How would surge pricing actually work?

[disneysteve]

I know there has been some discussion about this before but the topic has appeared in the press again this past week. Rumors are that Disney is considering surge pricing for tickets. That means that the price of a ticket would vary depending on the day and the season.

This isn't a new concept. Lots of amusement parks already do it including Six Flags and others. There's a very big difference, though. The places that do it are typically one-day destinations. Nobody buys a 5-day pass to Great Adventure here in NJ. It isn't hard for them to charge a higher price on Saturday than they do on Wednesday.

Disney isn't like that, though. Most visitors are there for multiple days and those days aren't necessarily consecutive. How could they do surge pricing that way? If I'm buying a 5-day pass and I have 14 days to use those 5 days, how will they control whether I go in on Saturday and Sunday or Monday and Thursday? Or will the pass price just be based on the season rather than the actual day of the week? And what if my stay happens to bridge two seasons? Will I be stuck paying the price for the higher season even if some of my days actually get used in the cheaper season?

Obviously nobody actually has the answers to these questions yet but every time I see an article on the subject, I can't help but wonder how it will actually work.

 

[nkereina]

I would guess it would be based on season, similar to how they price the rooms at the resorts and also some of the character dining meals and shows. No telling how they would do it if you overlap seasons. They could also flip to buying tickets for specific days or having to specify days. At Universal, you have to select the dates you want to purchase express pass for and on some days it's more expensive than others.

 

[rteetz]

I know there has been some discussion about this before but the topic has appeared in the press again this past week. Rumors are that Disney is considering surge pricing for tickets. That means that the price of a ticket would vary depending on the day and the season.

This isn't a new concept. Lots of amusement parks already do it including Six Flags and others. There's a very big difference, though. The places that do it are typically one-day destinations. Nobody buys a 5-day pass to Great Adventure here in NJ. It isn't hard for them to charge a higher price on Saturday than they do on Wednesday.

Disney isn't like that, though. Most visitors are there for multiple days and those days aren't necessarily consecutive. How could they do surge pricing that way? If I'm buying a 5-day pass and I have 14 days to use those 5 days, how will they control whether I go in on Saturday and Sunday or Monday and Thursday? Or will the pass price just be based on the season rather than the actual day of the week? And what if my stay happens to bridge two seasons? Will I be stuck paying the price for the higher season even if some of my days actually get used in the cheaper season?

Obviously nobody actually has the answers to these questions yet but every time I see an article on the subject, I can't help but wonder how it will actually work.

You pay for the highest price ticket. Its also based on season not day of the week. So low season $105, mid season $115, high season $125. If you start your vacation during low season and the end of your vacation is in mid season, you pay the mid season price for the entire stay.

 

[rteetz]

here is the calendar of the three seasons as per the disney survey on this topic

 

[disneysteve]

Its also based on season not day of the week.

That makes sense. One article I saw said, "The considered surge-pricing model would affect daily and multi-day ticket prices to bring up attendance during mid-week and off-peak times." That's what made me question how they would regulate prices by the day. Having set seasons wouldn't be hard. It's how they used to do hotel pricing before they went to price yielding based on occupancy.

 

[Princess Jes]

Don't they regulate hotel room prices by the day of the week? Eg weekends are a higher rate.

And who's to say that they'll keep the structure of being able to use them for 14 days? They may change the actual structure and you may have to buy a ticket that covers specific days (for on-site guests, the days you've got your hotel res for) and offsite have to specify "I'm staying from 01/02/16-05/02/16, I have to buy a 5 day ticket, even if I only plan to go to the parks for 3-4 days" (those dates are in the Aussie format, DD/MM/YY)

I would say that if surge pricing becomes a thing, they'll overhaul everything about tickets.

 

[disneysteve]

Don't they regulate hotel room prices by the day of the week? Eg weekends are a higher rate.

And who's to say that they'll keep the structure of being able to use them for 14 days? They may change the actual structure and you may have to buy a ticket that covers specific days

I would say that if surge pricing becomes a thing, they'll overhaul everything about tickets.

That's certainly possible. They may ditch the whole MYW system all together. I hope they never go to a system that requires you to specify in advance which days you will be in the parks. I have no idea how we would manage that type of system as we never decide in advance. We just got home yesterday and if you had asked me a week ago how many park days we would have and which days they would be, I couldn't have told you.

I'm not sure about the hotel pricing. I would assume weekends are higher but I know they also do what is called yielding where the price goes up as availability goes down.

 

[Princess Jes]

That's certainly possible. They may ditch the whole MYW system all together. I hope they never go to a system that requires you to specify in advance which days you will be in the parks. I have no idea how we would manage that type of system as we never decide in advance. We just got home yesterday and if you had asked me a week ago how many park days we would have and which days they would be, I couldn't have told you.

I'm not sure about the hotel pricing. I would assume weekends are higher but I know they also do what is called yielding where the price goes up as availability goes down.

I don't think Disney shows it on a day by day table but if you go to the universal site and book a hotel room, they give you the daily rate and weekends are always more.
Also the same when I was booking Las Vegas accom.

 

[disneysteve]

I don't think Disney shows it on a day by day table but if you go to the universal site and book a hotel room, they give you the daily rate and weekends are always more.
Also the same when I was booking Las Vegas accom.

