DLR survey discusses possibility of new tickets

[disneydreamer74]

I just finished taking a Disney parks survey that I received via email. The main focus of this survey was to discuss my visit last July. It asked many questions regarding the days I was in the park and if I would have considered visiting on weekdays instead of weekends for summer visits. At the end of the survey it states that DLR is considering a new ticketing option. Depending on the day and season that a person visits, you would either choose a value ticket (Mon.- Thurs. only and during non-peak seasons, no holidays, no summer) or you could choose the Marquee ticket (Fri.-Sun. and peak seasons). Now, if your visit included even one of the Marquee days you would need to purchase the Marquee ticket. I remember that the 5 day park hopper was $256 for value, and $314 for marquee. I did comment that I would be very unhappy with that pricing because we would be forced to pay for marquee tickets each trip due to the fact that we almost always go for 5 days. I don't know if this survey is any indication of upcoming changes, or just researching for input. Either way, as a DLR addict, I would pay the extra!!

 

[bakerudall]

I'm with you. How is it a "value" ticket when the price is $10 more than the current full price?

The only way this would make any sense is if the value ticket gave a significant discount to the people who actually came M-F on non-holiday weeks. The marquee price is too steep as well. They would still come out way ahead if they made the value $175 and the marquee $275. The whole idea, however, will not go over well and should be scrapped.

 

[disneydreamer74]

I agree! The value ticket does NOT include Friday though! That is not cool at all! So, if you schedule your trip Mon.-Thurs. then you could get the value ticket, but we go for 5 days minimum so...We would have to include a Friday, thus, we would have to pay Marquee prices. UGh! I am crossing my fingers that they do not choose to use this plan!

 

[brenda1966]

I understand the goal, which is the get people to switch to less-busy days. But to bill it is "marquee" where we have to pay extra to get through the gate on a weekend or holiday is not the best approach. It's a turn-off. It would be better to bill is as a discount if you go on a non-busy day. Like when you go to the movies for a Tuesday matinee you are getting a "discount" to go at that time.

Overall, I still don't like it. Can you imagine the confusion it's going to cause at the gate when people try to get through on a Saturday with their "value" tickets. Chaos.

 

[Disney Dreams]

...Overall, I still don't like it. Can you imagine the confusion it's going to cause at the gate when people try to get through on a Saturday with their "value" tickets. Chaos.

No more than when someone with a limited AP shows up on a blockout day. If you buy a ticket, you need to understand when it's valid.

It's pretty simple: If your ticket is good on M-Th, don't show up on F, Sa, or Su. If that causes someone confusion, they have much bigger problems than not being able to get into the Park on that day.

- Dreams

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

First, from my own pocketbook perspective, no, I wouldn't like this either. I can see a bit where Disney's coming from with this though from their business perspective. They want to start grading the tickets like they do the passes, with basically "block out" days based on season. I also agree with PP that they will need to market this better/more carefully. I like the comparison to movie matinee pricing.

As for the ticket prices, we know they will go up again this year as they do every year. My pure conjecture is June. Prices of $256 and $314 aren't that astonishing. Those are probably proposed gate prices. Gate prices for a five day hopper right now are $266. I would expect that to jump up to anywhere between $275 and $290 with the next price increase, and coincidentally those "value" and "marquee" prices average out to $285. So I wouldn't be too surprised to see $285 as the new 5-day gate ticket price if they don't go with a tiered ticketing plan. Right now, of course, there are discounts for making advance purchases, $246 for a hopper good the rest of this year or $231 for the current promotional offer. So I wonder if these tiered tickets will also be offered at advance purchase discounts IF they ever happen at all. Disney, of course, puts a lot of surveys out there, and I realize that just because they're thinking about it and polling about it doesn't mean it will ever necessarily come to pass.

 

[skiingfast]

If you set a value of each indivual day, you would expect to pay less on the M-Th offseason days to make the value of eachday similiar. Those are days with short hours and a lack of entertainment. This is why I would suggest to anyone going for a short visit to go on one or two of the weekend days.

 

[taaren]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a good system. I wish DL would make their tickets more similar to WDW instead ... let me buy a bunch now that don't expire, so I can use them in the future, and let me upgrade to an AP after using a day or two at the current price, instead of ones that always expire at the end of the year. I would spend extra $$ to stockpile now!

Also non-expiring tickets where one could use a day here, a day there, with no black outs would be great. Unfortunately then they'd have to stop people from selling individual days from multi-day tickets by instituting something like the biometric scans they have in WDW.

 

[Rhonna]

I don't like it either. But I am sure what they are trying to do is deal with the heavy, heavy traffic they get from locals on the weekends (Fri-Sun). They already have tried to control this somewhat with the blackout days for the AP's.

So they are basically trying to force the non-locals to visit on weekdays (but offer less shows, less hours, etc) and the locals will still fill up the parks on the weekends. Kind of stinks for us non-locals.

Unfortunately, it would affect those of us who are from out of town (or state) who can't make it very often. And, of course, we all want to include weekends since the nighttime shows aren't always available on the weekdays. (Plus it affects work - most of us have to take days off our jobs so including a weekend means less vacation days taken off work.)

If DL offered WOC, fireworks and F! EVERY night like WDW does, I would happily plan my trip for weekdays only. We probably could fit everything into 4 days IF those days weren't crowded.

But in reality their proposal sounds like it would make planning and costs even harder on us. If they're going to do that why not charge based on the day like they do at the resorts? Hotels charge higher per night on the weekends and holidays than on weekdays.

Why does it seem like it's getting easier and cheaper to go to WDW (even from the west coast) than to DL??? This next trip to DL (if we make it) will probably be our last if it becomes so much work to plan.

