Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 The Spirit took part in a very interesting survey this afternoon that was commissioned by either Disney, Universl or Busch (or possibly, but doubtfully, the Orlando visitors bureau). It was trying to gauge whether people would visit the parks owned by the three majors under various economic criteria, tested knowledge of upcoming attractions at all resorts and offered some interesting tidbits that you can easily read in to mean 'Roadtrip may not be worried about gas prices and the economy, but we sure as hell are.' One area focused on possible ticket offers (all were based on annual/seasonal type tickets) for later this year. For example (and I tried to copy the survey pages, but they wouldn't so I took some notes) they offered the following: A WDW AP for $349 WITH a $50 FREE GAS card included;a $199 Universal AP with a $50 Uni gift card or a $199 Universal AP with a second for half price; a WDW seasonal pass for $204.99 with a $25 Disney Gift Card AND *** a preview of the MK's 'Upside Down, Inside Out Coaster' *** Yep ... I have no idea what that is. I know Disney isn't building a new coaster. All I can think is that is either a mistake or some code for the revamp of Space Mountain (which I have been told may have been tabled). It also offered nine different comparisons of three ticket offers, one from Disney, one from Universal, one from Busch. It asked which one you preferred and then asked would you likely buy the one you picked. A few examples of that were: A Sea World AP for $108.99 with a $25 gas card and admittance to a taping of Wheel of Fortune OR a Universal Premier AP with $10 gift card for $279.99 OR a WDW seasonal pass at 15.00 off ($254.99). Another choice of three offered the following: A WDW seasonal pass with $35 Disney gift card and American Idol preview for $239.99; OR a UNI Preferred AP with a $5 discount and guaranteed preview of the new Hollywood Rip, Ride and Rock-It Coaster for $184.99; OR a Sea World AND Aquatica AP with $45 gas card and admittance to a holiday concert series including Manheim Steamroller and Beach Boys for $169.99. One last choice of three given was: A SW/Aquatica AP for $134.99 with $25 off plus a preview of Manta, the new mega-coaster; OR a UNI Power Pass (no parking) with a $50 gass card and guaranteed preview of the Wizard World of Harry Potter for $109.99 OR a WDW AP with $30 gift card for $369.99. The survey also tested knowledge of every new attraction of the past two years (actually longer since it did include PhilharMagic) and attractions yet to open at all three resorts. I also found it interesting that it included the updated SSE. It asked you to rate them if you had been on them or would they drive attendance if you hadn't with the new things such as TSMM, Simpsons, and even American Idol. Again, I'm trying to find out who commissioned the survey, but it did seem rather ... desperate in tone. ALL of the special ticket offers were talked of being offered 'at the holidays' ... so I'm wondering if this is the first hint of massive discounting and offers to get people to O-Town. Thoughts?
Originally Posted By bayrr326 Well, it seems to me, based on what you wrote, heavily targeted to Florida residents to get them to buy AP's for the holidays as gifts or for themselves. That would make sense if they are expecting the tourism to be in the crapper next year. Use incentives to boost the AP holders, so you have people who will come to the parks and spend money. Of course being someone who is already an AP holder to Universal, WDW and Busch(platinum pass, worth it just for the preferred parking) I might be a little ticked that they would be offering these incentives that I didn't get but that is just me.
Originally Posted By dshyates Definitly targeting the local audience. I guess they are seing airline and gas problems. I think the deal with the gas card would be more popular than the Disney/Universal gift cards, even if it offers the same amount of savings. It contains the buzz word "gas". Which is a hot button word these days. My question , Spirit, is, where you when you were approached to take the survey?
Originally Posted By figment1986 hmm.... interesting marketing ideas. Must have been sponsored by Orlando's tourist people... after talking with the parks about ideas. Esp since its all the parks in Orlando represented. Interesting nothing about Busch Gardens Tampa with the SeaWorld Orlando stuff... (since BGT gets enough visitors who also went to SWO)
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< But $50 doesn't even buy a full tank... >>> Ah, but if you buy one pass for each member of the family, they'll start to add up. It is an interesting incentive. At the end of the day, what's the difference between a $50 gas card offer and just reducing the price of the tickets $50? I can't imagine that Disney will be getting much of a discount on the back end from the gas cards, if any. Instead, it would appear to me that they've identified the high price of gas as a big psychological barrier to visiting WDW in many situations, and want to do something to break down this barrier. For the first time, I've started to get offers in the mail from Las Vegas that include money back specifically to help pay for gas.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 they are deffently targeting people in teh area that would want to by an AP. Or people who can get to the parks easily. What I want to know is, they do something for the hundereds of other people. You know the ones that just once, or every other year. What should they do to bring those groups in?
