A Disney World Story That's Realistic About The Costs!?

I'll never understand why people think it is morally abhorant that a company charges what the market can bare, and they can't afford it. It isn't the company's fault you can't afford it. If anything, it's yours.

Stupid capitalism, charging what their market will bear.

What Tek, Andy and Jeff said. At risk of being called a Disney Parks fanboy, if you can't afford a Disney trip, explore other options.

One day Walt Disney had a vision. It was a vision of a place where children and parents could have fun together

Its so sad that most of you are consumed buy the marketing aspect that WDW now represents and not the true vision that Walt Disney himself laid out. Just keep raising ticket prices and hotel prices just because you can....and we can increase profits. Don't think that was his vision.

Does anyone even know that Walt Disney is a persons name and not a made up corporate entity. I guess just like everything else in this world like Christmas and other holidays the corporate machine takes over and people fight and kill each other over a sale and forget what it is in the first place they are celebrating.

Just like this blog, Everyone is ready to jump up and beat me down for believing in the human spirit. I don't see it here.

I made one statement. Why can Universal build a resort hotel that is affordable and not Disney. And the ONLY answer is.....because Disney needs to pay out big bonuses and salary and not pay employees a fair wage and replace Americans with foreign workers at a much lower rate.

Bob Iger deserves $45,000.000 per year. Wake up people and stop defending something you know nothing about.

Read on http://nypost.com/2016/03/01/disney-is-screwing-american-families/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/06/12/how-them...377cba4d6d

Maybe you missed the part where Disney has been so busy during the so-called off-season this year they have had to close parking lots, and had wait times in early November approaching those normally only seen in the worst 2 weeks of the year (Easter and Christmas). Walt's idea did not include the place being so crowded that you couldn't move without risk of stepping on a kid, or trampling over another human being.

There are way more people who can afford a Disney vacation than can fit in Disney parks in a given year. That is where some form of reality has to come in. It is standard supply and demand. There is far more demand than supply, thus Disney tries to increase the price to curb the demand.

Henry Ford set out to build cars for the everyday person. Volkswagen started with that same idealism, the people's car. Should I head over to Dearborn and protest because I can't afford the Mustang Shelby GT350R? Volkswagen owns Porsche, Lamborghini and Bugatti, none of which produces a vehicle I can afford either.

Contrary to what enthusiasts are saying on Disney specific forums, Walt Disney isn't spinning in his grave. Walt was a business man. Walt had a business idea of a clean, safe place for families, but I don't recall him ever saying free or even cheap.

P.S., regarding Iger's salary. I won't get into the argument about executive salary here, but just looking at Disney parks attendance estimate of 137 million for last year, his salary would be less than 35 cents per ticket day sold/redeemed. Never mind the rest of the Disney/Pixar/ESPN/ABC empire he is held accountable for.

TomG said:

Its so sad that most of you are consumed buy the marketing aspect that WDW now represents and not the true vision that Walt Disney himself laid out. Just keep raising ticket prices and hotel prices just because you can....and we can increase profits. Don't think that was his vision... Wake up people and stop defending something you know nothing about.

I see you've moved on from declaring Disney as immoral to us as immoral drones. The Internet is predictable. And LULZ at the last part. As far as online forums go, this is a pretty knowledgable group about the business, and some of us have also worked in it.

I'm always disheartened by the notion that people responsible for billions of dollars in revenue and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people don't deserve the salaries they get. I can't even fathom that kind of responsibility.

Jeff I have to admit you did make me chuckle when you said people responsible for a business don't deserve the salaries they get...well that is a whole different story. Does anyone one person really deserve 45 Million dollars for one year. Really? lol this is really funny

Does the top 10 hedge fund guys need to make over 1 Billion dollars a year when no one else can ever get into that business unless you are born into it. Can you honestly say that any one person needs to make that much...Do you think Bob Iger does all the work by himself and doesn't have a huge team behind him that makes pennies in comparison. I guess you must be up there with those guys making the big bucks.

In a nut Shell

The real difference is a fundamental, regressive shift in the ethos of the elites who run major corporate empires. These investors and executives believe that what they think and do is what’s best, and everyone else should get out of their way. This has led them to adopt a thoroughly unethical code of social irresponsibility, unilaterally decreeing through a hokey doctrine called “shareholder hegemony” (shareholder hegemony asserts that corporations exist strictly to benefit shareholders — i.e., maximize profits no matter what this costs everybody and everything else) that they and their corporate entities owe nothing to the country and the people who have nurtured them, even coddled them.

This has suddenly become the Disney hates poor people thread, but without the irony.

My park president/CEO makes a boat load more than I, and has way bigger toys than I’ll ever have.

And Jeff is right, I wouldn’t want that job, nor am I really sure I’m remotely capable of even doing it. Same for professional athletes who make millions for hitting a ball going 90MPH. If it is so easy, than you go do it. So please stop with the boo hoo socialist entitlement argument.

