What will Disney let you pay for next?

[SealedSeven]

May have missed someone else having the idea, but easily the next fee / Lighting Lanes will be the Resort Buses. For a fee at the start/end of park hours, you can get Front of the Line access to get on your Resort Bus.

 

[OKWDVCMagic]

I really believe that Disney’s approach to happily announcing increased fees (options) for guest and more pay to play options will all come out in the next month.

Disney will use the “rip the bandage off approach” now so they can bury it behind all the hype for 50th Anniversary celebration.

 

[circus4u]

What Will It Cost To Visit A Disney Theme Park In 2031? (Hint: It Ain't Gonna Be Cheap!) (msn.com)

 

[LHF]

Water bottle fill pass $20 pppp

 

[Aravan24]

I keep seeing people making the argument that Disney is a company and they have to deliver for their shareholders, as though that justifies what they've been doing. I completely understand the concept. That being said, what Disney is doing is damaging its core image.

Disney resorts and parks have, in recent memory, ALWAYS been expensive, but they have provided some value for the high prices they charged. FastPasses included with your tickets, free airport transfers with your resort stay, free parking at your resort if you drive, free onsite transportation, Extra Magic Hours for onsite guests, etc.. Disney has been rapidly removing all of those perks and replacing them with paid alternatives, all while raising their prices. The fact is that it's cheaper to stay at the Waldorf Astoria than it is to stay at a Disney moderate resort now, and there are virtually NO benefits to staying at a Disney resort, sans the 30-minute early park entry (Woo hoo?) and bus, boat, monorail, and Skyliner transportation (my bet for the next thing to upcharge for).

Personally, I can't see how all this won't start having a financial impact on Disney, and I think it will start with this next 18-month period during their 50th Anniversary, where Disney has failed to really provide anything "special" beyond some projection mapping, a couple new nighttime shows, and a cloned Ratatouille attraction that's been ready for 5+ months and held so they have SOMETHING new to show off. We shall see if Guardians and Tron can be made ready before the 50th celebration is over.

Frankly, I think that Disney is rapidly approaching a bad stretch with the parks where the people who have all the nostalgia for the older/original attractions stop being their core demographic and they are left with a ton of reimagining to do, along with a lot of time developing/building new attractions, to keep the parks relevant. Lord knows it takes them forever to get a new attraction built and running. Time will tell though.

 

[etherealcaitiff]

Prior to the shutdown, club level guests had access to a concierge service that would do just that. They'd make ADR's, book special events, etc. I'm not sure how much it was actually used though because supposedly they couldn't book anything any earlier than a regular guest could. Years ago that wasn't the case. You could send them an email ahead of your ADR window listing everything you wanted. On the morning your window opened you'd wake up to a wonderful email listing all of the ADR's they'd booked for you. We always got everything we wanted, at the times we asked for (or pretty close). It was wonderful! At some point they stopped the early booking access for the concierge team, though. I never really knew why, but I missed it.

This is correct, but I'll add to it. Yes, you still needed to book your reservation ahead of time, but where they could really assist is with special requests or modifications. I had a reservation for Monsieur Paul, I really wanted to get it for during Illuminations, but I could only get it for 7:30. They were able to get me changed to an 8:45 time (show started at 9, so perfect) and for the heck of it I asked for a table with a fireworks view and sure enough when we got to the packed restaurant there was a table with a reserved sign right against the window for us.

 

[Disney Bobby]

Haven't been here in a while and probably not missed (lol) but that is ok. Just wanted to chime in because what you are seeing is a hard lesson in economics.

For some reason, many people don't think real world decisions have real world consequences. People demanded $15 minimum wage for people who hand out ice cream bars. Well, that money comes from somewhere, and it ain't gonna be corporate profits and executive bonuses. Same thing with the shutdown. Disney isn't going to just eat that loss. They will try to make it up best they can. Well, this is how. Really extends further than just any of this. The "raise corporate taxes" mantra that some love is no different. Corporations don't eat tax increases. They pass them along to consumers. Nothing more than a tax increase on you. Same with inflation. Print a ton of money, and inflation will (has) happen. When goods cost more, corporations don't just absorb that cost. They pass it on to consumers.

