New survey .. proposal .. Tiered Ticket Prices

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

If tiered tickets were the norm, it would give them a reason for annual and seasonal pass costs to rise even more.

Not necessarily. A whole family buying non FLR No block out dates APs at almost $700 a pop is already making a substantial investment plus it keeps them coming back instead of picking up a few days at Universal. I think the tiered structure will be geared more towards smaller ticket buys, one or two days etc. That's just a theory though.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Maybe they won't change anything then for you guys, except for the inevitable price increase.

Very likely, they have gone up slightly already at least with how much we have to put down first. Just like the day ticket increased, our down payment increased a bit too. We basically pay one day down and then as FLR, we can split it up monthly. But with already about 4 or 5 different levels or tiers of passes, it seems unlikely they will tier us even more.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I don't get why some people think it's silly to be talking about this. If we should not be talking about this on a Disney discussions board then where?

This baffles me as well. It is akin to taking someone to task for discussing Lebron James vs Steph Curry over on ESPN boards.

OTOH, how is anything we do on the DISBoards "productive"?

Speculation may not be productive, but it sure can be fun! I don't know about you, but I'll hang around for the fun...

Yes, this! The very concept of DISBoards is the exact opposite of productive. It is a lovely time-waster for folks who love Disney and love to chat about it. Productive? Hardly.


Here are my unabashedly unproductive first thought on the proposed tiering...
1) Of course Disney is going to try this. More than try it, I am guessing they have already decided to do it and this is a first salvo in order to introduce it to the public. Better to draw the ire at this stage than to do it later when you are actually rolling out the program. By then everyone has catted it to death and is resigned to it as the new reality. (Hey, Disney is no bunch of dummies when it comes to PR)

2) The price increases that seem to be surely coming are staggering. Do not fool yourself. Take a look at Len Testa's breakdown over on touring plans blog for details. I know... I know... "we all make choices about vacation spending", "Disney is speshul!! and magical!!", etc etc. For me it becomes a moral dilemma paying even that much more for a vacation when I live among, serve, and work on behalf of thousands of people who live in tents, motels, and slum housing in my town. I love Disney, but the cognitive disonance is getting a little too great to ignore. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to realize that more and more, WDW is becoming a destination for upper middle class and rich folks, and debt junkies. (Yeah, I know... "that sounds like a personal problem, Zip" ) Maybe I will just have to take Jiminy Cricket's advice on this one.

3) WDW is not offering enough attractions or activities in its parks to justify such a thing IMO. You may feel quite differently. However I think Epcot and DHS are pitiful right now, AK at least has Avatarland to look forward to at some point in the future. I have said this elsewhere, but even before the proposed tiering I don't think I will be too excited about going back to any park except MK until something changes.

4) Having said all this, Disney obviously knows that it has the demand for its product. It would not do this if it thought it would put resort occupancy at risk, or otherwise affect the bottom line in a negative way. People will continue to come and pay. That makes my observations a bunch of unproductive. twaddle.

 

[lugnut33]

Touring Plans has a blog entry explaining 3 things to like about the new plan, and 3 things to despise:
http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/0...twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

And when Pandora opens, we'll have "Soarin' over Pandora" and "It's a Blue World After All" to look forward to.

***weeping over the lost opportunity to build an awesome Manta like Banshee ride***

 

[lugnut33]

Just like in the Olympics I want to win the Gold!! (though in this instance it will mean I actually lose)

 

[lugnut33]

Wow, Len Testa is coming out with guns firing. He says Disney is specifically targeting people in the upper 10 to 20% of household income and he has marketing material to prove it. That's the audience Disney wants to attract.

This price increase seems to be a culling of the heard.

 

[Sparkly]

I wonder how FP at Disneyland will work? They can't do the 2 months prebooking like WDW, surely. Maybe 1 week out/day before? Or use MDE to digitally collect Fastpasses (use a scanner system to scan a point on a kiosk which puts 1 FP per linked ticket on MDE)?

 

[Marionnette]

There are already tiers now to FLR passes. We could go seasonal for less but have block out dates, but we did the annual pass with no block out dates that costs more. The only difference is that we don't have Premium which includes the water parks and DQ. I find it extremely hard to believe they will block locals out on a Sunday or charge more on a weekend. We are half their bread and butter.

I don't think that they would block locals out on weekends. They would just raise the prices on your annual passes in the same manner that they always have but they will make it much more attractive to opt for those weekday select and seasonal passes that are blacked out on weekends and/or peak times.

If I'm reading the news articles correctly, the survey was only sent to AP holders? This is just speculation on my part, but did anyone consider that the initial phase of this tiered pricing might be to offer the same kind of APs to the general public that they already offer to FL residents? After all, the software is already in place to handle those passes. They would just be opening up the options to a larger number of customers.

