Is pandora opening in may? (did disney slip up today?)

[Accident]

I think todays mystery discounted ticket is disney prepping to tell us that pandora will be opening in may this weekend. (during destination d).

My professional experience is disney can't really tell you in advance when something is coming. They made a culture of planning and booking so far in advance and waiting. The second they say a date or season, or month then you are going to hear a huge sucking noise of reservations moving to after it and record low attendance..

I think this ticket is disney's way to counter the moving of reservations by putting the place back into the financial reach of people who just can't afford to come with current ticket prices. They can't wait and still afford to come. I say may opening because I would want to open just after the cheap seats are no longer valid.

I've also said this before but I think disney wants to ensure volcano bay doens't open up first. they want people to stay at disney and universal is really set up where someone might choose to stay at universal and day trip to disney instead.. Right now one could say that disney only has 1 park and 3 parks in major disarray. That's what my friends see at least who have never been here and not considering it with all the construction.

This is getting fun... bring on the wars...

 

[rteetz]

I think todays mystery discounted ticket is disney prepping to tell us that pandora will be opening in may this weekend. (during destination d).

My professional experience is disney can't really tell you in advance when something is coming. They made a culture of planning and booking so far in advance and waiting. The second they say a date or season, or month then you are going to hear a huge sucking noise of reservations moving to after it and record low attendance..

I think this ticket is disney's way to counter the moving of reservations by putting the place back into the financial reach of people who just can't afford to come with current ticket prices. They can't wait and still afford to come. I say may opening because I would want to open just after the cheap seats are no longer valid.

I've also said this before but I think disney wants to ensure volcano bay doens't open up first. they want people to stay at disney and universal is really set up where someone might choose to stay at universal and day trip to disney instead.. Right now one could say that disney only has 1 park and 3 parks in major disarray. That's what my friends see at least who have never been here and not considering it with all the construction.

This is getting fun... bring on the wars...

Disney attendance is down, discounts and ticket offers like this are done because of that.

I also hate the "all the construction" remarks. Disney is not a war zone construction is contained and not really affecting people that much.

If this ticket offer really does "say" when Pandora will open then I think we would've seen other hints like black out dates for CMs or other tickets. We haven't seen that yet.

 

[Accident]

Disney attendance is down, discounts and ticket offers like this are done because of that.

I'm not contesting its to get attendance up in the shrinking market. I just think the market is about to shrink even more and this is a pretty interesting way to get people who just can't afford disney to possibly afford disney.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not contesting its to get attendance up in the shrinking market. I just think the market is about to shrink even more and this is a pretty interesting way to get people who just can't afford disney to possibly afford disney.

I honestly don't think this will "get" people to afford Disney. This is a nice deal but even with that it's still expensive for people who can or can't afford Disney.

 

[Missyrose]

I can't imagine a scenario in which $46 off a ticket was all that was standing between someone and their ability to afford a Disney vacation.

 

[Madonna3]

I also hate the "all the construction" remarks. Disney is not a war zone construction is contained and not really affecting people that much.

1000% disagree with you on this.

I know you're young. I don't know if you drive on the family vacations. The roads are a complete nightmare. They are congested and the new traffic patterns for the buses are creating some confusion. Hollywood Studios is literally a circle that is only half the park. There's nowhere for crowds to disperse because they are contained in a tightly controlled area. There are walls everywhere. Animal Kingdom is not as bad because the walls are behind Tiffins, so I'll agree, I don't think that affects anyone. The sudden wall at Big Thunder Mountain railroad has created congestion near the Splash Mountain bridge making it nearly impossible to pass at times. Trying to get to I-4 out of Epcot is insanity.

Also, if you're a vet like me (Disney vet) and go often, your eyes are weary from all the construction.

 

[Madonna3]

Disney attendance is down, discounts and ticket offers like this are done because of that.

I agree with this to an extent. I don't think attendance is down overall. I think attendance is down everywhere BUT MK and this ticket response is to improve numbers at their other parks. However, to entice people, I believe they had to give them at least one day at MK.

I honestly don't think this will "get" people to afford Disney. This is a nice deal but even with that it's still expensive for people who can or can't afford Disney.

Disney has gotten expensive no matter who you are.

I can't imagine a scenario in which $46 off a ticket was all that was standing between someone and their ability to afford a Disney vacation.

I agree.

 

[writerguyfl]

My professional experience is disney can't really tell you in advance when something is coming. They made a culture of planning and booking so far in advance and waiting. The second they say a date or season, or month then you are going to hear a huge sucking noise of reservations moving to after it and record low attendance.

I disagree. Sure, there are plenty of people who follow Disney developments religiously and will want to plan their vacations around new stuff. But, the vast majority of Disney World guests don't know about new attractions until they open.

1000% disagree with you on this. I know you're young.

Also, if you're a vet like me (Disney vet) and go often, your eyes are weary from all the construction.

For the record, I fully agree with rteetz on this topic. I also consider myself a Disney vet. Although I'm not sure what age has to do with it, I'm close to 30 years older that rteetz.

 

[rteetz]

1000% disagree with you on this.

I know you're young. I don't know if you drive on the family vacations. The roads are a complete nightmare. They are congested and the new traffic patterns for the buses are creating some confusion. Hollywood Studios is literally a circle that is only half the park. There's nowhere for crowds to disperse because they are contained in a tightly controlled area. There are walls everywhere. Animal Kingdom is not as bad because the walls are behind Tiffins, so I'll agree, I don't think that affects anyone. The sudden wall at Big Thunder Mountain railroad has created congestion near the Splash Mountain bridge making it nearly impossible to pass at times. Trying to get to I-4 out of Epcot is insanity.

