WDW Price Increase Thread

[HandsomePete]

every company says its because wages are growing (at a snails pace) but is just companies just want better margins.

I’ll just say what I was dancing around earlier - there are people making $20-30k a year more than they were previously for doing the exact same job. It’s not always just profit, profit, profit driven.

This page turned a pretty weird Disney bash after Universal took way more with their price increase.

Edit: last page lol

 

[Skipper Justin]

This is my first trip going to Disney since moving away from Florida. $660 for a 4 day park hopper. These prices are why I’ll just go to Disneyland in the future.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I’ll just say what I was dancing around earlier - there are people making $20-30k a year more than they were previously for doing the exact same job. It’s not always just profit, profit, profit driven.

This page turned a pretty weird Disney bash after Universal took way more with their price increase.

Edit: last page lol

Shhhh universal is perfect ok

With that said, it looks like WDW is focusing on increasing their in-park pricing while keeping admission tickets unchanged (APs excluded) to keep attendance levels the same or not drop as much.

 

[JungleSkip]

Honestly I don’t understand how people can still complain about price increases.

This is the nature of the business, and it’s not gonna change any time soon

 

[fryoj]

Everything is extraordinarily more expensive. Why are we surprised that theme park tickets are too?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Honestly I don’t understand how people can still complain about price increases.

This is the nature of the business, and it’s not gonna change any time soon

Wait… your saying inflation makes things more expensive and theme parks are no exception?

Being serious, the debate mostly surrounds the value proposition versus having to pay more. Issue is paying more for less, we all know the WDW parks have decreased in value.

Universal can justify their price increases a bit

 

[Skipper Justin]

My biggest gripe are the AP exclusions…

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Wait… your saying inflation makes things more expensive and theme parks are no exception?

Being serious, the debate mostly surrounds the value proposition versus having to pay more. Issue is paying more for less, we all know the WDW parks have decreased in value.

Universal can justify their price increases a bit

Universal can justify it with building an entire new park, along with building a new attraction basically every year.

Disney seems to have a lot coming, but who knows how much of it will actually come to fruition. And for the things that do, how far away are they? 5, 10 years?

 

[JungleSkip]

Wait… your saying inflation makes things more expensive and theme parks are no exception?

Being serious, the debate mostly surrounds the value proposition versus having to pay more. Issue is paying more for less, we all know the WDW parks have decreased in value.

Universal can justify their price increases a bit

I think my issue is a lot of people complain and say they’re paying more for less at Disney…and still go. The complaint doesn’t really hold true if you’re not gonna do anything about it

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

It depends on what you value. Disney increasing prices with nothing new coming past Tiana isn’t worth it.

Universal increasing prices for a new park is beyond reasonable, even if I hate Capitalism.

The companies operate differently right now.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yeah, WDW and DL make plenty of profit to raise pay without substantial price increases.

It's the classic "we need to raise prices because people want fair pay, blah blah blah"

Yes, the parks would still do fine without ticket/room/food etc. increases, even though labor costs have gone up. The problem is the segments of the company that are losing a ton of money and the unwise Fox purchase. All that heavy profit the parks division makes is propping up the rest of this ailing company. So yes, they're paying deserving employees more, but their pay increases aren't the 'real' reason the company is suffering. Blame bad Executive decisions, bad film decisions, overpaying for sports rights and bloated sports announcer salaries, bad investments (Fox), and a ridiculous overproduction of properties for the black hole Disney+ (which certainly will not be profitable by 2024 as they claimed, or wished (wish upon a star ). This is a sick company, except for their parks division.....Let's not blame deserving employee wage increases for the price increases. The theme park division profits are huge and could easily get by if not for the rest of Disney, which is mostly all under performing.

 

[Clive]

I think my issue is a lot of people complain and say they’re paying more for less at Disney…and still go. The complaint doesn’t really hold true if you’re not gonna do anything about it

We plugged our noses and did Disneyland passes for the first time since the pandemic because they let you apply the value of the (fairly reasonable) SoCal 3-day ticket deal toward it. With these increases, no way I’m renewing. Was contemplating WDW for the first time in a decade+ since I’ll be in the area in January, but with the dining price increases and already absurd hotel rates… I’ll pass.

 

[Jake S]

We plugged our noses and did Disneyland passes for the first time since the pandemic because they let you apply the value of the (fairly reasonable) SoCal 3-day ticket deal toward it. With these increases, no way I’m renewing.

we did the same thing last year and were also priced out of renewing the following year. we're going with some friends for a couple days around the holidays, but it's increasingly a once-in-a-great-while proposition.

 

[Clive]

we did the same thing last year and were also priced out of renewing the following year. we're going with some friends for a couple days around the holidays, but it's increasingly a once-in-a-great-while proposition.

Doesn’t help that the park experience has really plummeted. Can only go days where it’s swarming with other APs, and I spend so much more time on my phone managing Genie+ reservations. It’s exhausting.

