Thoughts on new premier pass

[Maistre Gracey]

Actually, it looks like I was wrong on this point. it has been posted on the DL board that $22.75 in tax will be charged on each ticket no matter where it is purchased, all of which will go to the state of Florida.

And, assuming you can upgrade using the GAD GADD voucher, it will actually be $7 cheaper at WDW because at DL the voucher is valued at $72 and at WDW it is valued at $79. -- Suzanne

Oh well...
Thanx for setting the record straight!!!

MG

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If we bought the premium passes then it might make sense but I've always gotten the deluxe so it's still less expensive to buy individual with the DVC discount and upgrades.

It's not much of a deal anyway IMO. If they were charging a little more to add the second park then I think it would encourage more people to visit both. Mostly what this price does is provide a convenience to people who already visit both.

 

[TLPL]

I think Disney should give all DVCers free upgrade to the new "Premier Annual Passport" as a member's perk: For the price of a WDW AP, get the DLR AP part free. That way more people will be willing to travel to both coasts for their DVC vacations, and maybe it will encourage more people to buy into VGC.

 

[TLPL]

I think it is way too expensive. My thoughts are it should be priced similarly to a WDW Premium Annual Pass. I mean, if someone uses it for 15 park days at WDW and 15 park days at Disneyland, how is that substantialy different from a local using their discounted annual pass for 30 days at Disneyland OR Walt Disey World? Or even a local using a highly discounted seasonal pass for 30 park days during a year?

I agree with Chuck. there are only so many vacation days per year one has, and you can be only in one place or another. If you spend your vacation at WDW then simply you won't be at Disneyland, and not going to use their facility. So why would someone wants to pay more for something they can't use?

Just like people who pays for 500+ cable channels and thinks they are getting more. You only have 24 hours a day and 1 pair of eyes, how much TV can you watch?

There are more in life than Disney you know.

 

[aan1701]

700 per person. Well since we live 30 miles from DL and go to WDW at least four times per year, this us a bargin. We pay 419 per person ( it is only DW and myself, we do not have kids) for our PAP here at DL. DVC does not help with renewals as it is the same discount, and we pay about 460 for our WDW PAP rebewals. So looks like we will save 180 per person. I like that. I can't see how that is to much if you have both. Only problem I see as of now is our DL passes expire in two weeks and we just sent in the paperwork for the monthly payments for So Ca residents. Wonder what will happen. Also we just renewed DW pass a week ago today at WDW. Hmmm. Should be interesting to see.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Just like people who pays for 500+ cable channels and thinks they are getting more. You only have 24 hours a day and 1 pair of eyes, how much TV can you watch?

I definitely need the 500+ channels..
The first 499 are all the Latino Home Shopping Network!!

MG

 

[LovinmyDisneylife]

I think it's a great deal for someone who visits both parks each year. The regular price for a Premium AP at WDW is $619 and DL is $439.

 

[Reddog1134]

Too expensive for us...we only go to WDW. We'll go to DisneyLand some day, but that will be in the future.

People keep talking about a DVC discount, but the website clearly states there will be no DVC discount. What am I missing?

Tiger

I only read the official announcement on the D23 website which made no mention of DVC whatsoever. I didn't realize the DVCnews site had additional info.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I only read the official announcement on the D23 website which made no mention of DVC whatsoever. I didn't realize the DVCnews site had additional info.

It is in the Disney Parks blog: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/03/disney-premier-passport-unveiled/

In answer to a question postd online, Thomas Smith, Social Media Director, Disney Parks, said unequivacally there would not be any DVC discount.

As a follow up, does anyone know if you have an AP with a DVC discount and want to upgrade to the Premiere Pass, what $$ credit will you get? Is it based on what you actaully paid or the value of the non-discoutned ticket? -- Suzanne

 

[Tara]

Heck, they aren't even discounting the price for CHILDREN, so you know DVC members aren't getting a discount!

I think the new pass is not for me. I have no need for the premium AP for WDW as it is and don't have any plans to travel to DL in the near future (or even long term - it doesn't appeal to me), so I can't imagine shelling out $700 + tax for it.

 

[corpcomp]

I'll stick with the regular annual pass. We rarely get to go to the waterparks and never to CA. Way too much money.

 

[arthur06]

$700 per person is WAY too much for us!

