Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Surge Pricing Arrives In Disney's Magic Kingdom Just in Time for Star Wars Opening

Posted by yaelk on from the happiest-or-most-expensive-place-on-earth dept.

HughPickens.com writes: Taking a page from the Uber playbook, Christopher Palmeri writes that Disney's six parks in Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California, are raising the cost to visit its theme parks as much as 20 percent during the busiest times of year and lowering them on typically slow days. Previously, the parks charged the same price for a one-day pass any time of year. "The demand for our theme parks continues to grow, particularly during peak periods," the company said. "In addition to expanding our parks, we are adopting seasonal pricing on our one-day ticket to help better spread visitation throughout the year." The move is designed to help manage traffic at the parks, which had record visits in the final three months of 2015. Busy days at Disney's amusement parks cause long lines for customers, and even gate closures. Dynamic pricing is meant to financially incentivize customers to choose less-busy days, spread out attendance, and to make as much money as possible on days when the park is historically expected to be full. It is also likely to boost Disney's total revenue since most visitors will pay more for their tickets.

One reason Disney may expect bigger crowds this year is the upcoming Star Wars theme park expansion which includes a virtual reality ride that allows guests to control the Millennium Falcon in an aerial battle with the First Order. "Star Wars is, for lack of a better word awesome," said Harrison Ford. "I'm so blessed that I had the opportunity to be a part of it. To walk in these iconic locations. And soon, you'll be able to do that as well. Not in a galaxy far, far away, but in a place close to home."

101 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. That's good by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's a good thing, it also helps you see what times you can go when it will be less busy.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:That's good by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The issue parents have is that they are stuck with school term times, and so everyone wants to go during the same few weeks. Schools could stagger their breaks perhaps. Parents are basically unable to avoid surge pricing (or peak times as they used to be called).

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:That's Good by trabby · · Score: 1

      Sodium Benzoate?... pffft. What you have to really worry about is the Dihydrogen Monoxide.

    3. Re:That's good by Anonymous+Cow+Ward · · Score: 1

      Yep - enough parents complaining about it could certainly make schools stagger their breaks somewhat.

      --
      Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
    4. Re:That's good by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      First world problems.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:That's good by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      and probably learned more about the world,

      Probably not......

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re: That's good by sixsixtysix · · Score: 1

      Not sure why ANYONE who visits this page would support Disney after learning of either their unequivocal support of incessant copyright extensions or their dastardly, anti-consumer, "back in the vault" false-scarcity shenanigans. You all are very disappointing...

      FTFY

      --
      ...
  2. 20% isn't surge pricing by Overzeetop · · Score: 5, Interesting

    200% would be surge pricing. 20% is just your run of the mill peak period price. I'm a bit surprised they didn't have seasonal pricing already (though, in effect, they do through specials and offers).

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      only if you are poor... if so go vist on poor days when its down by 20%

    2. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually the far better language, which is clearly not their intent is discount pricing. You have your main seasonal, peak public holiday and weekend pricing and then everything else is discounted. Surge pricing is jacking up the price without warning, so promising a cheap price and then wham without any extended notice, already trapped there bam the price goes up 1000% take it or leave it. So publicly declared pricing structures announced years in advance (families book holidays well in advance) is seasonal price and whether people choose to attend during peak period or go for the discount is their choice.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      so go vist on poor days when its down by 20%

      That's cute. You think prices are going up or down by 20%. In reality, the current level is the cheap level, and prices will be going up for the peak times.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    4. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by sexconker · · Score: 1

      I think you mean down by sixteen and two thirds percent.

      Let S be the Surge Price.
      Let P be the Poor Price.

      If S is 20 percent more than P, then P is 16 2/3 percent less than S.

      Other examples:
      If S is 100 percent more than P, then P is 50 percent less than S.
      If S is 0 percent more than P, then P is 0 percent less than S.

      Alternatively:

      Given non-zero A and B:
      1 / (A/B) = B/A

      Some examples:
      6 / 5 = 1 / (5/6) [Here you can see that 6/5 is 1/5 more than 5/5 and 5/6 is 1/6 less than 6/6. See how this relates to the 20 percent example above.]
      0 / 3 ?? 1 / (3/0) [Here, the operation 3/0 cannot be performed. Any algebraic cancellation of the term is also invalid.]

    5. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by JoelKatz · · Score: 1

      That's probably true. Companies generally raise their prices due to inflation, and introducing a new pricing scheme is often used as an opportunity to adjust prices for inflation. But if they do that, it does mean that it will be longer before the next time they raise prices. So it will probably mean an overall price increase in the short term, as it almost always does after new pricing is introduced. It will eventually be matched by unusually low prices just before the next time they raise them.

    6. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      so go vist on poor days when its down by 20%

      That's cute. You think prices are going up or down by 20%. In reality, the current level is the cheap level, and prices will be going up for the peak times.

      Here is a list of five things:

      Access to clean water

      Access to food

      Access to shelter

      Freedom from persecution

      The right to visit a shitty entertainment park cheaply.