Hotels are typically cheaper Sunday through Thursday nights, more expensive on Friday nights, and most expensive on Saturday nights. I'm guessing Disney is the same way but since we stay offsite, I can't speak from personal experience.

 

[Princess Jes]

Hotels are typically cheaper Sunday through Thursday nights, more expensive on Friday nights, and most expensive on Saturday nights. I'm guessing Disney is the same way but since we stay offsite, I can't speak from personal experience.

Yeah, exactly, I cant see why they couldn't/wouldn't implement the same theory to tickets, and restrict you to buying length of stay tickets in some way.
Alternatively, if you wanted something like a 5 day pass with the ability to use it as it is now (within 14 days of the first day of use) there will be a surcharge, sort of like (what I assume) the non-expiring tickets were.

 

[disneysteve]

Yeah, exactly, I cant see why they couldn't/wouldn't implement the same theory to tickets, and restrict you to buying length of stay tickets in some way.
Alternatively, if you wanted something like a 5 day pass with the ability to use it as it is now (within 14 days of the first day of use) there will be a surcharge, sort of like (what I assume) the non-expiring tickets were.

Yes, there was an added charge to make a ticket non-expiring, just as there is an added charge to make a ticket a hopper.

I'm old enough to remember when all tickets were hoppers and never expired . Of course, I'm also old enough to remember when there was no such thing as a hopper because there was only one park

 

[Princess Jes]

Yes, there was an added charge to make a ticket non-expiring, just as there is an added charge to make a ticket a hopper.

I'm old enough to remember when all tickets were hoppers and never expired . Of course, I'm also old enough to remember when there was no such thing as a hopper because there was only one park

But young enough to still enjoy the parks!

 

[disneysteve]

But young enough to still enjoy the parks!

Thanks for that .
We had a great time last week. You would have loved it. It was nice and hot - about 31 in your world.

I must confess that the Princess Jes flatty actually traveled with us but never managed to get into the parks for any pictures. Sorry about that.

 

[Princess Jes]

Thanks for that .
We had a great time last week. You would have loved it. It was nice and hot - about 31 in your world.

I must confess that the Princess Jes flatty actually traveled with us but never managed to get into the parks for any pictures. Sorry about that.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves!! I did enjoy following along on FB, wishing I was there rather than at work.

Oh, 31 is amazing, it's meant to be that today and tomorrow! 35 in Adelaide and 40+ in the Mallee (106+ in your world)

Oh dear! Not to worry, I was there in spirit (and facebook) and hopefully I'll be there in 10 months, surge pricing or no!

 

[disneysteve]

I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves!! I did enjoy following along on FB, wishing I was there rather than at work.

Oh, 31 is amazing, it's meant to be that today and tomorrow! 35 in Adelaide and 40+ in the Mallee (106+ in your world)

Oh dear! Not to worry, I was there in spirit (and facebook) and hopefully I'll be there in 10 months, surge pricing or no!

We were hoping for slightly cooler weather for November but it has been unseasonably hot in Florida (here in NJ, too, actually).

I tried not to bomb facebook with too many posts but I know a lot of my friends do enjoy following along.

 

[Princess Jes]

We were hoping for slightly cooler weather for November but it has been unseasonably hot in Florida (here in NJ, too, actually).

I tried not to bomb facebook with too many posts but I know a lot of my friends do enjoy following along.

It is bittersweet. While I love following along and seeing the fun being had, it's also sad that I'm not the one partaking in said fun.
I think my (literal) distance makes it a bit easier to be honest. If I lived in the USA, I couldn't bear being <6 hour plane ride away.

I'm still working on my boss to send me to La Mirada for a week for work, so I can add a weekend at DLR.
he also mentioned that "we may just need to have someone up there to get this all sorted" of course, I put my hand up.
I hope that if the opportunity was to arise, he would advocate for me to be the one.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

You pay for the highest price ticket. Its also based on season not day of the week. So low season $105, mid season $115, high season $125. If you start your vacation during low season and the end of your vacation is in mid season, you pay the mid season price for the entire stay.

Is that something confirmed? Only reason I question it is is that I believe when it comes to things like free dining if your stay starts during the free dining period you qualify for free dining for your entire stay even if it ends after the end of the promotion period.

I was thinking your price would be based on when you start using the tickets (so if they still give you 14 days, and perhaps that will change especially for lower number of days - i.e., only give you 7 days for a 4 day park pass) during a low period that is the price you pay. That might actually encourage people to start trips earlier/stay longer which they would like.

 

[DISNEYSC]

I might have misunderstood but I thought that surge pricing was similar to what exists now for airline or some sports ticket pricing. if so, wouldn't it react to demand in real time and therefore not just to historical attendance charts? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[rteetz]

Is that something confirmed? Only reason I question it is is that I believe when it comes to things like free dining if your stay starts during the free dining period you qualify for free dining for your entire stay even if it ends after the end of the promotion period.

I was thinking your price would be based on when you start using the tickets (so if they still give you 14 days, and perhaps that will change especially for lower number of days - i.e., only give you 7 days for a 4 day park pass) during a low period that is the price you pay. That might actually encourage people to start trips earlier/stay longer which they would like.

This is based on the Disney survey that was sent out.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is based on the Disney survey that was sent out.

Thanks! I hadn't seen the actual survey. Given than, and based on the map where nearly every weekend day is at least mid-price, that would result in very few people actually paying the lowest rate, right?