Cheap, Stingy & Greedy

Originally Posted By Mr F

The other day I heard a woman on the radio win two 1-day, 1-park tickets to the Disneyland Resort. My first though was why didn't they just giver her park hopper tickets? And why didn't they give her four tickets to bring her family? How much money does it really cost them to just let someone into both park gates? I know they are giving out free tickets to promote the parks, but wouldn't giving out park hoppers be a better promotion than 1-day, 1-park tickets, since park hoppers cost money to buy? I know they let their Cast Members sign up to 3 people per day into their parks for free, which are park hopping privileges, so really now, what are they losing for giving out 1D1P tickets instead of park hoppers?

This lead to me think that it seems like Disney is becoming more stingy then before.

Other examples include the 1/2 Marathon run which costs $190 to enter, in previous years they used to give runners one free ticket each to visit the parks later that day but recently, they don't give them any tickets anymore.

Also I know they Disney canceled their traditional annual Cast Member Holiday parties a couple years ago. Why? Probably because they didn't want to spend money on them anymore.

I know Disney is very successful and has a lot of money, even more-so than before, so really now, what is the justification for them to become stingier, and greedier than they were before?

 

Originally Posted By berol

There doesn't need to be justification. They aren't supplying us with basic necessities, just entertainment.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Like berol said, Disney is a luxury not a staple. Nobody *needs* Disney, so they're free to charge whatever they think they can get away with. It's a harsh reality, but one that continues to become increasingly clear the longer Iger is in control. His focus on quarterly profits with minimal long-term improvements to the US parks (particularly in WDW) means that a day at the parks have less value than ever

>>Other examples include the 1/2 Marathon run which costs $190 to enter, in previous years they used to give runners one free ticket each to visit the parks later that day but recently, they don't give them any tickets anymore.<<

The free tickets only happened once, in 2011 for WDW's Marathon Weekend. The 2010 event will go down in runDisney history (technically the Disney Endurance Series at the time) as one of the most miserable events they've ever done. During the Half Marathon on Saturday, it sleeted and snowed through much of the event; the weather for the Marathon on Sunday was dry, but even colder than the day before.

As a result, the 2011 events were slow to fill up (this was the days before they sold out in a few hours) and as a way to increase registrations they decided to do the "Marathon Monday" promotions with 'free' park tickets to marathon finishers the day after the race.

This was before runDisney became its own business unit, responsible for generating a profit on its own. The thought process was that the races would draw people into the parks during an otherwise-quiet time and help bring in some extra money. By offering free tickets on Monday, instead of Sunday, they strategically set it up so they could get the extra hotel revenue from it

In all of Disney's other race weekends (22 other Marathon Weekends, 9 Disneyland Half Marathons, 6 Princess Half Marathons, 5 Wine & Dine Half Marathons, 5 Expedition Everest Challenges, 4 Tower of Terror 10-Milers, 4 Tinkerbell Half Marathons, and a handful of Race for the Tastes, ESPN: the Races, Minnie Marathons, Star Wars Half Marathons, Avengers Half Marathons, and non-Disney triathlons on WDW property) they have never done this promotion. It's not something that they used to do and stopped because they cheaped out, it was a one-time promotion that was never intended to continue (like getting in for free on your birthday)

If you want to complain about the races, complain about how the creation of the runDisney brand led to them being financially independent. Instead of covering their costs by the increased guest spending at their respective resorts, they have to cover it all with their own registration fees and merchandise. As a result, the entry fees have skyrocketed in recent years, while simultaneously lowering the quality of the events, increasing the field size to borderline-dangerous conditions, and constantly homogenizing the various events

 

Originally Posted By doombuggy

"I heard a woman on the radio win two 1-day, 1-park tickets to the Disneyland Resort. My first though was why didn't they just giver her park hopper tickets?"

Cause the radio station only bought that kind. Their budget probably only allowed them to get 2 1day 1park.

 

Originally Posted By Dis-Philip

Mr. F and FerretAfros, the two of you could not be anymore wrong if you tried. Drop the sour attitudes!