 

[taaren]

Unfortunately, it would affect those of us who are from out of town (or state) who can't make it very often. And, of course, we all want to include weekends since the nighttime shows aren't always available on the weekdays. (Plus it affects work - most of us have to take days off our jobs so including a weekend means less vacation days taken off work.)

If DL offered WOC, fireworks and F! EVERY night like WDW does, I would happily plan my trip for weekdays only. We probably could fit everything into 4 days IF those days weren't crowded.

This, exactly.

 

[disneydreamer74]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a good system. I wish DL would make their tickets more similar to WDW instead ... let me buy a bunch now that don't expire, so I can use them in the future, and let me upgrade to an AP after using a day or two at the current price, instead of ones that always expire at the end of the year. I would spend extra $$ to stockpile now!

Also non-expiring tickets where one could use a day here, a day there, with no black outs would be great. Unfortunately then they'd have to stop people from selling individual days from multi-day tickets by instituting something like the biometric scans they have in WDW.

I could not agree more. I really wish DLR would get with the program and offer tickets that do not expire! I have no idea if this ticketing option will ever come to fruition, but PP is right..tickets are sure to go up this summer! I guess we will see what happens.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

If DL offered WOC, fireworks and F! EVERY night like WDW does, I would happily plan my trip for weekdays only. We probably could fit everything into 4 days IF those days weren't crowded.

But in reality their proposal sounds like it would make planning and costs even harder on us. If they're going to do that why not charge based on the day like they do at the resorts? Hotels charge higher per night on the weekends and holidays than on weekdays.

Exactly. I don't see why you couldn't get a 5-day pass that is Mon-Thurs plus either the Sunday or the Friday so you could get some shows in. I think it's ridiculous to have pay for a full weekend price if you only want/need one day for the extra nighttime entertainment. Just as you mentioned at a hotel, you might save on your weekday stays and have to pay for one expensive weekend night, but your whole stay doesn't get jacked up for each and every day because of only one weekend night. And letting you have a Sunday or Friday would still leave Saturdays for the people paying the most and/or locals, and I imagine Saturdays are the single busiest day of the week. In fact, I wonder how busy is Sunday evening anyway, with locals heading back home for work and school? A Sun-Thur ticket could leave Fri and Sat for the highest paying people while still allowing non-locals and/or discount travelers to get some good evening entertainment.
Of course, adding more entertainment during the week would solve all these issues, and plenty of people would go Mon-Thurs if they could see the shows.

 

[cyclenut]

I like the idea actually, but I understand how the different ticket options could make planning more difficult.

However, as Skiingast pointed out, the off-season weekdays are very different at DLR. The hours are shorter, rides are closed and there are a number of shows that are not offered. I've always wondered why ticket-buying visitors (as opposed to AP) were OK with spending the same amount of money on a weekday as on the weekend when the "value" for the ticket was much greater on a weekend day.

I am sure they would offer an "upgrade" option if you bought a value ticket and wanted to upgrade it to marquee.

I'm sure Disney is considering another price increase for DLR. It could be a way to help insulate some families from a large price hike over a weeklong vacation.

I don't see DLR moving to non-expiring tickets. There are lots of reasons why this is not a good idea for Disney, probably the biggest is the liability of outstanding, unused, tickets.

 

[brenda1966]

Do we really think tickets will increase in June? Should I be shopping around for my 4 day hopper now for a July trip? WDW tickets always seem to go up right at the start of August. But I don't know when DL ones do. Thanks!

 

[cmwade77]

Do we really think tickets will increase in June? Should I be shopping around for my 4 day hopper now for a July trip? WDW tickets always seem to go up right at the start of August. But I don't know when DL ones do. Thanks!

I would say yes, lately it has been early June for Disneyland price increases, just in time for the summer rush.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Do we really think tickets will increase in June? Should I be shopping around for my 4 day hopper now for a July trip? WDW tickets always seem to go up right at the start of August. But I don't know when DL ones do. Thanks!

It had been August for a few years at DL too with an additional increase in January one year. Last year was definitely June. With Carsland and the completion of the big DCA remodel, I would expect a June price increase again this year.

 

[DryCreek]

If you are flying in for your DL stay, don't forget to check airline ticket prices. I am pretty sure that you still get a pretty substantial break by having a Saturday stay. The best prices I have found seem to be Wednesday through Tuesday, or similar. That wouldn't work very well with their proposed price points for park entrance fees. I guess you'd have to weight the savings of admission against the extra cost of airfare, unless you plan to sit out a Saturday and visit other Southern California attractions.

 

[MrsMears]

Are these increases seasonal or permanent increases? Will this increase the AP prices too?

 

[skiingfast]

Are these increases seasonal or permanent increases? Will this increase the AP prices too?

Don't be confused, what the Original Poster is talking about is not something planned to happen just being looked into. Ticketing structure can change and does every year or so. Nothing is permanent.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Are these increases seasonal or permanent increases? Will this increase the AP prices too?

The OP was posting about a survey they were asked to fill out. Disney is apparently testing people's reactions to the idea of tiered ticketing. Who knows whether any of these ideas will ever be implemented in any form?

As for AP price increases, yes, they are likely to increase as a matter of course whenever ticket prices next increase regardless of whether or not there are any changes to ticketing. Note, I say likely but not definitely. Nobody knows when this will be exactly but Disney often announces an impending price increase a few days before it actually happens. My personal speculation is that the next price increases will come around June in preparation for the hoards to snap up tickets to visit Carsland and the "new" DCA. Again, that is pure speculation on my part with no inside knowledge, just based on past price increase dates and common sense expectations.