New ticket system coming to WDW - Begins October 16th

[jsanders82]

Of course there isn't value in it for everyone. I don't know how a family of 5 can do it on a single income or even 2 middle class ones. You have to save and save, which is what we do. But we are a family of 3 and now financially in a position to do it. At some point we probably won't be and that's ok, too.

Disney trips have been worth it to us. Every family has their own feelings of what is worth it and what isn't.

We are a family of 6 and our trip in June will honestly be the last trip we take to WDW. We had already been saving for the trip but it just seems like the money could be an awesome vacation else where. I bought our tickets Friday from UT and priced checked it yesterday via the Disney site. We saved almost $350 buying them early. It really rubbed me the wrong way. I mean how much more money do they need?

We plan our vacations 2 years in advance. I'm a planner Summer 2020 will be in Colorado and I'm really looking forward to not having to rope drop, made dining 180 days out and not costing us small fortune.

 

[ninafeliz]

But for Disney to do that it would have to be priced for the wealthiest of the wealthy and even then there would be more people wanting to get in than openings. DAH and EMM work for Disney because they are double/triple dipping into the attendance pool. They have the normal average Joes like us during regular operating hours and the people willing to pay a premium on top like the cherry on a sundae. I don’t think having a DAH or EMM size crowd all day would be a sustainable business model for the size of their parks.

Maybe it’s me, but when I was looking at the calendar for random tickets, I wasn’t seeing the large differences between what was peak season vs. value or regular season. The difference was more marked in the smaller tickets (say, a five day vs a ten day) but if they were wanting to spread the crowds out more evenly I would have expected a larger variance. The discount would have to be substantial for me to jump through hoops and visit at a less convenient time. People go when they go because it works for them to go at that time. Whether it’s work restrictions or school restrictions or whatever, to go at a different time may involve a lot of aggravation.

ITA with everything you wrote, that's why I continued what I had written by saying it would have to be priced for only the uber rich and thus it was just a pipe dream. I am aware it can't happen, and if it did, like you said, the prices would be higher than what we could spend anyway, but it's an interesting concept to think about. I quoted my complete paragraph below for context.

I also agree that for me to even consider changing my dates due to ticket prices, the variability would have to be a lot more than it is. As it is now, we choose based on school calendars, my DHs call schedule, when he can take off work, activity schedules, and actually when we want to go, among other things! To add another variable into the mix - ticket price- it would take a very large price difference before we used that as a deciding factor as well.

In actuality, I think I would like to have to pay a lot more but be guaranteed short/no lines - like DAH but for all of the parks all day. We would do each park one day, and if we wanted to save money we would skip a park for that trip. The problem is, I think that price would have to be so high that only the uber rich (think celebrities, headliner sports players, mega company CEOs) would be able to go - not just the well off (or even very well off) or those that save up for a trip. Plus scheduling and reserving would be a nightmare. So it's just a pipe dream. But it would be nice. Doesn't Discovery Cove at Sea World work something like that?

 

[zebrastreyepz]

We are a family of 6 and our trip in June will honestly be the last trip we take to WDW. We had already been saving for the trip but it just seems like the money could be an awesome vacation else where. I bought our tickets Friday from UT and priced checked it yesterday via the Disney site. We saved almost $350 buying them early. It really rubbed me the wrong way. I mean how much more money do they need?

We plan our vacations 2 years in advance. I'm a planner Summer 2020 will be in Colorado and I'm really looking forward to not having to rope drop, made dining 180 days out and not costing us small fortune.

We are out, as well. I canceled both December trips for this year.

Only exceptions will be Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris at least once and possibly one trip to Disneyland.

I'm done.

Saw that Disney has sunk $20M into stopping the gambling in Florida. I'm tired of paying for their lobbyists and the big CEO salaries.

