Originally Posted By berol If a Disney vacation is twice as much now as when I was a kid, then it'd take around twice as long as before to save for it, every 10 years instead of 5 or whatever. "Hey, you can go to college or Disneyland, your choice." hehe
Originally Posted By TP2000 Kira, I appreciate your concern about the ticket prices. But I also mirror the statement earlier in this thread that a day at Disneyland is a privelege and a luxury, it is not a right. Disneyland is already crowded and busy beyond belief, and it's been that way for years now. If people are deciding not to visit Disneyland after seeing the cost of tickets at their local Disney Store, then that's good news for the people that can afford to visit Disneyland and don't need to put up with longer lines. The line for Pirates of the Caribbean is already 45 minutes on busy weekends, it doesn't need to be any longer because of cheaper ticket prices. Disney is a private business and is pricing its product at a level that it feels the marketplace can bear. Disneyland is the finest amusement park in America, and it should be an expensive thing. If you can't afford to take the family to Disneyland, there are many other luxuries in 21st century life that you also can not afford; a Video Ipod, a Lexus SUV in the driveway, a 200 dollar Fall sweater at Nordstrom, a 600 dollar Italian espresso maker for the kitchen, etc. A trip to Disneyland is one of lifes luxuries, it is not a right granted to Americans by birth.
Originally Posted By a1stav "I happen to enjoy DCA, and I have no interest in Seaworld." That's why I said "I feel", you said that Disneyland and DCA are the BEST parks in the USA, that is YOUR opinion not a fact. It still remains that Seaworld is offering a product that can compare (different yes) to Disney for $9 less. In fact EVERY park in SoCal is cheaper that Disney right now, Universal is $14 less, Knotts is $28 less and Magic Mountain is $20 less. Now when Disney begins their "everyone for the kids price" promotion then the gap will close quite a bit. I still think that Disney is out of line with the HUGE price hikes over the last five years IMO. I will NOT be going back to Disney becouse of the price increases, rather I will be going to USO/IOA becouse I love those parks as well and they cost MUCH less. PS: I never said I do not like DCA, I just said that I like SeaWorld more.
Originally Posted By a1stav "Disneyland is already crowded and busy beyond belief, and it's been that way for years now." Most of those people crowding Disneyland are SoCal AP. I think that the SoCal AP is still UNDER priced where the out of town vacationer is being OVER charged. I bet if they chuck the low cost Socal AP then Disneyland crowds will plummet!
Originally Posted By a1stav Just another comparison a four day pass to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea is only $127.69
Originally Posted By TP2000 a1stav, you don't have to convince me of the superiority of Tokyo Disney Resort to either property in Anaheim or Orlando. After my first visit to Tokyo almost a year ago, I will never look at Disneyland or WDW the same way again. We are truly being beaten at our own game by the Japanese, but that's another topic. That said, no comparison of ticket prices between Anaheim and Tokyo would be fair without mentioning the exchange rate which is currently very favorable to those holding American dollars. It was favorable back in '05 when the rate was about 112 Yen to each Dollar. But now it's even more favorable at 117 Yen per Dollar. I suppose I could thrown another monkey wrench into the topic by mentioning that a two-park Annual Pass for Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea is a whopping 620 dollars per adult, even with the favorable exchange rate factored in.
Originally Posted By SFH I can't help but think of these two columns: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID111330.asp" target="_blank">http://www.laughingplace.com/N ews-ID111330.asp</a> <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID111360.asp" target="_blank">http://www.laughingplace.com/N ews-ID111360.asp</a> Theatres, stadiums, arenas, and transportation companies do it. Disney parks should have levels of pricing. SFH
Originally Posted By SFH Notice that I wrote those columns just before Matt Ouimet and Greg Emmer were installed and some changes were made. SFH
Originally Posted By goofy4041 i love Disneyland and the price is much but maybe its the money they pay the CEO, and other people in charge? Just a thought
Originally Posted By debtee I'm of the opinion that all entertainment is now so expensive so why should DL be any different. Going to the movies these days is pricey, especially a family of five like my sister has in her family but we all find the money to go! So I agree with the ones before me that don't understand the outrage at prices increasing, it's happening everywhere. Milk, Bread, petrol everything is going up and up all the time. We pay to go into DL no matter the cost and there's plenty of others that feel the same judging by the attendance numbers of the past year.
