I'm paying the regular price of a Disney World ticket but getting so much less? Does that make sense?

I'm planning on going in October but now I'm not sure. I'm waiting to hear about some experiences people have when the place reopens. Because right now I'm not sure if it's going to be worth the money. But I am dying to get back - I haven't gone over a year without a trip since like 2013!
 


We are ready to go back regardless of the disposition of the park(s). But, there are some huge caveats. The weather for us is just not conducive to a long day in any park during the summer (regardless of the current state). What we look forward to the most is a short park day (I'm talking like 2-3 hours, tops) and then retreat to a resort for an afternoon of people watching and absorbing the atmosphere. We are fortunate that we can simply drive home and call it day, but understand many guests are all-in in their vacations. Those are the folks I have sympathy for.

Do I feel a little bit like our AP's are now devalued? Yep. Do we blame anyone on the current state of affairs? Nope.
 


Funny, because we've paid the same price in years past to do the same things we plan on doing this year: entering the parks and riding the attractions. We're not locals, a trip to WDW is a huge expense. The only parade I ever watched was the Main Street Electrical Parade (RIP) and I admit I will very much miss the fireworks but there have been visits where we haven't stayed for them. Wandering the shops, eating cotton candy, going on Haunted Mansion and Slinky Dog Dash multiple times all make the price of admission worth it for us. Have made 1 ADR in my life and hate the FP+ rat race. So, completely understand where you're coming from and you have every right to feel like your experience would be stripped down for the same price I'm paying whereas I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

From a business perspective, Disney will do whatever makes them money, and guest satisfaction at a statistically significant level makes them money - instead of things going back to the way they were I expect innovation to keep guests happy in the long-term of a post-COVID world.
 
I don't have a trip planned at present but I was hoping to go this year. My perspective is kind of mixed. I see both sides of this. On one hand, I think it would be a unique trip with less crowds and less stressing over FP and Dining Reservations - like it used to be. If I could go and ride my favorites over and over - I would be quite happy. However, I would miss the shows and the fireworks, don't care about the parades or character meet and greets but I don't have kids. So... IF I do decide it's worth it for me to go I will certainly go for less days than usual and do more of a long weekend - 4 nights tops. I can drive there easily - about 8.5 to 9 hours. I can stay off-site and make it cheaper. But, I would NOT go if it were a huge under taking with a larger group (it's just me and maybe a friend if I can find someone to go) - like with airline tickets, 3 or 4 mouths to feed and a big bill like $4000, or even $3000 - I would not go. for just little ol' me, I would go. Now, that said, that depends on if they have park reservations for people without existing ones during 2020. I know that's supposed to come "later this summer" - we shall see. By that time I'll be able to read about others' experiences and see what I think. just go with the flow I guess. We all have to now even though it does suck.
 
Now, I'm not planning to go until next year, so maybe my opinion doesn't matter, but I do live all the way over in California, so it is a big, very expensive trip. I've considered how I would have felt if I had been scheduled for the next few months. And yes, I'd be a little disappointed. But running theme parks is expensive. I have worked for 2 theme parks. The revenue from tickets essentially pays for the permits required to operate everything in most cases. I don't know Disney's business plan or numbers, but I would guess they need the regular price revenue, especially given that dining, which is where most theme parks really make their money, is currently such a mess. So, I think I would take what I can get, keeping in mind that it will be so much less crowded and therefore, to me, more enjoyable. But, if it's not worth it to you, can you cancel?
 
I just hope Disney does not realize they can make the same money from no shows (and no entertainers to pay) and start moving more and more toward a rides based "theme park" feel. But yeah, maybe the podcasters can interview the non-locals to get a feel for how the others think.