All this is exactly what you are seeing right now with Disney and just about everywhere else in America. The bottom line? You gotta pay to play, and the cost to play won't be doing anything but going up.

 

[Disney Bobby]

On the flip side, Disney may learn a painful economic lesson. With prices increasing on everything at a rate that far outpaces wage increases, lots of people will have to make tougher decisions on where to spend their money. Luxury items and services usually take the hit first.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[DisOrBust]

But not all companies pass their costs on to the consumer. They look at their brand value and Disney's is now "a evil corporation" Vs. Nostalgia and value. I am done with their mitigation, they can make it up on someone else.

It will be quite the case study. Disney limiting attendance and cranking costs. While Universal builds more value resorts and adds an additional gate. We will see who has the better bottom line in the end.

 

[New Mouse]

But not all companies pass their costs on to the consumer. They look at their brand value and Disney's is now "a evil corporation" Vs. Nostalgia and value. I am done with their mitigation, they can make it up on someone else.

It will be quite the case study. Disney limiting attendance and cranking costs. While Universal builds more value resorts and adds an additional gate. We will see who has the better bottom line in the end.

When I go to a restaurant, i pay a couple bucks more these days. Its frustrating but understood and the restaurant doesnt look like a bad guy. When I go to Disney, im paying hundreds more...the math doesnt add up and they look greedy, which elicits a different emotion for the consumer.


On top of that, there is no need to raise prices with the amount they are saving on labor. They want to have their cake and eat it and to even the least educated consumers, something smells rotten.

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

I'm afraid they will soon try to monetize the ADR system. It's become so competitive and as there are already third party websites that assist in getting them for a fee, I expect Disney to try and get in on that somehow.

100% agree with you here. For just $15, Disney Genie will magically grant you an ADR of your choice. This is definitely coming in due time.

 

[RamblingMad]

100% agree with you here. For just $15, Disney Genie will magically grant you an ADR of your choice. This is definitely coming in due time.

Instead of having a smoking and non-smoking section, they'll have a Disney Genie++ section and a normal folk section for dining for the low, low price of $5/pp.

 

[BrotherCraig]

Will have to purchase a bathroom pass and add it to your MobilePass or Genie like you would a Photo Pass. $10 per person per day.

 

[Miffy]

If WDW starts charging to ride their internal bus system, they are going to lose a lot of onsite guests. The #1 advantage of being onsite is ease of transportation: resorts where you can walk or monorail to a park or two and, if not, there's free bus transportation. But can I see them charging for this? Absolutely. There's just about nothing I can't see them charging for.

I'm surprised you can still get free cups of water. Pre-covid, I'd fill up my refillable water bottle at the soda station--where you can get tap water--but now you have to ask for it.

But why stop there? How about a cutlery fee? Want utensils to use with your meal? $2 for a fork, $3 for a spoon, and $5 for a knife. Double the price in TS restaurants. Bob, are you listening?

 

[Rich Bastien]

You are all missing the easiest one of all: ParkPass+

With paid Genie+ and LL, Disney can increase their revenue by adding or deleting ride capacity now. Theoretically, they could put a smaller amount of ride vehicles in service at park opening, drive up wait times, and then once people don't want to wait 3 hours in standby for Test Track, add capacity as more and more people pay the upcharge. Do you honestly think they are going to have all 3 Soarin' theaters open at 11am? Of course not if not enough people paid up that morning for Genie+, but they can bring the third one online after noon once standby exceeds over an hour and just have LL and Genie+ use that one while everyone else uses only 2.

So why wouldn't Disney do this with park reservations? "Trying to get into a park for a high demand day that has no more park passes available? With ParkPass+ added to your tickets, you can get into any park at any point of normal operating hours. You can even park hop before 2pm! Now you can access any Disney Park on any day, giving you more flexibility for your vacation!"

