Study shows theme park customers not fond of dynamic pricing

That's just What Stuff Costs.

My brother brought his son to the Michigan/Ohio State game last month. The get-in price (i.e. the cheapest pair of tickets anywhere in the stadium) was $275 per person. That's not typical for a college football game, but it's also not a once-in-a-lifetime thing--that game happens every year.

Lets hope it doesn't happen like that every year. Though outcome was opposite of that pretty much for 2 decades. LOL

Michigan (Ohio State and many other colleges) have dynamic ticket pricing. You don't pay the same price for a ticket to see them play Western Michigan or Appalachian State as you do Ohio State or Notre Dame. And that is buying from the university ticket office (before you get to the secondary market which often has even more significant dynamic pricing).

Y'all bring up an important point, that other forms of entertainment, shorter in duration, can cost a whole lot more. Why do theme parks get singled out?

Probably because this is a site dedicated to theme parks and people here tend to follow theme park news more than other forms of entertainment and thus notice stories about it more.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/how-did-broadw...-1/258346/

https://www.looper.com/189201/why-are-movie-tickets-so-expensive/

https://www.ticketnews.com/2020/01/pro-sports-pricing-out-fans/

I think he meant in general and not just on Coasterbuzz. Because when I see a sports team post on Facebook about an upcoming game, I don't see their comments flooded with people complaining about the price to get in. Or when a band like Metallica posts that their tickets are on sale you don't see comment after comment about their concert being unaffordable to attend. But even a random post on Facebook by Disney gets lots of comments about being overpriced and that the park is pricing out certain classes of people.

I am not on Facebook so I can't comment on what is posted there. But I have heard people complaining about the costs of pro sports tickets for 15-20 years at least. Costs of tickets, food/drinks, parking, etc is out of reach for middle America. Billionaire owners and millionaire players don't care about the little guy. Blah blah blah. Similar for other entertainment options.

A google search by someone without a facebook account found this:

https://m.facebook.com/10212595263/photos/a.10150204649640264/10154175046130264/

Metallica concert in 2017. People complaining about the cost of tickets. And someone longing for the days of old when middle class people could afford tickets.

Again, I don't think complaints about prices are unique to theme parks. Or even entertainment in general.

There are a couple of complicating factors with the Disney stuff.

One is that Disney is a company that makes its money by selling happiness. That's not the same thing as "Disney cares about me and wants me, personally, to be happy," but lots of folks confuse the two. That's particularly likely early in one's relationship with The Mouse. Eventually, something comes along that makes the distinction clear, and some folks treat that as a betrayal. If you read some of the Disneyana boards, it's not just anger about paying more or being priced out; it's mourning.

The second is that for a certain segment of the population a Disney trip is both and aspirational rite of passage and a mark of status via conspicuous consumption. Being "priced out" of that trip is yet another reminder that you might find yourself on the wrong side of the widening economic divide. Heck, even the trend towards differential services makes that widening divide more obvious and harder to ignore, even if you aren't "priced out" yet.

There's also the fact that some of those other things aren't so different if you see them at home---and some are arguably better. The college football fans grumbling about personal seat licenses just buy a big-a**ed TV and fill the fridge.

GoBucks89 said:

Again, I don't think complaints about prices are unique to theme parks. Or even entertainment in general.

I don't either but I was just agreeing with Jeff that it seems theme parks, more specifically Disney, are the most talked about. The cost of Disney over a 10 hour day vs. the cost of a concert for a couple hours is never really compared.

GoBucks89 said:

Metallica concert in 2017. People complaining about the cost of tickets. And someone longing for the days of old when middle class people could afford tickets.

I skimmed some of the comments and had some interesting thoughts. Most concerts I get tickets to are reasonably priced if you can get the tickets as sold by the band. They are not overpriced until people resell their tickets. I bought tickets to see Metallica in Vegas next year and I paid $1,800 for the four of us. I am not going to complain about it because it was my fault for waiting to get tickets and the only option being tickets from a reseller. Reading some of those comments from people who long for the old days has nothing to do with price in my opinion. It has everything to do with the buying process of when you just went to your local Ticket Master seller and stood in line. Now that everything is online, you can get screwed real quick out of getting tickets at face value.

I happened to look at tickets for Metallica in Vegas too. Unfortunately, we're getting in too late to make the show.

But I have become quite the concert ticket connoisseur since I sort of drifted from being a theme park ticket connoisseur.