 

Originally Posted By perlster

#4 wrong

 

Originally Posted By berol

Yeah, the tickets are payment in kind. Paying twice as much as the air time is worth by giving 4 tickets would be rather generous, possibly to a fault.

 

Originally Posted By Ohana

The parks are lessening the giveaways because of the capacity issues. In my mind, 2 tickets is still a great prize and helps alleviate the parks from consistently being too full to be enjoyable.

 

Originally Posted By perlster

Here we go again ...
No, Disney is not limiting tickets for radio station giveaways to two. The usual number in the L.A. radio market is four. The change is that, three or four years ago, they were park hoppers and are now exclusively one-park tickets. There have been some AP and multi-day ticket giveaways in past years.

 

Originally Posted By Bellella

>This leads me to think that it seems like Disney is becoming more stingy than before.<

No. You think?!!!

 

Originally Posted By RoadTrip

People used to feel privileged to go to Disneyland if all they could afford was to get in the front gate and buy a ticket book providing access to a handful of attractions. I know... that was the way I visited DL for the first time in 1964. Who has gotten cheap, stingy and greedy? Disneyland, or guests who feel they should have cheapo non-stop access to everything in the parks?

 

Originally Posted By doombuggy

Giving away tickets...any tickets is hardly cheap,stingy or greedy. some people just want to bitch for the sake of bitching.

 

Originally Posted By Dabob2

No. You think?!!!

 

Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt

"Who has gotten cheap, stingy and greedy? Disneyland, or guests who feel they should have cheapo non-stop access to everything in the parks?"

Good question RT. I remember when the only time you could expect to see a big daily parade at DL or the MK was in the summer months and Christmas. Even if you happened to be there on a day when a parade was scheduled there'd only be one to see. The fireworks show was staged only in summer and lasted maybe 5 minutes. Obviously there was no Fantasmic, no year-round extended operating hours, or large-scale seasonal events, and the biggest stage shows were cheesy performances by Kids of The Kingdom in Tomorrowland. I personally agree with fans who think the parks are "overpriced", BUT it's not like they haven't reinvested in them and continually expanded the extras to keep people entertained.

 

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

It strikes me as a bit odd not to give away hoppers, but only because by my way of thinking, giving the winners access to both parks means more opportunity for Disney to make money from those guests spending money on food or souvenirs. Other than that, I don't think Disney is being cheap, stingy, or greedy. They have all kinds of promotional contests, some small, some big, This time it was a smaller prize ... but one still worth a couple of hundred dollars. I doubt the person who won is complaining.

 

Originally Posted By ecdc

>>Giving away tickets...any tickets is hardly cheap,stingy or greedy. some people just want to bitch for the sake of bitching.<<

Welcome to the Internet. Sit, have a drink

 

Originally Posted By SuperDry

<<< It strikes me as a bit odd not to give away hoppers >>>

If they are giving away sets of 4 one-day tickets (or Disney is intending them to be given away in that manner), then there is a perfectly rational reason to make them NOT park hoppers: Single-day park hoppers now cost $155, so four of them cost $620.

Any prize given away that's worth $600 or more must be reported to the IRS on a Form 1099, which means the radio station would have to collect the winner's Social Security Number, complete and submit the paperwork, and the recipient would have to pay income tax on the prize's retail value. This is true regardless of how much the radio station paid for the tickets, even if they paid nothing and it was in trade for commercial time. Back when 1-day hoppers were less than $150 each, sets of 4 could be given away without income tax implications.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

^^Interesting. I wonder if they could somehow side step that by giving 2 to the winner, and 2 more to their friend. Definitely an interesting proposition

 

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

"If they are giving away sets of 4 one-day tickets"

I hadn't thought about the IRS angle. However, the radio station was giving away two tickets, not four.

 

Originally Posted By SuperDry

<<< However, the radio station was giving away two tickets, not four. >>>

I understand that. But they had been given away in 4's in the past. That's why I specifically mentioned that perhaps Disney thought they'd continue to be given away in 4's and thus issued them as single-park tickets, and for some unrelated reason the radio station decided to switch to pairs.