhere near DW. Plus she said the tickets were
cheaper.

So you read it . They spent 20 billion dollars billion on "new attractions and experiences." Maybe
they feel that is good enough......at least for now.

Well, they don't own Tokyo (which explains why it is better run), so that would include every park except Tokyo. It might even include all of what they paid for Shanghai since it just opened in 2016.

 

[flipflopmom]

Management was caught off-guard by the amount of goodwill they lost with the fan community when they discontinued Magical Express. All of the other "stuff" that people are upset about is downstream from that decision, which was nearsighted and has backfired big time.

It MAY just be me and my exposures, but I’m hearing a lot more of “since there’s no more DME I’m just going to stay offsite/go to universal/only do one or two WDW days.” Again, this is just what I’ve been hearing in limited exposures so I definitely cannot generalize to the population.
As people who primarily drive, the resort parking fees started the feeling.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It MAY just be me and my exposures, but I’m hearing a lot more of “since there’s no more DME I’m just going to stay offsite/go to universal/only do one or two WDW days.”

I think Disney's logic, which I disagree with, is that guests were already making those decisions, even guests who used DME. They might have still been staying at a WDW resort, but with the prevalence of Uber and Lyft, they already had easy access to days at Universal, off-site restaurants, and that sort of thing. Uber and Lyft pierced the bubble, so Disney didn't see the need to try to preserve the bubble any further with DME.

I think this was a profound miscalculation. Uber and Lyft are great... unless you have a family of 4+, or children who need car seats, i.e. exactly Disney's core audience.

As people who primarily drive, the resort parking fees started the feeling.

I initially gave them a pass on that one because traffic on property was legitimately starting to get bad. Investments like the Skyliner and dedicated bus lanes on certain roads made me think that the parking fees were as much about reducing congestion and encouraging people to use Disney transit as they were about raising the price of an on-site stay. Then they removed DME, which killed my whole argument.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I definitely won't argue that planning a Disneyworld vacation it more difficult than your normal vacation. I think it also depends on the individual because no matter what vacation I plan I'm always doing my research. I do have a friend who is the complete opposite who took a 2 week vacation to Europe with zero itinerary not even a hotel reservation. I get an anxiety attack just thinking about it.

same here. I have to plan also, we did plan for our first disney trip in 2008, but when we got there, we realized we didnt plan enough, and its got way more complicated since then.

I dont know how people can do any vacation without any planning. think of all the things they'll miss!

 

[BeentoallDParks]

"Extra! Extra! Disney Parks Are Expensive! Read all about this breaking news!"

This isn't an accurate portrait of the Washington Post article, which actually goes in depth interviewing Disney customers who say the magic is gone and they no longer wish to return. That is something we haven't seen much of in the past, and it bears attention.

 

[UrsulaTime]

It MAY just be me and my exposures, but I’m hearing a lot more of “since there’s no more DME I’m just going to stay offsite/go to universal/only do one or two WDW days.” Again, this is just what I’ve been hearing in limited exposures so I definitely cannot generalize to the population.
As people who primarily drive, the resort parking fees started the feeling.

I know what you mean when you say "started the feeling." It wasn't the parking fees for me. I was out of the Disney loop for a couple years until about four weeks ago...it seems like every little new piece of information I've learned over the past month is finally starting to solidify into something more than passing annoyance, or even chronic annoyance. Many, many pinpricks have started this feeling, and after some reflection, I've been able to discern what the feeling is. It's distrust. I'm fairly practical/arguably cynical, but I now realize that, at some point, I "trusted" Disney. As a brand. The parks in particular (I don't even think I've seen many of their movies that came out after The Lion King). The whole...experience at DLR and especially at WDW is vaster and more diverse than I first imagined, and I loved discovering that. Especially with my sister at my side, and my goddaughter, and cousin... Anyway. Point is, I only know that I "trusted" Disney as a brand at some point in the past because I recently realized that I DON'T anymore.
It's almost as if...as if some people making decisions for the parks think that shareholder profits and customer satisfaction are mutually exclusive. And I know that can't be true, that successful people LITERALLY think that. But based on my interactions with the company during the past couple weeks -- well, that's what feels like.