      One of these is not like the other.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    7. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by edtice1559 · · Score: 1

      They wanted to have it sooner but their US IT team wasn't up to the task. Now that the H1Bs are there, they cranked it out in a few days thanks to the tremendous skills of their managers. (Sorry for those who have trouble with sarcasm)

    8. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      our major improvement on Rome seems to have been to establish a competitive market in the price of circus attendance so that the plebes think they're actually planning their lives. couple this with a noisy protest and discourse on the inclusiveness and diversity of circus characters and events, and they hardly bother anyone at all anymore.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    9. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Wow, I love how you jumped straight to "No one has a right to visit an amusement park." It's so bizarrely offtopic, its not even a strawman of what I was saying, which is that price discrimination of this sort never helps the customer

      That said, if you're really interested, and you understand it's not my true position up front, I'm happy to take that position for the sake of an interesting argument. It's always fun to take the underdog position. I would need to see something that indicates you'd provide a interesting rebuttal first.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    10. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      Hey, this 375mL bottle of wine only has 12.680 fluid ounces of wine in it! They're ripping me off!

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    11. Re:20% isn't surge pricing by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      1 year passes have been sold at different prices depending on which days were blacked out for at least 25 years.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  3. This is not surge pricing by rsborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is seasonal pricing, and as long as it's advertised in advance is very common in various industries.

    Surge pricing (a la Uber) is random periods of higher price - it could be normal pricing one minute, then surge the next.

    Completely different. This article is Uber-cliqbait.

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    1. Re:This is not surge pricing by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Uber doesn't choose random periods to institute surge pricing! Surge pricing goes into effect during peak demand periods. This is the same thing. The only difference is that Disney knows exactly when their peak periods are.

    2. Re:This is not surge pricing by NormalVisual · · Score: 2

      This is seasonal pricing, and as long as it's advertised in advance is very common in various industries.

      It's not quite seasonal pricing. They're talking about raising prices for very specific times throughout the year, for instance having a higher price on Memorial Day weekend vs. pricing for the rest of that week. Conversely, they likely will be lowering prices for the week after Labor Day, as that's historically been Disney World's slowest week of the year.

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    3. Re:This is not surge pricing by dwywit · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Tell that to the people trying get out of Sydney during the cafe siege.

      Uber's pricing responds to demand - it may be pre-programmed for known peaks, but it's also flexible enough to respond to conditions - although the surge during the Sydney siege was perhaps immoral, it was just the pricing algorithm doing its job, responding to a random increase in demand.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    4. Re:This is not surge pricing by iserlohn · · Score: 1

      That's still peak period pricing, increased prices are calculated in advanced and advertised in advanced. Surge pricing ala Uber is algorithmic and done pretty much on-the-fly when there are periods of high demand and low supply of services.

      --
      :. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
    5. Re:This is not surge pricing by Transist · · Score: 1

      In Seattle, at least, surge pricing is pretty predictable. You are more likely to hit surge when people get off work/go to dinner between 4-6:30ish. Friday and Saturday you might see low surges all night until 1AM-2:30AM when people are coming home from bars and the surges hit hard. If there's a football game or concert going on at Centurylink Field or WAMU Theater, you can expect surge at the beginning or end. Very predictable. You might have times where there's a surge and you couldn't name a single specific reason for it, but that's still far from "functionally random".

    6. Re:This is not surge pricing by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      This article is Uber-cliqbait.

      Can we 3D print smart cloud IoT apps?

    7. Re:This is not surge pricing by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Why would anyone in the world put up with that kind of shit?
      Is it just the hipsters and layabouts who don't need regular transportation?

    8. Re:This is not surge pricing by LordLucless · · Score: 1

      Uber's pricing responds to demand - it may be pre-programmed for known peaks, but it's also flexible enough to respond to conditions - although the surge during the Sydney siege was perhaps immoral, it was just the pricing algorithm doing its job, responding to a random increase in demand.

      I'm not even convinced of that. People focus on what Uber was charging, but were their traditional taxis who were willing to drive into the middle of the situation to pick up passengers for standard fares?

      Uber increases the rates drivers receive in order to encourage them more drivers to participate in times of high demand. The question is, would more or less people have been able to get transport out if Uber drivers hadn't been receiving higher rates? If the answer is "more", then I'd say Uber's actions were fully justified, and resulted in more net good than would have occurred if they hadn't increased their rates, and fewer drivers had participated.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    9. Re: This is not surge pricing by bws111 · · Score: 1

      This has got to be one of the stupidest posts ever. Congratulations.

      The park hours are not 'highly variable'. They are posted well in advance (like a year). The only thing that varies is 'Extra Magic Hours' which are only available to guests staying on property. And the fireworks and parades happen every night.

      Made tickets expire that didn't before - so what? Is there some reason anyone has to keep offering the same thing forever?

      EPCOT has different operating hours for the two sections? So what - the hours are exactly as advertised.

      Closes rides and doesn't replace them? Such as?