Originally Posted By MPierce Like everyone else I agree that it is targeting Florida residence. I wonder if this is the inital response to the gas crisis, with an expansion outside of the state to follow? I would have to assume this is either the Florida Travel Bureau or the Orlando Chamber of Commerce. I'm guessing they will share this information with all of the mentioned parks.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Gas is essentially killing their strongest local market - Tampa/St Petersburg. A trip that the area once considered "free" after buying an AP now costs near the same as daily admission for gas.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I think the deal with the gas card would be more popular than the Disney/Universal gift cards, even if it offers the same amount of savings. It contains the buzz word "gas". Which is a hot button word these days.>> Yes. Clearly they were measuring whether a gas card, a gift card or just a discount on the pass would be the dealmaker. <<My question , Spirit, is, where you when you were approached to take the survey?>> In my own secret hideout (no, not Wayne Manor). <<hmm.... interesting marketing ideas. Must have been sponsored by Orlando's tourist people... after talking with the parks about ideas.>> I dunno. I sent out a few emails earlier tonight to try and find out if any spirited pals might have an idea who commissioned said survey. <<Esp since its all the parks in Orlando represented. Interesting nothing about Busch Gardens Tampa with the SeaWorld Orlando stuff...>> No. Actually Busch Gardens was included, but it appeared in a very cursory way. For example, it asked if I had heard of Jungala and wanted to/intended to visit based on it. Also, forgot to mention that it asked which parks I would attend if I could go for $30 a day (again, listed all Orlando parks and Busch Gardens). It even asked which parks I'd visit IF admission were FREE, which I assumed meant included with something like I dunno ... a Disney resort stay ... or a room at Portofino Bay ... or a Marriott World Center room thru Sea World. Clearly, some of the offers that were shown are going to be put out in the near future. And, yes, it shows again what many of us realize -- and that is O-Town's industry simply can't sustain at current price points at $140 a barrel oil, no matter what some think.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<But $50 doesn't even buy a full tank...>> I'm at the $65-70 full tank threshold now. And I am driving far less because of it.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Like everyone else I agree that it is targeting Florida residence. I wonder if this is the inital response to the gas crisis, with an expansion outside of the state to follow? I would have to assume this is either the Florida Travel Bureau or the Orlando Chamber of Commerce. I'm guessing they will share this information with all of the mentioned parks.>> That makes a lot of sense. Of course, I can also see one of the three majors commissioning it knowing they're going to have to compete heavily to get bodies in the parks this fall and beyond. We shall see ...
Originally Posted By -em Very interesting.. The catch with this is if less people come- the staff (at all parks) dont get hours which makes it hard to impossible to even visit the local parks so they are going to have to try even harder to get the locals than normal... I know for me while Id love to get the Sea World fun card (buy 1 day get the year free) I cant justify 70 bucks (+ parking etc) Ive been struggling to break even with 40 hours and now with the very real prospect of getting cut down to 30 means its going to be impossible to survive... Ive been trying to jump ship but there is not much hiring right now... -em
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< The catch with this is if less people come- the staff (at all parks) dont get hours which makes it hard to impossible to even visit the local parks so they are going to have to try even harder to get the locals than normal... I know for me while Id love to get the Sea World fun card (buy 1 day get the year free) I cant justify 70 bucks (+ parking etc) >>> I doubt very much if CM's ability to afford to visit non-Disney parks is at all on their radar screens. But you bring up an interesting point: closing a park for a day a week here or there would definitely reduce the labor pool required. Rather than reduce the number of hours per CM, they could get by with fewer CMs. This would address one of the major problems reported with the operation of WDW: it's very difficult to get enough people to work at the low wages they pay in order to fully staff the resort. Reducing the total number of CMs would remove some of the upward pressure on wages.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I just got confirmation that the survey I was a part of was commissioned by the magical folks at The Walt Disney Co.
Originally Posted By figment1986 <<It even asked which parks I'd visit IF admission were FREE, which I assumed meant included with something like I dunno ... a Disney resort stay ... or a room at Portofino Bay ... or a Marriott World Center room thru Sea World.>> Hmm, sounds about right, Too bad I already go to SWO and BGT free... thanks to a family member who works for them, dont go enough though. <<I just got confirmation that the survey I was a part of was commissioned by the magical folks at The Walt Disney Co.>> strange choice of survey with so many other parks listed... but it makes sense as well.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Not really, Figgy. Disney is very well known for attempting to judge how their counterparts' products and offers are going to affect their parks. It's just smart business. There are also tell-tale signs of a survey being given from the Mouse ... things I wasn't aware of, but now am.
Originally Posted By hopemax > Ive been struggling to break even with 40 hours and now with the very real prospect of getting cut down to 30 means its going to be impossible to survive That is interesting, -em. My Mom has been on 6 days for the last month, and into the forseeable future.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> I just got confirmation that the survey I was a part of was commissioned by the magical folks at The Walt Disney Co. << That does make sense. I'm assuming they are judging how little they have to give up in the way of discounts in order to keep the general public coming.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^That is my guess as well. Like I've said, all appears well in O-Town right now. But I've been told some folks think that the drop-off won't wait for the traditional second week of August ... but that it'll will start about a week after July 4th.
