WDW Raises Ticket Prices effective August 2nd

[Splash_Lover]

by the way, still love them even if sooner than later will no longer be able to afford to go

[JRocker]

I too get a bit weary of hearing Disney imply that guests are just fine with x change. But, as long as the institutional stockholders are happy...

I don't like the increase, especially the timing of it. Will I pay, they know I will. Most likely they are also aware that my in park spending will decrease as a result.

For that matter, my on property spending has significantly decreased over the years. The only souveniers we brought back from this last trip were our room keys and park maps.

I believe they raised ticket prices this time because the stockholders are holding thier feet to the fire. After a loss like this last quarter the takeover door opens up. If they can't show some solid rebound data, we could lose another American icon.

As someone mentioned before, the stockholders don't give a hoot about the overall economy, you had better be posting double digit earnings.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Yeah, but this is a DISCUSSION forum, complaining about it provides some relief from the annoyance. While most everybody agrees that it stinks, most of us will still make plans within the year to pay the mouse and return for our "fix".

It will be interesting to see where they stand in a year from now. Having just reported a 26% drop, I really have to wonder if raising prices during the worst economy in decades sends a positive message to their intended guests. If profits are still down in a year will they retreat, or just raise prices again?

I get it that this is a DISCUSSION forum... But, the best way to let Disney know you are unhappy is by not going... Thing is, many millions more will... So they can continue to get away with raising prices... I do believe that one day they will price themselves out of the middle class's pockets... But, with the way things are going today, this wouldn't shock me at all...

[dlpmikki]

I go to the other parks so infrequently that the day ticket prices always put me off going. If I was in that category for Disney I would be the same but while there is the DVC discount on APs and you can buy in advance of the rises I will be grateful and appreciate how lucky I am that I can go for enough days to make an AP worthwhile. I do think that if they take the money out of peoples pockets before they get there with the high prices they have to expect less spending on merchandise etc. You can only spend your dollars once.

[caryrae]

For our situation I don't think a few $ increase on park tickets is that big a deal compared to what the total cost of a WDW trip can cost, mostly because it is just my wife and I. I still think $79 is worth the price for a day of fun at a Park but then again we are not paying that much per day since we always buy a multi day pass.

How often do prices of other things go up at WDW like tours, food and drinks, Resort stays, ect.

[BMan62]

"We survey our guests regularly and, in our research, nearly 9 out of 10 guests rate the value of our theme parks as good, very good or excellent," Prunty said. "Our pricing is based on the high quality of experience we deliver to our guests, and our guests continue to agree that a ticket to Walt Disney World represents a great entertainment value.

Where have you ever seen a survey asking if you would enjoy higher prices? What has to happen on these surveys to have them determine that the pricing structure is out of control? This falls along the line of Goldman Sachs handing out million dollar bonuses when the company lost money year-on-year.

Next, they'll turn around and offer 3+4 deals, rather than this years 4+3 offering, just to get people on property!

[DizneyRox]

second, at the beginning of the year they said that prices wouldn't be raised this year because of the economy. Did anyone really believe that?

When was this? I never heard anything of the sort (not that I was looking for it) but I've never heard Disney say anything like that. Maybe "there are no current plans to raise prices" but that's only true until they make those plans.

I guess I might be tempted if asked to take their survey to tell them no and to tell them the reason is that the survey is skeewed to make it seem like everyone wants to raise the ticket prices and for nothing more.

Surveys are always skewed to get the answers they are looking for.

[Tink1]

The new pricing list is here

http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/K...cket_tutor.htm

Nanc

[pooh0601]

I heard the same thing, about renewing. Now you get 15 months for the price of 12 if you renew anytime on or after 8/2/09.

Effective August 2, 2009, renewals within 30 days before or after the expiration date will receive an additional 3 months and will be valid for 15 months.

This applies to the Florida Resident Seasonal Pass, Florida Resident Annual Pass, Florida Resident Premium Annual Pass, Tourist Annual Pass, Tourist Premium Annual Pass.

[KatrinaJ91]

Disney World raises ticket prices; one-day pass up 5.3% to $79, from $75
[I]By Jason Garcia


"We survey our guests regularly and, in our research, nearly 9 out of 10 guests rate the value of our theme parks as good, very good or excellent," Prunty said. "Our pricing is based on the high quality of experience we deliver to our guests, and our guests continue to agree that a ticket to Walt Disney World represents a great entertainment value."

It disappoints me to hear this quote. I just wonder what Walt would think. His whole objective was to create somewhere that families could go and enjoy themselves....not have to save for years to visit!

[magicofdisney]

I heard the same thing, about renewing. Now you get 15 months for the price of 12 if you renew anytime on or after 8/2/09.