I can see it being a great deal for those that live close to DL or WDW and make multiple trips per year to the other. We live in Iowa, however, so I would just rather buy a WDW AP one year and a DL AP the next and stagger my trips that way.

 

[La2kw]

I can't see them selling them for $500 when a full price WDW Premium AP is $494.

And the Disneyland Premium AP is $439.

 

[Disney Princess]

I didn't read through everyone's comments, but $700 is too much for us to justify. We own at both BWV and VGC and could have seen this being a possibility for us. We already have a WDW AP, so we thought about doing this if the price was right. It could have given us the flexibility to visit either of our homes when it was convenient. This is too much for us to outlay. We will just plan our visits accordingly with the APs to WDW and then probably just hoppers to DLR when we go.

It did strike me as odd that they clearly stated no DVC discount would be given. While I think they have every right to price their tickets how they choose, and we are not entitled to a discount, I would think DVCers would have been a primary target for these tickets. Offering even a small discount might have encouraged people to buy one of these passes so they could visit both coasts - thus encouraging sales of other DVC properties. I do wonder how this will sell. I will stayed tuned to see . . .

 

[La2kw]

We live in Southern California and always have a Disneyland AP, though not the Deluxe one. We also buy Premium AP's every other year and get two trips out of them (one each summer). We would definitely consider these since it would allow me to upgrade my Disneyland pass to a premium one (we always get the premium WDW pass) for less money than what I spend now for the two separate passes. I sure would like the DVC discount on these though.

 

[dclfun]

Pixieflip, you're laughing at $4200 (we're 6 too), but maybe you missed this:

# A one-year subscription to Disney Family Fun magazine (one per household)

Too funny! I choked with laughter over this post.
As to the premium pass, there's no way we'd ever get our money's worth out of it, but perhaps those who travel more extensively and regularly to both coasts would be happy with it. We live near WDW so only an AP here would be beneficial. My daughter is already in sticker shock over those as one of her little ones will be three in August and will then need his own pass. ---Kathy

 

[Inkmahm]

I'll stick with the regular annual pass. We rarely get to go to the waterparks and never to CA. Way too much money.

I'll stick with the regular AP for WDW, too. We never go to the waterparks and only get to CA rarely. We went to DL last August and we were able to use our 10 day parkhoppers from WDW at DL. That's a little known fact, I think. You CAN use WDW tickets at DL (just not DL tickets at WDW).

 

[ShuisFan584]

Pixieflip, you're laughing at $4200 (we're 6 too), but maybe you missed this:

# A one-year subscription to Disney Family Fun magazine (one per household)

I think the magazine subscription just sold me!

To me, it wouldn't be worth it. We don't go enough in one year for that to be worth it. And I've never even visited Disneyland.

 

[bumbershoot]

Actually, it looks like I was wrong on this point. it has been posted on the DL board that $22.75 in tax will be charged on each ticket no matter where it is purchased, all of which will go to the state of Florida.

I finally just found that bit. Glendalais is a CM out at WDW who used to work at DLR. He keeps us updated.

Looks like the DLR AP portion is NOT taxed, but the WDW part is, which explains the weird tax amount on the whole thing. Interesting! I don't envy their tax attorneys...

 

[tjkraz]

In fairness, if you eliminate the DVC discount on WDW passes from the discussion, this is actually a pretty good deal.

A Walt Disney World Premium Annual Pass is currently $659 per adult.

Sounds like the Premier pass is around $720 with tax, so you're getting the Disneyland access for only about $60. Not too bad.

But much harder to justify for DVC members who are sacrificing that $125 discount. DVCers are only paying $526 for the PAP so we are looking at a $200 premium for the Disneyland access.

People who already buy APs for both coasts will be tickled--DVC members or not. Aside from those folks, without knowing how many even buy WDW PAPs right now, it's hard to guess how many additional sales this thing will generate.

The idea of this all-encompassing, dual-coast park with no exclusions or blackout dates is very cool. But Disney also made it very expensive.

If they really wanted a device that would serve as something of a loss leader to encourage WDW guests to visit DL and vice-versa, I think they would have been much better off with a cheaper hybrid of the standard WDW AP and Disneyland's Deluxe AP (with blackout dates.)

I'm not really sure who their audience is for this pass. $700 is a lot of dough for one person to fork-over for a year-long tour of the Disney parks. I think your run-of-the-mill guest on a budget who wants to visit both DL and WDW will continue to stagger trips and buy more economical park admission.