New "Magic Your Way" tickets discourage no expiration folks

[fdecker]

Well, I guess it could be worse. Some folks will save quite a bit of money with the new tickets, but it is clear Disney is trying to keep people in the parks spending more money over more days and making them buy new tickets for each trip. People going for just 1 or 2 days and those of use who like the "never exprire" part of the ticket will be spending a lot more money.

Here is an example of how it appears to work. Cleverly, they change enough of the options between tickets and by adding plus features so that you can't compare apples to apples:

Advance discount prices including tax:

5 day PHP with 2+ options - $275.86
5 day MYW w/3+ and Hopper option - $283.29

So if you have tickets like we do and want to "upgrade", it will cost $7.43 to get one more plus feature. Not a bad deal until you try and add the no expiration option that is already included with the old PHP:

5 day MYW w/3+, hopper, and no expire - $320.54 (another $37.28!) So now it's an extra $38 to use any extra days. If you only have 1 day left, you are almost better off just losing it and buying tickets again the next time.

Here is it for a 6 day

6 day PHP with 3+ options - $306.74
6 day MYW w/4+ and hopper - $284.36

So if you don't care about your tickets never expiring, then you save $22.38 per ticket and get an extra plus admission! Ok, not bad. But if you are like us and the pluses don't all get used, or you sleep in and then do something else on a day you thought you would use a ticket and want to carry it over, it will cost you an extra $47.93 per ticket! So it's a difference of $25.55 more just to be able to keep my unused days. And for those just comparing it to the regular MYW ticket and wanting no expiration, it the entire $49 dollars. It's just not worth it unless you plan on losing more than 1 day.

So it looks like people staying a week and who can stay in one park all day and who will use all the features on their tickets will really save. Those who need the flexibility of never expiring tickets and park hoppers will pay a premium.

-f

 

[twinscandc]

I was thinking the exact same thing!! We've stretched our 7 day PHP for the last three trips....we enjoy going to the parks, but with no real itinerary or what days we'll be going....it's vacation....we go when we want to - sleep in when we want to....

I'm gonna miss the PHP!

 

[tmli]

We are on the other end of this. My ds and I have Ap's, but in January my aunt and her family will be joining us. We purchased 2-7 day php and 2 -5 day with 2 options from hotwire at what was a good deal. Now with the new offer they could have saved money because they will never go back so don't care about no expiration and will use no plusses!!!

I may try to sell them on ebay at face value and then purchase the new tkts after Jan.2...I assume we can still do will call as we are arriving on the 12th.

 

[LovePug]

We are on the other end of this. My ds and I have Ap's, but in January my aunt and her family will be joining us. We purchased 2-7 day php and 2 -5 day with 2 options from hotwire at what was a good deal. Now with the new offer they could have saved money because they will never go back so don't care about no expiration and will use no plusses!!!

We have a similar situation. My immediate family had APs this year (they expire in 2 days). I was planning on buying new ones when we return in June for our 2 trips next year (June and December-a total of 10 days in the parks), but taking into account that we have yet to hop or do a water park, I'm going to just buy the 10 day MYW tickets with the no expiration option. This will save us $210. When we go with my extended family in December (13 of us total) they were going to buy 5 day PHs, but now they'll just get the base 5 day MYW (I doubt there will be a return trip for them) and they'll save money. They are thrilled with this new plan.

 

[kutchyone]

What about the AP discounts, specifically on hotel rooms. Didn't you utilize this option with your AP's ever?

 

[disneysteve]

This is a copy of a post I made to another thread, but it shows that the new tickets WITH the non-expiring option can actually save a tremendous amount.

Current prices:

5 day park hopper: $265
If I buy 3 this year and 3 more next year (assuming no price increase), I'll spend $1590.

New prices:

10 day non-expiring park hopper: $344
If I buy 3 this year and use 5 days this trip and 5 days next trip, I'll spend $1032.

Savings with the new system: $558.
And the actual savings is probably even more since the cost of the 5 day would likely go up during the year between visits.

Sounds great to me.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Savings with the new system: $558.
And the actual savings is probably even more since the cost of the 5 day would likely go up during the year between visits.

Sounds great to me.

I'm with disneysteve on this one. We're going to WDW in January -- would have bought a 7 day PHP and used 5 days. We'll be going again in March 2006 -- would probably have bought a 5 day PHP and used the remainder of the days on the 7 day PHP and a few days on the new pass. I'm not a water park kind of guy -- yet I'd have all the plus features sitting there. Now I don't have to buy those plus features that I might not use at waterparks -- or, instead, I might use them at DQ. We'll be getting the 10 day MYW pass -- it will save us money for years to come.

 

[HookedOnDiz]

This is a copy of a post I made to another thread, but it shows that the new tickets WITH the non-expiring option can actually save a tremendous amount.

Current prices:

5 day park hopper: $265
If I buy 3 this year and 3 more next year (assuming no price increase), I'll spend $1590.

New prices:

10 day non-expiring park hopper: $344
If I buy 3 this year and use 5 days this trip and 5 days next trip, I'll spend $1032.

Savings with the new system: $558.
And the actual savings is probably even more since the cost of the 5 day would likely go up during the year between visits.

Sounds great to me.

WOW... I didn't look at it like that before. I was kind of disappointed with the new tickets, but after seeing it put this way I think I love it... great post, Steve!

 

[LovePug]

What about the AP discounts, specifically on hotel rooms. Didn't you utilize this option with your AP's ever?

