DL tickets and reservations - April 15!

[DLgal]

They might not want to sell a no limit So Cal ticket if, as expected, California opens up to out of state nonresidents. Depending on demand, those are the people more willing to purchase an expensive ticket with a 13 day limit.

I think you are overestimating how many out of state guests will come to Disneyland this summer last minute. If they don't announce that they can come before June 15, it will be a hard sell on a large scale.

 

[mom2rtk]

They really may have shot themselves in the foot by maintaining that 14 day use window on multi day tickets. I mean, we would have bought 5 day hoppers instead and that would have meant 5 days visiting the parks and spending money vs the 2 days we did actually buy.

They should at least relax that restriction if they aren't going to offer annual passes anytime soon. Otherwise they will never sell out those weekday dates.

But Disney got you to buy the 2 day ticket and only use up limited capacity spots on 2 days. And if you want to return, you'll have to pay the premium for another 2 days if you want to occupy spots in their limited capacity. The out days on a 5 day ticket are cheaper and they need those spots occupied by full price people if possible.

That's exactly the reason they didn't extend the 13 day limit.

 

[DLgal]

But Disney got you to buy the 2 day ticket and only use up limited capacity spots on 2 days. And if you want to return, you'll have to pay the premium for another 2 days if you want to occupy spots in their limited capacity. The out days on a 5 day ticket are cheaper and they need those spots occupied by full price people if possible.

That's exactly the reason they didn't extend the 13 day limit.

But if they can't sell out the dates, that's lost money for them too. It's better to have the park full to capacity, even if some people paid slightly less per day, than to have the park NOT full to capacity with people who paid full price. Every body in the parks has a dollar sign attached and the less bodies in there, the less money they will make, period.

This is the entire reason they even had an annual pass program in the first place.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

I think you are overestimating how many out of state guests will come to Disneyland this summer last minute. If they don't announce that they can come before June 15, it will be a hard sell on a large scale.

I agree. Unless you are from a neighboring state or are a diehard Disney fan, you probably aren’t going to book a family summer vacation to Disneyland if/when it’s announced you’re allowed to come in June 15th. Most people have their summer vacations already planned by then.

 

[mom2rtk]

But if they can't sell out the dates, that's lost money for them too. It's better to have the park full to capacity, even if some people paid slightly less per day, than to have the park NOT full to capacity with people who paid full price. Every body in the parks has a dollar sign attached and the less bodies in there, the less money they will make, period.

This is the entire reason they even had an annual pass program in the first place.

Sure. But I think they'll still sell out those dates.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

They really may have shot themselves in the foot by maintaining that 14 day use window on multi day tickets. I mean, we would have bought 5 day hoppers instead and that would have meant 5 days visiting the parks and spending money vs the 2 days we did actually buy.

They should at least relax that restriction if they aren't going to offer annual passes anytime soon. Otherwise they will never sell out those weekday dates.

I would have done that in a heartbeat! Although I booked two separate days so maybe I’m spending more than the cost of a 5-day ticket.

 

[DLgal]

I would have done that in a heartbeat! Although I booked to separate days so maybe I’m spending more than the cost of a 5-day ticket.

The truth is, I would have just kept buying 5 day hoppers and going every 2 weeks like we used to with APs. And by doing that, I'd have spent MORE over a year than I used to on my $1200 AP. They would have gotten $2158/year from me on just the ticket sales.

But instead, I will go 2 days in May. Zero in June, then 5 more in July. Zero in August. Probably Zero in September. Etc.

Really, Disney didn't think this through, unless they plan to announce the new "membership oferings" SOON.

 

[DLgal]

Sure. But I think they'll still sell out those dates.

We'll see. I very much doubt they will sell out any weekdays in May or early June (except Memorial day). Most kids here don't finish school until the second week of June or later and with Tier 5 pricing on one day tickets, you can forget it.

 

[StarTrekFan]

Yeah, weekdays is a different monster; especially during school year. There's a reason for AP AND the SoCal winter passes than typically last into May -- low weekday attendance.

Selling the entire first two weeks at Tier 5 full fare for 9A-7P truncated hours? Going to be really hard to get to sellout IMHO.

Like DLgal - we're set for Opening day and Memorial Day. Nothing until a 2 day in July 4th and then maybe Labor Day (may skip 4th and do Labor Day). That's it. If we had 5 day multi punch option -- we'd be there a few times in May; and monthly until Labor Day.

