AP prices increased [6/18/2019]

[jkohmi]

You saved thousands in ticket prices, but they are still making tons of money off of us by just being there. The resorts are not cheap and everything is so expensive.

Yes, this. For us personally, we set our travel budget for the year based on our circumstances that year, but once it's set, that's what we're spending, whether we go to Disney, Europe, a road trip, camping, or any combination of options. My AP has saved me a lot of money on ticket prices...but I've also taken extra trips just because I have the AP and have some room left in the travel budget and happened to see cheap flights, and I've moved from staying off property to deluxe resorts because there's more room in my travel budget when I don't have to buy tickets. So if we assume that I would have taken the exact same trips over the past 12 months without the AP as I did with the AP, then sure, the AP has saved me a lot of money...but really, the AP just ensured that more of my travel budget went to Disney. Either way, I was going to spend the same amount on travel; for us, the AP just changes who receives that money.

 

[Marvolo]

Seems like their answer to crowd control.

 

[stewart715]

There's more discussion in a separate thread here but I don't think the mods are gonna merge them so I'll just re-post what I did there to here...




Last month I posted in this thread regarding the 'break even' of an AP vs the cost of doing multiple trips/multiple day tickets for non-Florida residents. I have updated that graphic to reflect the new AP pricing and provided both below. But first, the standout takeaway: with the old pricing Platinum APs would cover the cost of two trips at 4-days each but now with the updated pricing you can't 'break even' in 2 trips; you'll have to go 3 trips for a minimum of 3 days each trip.

Ok, so are the graphics showing the comparison on an AP vs 'regular' ticket between the old pricing as of 05/05/2019 (top) and the new pricing as of 06/18/2019 (bottom). (Side note: for the love of all that is sane, please read my 'notes' in the graphics; the comparisons do not take in to account AP discounts when comparing to non-AP tickets. The purpose is solely to illustrate the pricing differences between AP vs regular tickets, with the park hopper option.)


Previous AP pricing (as of 05/05/2019):

View attachment 409951





Updated AP pricing (as of 06/18/2019):

View attachment 409952

Awesome graphs. Any chance you can add the Gold AP?

 

[ELLH]

We all wanted lower crowds. Disney says the price increases in tickets is done (at least in part) in an effort to lower those crowds. Well, if the AP customer was a statistical effector, then I think this is one time where I can believe Disney's doing exactly what they say they are.



Which leads me to …

If I knew for sure that this 20-25% increase in APs would reduce the crowds by some sizeable margin, thus negating my "need" to pay for the hard ticketed events just to avoid the larger crowds, then I'd be all for it. But somehow I don't think it's gonna quite work out like that, though.

 

[ScottBLT]

The increase is crazy - and they hit the pass that allows the access to SWGA. I don't see an end to the price jumps until we hit a recession - and that will only be a pause. This is the new normal. Demand for Disney is high. So, they own the pricing power.

Universal will follow.

 

[stewart715]

Anyone on here have Disney stock?

Yes, for this exact reason. If they're going to make money on me this way, I'm making it back through $DIS returns.

 

[SaintsManiac]

The increase is crazy - and they hit the pass that allows the access to SWGA. I don't see an end to the price jumps until we hit a recession - and that will only be a pause. This is the new normal. Demand for Disney is high. So, they own the pricing power.

Universal will follow.

Universal still won't get as high as WDW. Universal will continue to offer EP with deluxe resort stay.

Besides they are apples to oranges, IMO.

 

[PrincessNelly]

Have you purchased an AP from them before? I thought only Disney sold AP’s? I know they aren’t on UT.

I haven't but others have. It seems to work no differently than buying direct from disney.

 

[KayKayJS]

We all wanted lower crowds. Disney says the price increases in tickets is done (at least in part) in an effort to lower those crowds. Well, if the AP customer was a statistical effector, then I think this is one time where I can believe Disney's doing exactly what they say they are.



Which leads me to …

If I knew for sure that this 20-25% increase in APs would reduce the crowds by some sizeable margin, thus negating my "need" to pay for the hard ticketed events just to avoid the larger crowds, then I'd be all for it. But somehow I don't think it's gonna quite work out like that...

