News Round Up 2020

[rteetz]

I think that's the point, they should be able to use the 4 days even if they stay at the Holiday Inn Kissimmee.

So then I ask should disney not give perks or priorities to those staying at WDW hotels or food neighbor hotels?

 

[Tiki Birdland]

So then I ask should disney not give perks or priorities to those staying at WDW hotels or food neighbor hotels?

they're not meeting their minimal attendance settings (that we can tell). So, I would say this is a red herring.

 

[New Mouse]

So then I ask should disney not give perks or priorities to those staying at WDW hotels or food neighbor hotels?

As of right now, you can walk up off the street and get into a park by dropping a benjamin...even though I already dropped $1k plus. Why are people off the street being prioritized over hotel guests and ap holders? This has 0 to do with staying at a hotel. Its got to do with equity for existing customers.

 

[rteetz]

they're not meeting their minimal attendance settings (that we can tell). So, I would say this is a red herring.

Also true. Let’s say they opened the buckets up would they meet that attendance then? Right now it seems DHS is the park that fills up the most. Other parks tend to have some sort of availability. I think no matter what you do there are going to be issues. That’s sort of the problem with a reservation system.

 

[rteetz]

As of right now, you can walk up off the street and get into a park by dropping a benjamin...even though I already dropped $1k plus. Why are people off the street being prioritized over hotel guests and ap holders? This has 0 to do with staying at a hotel. Its got to do with equity for existing customers.

Money talks. If you pay $1000 and go 10 days you’ve got your money’s worth. If Disney gets 11+ people to buy $100 tickets they’ve made more from that than from you. That’s why they do it. Now none of us here have the current numbers on that. By looks one would think they aren’t getting 11:1 right now but maybe they are?

 

[tlmadden73]

Disney has always treaded a fine line with APs. In Disney’s eyes they are already locked in so they’ll try to get away with the bare minimum.

This is why I am curious why Disney hasn't tried to expand their APs yet. I mean they still have limits on capacity. So, offer APs, get them locked in NOW (with money in the bank NOW) and basically have them on the hook for the next 12 months (or longer). Offer discounts to the AP since it isn't "worth" as much or charge the same price and offer it for 16-18 months since at least the next 4-6 months aren't going to be exactly "worth" it.

How many of us would buy an 18 month AP right now and "gamble" that at least most of 2021 will be back to normal?

Make it up when these AP customers (the more "regional" ones) probably come down this year to take advantage of the low crowds and then when they (and the father reaching AP holders) come back next year and spend all sorts of money on a "normal" experience (with probably increased prices on resorts and food).

It's a weird place for businesses to be in. They want (and need) to be open, but they can't really incentivize more people to come in fear of being "unsafe" and too crowded. But, the longer people stay away, the harder it will probably be to draw them back. (Out of sight, out of mind).

 

[rteetz]

This is why I am curious why Disney hasn't tried to expand their APs yet. I mean they still have limits on capacity. So, offer APs, get them locked in NOW (with money in the bank NOW) and basically have them on the hook for the next 12 months (or longer). Offer discounts to the AP since it isn't "worth" as much or charge the same price and offer it for 16-18 months since at least the next 4-6 months aren't going to be exactly "worth" it.

How many of us would buy an 18 month AP right now and "gamble" that at least most of 2021 will be back to normal?

Make it up when these AP customers (the more "regional" ones) probably come down this year to take advantage of the low crowds and then when they (and the father reaching AP holders) come back next year and spend all sorts of money on a "normal" experience (with probably increased prices on resorts and food).

It's a weird place for businesses to be in. They want (and need) to be open, but they can't really incentivize more people to come in fear of being "unsafe" and too crowded. But, the longer people stay away, the harder it will probably be to draw them back. (Out of sight, out of mind).

That is a good question. I think part of that is because they can’t promise a whole lot to APs such as park hopping because they don’t know when it can happen again. We are in a world of unknown right now.

They do have September AP hotel rates. I would expect that to continue.

