Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<EXCELLENT point, Heinz! In fact, my very first time on Disney property was as a day-tripped back in 1987, when we spent one night of our Florida trip in Kissimmee at a place called the Stagecoach Inn, which is now long gone, I suspect.>> Iggy, we have an even deeper connection than I thought. The Stagecoach Inn was where WDW1974 spent a majority of his first trips to WDW back in the '70s when on property rooms were very hard to come by. Back then it was a very nice, although very basic motel-style place with some western theming including a mini-Boot Hill. The last time I stayed there Epcot had just opened and the parents didn't want to put our beloved elderly beagle in a kennel, so we went back to the Stagecoach Inn because they allowed pets. It was still clean and well-kept. I haven't been along that section of US 192 in many years. When last I saw, the place was open as something else and the old restaurant out front had become a tee-shirt and crap shop. And across the street, which had always had been fields of grazing cattle had become ... what else? ... the area's first Super WalMart.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Inspector... Thanks for a great post with #39. Not all of us have an occupation that routinely takes us to Japan, or allows us to visit Japan at minimal cost. It makes me no difference that Tokyo Disney Resort offers far more bang for the buck than WDW. I'm sure that it does. But can I vacation in Tokyo for the same as it costs me to vacation in Orlando? I doubt it. So my basis for comparison IS the local Cedar Fair Park which is a DARNED WELL RUN park. But it is nowhere near a Disney park and never will be. That is my basis of comparison.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I understand that TDL might offer more bang for the buck than WDW's MK. But don't underestimate what WDW offers in comparison to the parks that the rest of us have in our back yards.>> I'd say that you simply can't compare, even now, any local/regional amusement park to a Disney park. Even Disney marketing hacks would likely agree. Disney isn't competing with a mid-western rolley coaster park. Heck, it's only been in recent years that they whisper about Universal as if its legit competition. I'd say the only realistically fair comparison is to compare a Disney park to another.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Ah yes, but the markets will only bear a different cost levy according to local cost of living and expenditure models for the region. Also, you have to look at the overheads and business models for each resort. Here are some examples one day: Disneyland: $59 MK: $67 DLP: $57 TDL: $48 Ok, it's not difficult to see which is the most expensive vs the cheapest. However, they have very different business models: DL: DL has an established infrastructure, with 2 parks, a shopping district and three hotels. The hotels are amongst the most expensive, but the overheads for the resort are fairly distributed. Overheads are likely to be quite stable. They probably want to raise the ticket prices to pay cast members more, but local sense of entitlement, coupled with a downswing from the 50th make that difficult. It's price point is therefore lower than it's younger sister.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo TDL There are lavish shows and productions to put on, which increase costs. However, the resort is fairly small with 2 parks, 2 official hotels (high occupancy and rates) and a monorail service that charges per journey. The market is mainly locls, so the business model is likely to be low price point to encourage repeat visits, and Japanese culture means a lot of merchandise sales each visit to boost the bottom line.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Disneyland Paris: This resort has 2 parks, a downtown district including dinner show, 7 hotels and a golf course. DLP has a roller coaster history. 40% of it's visitors are locals. A number of those that come from further afield consider it a slight step up from a local iron park. Hotel utilisation ebs and flows, and the rooms are more expensive than nearby hotels. Ticket prices are largely governed by local competition with it's rates being about $2 a day more than the iron parks. DLP has tried to raise the prices, but the market won't seem to bear it. Hotels are far more expensive than their US counterparts however.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo WDW: This one offers a diffent business model all together. I won't list them all, but we know there are huge numbers of attractions, hotels, recreations opportunities etc. But there are huge overheads in the transportation and infrastructure to support such a large geographical area. The hotels tend to be the cheapest across the Disney empire to compete with the multitude of offerings in the central FLA area (including rentals). As we know, Pop stopped expanding due to unfilled rooms, so the infrastructure will only be supported so much by hotel revenues. The dining plan is a cheap way to get people to stay in the hotels, so the revenues in restaurants will be compromised. Souvenir spending seems to be lower at WDW than the other parks based on my personal observations. Therefore, Ticket Prices seems to be a key income earner. Now given that most tourists go to Orlando because of WDW, means they can raise the rates. And have. But I can't blame them. Given the ways the different models work, this seems to be the best way to deal with the ROI currently.