 

[epcotty]

I can't seem to get the right page to load on the website regardless of the browser I use. Can anyone tell me if this has affected the FL resident 3 & 4 day passes? Since we have family visiting next year who will be going, we got some of those before this price increase/restructuring. Just interested to see if this has affected those

 

[quagmire0]

There's a market for it, plain and simple. For every family like mine (with kids getting older (thus more $$$) and 3,4,5+ kids) that feels the pinch, there will be 2 or 3 families that won't. Or people without kids. Disney wouldn't raise the prices if they honestly thought it would hurt their bottom line. They know their 'sweet spot' and they will continue to go to it - under the guise of 'making your experience better'. That's a crock. It may, inadvertently, draw down crowds a *smidge*, but it will do more to allow them to staff less people, pay less overtime, pay less utilities, and thus cut costs. The construction/renovation that is *finally* happening was all funded by decades of stagnation, not by what they charge you today.

It's crazy when I look through our budgeting for trips in 2011, 2014, and 2016. Yes, we were paying for one kid more each time, but the jump up has been pretty significant. Doesn't seem as large when you just compare this year vs. last year, but it has really built up over the last few years into a significant cost. Add to that the increase in airfare costs (lodging, at least offsite, has remained pretty steady) and Disney trips are no longer the bargain that they once were.

 

[quagmire0]

Does anyone have inside knowledge on how this change will effect re-sellers like UT? Will they still be able to offer a comparable savings compared with the WDW rate?

 

[Pennstate6411]

I’m still not reading a whole lot into that date.

I agree with not looking into that date. I think Disney wouldn't be that transparent in regards to when SWGE is opening this far in advance. Also, the biggest issue I see with it opening that week is that you would want to drive crowds up with SWGE opening, I don't see the need for such things 1 week prior to Christmas. Christmas is such a business week or 2 to being with, I can't even comprehend why Disney would open it that week. I would think they would want a better feel for how crowds at SWGE either a few weeks to a month prior to Christmas or after the crowds die down use it to make January a blockbuster month for visitors. I could very much be wrong and they did forecast the 17th as THE date, but I just don't see Disney doing that. I see it either end of October, early November or not until after the holiday season is over. It would be very sweet to have SWGE open for Christmas Day/week but the logistical nightmare of probably closing down both DHS and MK due to capacity on the same day seems like too much of a headache for Disney. Can you imagine guest services complaints, the lines for food, the parks themselves, the bus waits, etc. Again, can be way off base here, but just don't see it. However, when I put in a package date for 12/22/19 to 12/29/19 I get a ticket price of 1744.64 for 2 adults and 1 child with park hopper, dividing that into 7 days and then by 3 people it is coming out to 83 a day which is definitely higher and could signal something or it can just be their Christmas week pricing

 

[rteetz]

Does anyone have inside knowledge on how this change will effect re-sellers like UT? Will they still be able to offer a comparable savings compared with the WDW rate?

They will continue to sell Disney tickets as for savings it’s unclear. They are currently authorized to sell the old tickets through Oct. 29th.

 

[HHMcG]

Looks like prices went down for my dates (arrive Jan 15).

But I bought through a broker so what I paid is cheaper than what Disney is showing. Haven't found a broker that is showing the new pricing to do a true comparison.

Random thought: My trip has a 3-day cruise in the middle of it and I would need to add the flex option, so not really cheaper. Adding the flex option is so 'wrong' to me (paying for something I used to get free) that I would instead just add one more day to my ticket. Now I would have a long enough period to use all my days and I would spend an extra half day in the park (on departure day). I have a feeling that is exactly what Disney wanted.


I am planning to buy and AP certificate before Feb 2019. (I don't plan to use it for years.) I really didn't believe APs would go up yesterday. There just wasn't enough confirmed chatter about it. I lost out.

The loss of the 14 day I think is a bigger deal than Disney may realize.
I haven't checked.... but what is the price of the flex option compared to just adding more days to your ticket? So, for example you buy a 5 day ticket, want to use it for 3 days, then go to where-ever for 4 days, then back to WDW for your last 2 days. Would it be cheaper to get a 7 day hopper vs. the flex option? giving you the extension of the 2 days you need. I know doing this you actually won't use all 7 days, but is it cheaper than the flex option??

