Cedar Point is $50 for a one day admission. Then from $109 for Fast Lane and from $159 for FL+ in addition to the park ticket.
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So WDW is starting at more than double already and now charging more too.
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I attribute ticket prices to demand and crowd control - if youāre not into roller coasters, thereās probably little reason to go to a cedar fair / six flags. Disney has absurd demand globally, and even at some of the most expensive theme park ticket prices in the world they can barely handle the crowds.
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I wanted to pick D, but that would be incongruent with my actions with 3 trips planned within the next 12 months. So I voted C.
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Wellā¦WDW is $109 for a one day today. So with G+ it would be $124 which is cheaper than Cedar Point Fast Lane at 159. I guess we don't know exactly what the cost for 2 LL rides will be - although I think the max is $24/ so call it $172 compared to FL+ at $209.
By those measures, WDW doesnāt look too bad by comparison really - although I donāt really know if āFast Laneā is far superior to āFast Passā or about the same. Iād guess about the sameā¦
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True, but $109 is the starting price for a weekday in off-season so it can easily get up there in price. Also at WDW you still have the luck of the draw with availability and having to schedule a time. Those other parks you just get in line when you want which is a better model that is worth a higher price.
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Definitely this.
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Walt Disney Company is a leader in the area
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Can you compare other theme parks with Disney?
Things I agree with: park passes ā crowds are too high.
Things I disagree with: ditching all the perks of staying on-site, especially DME, but also free magic bands, FPP at 60 days. The half-hour early entry doesnāt cut it, and only half of MK will even be open (why?).
Things which are sad but make sense: massive price rises, especially for Halloween and Christmas parties.
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This is about where I am, and I think thereās largely three big factors at work here:
- GE is still a HUGE new draw that most Disney āoccasionalsā havenāt made their way to yet. ROTR only got about 3 months of uninterrupted access when COVID shut everything down. I would expect crowds to still be larger-than-average for the next 2-3 years due to that (and the Starcruiser further compounds that somewhat).
- So, Disney is dealing with basically guaranteed larger-than-average attendance, and itās dragging down the guest experience overall because thereās too many people. As theyāve learned during the pandemic, they can increase prices, increase complexity, decrease perks, and people still come in droves, which also happens to be a problem forā¦
- The labor shortage. Itās real, itās not just Disney, and itās probably going to take at least or year or so to really get back to the levels they were at pre-covid.
So if youāre looking at those three things, what do you decide to do? And I think their answer was to try to reduce demand without affecting prices by increasing pricing throughout. And they selectively did this in a way that tends to be a bigger impact on local AP holders and ābudgetā clientele.
Iāve thought about how you might deal with this instead. Long term answer could be build another park, build more rides/attractions in the parkā¦but then you run into problem #3. So if thatās not an option, next answer is limit who is in the parks (ride reservations) and make the cost of attendance higher (which theyāre doing through Genie, rather than a direct increase to tickets, which looks bad when not everything is up and running.)
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I thought about my response for a long time.
I am sure that I am not the only one that has studied leadership. Is it surprising that Educational Leadership studies business leaders? I tried to find an article I first read in 1998 about leaders having to stand up and speak the truth when everyone in the room was moving forward with a bad idea. Does anyone see any evidence that is going on now?
Educational leaders try to study how change happens because if you donāt understand the process, you will fail. Can you make sustainable change if you do not care about all of your stakeholders? What he is doing now is equivalent to me making a change in a school district that only works for the teachers- not the parents or children. Chapek and his leadership appear to only be concerned with the board and shareholders. The loyal fan base does not seem important to him.
The funny thing is that I would guess that I am exactly the type of guest Chapek wants. He just has no idea how to keep me.
I am keeping my DVC. I am just waiting to hear about APs (maybe the day DL goes on sale) before I decide if I am buying my next tickets at Universal or wdw.
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I was hoping the solo A voter would post a commentā¦ just curious
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Well, I mean, it would be awkward for Chapek to out himself on this forum like thatā¦
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Good one !
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I was thinking a close relative might be in play. Chapekās Mom or brother as a possibilityā¦ 
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We always suspected there was a Disney employee monitoring these boards . . . 
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Valid point - although to be fair the same is true of Cedar Point. I just picked the price for both on that day. I think Cedar Point varies prices based on demand as well - certainly on their āFast Laneā pricing which is all listed as āstarting atā.
The biggest difference is youāre definitely right that Fast Lane is more useful as it is a collection of anytime fast passes while Genie+ requires scheduling. How much is that worth becomes an interesting question?
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Thereās another important distinction - Cedar Fair is a wristband that allows you to hop immediately back into the same line you just left if you wanted to. If Disney had such a system, the same group of bloggers could take a car in 7DMT for basically the entire day, and more than make up the money for their wristbands on Youtube. Iām thankful such a system does NOT exist at Disney.
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I chose D, but C would be equally valid. Eisner did not have a good pulse on the finances, but he understood the future rewards of putting out a good product. Iger was more profit oriented, but he was willing to invest in projects to bring both profits and joy to consumers. Chapek has zero balance. He lacks the vision to take a hit now to have success later. He also doesnāt seem to understand people unless they are rich, which skews all of his decisions.
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Iām the A! Long time board reader, but I have never posted.
As I see it, Chapek took over at the worst possible time. When the pandemic hit, Disney had to close the parks (two days before our spring break trip) and no one was releasing movies. He gets a bad rap, but he has done a great job pivoting to Disney+. As long time shareholder, I love that the stock is up almost 40% in the past year.
We stay in Deluxe hotels in WDW and donāt mind higher prices or up charges for exclusive perks/events. We are usually once a year visitors and spend about a week on property. When we lived in the UK, we frequently traveled to DLP and stayed in suites to get the old VIP FastPass. Weāve done concierge level for extra FP+.
The crowds during our trips to WDW in 2017 and 2019 were terrible, and something needed to be done to reduce capacity. We visited twice last year, in August and October, and had great trips. We are going again this October and will attend Boo Bash and plan to take advantage of the early entry, but one late night is enough with two small kids.
I donāt mind the park reservation system (though continually adding capacity defeats the purpose). Iām happy to be getting something closer to the original FastPass system and donāt mind the small fee. Weāve paid more for similar offerings in Sea World San Antonio and Legoland Windsor. It will also be nice to have an alternative way to ride Rise of the Resistance if I am not successful in getting a boarding group.
The only big issue I have with WDW right now is how long every new ride/experience is taking to complete. The timetables for Tron and Guardians are embarrassing. It would have been great to have these offerings for the 50th.
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