      Stops the monorail while people are in the park? So what? The buses and boats operate until every person is out. The monorail goes through a hotel, so they stop it earlier to keep the noise down in the hotel. Again, known well in advance and exactly as advertised.

      Lower the number of attractions? Bullshit. All of the parks have more attractions than when they opened. MK opened with 23, now has more than 40. I don't know how that is 'less'.

      The parks don't all have a lot of rides? Yeah, that is what sets Disney apart from the others. Studios is about shows. EPCOT is some rides and cultural stuff. Animal Kingdom is animals. If all you want are rides, go to Six Flags.

      Fast Pass? Everyone I know loves it.

      Weekends are not a particularly busy time because they tend to be travel days. Holidays are busy, not becuase of 'our wonderful capitalist system', but because that is when kids are off from school, and many people consider it a good way to spend a holiday with their family.

      The crowds are bigger every year. A few loudmouth whiners does not constitute 'backlash'.

    10. Re:This is not surge pricing by edtice1559 · · Score: 1

      The difference is that Disney sets the price well in advance. With Uber, you could want a taxi at a non-peak time and then suddenly it's raining and everybody wants a ride so the price goes way up and some people get left in the rain. At Disney you won't get an exceptionally nice day, show up at the gate, and be given a higher price than you normally would during that season. Although "surge pricing" is *largely* predictable, it is a function of actions taken by users. Season pricing is made in advance and not adjusted based on actual usage during short time periods.

  4. My deal with Disney by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I don't go there, and they don't take my money.

    Having gone there many years ago - and once was more than enough, Disney's pinnacle achievement was not the rides, the infrastructure or any of the things most people would attribute to them.

    Its the fact that they have managed to get a lot of people to spend a lot of money to spend a lot of time waiting in line.

    I remember incredible lines to ride on space mountain,and the mostly teenagers who came out of the ride, only to get back in line for another. I figure even at that time, they were paying something like 25-30 dollars per ride.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:My deal with Disney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ridiculous. I go every few years with my family for ~5 days at a time, and we can easily do 10-15 rides per day. at $100 per day, that's less than $10 per ride, plus all the fun of the park itself. Given that I buy 5-day tickets, the price drops to about $50 per day, and also gets us into California Adventure next door.

      The price into the park isn't outrageous given the content.

    2. Re:My deal with Disney by twotacocombo · · Score: 1

      I remember incredible lines to ride on space mountain,and the mostly teenagers who came out of the ride, only to get back in line for another. I figure even at that time, they were paying something like 25-30 dollars per ride.

      I used to go there all the time as a teenager. Back then it was around $20 to get in the door, so we didn't mind waiting in line for hours on end, because it was cheap and we'd just hang out. Now it's about $100, which is relatively less to me than $20 was when I was just a broke ass high school kid, but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend that much money to stand in line with a bunch of tourists. They've really done a good job at pricing the locals out of the park over the last 15 years. Even the annual pass prices are out of control. It's probably because we didn't spend all our money on food and merch; we were just taking up space as far as they're concerned. Welcome to Disneyland, the pinnacle of American capitalism.

    3. Re: My deal with Disney by BigU+03C0in · · Score: 1

      That's the rub though, you have to go multiple days to bring in affordability. I've been to Dland enough times to know it's not worth multiple days to me. That's from when I was single. As I am now married with three kids a bare minimum $500 to get in the door? No thanks. My money goes father with better entertainment value at almost any other theme park. The Disney price premium is just to high.

    4. Re:My deal with Disney by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2

      That averages to one ride per hour, amazing. How long is the average ride, three minutes?

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    5. Re:My deal with Disney by NormalVisual · · Score: 3, Funny

      Having gone there many years ago - and once was more than enough, Disney's pinnacle achievement was not the rides, the infrastructure or any of the things most people would attribute to them. Its the fact that they have managed to get a lot of people to spend a lot of money to spend a lot of time waiting in line.

      Having worked there, I found the REAL pinnacle achievement is running payroll for 60,000 employees each week and not screwing it up. EPCOT actually stands for "Every Paycheck Comes On Thursday". ;-)

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    6. Re:My deal with Disney by NormalVisual · · Score: 2

      It varies. For Disney World, the shortest attraction is Goofy's Barnstormer in the Magic Kingdom at 1:03, and the longest is Ellen's Energy Adventure in Epcot, at 45:00.

      "It's a Small World" clocks in at 10:30. I mention this last one to help fine-tune the dosage for whatever medication you need to remain unconscious.

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    7. Re:My deal with Disney by NormalVisual · · Score: 1

      They've really done a good job at pricing the locals out of the park over the last 15 years. Even the annual pass prices are out of control. It's probably because we didn't spend all our money on food and merch; we were just taking up space as far as they're concerned. Welcome to Disneyland, the pinnacle of American capitalism.

      Similar situation at the Florida parks. I used to go to Epcot a couple of times each week to have dinner, but with the tourist dining plans they've implemented over the last several years, it's damned near impossible to get a seating at the more popular restaurants unless you book it a couple of months out.

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    8. Re:My deal with Disney by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      "It's a Small World" clocks in at 10:30.