How could you really not use those 2 extra days. I couldn't resist. Adding a day or going for a half day on a travel day, whatever. And then Disney gets more of my money in food, etc.

Someone posted that DCL will have tickets good for 14 days for those who do a WDW-cruise-WDW split.

Was this confirmed or speculation?

 

[QueenElinor]

Personally speaking, we can afford the price increases, but I still feel the worth and perceived value are no longer there.

At this price point, for us to get the experience we want a trip to Disney is almost as costly as a National Geographic trip. Those are pretty darn fun for older kids. The only reason we don't do that now is my oldest does not wish to leave the country because of his security clearance, it's a pain. It's definitely comparable to Hawaii for us, also, but one of the other kids doesn't like the beach, so whaddayado? Disney it is, at least once more.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We are a family of 6 and our trip in June will honestly be the last trip we take to WDW. We had already been saving for the trip but it just seems like the money could be an awesome vacation else where. I bought our tickets Friday from UT and priced checked it yesterday via the Disney site. We saved almost $350 buying them early. It really rubbed me the wrong way. I mean how much more money do they need?

We plan our vacations 2 years in advance. I'm a planner Summer 2020 will be in Colorado and I'm really looking forward to not having to rope drop, made dining 180 days out and not costing us small fortune.

I totally get where you're coming from. When our passes expire in March of 2020 we are taking a break. I know we will be ready then and we have some other destinations planned.

Right now my kid is really into it and finding her courage and fun at Disney. She's not quite ready for museums and state parks yet. We are following her lead for the most part.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Is anyone else having the site redirect to the Ireland site? I live in Florida

Just saw this. If you go to the upper right it should say something about the country. Click the little globe thingy next to it, and there should be a drop-down menu of different countries. That happened to me yesterday too, and it's randomly happened before. Warning! I had to do this twice yesterday-the first time, the drop down menu didn't include the option of the US, so I just closed the website and tried again.

 

[raider97]

So happy I bought our tickets before the new pricing structure came out. It would have been a $170 more for the 5 of us. Not sure we will ever go again over the holidays. It’s just gotten so pricey.

 

[lanejudy]

Was this confirmed or speculation?

It was posted by a TA as information they received at training for the new tickets. Credible info, though I haven't seen anyone post specifics about what DCL has to offer for this situation.

 

[AngiTN]

Yep .. I've been coming more frequently since 2015 (since I had kids). We go every 18 months or so .. and while I sheltered myself from the ticket price increases by getting the old no-expiration option tickets, you can't shelter yourself from the other price increases like food.

Disney has not only raised prices a significant amount in those four years they have slowly removed ALL the options we (the frequent, returning guests) could use to save money on tickets. No more no-expiration option (where tickets didn't have to be used all at once), all MYW tickets now expire in a year or two, increases in Annual Pass prices (about 10% increase JUST this year in two separate price bumps) and now tickets have to be used in a specific date range.

Obviously the increasing crowds say otherwise (and I am part of the problem), but you'd think that this much change/increase in such a short time will alienate your die-hard fans. The ones that spend a lot of money at the parks year over year and want to come back, but feels like we are being punished for our loyalty.

I just feel they need another option (besides Annual Pass) to give loyal, returning guests some sort of discounts on tickets. (Like bring back the old no-expiration option tickets).

I think they have alienated a lot of die hard fans.

There is no reason to do that if crowds stay the same or go up.