Also, if you're a vet like me (Disney vet) and go often, your eyes are weary from all the construction.

I can understand the road construction, but that's everywhere. I know here where I live road construction is something you just have to deal with.

Even before the walls at DHS there wasn't a ton to do. The things they closed took up a ton of space and really unless you are in the muppet area you don't have to deal with the walls. This isn't like DCA where you were walking with walls on both sides of you in the middle of a theme park. I find the construction pretty well contained there.

Walls are inevitable with refurbs. BTMRR walls are temporary and will be down in two days.

I was mainly thinking in park construction when I said that but if you bring in road construction I see your point.

 

[rteetz]

I agree with this to an extent. I don't think attendance is down overall. I think attendance is down everywhere BUT MK and this ticket response is to improve numbers at their other parks. However, to entice people, I believe they had to give them at least one day at MK.



Disney has gotten expensive no matter who you are.



I agree.

We don't know actual numbers so you and I can't say whether it's all 4 parks or just 1 park that attendance is down. However I still believe overall attendance is down even at MK.

 

[twebber55]

im still trying to figure out the clue saying pandora will open in May

 

[Madonna3]

We don't know actual numbers so you and I can't say whether it's all 4 parks or just 1 park that attendance is down. However I still believe overall attendance is down even at MK.

You're right. We don't have numbers, but I have 10 years of local experience in going at certain times. MK, in my opinion, has gotten busier at all times. I've visited MK at times when crowds were supposed to be historically low, and from my experience that was usually on point, to me walking into MK and going "Woah, why is everyone here?". I just think that MK is becoming too crowded due to the lower appeal of the other parks except when Epcot is having a special event.

 

[Madonna3]

I disagree. Sure, there are plenty of people who follow Disney developments religiously and will want to plan their vacations around new stuff. But, the vast majority of Disney World guests don't know about new attractions until they open.



For the record, I fully agree with rteetz on this topic. I also consider myself a Disney vet. Although I'm not sure what age has to do with it, I'm close to 30 years older that rteetz.

My point was that because of his age, I wasn't sure if he was allowed to drive the family caravan on vacations if they drive at all. Therefore, he may not have the awful road construction experience that I do, since I refuse to let anyone else drive, but me. It is in no way any remark against his intelligence or experience.

 

[rteetz]

You're right. We don't have numbers, but I have 10 years of experience in going at certain times. MK, in my opinion, has gotten busier at all times. I've visited MK at times when crowds were supposed to be historically low, and from my experience that was usually on point, to me walking into MK and going "Woah, why is everyone here?". I just think that MK is becoming too crowded due to the lower appeal of the other parks except when Epcot is having a special event.

I will 100% agree that MK is busier now than it was 10 years ago. However do we know if it's busier than 1 year ago? Most likely not, that is hard to tell by the "eye test". Attendance isn't down so much that it's at record lows or anything but Disney wants record high attendance like it had a year or two ago and it simply doesn't have that right now.

 

[rteetz]

My point was that because of his age, I wasn't sure if he was allowed to drive the family caravan on vacations if they drive at all. It is in no way any remark against his intelligence or experience.

Just to settle this, we don't drive to WDW because we have limited vacation time and driving is 20 hours from where we live. We usually don't rent a car either. We haven't since I have been of driving age. I do however notice road construction and construction overall, I am studying to be a civil engineer.

 

[DisneyPlanner14]

Wait, what was the discounted ticket? I missed that..

 

[Madonna3]

I am studying to be a civil engineer.

Oh good. Maybe you and my husband can fix all this mess

 

[Madonna3]

I will 100% agree that MK is busier now than it was 10 years ago. However do we know if it's busier than 1 year ago? Most likely not, that is hard to tell by the "eye test". Attendance isn't down so much that it's at record lows or anything but Disney wants record high attendance like it had a year or two ago and it simply doesn't have that right now.

Very true. You're right.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm with rteez on the whole construction wall issue, I think it's a non-issue. I'm not sure what age has to do with it but I'll go there, I'm closer to 60 than 59, have been going to WDW since 1982, at least every other year and more recently in the past 4 years, twice a year. There is always going to be construction, unless you want the place to get stagnant, which just brings more complaints. HS didn't really shut down any major attractions with their construction, nor did any of the other parks. I was there during F&W the first week it opened and was able to ride every ride I wanted to in every park without a single FP booked any more in advance than when I was standing in line for another ride, I never had a wait longer than 20 min. (no I didn't ride FEA but that was just because I wasn't interested). That would make me think crowd levels were down. I think that is why the deal, nothing sneaky about it.

 

[Madonna3]

I honestly believe Disney's confusing pricing structure is the reason why attendance is down.

I actually did research on this and for the record, I can't even believe there are sources for this kind of information, BUT

You said record attendance 2 years ago, so that would be 2013/2014.

A 5 day base ticket in June of 2013 was $251 and a park hopper was $306. Todays' price for the same ticket is $340 and $409, respectively. That's an $89 and $103 price increase from 2 years ago.

A moderate room in value season at Port Orleans, using rack rate, value season, and INCLUDING tax, in 2013, the same period of the record attendance was $162. Today, that room is $182-$214 (since value season was restructured) using the same method. That's a potential increase of $20 - $52 per night. So if we take a family of 4, all adults, and price out their vacation:

4 x 5 day park hopper = $1224
5 nights in moderate resort room = $810
________________________________
Room and tickets in 2013 = $2034

4 x 5 day park hopper = $1636
5 nights in a moderate resort room (calculated at median price) = $198 x 5 = $990
___________________________________________________________________
Room and tickets in 2016 = $2626

Difference of $592! And for what?

However, don't forget, New Fantasyland debuted in 2013-2014 and it was a really big draw.