 

[JJsmama]

No one in Disney management was caught off guard they knew exactly what would happen when they started taking away freebies. Attendance is up, spending is up and Disney parks had there best quarter almost matching pre pandemic levels so I would say they knew exactly what they were doing.

But he question is, for how much longer will attendance be up and people be willing to pay, etc? Here now. Even just trying to get something to eat is ridiculously difficult. You basically MUST pre-order, even fast food, and the order times are in the future, so wait to get to order, then wait to get to sit down and wait, then wait for the order to be made. People in the parks do not look happy, especially about that. In the resort laundry room yesterday, after the epic rain storm which ruined everyone’s shoes (not blaming Disney execs for that). we were able to laugh about the weather, but not the changes. People were expressing major disappointment and disenchantment with Genie- said it was a total waste of time and money. They got almost nothing accomplished at DHS. All of us in the laundry were the guests who paid Deluxe prices, usually come as a family every year for 5+ days, blah blah… The opinions seemed to be the same: not planniing another trip here any time soon, if ever. Going other vacations instead. People may have the money, but when they no longer feel a VALUE in what they are spending it on, they stop buying that product. That’s economics. So, either this cycle quickly runs through all those willing to come give it ‘one last try’, or Dis makes some big changes in the positive (for the guest) direction.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

But, may I ask, what have people done other than grumble about it? Is it actually hurting attendance and the bottom-line? It doesn't seem to be. I hate it too - I loved DME - but, like others, I will deal with it.

So I have many times on here posted about how difficult a decision this was for them to make. There was no good easy path to continue DME. It was more than a bus - it was an alliance of many companies and resurrecting it would not have been an easy or fast lift. DME was also terribly ineffective. I started on a limo service during COVID, and have not gone back, and not sure I ever would even if DME were around.

That said, back in 2005 when DME was first introduced, I was a big proponent of the Disney bubble. Disney had spent a long time doing research on how many days the typical family would vacation, and worked very hard to make sure you were giving all your vacation dollars to Disney from the moment you landed until the moment you took off. I am sad that they have abandoned that philosophy.

i mean yeah i agree, but these disney vacations are getting harder and harder to plan. Its easy for people like us that post here, but if you're a fist timer, you almost need a college course to do it right.

Are they though? I spend a LOT of time now fretting that I have missed things because there is less to plan than there used to be. Yeah, I have a limo instead of DME (but an Uber can be done on the spot). There is no longer FP+ to plan. True you have Park Reservations now - but those can be done the same time you book your hotel.

I have found that there is less to do now before you get to Disney, but more to do once you are there.

And let's not forget that for most first timers, there are TA's - and those are 100% free thanks to Disney. If anything, these changes make TA's more valuable for the average visitor.

 

[DduzDis]

So I have many times on here posted about how difficult a decision this was for them to make. There was no good easy path to continue DME. It was more than a bus - it was an alliance of many companies and resurrecting it would not have been an easy or fast lift. DME was also terribly ineffective. I started on a limo service during COVID, and have not gone back, and not sure I ever would even if DME were around.

That said, back in 2005 when DME was first introduced, I was a big proponent of the Disney bubble. Disney had spent a long time doing research on how many days the typical family would vacation, and worked very hard to make sure you were giving all your vacation dollars to Disney from the moment you landed until the moment you took off. I am sad that they have abandoned that philosophy.



Are they though? I spend a LOT of time now fretting that I have missed things because there is less to plan than there used to be. Yeah, I have a limo instead of DME (but an Uber can be done on the spot). There is no longer FP+ to plan. True you have Park Reservations now - but those can be done the same time you book your hotel.

I have found that there is less to do now before you get to Disney, but more to do once you are there.

And let's not forget that for most first timers, there are TA's - and those are 100% free thanks to Disney. If anything, these changes make TA's more valuable for the average visitor.