I agree with what you said. We always used to use tickets any time we wanted because they never expired. Then they added an expiration but you could buy non expiring tickets, which cost more, but we adapted and started buying NE tickets. Then they eliminated that and we stocked up a little bit on NE tickets, but also bought our first APs. Now APs are $900 a person, and once our twins turn 3 we will have to buy 6 tickets! I don't think we'll go the AP route then, we'll let our current ones run out and decide from there. However, I feel like we are a group that they are shooting themselves in the foot by alienating. We spend a lot of money on extras while we go, even though we did try to be as economical as possible and practical with tickets. We do dessert parties, EMMs, DAH, stay CL frequently, did the CL paid FP program, eat TS restaurants whenever we want, don't carry our own snacks, etc... Not to mention I buy tons of souvenirs . So it isn't like we are super frugal and don't give Disney any extra money, so they need to make sure we pay through the nose for tickets. Tickets and rooms are the way to get us here, we take it from there and spend way too much extra! If we don't even get here, we'll spend that elsewhere. We had been at the point of making 3-4 trips a year from PA, then we went down to once a year with the addition of 2 more kids, this year we're going 3x, but after this I think it will be once a year or even every 18 mos or so. Not just because of this ticket change, but everything adds up and my DH also has a point that there are lots of other places to go.

Right .. but that the same time .. with how busy it is .. if ticket prices were any lower, it simply would be a lot more crowded. Disney is just adjusting to us. We keep coming, so obviously they don't need to have any more economical options to tickets. This hopefully is their main goal though. Higher prices, which makes less crowds, which improves guest experience, which hopefully encourages future visits (or spread good word of mouth).

Disney does not want (especially in today's social media world) people on vacation (or coming back) and posting pictures of crowds and complaints how it wasn't worth the money .. etc.

Paying an arm and a leg and dealing with huge crowds and not being able to get the FPs and ADRs you want .. that will send people quickly to the competition.

In my opinion, that’s already the case. But they just keep coming.

Sure, there are so many ways to look at all of this. Plus, as you and everyone else says, people keep coming so they aren't messing up too much! Also, as you point out, I don't want cheaper prices and MORE people, it's already crazy! I would be fine with the increases if it actually meant less crowded parks and less lines - but it won't! They don't care what works best for my family, they want what will bring in the most people and revenue.

In actuality, I think I would like to have to pay a lot more but be guaranteed short/no lines - like DAH but for all of the parks all day. We would do each park one day, and if we wanted to save money we would skip a park for that trip. The problem is, I think that price would have to be so high that only the uber rich (think celebrities, headliner sports players, mega company CEOs) would be able to go - not just the well off (or even very well off) or those that save up for a trip. Plus scheduling and reserving would be a nightmare. So it's just a pipe dream. But it would be nice. Doesn't Discovery Cove at Sea World work something like that?

That's because of first time visitors or people who aren't in the know or go too little so comparisons between trips may not mean much or in certain cases they cave and go back.

Of course there isn't value in it for everyone. I don't know how a family of 5 can do it on a single income or even 2 middle class ones. You have to save and save, which is what we do. But we are a family of 3 and now financially in a position to do it. At some point we probably won't be and that's ok, too.

Disney trips have been worth it to us. Every family has their own feelings of what is worth it and what isn't.

ITA. Especially when we look at vacations we can take to other destinations for the same--or even less!--money. I also feel like the value proposition is less now that our kids are a little older. When we first started going when they were 5 and 2, Disney was great because it was such an easy vacation to take with kids. Now that it is 7 years later and the kids are easier to take anywhere, generally, I have a harder time spending Disney-level money on just Disney vacations.

We are out, as well. I canceled both December trips for this year.

Only exceptions will be Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris at least once and possibly one trip to Disneyland.

I'm done.

Saw that Disney has sunk $20M into stopping the gambling in Florida. I'm tired of paying for their lobbyists and the big CEO salaries.

There's a market for it, plain and simple. For every family like mine (with kids getting older (thus more $$$) and 3,4,5+ kids) that feels the pinch, there will be 2 or 3 families that won't. Or people without kids. Disney wouldn't raise the prices if they honestly thought it would hurt their bottom line. They know their 'sweet spot' and they will continue to go to it - under the guise of 'making your experience better'. That's a crock. It may, inadvertently, draw down crowds a *smidge*, but it will do more to allow them to staff less people, pay less overtime, pay less utilities, and thus cut costs. The construction/renovation that is *finally* happening was all funded by decades of stagnation, not by what they charge you today.