The brilliance of this for Cheapak is, just like with ride capacity, they can artificially inflate or decrease supply to increase demand, so people that have already purchased tickets, APs or MagicKeys but were shut out of a park reservation on NYE or the 4th due to artificial decreased supply can pay more to get one of the "limited supply" of ParkPass+ reservations available. They can limit Park reservations to say 70% of what they are now, and hold in reserve 30% more for people willing to pay for it. One way to decrease crowd capacity, but make people pay extra for the same things they used to get for free.

This would be the Holy Grail of Yield Managment.

 

[Miffy]

You are all missing the easiest one of all: ParkPass+

With paid Genie+ and LL, Disney can increase their revenue by adding or deleting ride capacity now. Theoretically, they could put a smaller amount of ride vehicles in service at park opening, drive up wait times, and then once people don't want to wait 3 hours in standby for Test Track, add capacity as more and more people pay the upcharge. Do you honestly think they are going to have all 3 Soarin' theaters open at 11am? Of course not if not enough people paid up that morning for Genie+, but they can bring the third one online after noon once standby exceeds over an hour and just have LL and Genie+ use that one while everyone else uses only 2.

So why wouldn't Disney do this with park reservations? "Trying to get into a park for a high demand day that has no more park passes available? With ParkPass+ added to your tickets, you can get into any park at any point of normal operating hours. You can even park hop before 2pm! Now you can access any Disney Park on any day, giving you more flexibility for your vacation!"

The brilliance of this for Cheapak is, just like with ride capacity, they can artificially inflate or decrease supply to increase demand, so people that have already purchased tickets, APs or MagicKeys but were shut out of a park reservation on NYE or the 4th due to artificial decreased supply can pay more to get one of the "limited supply" of ParkPass+ reservations available. They can limit Park reservations to say 70% of what they are now, and hold in reserve 30% more for people willing to pay for it. One way to decrease crowd capacity, but make people pay extra for the same things they used to get for free.

This would be the Holy Grail of Yield Managment.

I hate to say this, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is already in the works. I'm half surprised they didn't already include this as an Ultra Tier for APs.

 

[Rich Bastien]

I hate to say this, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is already in the works. I'm half surprised they didn't already include this as an Ultra Tier for APs.

I had the same thought. Disney has stated Park Reservations are here to stay. Who controls how many park reservations are available, and doesn't necessarily disclose what that equates to for % of overall capacity? Disney. Thus this is the yield management dream, artificially decrease park capacity by issuing fewer park reservations up front, and then adding an upcharge to "skip" park reservations and park hop when it's "unavailable" because of their artificially decreased limits.

Hell Disney could even look for synergy with the resorts, and only offer this to Disney guests staying on property, thus increasing room rates through artificially created limited supply.

 

[Miffy]

I had the same thought. Disney has stated Park Reservations are here to stay. Who controls how many park reservations are available, and doesn't necessarily disclose what that equates to for % of overall capacity? Disney. Thus this is the yield management dream, artificially decrease park capacity by issuing fewer park reservations up front, and then adding an upcharge to "skip" park reservations and park hop when it's "unavailable" because of their artificially decreased limits.

Hell Disney could even look for synergy with the resorts, and only offer this to Disney guests staying on property, thus increasing room rates through artificially created limited supply.

Like they need another "reason" to increase room rates!

But, sadly, I agree with you.

 

[cgattis]

The brilliance of this for Cheapak is

The brilliance of all the new money-grabbing for Chapek is that he’ll continue to rake in the giant bonuses and once we’re all priced out, he retires and doesn’t give a rat’s behind what experience is left. Without enough other executives who care more about the guests than the shareholders, it’ll just continue. The ugly side of capitalism. The loyal customers who love the product will be the ones who suffer.

 

[Grumpylarr]

I think we need to give the new CEO a nickname. I will suggest Big Bucks Bob or Charge for it Chapek. Forgive me if I spelled it wrong.