Where Are You Spending Your Disney Dollars?
With the announcement of Josh D’Amaro as Disney’s next CEO, we decided to sit down with TouringPlans founder, Len Testa, to ask what he sees for the future of Walt Disney World under new leadership. Len talked to us about Mr. D’Amaro’s past achievements and what that might mean for Disney World. Some things Len brought up during our discussion:
- Mr. D’Amaro has been running Disney’s most profitable division for years. He has shown that he can turn a significant profit while making decisions that are unpopular with Guests. Taking away MCO airport transportation, Magical Express, and charging for FastPasses, to name just two. One can only assume his focus on profits for shareholders will remain as he assumes the title of CEO this March.
- International travel to the U.S. Disney Parks is down. We can assume this is the reason for the new Florida Resident Annual Pass deposit decrease introduced recently. Hopefully this will mean additional Annual Pass discounts on the horizon.
- Disney Dining is “soft” and has been for some time. Len has mentioned this many times on The Disney Dish with Jim Hill, and a search on the My Disney Experience app will show there are lots of open reservations for Table Service locations that used to be difficult to get. The image below shows a few open reservations we were able to find for spots like GEO-82, California Grill, Space 220, and The Beak and Barrel.
One offering that is still in very high demand – even under increasing prices – remains Lightning Lanes in all forms. You’ll see from the image below that Magic Kingdom Premier Pass is $456.89 per person after tax for February 12th. At the time of this post, Premier Pass for the Magic Kingdom is sold out on February 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th. Premier Pass for Hollywood Studios is sold out on February 15th.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass is showing $35, or $37.28 per person after tax, for February 12th. The price on February 14th is $42, or $44.73 per person after tax.
Our conversation with Len and a review of dining and Lightning Lane stats prompted us to poll our Instagram followers to find out if they were foregoing table service dining in favor of Lightning Lane purchases.
We asked our followers “Are you spending your Disney vacation budget on Lightning Lanes instead of dining” and got the responses shown in the image above. Even more interesting than the poll results were some of the comments we received in the post.
So we have to ask, where is your Disney vacation budget going? Have you cut back on table service dining to free up money for Lightning Lanes? If you have cut back on your food budget, is the change unrelated to Lightning Lanes and related more to quality of dining options? Or something else? Finally, the fact that such expensive Premier Passes are selling out shows that the prices aren’t unreasonable for some of the Disney Guest population. Have you purchased Premier Pass in the past? If so, would you please leave a comment letting us know if you thought it was a good value and if you’d do it again? We welcome all comments on this topic!
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We’ll never LLPP, it’s just too much. We will do LLMP for special occasion trips, birthdays etc but not every time. We are a few hours away, Florida residents with Pixie Dust passes though. Our dining has stayed pretty consistent with 1 special table service meal per extended trip.
I wish they’d offer 2-3 fast passes free like they use to be, but make the rebookable/rolling feature a premium you buy LLMP for. 1 tier-1 ride and 1 or 2 tier-2 rides guaranteed. It could also be tied to being an on-site perk, which would increase resort booking revenue, and unlikely to do too much to LLMP purchases–possibly even increase them in the ‘not-buying-LL-on-principal’ crowd. I don’t make the decisions though unfortunately.
Hi Paige- I love that idea! So many locals would benefit and visit more often with that system. Do you have a favorite table service that you still consider a good value? Mine is Boama – especially breakfast. – Chrissy
We do the opposite, we have been eating at Disney restaurants (just ate at three last week) and not going to parks. I wondered why reservations were easy to get.
Hi, Marlin! Now THIS is an interesting take! Are you going to Disney Springs? Or Resorts? Would you mind sharing which locations are your favorite? Do you find any of them a good value? Thanks for the note! – Chrissy
Sit down dining is down for us as their prices have gone up. Used to really like Be Our Guest but haven’t been back since they went to a fixed price menu. And I’d love to experience Space 220 but all the reviews say it’s not worth the price. We usually splurge on one sit down meal per trip, but choose it wisely – sometimes a breakfast which has a better value than lunch or dinner. I hate to spend money on LLs but it seems like it’s just never going to go away, though I can’t bring myself to spend the money on the LLPP at that price.
Thanks for the note, Brian. I used to LOVE the breakfast at Be Our Guest back in the day! Lunch and dinner have tasty options, but I would never spend my own money there now. It’s just not worth that hefty price tag to me, either. I have to agree with the Space 220 reviews, too. I was there on opening day and it was outstanding! A full 10/10. I have been back several times since and am more disappointed each time. The last two visits have felt so rushed and the food quality dipped significantly for me. The prices, however, have not.
Your thoughts on Lightning Lane ring true for lots of folks. They’re necessary when crowds are high (shameless plug for the Crowd Calendar here) but that LLPP price tag is shocking! Hopefully you’re armed with a good pair of shoes and a TouringPlan when you go. Thanks for reading! -Chrissy
I would be curious as to how many LL Premiere passes are being sold to be “sold out”, and if allocating more LLPPs per park per day.
If the average price of a LLPP in MK is $400, selling just 100 more (basically 25 average families) is an extra $40,000 in revenue per day and possibly $14.6 million a year for MK alone. I know MK LLPP doesn’t necessarily sell out everyday (I’m guessing you all have data on how often they sell out), but increasing the number of LLPP seems like something CEO D’Amaro might consider.
Oh. This is an interesting take. Sending on the Len! Thanks for the note! -Chrissy
Universal. Or Europe, since it’s cheaper than the Epcot version.
This gave me a chuckle. You’re not wrong, Steve. -Chrissy
Giving up spending on merchandise. So much is just generic and repeats across gift shops. And with the price and quality of merchandise, it’s better to buy elsewhere. I’m also to the point where I don’t need yet ANOTHER coffee mug.
This. My Loungefly expenses must be stopped! -Chrissy