New survey .. proposal .. Tiered Ticket Prices

[phinz]

For what it's worth, my TA got four tickets for us for our trip in December. We're just going for one day, on the way home from a cruise. The ticket she set up through Disney states "Magic Kingdom Only. Not Valid For Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Disney Hollywood Studios." When I told her we weren't interested in the MK and preferred Epcot, she said she could fix that and that it would be cheaper. Sounds to me like there are already tiers in place for December, but I could be wrong. It could just be a discount that the TAs get that she's passing on to me.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I really can't see them selling tiered tickets separately. It would be way too much of a hassle.

I think this will be something that only applies to packages (room, tix, etc). In other words, you can get a "discount" depending on when your trip falls based on the tiering. Most people won't even notice it because it will be all bundled in the package.

If they do this, I suspect there will be one ticket sold separately from packages (probably "Gold" so you can access all of the days).

And if you decide to hold onto package tickets instead of using them on that trip, I bet there will be surcharge to release them from the package, therefore bringing them up to "Gold" (if they were a lower tier)

Anyway, I think this is just a simple ticket price increase combined with an extra surcharge on offsiters and room-onlys.

 

[Colleen27]

So according to that calendar, if I was going October 8-15 (Wednesday to Wednesday), I'd have to pay for silver level pricing because the Friday-Sunday is rated silver. But what if I had no intention of going to the parks on those silver days? Maybe we would spend the weekend time away from the park and do our park time on the weekdays that are bronze? That's a bit of a scam.

Actually, that sort of makes sense from a business standpoint - it encourages ala carte purchasing if you do only plan on being in the parks on Bronze days which means you won't be getting a package with the extras that offers, and that in turn encourages ticket upgrades if you're interested in things like Disney Quest or minigolf. And if you want a package for some reason (to get the dining plan, or to qualify for a package discount like free dining), you'll pay the higher ticket price based on the top rate during your stay.

 

[Marionnette]

For what it's worth, my TA got four tickets for us for our trip in December. We're just going for one day, on the way home from a cruise. The ticket she set up through Disney states "Magic Kingdom Only. Not Valid For Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Disney Hollywood Studios." When I told her we weren't interested in the MK and preferred Epcot, she said she could fix that and that it would be cheaper. Sounds to me like there are already tiers in place for December, but I could be wrong. It could just be a discount that the TAs get that she's passing on to me.

MK 1-day tickets already cost more than 1-day tickets for the other parks. The prices for those 1-day tickets are the same year-round.

 

[phinz]

MK 1-day tickets already cost more than 1-day tickets for the other parks. The prices for those 1-day tickets are the same year-round.

Makes sense. I always to MYW with Park Hopper, so I don't see the prices. This is the first time I've done a one-day stop.

 

[Colleen27]

So according to that calendar, if I was going October 8-15 (Wednesday to Wednesday), I'd have to pay for silver level pricing because the Friday-Sunday is rated silver. But what if I had no intention of going to the parks on those silver days? Maybe we would spend the weekend time away from the park and do our park time on the weekdays that are bronze? That's a bit of a scam.

Actually, that sort of makes sense from a business standpoint - it encourages ala carte purchasing if you do only plan on being in the parks on Bronze days which means you won't be getting a package with the extras that offers, and that in turn encourages ticket upgrades if you're interested in things like Disney Quest or minigolf. And if you do want a package for some reason (to get the dining plan, or to qualify for a package discount like free dining), you'll pay the higher ticket price based on the top rate during your stay.

I wonder how the water parks upgrade will work with the tiered ticketing. One of our arrival/departure day strategies is to visit a waterpark, play minigolf, or go to Disney Quest, especially on those trips where we're arriving at the end of or leaving at the start of a very busy time where going to a park for just a few hours would't be desirable. Would we then have to buy Gold tickets for the entire trip because we're planning on visiting one of the secondary options on a busy day even though our time in the major parks is in a less busy season?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

For what it's worth, my TA got four tickets for us for our trip in December. We're just going for one day, on the way home from a cruise. The ticket she set up through Disney states "Magic Kingdom Only. Not Valid For Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Disney Hollywood Studios." When I told her we weren't interested in the MK and preferred Epcot, she said she could fix that and that it would be cheaper. Sounds to me like there are already tiers in place for December, but I could be wrong. It could just be a discount that the TAs get that she's passing on to me.

