My wife send me a link. Disney is raising prices on food and drink items (at least of the snack variety).
Don’t they know we’re trying to plan a budget? Argh.
WDWMagic is also running this story, but your link has more details. I’m surprised that the beer prices have stayed as “low” (by WDW standards) as they have; maybe they think it will keep Dads who don’t really want to be there happy and make them more likely to impulse-buy souvenirs…
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Yikes! I’m glad I splurged on the Dining Plan for our upcoming trip! Hey, I can buy a whole box of Nestle bars, not shaped like Mickey, at home for the cost of one bar in the park.
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If you are going end of 2020, calculate 2 more increases of nearly 15-20% per snack item and plan your budget accordingly 
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we will take what we can get!!
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Yeah I saw that yesterday. We plan on bringing snacks or having them delivered. We will only buy a few special snacks in DW, like in some of the countries in Epcot. We live in pretzel country, so a $7 mediocre pretzel is not gonna happen. And I’m sure the dining plan will be going up as well in the near future.
You didn’t think the shareholders were going to pay for that new bargaining unit agreement, did you?
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Reading through that link some of the new prices just “feel” high. Like $4.50 for a bottled soda and the increase in the popsicles. The feeling makes a difference between saying, “go ahead and splurge” and “I’m not going to pay for that”. Won’t change whether I come to the parks, but does change my in park buying habits. I wonder if Disney will find themselves being pennywise and pound foolish?
Sometimes selling more at less profit is better than selling fewer at more profit. Sure, they might make $4 profit on each Coke they sell rather than $3 profile…but if they are selling half as many:
Compare:
4 * 1/2 x = 2x
versus
3 * x = 3x
It just depends on how much the visiting public will change their habits because of this.
And, of course, the next question: What will Disney raise prices on next?
This also leads me to another thing that is starting to bother me. The value that staying at a resort gives is gradually being diluted the more resorts they build. As they fill the rooms up, and then build more to fill up, this means more and more people are fighting over the FPs and EMH. This, in effect, starts to make those benefits LESS of a benefit as well. Already, we’ve seen the FP thing go from being available equally to all to being available to all, but benefits the resort guests first, to tiering of the FPs, to people not being able to get the FP at 60+x days they want even though they are staying in resorts.
Agreed with this, but don’t think the price hike was necessary to cover it. This is a strictly “greedy” move the shareholders did to avoid seeing any loss at all. I understand not wanting to take a short step back, but the amount of revenue the parks already generate is staggering, so this probably would have “evened” out within a few years.
That said, aside from the pretzel, I don’t think any of the price hikes are that drastic. And I’m pretty sure if you opt to get NO CHEESE, it takes off a dollar. However, one thing I haven’t seen (probably missed it) are if these prices are all still “pretax”?(I figure they are)
Just went to an MLS game last weekend–fountain sodas were $6, bottled waters were $5, and beers were 16 oz for $10.50 for just a regular domestic. People apparently will pay it–told my kids to get used to being thirsty. At least you can bring in snacks/drinks at Disney to save your $$ for only the good stuff like Mickey Bars, Dole Whip, Churros, whatever
In response to them raising prices, I understand price increases (maybe don’t want to pay them) but I hate the paid events. Pay $400 extra for a family of 6 to enter a few hours early or $350 for said family to eat dessert and get a good view of HEA. And those fees on top of the $2500 for tickets for the week. I understand people will pay (I have), but I hate that these are options as I feel like the trip is not good enough if you don’t take advantage. Maybe an inaccurate assessment but I do think that sometimes. Perhaps this is another con to those of us who “know too much” about WDW–we can maximize our time like a beast but we also know what we are missing.
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Maybe not this specifically, but what a lot of people may not realize is that Disney has been relying on domestic parks profits to offset losses and overruns elsewhere in the company for some time (e.g., Shanghai Disney and the drain-circling trash can fire that is ESPN). Unless and until it starts to impact parks revenue, domestic parks guests are going to continue to be the go-to funding source. The new pay raise had to be paid for, and they’re not going to rob Peter to pay Paul if they don’t have to. Directly or indirectly it’s all related.
Absolutely. I’m just saying since the company is gearing up to drop $84B on Fox, which was a needless (but will likely be profitable) acquisition, any claims that they are money poor is bs, and then saying or implying “we had to do this to cover the wage increase” is false as they obviously had the money.
This… so much this… regarding everything about our trip. I have so much FOMO this time around.
Having the money or not isn’t the issue. But the shareholders want to see return on investment. That means offsetting revenue losses as well. So, they nickel and dime the consumers until they start to bleed. But then…they just figure they’ll find new consumers! 
I agree. But just to clarify, I haven’t heard Disney say that and I don’t expect to. That was my take on things. I’m sure Disney would prefer everyone to believe that they’re sharing the wealth with their employees, but that’s not how it usually works. In any given commercial enterprise, the consumer will bear any increased cost of doing business.
Really, they’re sharing OUR wealth with their employees!
Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta took this model when it opened:
" When Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened last year — Aug. 26, 2017 — [prices were reduced by an average of 50 percent] on 10 popular food and beverage items, compared to the Falcons’ final year at the Georgia Dome. The lower prices drove Falcons fans to buy more items, and they spent an average of 16 percent more on food and beverage last season despite the price cuts, according to stadium officials."
Interesting. Although one thing that isn’t clear in the article is if the additional spending on the part of the fans translated to higher profits for the stadium. If they cut prices by 50% (presumably pure profit) and consumers increased spending by only 16%, it seems like it was still a LOSS of revenue for the Stadium. Better for consumers, but not necessarily better for the Stadium.
Still, it does demonstrate that it would be possible to find that balance.
Keeping prices balanced, ie not over charging, and having a quality product, is better for long term gains in a company. Stockholders want large short term gains to rake in as much money as possible, which is the problem with many companies and a big reason why there are so many recent bankruptcies (Toys R Us, Sears, etc). That’s my opinion.
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