New survey .. proposal .. Tiered Ticket Prices

[PetePanMan]

Not that I would want this but this is classic supply and demand. Higher demand periods with same supply normally means higher prices. Discovery Cove already does this. I am more concerned about possibility down the road of different ticket classes like front of the line type tickets like universal.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I read this as another way they're treating Disney World in a similar way to Disney Cruise Line. They want to price by season and day and are definitely trying to lock you into a vacation. I totally see why they'd want to do it, but I think it's a really bad idea. This means they'll do it for sure.

Agree. It's really just syncing up tickets with what they already do with dining and the hotels. It's pushing you into a package whether you want to or not. Goes along with a lot of things they have been doing...not allowing you to drop dates of a room reservation, taking away the no-expiration tickets...

 

[anniemae]

I wonder what "suit" came up with this confusing idea? I honestly can't see it happening, and if they sent out a survey to gauge how guests would like it, I can't see them getting a ton of positive feedback.

 

[tlmadden73]

I don't have an issue with tiered pricing (I am not saying I would LIKE it . .but I would understand it because they already do it with simply the prices of the hotels (not just Disney resorts)). A vacation that goes over a weekend is already more expensive (because of the hotel) than if you went MON-THUR.
My currently planned trip to Disney would probably be $40-50 (total) cheaper if I simply shifted back my days to not fall on a Friday/Saturday .. but my plan dictates I go those days.

What it would also allow them to do is simply raise the listed price of their tickets and then discount the ticket prices during those "peak" seasons .. thus obfuscating the price bump.

As long as they don't start charging for "front of the line" access like Universal does ...

 

[Hummingbird]

I could see this being the "straw that breaks the camels back" for a lot of people. Planning a Disney vacay is getting harder and harder and way too detailed. I'm an accountant and even I can see this pricing structure causing lots of confusion and miscalculations.

When we originally started going to Disney it was fairly simple to plan a trip. Book your room, book a few ADRs if you wanted to, and then just go and have fun. I can say this much if this pricing structure goes into affect and ends up messing with our AP rates our family may go back to being strictly a Universal family. Which saddens me because I love Disney, but as a family of 5, more and more we are closer to being priced out and the planning is starting to take way too much time.

 

[PirateD]

I wonder what "suit" came up with this confusing idea? I honestly can't see it happening, and if they sent out a survey to gauge how guests would like it, I can't see them getting a ton of positive feedback.

I'm not sure what that what guests say will matter. It seems like they were able to spin the feedback on FP+ to all positives because they wanted to make it happen. I'm sure if this is the direction they are determined to go, it will happen no matter what guests say.

Sadly, it won't push us to go at less busy times because we simply don't have that option. If we did, we would already be going then. If the price goes too high, we just won't be able to go.

 

[sharadoc]

So I don't understand how a week trip (mostly bronze) that goes over a weekend (silver) would be priced fairly. I guess it's basically if one of your days falls into a higher category, then the whole ticket is the higher price?

I just compared our November 2015 trip with the new pricing. $40 higher, unless I give up the day before and actual Thanksgiving day parks, then it would be about the same. For our family of four, that's another $160. Worth it? Probably for us, then we may give up park hopping to balance it out.

I think the shorter weekday trips will benefit from this tiering.

 

[RustManFan]

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? Parks are the same on weekdays and weekends and unless there is a special event, same throughout the year. What a nightmare! Think I will get busy on planning that trip to Scotland and England sooner than I thought!

 

[patrickpiteo]

Tim to pull the trigger on that AP

 

[agavegirl1]

Do you think this may be being pursued in order to do away with "Free Dining"? Using lower ticket prices and resort rates to fill vacancies instead of free food seems more sensible.

 

[dfb]

I'm not sure what that what guests say will matter. It seems like they were able to spin the feedback on FP+ to all positives because they wanted to make it happen. I'm sure if this is the direction they are determined to go, it will happen no matter what guests say.

Sadly, it won't push us to go at less busy times because we simply don't have that option. If we did, we would already be going then. If the price goes too high, we just won't be able to go.

Agree.

The decision has been made. Surveys are only to taylor how they will proceed with the decision and to justify it. However they ask the questions and no matter the answers the result will be... "we surveyed our guest and found overwhelmingly that guest were begging to pay higher prices for thier magic. We are just obliging their request. Have a magical day"

 

[NeedVacation81]

Well, of course I would expect prices to go up because they always do. The question is whether the impact on a typical trip would be different than usual.

I wouldn't assume that prices at non peak times would see a normal increase and everything else would be more.

Not something I'm going to worry about until it becomes a reality.

If they have gotten this far with surveys and a hypothetical tier chart....it IS a reality.

 

[NeedVacation81]

Sadly, this will be the over the top price point for us and the 9 people that we usually travel with. We have been going a couple times a year for many years, but with the constant 20 dollars extra here and there and here again, enough is enough. That being said......HELLO UNI and BUSCH GARDENS.

 

[KimmiP]

Ok so now I'm lost.... So I checked what this year's trip would be (week before Thanksgiving). Weekdays Bronze, weekend Silver. So does Disney then just bump up the whole week to Silver pricing or do I pay for a 5 day Bronze ticket and a 2 day Silver ticket (which I calculated btw and is $119 more per person than a 10 Gold ticket). If they are just bumping up to the next level then it's $20 per ticket. They don't say anything about that. I am assuming that they would just bump your week up to the next higher category. How else could they do it then?

