Annual pass changes coming........

AngiTN · Oct 4, 2015

dkrauss said:
First off I mean no disrespect with this post to the person who posted the response I've quoted, I'm just trying to understand something. I guess I'm one of the "new" passholders who'll be purchasing the "piece of garbage pass". Since I've never had an AP before, I'm trying to understand why this pass (I'm not a FL resident so I'll have the regular AP when we do finally purchase) I'm looking to purchase is "garbage"? I've had to make a slight adjustment to the savings I have to make our purchase but its a small adjustment...........any price increase stinks but I anticipated this (not at this time.......). Disney is always raising prices........don't they?

For my wife and I we see an AP as an opportunity for some advantages that will allow us to visit more than once a year. To get discounts we aren't eligible for now. What about that is bad? Just curious................

Doug

I honestly do not understand the reaction here at the Dis. Even knowing how negative some people are here about everything Disney does I'm shocked. Passes for us are up a whopping $80 and change. Sorry I do not feel that is excessive at all

jlwhitney said:
Guess what not every benefit of something is going to fit someone perfectly. There are many that use photo pass and are excited for the addition. Prices go up every year, pretty expected. Prices everywhere in the tourism/entertainment area, not just at Disney go up too. At least they didn't take anything away this time.

Exactly. Prices increase. Everywhere.

DisDadDVC said:
What if the increase in prices led to a decrease in guests? Would customers be happy then? What if they doubled the price of the annual pass, but it reduced crowds 30%? I think I might be willing to make that trade-off....

I so hope so. If the percentage of disgruntled Dis Board members is an accurate representation of the general population then we should see a significant crowd drop. But something tells me there are more negative posters here than found elsewhere

WillAustin said:
I guess we are an exception. We're AP holders that still spend far too much money on our hotels, food, and souvenirs, even with the APs.

We are the same exception. DH and I are making our 4th trip this year, all staying on site and all meals on site. If we didn't get AP we would not have gone but once. This price increase is such a small percentage of our total spent at Disney it is very insignificant all things considered. $80 just won't price us out

I told DH and he said, that's all? I was expecting more.

bryanb · Oct 4, 2015

The_Banking_Scot said:
Hi,
I upgraded to a Premier Passport in DL at the Start of September ( $1130 or so)and just seen on the page it is going up to $1439+tax. That is a very large increase even with the addition of the photpass downloads ( I have not used photopass before)

I'm in the same boat. I've been a Disneyland annual passport holder for several years and decided to shell out $1,099 plus tax ($1,134.72) for the Premier Passport in late August. It was a bit of an extravagant luxury for me, but with just two WDW trips a year I could make it break even (assuming 4-day park hopping on each). I did think it was already a lot to spend on Disney park tickets (and that's just per person).

The new price is $1,485.77 (including 6.5% sales tax on the Florida portion), which is a 30.9% increase overall. Since I never use Photopass and assign it a personal value of $0, this is a pretty substantial price increase that will change the way I enjoy Disney.

It's been no secret that Disney wants to decrease the impact of Annual Passholders on crowds in California -- and to a much lesser extent in Florida. I wonder if this will do the trick.

My current strategy will be to use my Premier Passport several times before it expires, hoping that I'll maximize the value to the point where I'm completely sick of the parks -- so I won't feel bad about not renewing!

tinkerhon · Oct 4, 2015

GusGus77 said:
With doing this, they really need to go back to having a child's AP. A child does not need parking or photo pass since they can't get into the park without an adult who will most likely have it!

We were thinking of doing a year of Disney 2017/2018 and going four or five times, but not sure we can do it with these price increases!!!! (I can't imagine what they will cost in another two years when we go!)

This never made sense to me !! Why should the price of pass for a 3-yr old cost the same as the price for an adult, when they obviously don't get to experience the same things ??! Who sat in room and decided this ??
With this type of thinking, the buffet meals should cost the same as well --- who cares if a 3-yr old won't eat as much as an adult??!!