Originally Posted By darthtiki As a college student, who will be moving into the wonderful land we call Orange County next year, as my one big entertainment purchase it would be between this (PAP) on an XBox 360 Gold Package which run close to the same in price point. I'll tell you right now that my money is going to Disneyland because I know in the long run I'll save and get a better experience than spending 70 bucks in addition to the cost of a system on a game which I'll get tired of in a month or two.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I'd like to get a hold of the person who approves the rates being raised and give them a nice kick in the arse (to put it nicely) and a dose of reality for families who have a love of disneyland but can't afford the kind of prices they are calling for.<< FWIW, we live in a free market capitalist society, where prices are set by supply and demand. As a business, DLR should price its admission tickets as to what the market will bear. It has nothing to do with what it costs to run DLR. The same applies to the DLR hotels. They will charge what the market will bear. It matters not for instance the the DLH is a fairly unremarkable hotel, if customers are willing to pay 200-300 a night, then that is what the will charge. And if customers are unwilling to pay more than $100, then that too is what they will charge.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I'll leave it to the number crunchers to determine if the ticket system would make Disneyland more "fair" in terms of cost.<< Again, this is not about "fairness". DL is not a public utility. They will use a ticket system that will maximize their profitability.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>10 years ago .. or just 5 is absolutely absurd .. and so out of wack to nation's inflation rate. Disney has an "inflation rate" of their very own ... and when they finally get reach the point where people start not coming ... that's when we'll see more promotions through grocery stores, etc.<< And that's how the free market system works. If customers do not feel that they are getting value for their money and stop buying then a business has two choices: provide more value (a better product) or discount the price of the product. As long as DL is crowded, we will continue to see large prices increases year after year.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Hans I respect your opinion on defending disney in this matter.<< Again, DLR is a business, not a charity. >>and you see the look on that heartbroken look on the child's face, then come talk to me about how they have every right to raise prices.<< I think that there are greater injustices in the world than a Disney cacation being postoned due to increased prices. Perhaps just as Disney should be forced to keep its prices down, the perhaps evrey family in America should be forced to fork over its vacation money to feed poor children in the 3rd world. This does not happen, even though starving children should most definitely be fed.
Originally Posted By debtee <As a college student, who will be moving into the wonderful land we call Orange County next year, as my one big entertainment purchase it would be between this (PAP) on an XBox 360 Gold Package which run close to the same in price point. I'll tell you right now that my money is going to Disneyland because I know in the long run I'll save and get a better experience than spending 70 bucks in addition to the cost of a system on a game which I'll get tired of in a month or two.> Good on you darthtiki! <>>and you see the look on that heartbroken look on the child's face, then come talk to me about how they have every right to raise prices.<< I was just going to say I bet these same heartbroken kids have an x-box or playstation or nintendo at home with all the games etc but no money for DL! So although I feel bad for you Kira to have to witness this show of sadness ( I worked in a Disney store for 5 years I know what it's like ) I truly believe it's all a show and that the parents are not really willing to save the money for a nice vacation to DL like the rest of us have to.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I can go to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure a seven day pass for $85 compared to a Disneyland DCA five day pass for $189. >>> This may be the comparison for you, but I would think that very few consumers are making a multi-day destination vacation decision between DLR and USF, whether it be on price or otherwise. It's just not in the pricing equation for Disney when they make decisions for DLR. Disney is entering into what may be a challenging year for them, coming off of the very successful 50th. Now that the 50th is past, they still must deliver increased earnings from the parks this year. The fact that attendance will likely be steady and possibly reduced when compared to the 50th year does not excuse them from needing to deliver increased earnings. Especially if attendance is challenged, expect them to do whatever they can get away with in raised prices and reduced expenses in order to bring home increased earnings.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>The fact that attendance will likely be steady and possibly reduced when compared to the 50th year does not excuse them from needing to deliver increased earnings. << Yup, which is why they have been looking into things like the expensive Princess makeovers. I agree that its frustrating how companies do otherwise stupid things for short term profits, but if they don't then Wall St. will punish the stocks price. Walt and Roy Sr. are lone gone, and Roy Jr. doesn't have the same clout they did.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I was just going to say I bet these same heartbroken kids have an x-box or playstation or nintendo at home with all the games etc but no money for DL!<< Maybe, maybe not. But in the big pictuire of a family vacation, which usually runs a few thousand bucks between airfare, car rental, hotels, meals, resort tix, etc., raising DL ticket prices a few bucks will have a minimal effect, an effect that can be easily offset by: staying at a cheaper hotel. eating more modest meals. drive vs. flying shorten the trip by 1 day. etc. And for the day trippers, just skip eating out once per month and that should easily cover a price increase. And if you think that its not worth the price increase, then vote with your pocket book and your feet and do something else that day.
