Disney’s Q3 Earnings Show the Future of Disney Parks, and Our Wallets May Not Like It

While I do think Disney is pricing itself out of the budgets of many families, the results are telling them to plow ahead. The success of the upsell, while for those of us that are old timers is upsetting, the reality is that the formula is working well for the mouse. I just hope they don't take things away that were free and now charge for them. After hours events and things like that are ok. Charging to things like Genie + and such, not so much.

That's a really good article Paul, well done. Full of facts and numbers and analysis and not just a bunch of hand wringing and hyperventilating. You pretty much hit on everything I've been saying for several years. Disney is not going to bring back free things (like Fast Passes) when charging money for them is making them money hand over fist. Bob Chapek may have been a nice villain for a lot of Disney fans but the things that happened on his watch were either already in motion when he took over or were decisions made other people or elements of Disney. My first reaction to seeing that news that Chapek was out and Iger was back in was that people were going to be disappointed because Chapek was not the sole (or even primary) reason for a lot of things that we all were not happy with.

In terms of WDW pricing people out, as one of the old timers I will just say that this is debate we have been having in my family since the late 1980s and it hasn't happened yet.

We will see just how much they can continue on this strategy. And, we will have to see how they adjust when (inevitably at some point) economic headwinds interact with their current pricing strategy. As it relates to both DVC and Disney vacation spending more broadly.

I have heard some anecdotal information that people are changing how they spend money at WDW. For example, due to paid LLs they are spending less in restaurants and in stores. I don't know if that is true or not, I just heard people in the world of online Disney make that claim. I suppose if that happens for long enough in a substantive manner that Disney could decide to make adjustments.

I remember in 2008 during the financial crisis, my mom asked a cast member if the down economy was affecting attendance at WDW. The cast member told her that attendance was steady but people were definitely spending less money in the parks. Take that for what it's worth.

Yeah great article @GreyhoundDad22 gives a comprehensive summary and analysis of the relevant parts of the call as it relates to guests. I was very surprised that actual domestic attendance was up in addition to revenues per guest. I was expecting attendance to be down a bit due to the increased prices and the reduced international tourists to the US more broadly, a bit like what Las Vegas is experiencing with reduced guests. Perhaps with Epic opening down the road did end up bringing more guests to Orlando who also included a Disney Park trip.

I am all for more premium product options being expanded for both on and off-property if that means there is less need to nickel and dime the general family guest. Also they seem to be addressing some of the increasing cost narrative with some promotional discounting; it would be good if there were at least a few affordable food options for families. The promotional discounting approach has worked for them in the past when they have rapidly increased prices in the past, and seems to be working again (if it ain't broke, why fix it).

The value proposition for Disney experiences is the positive core memories these parks and experiences provide their guests, which at the end of the day is very hard to quantify.