Effective August 2, 2009, renewals within 30 days before or after the expiration date will receive an additional 3 months and will be valid for 15 months.

This applies to the Florida Resident Seasonal Pass, Florida Resident Annual Pass, Florida Resident Premium Annual Pass, Tourist Annual Pass, Tourist Premium Annual Pass.

Wow! I'm a little surprised by this. OK, a lot. I just declared half my family wasn't renewing their passes because of ticket prices and then I read this. We may have to rethink things.

[antngoof89]

These increase do not affect you if you have already bought your tickets.

A single day pass is going up 5.3% or exactly $4. Depending on the length of stay, multiday passes are increasing 2.6%-4.7%, the longer the stay the lower the %. So, for example, a 7 day pass increases by approximately $7 or $1 per day. Not exactly back breaking. Really, the price increases are pretty modest. I had expected nearer double digits.

Agreed and you've gotta think. If they've had to let go of some cast members, the ones that are working now, have to be some expensive employees. The money to fuel the magic has to come from some where.

[antngoof89]

I get it that this is a DISCUSSION forum... But, the best way to let Disney know you are unhappy is by not going... Thing is, many millions more will... So they can continue to get away with raising prices... I do believe that one day they will price themselves out of the middle class's pockets... But, with the way things are going today, this wouldn't shock me at all...

This is true, but like it was said before most people go for multiple days and raising tickets a dollar a day really doesn't do much for a typical family of 6 people. So for a normal 5 day stay they spend an extra $30? Yet with all the discounts on roomrates, dinner packages, ect, Disney pricing really isn't that outrageous. The typical American knows to truly enjoy WDW you're going to have to save up a ton of money and expect to spend a lot of money, such is going on vacation anywhere, not just WDW. When economy starts to fail, entertainment becomes more popular once everyone realizes that the scare of recession is permanent. Movies bring in large sums of money, theme parks furnish tons of guests, everyone looks for something to brighten their day. For the highest quality of overall entertainment, an extra dollar a day is almost nothing when you realize that we help feed some of those CM that are furnishing our every need daily. Vacation is expensive... period. This price increase is not bad whatsoever.

[John]

Well in 2000 an adult one-day pass was $46. This year it's going to be $79, which represents an increase of 73% over 9 years or 8.11% per year.

Inflation is typically forecast at around 2% annually so heck yeah ... they've outpaced inflation big time.

I think once again they're misinterpreting their guest surveys ... "good value" doesn't mean "please raise prices!"

According to my math, in 2000 an adult one-day pass was $46. This year at $79, represents an increase of 73% over 9 years or 8.11% per year. Inflation over the same period was 25.3% or 2.8% which means if tickets were merely keeping up with inflation, park passes should cost $57.62 today.

Thank you to http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

[Ian]

So basically they've increased at almost 4 times the rate of inflation ... yikes ... and all the while they've been cutting, cutting, cutting ... very interesting. Wonder where all that extra cash is going??

As if I didn't know.

I will say one thing, though. I'd bet if you look at comparable items like tickets to concerts, sporting events, movies, etc. you'd probably find that they've gone up at about the same rate.

[1DisneyNut]

Well they finally alienated us with the price increases a couple of years ago and we have significantly reduced our spending on WDW trips. We were going twice a year through 2006 and we started holding out for the discounts. We also reduced our spending at shops and restaurants to make up the difference. Its not only ticket pricing that increases every year. The room rates increase too but there never seems to be a lot of discussion about it. We cut back to one trip a year in 2007 and have now decided to reduce to once every year and a half to two years. Disney may want to look at what happened to six flags. They kept increasing their ticket prices stating that their customers found it to be an entertainment value just like disney has been doing. Six Flags finally crossed the threshold, alienated customers and saw a 14% decrease in attendance during a strong economy in 2006 to top it all off. The next year they deeply cut ticket pricing going from $60 to I believe it was $26 and still could not bring the customers back. They are now in bankruptcy. I'm not saying disney is going to drive themselves into bankruptcy but you can bet they are going to continue until they find and cross the threshold, especially by increasing pricing during the worst economy since the great depression. Sometimes I wonder what these people are thinking.

[Ian]

... especially by increasing pricing during the worst economy since the great depression ....

See ... this is the thing that really, really gets me.

Look, I'm a total free market capitalist. I believe that things are worth what someone is willing to pay for them.

But I'm also smart about business and I'm fully aware of the import of the old adage "Penny wise, pound foolish."

Sure, Disney World will make more money on tickets this year. But wouldn't it have been a very prudent business decision to put out a press release saying, "Even though we're well aware that our guests find our ticket prices provide them immense value we're also well aware that many, many people are over the world are experiencing tough economic times. In order to ensure the Disney World experience is available to as many guests as possible, we're announcing a 5% reduction in ticket prices this year."