Floor for Metallica at Allegiant Stadium are $450 face value. The first section to the side, stage right, three rows deep are $1813...again, not a resell ticket. The cheapest non-resell ticket I can find for that show is a single ticket on the second level opposite end of the stadium from the stage and it's $284.75 - and honestly, I wouldn't take that seat at 1/4th the price.

Now granted, that's dynamic pricing (see? it's on topic!). In fact, most decent seats for concerts are dynamically priced now. You can literally watch the prices move as more people pay those prices. So the only ones to blame are the people paying those prices in the first place. For shows where tickets move slowly or not as quickly as anticipated, at least, prices will adjust downward accordingly.

But yeah, concert nerds bitch just as much as coaster nerds...with even less reasoning, usually. I mean, I keep reading about how all of these shows I go to are pricing fans out, but somehow there's always thousands of people there...most of whom, presumably, bought a ticket.

Just like Disney.

I wonder if Disney in particular's status as a rite of passage or a right of the middle class leads to more resentment or something. They spent decades marketing themselves as a place where anyone can go to get away from the cares of the world. Does that make it harder to pivot? (Again, I don't fault them for doing so. The alternative is it's crowded beyond belief which will make every complain also).

99er said:

The cost of Disney over a 10 hour day vs. the cost of a concert for a couple hours is never really compared.

So now I'm thinking about how much of any given experience is "entertainment":

- If I go to Six Flags, maybe 30-60 minutes of my day is actually spent having fun on rides. The rest of it is spent waiting in line, trying to find the entrance to Bizarro, renting a locker, etc. Some portion of the rest of it might count as entertainment, to the extent that I find the architecture or trees or whatever enjoyable.

- If I go to a concert or a Broadway show, I get a solid 90 minutes to 3 hours of entertainment.

- If I go to a football game, maybe 3 hours of it counts as entertainment, or maybe the 60 minutes of game clock counts, or maybe the 7-10 minutes when they're actually playing counts.

And part of the downside of Six Flags is, it takes me the entire day to get that 60 minutes of fun, which is less true of the other activities.

(And I'm specifically saying "Six Flags" because I think with Disney/Universal you can make a more compelling case that the architecture/experience of being there counts as entertainment. And some other places we could name are in between.)

> I wonder if Disney in particular's status as a rite of passage or a right of the middle class leads to more resentment or something.

That's part of what I was trying to say with the bit about the trip being something of a status symbol in some corners.

A weekend day at my local ski hill is $95 and the other two much smaller hills are nearly the same because they’re owned by the same asshat. Weekdays are a lot cheaper and a lot less busy. Also, let me just say that $450 is $450 too much for Metallica. I was stunned by how consistent Lars was at NOT keeping time. He was just off in his own little Lars world doing whatever it was he was doing.

Floor for Metallica at Allegiant Stadium are $450 face value.

FYI…if anyone is planning on a Vegas trip to see a concert at Allegiant…it should be noted that the acoustics in that place are HORRIBLE. It echos so bad…

I saw Garth Brooks…thought it was his fault…went back to see GnR…realized it is the stadium’s fault…

Just something to consider. Allegiant is the Six Flags of Concert Venues…

Don’t most enclosed stadiums have that problem? I remember hearing the U2 show in there when it first opened was awful in the upper decks.

Edit: I meant at AT&T stadium in Dallas, but somehow those words didn't exit my brain and hit the keyboard.

It just opened last year, so I don’t think U2 has played there. I saw U2 twice at AT&T Stadium and thought the sound was great in the 3rd level. I heard bad things about the higher levels but I also think the stage orientation and where you were sitting made a difference. None of the newer domed stadiums were designed with concert acoustics in mind.

Since we're that far off topic, we're opening a new theater here in Orlando next month that may be one of the most advanced acoustically in the world. I can't wait to check it out. Already, the other theater that has been open for a few years, you can hear an unamplified voice in the last row of the balcony from the stage like they're standing next to you.

I saw the U2 360 show at AT&T in 2009 from GA and the sound was totally fine, but I remember a lot of my friends who had higher seats saying that the reverb was awful.

ApolloAndy said:

Don’t most enclosed stadiums have that problem?

They do. I have not been to Allegiant yet but I assume it will have the same problem because of how large of a venue it is. However there are ways to correct this if you want. The best place to sit/stand is just in front of the mix tent so you are hearing the same show the board op is hearing. Or in my case you grab yourself some good in-ears and because you know a guy you get a wireless pack from the A2 and enjoy hearing the show perfectly:)