Ticket Price Increases!

Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer

Well, time to head over there and change that.

(Yeah, like it'll be posted, anyway. )

 

Originally Posted By Bolna

Oh, there are a few not so positive comments as well.

 

Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer

It wasn't posted. LOL. I should have saved it for posting here.

 

Originally Posted By Bolna

Well, when I once tried to post a comment which suggested that caramel is rather rare in the real Germany, they did not like it either. I sometimes wonder when they choose to be picky and when not.

 

Originally Posted By MousDad

^^ No, they rarely ever approve any critical comments. And I'm pretty sure they remember names as well.

 

Originally Posted By MousDad

^^ No, they rarely ever approve any critical comments. And I'm pretty sure they remember names as well.

 

Originally Posted By Bolna

Well, there are a few:

#17: <<$500 x 3 = I don’t know if I can keep doing this, sigh….>>

#21: <<This was totally unexpected to me! Price increases usually occur in August…..>>

#25: <<I won’t lie, the Disneyland AP increases hurt! Thank you for the monthly payment option, we’d never be able to have them without it!>>

#27: <<Fan-Freaking-Tastic…
My girlfriend and I were going to work hard to purchase annual passes at the end of the summer
but this price hike just killed that dream .
Disney rarely has ever let me down…but this dream just got killed big-time.>>

#30: <<Excessive increases on a less than annual basis for already exorbitant prices. Stay classy, Disney.>>

(This guy sounds like he reads the boards here...)

#31: <<-sigh- Another increase in price? why? I’m gonna be honest, I LOVE Disneyland, really I do. Every time I go, I go to my 2 favorite rides, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride & STAR TOURS. However these increases hurt my chances of going. Why not just make it $100 for 1 day, 1 park. its quite upsetting. I’d like to see prices go down rather than up. I mean the current prices were barely increased not too long ago. Well, I won’t be surprised when I see that 1 day, 1 park will cost $100 for ages 10+.>>

#35: <<I was lucky that I just got my new card, but ouch. Even though people will still buy the AP, it going to leave a bad taste.>>

#36: <<Wow, as a frequent visitor, my 7-day ticket with park hopper just went up 7%? That’s quite an increase for a business seeing profits. With airfares increasing, I would have hoped that Disney would have cut the little guy a break on this one.
It IS still possible to have a year without an exorbitant price increase and still show a profit…>>

#42: <<I’m literally crying my eyes out right now. Our family of 5 now has to come up with an additional $250 in order for us to get the Premier Passes again?!?! The economy is hard enough, now we have to save up more money for a trip we’ve been planning since last September. Guess we’ll be avoiding the gift shops in the parks. Our extra spending cash will be wrapped up in just getting through the gates >>

#44: <<I am very dissapointed to hear of another Disney price increase. For families that have to save for years to even go on a Disney vacation this just puts it farther out of reach. Last time I was at Disney World it seemed to me like there was more international visitors that American visitors, I guess they are the ones who can better afford to go. For my family (there are 5 of us-2 adults and three kids but with your pricing we are considered 5 adults) Disney world will have to continue to be a fantasy.>>

#50: <<Well.. I guess this seals it. We’ve been saving up for 2 years to take our kids to Disney next year.. and we just can’t afford it. Shame as my husband and I spent our honeymoon at Disney World and had hoped to take the kids before they got too old for their first trip. I could just cry. My husband is a recent graduate and I am the only breadwinner… a few dollars puts it out of reach. So sad.>>

That's 11 critical comments out of 54 posted so far, so about 20% critical. A lot of the other posts are asking for making the payment plan for the annual pass to be more widely available. And then there are some positive ones as well.

 

Originally Posted By Bolna

And just because I am crazy, I did count the negative comments on the same announcement last August ( <a href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/08/new-information-about-tickets/#comments" target="_blank">http://disneyparks.disney.go.c...comments</a> ) Out of 95 posts 20 negative comments.

If one were suspicious of the Disney Social Media department one could come up with the theory that they realise that this is a topic which not everyone will agree with. So only positive comments would be very obvious. One could say that it appears that 20% negative comments is the approved ratio for such issues.

 

Originally Posted By standor

The witches posted my thoughts exactly. I have been saying for years, stop going to the parks, don't buy disney merchandise and ignore disney altogether. Eventually they will realize we are not stupid clones who will accept all the crap they want to give to us, and we will not smile and say OK.
In other words : BOYCOTT DISNEY.:

 

Originally Posted By MPierce

Ticket prices increase. Imagine that. Surly they won't raise room rates or food, and beverage prices. Not Disney!

 

Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer

Good job on recapping those posts... Im shocked that they let them in.

 

Originally Posted By leobloom

Bolna, you're gunning for the job of Official Online Researcher for LP. Very interesting to see which posts they let through. I'm also not surprised they posted some negative comments. I am shocked they could find enough positive posts to outnumber the negative ones.

 

Originally Posted By leobloom

Also observe that some of these negative ones are not completely negative...

#21. <<This was totally unexpected to me! Price increases usually occur in August…..>>
(Translation: "Nothing surprising that the prices are going up, just surprising when they're increasing!")

