New survey .. proposal .. Tiered Ticket Prices

[SmithSmith]

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.

I took this survey as well. We go for a week at a time, during "silver" and "bronze"
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?"

OTOH, I could get behind this!^

 

[Colleen27]

remember that they do provide "benefits" based on the parks "busyness" For instance, as they see days getting busier they leave the parks open longer, add more parades, open more restaurants...etc. I'm not a fan of this, but they also flex things in favor of those on busy days as well.

Do they? I'm not seeing anything going on during our upcoming peak season trip other than the all-summer-long (including into value season when crowds are lower) Frozen event that wasn't also available on our many slow season trips. The park hours are longer at 2 of the 4 parks, yes, but there's no additional entertainment, fireworks/parades, or anything else. And I don't think anyone would argue that the extra 2 operating hours at Studios and 4 at MK is enough to make it possible to do/see as much as you could in the shorter days in lower-crowd seasons.

 

[Monykalyn]

Some good discussion going on over at wdwmagic forum....this is from a poster that brings up an interesting point.

....post 182
"Not going the rabbit hole, but look around the country, most theme parks are $50-60 a day at sticker price and many have greater discounts. I can pay $43 to buy a ticket online for Knott's Berry Farm and have a great time there. Personally, what made Disney "worth" the money no longer exists. If WDW had the quality of yesteryear, it might be awfully expensive, but it would have the quality to at least justify a premium.

That's where the issue lies now and has to be distinguished: You now pay a premium for corporate profiteering not because of a superior product. Disney epitomizes where things have flipped in this country. You know pay an inflated price for a privilege to do something, see something, etc., but get a lesser quality. My friends in Europe pay $20 a month for their mobile service while I pay $90 for the same line with lesser service because of grotesque margins to keep a small cabal of investors happy in this country. That's the sign of a major problem."

\

 

[mesaboy2]

Why do a stupid survey?? Do they really think anyone was going to answer "YES! LOVE THE IDEA OF TIERED TICKETS!"

Of course not. The only possible answers will be

a) Amazing,
b) Wonderful,
c) Incredible, or
d) Magical.

 

[eyehartdisney]

Of course not. The only possible answers will be

a) Amazing,
b) Wonderful,
c) Incredible, or
d) Magical.

It'll be fine if they just call it ticketing plus! That makes everything better.

 

[PirateD]

Let me guess, these "new, improved!!" tickets will be called Magic Your Way PLUS!- Even more ways to pay for things that used to be included!

I can totally see this happening, now you will no longer just be able to buy a park hopper, you'd have to buy tickets for specific days. They will not sell tickets that aren't linked to your MDE, and you'll have to use your MDE to change dates (and either get refunded or charged more to the CC linked to your MDE).

I can totally see Disney doing this, they are loosing money to people to buy and hold onto tickets for years, they are losing money to discount ticket brokers, and they stand to save money on staffing if they know in advance EXACTLY how many people are going to show up to which park on which day.

This is a company who spent countless dollars on RFID technology to save a pittance on soda theft, they are certainly not going to leave any revenue on the table.

Remember those early guest surveys on FP+ that we all wrote off....

I think they should drop the Y on the Your and call it Magic Our Way Plus!

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?"

Now I'm confused! Would the Gold become Bronze and the Bronze become Gold then? Or is that why they are raising the price on peak season because they are planning to sell fewer tickets but want to keep revenue the same? It looks to me like you would be paying more for guaranteed higher crowds with the rumored tiers.

The last Disney survey I received was about 2 years ago asking about a Star Wars Land in the parks. I have a feeling that this new ticket tiering will be officially announced long before we see an official Star Wars Land plan revealed.

 

[mummabear]

[Quote: Multi-day tickets crossing two or more seasons must be purchased at the highest season’s price]

Well that sucks I would have thought it went the other way around-what if I am staying for 2 weeks on a 10 day ticket planning only going on weekdays that are bronze-would I still have to buy silver because my stay crosses a weekend?

 

[smidgy]

oh for cryin out loud.. wow. just want to planout our usual 3 trip per annual pass.

 

[mummabear]

I do like that hoppers are cheaper for a shorter trip (even though my trips would fall into the second category), it makes sense.

 

[mummabear]

 

[lllGurulll]

Well, if they actually do something like that this year may be the last time we go. Its hard enough to scrape up the money for the prices they charge now.

I sure hope this doesn't happen.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

[Quote: Multi-day tickets crossing two or more seasons must be purchased at the highest season’s price]

Well that sucks I would have thought it went the other way around-what if I am staying for 2 weeks on a 10 day ticket planning only going on weekdays that are bronze-would I still have to buy silver because my stay crosses a weekend?

Of COURSE they won't give you the other way around... They like UP! Upupup!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

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

 

[Marionnette]

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

Yes! Can you imagine the lines at the ticket booths when guests line up to buy tickets? How long will it take a CM to explain this hot mess to the purchaser? Multiply that by hundreds per day. Add to it the number of people who will undoubtedly purchase the wrong "level" of ticket media and then become irate when their 7-day bronze ticket cannot be used on the last 2 days of their visit without paying another $40 per person because it's a gold weekend. Or when a family decides to add a Saturday to their partially-used 5-day bronze pass only to be told that the upgrade will cost them $50 per person instead of what used to be $10-$11 for one more day.

I have no problem with a company charging what the market will bear. But the way that this ticket matrix is structured, it gives the consumer the feeling of being nibbled to death by ducks.

 

[Nancyg56]

Yes! Can you imagine the lines at the ticket booths when guests line up to buy tickets? How long will it take a CM to explain this hot mess to the purchaser? Multiply that by hundreds per day. Add to it the number of people who will undoubtedly purchase the wrong "level" of ticket media and then become irate when their 7-day bronze ticket cannot be used on the last 2 days of their visit without paying another $40 per person because it's a gold weekend. Or when a family decides to add a Saturday to their partially-used 5-day bronze pass only to be told that the upgrade will cost them $50 per person instead of what used to be $10-$11 for one more day.

I have no problem with a company charging what the market will bear. But the way that this ticket matrix is structured, it gives the consumer the feeling of being nibbled to death by ducks.

I just don't see this happening. Yes, the structure we see on this calendar shows a complicated mess that makes my head hurt, but I doubt this is the final draft. When Disney releases their new and improved tickets, I believe that the process will be much simpler. Not less expensive, but not this convoluted nonsensical matrix that no one will be able to manage.

 

[Jennasis]

So essentially, anyone who goes on a trip that includes a weekend will pretty much automatically be paying the upcharge for silver/gold. There are only 5 weekends in the year that have bronze pricing.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

 

[keaster]

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.

 

[Marionnette]

I just don't see this happening. Yes, the structure we see on this calendar shows a complicated mess that makes my head hurt, but I doubt this is the final draft. When Disney releases their new and improved tickets, I believe that the process will be much simpler. Not less expensive, but not this convoluted nonsensical matrix that no one will be able to manage.

It may not be the final incarnation of the ticket scheme, but it's all we have to go on right now. So, that's where my comments are directed. The suits must be giving it serious consideration or else they would not have put it in a survey for input.

 

[Marionnette]

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.

I think that as long as you didn't want to gain admission to a park on a "silver" day, you would not be forced to upgrade your bronze ticket.