      The Euro-Disney version of the Belgium Kiddie Porn Industry was a lot better . . . "It's a cruel world after all . . . "

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    9. Re:My deal with Disney by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Ridiculous.

      Take the busiest ride, on a busy day. Stand in line, and immediately get back in line after you get off. You still saying you can go on 15 rides a day with a 45 minute wait for each? I'm not bullshitting you, I have no need to. but not accounting for ride time, a 45 minute wait gets you to around 11 and a half hours of waiting. Even a 30 minute ride is getting toward 8 hours of waiting.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    10. Re:My deal with Disney by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Did they not have the "Fast Passes"? You can get a ticket for a designated time for the most popular rides and skip the "Stand-by" line.

      The last time I was there was in the early 90's. And I just don't care enough to go again. I'm much more of a Kennedy Space Center type person to tell the truth.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    11. Re:My deal with Disney by schnell · · Score: 2

      They've really done a good job at pricing the locals out of the park over the last 15 years [...] It's probably because we didn't spend all our money on food and merch; we were just taking up space as far as they're concerned.

      Yes, yes you were. Why on Earth would you even think that Disney cares about pricing out the locals? Maybe Disney Land was, but I know for a fact that Disney World wasn't built to cater to locals. If these parks had been built for locals, there would be a Disney (Land/World) in every large city. Disney World in particular was built to cater to idiots like me and my two young girls who couldn't wait to take a six hour plane ride and wait for hours just to get into Jedi Camp. If Disney had the foresight to have built some Frozen-themed ride back when I last visited, my girls would never have left the park without a court order and an armed security detail. They built that park for the legions of fools with small children like me who will come from all over the planet in order to spend money like $20 bills cause dysentery.

      Welcome to Disneyland, the pinnacle of American capitalism.

      If you mean Disney (Land/World) succeeds admirably at vacuuming money out of the wallets of people who are willingly spending it there, then yeah. Hell, after I got back from dropping piles of cash at Disney World, I realized their level of genius at making money and bought stock in DIS. (The share price has taken some dings lately with cable cord cutting hurting ESPN, their real cash cow, but I have still made money on it and consider it a long term investment.)

      If that's a way of complaining about not being priced for locals to visit often, then refer to my previous statement about the park not being intended for you in the first place...

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    12. Re:My deal with Disney by antdude · · Score: 1

      Yep, I haven't been to Disneyland for a couple decades. I went back recently for free. It felt smaller and pretty much the same. Whatever. Although CA Adventure was new to me, but it was OK.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    13. Re:My deal with Disney by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      ...Disney's pinnacle achievement was not the rides, the infrastructure or any of the things most people would attribute to them.

      Its the fact that they have managed to get a lot of people to spend a lot of money to spend a lot of time waiting in line.

      This is what I keep trying to tell my wife, to no avail. Here's hoping for some non-surge pricing in the fall...

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    14. Re:My deal with Disney by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Or maybe Expecting Pay? Continuing Opportunities There?

      Only until further notice.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    15. Re:My deal with Disney by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      I loved Ellen's Energy Adventure... Seeing a young Bill Nye extolling the virtues of fossil fuels brought a tear to my eye.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    16. Re:My deal with Disney by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Yes, that might mean either waiting for your kids to go to college to take them to Disney, doing it before they go to school, or just taking a few days out of school to go do it.

      I see little point in going to Disney if you're under 5 or over 18. And, yes, getting a decent education is more important than wasting money at an entertainment factory.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    17. Re:My deal with Disney by twotacocombo · · Score: 1

      If that's a way of complaining about not being priced for locals to visit often, then refer to my previous statement about the park not being intended for you in the first place...

      Well the curious thing is they used to have steep discounts for the locals. Back around 1995ish, if you lived in a So Cal zip code, it was $19 to get in. Then the next year they bumped it up a few bucks, then a little more, but it was still reasonable. Annual passes with included parking ran around $300 if I remember; my family had them for years, but I never paid the bill. I think it was about the time they dug up the parking lot and installed that stupid California Adventure park that they decided they no longer needed the locals.

    18. Re:My deal with Disney by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      IIRC, when Disneyland annual passes were first introduced, they were $100. Now they're $1049.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    19. Re:My deal with Disney by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Even the small (formerly A ticket) rides have long wait times on busy days. Figure a half hour for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or Peter Pan. I've never seen a long line for the really cruddy ones like Pinocchio.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  5. The journey is the destination. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I was the designated grown-up for quite a few years for taking the kids and their cousins to Cedar Point (nice, big, amusement park in Ohio). I have to say, spending hours waiting in line talking with the kids is actually one of my most cherished memories.

  6. A new Disney title.. by lionchild · · Score: 1

    I can just see it now as a Disney blockbuster title: Disneyland Surge Pricing: The Quest for More Money!

    Seriously?

    Honestly?

    Really?

    --
    Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
  7. Harrison Ford by irrational_design · · Score: 1

    How much do you think they paid Harrison Ford to be willing to lay it on so thick? Obviously millions, but how many millions?