There is a lot of your opinion sprinkled in here and presented as facts. I am not sure how you would know the difficulty of the decision to tank DME was for them unless you were there. Its efficacy is again your opinion passed off as fact. I for one found it extremely efficient with children and luggage. It was the official entry into the bubble for us. It was also where we would strap on the Magicbands and officially begin our vacation. But, we did the same with MearsConnect last month so no biggie.

The level of planning preference before or during vacation seems to be split. I would much prefer to have my FP+ and ADRs booked well in advance (even more than 60 days if I could as it would give more time to bob and weave if I didn't get everything I hoped for in the beginning), but some didn't want to do it that way and didn't. The planning was part of the fun of a trip for us. There is no fun to be had in planning in this system for me. Park reservations zap any remaining joy for the spontaneous park hopper in my opinion. Having purchased my first DVC contract in 2017, I am not living in nostalgia of what once was 20 years ago or even what was once free is now not. I am simply living in what a useless, expensive system we are forced into for a trip now IF we want to make the trip into the parks. I see that becoming less for us until things get more user friendly. If they don't we will move on. No biggie.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

There is a lot of your opinion sprinkled in here and presented as facts. I am not sure how you would know the difficulty of the decision to tank DME was for them unless you were there. Its efficacy is again your opinion passed off as fact.

I was the software manager for one of those companies, so yes - I do know.

 

[MassJester]

So, I can only share opinions because I have no access to non-public information, but it seems to me that Disney is a public company that very much depends on identified metrics to move its stock price forward.
Attendance, hotel occupancy, and spending per guest seem to be the big drivers. So aside from the fact that we are annoyed, I can't see why they would change their behavior.

 

[New Mouse]

Genie+ is not "FastPass, only now you have to pay for it."

Swimming in a free public pool with 100 people is not the same experience as swimming in a paid private pool with 50 people.

Yeah it's actually worse than the free fp plus lol.

 

[Sinder]

same here. I have to plan also, we did plan for our first disney trip in 2008, but when we got there, we realized we didnt plan enough, and its got way more complicated since then.

I dont know how people can do any vacation without any planning. think of all the things they'll miss!

For me it really depends on the vacation, but in general I'm a non planner. I mean there will be things we know we want to do, maybe reserve ahead of time, restaurants we might want to try but other than that it's definitely a go with the flow laid back vacation.
Disney is the only place I feel like I have to really plan in order to get the value out of it. We went last August and decided it was our last trip. Too much to have to schedule and that just isn't how we like to spend a precious week off of work, school and everyday life where we are on schedules.

I know it's anecdotal but I know people who are Disney regulars, carried AP's for ever. This is the first year they are not going to Disney and instead going to Uni.
Obviously Disney isn't losing money over their decisions, but they are losing some of their regulars, and that is kind of sad.

 

[ElyseInWonderland]

I know it's anecdotal but I know people who are Disney regulars, carried AP's for ever. This is the first year they are not going to Disney and instead going to Uni.
Obviously Disney isn't losing money over their decisions, but they are losing some of their regulars, and that is kind of sad.

This is us as well. We were considering becoming DVC members after the birth of our son in October. My mom and sister are down in Disney now and say it's just absolutely mobbed with people (understandable, since it's Spring Break) and the intangible "value" that you used to feel from a Disney vacation has just evaporated.

To me, visiting the parks now seems like an over-engineered mess from start to finish. I love Disney with all my heart but I'm thinking of taking a few years off to see if things improve from a customer service/value for price standpoint.

 

[New Mouse]

This is true. When you've over paid for a trip and you get to ride 3 rides because they have no capacity control and refuse to pay enough to staff for efficiency, the magic goes away.

 

[MrsDanielle]

@reddog21 I’ve gone to Europe several times without much else of a plan, other than a few nights in my first city and a rail pass. Honestly, those were some of the best vacations I ever took, but that type of holiday certainly isn’t for everyone.

 

[ChipnDale79]

This is true. When you've over paid for a trip and you get to ride 3 rides because they have no capacity control and refuse to pay enough to staff for efficiency, the magic goes away.

and have cut hours over the years.

We used to feel like we had time to go back to the room for a break in the afternoon, now we dont feel like its possible.