But back on topic, and again Jeff is right; we have beaten this topic to death over the years on these boards:

• Disney is a for profit company with a responsibility to their shareholders and wall street to maximize and grow revenue/income each quarter/year; this is no secret for any publicly traded company.
• Disney has no obligation to appeal to any particular income group or socio-economic class. The market will drive this. Do you see people complaining that the Ritz Carlton isn’t affordable to the middle class? This is no secret.
• The market is going to drive Disney’s product offerings, potential revenue growth opportunities, pricing and overall business strategy. This is no secret.
• Please stop with the “Walt is rolling over in his grave” crap. Walt was a shroud business person, with savvy business ideas and real estate development concepts. He was also an a**hole of epic proportions. Ask Marty Sklar what it was like to work along side with Walt Disney...
• A WDW vacation is affordable to many income classes, especially those who are willing to be flexible with their vacation choices such as resort choice, choosing to stay off property, time of season and taking advantage of some of the deals that arise at different times of the year.
• Take a walk down Main Street USA any day – You’ll see lots of families representing a wide range of socio-economic classes. It’s not just the 1%’ers going there.

TomG said:

One day Walt Disney had a vision. It was a vision of a place where children and parents could have fun together

Last time I checked, over 68 million parents and children were having fun together in the US Disney parks alone.

But yeah, serving the equivalent of a fifth of the population of this country is a fail because you can't go.

TomG said:

Its so sad that most of you are consumed buy <sic> the marketing aspect that WDW now represents and not the true vision that Walt Disney himself laid out.

Wow. You don't think the "Disney is the one place every American should visit" is marketing? Six Flags would *kill* to be "the great American vacation."

Re: CEO pay
Given free market ideals like supply and demand, there's nothing wrong with specific CEO's making the money they do. What I don't get is how the general ethos of CEO's, even the bad ones, as business superstars has become what it is.

I mean, I guess I do get it - we value stock prices and throwing balls into hoops much more than we value having middle class people who can afford to pay the bills. I suppose if we accept that, then thing are exactly where they are right now, but it's sad that we do accept that.

Well, I'm off to go watch some football games and check my stock portfolio.

Know what your talking about....I been going to WDW for over 20 years at least 2 times a year or more per year in the last 14 years . I love Disney as much as the next person...you all seem to get your panties in a bunch because I said I wish Disney made it more affordable to stay on the monorail Thats ALL ! Then everyone jumped on the band wagon telling me about shareholders and pro sports players making millions. I don't care, so go check the other 200 million people that didn't go.

So no one thinks WDW has a responsibility to the people that make them who they are Just the shareholders ????. And if you can't afford the Ritz Carlton you can go to a Motel 6 buy there isn't another WDW to go to.....Get it ?. Besides all this crap do you really believe any one person can do anything that is worth 45 MILLION dollars a year ? If you do then sorry for you., He's not saving lives or feeding the poor, he's running a amusement park for God sake and I am sure other people could do it for a lot lot less. You really try to justify that ? Walt Disney World does have a responsibility to the people that serve it, that bring their hard earned dollars there not just to the corporate slobs that own shares. There is enough greed in this world to go around many times.

TomG said:

So no one thinks WDW has a responsibility to the people that make them who they are Just the shareholders ????.

I think they're meeting that responsibility. Pretty well too.

And if you can't afford the Ritz Carlton you can go to a Motel 6 buy there isn't another WDW to go to.....Get it ?.

And if you can't afford Disney World you can go to Six Flags or Cedar Fair or any number of regional parks or fairs or countless other family-based entertainment options.

TomG said:

you all seem to get your panties in a bunch

Says the only person in the thread using multiple punctuation marks per sentence, a smattering of all caps, and bold letters?

TomG said:

because I said I wish Disney made it more affordable to stay on the monorail Thats ALL !

You're not paying attention if you think that's the part of your argument that anyone is taking issue with. Hell, I wish it was more affordable too. It's your idea that Disney is doing something wrong.

TomG said:

So no one thinks WDW has a responsibility to the people that make them who they are Just the shareholders ????

Of course they do. And "the people that make them who they are" are paying customers. And for those paying customers, they provide a once in a lifetime experience.

I keep missing the quote that Walt said he wanted to provide a cheap, affordable place where even the counties poorest of poor all the way up to the middle class could come and enjoy his parks and not spend that much (if any) money doing so. I looked online and didn't see that anywhere. Can someone please link me to that quote? Thaaaanks.

Just found a great article (never did find that quote though...)

http://www.mousemonthly.com/how-much-did-disneyland-cost-when-it-op...ith-today/

This article not only gives then and now pricing, but adjusts for inflation and even discusses how the park has more attractions now as opposed
To then, and even puts in to perspective median income and population.

Doesn't look like Walt was ever interested in a cheap vacation for families. Looks like he was always interested in catering to families with money.

I don't understand why this debate continues on. For as long as I've been on enthusiast forums, there has always been about bitching and moaning about Disney and their prices. Case in point, here's an article from 1989 about Disney's price increases, and even the tone of the article eludes to Disney being 'expensive.' I'm sure we'd all kill to waltz into Disney for $30 today.

Here and in other forums have been a great resource when it comes to traveling to parks. I've been fortunate enough to be able to share the Disney experience with my kids over the last few years and especially this year I was able to make it down there despite now being a single income family. It really just comes down to budgeting your money and looking at where the money goes. Then research how much the experiences cost, make a plan, set money aside (or put it on credit if you want to play Russian roulette), and actually stick to your budget when you go.

Bitching isn't what got us to Disney, planning and executing the plan is what did it.

Tekwardo said:

Just found a great article (never did find that quote though...)

http://www.mousemonthly.com/how-much-did-disneyland-cost-when-it-op...ith-today/

It's funny we both kind of posted about historical pricing around the same time ;)

I can give you 2 quotes from Walt Disney...

–“You reach a point where you don’t work for money.”

“Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.”

http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/quotes/index.html