    1. Re:Harrison Ford by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Star Wars turned Harrison Ford from a nobody to a star with a 40-year-long career. I would say very positive things if I were him.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    2. Re:Harrison Ford by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      Well, as I understand it, one difference between Harrison Ford and the rest of the cast is that Harrison had a piece of the revenue the movie made. So he ended up making a heck of a lot more money than the rest of them.

      Maybe he's also getting a piece of the action of the revenue from the ride. In which case, hell yeah, he'd be up to promote it.

    3. Re:Harrison Ford by edittard · · Score: 2

      Pray we do not change it further.

      --
      At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  8. Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Disney says they are doing this to control busy times at the park. That is pure BS. Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits. Why are summer and holiday visits the most popular? That's a no brainer - it's because people are off work or out of school. Changing the pricing won't change that reality.

    If Disney was truly concerned with limiting overcrowding, a very simple solution would be limit the number of tickets sold. Once the park is sold out for the day, it is sold out. Works at stadiums, works on Broadway, works just about everywhere. But then, that solution won't increase the profits like a 20% price increase will.

    I wonder if Disney will pass those extra fees on to the employees who have to work on those overly crowded days? After all, they are the ones who have to deal with the problem first hand.

    1. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by hondo77 · · Score: 1

      Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits.

      I don't think you quite understand how supply and demand (and capitalism) works.

      --
      I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
    2. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      a very simple solution would be limit the number of tickets sold. Once the park is sold out for the day, it is sold out.

      Raising prices is as good a way of reducing the number of visitors. One method involves park staff excluding people based on visit order, and the other relies on self-selection based on ticket prices.

      Disney says they are doing this to control busy times at the park. That is pure BS. Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits.

      This I 100% agree with. Controlling visitor numbers is a *side effect* of the price increase. If two methods are equally effective at doing something, I'll choose the one I get more money from.

    3. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by JBMcB · · Score: 1

      Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits.

      Because supply and demand doesn't affect prices? What?

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    4. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      If Disney was truly concerned with limiting overcrowding, a very simple solution would be limit the number of tickets sold. Once the park is sold out for the day, it is sold out. Works at stadiums, works on Broadway, works just about everywhere. But then, that solution won't increase the profits like a 20% price increase will.

      Yeah! Because secondary ticket markets (a.k.a. brokers and scalping) simply do not exist for stadiums, broadway, concerts, etc. That's 20% that will be going into little Joe's college fund instead of maushwitz's corporate coffers.

      It's a good thing big Joe can buy any ticket he wants at face value through simple diligence and competition with other average Joes. Tickets absolultely will not sell out in 30 seconds or less with essentially no opportunity for a guy (or gal) with a home computer to puchase them as brokers buy thousands of passes in order to mark them up to what the market will bear.

      You idiot...

    5. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by hawaiian717 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If Disney was truly concerned with limiting overcrowding, a very simple solution would be limit the number of tickets sold. Once the park is sold out for the day, it is sold out.

      They do. But the number of people it actually takes to reach the point of "sold out" when they stop letting people in the park is quite high. They usually don't stop ticket sales, because there's one other park (in California) and three other parks (in Florida) that guests can usually still go to. They simply stop letting people in the park.

      The other difference is that, unlike a sports event or concert, the number of people in the park fluctuates throughout the day. All the people will be there for a specific event, they know exactly how many seats are in the venue, and everyone will arrive before the event and leave after. But a theme park is open all day with lots of different things to do. People will arrive at different times, leave at different times, some will leave and come back, some will go to another theme park. So even if Disney does stop letting people into a park because of overcrowding, it's usually just for a couple of hours until enough people have left that they can start letting people in.

      --
      End of Line.
    6. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by KalvinB · · Score: 1

      Actually, they do stop selling tickets at a certain point.

      This will help control crowds by not only making it cost more to get in, but also by informing them ahead of time that it's going to be busy and they may want to pick a different day.

      What really drives park usage is the locals with their season passes who can show up whenever.

      You really have to be willing to go during the non-peak days in the off season if you're not from Southern California if your goal is to ride on all the rides rather than just hang out. If you go on a major holiday, you're not there to ride rides. You're there to see the parades and the displays and just hang out and maybe do a ride or few.

      It's not really a theme park that you're going to get to see all in one day. And you need to bring friends to hang out with in line. Or make friends in line.

      If it's not your kind of theme park then oh well.

      --
      Work Safe Porn
    7. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      In his defense, most people, including and especially its proponents, have little idea how supply, demand and capitalism work.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    8. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Funny you mention two examples from industries which charge a different rate depending on the desirability of the show.

    9. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Because secondary ticket markets (a.k.a. brokers and scalping) simply do not exist for stadiums, broadway, concerts, etc.

      It's not like it would be hard to eliminate the secondary ticket market if you wanted to. See, the robust secondary ticket market for plane tickets (oh, wait...)

      I grant that the need to show ID would be modestly annoying. But a ton of events do that already (for alcohol-serving reasons) so it couldn't be that big a burden to bear.