An empty slot is still empty and no food/merch purchases with an empty slot

 

[twodogs]

I think they purposely set the prices high and restricted the use of tickets to the 13 day window to specifically see just how much legacy APs and locals were willing to pay to be back in the parks. Why put out a flexible multi day ticket without a 13 day expiration when you can sell multiple, more expensive (per park day) tickets to that person? Once they figure out the tipping point, they may have to offer something more flexible to fill the reservation slots. But many on this board thought everything would be reserved immediately on the first day, and it was not. But the appetite for it was there in this dedicated Disney group of fans, so I can see why Disney tried the biggest money-grab that they thought they could get away with. Since it didn’t immediately sell out, Disney overshot the mark on making it either too expensive, too inflexible or too little on offer to make it valuable to the guests, or all of the above. But they know where the tipping point is now, and can back things down from there. I’m sure they were emboldened to aim high on pricing and restrictions by the response they got to ToD, but the lack of full reservations at this point shows that people, even legacy APs who are very passionate about DLR, have a limit.

Separately, as an out of state legacy AP, I will be very hesitant to plan a trip to DLR this summer even if they open to out of state visitors because I am afraid California could back-track the lifting of restrictions at any point. I do not want to buy plane tickets, take time off work, etc, only to have to cancel the trip, possibly at the last minute. If I was within driving distance, I would not be as hesitant to book when allowed.

 

[coaches24]

We'll see. I very much doubt they will sell out any weekdays in May or early June (except Memorial day). Most kids here don't finish school until the second week of June or later and with Tier 5 pricing on one day tickets, you can forget it.

In my area many schools get out before memorial day. Every district is different. It varies greatly. Even in my district there are 3 different schedules (traditional, modified traditional, and year round). But even with that, the majority of kids will be done the Thursday before Memorial day.

 

[KPeterso]

The truth is, I would have just kept buying 5 day hoppers and going every 2 weeks like we used to with APs. And by doing that, I'd have spent MORE over a year than I used to on my $1200 AP. They would have gotten $2158/year from me on just the ticket sales.

But instead, I will go 2 days in May. Zero in June, then 5 more in July. Zero in August. Probably Zero in September. Etc.

Really, Disney didn't think this through, unless they plan to announce the new "membership oferings" SOON.

This is me. If there was no 13 day limit on the 5 day tickets, I would buy more of those. As it stands, I bought a 2 day ticket and am going twice in May. And will skip June. And will be at VGC for my DVC reservation in July and will buy a 4-5 day ticket (still deciding on that). Will skip August, September, and probably October. I have WDW late September into early October and an AP for there so will get a 10 day fix on that trip. I have another VGC reservation in November and am still deciding what to do on it. If it is not using banked DVC points, I may just cancel and hold off. But then again, I love Christmas at Disneyland, so maybe I will keep it and buy another 2-3 day ticket to get that fix in. I will go during holiday time for a couple visits no matter what. And then may skip January and February as I will have WDW in March again. But then again, we might go 1-2 days in Feb for my birthday. I honestly just don't want to keep buying tickets over and over.

 

[Sunnywho]

I think you are overestimating how many out of state guests will come to Disneyland this summer last minute. If they don't announce that they can come before June 15, it will be a hard sell on a large scale.

I hadn't thought about it being last minute. A good point.

 

[mom2rtk]

I hadn't thought about it being last minute. A good point.

Except that I think a fair number of people are more than ready to pull the trigger. These are not typical times.

 

[mel2014]

I'm honestly surprised at how much availability is left, especially for mid to late June. By then:

(1) Everyone in California over 16 should have had the opportunity to be at least partially vaccinated;
(2) Kids will be out of school; and
(3) Avengers campus will be open.

Even if the Governor does "open the state" on June 15th, I wouldn't expect Disney to immediately lift any capacity constraints, but to proceed more incrementally as they have in Florida.

Maybe it was just all of the hype about "pent up demand" and the need to cancel annual passes to avoid being overwhelmed, but so far the availability isn't changing as quickly as I thought.

We weren't planning to back until September but decided on Saturday to book at trip for late May since we have some Southwest travel funds expiring June 4. It was easy by then to get in to the Disneyland website buy the tickets and make reservations. Since my kids are still in distance learning, I don't have any qualms about "pulling them out" of school for two days. I'm hoping the weekdays won't be that crowded.

 

[nutshell]

So a friend said they got reservations for July, but I only see availability through June. What gives?

 

[brightlined]

...

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

So a friend said they got reservations for July, but I only see availability through June. What gives?

Are the dates for on-site going into July? If not, or they're not staying on-site, they're mistaken on what they actually got.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

So a friend said they got reservations for July, but I only see availability through June. What gives?

It’s a possibility they purchased tickets and didn’t make reservations. There were quite a few people that didn’t know they had to make reservations after purchasing tickets. Either that, they made GCH reservations and did not know they also had to make park reservations...

 

[Winnowill]

Except that I think a fair number of people are more than ready to pull the trigger. These are not typical times.

We are these people. We are not only ready, we are intending to pull the trigger. We already have a hotel booked for early July. We've had our tickets (5-day PH) since last February.