It's not like a hotel that has a set daily rate. This is tiered differently, the more days you buy, the more you save. It would be hard for the average person to figure that out. You could figure out the per day cost of a 7 day bronze/silver and then add 5 bronze and 2 silver per day cost to get the 7. (315/7=45 bronze 335/7=47.86 silver 45x5=225 47.86x2=95.72 225+95.72=320.72)

This is so not clear how they plan to price it when most vacations will fall inbetween levels.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I give up! It's gonna be cheaper for me just to work there.

You would think, but all my friends that do are subject to the dreaded block out date! I don't think any of them can come to Star Wars weekends, at least not when I went last weekend with Mem Day. After paying for 1 day at WDW, I pay $38 a month, have free parking and go literally unlimited, we go probably 3 times a week. How can a crappy part time job for $9 an hour and 16 main gate passes WITH block out dates compete with that? That's less than half the price of ONE day at Disney for a whole month of unlimited Disney hopping (mine doesn't include waterpark, just big 4.) Believe me, working there appears to kill the magic sometimes too. As my friends say "you still go to WDW? You must not work there...." (Although I do have one friend that goes when he can.) Block out dates are the worst! And CMs have em! Not me. I keep my magic, stay the customer, and go anytime....

 

[NeedVacation81]

Ok so now I'm lost.... So I checked what this year's trip would be (week before Thanksgiving). Weekdays Bronze, weekend Silver. So does Disney then just bump up the whole week to Silver pricing or do I pay for a 5 day Bronze ticket and a 2 day Silver ticket (which I calculated btw and is $115 more per person than a 10 Gold ticket). They don't say anything about that. I am assuming that they would just bump your week up to the next higher category. How else could they do it then?

This is so not clear.

You are correct. You will pay the higher price for the entire trip.

 

[TXTransplant]

Does anyone else think this is an attempt by Disney to increase revenues (in a covert way) via selling more trip insurance? The FP+ system irritates me for many reasons, the biggest one being that you now have to buy NONREFUNDABLE tickets at least 60 days in advance. I don't like paying for anything that's non-refundable that far in advance, the exception being plane tickets (and I even have my limits with that). In general, I don't like to pre-pay for services I have not yet received, especially when I'm not going to receive those services for months. Prepaying for hundreds (or thousands, if you are a large family) in theme park tickets just doesn't seem like a practical or wise use of my money.

I previously NEVER needed trip insurance for a WDW vacation. I would book room-only reservations (requiring a small deposit that had a reasonable cancellation policy) and buy tickets at the hotel when we arrived. Always worked great for me, especially if I was waiting to check the local weather before planning something like a trip to a water park.

But now, trip insurance is almost mandatory. And Disney sells it, at a HUGE mark-up compared to independent companies. I bought trip insurance for our cruise through a third-party and it was less than 1/2 the cost of what Disney offered. We are scheduled on an Adventures By Disney trip in a few weeks, and I didn't even look at the trip insurance quote they provided. But I'm sure plenty of people just tack on whatever insurance Disney offers because they simply don't know any better.

I'm sorry, but for the amount of money Disney is asking you to front for a theme park vacation, I'll book something much more inclusive (and relaxing) where I'm not also fighting other guests for dining and activity reservations in the weeks and months before the trip departs. Or we will return to Universal, where the experience (both planning and visiting) is much closer to the Disney that I used to enjoy.

My family went to Disney at least once or twice a year from the mid-eighties until the mid-nineties. My parents held APs for us for many years. Some of my happiest memories are from trips to WDW. I have now taken my own son four times, but I really don't see us going again. This is in part because there are many more places he wants to visit, but also because I am really turned off by all of the new policies and rules that, IMO, negatively impact the vacation experience.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't see how this will lock people into certain days any more than FP+ already does. I agree with those who say that this is just a way to make more money. And while these prices don't seem like much more, I doubt that this is finalized pricing.

 

[Sandy Fisher]

Before we moved from Central FL back to PA and before fastpass plus came to be, it would have suited us fine. We didn't go to the parks on high demand days/seasons, etc. We went on the less crowded times of year and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We never did follow the "flow" of the demand times/places/events. I think that's why I rejected fastpass plus so heartily before even trying it. I guess fate played a part because we left FL having never used magic bands (your magic is not my magic) and before messing with WAY advanced plans. It's no longer a joy for me to anticipate going to Disney. As stated in other replies, too complicated. Never did like complicated. I'd pay more if I thought I could do it the way we used to.

 

[Crystal824]

This is kind of ridiculous. One easy aspect of WDW has always been tickets. Granted, it has started to get complicated with the multiple levels of tickets. Overall, you buy a ticket, you can use it whenever. Obviously, there are restrictions in that it must be used within 14 days after first use, etc. However, if you buy a ticket and then don't use it at all, you can use it later. Now, you will have to make sure it is within the same time period (gold, bronze, silver). This is headache waiting to happen. Yes, if you overlap bronze and silver, you will have to buy the entire silver ticket otherwise, you won't get the multiple day discount.

Seeing that chart, I also feel this is probably a done deal. I love how the price of bronze (the off peak times) is actually the same prices as a ticket now. You would think they would at least lower that price a few dollars and go with silver being the current price.

I expect Disney to increase prices. It is a fact of life. They seem to be making everything related to a Disney trip as complicated as possible. This is another such instance.