      But the fact remains, secondary ticket markets work well for a the original seller as well. They offload the risk that the event will be a bust.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    10. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They actually do this; Disney, like all major theme parks, has an occupancy limit (due to fire / emergency hazards) and does actually close the park to new guests at a certain point.

      Which happens basically every weekend in the summer.

    11. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits.

      I don't think you quite understand how supply and demand (and capitalism) works.

      Supply and demand would would dictate an equilibrium would be reached between buyer and seller based on the value of the goods and services. That is not what I am complaining about. Disney is saying they are doing this to combat overcrowding. That is the disengenous part. I agree with the supply and demand, not the spin put on it by Disney. Granted, if they said we are raising the price because we can, that wouldn't have gone over well, but that is exactly what they are doing. So why lie as to the reason?

    12. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      Hard to reason with an anonymous coward. As for price gouging, I'm pretty sure you can do that regardless of the commodity, particularly if there is a lack of competition.

    13. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits.

      Because supply and demand doesn't affect prices? What?

      Supply and demand only works in a free market. Are you taking the position that there is adequate competition to Disney?

    14. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

      If Disney was truly concerned with limiting overcrowding, a very simple solution would be limit the number of tickets sold.

      Not an econ major, eh?

      Raising the price will result in fewer ticket sales, and will help drive people to visit on less busy days. That's even better for Disney as it helps them smooth out the crowds a bit and makes employee scheduling easier.

      Also, Disney's parks aren't like watching a show in a theater. There's no defined start/stop time except for open and close, and most people come after opening and leave before closing. When we went a few years ago we had a "park hopper" pass and visited more than one park some days.

      Raising the price solves the problem and doesn't introduce any new problems. And, as others have said, it's pretty normal, anyway, to pay extra during peak times. Hotels sure cost more during spring break in Florida than they do on January 15, right?

      --
      Do you have ESP?
    15. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by JBMcB · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Supply and demand only works in a free market. Are you taking the position that there is adequate competition to Disney?

      Amusement parks are "substitutable goods". You don't have to go to Disney World for vacation. You can go to the beach, or a museum, or a water park, or a national park. There are tons of options.

      Disney spends, and has spent, *boatloads* of money on Disney World. People have shown they are willing to pay premium prices for a premium experience, so Disney get to charge premium prices. That doesn't mean you can't go anywhere else for vacation.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    16. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

      For most people a bicycle is not an alternative to a car and yet both are modes of transportation. But it's not about alternatives. Disney doesn't want people to go spend their money elsewhere. Their stated goal is to reduce load on peak times so that people will go at less desirable times. When one's work schedule and the kid's school schedule dictate the available days, changing the pricing won't cause that to happen. It could very well reduce the load on peak times, but at the cost of lost customers if they chose alternatives.

    17. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Disney is doing this, not because of supply and demand, but to gouge even more profits.

      I don't think you quite understand how supply and demand (and capitalism) works.

      Do you? They're aren't doing anything to meet demand with supply, just putting prices up when demand is up. That's gouging. They can call it whatever they want but they're doing it for the cash money.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    18. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Umm, you don't understand how pricing works do you? Increasing the price reduces the demand. Gouging generally refers to a price hike on necessities during an emergency. Disney is not something essential, nor would there ever be an emergency that reduced the supply of Disney. I don't know why you are so angry at Disney, but charging more money to reduce crowds seems pretty reasonable to me.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    19. Re:Liar, liar, pants on fire! by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Umm, you don't understand how pricing works do you? Increasing the price reduces the demand. Gouging generally refers to a price hike on necessities during an emergency. Disney is not something essential, nor would there ever be an emergency that reduced the supply of Disney. I don't know why you are so angry at Disney, but charging more money to reduce crowds seems pretty reasonable to me.

      There's more to it than (+) price = (-) demand. Just look at apple. Disney is the apple of theme parks, there are plenty others out there more reasonably priced and just as good but disney is disney. They aren't even trying to reduce demand at all, just spread it out by making other days seem more appealing by seeming cheaper, but as others have pointed out, places like this are naturally going to most busy in the times when the kids are on school holidays and other public holidays. It's all well and good for adults going without kids who can just take time off work whenever but for the kids, it's got to be in certain times or pull them out of school to go when you can save a little bit of money. The schools don't like that very much. Anyway, I'm not angry at disney. I couldn't care less, all theme parks charge more in peak times (as do a lot of things), it's the way of things and that's naturally going to take advantage of those going for the children. Bottom line is they still want more and more people to go, they just don't want everyone turning up at the same time. Any positives for the customer are incidental side effects.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  9. Star Wars *spoilers* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am glad to see Harrison Ford has recovered enough to be giving statements. The injury he took in the movie looked pretty severe.

    I guess he may be back for the next movie after all.

    1. Re:Star Wars *spoilers* by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I am glad to see Harrison Ford has recovered enough to be giving statements. The injury he took in the movie looked pretty severe.

      It was just katsup.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Star Wars *spoilers* by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

      I think he came back from the dead. He wouldn't be the first carpenter impaled on a cross to do so. Here's hoping he's back for the sequel!

