Is there any reason beyond "hoping" that we should expect the Sept. 30th date to change?
No. Disney announced recently that we should expect fewer discounts next year in comparison to the discounts released this past year. I'm sure they have a reason for only extending it through the end of September. Maybe they expect the economy to recoup enough that people won't need the discounts to go to Disney anymore.
Maybe I read too fast, but I didnt see it..
Is there a site or anywhere it shows that it was OFFICIALLY announced this?
(I have problems with OCD and control and I need this proof, to calm my nerves...lol)
The information on these boards is usually very reliable. Well... the information given by the moderators anyways. Obviously opinions of individual people are often incorrect assumptions. Cheshire Figment is an employee at Disney, and while sometimes they don't know all the details of how Disney will handle particular promotions, usually its not intentionally misleading.
The offer for next year cannot be purchased yet, so they haven't updated the Disney site about it yet.
Here's this past year's link though:
http://bookwdw.reservations.disney....romotionCode=fy09military&market=fy09military
Or go to the
Disney Vacations website and search military discounts.
I would imagine the information would change soon after January 3.
The information on these boards and wdwinfo.com the accompanying website is usually much more up to date with information than the Disney website.
Does anyone have any idea why they opted to provide a 4-day ticket rather than a 5-day? I'm not complaining. As a lover of marketing I'm merely curious.
I'm just curious, are military visitors to the park not profitable after 4 days? Or do they end up losing money because of Shades of Green? Like I said, I'm totally not complaining about 4-day tickets. I'm just trying to understand the rationale behind it.
My guess is they just don't want to sell anything at a discount for more than they have to. Most Disney-goers are not well informed about all the intricacies of planning a Disney vacation. They may not realize the restrictions of the tickets, and thus may purchase at full price any extra days they need. They think they're getting a good deal, when in reality they're paying more.
For example:
4-day Armed Forces Salute Ticket - $99
3-day base ticket - $233.24
For a total of $332.24
7-Day Base Ticket = $249.21
4-day + 2-day = $265.14 vs. 6-day = $246.02
4-day + 1-day = $183.14 vs. 5-day = $242.82
Even if only a small portion of people do this, Disney makes money on them. Maybe I'm wrong, and there aren't many people who are THAT smart, but if I can see how it could happen. There are plenty of people who go to Disney and pay rack rates for rooms every time without ever looking into the possibility that they could stay there for cheaper. The same people wouldn't think twice about buying extra days at the regular rate.
The only way it's technically cheaper is if they only need an extra one-day ticket, which DIS Boarders would know could be acquired by "giving" a day for a Disney day. If the whole family does it, the whole family gets a free admission.
Overall, I'm pretty sure Disney looked at the numbers from last year, and realized that they were losing money with the 5-day tickets. Maybe people only used 4 of the days anyways and spent the rest of their vacation elsewhere in Orlando. Obviously, the tickets potentially get people into the parks where they make up the difference of how much they saved on their tickets.
It sucks for us, but I'm sure plenty of people will still take advantage of the offer.