
Disney Tests Pricing Power at Theme Parks - spking
https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-tests-pricing-power-at-theme-parks-1529331115
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giarc
This will be successful, I guarantee it.

I have a colleague who uses 100% of her vacation days (25 days/year) to travel
to Disneyland/World. When she goes for 2 weeks, she is in the park every one
of those days. There's apparently one night a year where the park is open 24
hours and she'll fly down from Calgary to Anaheim just for that day. She talks
about all the other people she knows that are just like her. There are
thousands of families that spend all their vacation time in the park and
therefore, I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to pay $300 for early
access so they can brag that they were one of the lucky ones.

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w0m
i.. don't understand that at all. Never having actually been to Disney, how
can you justify that time justification vs exploring Venice or Seoul or machuu
picchu or...

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crysin
Disney World is a magical place. Not everyone wants or has the means to leave
the country but going to Disney you still get that feeling of being somewhere
else. It transports you into a whole different world. You don't even need kids
to enjoy all the wonders of the parks. While for me I would love to explore
the world and plan on doing so with some of my future vacations I can see
where some people would hazard their limited time off to going to a place they
know they can enjoy and be transported out of their every day stresses.

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larrydag
Also I would challenge you to find a place that gives you better service.

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zhdc1
I've felt that Disneyland/world and other theme parks (e.g., Europa-park) were
overpriced to begin with, but if they believe that other people are willing to
put up with airline style pricing and other forms of price setting - well,
power to them, I guess.

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tonyedgecombe
When we saw two hour queues for popular rides I always wondered why they
didn’t increase their prices.

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Klathmon
Why would they, if people are willing to wait in them?

If a 1% price increase causes any more than 1% fewer people in the park, then
it's a net loss.

Not to mention that many people go and don't really ride the "big rides" that
much or ever.

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mrfusion
I think a lot of people don’t go because of the lines and crowds.

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Klathmon
I'm sure they don't, but from a business point of view, those people really
don't matter.

Like I said, if they were to reduce the number of people in the park by say
50%, that means that everyone would have to pay double in admission to
maintain the same income. A 3-day park ticket is already almost $400. Do you
really think enough people would be willing to pay $800 for a 3-day ticket to
offset the number that wouldn't be willing to pay that? And would that extra
cost of admission reduce the amount those people spend on souvenirs, food,
events/shows, etc...? And would a 50% reduction in guests really make it
"feel" any less crowded? (the distribution of people in the park is far from
"normal")

I'm going to side with Disney on this one. I assume the big mouse has done
extensive studying in this area, and they are probably pretty close to
matching what the market will handle.

Not to mention that they are trying other methods to reduce crowds and wait
times. They now allow you to schedule your rides during 1-hour time slots to
avoid waiting for up to 3 rides a day (our last trip we didn't wait more than
15 minutes for any ride because my wife was able to schedule them for the
whole trip). And there are options for some customers to get a cast member to
go with them all day and basically skip all lines for a few $1000 if you want.

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mrfusion
I wish they’d sell a non rider pass. I hate all the rides but I’d like to be
able to walk around a bit and maybe grab dinner.

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spydum
So there is/was an after 4pm Epcot pass you could buy for a discount which
kind of suits this need. Makes sense especially for people coming into town on
conference/work business.

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jhayward
As the economic stratification of society accelerates, you will see more and
more of this. The ability to charge a price that only a small fraction of the
potential market will pay will deliver outsized profits as long as you can
charge more, proportionally, than you lose in market share.

We are rapidly remaking America as a place where all segments of culture and
entertainment operate for the rich and merely wealthy.

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greedo
Andy Warhol famously spoke about Coke:

"What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where
the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can
be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke,
Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a
Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on
the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.
Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know
it."

It's sad to see that something as quintessentially American as Disney is going
the opposite way.

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icu
Thanks for the quote! However I think it's more about Coke being a consumable
and arguably a commodity... and not entertainment. I'm pretty sure there will
always be people priced out of premium entertainment experiences precisely
because you cannot bottle it up.

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jdietrich
_> Thanks for the quote! However I think it's more about Coke being a
consumable and arguably a commodity... and not entertainment._

America commoditised entertainment through technology. The radio and the
gramophone allowed a farmer in rural Maine to listen to the Metropolitan Opera
in their own home. Movie theaters brought the greatest actors in America to
every small town. The egalitarian nature of popular culture stands as one of
the greatest defences of consumer capitalism. A reversal of that trend points
to a fundamental and worrying change in society.

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ghaff
The commoditization you describe though is for entertainment forms that can be
incrementally replicated at little to no cost. In that regard, entertainment
is more commoditized than ever with things like streaming music and video
services.

Arguably, there's more VIP-style pricing discrimination than there used to be
for in-person entertainment. It's probably easier with online booking. But
good concert seats or opera tickets were never particularly cheap.

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icu
Exactly the point I was trying to make but I did not articulate it as well as
you have, thanks!

I would say 'premium' entertainment cannot be displaced by time and space.

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jdpedrie
[https://outline.com/FmnVuN](https://outline.com/FmnVuN)

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chadmeister
What a fancy way to say "Raises Prices"

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mcphage
It’s more complicated than that, though. Disney is more than willing to raise
prices, but this is something a bit different.

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Jaruzel
Non paywalled link:

[http://znews24.com/disney-tests-pricing-power-at-theme-
parks...](http://znews24.com/disney-tests-pricing-power-at-theme-parks/)

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thimabi
It seems this website reproduces the article but automatically replaces the
original words with synonyms. A clever workaround, but I wonder how legal is
that.

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Angostura
That explains it!

> Disney parks executives are engaged on adopting a dynamic pricing mannequin

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ktosobcy
semi-of-topic: I have never seen the appeal of the theme-parks, especially
with exorbitant pricing…