 

[Marionnette]

Wow, Len Testa is coming out with guns firing. He says Disney is specifically targeting people in the upper 10 to 20% of household income and he has marketing material to prove it. That's the audience Disney wants to attract.

This price increase seems to be a culling of the heard.

I like the reference to Bill Maher's rule about Starbucks ordering. Quite apropos.

 

[MKMomma]

Wow, Len Testa is coming out with guns firing. He says Disney is specifically targeting people in the upper 10 to 20% of household income and he has marketing material to prove it. That's the audience Disney wants to attract.

This price increase seems to be a culling of the heard.

Can you share a link, please? Thanks!

 

[Donald - my hero]

I don't think that they would block locals out on weekends. They would just raise the prices on your annual passes in the same manner that they always have but they will make it much more attractive to opt for those weekday select and seasonal passes that are blacked out on weekends and/or peak times.

If I'm reading the news articles correctly, the survey was only sent to AP holders? This is just speculation on my part, but did anyone consider that the initial phase of this tiered pricing might be to offer the same kind of APs to the general public that they already offer to FL residents? After all, the software is already in place to handle those passes. They would just be opening up the options to a larger number of customers.

Nope, OP here, we were there in Oct/Nov with a 10 day PH ticket. When we answered the original survey in EPCOT they asked that question 1st (what form of ticket media did we use)followed closely by how long since our last visit and if we were staying on site. Those same 3 questions were the 1st on the survey they e-mailed me.

 

[ougrad86]

So glad we bit the bullet and got 10 day NE PH WPM tickets right before they went away forever.

I have them too - I hope I don't try to enter MK with them and they say I can't get in until I pay the premium

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

AP holder here. I've gotten several surveys, none of which asked this. Also, the FLR is not likely to be offered to everyone. I see LOTS of APs in the parks and they are not FLR. To be frank, the difference in price is substantial. If they offer our pricing to everyone, that will be the direct opposite of a price hike. Nice idea though. I used to think FL APs had all the fun, no fair. If you can't beat em, join em.

 

[Marionnette]

AP holder here. I've gotten several surveys, none of which asked this. Also, the FLR is not likely to be offered to everyone. I see LOTS of APs in the parks and they are not FLR. To be frank, the difference in price is substantial. If they offer our pricing to everyone, that will be the direct opposite of a price hike. Nice idea though. I used to think FL APs had all the fun, no fair. If you can't beat em, join em.

I'm not saying that they would duplicate the pricing. I think they might offer those types of tickets to the general public, albeit at a cost that would be more than what they charge FL residents. How many current non-FL resident AP holders would opt for a weekday select pass if it represented a substantial saving over their current price? Especially if they don't take advantage of the other AP perks that aren't offered to the weekday select? I can envision Disney spinning this "cost savings" as a winning proposal to a lot of people who can't get seasonal and weekday APs now.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I'm not saying that they would duplicate the pricing. I think they might offer those types of tickets to the general public, albeit at a cost that would be more than what they charge FL residents. How many current non-FL resident AP holders would opt for a weekday select pass if it represented a substantial saving over their current price? Especially if they don't take advantage of the other AP perks that aren't offered to the weekday select? I can envision Disney spinning this "cost savings" as a winning proposal to a lot of people who can't get seasonal and weekday APs now.

For everyone else (including my friends and family who visit) I hope they do! However, for the most part, it appears to be having a negative impact from what is discussed here. Offering unlimited weekday passes (which btw a lot of the other parks in the area do, or even a Fun Card that offers everyone the same price across the board, FLR or otherwise) would be a positive. I'm not getting that vibe though from this conversation...

 

[lugnut33]

As for a unrestricted regular AP (current AP is $691.51 new), it would have to be priced higher than the 10 day Gold price which is $732. So that would be your starting point for what an AP would cost, but since APs are traditionally a little bit more than 50% higher than a 10 day park hopper, the price would be approx. $1098 for an unrestricted Annual Pass. That would be an increase of just over 50% for people wanting an Annual Pass. Of course, this is all purely speculation.

 

[Airb330]

This explains why the non-expiration option was discontinued.

I hope they bring it back or continue ticket specials for DVC members. With prices that high for short trips, I doubt we'll be going in the parks as much. We're definitely in the 'targeted demographic' too and can afford it. It's just too much though.

 

[amylevan]

This explains why the non-expiration option was discontinued.

I hope they bring it back or continue ticket specials for DVC members. With prices that high for short trips, I doubt we'll be going in the parks as much. We're definitely in the 'targeted demographic' too and can afford it. It's just too much though.

We are in the "targeted demographic". That doesn't mean we don't watch where our money goes and have limits on spending, look at value, etc. And until they put some serious help into EP & HS, they are dangerously close to exceeding what we perceive to be the "value" of park tickets.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Sheesh. That potential math makes me appreciate our FLR APs even more. I will be renewing literally as soon as my window opens...