That is something you do have to take into consideration. We have only stayed onsite once because we travel with our Pug, so it makes my decision much easier. We will always be offsite now so AP rates don't factor in for me. I only need to look at the cost of the tickets for our total of 10 days. The break even point for the APs for us is no longer the 8 days it used to be. I will miss the free parking though, but it still comes out cheaper for us with the 10 day base pass with the no expiration option . If anyone thinks of something I might be missing re: AP vs 10 day non-expiring, please do not hesitate to throw it out there for me. I have a lot of time to change my mind!

 

[littlestix]

I was thinking along the same lines as disney steve. I think the new tickets are great. On my trip in Sept. I didn't use any of my plus options or the hopper part of the ticket. I could buy a 10 day no expiration MYW ticket for myself and 1 for my son. I could get 2 5-day vacations out of these tickets. They don't have the children's price up yet but, I can see this as saving me some money.

adult ticket $330.00 5 day adult 205.55
child ticket $300.00 (????) 5 day child 165.08

$630.00 X 2 passes each = $742.00
( no discounts applied)

 

[littlestix]

well, that didn't come out right. LOL............

should look like this

5 day adult MYW 205.55
5 day child MYW 165.08

X 2 tickets each person = $742.00



10 day adult no expire MYW $329.59
10 day child no expire MYW $300.00 (????)

= $630.00


I like the new tickets.......

 

[LIFERBABE]

the tickets do discourage shorter stays.

In order to take advantage of disneysteve's example, you have to pay for 2 years worth of MYW upfront. Many people when budgeting, will go for what they need today and worry about the next trip later. I will pay in advance and get the longest ticket, but we dissers are a different kind of WDW fan.

I always total my park media and figure out the cost per park day not including the plusses. Disney is very clever, and there is less than $2 per day difference between the fully loaded 7 day MYW and 10 day MYW. By fully loaded I mean passes that include hopping, plusses, and no expiration.

 

[Belle5]

We are very excited about the new tickets! We buy a lot of tickets as we are a family of 8--only 7 needing tickets at this point. We have decided that for the savings we are willing to learn to stay in one park an entire day without hopping. We will spend about the same amount of money but be able to go into the parks more days instead of having "off" days. We feel we will be able to have more relaxed days instead of trying to cram everything into 4 days and hopping all over the place. In the old days (the past 19 vacations to WDW) we would not go into the parks on our arrival night because we wouldn't want to "waste" a day on our park hopper. Now, we will just pay the $3-5 for an extra day on the ticket so we can have the ability to do just that! Instead of buying 4 day hoppers we will buy a no frills 7 day base pass. We will be able to go into the parks on our arrival night and on the two days we had not planned on going into the parks.

 

[CheapMom]

I agree with disneysteve- I am planning on buying nonexpiring 10 day supreme tickets for my family one by one over the next several months. I think we can probably use them for at least 3 visits to wdw.
What happens if I buy a child ticket for my 7 year old but he turns 10 before it expires? I know this has been covered ad nauseum but with the search down...

 

[crisi]

In the past, you've been able to use that ticket. This is such a shift that I wouldn't count on that continuing to be true - they may make you upgrade the unused days.

Who this is bad for is the people making a once in a lifetime trip to Central Florida who want to fit in Universal and Sea World and Cape Kennedy and the beach into their Disney vacation. As well as Disney loyalists who can't afford to have a lot of cash tied up in tickets for a few years. For many of the people on this board who used to buy hoppers, it will save them some money.

At first I thought this was far too complicated (and I still think its pretty difficult for people who "just show up" to grasp). But as I've gotten familiar with it, I have to say I like it. I'd actually add one option - which would be "unlimited pluses" but only to the "expire in 14 days" pass - making that ticket the same as the old UPH. We don't want to be bothered hanging onto tickets from year to year - its nice that I can "opt out" of that option and not have to pay for it. On the other hand, hopping is valuable to us - and I'm willing to pay for that feature.

 

[amcnj]

The charts I have seen only mention figures for tickets up to 7 days in length for the new tickets. Are there charts showing pricing for the 10 day option out there?

 

[LIFERBABE]

The charts I have seen only mention figures for tickets up to 7 days in length for the new tickets. Are there charts showing pricing for the 10 day option out there?

Yes, Check mousesavers.com for 10 day pricing. THe advanced 10 day is not out yet but the rest of the pricing is complete.

 

[crazelion]

Now i am completely lost about tickets now. I am go study up the new tickets because I don't understand at all.

 

[pplasky]

For those who have old PHP's, remember they don't expire. You don't have to "upgrade" them. We always have plusses left, we had a plus left on a ticket from 1991 and used it in 2004. CM's had to check, but we used it. Save your plusses and use MYW tickets to fit around them.

 

[disneysteve]

Who this is bad for is the people making a once in a lifetime trip to Central Florida who want to fit in Universal and Sea World and Cape Kennedy and the beach into their Disney vacation.

I'm not sure I agree crisi. The person you describe would currently have to buy 1 or more 1-day/1-park tickets as the shortest hopper is 4 days and they probably wouldn't need that many days. With the new tickets, they would have more options, though they would spend more money to get them. But now you will be able to buy a 1, 2 or 3-day base ticket and make it a hopper if you choose to. We've all seen lots of posts here like, "We're going to be at Disney for only 2 days - we've never been there before. Which 2 parks should we go to?" Those people can now get 2-day hoppers and hit all 4 parks. Yes, it will cost more but at least they now have that option.