I think this might make a small dent but not much. If it did that would be great, because we also pay for the hard ticketed events to experience low crowds. I think that pushes us more towards not renewing our AP though and just doing the 4 day FL tix for $195 in the spring (5-6 month use range) then teh rest of the year doing hard ticket events. It comes out to be a better deal for those of us who don't go every weekend. We prob averaged once a month with our APs before + hard ticketed events.

 

[ELLH]

Awesome graphs. Any chance you can add the Gold AP?

Sure. This is for the updated pricing (didn't see the point in doing one for the old pricing).

 

[RachaelA]

Hi! I didn't see if anyone answered you. I called DVC this morning and renewed DS 7's Gold AP and the total with tax was $632.61.

Thank you!

 

[ScottBLT]

I agree. If they could take crowds down a bit, it would be easier to stomach.

Same with the ticketed events. The parties get more and more crowded. They don't force guests off Main Street and out of the park without tickets. Everything feels more crowded and less "magic". You want to charge more? Fine. Just make sure those paying for it get the experience.

 

[photobob]

I'm glad we bought ours in April! That's an awfully big price jump even for Disney. Why so high? Because they can and we'll keep paying..

 

[Klayfish]

At the end of the day, the parks are still more crowded than ever. Who knows, but I'd wager that trend continues. So as much as people may not like it, Disney would have no reason to change it. Simple supply and demand.

 

[stewart715]

Sure. This is for the updated pricing (didn't see the point in doing one for the old pricing).

View attachment 409956

Thanks for adding it. So, they basically ensuring that at least two trips are required for an AP to make sense for a guest. I curious though what this looks with renewal prices.

 

[iujen94]

Just fyi, Sams Club still has the old pricing online. Grab em while you can

https://serviceshub.samsclub.com/packages.php?sub=packages&action=view&id=2538

How would this work? I’ve never bought an AP from a reseller, nor have I bought a voucher to “stock up” for the future. Is it as easy as buying an AP through Sam’s, sticking that voucher on a random MDE profile, then when I’m ready to use it, reassigning it to my MDE profile and activating it? No adjustment to the price that I paid? That seems too good to be true but I hope it is! I had no intentions of renewing my AP, now that I’m pretty sure my boys are done with Disney until they emerge from their super cool teenager years, but if I can snag a voucher to use whenever, just in case, I’d do that.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Universal still won't get as high as WDW. Universal will continue to offer EP with deluxe resort stay.

Besides they are apples to oranges, IMO.

Yeah, Universal doesn't have any immersive lands... Oh wait yes they do.

Well, Universal doesn't have live entertainment in the parks... Oh wait they do, that's Disney that keeps cutting that budget

Well Universal doesn't have any luxury hotels....Oh wait, they have nicer hotels with great theming then Disney.

Of course there's no early entry for their hotel guests... Oh I guess there is.

They now have 2 parks (that you can walk between) and a water park. Plus my Universal AP was good for 15 months.

In March I went to both WDW and Universal. Overall my Universal experience was better! I am not a fan of "you must pre-plan every minute of your vacation months in advance" and I didn't have to at Universal. You can actually eat without booking 6 months in advance! (I should only have to book that far in advance for a Michelin dining experience not "so so food" LOL)

 

[SaintsManiac]

Yeah, Universal doesn't have any immersive lands... Oh wait yes they do.

Well, Universal doesn't have live entertainment in the parks... Oh wait they do, that's Disney that keeps cutting that budget

Well Universal doesn't have any luxury hotels....Oh wait, they have nicer hotels with great theming then Disney.

Of course there's no early entry for their hotel guests... Oh I guess there is.

They now have 2 parks (that you can walk between) and a water park. Plus my Universal AP was good for 15 months.

In March I went to both WDW and Universal. Overall my Universal experience was better! I am not a fan of "you must pre-plan every minute of your vacation months in advance" and I didn't have to at Universal. You can actually eat without booking 6 months in advance! (I should only have to book that far in advance for a Michelin dining experience not "so so food" LOL)

Right, but WDW has 4 parks and 2 water parks. That's double what Universal has. That's why it's apples to oranges when it comes to cost.

 

[teach22180]

Thank you for the Sam's club heads up! Just bought mine there.

 

[SWBCMusic]

FYI, Sams Club still has old pricing on AP's while they last...https://serviceshub.samsclub.com/pages.php?sub=wdw#walt-disney-world-resort-annual-passes