Prices just hit my threshold :-(

[Happy_2_B]

they take

Doesn't mean they have to give back- nor, generally, do they. Gathering information has nothing to do with 'caring'. As I said before, to believe they 'care' is naïve, and if you believe otherwise then we will have to agree to disagree.

 

[flicx]

Like I said. Check the attendance numbers for Universal next year and see how much faster they grew than Disney year over year. Then it won't we what we think or guess. It will be hard numbers. It's really more of a long term play. Disney has spent the last decade trying to KEEP people on their site and out of Universal. That is no secret. This is going to result in the opposite. Again though. only time will tell. Let's see when the next attendance figures are published by the trade groups.

Have to agree here. Universal is on their game! Attendance is way up and a company that looked like no threat 5 years ago is now within striking distance of three out of 4 Disney parks for attendance numbers!

 

[flicx]

Doesn't mean they have to give back- nor, generally, do they. Gathering information has nothing to do with 'caring'. As I said before, to believe they 'care' is naïve, and if you believe otherwise then we will have to agree to disagree.

Definitely have to disagree. Any company worth its salt should care about customers opinions.

 

[PAcpl]

Been that way since Bobby showed up.

I'm glad he cares about his shareholders.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Been that way for much longer than the past several years. I think we attach 'emotions' to the Disney corporation due to their products, and we expect the corporation to 'care' about us. Their product line elicits emotion from us- and that is what they quite literally are banking on. But it is naïve for us to believe that it is reciprocated by them. The Disney Corporation is a multinational conglomerate with their hands in movies, television, merchandising, theme parks- and the list goes on. They simply do not- and can not- 'care' if "Mr. Smith" decides not to vacation at WDW. The amount of money that decision amounts to- when compared to total gross revenues- is completely irrelevant in the big picture. And, because their product line plays on our emotions, Disney can be fairly certain that "Mr. Jones" and his family will step up to the plate and fill the void created by "Mr. Smith's" decision not to go. It is sad, but true.

In the not so distant past Disney was a company in trouble. The board wanted to split off the different parts of the company including the theme parks. Enter the team of Eisner and Wells who were charged with keeping the company together. Eisner watched the numbers and Wells brought creativity and a customer focus. They built new things and made service a focus of the company. The company had tremendous growth in this time while bringing people back to the parks and rebuilding the brand.

Since this time people have been riding on these accomplishment and have started to believe that the name was what made the company and lost focus on what turned the company around.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I'm glad he cares about his shareholders.

You do realize this isn't the first time stocks prices have been high.

As a consumer and a shareholder I'm not impressed.

 

[Happy_2_B]

Any company worth its salt should care about customers opinions.

And yet here we are participating on a thread, which is one of many going on across multiple WDW enthusiast message boards, detailing all of the ways that Disney doesn't 'care' about it customers. Feel free to keep thinking that they 'care', though. As I said- we will have to agree to disagree.

 

[JOE DELL]

Actually Disney doesn't care if they run off 10k people because there's another 10k to take there place. Bottom line if a few hundred dollars on a once a year vacation is going to break you then you might want to take a deeper look into your finances. Prices increase on just about everything and most of the time you get the same thing or less, milk, gas, utilities, cable, health insurance.

Wow just wow all this "Disney sucks, Disney is evil money grabbers,Disney isn't a luxury vacation, the food isn't even that good" "I can have a much better vacation cheaper elsewhere" OK then go, go on have fun, more ADR's and one less person in line.

 

[PAcpl]

You do realize this isn't the first time stocks prices have been high.

As a consumer and a shareholder I'm not impressed.

No, I didn't realize that. When was the first time stock prices have been high?

 

[Happy_2_B]

In the not so distant past Disney was a company in trouble. The board wanted to split off the different parts of the company including the theme parks. Enter the team of Eisner and Wells who were charged with keeping the company together. Eisner watched the numbers and Wells brought creativity and a customer focus. They built new things and made service a focus of the company. The company had tremendous growth in this time while bringing people back to the parks and rebuilding the brand.

Since this time people have been riding on these accomplishment and have started to believe that the name was what made the company and lost focus on what turned the company around.

I actually had a drink with Eisner at the California Grill way back in the early 2000's- and he seemed like a nice guy that was genuinely interested in my opinions. One has to remember, though, that by this time Booby was already President- and things were starting to shift behind the scenes. I liked Eisner- he did a lot to turn things around. That said, he made a lot of mistakes too. The company continues to do well under a more 'corporate' mentality- and until the company experiences significant losses things will remain status quo.

 

[mom2rtk]

Actually Disney doesn't care if they run off 10k people because there's another 10k to take there place.

That really is a fallacy. Where are those 10k new people now? Unless they are there on a day the parks reach capacity, there's nothing keeping them away right now.