  10. Re:Disney is a shit employer and should be boycott by tnk1 · · Score: 1

    That's a little unfair to a corpse who has been dead for 50 years. After all, Disney left the world with the US on top, and H1-B visas not even a glimmer in anyone's eye.

    Oh, and they cremated him.

    (Or someone already staked him and he burned to ashes. In which case, you don't want to dig him up again lest he re-form and haunt the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.)

  11. Unhappy balance sheet by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

    I guess the projected cost savings from firing their IT staff and replacing them with low paid H1B's isn't enough for the corporate greed masters.

  12. Re:since most visitors will pay more for their tic by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 1

    Now that I look back at the total pointlessness of elementary school, I'm surprised there aren't more parents who take their kids out for vacations during the school year. If I told my 4th grade classmates that my parents are taking me to Disney World in February, so that we could have the park to ourselves, they wouldn't look at me askance and suspect my parents of being irresponsible.

  13. "Just in Time" is a bit of hyperbole by hawaiian717 · · Score: 1

    Since the Star Wars lands won't open until sometime next year.

    --
    End of Line.
    1. Re:"Just in Time" is a bit of hyperbole by CanEHdian · · Score: 1

      Since the Star Wars lands won't open until sometime next year.

      YES! You have to be in the line-up right now, in order to get a turn before the end of the decade!

      --
      When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  14. That's Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ..Sodium benzoate futures are up!

  15. If you're not already boycotting Disney... by guevera · · Score: 1

    ...then you're a bad person.

    Did you forget how they treated their IT people? I found out about it here of /. The whole, replace them with H1-B workers, make them train the replacements thing.

    I skipped Deadpool over it. Bummer, it looks really good, but I'll just have to wait for a copy to pop up on bittorrent. My wife and I really wanted to go. But I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I supported them with my $.

    1. Re:If you're not already boycotting Disney... by neo-mkrey · · Score: 1

      FYI -- Deadpool is FOX, not Disney. It is also a very entertaining movie and you should go see it.

    2. Re:If you're not already boycotting Disney... by guevera · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but is Marvel (Disney) getting a royalty off it?

  16. Breaking news: business does business-y thing by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Oh good lord, the shock of it all, that a business would increase prices when demand is greatest.

    "Star Wars is, for lack of a better word awesome," said Harrison Ford. "I'm so blessed that I had the opportunity to be a part of it. To walk in these iconic locations. And soon, you'll be able to do that as well. Not in a galaxy far, far away, but in a place close to home."

    Said Harrison Ford, or said some guy in marketing?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  17. Re:F Disney by jandersen · · Score: 1

    Here's a tip: Go somewhere else, and enjoy some of the truly great things in the world. American is rammed full of breathtakingly beautiful scenery - why go and spend obscene amounts of money on superficial crap like Disney World?

  18. Universal is way better by areusche · · Score: 1

    Took a trip to Orlando and had the opportunity to visit both parks during the trip. Universal not only has better rides, they also have fast passes that you can buy that let you cut through the lines without having to show up at some stupid predesignated time. I was able to go on every ride in the park in less than two days. Counter that to Gisney where the lines are obscene and then more lines for the stupid fast passes. Universal is compact enough to walk around between the two parks whereas in Gisney you have to take a monorail or drive to a different park.

    You tell me, which franchises are better: Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, the Mummy, and the Simpsons vs Princesses, a zoo, an out of touch image of the future with antiquated cultural icons, and a monorail. Granted Pirates of the Caribbean is pretty cool. However there are some weird people who work for Gisney, this former employee outlines why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Save your money and go to the other massive entertainment conglomerate amusement park.

  19. They're fucked on crowds by swb · · Score: 1

    I'm a real cynic in most areas of my life, but I've always enjoyed the visits we made to Disneyworld. I went in '77 with my parents in our rmotorhome from Minnesota. The day we got to Orlando, we drove to the Magic Kingdom and walked into the Contemporary hotel and I can still remember the sense of awe I had walking into the atrium and seeing the monorail pass through.

    That being said, I think Disney has fucked itself on crowds and capacity. Disneyworld now has more on-premise hotel capacity than all of Orlando had when Magic Kingdom opened. When you factor in all of the hotel capacity outside the park, it's a staggering number of potential visitors at any one time and this doesn't include the couple of million people who live a couple of hours from the theme parks in central Florida.

    While they have built new theme parks (we were back the first year EPCOT opened), they mostly keep building rides that can only handle a small number of passengers. Fast Pass helps, sort of, but only if you're somewhat experienced and hyper-plan your visit, which takes some of the fun out of it and leaves you a little more scheduled than I think makes sense for a vacation.

    I think they need to fairly radically re-think the nature of their attractions and have fewer of them, but make them much higher capacity to minimize queuing, using continuous loading cars and long, serpentine paths to essentially make queuing part of the ride itself. An attraction the size of a football stadium, but enclosed with a serpentine path for the ride should be able to accommodate 20,000 or more people at a time. It could also make the ride longer, which would help with fewer rides overall.

