"haunteddoc" said:
Is it just me and my family but seems like a couple of things are going on at WDW. ; First, the counter service food seems to become standardized, the quality is not very good and it is much more expensive.
I noticed this a few years ago. ; I blame the Dining Plan. ; The incentive is for every meal to "cost" the same behind the scenes...that way certain restaurants won't be "punished" for having more expensive foods that are paid in full by the plan. ; I miss that you had to go to a specific counter restaurant for a specific food; this was very true at DL 10 years ago.
Second, the retail stores seem to be all selling the same stuff. ; Is there a plan to finally get all the stores at disney to sell the same thing?
That plan was enacted by Emperor Paul Pressler, who took the Disney Stores from an awesome niche market to every mall around you. ; Because of his performance, he was promoted to VP in charge of Disneyland and then VP in charge of all Disney Parks. ; During his reign, the retail stores in a certain
parking lot theme park where given more
funding attention than attractions. ; It was also during his reign that the stores homogenized their inventory, in an effort to reduce costs....come on, it's cheaper to buy bags that say "Disney Parks" and can be used on both coasts vs. "Disneyland" or "Walt Disney World". ; Same with merchandise! ; ; Cheaper to buy merchandise for both parks!
My wife and I have been stunned by the price of food and mediocre service this trip.
Join the club. ; Advantage goes to the Left Coast, where you can cross the street and have a decent meal at half the cost. ; And that's not including the McDonalds. ;
Or you can drive a short distance to Target and pick up stuff.
The consumer blacklash has hit the Parks however. ; Spending the stores are down but attendance is steady. ; And now they're doing coupons for the meals (see Kevin Yee's article today); he would prefer that the Parks lower food prices, but that's not how the system works....you do short term reductions by coupons/specials/rebates that people can't redeem rather than price reductions, because when the prices go back up, customers don't like that....
Look at the sales of the custom merchandise Disneyland has done this year....Captain EO tribute, and now Indiana Jones anniversary stuff. ; Add the Steampunk Pins and you'll see the best sellers are the unique items, not the stuff that is in every store now. ; Those items will flood the Disney Character Warehouses in a few weeks.
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