New ticket tier confusion

[tenneycjt]

Can anyone explain the new 1 day tier system, I mean as far as which days are more than others, I looked at all the published months on the disneyland website, And I saw all sorts of differnet prices in the same week, whith some being higher on thursday but maybe 2 tiers lower on a tuesday, in ths same week, Of course i looked at when spring break is but I see there are some higher tiers even in Feb. For exapmple last nov when i went, nov 17 to the 21st, All the weekday tickets were regular tier from Mon _thursday. Now with the same time this year is there anyway to tell whether it would be a tier 3 4 or five. I dont think they could have created a more confusing system.

 

[sjmac42]

The only explanation I can come up with is the busier the day, the more you pay. It would be based on Disney’s expectation of crowds due to holidays, events and seemingly the day of the week.

With a 2 day or longer ticket, it’s irrelevant as the price is always the same although in some cases it may be cheaper to buy 2 x 1 day tickets than 1 x 2 day ticket. That’s been the case for a while now since the tiered pricing came into effect.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

If you will be buying multi-day tickets, then the tiers don't affect you. Tiers only matter for single day tickets and determine how many blockout dates a ticket has. Tier 1 has more blockout dates than Tier 5, therefore Tier 1 is less expensive than Tier 5. Tier 5 tickets are good for all Tier days -- from the least expensive to the most (1-5), Tier 4 tickets are good for Tier 1-4 days, Tier 3 tickets are good for Tier 1-3 days, Tier 2 tickets are good for Tier 1-2 days, and Tier 1 tickets are only good on Tier 1 days. So, for example, if you really didn't know which day you would be able to visit, but knew you only had one day and that there were some blockout dates possible, you could buy a Tier 5 single day ticket and be good to go on any day you chose. On the other hand, if you needed to save as much money as possible, then you would need to make sure that you chose a Tier 1 ticket and visited on a Tier 1 day. And, if you knew exactly which day you could visit and only had that one day, then you would have to pay whatever price Tier the ticket was that day. Does this make sense? (It is confusing right now, but I hope it will get better as people get used to the new system.)

 

[StormyCA]

Just to add to above: if you buy a 'lower' tier ticket and then end up going on a 'higher' tier day, you can pay the difference at the ticket booths and 'upgrade' to the higher tier. So if you aren't sure what day you're going, you could theoretically buy a lower tier ticket and then upgrade if you go on a higher day.

"Upgrading Tickets
If you have purchased a 1-day ticket and decide to use it for a day on which it is not valid, you can upgrade the ticket by applying the paid value of the ticket toward the price of the new ticket at any Disneyland Resort Guest Relations location, with some limitations."

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/faq/tickets/ticket-dates/

 

[EmJ]

If you will be buying multi-day tickets, then the tiers don't affect you. Tiers only matter for single day tickets and determine how many blockout dates a ticket has. Tier 1 has more blockout dates than Tier 5, therefore Tier 1 is less expensive than Tier 5. Tier 5 tickets are good for all Tier days -- from the least expensive to the most (1-5), Tier 4 tickets are good for Tier 1-4 days, Tier 3 tickets are good for Tier 1-3 days, Tier 2 tickets are good for Tier 1-2 days, and Tier 1 tickets are only good on Tier 1 days. So, for example, if you really didn't know which day you would be able to visit, but knew you only had one day and that there were some blockout dates possible, you could buy a Tier 5 single day ticket and be good to go on any day you chose. On the other hand, if you needed to save as much money as possible, then you would need to make sure that you chose a Tier 1 ticket and visited on a Tier 1 day. And, if you knew exactly which day you could visit and only had that one day, then you would have to pay whatever price Tier the ticket was that day. Does this make sense? (It is confusing right now, but I hope it will get better as people get used to the new system.)

I’m sure this is obvious, but my brain is so fried right now. Does this mean Disney appears to think Tier 5 days will be busiest, or Tier 1 days?

 

[lalasmama]

I’m sure this is obvious, but my brain is so fried right now. Does this mean Disney appears to think Tier 5 days will be busiest, or Tier 1 days?

That is my understanding. Tier 5 = busiest.

 

[StormyCA]

Tier 5 is the busiest. The purpose is to 'spread the crowd' by 'incentivizing' guests to go on days when admission costs less.

These used to be broken up into 3 'days': value, regular, and peak days. Now they're broken up into 5 'tiers'.

Works for me. I'd always choose to go on a day that costs less, if at all possible. Personally, I'd expect the tier 1&2 days to either 'disappear' or be extremely 'rare' during summer and holidays.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I’m sure this is obvious, but my brain is so fried right now. Does this mean Disney appears to think Tier 5 days will be busiest, or Tier 1 days?

Other posters have explained this already, but Tier 5 now = Peak (Busy/Peak Crowds), Tier 1 now = Value (Less Busy/Lower Crowds), Tiers 2-4 now = Variations on Regular (Moderately Busy/Moderate Crowds).