APs are coming

[Madame]

Do you really think you will be able to renew the old levels at their same levels after Sept 8? Seriously? Ain't no way. They'll have to equate them to something and upgrade them at that price, but there's no way we could continue them indefinitely.

Unfortunately, we were never owed or entitled to those renewals and rates. They chose to offer them. We don't have a leg to stand on.

I’m not following. This limited idea makes no sense, is what I am saying. A hard ticket event is one date so easy enough to limit # sold.

So you roll up to to purchase an AP and they’re all « try back tomorrow - probably some people’s APs will be expiring then. » Unless they are running the APs on a calendar year not a rolling calendar year, this makes zero sense.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

So much for thinking that we'd actually be offered the monthly option finally. Just read the last sentence of the fine print at the bottom.

New Walt Disney World Annual Passes Available Sept. 8, Just in Time for 50th Anniversary Celebration | Disney Parks Blog (go.com)

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I’m not following. This limited idea makes no sense, is what I am saying. A hard ticket event is one date so easy enough to limit # sold.

So you roll up to to purchase an AP and they’re all « try back tomorrow - probably some people’s APs will be expiring then. » Unless they are running the APs on a calendar year not a rolling calendar year, this makes zero sense.

If you mean existing passes until they expire, they remain as they were all inclusions and exclusions until their respective expiration dates. That's clearly stated in the announcement.

I thought your original post was addressing continuing to roll current passes as renewals as what they were. Maybe I misinterpreted your OP.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

About the only bit of optimism I have left about this whole Genie/AP/UpchargeCity situation is that maybe when I go, they really WILL have finally priced people out, making everything much more accessible. But even then, that's sorta depressing at the same time.

I won't sell my DVC and I still have an AP for a while... I'm interested to see how this changes to the park experience from an enjoyability standpoint at my trips next year.

That's it... that's the nicest thing I can possibly say right now.

 

[Madame]

If you mean existing passes until they expire, they remain as they were all inclusions and exclusions until their respective expiration dates. That's clearly stated in the announcement.

I thought your original post was addressing continuing to roll current passes as renewals as what they were. Maybe I misinterpreted your OP.

No, not existing, but new. They’re touting that a limited # will be sold, trying to push the fomo. This makes no sense however, given that APs have 365 different start & end dates.

 

[Yinn]

That is good in my book, anything to help the parks be less crowded.

Who said anything about reducing capacity? This just limits AP sales. Disney will still gladly fill up the remaining capacity with regular tickets.

 

[Anal Annie]

So running the numbers it seems like the dvc pass is 25% more expensive (40% if you add on the photopass). I’m trying to run numbers now but we had planned to do the one trip a year staggered to buy dvc annual pass every other year. Does this even work out now or is it cheaper to just buy two 7 day tickets? I love dvc but now officially regret buying dvc direct as I don’t see us ever getting any value out of the main advertised perk.

You can almost bet there will likely be another price increase on reg. tix before your 2nd trip tho. Two 7 night trips in 1 yr is def worth getting the AP. Here's our numbers for our 2 trips this year. We did 7 n this past April and were able to buy a special tix they were selling for a limited time that was buy 4 days get 6. We actually added on an extra day so we paid for 5 and got 7 days. Just base tix, not hoppers and we paid $493.28 each. (Hoppers would have added $90.53 ea and if we had bought them thru UCT it would have been $517 ea.) We just bought 7 day hoppers for our trip for the 50th anniversary and paid $591.28 each thru UCT (thru Disney would have been $63 more). Those 2 trips add up to $1,084.56 as far as actual paid. Considering that AP's incl. hopping if we would have upgraded that first trip we would have paid $1,175. Therefore, 2 trips of at least 7 nights does pay off to buy the Sorcerer AP's @ $899 which also incl. some discounts. The thing that sucks is that they have removed the photo pass. We'll consider if we want to add that to one of ours.... It appears that renewals offer a $135 discount so once you buy the AP if you keep renewing them that's a nice savings....we plan to upgrade our 7 n tix to the AP when we go next month (undecided yet if we'll upgrade our adult sons tix or not tho as he doesn't always go with us and we don't know when we're going next year....

 

[dismedvc]

I find it interesting the blackout dates for 2022 are not shown on the blackout calendar pdf.
That pdf shows no blackout dates from Jan 1 to Oct 31 2022, but does not list Nov or Dec 2022

 

[Cabius]

About the only bit of optimism I have left about this whole Genie/AP/UpchargeCity situation is that maybe when I go, they really WILL have finally priced people out, making everything much more accessible. But even then, that's sorta depressing at the same time.

Don't worry: if price hikes really drive attendance down, they'll just shrink capacity and shorten park hours until queues are back to what you know and love.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

Don't worry: if price hikes really drive attendance down, they'll just shrink capacity and shorten park hours until queues are back to what you know and love.

All I keep thinking is they damn well better give us all of the live entertainment back, and then some. And they better do it fast.

 

[NoTime42]

Excluding the water parks is an interesting wrinkle. I would expect to see new waterpark only ticket pricing, so you can add to your bargain of an AP.

