August 16th? Annual Pass Announcement??

[jdkdorn]

From looking at the pictures of trash cans from last week...I have never, in 43 years, seen a Disney Park this messed up.

 

[Chilbert]

They will keep coming, until they don't. I think it was Yogi Berra who said, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded".

 

[StuckInKS]

Hotel prices have been plummeting in August and now September as many people cancel their reservations.

Good, keep canceling. I have to book two rooms and would love to get a discount. Right now we are booked for September under the 2-days free promo, but are canceling since we just got back from a last-minute trip to DL, and now need to rebook for Oct or Nov for which there are currently no discounts.

 

[tline35]

They should offer AP only for DVC members to be used only when they are staying onsite. That would be a great perk and would cut out the locals who go on a daily or weekly basis for next to nothing when you figure what they pay for a daily admission making the parks more crowded. Also stop the locals with a AP from buying all the new merch when it comes out and selling it on ebay. Maybe slow down all the vloggers who can be annoying in the parks. Disney has been overcrowding the parks for the capacity of attractions and dining they have and this would help with that by cutting out the lowest cost tickets per day.

Sounds like a DVC owner who wants WDW to revolve around them. News flash ... DVC is a RESORT-ONLY purchase. Has no impact on how special you are at the gate, or in line. 2nd news flash, the locals you are disgruntled about, likely pay more in visits, merch, and food attending the parks weekly or monthly, then your once a year DVC trip.

 

[tline35]

The big picture that your proposal is missing is the Local Market.
There are hundreds of things to do and places to go for the local market, and Disney is competing with all of them, especially Universal. If they can sell me a Disney annual pass, at a discount, they get my money for merch and food every time i return, versus that money going to Universal, Sea World, Busch Gardens, Icon Park, or the beach.

When school is back in session 7 months out of the year, who do you think is in the parks ... its the locals.

 

[tline35]

The system is somewhat backwards in my eyes with out-of-state vs in-state prices, especially if they are looking to cut down crowds.

I'm paying WAY more for a pass that requires me to take a 3 hour flight down and stay at one of their hotels and buy their food when, theoretically, someone in-state can show up every day, go on one ride then go home for lunch.

I try to get down 3 times a year for a total of maybe 25 days, max.

Why not have APs based on park days instead of location similar to to day passes, but where you can pick your days? Have them come in packs of 10 days, still require reservations and let me pick the days throughout the year. Use 'em or lose 'em.

There's your crowd control.

Am I whining? Yes! Can I/you/anyone just choose not to go? Yes!

The big picture that your proposal is missing is the Local Market.
There are hundreds of things to do and places to go for the local market, and Disney is competing with all of them, especially Universal. If they can sell me a Disney annual pass, at a discount, they get my money for merch and food every time i return, versus that money going to Universal, Sea World, Busch Gardens, Icon Park, or the beach.

When school is back in session 7 months out of the year, who do you think is in the parks? ... its the locals.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Is this Aug 16 date a solid rumor (leaked info) or just a lot of wishful thinking?

We leave in 5 days and a trip with AP vs without are entirely different plans! I just NEED to know!!!

 

[Beckyb3]

Is this Aug 16 date a solid rumor (leaked info) or just a lot of wishful thinking?

We leave in 5 days and a trip with AP vs without are entirely different plans! I just NEED to know!!!

I am totally in the same boat as you! We leave Saturday and I am still holding out hope that APs will come before my trip and that will definitely play into how I plan my days and how often and how long we go to the parks. I have an annual pass but want to get them for the rest of my family. I keep hoping the rumored 16th date is a go.

 

[Yinn]

Is this Aug 16 date a solid rumor (leaked info) or just a lot of wishful thinking?

We leave in 5 days and a trip with AP vs without are entirely different plans! I just NEED to know!!!

Everything is a rumor until there's an official announcement. I'll be there with you, holding a bunch of 9 day and 4 day tickets that I'm hoping to convert to a platinum AP. My December trip will be dependent on whether AP is available or not by the time we leave.

Here's what I think...

