Episode 446 - Pricing Changes

Authored by: drallab96 on Friday, August 08 2008 @ 07:55 AM CDT

One thing that has been talked about on other boards is whether the 2 counter service plan will be the new free dining next year? What do you think? I wonder if they will let you upgrade and pay the difference. I would not mind doing that. Personally, I love a table service meal per day. I like to take a break and eat sit down and eat and be served (no buffets for me). Counter service is too hectic.

Also, I like the mug idea. I confess I bring mine back. We spend a fair amount of time at the resort and fill up our mugs constantly. We usually keep them in stroller to refill as soon as we get off the bus. Plus we let the kids go get drinks by themselves when we are at the pool. It makes them feel big. It would be nice to have one for everyone and not pay everytime.

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Authored by: ct27 on Friday, August 08 2008 @ 08:49 AM CDT

When I am not doing commando-style touring, I always use my souvenir mug and play in the arcade multiple times on one trip. I think the new plan is a value add.

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Authored by: fazdevils on Friday, August 08 2008 @ 10:39 AM CDT

I found Len's comments at the end interesting - the part about "assigning values to the different parts of the dining plan to see if it makes financial sense" (i.e. how much money am I saving?).

I've tried to do this for an upcoming trip to see if the Dining Plan (in it's current form) makes sense. I estimated that an average counter service meal is $12 and the average smack is $3. Are these numbers realistic?

Using these numbers, I'd need to spend an average of $23 on my table service meal to "break even" on the $38 dining plan option.

For the meals we were looking at (about 1/2 character meals) it was essentially a break even proposition. Anyone else seeing this or are my numbers off?

On our last trip when apps and gratuity were included it was a great deal - now it's just so so.

Using the numbers above the new table service option seems like a push too.

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Authored by: AquaViola on Friday, August 08 2008 @ 10:46 AM CDT

Until I came to the website, I didn't realise that this episode was being sponsored!

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Authored by: wdwtodayfanclub on Friday, August 08 2008 @ 11:26 AM CDT

I think the price increase is fair however the one day pass is out of control. A one day park hopper pass would be $125 plus tax? I know hardly anyone buys a one day hopper pass but if you are in a situation where you need a one day hopper pass to be with your party and don't plan on coming back, is $125+ a fair price for one day?
Other theme parks will really be able to use this to their advantage especially during a down economy.

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WDWTodayfanclub

We are not Disney nerds, we are enthusiasts

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Authored by: Laurel on Friday, August 08 2008 @ 04:30 PM CDT

I don't think you can place a value on how much fun air hockey is!

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Authored by: Rayman on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 10:33 PM CDT

The price for the QS Plan is $38 right? I agree that the mug and the arcade are throw ins that most people will never use or not get the full value of. So it comes down to whether one adult (or child older than 9) will eat $38 worth of fast food (in 2 meals) and snack (1) in a day. I just don't see it. For a family of 4 (2 kids) we usually spend $30-35 per quick service meal. So using us as an example...that's $15-18 per meal. We'd have to be on the high end along with the snack to get our value out of it. Also...if you have a kid that's 10-12 years old, you're paying adult prices for the plan but there's no way they'll eat that much QS food in a day...mine don't.

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Authored by: Kfischler on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 06:47 AM CDT

I read that the new QS Dining Plan cost $29.99 adult and 8.99 child. Crunching the numbers, I think you come out ahead depending on what you like for QS meals. I also read that the re-fillable mug could be re-filled at any CS, not just resort. I think if you carried and used your mugs in the parks, this could be a money saver. Of course you have to wait in line for just a re-fill, so look to those registers on the end, in case a new one opens OR, for some reason, only one side of the register is being used.

I agree with Mike Scopa (no surprise there) that Disney may see a change in guests plans for dining and shopping due to the overall increase in a WDW vacation. The TS meals passed my value meter this past year and I can no longer justify spending the money for what you get at a TS meal. Sad to say, but we get better attention from a server at IHOP than we did at any TS restaurant this past summer.

We'll still vacation at WDW, but will bypass the TS restaurants for some good CS options we enjoy.

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Authored by: lentesta on Tuesday, August 12 2008 @ 07:33 AM CDT

When you try to figure out what a particular item is worth, you end up with a number of possible values. Here's the set of values that appear most reasonable to us. Using these you get almost the exact retail value of the plans (Quick, Standard and Deluxe):

Quick Service Meal = $10.08

Table Service Meal = $25.44

Snack = $2.53

Refillable Mug = $4.48

Appetizer = $2.98

30 Minutes of Arcade Time = $0.30

A couple of things to point out: No matter how we look at the numbers, the value of the 30 minutes of arcade time is always the lowest (it's sometimes negative in certain cases). That tells me that Disney thinks not many people will use it.

The appetizer costs are higher than the snacks because they typically involve more human labor to create.

I think the value of the refillable mug is probably too high - it doesn't cost Disney that much to make it, and there's no way you could drink $4.50 worth of soda, if you're paying what Disney pays for it. We'll work on adjusting that cost, but it is ballpark.

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Authored by: bblhed on Wednesday, August 13 2008 @ 08:25 AM CDT

In the show you said that you have to buy a ticket to go to Walt Disney World. There are two sides to this argument.

If you are going there for your once a year vacation you need a ticket because you will want to go into the parks.

I was down twice this year, on the second trip I spent 3 days at Disney and did not enter any of the parks so I had no need for a ticket. Now I have probably visited Disney World over 100 times because I was luckey to have been stationed in Orlando with the Navy, then in South GA with the Navy for 3 years so I went every pay day weekend that I was in port. I find Disney World to be a nice relaxing place to visit and walk around when I am there, and I do manage to get a lot of entertainment from just hanging out on property. Granted I do drop a lot of cash while just hanging out, but if I did go into the parks I probably would not go on that many rides anyway. Although I have to agree with all of you when you said that TTA in the Magic Kingdom is a great way to wind down after a day of running, and there is almost never a line.

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