 

[canoe86]

Its not just me, or you or anyone on here. Its our kids, our parents, our friends and any other people who ask for advice about Disney, and I answer...'yeah, we don't really go there any longer, just costs so much and the quality has really fallen."

Next year, or the year after, no big deal. But when the economy turns, or enough time passes, it will start hitting them.

History is littered with dead companies that decided they had so many customers, quality didn't matter.

 

[BK2014]

Reading through this thread has raised two questions in my mind:

1) For those who say "Disney doesn't care", what would Disney caring look like?

2) For those who are complaining that the price increases will lead them to either cut back or eliminate their regular trips to WDW, isn't it possible that the number of people who make frequent visits are the reason for the price increases? Obviously, from that standpoint the prices are clearly not cost prohibitive for a lot of people. And maybe tying back in to question #1, maybe Disney's target market is not the frequent repeat guest, but rather the once in a lifetime or once every while vacationer. It is the repeat guest who is more likely to complain about their experiences, demand change, get bored with the food. Those who visit once or infrequently are more likely to be awestruck by the Disney experience and feel that they got more value for their money. Those who return frequently will see their value diminish as they have seen all the show, done all the attractions and ate at all the restaurants. So I would have to figure it would be cheaper to seek out once in a lifetime or less frequent guests, than to constantly make and pay for the changes demanded by the repeat guests.

 

[kittyab]

I can honestly say we spent more on our last trip then our second. I can say on my next trip to Orlando, I will spend even less.

 

[SnowWitch]

The DVC gold pass will do just fine for my group, excited to have photo pass added. That being said we have started making Disney World an every other year destination, the cost has grown from an AP $299 in 1998 to over $700 for the same pass in 2015. To be quite honest they haven't added anything major since 2015, when I say major I would compare to US/IOA's HP franchise.

Our group stayed on property at US/IOA this summer and were amazed at the effort the staff made with customer service. HP is totally immersive absolutely amazing.

My kiddos are getting a little older and are talking about New York , Paris, Disneys continued increase in cost and dwindling customer service wil make our decision easier in the future to spend our vacation dollars elsewhere.

For now, I am ok with the option that is available for the cost.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

No, I didn't realize that. When was the first time stock prices have been high?

In the 90s. I don't remember the year but it was trading at $100+. They did a split at that point and while I have benefited greatly from the stock regrowing after this split it doesn't make me happy to see the current operations.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I actually had a drink with Eisner at the California Grill way back in the early 2000's- and he seemed like a nice guy that was genuinely interested in my opinions. One has to remember, though, that by this time Booby was already President- and things were starting to shift behind the scenes. I liked Eisner- he did a lot to turn things around. That said, he made a lot of mistakes too. The company continues to do well under a more 'corporate' mentality- and until the company experiences significant losses things will remain status quo.

I think Eisner gets a bad rap and he definatley needed a guy like Wells to help balance him out but who knows what would have happened to the company without the two of them.

 

[Lena&Lars]

For the last 3 years we have done all the cost cutting we could do. We cut back on the amount of days, we went from Deluxe to moderate, when moderate was too high we rented points, when that was too high we stayed offsite. We went from park hoppers to regular passes, factor in the cost of meals at Disney which have steadily gone up and the increase in pass prices, while trying to do FP+ and worrying about missing ADR's and getting hit with penalty, these are all related to reaching our threshold. Disney vacations used to be fun but not anymore, it has turned into too much work to try to have fun. It will be Universal or cruises for us from now on. When I tell people how much onsite rooms cost and how much passes are they are floored. Disney may well be the vacation for the rich in the future, or once in a lifetime for others.

 

[PAcpl]

In the 90s. I don't remember the year but it was trading at $100+. They did a split at that point and while I have benefited greatly from the stock regrowing after this split it doesn't make me happy to see the current operations.

Well played sir.....well played.

 

[flicx]

Reading through this thread has raised two questions in my mind:

1) For those who say "Disney doesn't care", what would Disney caring look like?

2) For those who are complaining that the price increases will lead them to either cut back or eliminate their regular trips to WDW, isn't it possible that the number of people who make frequent visits are the reason for the price increases? Obviously, from that standpoint the prices are clearly not cost prohibitive for a lot of people. And maybe tying back in to question #1, maybe Disney's target market is not the frequent repeat guest, but rather the once in a lifetime or once every while vacationer. It is the repeat guest who is more likely to complain about their experiences, demand change, get bored with the food. Those who visit once or infrequently are more likely to be awestruck by the Disney experience and feel that they got more value for their money. Those who return frequently will see their value diminish as they have seen all the show, done all the attractions and ate at all the restaurants. So I would have to figure it would be cheaper to seek out once in a lifetime or less frequent guests, than to constantly make and pay for the changes demanded by the repeat guests.

Answer to number 1 see the 90's. Answer to number 2 Why build so many DVC properties if they don't care about repeat customers?