Whether DL or WDW, APs do have a strong local following. Simply for the fact that for the rest of us a travel & stay is more costly and time consuming than just popping in. As long there's park restrictions where the parks are at the limited max capacity, Disney will have to incentive to give priority to non-locals as that will raise more revenue per customer. Otherwise I'd imagine trying to rent out WDW resorts (not dvc) rooms would be quite difficult if there was no park entry.

So then what about the locals? Well they're valuable so Disney won't want to slight them. I'm also not sure there's a great way to guarantee park entry to only those who stay onsite or what potential lawsuits that might bring. But if Disney can naturally curb the attendance of locals who may not stay and spend on property, that would help.

How would they do that? School. I don't live in Florida but from what I can find, it looks like the majority of Florida schools reopened last Tuesday and all the rest (except Miami) will be opened this week.

The volume also falls in line with our DVC charts and starts a new travel period. Aug 16 marks the drop down from Tier 3 to Tier 4, but I honestly dont think it'll come back until Sept 1 as that's when it goes from Tier 4 to Tier 7 as general attendance demand goes off a cliff.

 

[Narcoossee11]

I think we will get info today with a sales date later. my guess is Sept 7th, Tuesday after labor day.
The system will be so different from the past so we will need more time to digest info.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

I think we will get info today with a sales date later. my guess is Sept 7th, Tuesday after labor day.
The system will be so different from the past so we will need more time to digest info.

...You really think so? Because even after talking for months about how they weren't bringing back APs at Disneyland and were coming up with a completely new system, what they rolled out was almost the exact same as the old system but with new names and a bit lower discount for some tiers. Oh, plus park reservation requirements baked in (which was already the state of affairs, but they were making it clearer up front now).

I believe they may not sell right away (so far everything announced this summer has been on-sale or implemented a few weeks after the initial announcement), and Sept 7 seems as good a day as any, but I would be really surprised if they announced anything revolutionary for the APs. A few more dollars here, a bit less of a discount there, and no one is happy with parking, but nothing that requires digestion.

 

[tline35]

As long there's park restrictions where the parks are at the limited max capacity, Disney will have to incentive to give priority to non-locals as that will raise more revenue per customer

Disney already has all the tools they need with the combination of the reservation system, by type of ticket. If they want to limit AP's, they can easily. Also, AP's can only hold 3 reservation days. So I don't think they are ruining anyone's plans to get in.

 

[mitsukoshi samurai]

let me guess no news today?

 

[awdwnut]

Just checked on the WDW website and after clicking on tickets / annual passes / additional information, an error popped up stating that Stich had eaten the page. This certainly may be nothing as I am not sure if this is a new development, or if this error has been in place for a while.

 

[Yinn]

Disney already has all the tools they need with the combination of the reservation system, by type of ticket. If they want to limit AP's, they can easily. Also, AP's can only hold 3 reservation days. So I don't think they are ruining anyone's plans to get in.

3 reservation days multiplied by how many local passes?

I have no clue how many WDW annual passes are sold a year but I read somewhere that DL had ~1MM annual pass holders. If WDW has the same and assume only 10% of them are local. 300,000 additional park reservations...that refresh upon use. I'm not sure that's as easy as it sounds when you're still dealing with 35,000/day capacity.

Sure they can further limit the days. But can you imagine the backlash if you bought an AP and was only able to secure 1 reservation day with it?

 

[4luv2cdisney]

let me guess no news today?

 

[Narcoossee11]

I think we will get info today with a sales date later. my guess is Sept 7th, Tuesday after labor day.
The system will be so different from the past so we will need more time to digest info.

What I meant by DIGEST is they will also give info about GENIE. My crystal ball told me LOL . Sadly nothing today

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Just checked on the WDW website and after clicking on tickets / annual passes / additional information, an error popped up stating that Stich had eaten the page. This certainly may be nothing as I am not sure if this is a new development, or if this error has been in place for a while.

That was exactly my wondering. Is the Stitch page new and a sign something is coming soon or has it been like that for a while?!?

 

[mitsukoshi samurai]

Been like that for a while

 

[Narcoossee11]

Due to the christmas tickets going on sale, I think it will be a week or two before anything is announced at least . Phones will be slamed and limited CM's .