GusGus77 · Oct 4, 2015

lovesdumbo said:
I've been reading rumors of tiered pricing for tickets on the Dis for a while. I'm a bit surprised that the Gold Pass is not available to all.=QUOTE]

That would be great as we never go during those super busy times anyway! Disneyland is the same, though, and the APs with blackout dates are only available to CA residents.

tinkerhon · Oct 4, 2015

AngiTN said:
I honestly do not understand the reaction here at the Dis. Even knowing how negative some people are here about everything Disney does I'm shocked. Passes for us are up a whopping $80 and change. Sorry I do not feel that is excessive at all

Exactly. Prices increase. Everywhere.

I so hope so. If the percentage of disgruntled Dis Board members is an accurate representation of the general population then we should see a significant crowd drop. But something tells me there are more negative posters here than found elsewhere

We are the same exception. DH and I are making our 4th trip this year, all staying on site and all meals on site. If we didn't get AP we would not have gone but once. This price increase is such a small percentage of our total spent at Disney it is very insignificant all things considered. $80 just won't price us out

I told DH and he said, that's all? I was expecting more.

Not sure if it's the amount of the increase that has ruffled so many feathers, or the added "perks" that disney is trying to use as justification --- maybe a bit of both. I think everyone would have to admit that a 50% increase in 5 years is a bit excessive.

AngiTN · Oct 4, 2015

tinkerhon said:
Not sure if it's the amount of the increase that has ruffled so many feathers, or the added "perks" that disney is trying to use as justification --- maybe a bit of both. I think everyone would have to admit that a 50% increase in 5 years is a bit excessive.

I'm honestly surprised they included any added benefits. I was expecting just a price increase with nothing added.

As for the 5 year increase, could it be they were quite underpriced 5 years ago? Was that something of a price correction?

TChrist05 · Oct 4, 2015

Unfortunately...the way I see it is..

M - I -C K -E -Y M - O -N - E -Y!

They want your money any way they can get it - did it on the cruise line and now its the parks time.

What would Walt Disney think about what has been happening? Curious what others would think?

AngiTN · Oct 4, 2015

TChrist05 said:
Unfortunately...the way I see it is..

M - I -C K -E -Y M - O -N - E -Y!

They want your money any way they can get it - did it on the cruise line and now its the parks time.

What would Walt Disney think about what has been happening? Curious what others would think?

I'm just guessing of course but I'm pretty sure Walt wanted the company to be for profit. I think he'd be a ok with it

courtneybeth · Oct 4, 2015

bryanb said:
The new price is $1,485.77 (including 6.5% sales tax on the Florida portion), which is a 30.9% increase overall. Since I never use Photopass and assign it a personal value of $0, this is a pretty substantial price increase that will change the way I enjoy Disney.

My current strategy will be to use my Premier Passport several times before it expires, hoping that I'll maximize the value to the point where I'm completely sick of the parks -- so I won't feel bad about not renewing!

We had extreme sticker shock this morning when we went to Disneyland. We are returning to Disney World in December and our Premier pass expires next month. We had considered renewing on Thursday when we were there with friends but opted to wait until today and we didn't go through with it.

In the years since we've had the pass we've been extremely happy and have enjoyed 2 WDW trips per year plus 1 trip to Disneyland per week. I'm not sure if we perceive a similar value with $1485 vs the $1100 we would have paid just three days ago. We still have about a month to decide but it just came so suddenly and randomly.

It makes sense with Star Wars land and the amount of people going to Disneyland that they need to get some of the 'low' price payers out of the park. They're also going to close significant portions of the park for construction and therefore need to reduce capacity.

tinkerhon · Oct 4, 2015

AngiTN said:
I'm just guessing of course but I'm pretty sure Walt wanted the company to be for profit. I think he'd be a ok with it

You think he would be ok with so many families being priced out of going to DisneyWorld?

tinkerhon · Oct 4, 2015

AngiTN said:
I'm honestly surprised they included any added benefits. I was expecting just a price increase with nothing added.

As for the 5 year increase, could it be they were quite underpriced 5 years ago? Was that something of a price correction?

I think that's part of the problem ---- many people (myself included) don't see the additions as "benefits" -
Certainly not enough to justify an 18% increase --- ( I think that is what it amounts to (average)

AngiTN · Oct 4, 2015

tinkerhon said:
You think he would be ok with so many families being priced out of going to DisneyWorld?