We drive from TX, if Disney is operating like this in a year, we will cancel our trip because we want the whole experience (especially the stuff we missed last time, which happens to be many of the shows).
If people are willing to go without those things i think its definitely something they will ponder or play around with.

this is my fear.....that they'll see that they can get away with so much less and just keep right on doing it..
sure they'll bring back the fireworks, but the shows like Nemo? not necessarily...
they're always happy to cut back on expensive human capital.....here they're able to do it under the cover of covid.......
.
 
this is my fear.....that they'll see that they can get away with so much less and just keep right on doing it..
sure they'll bring back the fireworks, but the shows like Nemo? not necessarily...
they're always happy to cut back on expensive human capital.....here they're able to do it under the cover of covid.......
.
I see what you mean. WDW had no qualms about reducing the park experience with hour and staffing cut backs seemingly to make EMM, DAH and Dessert Tickets a more attractive expense.

How will demand play into this? Who knows what impact Covid travel concerns will have on WDW attendance, they could need to work harder satisfying guests as they rebuild. We can only hope 😆 Not really, either way is bad.
 
A lot of people are okay, happy no, but okay with the restrictions if it means they can visit this year. Another large group is not happy at all with this and will not attend. If you want to go and you feel your money is well spent, go. If you don't, don't. Im not sure why it cant be left at that?

Exactly, some people are happy to just stay at a resort and be on property. Me living in PA that's not really for me. This all comes down to personal preference. If you want to go down, go down. It's a cool opportunity to see the parks at low capacity in the summer. That is if you're willing to do so. To each their own. I agree with what most have said, Disney wants less people until all of this mess is sorted. I certainly won't complain about their offerings as it's my choice to go or not go.
 
I'm waiting to hear about some experiences people have when the place reopens. Because right now I'm not sure if it's going to be worth the money.

Chomping at the bit to go back ourselves but also using the first ones in as guinea pigs. I'm ok with no parades/fireworks and dealing with masks all day.

But man, if reports come back that ride wait times are through the roof for headliners (we would normally only do the big E-tickets with early entry and FP+ and those are gone) - or worse, on a boarding system where you can't get on at all if you didn't click fast enough??

If bus capacity issues are causing people to wait through multiple arrivals just to get on one? Dining impossible to grab just from less options being open? These are all adjustments that would make the tickets no longer worth the money.

So August/September crowd, my eternal thanks for being brave and getting us those answers!
 
As an annual passholder who has missed just being in the parks I'm ok with not having everything for sometime if it just means the parks can be open. Although, I've also gotten more than my monies worth out of my AP($2,099+tax for premier) this year (originally set to expire 7/22, will now expire 11/24 before any additional extensions that are to come) with logging 29 park days at WDW plus at least 30 DLR visits between July 22, 2019 and the March closures.

I think it makes a huge difference if you are going on a "once a year/2 years, etc" experience and being and AP that goes more often. I am DVC and have had an AP for years and I really do not go on many rides now. I just love being there. I have a 2 week trip planned for Oct(like I usually do) and will go walk around Epcot and AK for most of my trip. I am happy sitting in the aviary at the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I am looking forward to the smaller crowds, something we have not seen in almost 15 years.
 
Our trip is planned for December--booked last December on bounceback--and we reserved our parks yesterday. To be accurate, my sister reserved the parks while I stared at a pink castle. At any rate, we're waiting to see about a lot of things. What's the experience of being there going to be like? By December, there'll be lots of reports. Can we even go? I live in NYC and currently the 14-day quarantine would make a trip to WDW impossible for me. Would we even want to go? That would depend on the pandemic, how safe we felt traveling, and a lot of other variables.

We're used to park-hopping and carefully planning our FP+s. We stay at AKL and nearly always go to DAK in the early evening, no matter where we've been the rest of the day. Just walking around DAK after dark is really wonderful, and add on to that a FP+ for NRJ and we have a serene ending to our day of park-hopping. But no park-hopping. No FP+. No evening hours at DAK. And probably a long line for NRJ, not to mention what FoP might be like.

But if there are not many people in the park, that could turn out to be terrific. It's too soon to tell. I hold out hope, but that's all I've got right now--well, that, a reservation at AKL that could get moved, and 8 park days reserved.
 

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