    I think it would also help to expand the monorail system to make it easier to move between parks during the day. I think one of the biggest mistakes was not extending the Epcot line to Hollywood Studios (it wouldn't be hard, even now) or having any monorail access to Animal Kingdom at all. This might help load balance the parks somewhat. You can buy parkhopper tickets now, but other than MK/Epcot, getting between parks requires the good-but-not-great bus system and transfers to get around, which is too time consuming.

    1. Re:They're fucked on crowds by azadrozny · · Score: 1

      I think they need to fairly radically re-think the nature of their attractions and have fewer of them, but make them much higher capacity to minimize queuing, using continuous loading cars and long, serpentine paths to essentially make queuing part of the ride itself. An attraction the size of a football stadium, but enclosed with a serpentine path for the ride should be able to accommodate 20,000 or more people at a time. It could also make the ride longer, which would help with fewer rides overall.

      Actually I think WDW does a good job of keeping you entertained while waiting. The queues for most of their rides are themed. Space Mountain, Star Tours, and the Toy Story ride are all good examples, helping to set the mood/theme for the ride with lots of attention to detail. They are far and above almost any other amusement park that just put you into a long line, that snakes back and forth 8 or 9 times.

    2. Re:They're fucked on crowds by swb · · Score: 1

      I'd say only kind of. The theming of the waiting areas is nice, but for the most part it's not much more than just interesting decoration which wears thin, especially when ride waits exceed 30 minutes or more.

      I wouldn't actually be surprised to see almost all rides going completely reservation-only at some point. The ability to book fast passes weeks in the future has nearly made it that way, only limitations on how many fast passes you can get prevents this from being true now.

      Now, the parks are amazingly maintained and very visually appealing and just walking around is kind of interesting, especially at Epcot, but it's still a lot about the specific attractions.

      I just think a future theme park attraction needs to be modeled differently than the existing "ride" paradigm if they're going to maintain (and increase) the kinds of attendance numbers they've created with the hotel expansions. They don't add rides often enough to offset the increased attendance.

  20. Re:Good by DirkDaring · · Score: 1

    You and me both.

  21. Star Wars expansion won't be ready in 2016 by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 1

    The Star Wars expansion won't be ready in 2016 for sure. 2017 would be a best case scenario with 2018 or even 2019 being more likely. Disney is very slow to construct and they generally don't commit years out to opening dates. They started construction almost 2 years ago on the new Frozen themed ride in the Norway section of EPCOT and they still haven't committed or even hinted when it will be open, but sometime in late spring this year is a good guess. And I can promise you that what they did in EPCOT is much much simpler than the planned Star Wars expansion.

  22. Who cares by JohnStock · · Score: 1

    Star Wars is sci-fi for the uneducated. We all prefer Star Trek here.

  23. Re:F Disney by azadrozny · · Score: 1

    I have been to Disney World, and I have been to some of our most beautiful National Parks. Both are wonders to behold. Disney World may be expensive, and superficial on some levels, but they don't cheap out on the details. It is an immersive experience, and I commend the people who design and maintain it.

  24. Is boycotting insanely popular companies worth it? by ranton · · Score: 1

    Not sure why ANYONE who visits this page would support Disney after how treated there IT workers. You all are very disappointing...

    I am genuinely torn on whether to boycott companies like Disney is worth doing. I think Disney is a despicable company from a moral standpoint, but I find it hard to come to the conclusion that boycotting Disney products is the right approach to fighting the policies I disagree with.

    I may be a hypocrite, but I dislike Disney and still watch Marvel movies, ESPN, and plan on taking my children to Disney World (they aren't ready IMHO at ages 18 months and negative a few days). I even just bought my toddler a Lightning McQueen pull back car for her Easter basket, putting even more money into Disney's pockets. Very disappointing indeed.

    I will instead fund candidates I agree with who may actually enact the change I want in the world.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  25. How to do Disneyland by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    Get in line to get into the park early, more than an hour before the park opens. Plan ahead to do the most popular rides first, and rush. Usually, you can get in 4 rides in the first hour, before crowding starts to be a problem. Stay until closing time, lines are short late at night. Persevere, and you can do every ride in the park in one day.

    Stay alert and flexible. Not all rides start running when the park opens, and some will be closed for repairs for all or part of a day.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  26. As an Annual Passholder... by Dripdry · · Score: 1

    I say go for it, Disney! Raise the prices! Even the projected "empty" days at the park are now packed so badly that wait times for Space Mountain are 75+ minutes!
    I live in LA, I go to Disneyland for a few hours once a month or so, and I find it relaxing and happy: Go on a few rides, do some people-watching, eat a snack; it's really nice.

    The people who whine about long lines? They went on a weekend. Or in the summer. Unless you go for 3-4 hours on Sunday when the park opens, NEVER go on weekends, and NEVER go during the summer.

    Frankly, though? GO on hating it! It keeps the crowds down and I'm happy for that.

    It does amaze me that so many put up with it, though.

    --
    -