It's crazy when I look through our budgeting for trips in 2011, 2014, and 2016. Yes, we were paying for one kid more each time, but the jump up has been pretty significant. Doesn't seem as large when you just compare this year vs. last year, but it has really built up over the last few years into a significant cost. Add to that the increase in airfare costs (lodging, at least offsite, has remained pretty steady) and Disney trips are no longer the bargain that they once were.

What competition do they have for the group that is wanting a DISNEY vacation? Not a theme park vacation that can be found in a lot of places or even a generic family vacation that would be fun anywhere. But to those who are after DISNEY? Disney knows there are a whole lot of families who are choosing Disney as a vacation because Disney is their specific destination, and use their vacation to go. In those families, just any other destination won't cut it. And in a lot of those cases, price is only a small element to consider. When those families sit down and says "we are going to Disney" they plan the trip to fit in their budget. They aren't the ones that are sitting down with a budget and picking a vacation that fits in it, and Disney just happens to be one of the many that fit. That's why folks keep going, and won't stop and Disney knows this, which is why they feel at liberty to raise prices without a limit it seems

Even one PP above mentioned they won't do WDW but they are going to other parks, so for them, Disney is still the destination. Still spending money to the same company and I wonder, couldn't it be as expensive as WDW would be (without knowing where PP lives). I know for us on the east coast, all 3 of those destinations would be much more expensive.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I know for us on the east coast, all 3 of those destinations would be much more expensive.

Yep. Disney is actually not that expensive for my family, being from Louisiana. We work the system for room discounts and either drive or fly depending on the situation. Big reason why we have so many trips planned for the future.

 

[jsanders82]

We are out, as well. I canceled both December trips for this year.

Only exceptions will be Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris at least once and possibly one trip to Disneyland.

I'm done.

Saw that Disney has sunk $20M into stopping the gambling in Florida. I'm tired of paying for their lobbyists and the big CEO salaries.

I doubt I am WDW's target customer so I doubt they will miss me. I have only been to WDW about 6 times in my life. This will be my kids second trip. Last time as a family was 7 yrs ago but I did a girls trip in Feb 2018. We don't stay onsite (will be at WBC) so no dining plan either. Since there are 6 of us, I can't rationalize the cost of dessert parties or DAH. I am only booking 3 TS during our 10 day trip - everything else is CS or off site. I am sure WDW would like for me not to come so a family who will spend more onsite can take my place.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

What competition do they have for the group that is wanting a DISNEY vacation?

Is this a rhetorical question?

 

[zebrastreyepz]

What competition do they have for the group that is wanting a DISNEY vacation? Not a theme park vacation that can be found in a lot of places or even a generic family vacation that would be fun anywhere. But to those who are after DISNEY? Disney knows there are a whole lot of families who are choosing Disney as a vacation because Disney is their specific destination, and use their vacation to go. In those families, just any other destination won't cut it. And in a lot of those cases, price is only a small element to consider. When those families sit down and says "we are going to Disney" they plan the trip to fit in their budget. They aren't the ones that are sitting down with a budget and picking a vacation that fits in it, and Disney just happens to be one of the many that fit. That's why folks keep going, and won't stop and Disney knows this, which is why they feel at liberty to raise prices without a limit it seems

Even one PP above mentioned they won't do WDW but they are going to other parks, so for them, Disney is still the destination. Still spending money to the same company and I wonder, couldn't it be as expensive as WDW would be (without knowing where PP lives). I know for us on the east coast, all 3 of those destinations would be much more expensive.

I am the one who mentioned Disney overseas BUT it is an aside to traveling to Japan and Europe which is something I've always wanted to do. I won't be spending 8K on JUST a trip to WDW. I will be seeing lots more than Disney.

Same with Disneyland. I will be seeing as part of an encompassing trip to Southern California. It won't be a 10 day Disney only thing.

And they will be one and done.

I live in Tulsa and drive to Florida and have done 4 WDW trips in 18 months. But I'm over it. I'm over the rising costs all the while services and experiences are being cut back.

If you're not...or anyone else is not...that's fine.

 

[AngiTN]

Is this a rhetorical question?

No it is not.