How About a Shop & Dine Ticket

[joannamet]

A friend mentioned today that years ago Disneyland had a reduced price ticket that allowed people to enter the park and do everything except rides. With the recent and upcoming changes to ticket pricing, I can imagine there might people who would like a cheaper option that allowed them to shop, dine and enjoy the park. I've seen plenty of posts from people who go to WDW and don't do rides. Am I crazy or is this an idea?

 

[Dominion]

I like it! Would take the pressure from feeling like you have to do rides to get your money's worth and you could just relax and shop and eat. Question is, what would you willing to pay?

 

[scrapquitler]

It seems like a logistical nightmare for them to enforce. Everyone with a full ticket would have to scan their MB upon entering every ride....so many people have enough trouble doing it once at the gate and six times (two for each FP+) during the day, can you imagine every single person doing it every time they entered an attraction? But then there's things like parades, shows that are outside, fireworks, rides up main street in the old timey cars, etc. It would be a nightmare to enforce.

I think that if this ticket existed once upon a time it was probably way back when there were the ticket booklets that got you on the Erides.

 

[bumbershoot]

It was a tightly *timed* ticket. As in, finish your shopping and get back to the ticket booth or you were charged for a full day's ticket.

 

[joannamet]

You're right about the logistical problems at ride entrances. Good point. Still, I like to think there would be a way to make it work.

 

[GreatLakes]

They have that, it's called free admission to Disney Springs.

I don't see this working out logistically inside the parks. If they scanned your MB at every attraction, even for standby, it is possible but I don't think economically feasible.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

It would be a nightmare for attractions CMs. If they made everyone scan a ticket or MB at entrances, you're looking at longer standby waits - look at how the FP+ lines back up from the touchpoints. And then there's the people who'd try to sneak into the attractions lines, because rules just don't apply to them.

It would also be a pain for CMs selling tickets, to try to explain to guests who don't speak much, if any English that the cheaper price they saw doesn't include the rides.

And then there's the poor CMs at Guest Relations, getting to deal with all the complaints from people who unknowingly just buy the cheapest ticket and get mad when they can't go on rides. (The website can explain it all it wants - some people just don't read what they're buying.)

At the end of the day, the parks are meant to be whole attractions in and of themselves - rides, shows, nighttime entertainment, street entertainment, shopping, dining, and environmental ambiance. Selling a "no rides" ticket would undermine that philosophy, and so I don't think they'll do it - unless someone decides there's a great deal of profit in it, which I don't think is too likely.

 

[BudgieMama]

They do something similar at a theme park over here- it's £6 for day entry without rides or £20 with rides. They used wristbands with barcodes that had to be scanned on the entrance to every ride. It quickly became tedious as the scanning tech was worse than the magic bands (we went a couple of months after WDW, and kept wishing we were using Magic Bands!) and affected the efficiency of loading rides. (They put the scan points just before boarding a ride, so you could wait with friends or family until boarding).

It worked, but I didn't like it... and I think with WDW, their big issue is capacity. The parks are running with heavy crowds for significant portions of the year. It might drop the odd wait time here or there, but I think they'd be more people coming into the parks and causing that unpleasant crowded feeling that causes many complaints.

 

[supersnoop]

It was a tightly *timed* ticket. As in, finish your shopping and get back to the ticket booth or you were charged for a full day's ticket.

I don't think we're talking about the same thing. Way back in the beginning at Disney Land, you had to have a ticket for each ride. Back then, you could buy admission without ride tickets to fulfill this stated purpose.

More recently, They'd let you into the park to do some quick shopping. You'd purchase a one-day ticket and get a refund within an hour.

 

[Allison]

But they don't want more people in the park at a reduced cost.