Desperate Disney makes history - by offering discounts
Filed under: Bargains, Saving Money, Travel, Recession
The magic is fading for Disney, but for its customers, it's just beginning.
This morning, after announcing that theme park bookings fell off a cliff in the last month and corporate income was down 13% last quarter, Disney's stock dropped 6.1%. Hotel bookings at the Walt Disney World resort are down 10% from what they were a year ago, profits are down from last quarter, and they're only going to get worse.
So Disney, which runs nine of the ten most-attended amusement parks in the world, has sprung into action and is doing something it never does: It's giving stuff away. After years of turning up its whiskered nose at discounting, suddenly it's scrambling to draw customers back to Orlando. Disney is going all-out to fill its parks again.
The biggest score was just announced. If you book by December 20, you can get a seven-day vacation for the price of four days. That means that if you buy four nights in one of its hotel rooms plus four days of park tickets at the full price, Disney will give you another three nights and three days theme park tickets--free. The buy-four-get-three-free deal, equivalent to a 34% discount, also comes with another astonishing gimme from January through March: a free $200 gift card, which can be used to buy food and souvenirs.
What? Disney is giving away money? What's next-- talking fairies?
To seize this promotion, you can take your vacation between January and June of next year, minus the period around Easter vacation. The deals are good at the resort's Value rooms (available at four properties at the resort), which fortunately is already the cheapest class of room available there.
Finding a stellar deal on Orlando hotels is not tough. Using Priceline, I've found prices as low as $25 a night at perfectly good motels just outside the park property in the off season. No, the real budget killer has always been that Disney doesn't discount on its tickets. It's been resolute about this. In fact, just a few months ago, it raised prices again in its annual ritual. A day's ticket is now a shocking $80, and for a week's stay, a basic pass would cost $243 per person over the age of 9. That means that even if a family of four sleeps in the car, they'll spend over a grand to just get into the park gates.
Up until today, Disney, whose Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park in the world, was already showing signs of extreme nervousness by slashing prices on its cheapest rooms from $82 a night to $59. That deal (which must be booked by Dec. 7) is still in place, and it's might be the better choice for people who don't want to stay an entire week. It doesn't come with tickets, though.
This new announcement -- free tickets! free money! -- is unheard of. Disney's desperation is big news. What was that about dreams coming true?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-07-2008 @ 8:54PM
El Jefe said...
Disney gets no sympathy from me. The husband of a good friend worked for them as an accountant and was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. When the company found out he was terminated.
Walt would spin in his grave.
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11-09-2008 @ 9:30PM
A. Heckendorn said...
Are there any plans that Disney will give discounts at the Fort Wilderness Campground in Orlando ??? I already have reservations there for February ....
thanks
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11-10-2008 @ 11:08AM
Pete C said...
"Using Priceline, I've found prices as low as $25 a night at perfectly good motels just outside the park property in the off season."
You get what you pay for and $25 a night does not get you a nice motel in any way comparable to a Disney resort. There are plenty of positive reviews out there for budget motels because of what you are getting for the money. Also people have different standards for what is nice. For many people, those places are not going to cut it. The lowest-end Disney resorts are comparable to a good hotel, plus you get park benefits like extra magic hours and free transportation all around the property.
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11-10-2008 @ 11:58AM
Jason Cochran said...
I have to disagree with that on a number of counts. One, Priceline gives deals on the whole range of hotel levels, although it's true that the cheapest prices are, naturally, for those at the lowest price point. I also disagree that the cheapest Disney hotels are at the same quality level at rooms outside the World. Although I really enjoy Disney and appreciate what it's able to do, they are simply not as lush as ones of a similar amenity level outside the property. For example, you'll get a lot more luxury for your dollar if you spend $330 for a room at the nearby Ritz-Carlton than if you spent the same money at Disney's Grand Floridian. The extra money you spend for a Disney hotel goes mostly toward set dressing and the free transportation system (which, by the way, is often crowded and slow and can wind up wasting a full hour of each day on waiting and commuting, particularly for those guests who need to use the Value resort option). I am also not a huge booster of the Extra Magic Hours, especially when they fall in the morning, when some attractions may not even be open yet. That time is nice, but it's not worth spending $40 more a night for a budget room. The fact is that if a family wants to see Disney World and doing it cheaply is the only way they are going to be able to do it, the prices are always better outside of the resort. That's not a slam of Disney. That's just math.
11-13-2008 @ 3:47PM
Jamie said...
Disney isn't desperate,just greedy. From what I've heard the parks are not as well-run as they would like you to think. This does not surprise me,as their Disney Stores are very poorly run,with over priced merchandise and sales help ( they call "cast members") which are some of the worst I've encountered.
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11-14-2008 @ 12:16AM
Robert said...
I WORKED THERE FOR 16 YEARS IN SECURITY AND WOULD NEVER STAY ON DISNEY PROPERTY, TO MUCH CRIME
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12-16-2008 @ 5:26PM
Anastasia Beverhausen said...
Robert, you sound like a disgruntled EX-employee,,,,,,
12-16-2008 @ 8:38PM
markmmarkn said...
Having worked as an employee in Customer Service fields (waiting tables, phone service, department stores, anywhere people come in contact with other "humans"....get it?!...
I have to say that value added service is what makes people spend their hard earned dollars. I went to a Disney park and found it just so-so.
I can understand where dollars are being sought after this year, what with the recession and all, but where does Disney get off its high horse and realize that its just a high fallutin' image they are selling, theme park, characters and such, including the movies and dvd's....add up to a bazillion dollar industry.
I think it may be worth comparing Disney to GM, dinosaurs who need to either grow up and face the music (and dance) or fade away...
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