 

[New Mouse]

Money talks. If you pay $1000 and go 10 days you’ve got your money’s worth. If Disney gets 11+ people to buy $100 tickets they’ve made more from that than from you. That’s why they do it. Now none of us here have the current numbers on that. By looks one would think they aren’t getting 11:1 right now but maybe they are?

Ok, but thats the problem and why people are speaking up loudly. If you go to via napoli and buy a pizza, eat 2 slices and then they take it away and sell it to someone else and offer to give you a salad as a replacement, would you be ok with that?

 

[rteetz]

Ok, but thats the problem and why people are speaking up loudly. If you go to via napoli and buy a pizza, eat 2 slices and then they take it away and sell it to someone else and offer to give you a salad as a replacement, would you be ok with that?

Not sure that’s an apples to apples comparison. Disney could have gone without a reservation system but you still wouldn’t be guaranteed entry with current capacity limits. I’m also not sure if people are speaking up that loudly. Yes there are some as evidenced by this thread but if it was a larger base I think disney would look into changes. We did see after a few weeks they started to open more AP slots. Right now there is no way to make everyone happy.

 

[soniam]

Isn't that what Universal did? Don't show up for the reservation you made? You get a strike. 3X? you get no more reservations.

Universal Orlando is doing no such thing. Universal has no reservation system. I am an out of state AP holder at both parks that attended both in July. I really think people who are upset with the compensation they are receiving from WDW should contact guest services and see what they will do for you. Complaining here won't get you anything. You might be surprised. Disney tends to give the squeaky wheel the grease.

 

[rteetz]

Universal Orlando is doing no such thing. Universal has no reservation system. I am an out of state AP holder at both parks that attended both in July. I really think people who are upset with the compensation they are receiving from WDW should contact guest services and see what they will do for you. Complaining here won't get you anything. You might be surprised. Disney tends to give the squeaky wheel the grease.

That is also true. I know someone that got a full refund for AP vouchers they had by emailing.

 

[OSUZorba]

Yes of course but we didn’t have a reservation system previously either. You can’t be guaranteed to come whenever you want when there is a reservation system and capacity limit right now. We are still in a pandemic. I do get what you’re saying. I think if things don’t improve we will see them open more spots for local APs. They are still going to try to get that resort guest money first because that’s advantageous for their business.

Really, all I was saying is it is dead stupid of them to leave empty resort/day ticket spots without opening it up to APs when it's clear those spots are going to stay open. I promise they are going to have empty spots the third week of September, but they told me they'd rather holdout for someone with a 7-day ticket, that isn't coming, than let me use my 3x$1200 APs and get my $1000+ food and merch spend. So instead they'll get zero, because I wasn't actually displacing anyone else.

This is bad business before we even get into the ethics of not providing prepurchased services while continuing to offer those services to new customers. FYI, everywhere else I'm a member at has managed to be fair to their members, I understand WDW would be over ran with locals if there was no limit but they aren't even trying and random day pass people should not get better perks than people that paid 2.5x the highest face value ticket for an AP.

We are at the very beginning phase of this recession, most companies take the route of protecting their existing customer base. Disney, however, seems to think bad customer service, pissing off your base, and cuts will bring growth when we move into the rebuilding phase.

 

[OSUZorba]

I can totally understand why there is the limit of 3 days on APs. There are tons of people that would abuse the system and book hundreds of days through the rest of the year and next year and then not show up. By not putting a penalty into the system for not using your reservation days, they had to institute a cap. If there wasn’t a cap, I guarantee APs wouldn’t have any available days until January or February.

Even my zoo and gym have a penalty for a no show. But I agree their has to be a cap, but should vary based on AP type. And if there is day of space available you should be able to come without moving one of your three days to today.

Demand for travel is there to some extent but not for trips like Disney or Vegas or something. Airlines wouldn’t be laying off people if that was the case. The other big aspect is travel restrictions. People don’t want to quarantine before and/or after their trips. Local travel is big right now because it does avoid the airplane and doesn’t necessarily need to cross state lines.

I agree with your point that travel is still way down. But airlines, especially the legacies, live and die with business and international travel, both of which are like 5% of normal levels. In a normal recession you can get people to vacation with discounts, but that generally doesn't work as well with business fliers.