#25: <<I won’t lie, the Disneyland AP increases hurt! Thank you for the monthly payment option, we’d never be able to have them without it!>>
(Translation: "I don't like the price increase, but thanks for helping me fork over the money!")

#42: <<I’m literally crying my eyes out right now. Our family of 5 now has to come up with an additional $250 in order for us to get the Premier Passes again?!?! The economy is hard enough, now we have to save up more money for a trip we’ve been planning since last September. Guess we’ll be avoiding the gift shops in the parks. Our extra spending cash will be wrapped up in just getting through the gates >>
(Translation: "You're going to get our money one way or another. Guess we'll plan not to buy souvenirs until the kids start screaming and crying and we'll break down and max out the credit cards in order to buy them some princess crap.")

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

And for perspective, I wanted to take my 4 to see Shrek the Musical in London. I abandoned my idea given it would have cost us $750 for one night. That still makes WDW even with their Tragic Kingdom, Disney needs more work Studions, Exceptionally Poor Collection of toons (invading the park) and DAK good value.
-------------


great honest assessment- every single thing we touch is rising due to fuel costs - utility increases- and the cost of all good WDW buys due to the same reasons..
it sucks but it is reality

and yeah - the cost of good live entertainment like a play -with the sticker shock associated with it helps perspective

 

Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1

You know just to play Disney's(devil's)advocate here for a second, I have to say, if your trip is cancelled because $200 suddenly puts it beyond reach, I think you should not have EVER planned to stretch yourself SO THIN in the first place.

If your finances for something as(let's face it)inconsequential as a theme park holiday are being calculated to the last dollar, you really should stay home and get a better handle on your budget and your household so that you have a bit of a buffer and so that a simple holiday to Disneyland does not destroy your finances and put you in debtor's prison.


If you are THAT stretched for money I would consider it personally fiscally irresponsible to be considering ANY kind of large expenditure. Save for another year, get a bit more of a buffer(dollars)in your personal savings account and wait until Carsland opens. You will have less financial stress and instead of Construction Wall Land at DCA you get two thirds of a brand new park to enjoy!


Or is fiscal responsibility passé?

 

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

I agree Bob, and I would rather save longer and harder and get a quality experience, then for the place to be Walmarted to death to keep it cheaper (WDW and DLP, I am looking at you).

 

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

For example, when we went to DLP in April, of course we had a good time. However, there were still things off. PotC had just come out of a 6 week refurb, and while some things were looking good, there were a couple of key aa's still missing.

PM really needs a refurb badly, it was almost like being at WDW, not acceptable.

Big Thunder had virtually no working effects and a couple of weeks later, a boulder fell off and put folks in the hospital.

The entertainment was virtually non existant, even for the rubberhead lovers, and all the stages were dark. We did see the African Tam Tams, but 1/4 less than last year and they were a side show to a rubberhead meet and greet.

Then the construction zone of refurbs due to the negligence started in Rasulo's reign (thankfully they are at least doing the refurbs).

There are many DLP fans who are skipping this year altogether hoping next year will be worth while for the 20th.

Personally I would rather pay $200 more, or even $1000 more if it meant we got decent entertainment, dining and shopping, good condition park with new attractions in the pipeline like DCA.

The folks in So Cal really do not know how good they have it.

 

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

WDW and DLP really need to raise their game.

I cannot believe how much more amazing the German parks were with their hotels, they made Disney seem a joke. And at Europa Park, the maintanance, shows and cleanliness beat out Disney, and some of the theming was starting to rival them too.

The kids prefer Europa Park to any of the Disney parks now.

 

Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1

"The folks in So Cal really do not know how good they have it."

And a big part of that problem belongs with Disney! Due to the fairly cheap local APs and the "a few bucks per month payment plan", as I said recently in the Social Media thread, the DLR has basically become an after school/after work créche for children and a holding station for adults who don't want to go home to reality.

They have come to SEE the parks in Anaheim as a "drop in centre" after work/school and(depending on how frquently they pop in)they are basically paying a dollar or two to "hang out" for the afternoon/evening.

It is NO surprise that such ilk are crying poor and bashing the WDC for increasing prices, whereas, considering the frequency with which some go, the REAL cost to each extra click of the turnstyle for them might be 30c or something.


I started a thread a LONG time ago(not Jim Hill "LONG TIME AGO" which usually refers to last week - I am talking like a YEAR BACK!)that postulated that maybe the company should drastically raise AP prices. This would have the effect of pricing out some of the riff raff that treat the park as a child-minding centre and might decrease crowds for the day trippers allowing them to have a more quality experience.


The crying and gnashing of teeth going on right now is EXACTLY what should be happening and based on the number of comments I have seen already along the lines of "I may not renew", this might actually be a GREAT thing for people wanting a more quality time visiting the parks.

 

Originally Posted By Bolna

<<Bolna, you're gunning for the job of Official Online Researcher for LP.>>

Lol, I just think it is important to have the facts on the table when discussing something. And since we are discussing Disney's social media in another thread it sparked my interest how they dealt with this issue.

I agree with you that not all posts that I picked as negative are only negative, I was rather generous in counting stuff as negative.