Praying Colonel
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2004
I echo Pete's comments about the recent announcement on price increases generally and changes to the basic DDP specifically. The $1 decrease in price on the basic plan is a joke when one considers that they lopped off major parts of the plan (gratuity and appetizer). The actual cost to the guest is now much greater because we'll have to pay OOP for those items.
A question was raised on the podcast as to what we guests would do in response to price increases. For our family, the changes in the DDP mean that we'll probably be staying offsite and eating most of our TS meals offsite. That's how we did things before the DDP came out. The DDP made us willing to pay more to stay onsite in exchange for receiving what was a good value and good experience for our family in the DDP. Now, the cost to our family of having to pay OOP for appetizer and gratuity makes the DDP not a good choice for us. And if that's the case, then it's much less likely that we'll stay onsite when we can get more room for less money staying offsite in a condo or vacation home. So we'll still keep coming to WDW, it's just that our experience will be different--and Disney won't be getting our resort or TS business. I'm sure Disney will struggle along somehow.
I'd rather they either raise the basic DDP price and keep the amenities the same, or reflect the loss of value and reduce the price of the DDP accordingly--down to 32.99-33.99/day or so. The token $1 decrease in price does nothing to offset the increase in OOP cost and is really an insult to the intelligence of the WDW guest. It is contemptuous. Thank you, Pete, for telling it like it is.
A question was raised on the podcast as to what we guests would do in response to price increases. For our family, the changes in the DDP mean that we'll probably be staying offsite and eating most of our TS meals offsite. That's how we did things before the DDP came out. The DDP made us willing to pay more to stay onsite in exchange for receiving what was a good value and good experience for our family in the DDP. Now, the cost to our family of having to pay OOP for appetizer and gratuity makes the DDP not a good choice for us. And if that's the case, then it's much less likely that we'll stay onsite when we can get more room for less money staying offsite in a condo or vacation home. So we'll still keep coming to WDW, it's just that our experience will be different--and Disney won't be getting our resort or TS business. I'm sure Disney will struggle along somehow.
I'd rather they either raise the basic DDP price and keep the amenities the same, or reflect the loss of value and reduce the price of the DDP accordingly--down to 32.99-33.99/day or so. The token $1 decrease in price does nothing to offset the increase in OOP cost and is really an insult to the intelligence of the WDW guest. It is contemptuous. Thank you, Pete, for telling it like it is.