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo True, it is an 11.5% increase, but this is not uncommon with a lot of businesses across the globe at the moment.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo BTW - I left HKDL out for now as it needs to find it's market and we know it is struggling. But their day ticket is $45. Look at the difference in attraction counts compared to TDL, and there is only $3 dollars in it. So actually, I argue the counter point that you cannot compare different Disney resorts with each other as the market segmentation, demographics and challenges differ.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo BTW - Here is another comparitor for flag ship hotels, standard view rooms for the 16th November: DL Grand: $322 WDW Grand: $359 DLP DLH: $534 TDL Mira Costa: $358 HK DLH: $244
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo And for the cheapest official Disney offers: DL Paradise Pier: $190 WDW All Stars: $79 DLP Santa Fe: $108 TDL Ambassador: $297 HKDL Hollywood: $141 But I know many of these are not comperable, again, it shows how difficult it is to compare. What it does show though is WDW has a lot more budget rooms than the othewr resoorts and they will need to bolster the bottom line to recoup on their expenditure.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo My conclusion is the same as my hypothesis, it is not unreasonable for them to raise their day ticket by $4 at WDW - without thinking outside the Disney box.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I'll tell you one place a good number of 1 day tickets come from .....the Wide World of Sports runs a good number of week long AAU championships for 'club' sports from across the US -- Volleyball ( that I have been there 8 times for) - Basketball / Soccer / Baseball - etc-- as well as Cheerleading comptetitions etc.. These kids who compete have a rigorous playing schedule for 4 -5 days that does not allow them to go to the parks- they usually get 1 free day to go....and they are the parents who attend and chaperones etc. go for 1 day ....in the grand scheme of millionos of people a year who visit WDW, may not be much - but it is a identifiable chunk most would be unaware of
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Only idiots would have to make a point of the MK being justified in raising prices, or those who like to attend their county fairs too much as that would be comparing oranges with apples when even comparing them to the MK at WDW. I uisually let most comments go by but I really think you are out of line with this one... I guess I am an idiot then by your standards..I will have to let the museuemsand zoos by me also know they are jerks for raising their prices also...and the Cubs/ Sox / Bulls / Hawks etc...also jerks...I forgot that only the illustrious TDR can do things right. And if they happened to raise prices next week, they would be justified... Most comments I can see the intended humor but I feel this one is out of line..I know you won't care but it is my opinion anyway.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <But I do think the MK to MK comparison and multi-day tickets throught the Disney park empire are the fairest gauge as to what the true 'value' is. < while it may or may not be the fairest gauge, can we ignore the fact that the cost of running anything, or living day to day , has not goneup dramatically this year ? Do they not have air conditioning , do their buses not run on gas... I am first in line ( or near the front at least) to complain about many of the items brought up ( maintenance / cut backs in hours - entertainment / attractions like Poo replacing an e-ticket etc etc) - but to ignore the fact that operating costs have risen dramatically is unfair also. And by not raising costs ( minimally when looking at multi day media) - do we really think they would eat this additional cost and then hold out hope for improvements - I don't think so
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <But can I vacation in Tokyo for the same as it costs me to vacation in Orlando? I doubt it. < I have business associates who were there early last year for a day - they had lunch at a restaurant called Oceano (sp?) at one of the hotels - all they could tell me whenthey came back was that it was $37 each and did not include beverages... so no, you and I could not vacation there at anywhere near the same $, even aside from airfare.... so not knowing what this restaurant is ( maybe it is that spectacular)- that price seems very high for lunch..is it fair to compare it to the restaurants in WDW ? No... because there are other factors involved from price pressure points
Originally Posted By Darkbeer The new price is $71.36 including tax...... (the new prices are up at waltdisneyworld.com)
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Originally Posted By Goofyernmost All the name calling aside...Thanks to the OP for bringing up this topic because until yesterday I didn't know that Disney was raising the rates. I was planning on buying the tickets for my 2008 family trip near the end of the year because I, mistakenly, thought that Disney raised rates around the beginning of the year. This little bit of information saved me over $200.00 by ordering on Saturday and who knows how much between now and 2008. Thanks for the heads-up!