That has nothing to do with the calendar. They now price MK single day as a premium over the other parks. Once you hit 2 days or more, that premium "disappears".

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I understand this may never come to fruition but this pricing structure is a bit asinine.

I take issue with this stipulation:

• Multi-day tickets crossing two or more seasons must be purchased at the highest season’s price

So that means the majority of your vacation could fall during Bronze or Silver pricing, but just one day could fall on Gold and all of a sudden you're paying top dollar. I find this unacceptable. I understand seasonal pricing is the norm at most hotel chains, but even they don't charge you like this! You pay the seasonal rate PER NIGHT... they do not apply the highest seasonal rate to the WHOLE STAY... What is Disney thinking?

Also, under this pricing structure, there would only be 2 small windows of time to hold a 7+ day ticket at the Bronze level price: 18 days in Sept & 12 days at the end of April/Beginning of May. That doesn't seem right considering most of the fall is subject to shorter hours because of hard ticket events.

It seems to me that this would actually penalize guests who book longer stays. Not cool, Disney.



OTOH, I could get behind this!^

I don't know how the resorts work, but for my DVC, I pay each night in points based on day of the week and season. There is no nightly lock. So if I cross seasons, points are adjusted accordingly. I am curious if resorts do this. I could see tickets doing this. But I could also see guests, shopping al a carte, buying the tickets separately to try and mitigate paying more when they shouldn't.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I took this survey as well. We go for a week at a time, during "silver" and "bronze" times, so we would pay the silver price. But I did NOT take it to say that it would be $115 (or whatever it was) PER DAY. I took that to mean that it's the single day price, but it would still be similar to the Magic Your Way ticket in that the more days you buy the less you pay per day. I didn't get the feeling they were taking that away.

I don't remember all of the questions, but one of them was something like "would you be willing to pay more for a ticket if you had GUARANTEED lower crowds?"

Could have sworn I have seen comments on these very boards that folks would be willing to do just that.

Discovery Cove gets away with that. But they do have dolphins you can swim with and, I think, include lunch for their price.

 

[Dizlvr]

Looking at the chart and comparing it with current prices it looks like my family would end up paying $40 more per person for our 7 day tickets during a gold season. I'm not sure what they consider less crowds, but for $200 more I'd take a park with 1/3 less crowds during my week.

 

[JanaDee]

I would like to put out a another point............Is planning a WDW vacation, getting to be just to complicated/restrictive??

Unequivocally, yes.

 

[kelleybean]

I've been trying to wrap my head around this and honestly it just seems crazy to me. If your vacation extending into the higher price times means your tickets are more expensive the entire trip, don't they risk people shortening their vacation to get out before a so-called gold period? And I'm confused by the survey question "would you pay more for a ticket if it guaranteed lower crowds." How would they do that exactly? Fewer people there because they were priced out? Capping number of people in the park on a given day? I just don't see Disney doing the latter.

 

[Dizlvr]

I've been trying to wrap my head around this and honestly it just seems crazy to me. If your vacation extending into the higher price times means your tickets are more expensive the entire trip, don't they risk people shortening their vacation to get out before a so-called gold period? And I'm confused by the survey question "would you pay more for a ticket if it guaranteed lower crowds." How would they do that exactly? Fewer people there because they were priced out? Capping number of people in the park on a given day? I just don't see Disney doing the latter.

I assume since they ask would you pay more for a ticket if you had a guarantee of lower crowds it would mean they would cap the maximum guests at a lower number than they are now.
The problem is how often do the parks reach capacity? If capacity is 30K per day in MK, but on average its 20K guests per day, if they lower the cap to 20K are they really guaranteeing anything? The crowd (on average) would remain the same, it just wouldn't get more crowded.