Pretty sure some families have always been priced out even in Walt's era, so is that a change? Seeing how crowded the parks are and have been for a while I'm not sure that many are priced out. Not sure they could handle a lot more volume in the parks

AngiTN · Oct 4, 2015

tinkerhon said:
I think that's part of the problem ---- many people (myself included) don't see the additions as "benefits" -
Certainly not enough to justify an 18% increase --- ( I think that is what it amounts to (average)

So would a lower percentage increase but nothing added have been better? I think we all realize no increase was not going to happen.

4HOLIDAYS · Oct 4, 2015

Question-does the gold ap passholder need to be on the trip to be able to download the pp pics?

Dh is going to renew in Dec, me and 2ds already have passes up in march. If we get his gold level (we are all going in dec) i know we will be able to get the photos, but we plan on going in spring and he often cant make the quick trips, will he still be able to get the photos even tbough he was not there?

bryanb · Oct 5, 2015

tinkerhon said:
You think he would be ok with so many families being priced out of going to DisneyWorld?

In an ideal world, probably not. But if every family could afford to go the place would be completely overrun to capacity and there would be a really long waitlist to get tickets. People who could buy the cheap tickets would probably scalp them (like popular concerts where the tickets are priced affordably). They'd probably have to build far more parks and resorts across the country, though that would take time and significant financial investment risk. Even then, if that decreased ticket prices to $60/day at Disneyland Austin or Disney Iowa Adventure, many families could still not afford it.

tinkerhon said:
I think that's part of the problem ---- many people (myself included) don't see the additions as "benefits" -
Certainly not enough to justify an 18% increase --- ( I think that is what it amounts to (average)

If they had just said it was a price increase, that might have been a better strategy. You might be right. When they promised new "benefits" I think people thought there was more exciting news coming. Sometimes, "spin" does backfire.

tinkerhon · Oct 5, 2015

AngiTN said:
Pretty sure some families have always been priced out even in Walt's era, so is that a change? Seeing how crowded the parks are and have been for a while I'm not sure that many are priced out. Not sure they could handle a lot more volume in the parks

50% increase over 5 years as far as the AP prices---- that's the change ---

I don't really see this increase as a "prices are up everywhere" scenario - I love disney and disneyworld as much as the next DISer, but this one just seems like greed on disneys part---- this increase is excessive--- THAT, I don't think Walt would have been ok with -

AngiTN · Oct 5, 2015

4HOLIDAYS said:
Question-does the gold ap passholder need to be on the trip to be able to download the pp pics?

Dh is going to renew in Dec, me and 2ds already have passes up in march. If we get his gold level (we are all going in dec) i know we will be able to get the photos, but we plan on going in spring and he often cant make the quick trips, will he still be able to get the photos even tbough he was not there?

Based on earlier reports you should get the photos by being his friend and family but you could always use his MB on any trip he isn't with you, just to be safe.

tinkerhon · Oct 5, 2015

AngiTN said:
So would a lower percentage increase but nothing added have been better? I think we all realize no increase was not going to happen.

Probably --- why, they raise regular ticket prices without adding any "perks" ---- listen, I totally understand it's a business, and a price increase was coming, but like a PP stated, seems like they handled it the wrong way ---
Many, like myself, received a "form letter", which basically said nothing ---- then, you click the link provided, and the additional benefits are free parking, a complimentary magicband, and unlimited Photopass--

My feeling ( and by reading this thread today) and the feeling of many others, is that they are force feeding you these "perks" that many have no use for , and charging you for them. So, yes---- a smaller increase without these "benefits" , would have probably been a better idea--- just my .02

Planogirl · Oct 5, 2015

I can feel sympathy for people who dislike these price increases. Disney making a profit is all well and good but I doubt that very many people go to the parks just so that Disney can make money. At least I never think about that. I just consider whether I have the money to go or whether there is value in what I'm buying (for us) and I bet that a lot of others do too.

HopperFan · Oct 5, 2015

Arrived tonight, hated driving all day, not able to jump online and find out what had come out after I finally went to bed. Checked in at Bonnet Creek, headed to Disney Springs (condo to walking in DS was 9 minutes with new parking garage :thumbsup2

) and Guest Relations.

Gave her my Premium AP so she could scan and find out how much it would cost me to change to the new Platinum Plus for the Photopass ............. $181.05.....and my AP expires in Feb. YIKES! :crazy2:

Glad I brought my camera.

Annual pass changes coming........

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