Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World
Disney World “Discounting is Something of the Past” … or Is It?
On today’s Disney Q2 earnings call, Bob Iger and Jay Rasulo noted that while Q3 resort hotel bookings so far are 2.5% lower than last year, realized prices are more than 10% greater.
A CONTINUING REDUCTION IN THE DEPTH OF DISNEY WORLD DISCOUNTS?
They noted that this was consistent with Disney’s general strategy to limit the discounts it offers as the economy improves.
Iger said that increasingly “discounting is something of the past.”
However, there may be some price surprises coming for Disney in Q3 that may lead to further discounting.
Iger and Rasulo did not clearly distinguish the impact of an extra week of Easter in Q3 this year than last year on Q3 effective price increases. (They did comment on the impact of the extra Q3 week for Q2, and for Q3 volumes–just not for Q3 prices.)
Specifically, they did not address the point that the longer 2011 Easter season means that there were 20 more days of peak and Easter pricing in April 2011 than there were in April 2010.
This factor alone could drive realized prices for the whole quarter up by 3-4%, based on my back of the envelope analysis which suggests Q3 April 2011 average daily rates were 11% higher than those in Q3 April 2010.*
OR MAYBE NOT??
In other words a big part of the Q3 realized resort price increase compared to last year could be coming not from fewer discounts, but from an Easter timing-driven higher set of April prices compared to 2010.
If so, then this, combined with bookings in Q3 running 2.5% below last year, suggests that more Disney World discounts may in fact be needed.
(You can find April 2011 pricing here, and April 2010 pricing here.)
*Including only April days in Q3, which began April 4 in 2010 and April 3 in 2011.
May 10, 2011 No Comments
Roundup of Orlando 2011 Military Discounts
MilitaryDisneyTips.com has published a series on various armed forces discount programs currently available for Orlando area attractions.
CURRENT DISCOUNTS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES
For the scoop on military discounts for Sea World and Busch Gardens, click here. (Sea World has no additional discounts for Navy Seals…it really should…ditto for the Frontierland Shooting Gallery.)
For details of Universal Orlando military discounts, click here.
For the perennial question of free theme park tickets for the military, click here. (Spoiler: there ain’t none.)
For Disney’s 2011 Armed Forces Salute and the little info that’s out so far on its 2012 extension, click here.
LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
- Military Families at Walt Disney World
- Deals and Discounts
- Shades of Green
- Other Resources for Military Families
May 5, 2011 No Comments
Free Dining Back at Walt Disney World
THE RETURN OF FREE DINING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
Mouseplanet.com is reporting here that Walt Disney World will be opening its Free Dining discount program to the general public.
The program will be available for stays August 28, 2011 through September 24, 2011 and must be booked by August 27, 2011.
Another free dining program covers many dates from October 2011 through March 2012. Click here for this October 2011-March 2012 free Disney dining deal.
More details on Disney’s free dining deal are available on Walt Disney World’s website here.
May 2, 2011 1 Comment
Act Now to Catch Disney World May Discounts
DISNEY WORLD DEAL NEEDS TO BE BOOKED BY APRIL 30
One of Disney World’s current discount packages, which covers dates through May 28 2011, needs to be booked by April 30 2011.
For more on the specifics of this deal, click here.
April 27, 2011 No Comments
Details Sketchy, but Disney Military Salute Extended Well into 2012
DISNEY ARMED FORCES SALUTE EXTENDED TO SEPTEMBER 2012
Update May 24: key details for this Disney military deal are now out!! Click here for more.
Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com is reporting here that Disney has extended its Disney Military Salute until September 2012.
As of now, details are sketchy, Disney’s web page has not been updated to show the new dates, and Disney reservationists cannot book beyond the current deal’s expiration.
As specifics emerge and the reservation system gets updated, I’ll post more about this.
LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
- Military Families at Walt Disney World
- Deals and Discounts
- Shades of Green
- Other Resources for Military Families
April 19, 2011 No Comments
Update on the 2011 Disney Military Salute
OPPORTUNITIES FOR MILITARY FAMILY SAVINGS
My friend Steve at militarydisneytips.com tracks and posts on all kinds of stuff useful to military families considering a Disney trip.
He’s recently posted an update on the 2011 Disney Military Salute and other 2011 Disney Armed Forces discounts.
Helpfully, Steve includes his answers to the questions he’s most frequently asked about these programs.
You can find his post here.
Update–Steve’s post is part of a series recapping discount oportunities for military families all over central Florida–more on Sea World and Busch Gardens is here.
LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
- Military Families at Walt Disney World
- Deals and Discounts
- Shades of Green
- Other Resources for Military Families
April 13, 2011 No Comments