 

[anniemae]

It seems no matter what Disney does, everyone gets in a tizzy (think magic bands, fp+, closing Malestrom for Frozen ride, Avatarland, closing beloved snow white ride etc.) But in the end, everyone still flocks to Disney and the crowds are more insane than ever, no more slow time.

I think the decision makers will keep upping the ante by finding crazy ways to raise prices and fill their pockets until they see attendance drop off. But it seems no matter what they do, people continue to go to Disney in droves and the hotels and parks are filled, which is what they want.

 

[jbish]

I think if they do this, all tickets bought outside of packages will be Gold.

And how, exactly, would this be justifiable for DVC members? The way this calendar looks right now, I would just have to buy a silver ticket for my 10/31-11/5/2015 trip. But if they MADE me buy a GOLD ticket just because it's not a part of a package??? That would, honestly, make me irate. I'm not one to jump to hyperboles and declare that Disney is ruining Disney for me and my family, but this might do it. Ridiculous.

I don't remember all of the questions, but one of them was something like "would you be willing to pay more for a ticket if you had GUARANTEED lower crowds?"

Wow. I have no idea how they could possibly guarantee lower crowds. Unless they limited the amount of admissions in a day. Hmm...would there be lower capacity limits on the Gold days? Yes, I get that the ticket prices are higher so the revenue from admissions would be higher for that day. But fewer people in the parks means less revenue on food and merchandise. That's not good business. Well, I guess there's the ability to upcharge for food, but what percentage would the increase need to be to even out the fewer number of bodies in the parks? Would they also apply a surcharge on merchandise on those days??? I really don't get this.

I know, I know. It's just a survey. Doesn't mean it's going to happen. But I bet people would answer "yes" to "Would you be willing to pay more for a ticket if you had guaranteed lower crowds". So it's possible Disney could pursue that. And then we would see the financial impact of implementing that idea. *shudder*

 

[johde]

Unfortunately, it's not a good picture, but there are at least a couple of versions of of the survey question. The version on Orlando United suggests tiered pricing only on 1 day tickets. http://www.orlandounited.com/forums/showthread.php/9531-Seasonal-Ticket-Price-Structure

In another version, silver was "current prices" and bronze was discounted and gold was premium. I'm not sure how Disney would do this with the current ticket structure. But Universal has been doing something similar with the Buy 2 get 1 Free tickets that expire just prior to the busy summer season.

I could see a tiered ticket system like this working for packages, with more simplified seasons. Like others had said. Tickets in general would be the gold price but if you booked a package during a lower season you'd get a break on tickets.

 

[lugnut33]

Looking at the chart and comparing it with current prices it looks like my family would end up paying $40 more per person for our 7 day tickets during a gold season. I'm not sure what they consider less crowds, but for $200 more I'd take a park with 1/3 less crowds during my week.

Do you honestly think they would lower the crowds? Really?
There is no way in heck they would ever do that. They make maximum profit when parks are at full capacity.

 

[Dizlvr]

Do you honestly think they would lower the crowds? Really?
There is no way in heck they would ever do that. They make maximum profit when parks are at full capacity.

I'm answering a survey question, I have no idea what they would or wouldn't do.

 

[ArwenMarie]

And how, exactly, would this be justifiable for DVC members? The way this calendar looks right now, I would just have to buy a silver ticket for my 10/31-11/5/2015 trip. But if they MADE me buy a GOLD ticket just because it's not a part of a package??? That would, honestly, make me irate. I'm not one to jump to hyperboles and declare that Disney is ruining Disney for me and my family, but this might do it. Ridiculous.

I hear you. Maybe they would have some discounted ticket for DVC, I dunno. Believe me, I don't like the idea of this either if it's what I think (discounts for packages). I never buy packages ever. We often switch our dates late in the game due to my husband's work schedule and we need the flexibility of room-only.