 

[Mad Dog]

One other point about using employee wage increases as a reason for raising prices. I would bet that if the employees didn't receive a raise that Disney would still be increasing their prices by percentages way higher than inflation rates. They're addicted to big price increases like it's a huge corporate drug. ...Of course, if the crowds don't come to the parks, like happened Fourth of July week, Iger will just say people didn't come because it was too hot.

 

[UNIrd]

Yeah, I actually had the opportunity to go to DLR this December as I was considering going there for a concert. But with a 2-day park hopper being $375 right now, I nixed it. First time ever I don't jump all over it as it's my fave time of year to go there. But not at these prices for 2 days. I'll visit WDW where I have my AP and enjoy another year of these stale holiday offerings again.

 

[Nick]

Maybe two weeks ago they debuted a new, cheap water park season pass because Typhoon has been so empty. Disney a bloated bureaucracy where one department has no idea what the other is doing.

There’s been a Water parks & mini golf add-on to an AP for years now so not surprised they would bring back a standalone AP for water parks as there used to be.

I have the Water Parks & Mini Golf pass and go a few times a year to each.

I always see it as wages are up so we have to charge more

But these price's don't don't just cover the wage increase but just to make more profits as well. It's like inflation right now every company says its because wages are growing (at a snails pace) but is just companies just want better margins. Not saying ticket prices shouldn't come up to pay people more but its really a half truth at best and old thinking when we have data to back up that's not why things are costing more now then a few years ago

Corporate profits have contributed disproportionately to inflation. How should policymakers respond?

The inflation spike of 2021 and 2022 has presented real policy challenges. In order to better understand this policy debate, it is imperative to look at prices and how they are being affected. The price of just about everything in the U.S. economy can be broken down into the three main...

www.epi.org

It may feel like it’s a snails pace because it’s been a long fight, but the wages have gone from $12 minimum in 2019 to now $18 minimum at Disney come December (and a roadmap to $20 minimum).

That’s great for everyone who works there, they deserve it. At the same time, it’s a 33% increase in minimum pay in just 4 years which is quite a bit. Disney is always going to want healthy margins so increases come with any employee minimum raises. Just because those making the park run are making more doesn’t mean Wall Street expects the margins to decrease so this shouldn’t shock anyone.

It’s slimy corporate games, but I hesitate to call it greed when, if they don’t raise the prices, the margins suffer, Wall Street panics, and stock goes down. It’s an endless cycle.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

One other point about using employee wage increases as a reason for raising prices. I would bet that if the employees didn't receive a raise that Disney would still be increasing their prices by percentages way higher than inflation rates. They're addicted to big price increases like it's a huge corporate drug. ...Of course, if the crowds don't come to the parks, like happened Fourth of July week, Iger will just say people didn't come because it was too hot.

Bingo - prices have gone up every year regardless of wage increases.

 

[SkiBum]

There’s been a Water parks & mini golf add-on to an AP for years now so not surprised they would bring back a standalone AP for water parks as there used to be.

I have the Water Parks & Mini Golf pass and go a few times a year to each.


It may feel like it’s a snails pace because it’s been a long fight, but the wages have gone from $12 minimum in 2019 to now $18 minimum at Disney come December (and a roadmap to $20 minimum).

That’s great for everyone who works there, they deserve it. At the same time, it’s a 33% increase in minimum pay in just 4 years which is quite a bit. Disney is always going to want healthy margins so increases come with any employee minimum raises. Just because those making the park run are making more doesn’t mean Wall Street expects the margins to decrease so this shouldn’t shock anyone.

It’s slimy corporate games, but I hesitate to call it greed when, if they don’t raise the prices, the margins suffer, Wall Street panics, and stock goes down. It’s an endless cycle.

Excellent points. People seem to forget the need for that profit margin. Having a profit isn't enough if it isn't at the level Wall Street wants. Publicly traded companies have an uphill battle with that. Also, it isn't just the cost of labor at WDW. Everything costs more. Labor is one part of the cost of goods sold but the materials used also factor in. So, with wages going up, the cost of food, merchandise, paint, light bulbs are also increasing and so Disney is covering a host of increases while also trying to maintain profit margins in the parks and using those profits to cover the losses on the other business lines.
I'm not trying to excuse the increases and an argument can certainly be made that the parks are not the value that they used to be.

 

[SeventyOne]

There’s been a Water parks & mini golf add-on to an AP for years now so not surprised they would bring back a standalone AP for water parks as there used to be.

Not a full AP yet like they used to offer years ago, or like you can add on to a real AP. Only good to May 2024 regardless of when you buy it, comparable to a Sea World Fun Card. It's a desperation measure because, as multiple CMs have backed up, Typhoon has been unusually slow even for this time of year.

But I'm sure bumping up 1-day tickets will only help that.