Originally Posted By vbdad55 " Just because a guest is coming in on the 8th day of their park hopper doesn't mean it now only costs $4 to run the park for that guest. These goofy pricing schemes were concocted by someone with little to no practical experience and without any idea how it impacts the folks who have to defend the parks' operation as a loss leader. This pricing scheme were implemented for goals that DID NOT take the park‘s operation into consideration. I welcome, and I understand, why Disney now needs to start chipping away at MYW and APs" agree
Originally Posted By vbdad55 "Their goals where not in line with the need for the parks admission to hit certain revenue levels. So the Food and Hotels do better, but the parks operations have to make serious cuts in maintenance, janitorial, etc. because John gets to visit for the entire day for $4. This whole concept is now outdated and does not work in today's marketplace or the needs of the parks' operations. "\ again- agree this needs a serious overhaul
Originally Posted By vbdad55 American publicly traded corporations are under pressure from Wall St to maximize profits. Failure to meet Wall St.'s expectations will result in a much lower stock price. For this reason American companies are obsessed with cutting costs and expenses above all else. Innovation and creativity are not as important. ----------------- a very true statement-- look at DIsney stock for the better portion of 12 years it stayed flat...that causes buyout concerns- like they had , lowers ratings and futures and in turn makes it more expensive to borrow money-- it is a complicated process.. some here want to equate WDW to a carnival that has ticket sales and each day goes over their expenses to run for one more day to see if they stay open.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>But this does not mean I am STUCK going anywhere. I can go as I choose even with DVC points. And if I ever felt I was being totally screwed by DVC- I would sell it in a heartbeat..just not the case. as for 100 a point buyers- I know plenty of them, don't knowone who feels like you think they do. not a single one. They battle for rights within their resort- complain if something is wrong..but also enjoy what they bought into. Every one has kids - most are 10-15 years younger than me- my sisters age. I guess they see things differently.<< First, as you point out it is entirely different for a member such as yourself, or even what I actually did, who bought early and now can get out heavily in the black. It is an entirely different phenomenon for those folks who bought in the last five years (especially prior to 2008) at a much higher entry point, are struggling right now to justify the cost of flying the family down every year, buying park admission, feeding everyone... And then despite all of that commitment, seeing the quality decrease year after year. I have no doubt that you know a few folks who are in that predicament and are still happy 'members' .. As Spirit and I discussed there is a natural psychology to stay happy.. BUT I do watch the timeshare resale sites, and those sites have inventory sitting on the market that is not moving. It is a lot harder to sell a purchase as a 3 or 4 year member than as someone who got in during the mid-90's.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 BUT I do watch the timeshare resale sites, and those sites have inventory sitting on the market that is not moving. It is a lot harder to sell a purchase as a 3 or 4 year member than as someone who got in during the mid-90's. ----------- sure, one need look no further than any real estate sales. I live here in a western subrub you would know immediately that was gol din everything it did -( you know best place to live in country- best place to raise kids etc)- but expennsive. However if I wanted to sell my house 5-7 years ago, I literally had realtors calling me and it would be gone in less than a week. Today 6 months i snot uncommon- and we have one house in the subdivision pushing close to a year as they are holding out for a decent price. AS i've always stated - WDW and Disney are just a microcosm of the world around them... my issue is with those that seem to believe they are immune to the same dynamics.
Originally Posted By ChiMike ^^ All true. And I am glad that we now are on the same page. Spirit is right that the DVC group should be a force to reckon with. They're not. I would imagine it has to be frustrating for a member with a prepaid vacation plan to see some of the declines that are occuring, and at the same time dealing with the dynamic you describe above.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 "Spirit is right that the DVC group should be a force to reckon with. They're not." an activist group they are not but small things they have accomplished. Again things like getting a quality themed slide added to a resort sold out 15 years earlier seems small- but to have Disney invest anything where they ahve their captial already and they have nothing to gain from it is something. Fighting for AP discounts was another win. Asking an exremely diverse group of 100,000 families + from around the globe, spanning all age brackets, income brackets, GEO specific concerns etc. is asking quite a lot though don't you think ? I can tell you from the other DVC members I meet - at the pool, at the bar -- on the bus etc.. the feelings Spirit has about the level of decline is just not there. It's not that it's there and people are doing nothing about it. And although it may be wrong-- I look at how much less I get out of virtually every experience in my life with relation to service/goods from companies I deal with..and the drop off at Disney seems much less severe.. I know people will disagree with my assessment, but I am entitled to my opinion as well as they are to theirs. Now if I attended the parks as much as they did I might view things so much more differently than I do as a once a year visitor. My opinion should count as I am a 25 year visitors also- and one that goes backj 40+ years to visiting DL.....so no Johnny come lately soccer Mom am I. I also vacation and work around the country and globe-- Disney is an addiction but I do not rely on it for such a large amount of my gratification with life that it has to be letter perfect n everything. setting that expectation is doomed to fail. I respect peopl like Sirit's opinion because I know it is based in factual experiences for him and a lot of WDW knowldege-- for DWB _ respect him because he has had a few trips now where his expectations were not met. Regardless of where he set hem, if they were notmet I too would be looking elsewhere. Nothing wrong with that at all. Soas I get ready to head down there- and I udnerstand from my DD who just got back- the place is packed.... a lot of people are still getting what they desire from WDW. Also again, if and when the day comes it stops for me...DVC member or not...so will my participation. I have a lot of different interests than I had when I was say in my 20's or 20's today-- only a few constants. The things I purged I did because they no longer were worth my time and effort for the return.
Originally Posted By ChiMike ^ Great post. You get no argument from me. The DVC membership will never be what the APers are for DL. You hit on some of the reasons. They aren't a bunch of locals. They are continually having to pay fees (they don't get to take a break for 6 mos. like an AP). They spend a stretch of vacation time during their visits, visits that only happen 1-3 times a year. And frankly, a lot of them are new families to Disney, nothing like the generations of locals who have deep emotional ties to DL's history. So I get it. I get why DVC will never be that for the East coast. However, I still think they all have a common bond in their membership for a love of the resort. That should be enough, at least, to not have them all in lockstep, but to get them making collective noise about the Yeti, or the buses, or dining.... I think Spirit has a point that they have potential
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>Soas I get ready to head down there- and I udnerstand from my DD who just got back- the place is packed.... a lot of people are still getting what they desire from WDW.<<<< Meanwhile, my Wait Times app is reporting that waits are minimal and rarely in the double digits... ...and you have to account for first time guests, those who might not return. Just sayin.
Originally Posted By ChiMike From Al Lutz 6/21: Shortly after the new rides opened, a big slice of the 900,000+ Annual Passholders descended on the Resort and created the highest attendance days of the year thus far, with almost half the people packed into both Anaheim parks in recent days being Annual Passholders. --- I know this is the WDW topic, but I wanted to bring this up to further reinforce my past comments on this thread. These parks, especially DL, were not designed for this type of use. The earlier attractions were not designed to have the longevity with this many repeat viewings. Ohh, and Universl raised their ticket prices yesterday. YEA! Good for them!