Okay ... so they make a couple bucks less per ticket. But raise your hands if you think the goodwill and increased attendance they bought themselves would have more than offset the difference?

Instead now they just made everybody bad. And yeah, they might make a few more sheckels per ticket, but I strongly suspect they're going to sell fewer tickets overall.

Dumb. Just dumb. American business has lost all grasp on common sense.

[Grim Grinning Marathon Runner]

I agree with most if not all the posts...we all knew that a ticket raise would most probably be forthcoming, but in the back of my mind I was thinking that the prices would stay the same! Boy, that was wishful thinking! On the other hand, being a former Cast Member, as a CM I would be POed when WDW raises ticket prices but hardly ever raises the minimum wage for CM's. For an example, if Epcot holds 10,000 people and say about 75% of them pay an adlt price of $79.88(2009), that would mean a profit of about $106,559.95 PER DAY!/$3,196,797.60 PER MONTH! And this is just for ONE park, imagine the total for all four parks, then add the extra revenue outside of the parks! So where is the logic in paying CM's less than $7 an hour? You would hink that working for Disney would be a decent living, but it was hard living with roommates to even exist! I would hate to see how it was for those living alone and devoting their time and talents to the DREAM JOB they alwas wanted!
I am not complaining but just a little inside info on tinking about where all the money is going to! I thought Disney was at the top of the cap for ticket prices? If so how can the charge any more!?

BUT I STILL LOVE DISNEY! AND IT WAS MY DREAM JOB I WISH I WAS STILL THERE! DESPITE THE MONETARY ASPECT!

Will

I think your math may be a little off in your example. It looks like you're calculating revenue, which is totally different than profit, but it also looks like you've subtracted something to get to your bottom line number - maybe expenses?

This is a formula that we'll never really be able to calculate, because
1) Disney guards its' attendance number pretty closely
2) Operating expenses for each period won't be available to the average guest

Your point that Disney keeps charging more and more while doing layoffs and spreading castmembers more and more thin is well put though.

I love Disney as much as the next guy, but I'm with you. This price increase may be the one that I stop going as often at.

With "STAYCATION" becoming a more common word and people, even advertisers, promoting frugality, it almost seems insulting for Disney to keep increasing prices at this rate.

[1DisneyNut]

See ... this is the thing that really, really gets me.

Look, I'm a total free market capitalist. I believe that things are worth what someone is willing to pay for them.

But I'm also smart about business and I'm fully aware of the import of the old adage "Penny wise, pound foolish."

Sure, Disney World will make more money on tickets this year. But wouldn't it have been a very prudent business decision to put out a press release saying, "Even though we're well aware that our guests find our ticket prices provide them immense value we're also well aware that many, many people are over the world are experiencing tough economic times. In order to ensure the Disney World experience is available to as many guests as possible, we're announcing a 5% reduction in ticket prices this year."

Okay ... so they make a couple bucks less per ticket. But raise your hands if you think the goodwill and increased attendance they bought themselves would have more than offset the difference?

Instead now they just made everybody bad. And yeah, they might make a few more sheckels per ticket, but I strongly suspect they're going to sell fewer tickets overall.

Dumb. Just dumb. American business has lost all grasp on common sense.

I totally agree. A statement like that and a reduction in ticket pricing would have gotten them more publicity than any amount of money they could ever spend on an advertising campaign and also would have made us customers feel appreciated.

[Mousemates]

See ... this is the thing that really, really gets me.

Look, I'm a total free market capitalist. I believe that things are worth what someone is willing to pay for them.

But I'm also smart about business and I'm fully aware of the import of the old adage "Penny wise, pound foolish."

Sure, Disney World will make more money on tickets this year. But wouldn't it have been a very prudent business decision to put out a press release saying, "Even though we're well aware that our guests find our ticket prices provide them immense value we're also well aware that many, many people are over the world are experiencing tough economic times. In order to ensure the Disney World experience is available to as many guests as possible, we're announcing a 5% reduction in ticket prices this year."

Okay ... so they make a couple bucks less per ticket. But raise your hands if you think the goodwill and increased attendance they bought themselves would have more than offset the difference?

Instead now they just made everybody bad. And yeah, they might make a few more sheckels per ticket, but I strongly suspect they're going to sell fewer tickets overall.

Dumb. Just dumb. American business has lost all grasp on common sense.

I agree with your sentiments, but as long as ceo's and their "administrations" are judged and compensated primarily on the basis of single year financial statments (and even worse --quarterly reports) then every year (and every quarter) you will get the same short-sighted approach to operations....with things like building goodwill always coming in a distant second to something that might add a half-cent to quarterly earnings per share.