 

[New Mouse]

Really, all I was saying is it is dead stupid of them to leave empty resort/day ticket spots without opening it up to APs when it's clear those spots are going to stay open. I promise they are going to have empty spots the third week of September, but they told me they'd rather holdout for someone with a 7-day ticket, that isn't coming, than let me use my 3x$1200 APs and get my $1000+ food and merch spend. So instead they'll get zero, because I wasn't actually displacing anyone else.

This is bad business before we even get into the ethics of not providing prepurchased services while continuing to offer those services to new customers. FYI, everywhere else I'm a member at has managed to be fair to their members, I understand WDW would be over ran with locals if there was no limit but they aren't even trying and random day pass people should not get better perks than people that paid 2.5x the highest face value ticket for an AP.

We are at the very beginning phase of this recession, most companies take the route of protecting their existing customer base. Disney, however, seems to think bad customer service, pissing off your base, and cuts will bring growth when we move into the rebuilding phase.

This....the leadership in this company is non existent right now, top to bottom. As their actions dont match stated goals short term or long term.

 

[FrankieWinthrop]

Booking 3 days at a time outside of a hotel reservation is fair.

This is where many will agree to disagree. I think it should be 4 days minimum so we could at least book all 4 parks. Not all APs are within an hour or two drive. You have to remember that when discussing APs - you can’t assume “local.” Personally, we stay off property in order to have money to purchase the APs and make multiple trips.

Why not 7 days like the FP rule? 3 is extremely limiting when you’re talking about an 8 or more hour drive to Orlando. I’d be all for consequences to keep folks from abusing the system.

As I said on another forum, I feel like Disney is telling APs “Don’t come! Stay away!” Whereas Universal is saying, “Welcome Back! Here’s a parking lane just for you! And an entrance! Heck, here’s a free mug with refills every time you mobile order!”

 

[Edward90]

right now the only park in usa thats been getting crowds has been cedar point

 

[tlmadden73]

That is a good question. I think part of that is because they can’t promise a whole lot to APs such as park hopping because they don’t know when it can happen again. We are in a world of unknown right now.

They do have September AP hotel rates. I would expect that to continue.

That's good to know, though even with AP rates, the prices are pretty high (probably way more than I paid a year ago). Their prices seem artificially high considering the demand has to be at an all time low.
I don't know how much a "reduced" experience the resorts are offering? I'd have to research the other forums to just see what the resorts are like right now. Again .. it is a "value" thing.

I wonder how many new bookings (ones that weren't scheduled pre-pandemic or not scheduled with the March/April pandemic discount) they are getting.

 

[JordanClark9]

Once again came for a News Round Up and left with pages full of arguments... Grow up folks and stay on topic.

 

[cbs0006]

So I think there is another way to look at the argument about why they don't just open up all the extra slots to APs the day of or before.

It is clear that Disney is trying to maximize the onsite guest. What it the number one reason for some to lay down thousands of dollars right now to visit Disney, the lack of wait times.

Now lets looks at what the parks look like. AK, walk on anything all day. Epcot, barely anyone there. MK, lines are for the most part reasonable and better then normal. DHS, lines are a little better, but that park and look packed from time to time based on wait times of attractions (though still better than normal times, though it might be nice to have a FP here or there to skip a line).

Now lets imagine the that capacity was opened up for all the parks for APs to fill them to capacity and they all started looking like HS. A trip to AK does not look as appealing with 50 minute waits at FoP vs 15 minutes. So now the hotel guest is starting to think, that does not look near as appealing to spend thousands of dollars on, maybe I am not going to go now.

In this case you end up with a downward spiral of you highest spending guests because the biggest benefit for the them looks less appealing as you fill more people in the parks. So yes, in the short run it might be smart to get an extra $20 off an AP holder by opening up capacity. But in the long run, if by adding an extra 100 AP holders, makes you lose just one onsite family for the week, Disney is losing money. They need the parks to look empty as that is the only benefit they have to sell to the onsite guest at this point.

 

[rteetz]

Once again came for a News Round Up and left with pages full of arguments... Grow up folks and stay on topic.

There isn’t much news exactly on a Sunday night.