I'm on the fence about adding this, and if the waterpark pricing is cheap enough, it might make sense just to buy a one-off ticket. If waterpark admission is $100, like upgrading, maybe I'll just skip it and stay at paddock pool. I'm not paying Disney admission price for a water park, even a cool one.

If enough people are thinking like me, the waterparks will be ghost towns. $100 is big cost for something you plan to use a couple times.

I mean was water park crowding an issue? The only people there were APs right?

The new water park and sports also includes mini golf and the 9 hole Oak Trail golf course.

They used to sell a water park only AP for $100, they are just now making it an easy, integrated option for the lower pass levels.

right now, single day water park tickets are $69 and there may be a $20 DVC discount.

 

[YourEveryDayAdam]

About the only bit of optimism I have left about this whole Genie/AP/UpchargeCity situation is that maybe when I go, they really WILL have finally priced people out, making everything much more accessible. But even then, that's sorta depressing at the same time.

Well, and I think this is what Disney is anticipating. COVID doesn't seem to be going away. Although there isn't consensus yet, many experts have said that COVID will be the new reality for the world for a long time. Basically, what's going on now with crowd levels and park passes could be the new normal. Reduced capacity every where.

Disney is probably pricing things now with expected reduced capacity for even the medium-to-long term...if not indefinitely. They are less worried with how many people they can cram into the parks. Now it's more like we know we can only fit X people...what price do we need to make it such that only X people can/want to come?

 

[Yinn]

Well, and I think this is what Disney is anticipating. COVID doesn't seem to be going away. Although there isn't consensus yet, many experts have said that COVID will be the new reality for the world for a long time. Basically, what's going on now with crowd levels and park passes could be the new normal. Reduced capacity every where.

Disney is probably pricing things now with expected reduced capacity for even the medium-to-long term...if not indefinitely. They are less worried with how many people they can cram into the parks. Now it's more like we know we can only fit X people...what price do we need to make it such that only X people can/want to come?

There’s also increased running costs to ensure those measures can be maintained as well. I’m here now and I can’t remember the last time the monorail ran this smoothly.

That said, I also asked this last night. “Is this really worth $1000/day?” Which is about the cost once you factor stay, food, tickets, etc.

My DW kindly reminded me in a scolding tone “not when you put it that way!!!”

 

[Sandisw]

I'd also remind you that previous APs all included PP so linking by F&F in MDE didn't matter anyway. What came first? The chicken or the egg? I'm going to bet against your theory at this point and hope I'm wrong. They may be linked, but I'm betting that anybody that uses as AP for PP that has not paid for it will have watermarked photos in PP. I'm willing to be wrong. I hope I am. I bet I'm not.

Except when we purchased it prior to having it in the AP, all my friends and family could use it as well. So, I am basing it on that and not with the AP.

 

[eandt]

It’s like they are trying to make the Blue Card worthless to get rid of the legacy owners. Selling is looking pretty good right now for a lot of people.

We haven't even take our first welcome "home" trip (scheduled for Dec 14-19 black out yeah!!) and selling is looking good to us after the news of the last couple weeks.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

Well, and I think this is what Disney is anticipating. COVID doesn't seem to be going away. Although there isn't consensus yet, many experts have said that COVID will be the new reality for the world for a long time. Basically, what's going on now with crowd levels and park passes could be the new normal. Reduced capacity every where.

Disney is probably pricing things now with expected reduced capacity for even the medium-to-long term...if not indefinitely. They are less worried with how many people they can cram into the parks. Now it's more like we know we can only fit X people...what price do we need to make it such that only X people can/want to come?

Without getting into the specifics of COVID and going down that black hole, I'm not sure I totally buy that from Disney's perspective. If demand truly were down, then prices typically have to come down as well (or at least not skyrocket like they are now). I don't think they're interested in actively reducing attendance in any meaningful way at their flagship theme park, even if they know that it will inevitably happen with the price increases.

I think their projections show that demand for their product has never been higher, and that's why they're charging us more and giving us less.

 

[wnielsen1]

I'm surprised they didn't offer Genie+ as an add-on for $499.

 

[CWTC]

Random thought/question based on a comment that I read on another thread:
1) we are staying 9 nights/10 days at our DVC 10/2021: we have 9 park days and 9 days of park reservations. We have gold AP vouchers in our account.

2) we won’t lose those park reservations on 9/8 right? We are hotel guests so not subject to the day limitation imposed on non hotel guests AP holders.

3) or phrased another way what is going to happen to already existent park reservations for AP holders when the new park reservation “buckets” open on 9/8?

 

[Sandisw]

It’s now confirmed on the DVC website that you must be eligible for membership extras…blue card…to buy the Sorcerer pass.

 

[Sandisw]

Random thought/question based on a comment that I read on another thread:
1) we are staying 9 nights/10 days at our DVC 10/2021: we have 9 park days and 9 days of park reservations. We have gold AP vouchers in our account.

2) we won’t lose those park reservations on 9/8 right? We are hotel guests so not subject to the day limitation imposed on non hotel guests AP holders.

3) or phrased another way what is going to happen to already existent park reservations for AP holders when the new park reservation “buckets” open on 9/8?

You should be fine because anything you have already purchased is still valid for use under the terms you bought!