http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1773777/mickey-is-out-of-step-with-reality.html
I just read the article above. Quite frankly, I don’t agree with what the writer is saying. Disney is not out of touch. Ana sort of proves it right in her own article. She is whining that Disney has increased their ticket prices, and that it is getting to expensive to go. She then goes on to whine about only getting to go on three rides because it was so busy. Well, that is sort of the point. The price has been raised because demand is still extremely high. The parks can only take so many people, and Disney is not stupid. They are going to get as much money as they can out of their customers. This is known as capitalism… you know, what our country is pretty much based on.
Disney actually goes to great length and research concerning this very problem. They balance their admission prices against the souvenirs and other things that are available inside the parks. They even take a look at new items to determine whether or not those items are going to cut into the profits of other items, which can actually make or break a new product.
When they rolled out the PhotoPass system, where Disney photographers take your photo in front of numerous locations, there was discussion on whether or not this system would cut into the revenue of other products. What they found was that it did not, and in fact because quite profitable, because the cash that guests spent on PhotoPass did not come from their “vacation” budgets. What was found was that the photos would be taken, stored, and once the guests returned home after their wonderful vacation, they would go and look at the pictures. Since they were at home and no longer in vacation mode, they were no longer looking at the budget in terms of vacation. In addition, because they could wait a month or two before actually purchasing the photos, they now had time to build up a bit of disposable income to make such purchases… again, not a part of the vacation funds.
I consider this article to be written by someone who is just whining that prices are no longer the same as they used to be.
Oh, and in case you were wondering why I came across this in the first place, apparently Disney is coming up with a new cartoon pilot called “Out of Step!” with voice characterization by Josie Loren. Woohoo!
