New Ticket Upgrade Policy?

[POOHsie]

Interesting that Disney didn't bother to contact their authorized sellers about this.

I might guess this change will put third party sellers out of business or seriously diminish their business.

 

[JanaDee]

That's basically how I'll be handling it, too. We're renting DVC points this time around to stay at either AKV or BWV, but this would possibly become the first time I'd get one-park-per-day passes (unless my Mother absolutely insists on hoppers should she come along with.) At this point, I'll just get them through Disney and nix the Orbitz ticket buying I normally do using Ebates and their 10% cash back.

None of this will ruin my trip, but it will noticeably affect how much money I spend and how often I spend it on multiple things. Park hoppers will probably be out for me (hey, extra $59!) and I'll be one grumpy person for not being able to get my SOTMK card packs each day like I want to, but that's it, really. In a way, it might even be a blessing if this is true. Means I'll be able to save more for longer stays every couple of years versus two semi-long trips each year.

Oh wait… doesn't Disney want my money?

Park hopping is $63.90 per ticket now.

 

[msdaisy]

I might guess this change will put third party sellers out of business or seriously diminish their business.

I would think so if this is true. I guess Disney wants the whole pie.

 

[rachel09985]

It isn't a huge deal if they don't do the price bridging anymore but to not make them upgradeable is what will make me mad. I basically would be out $330!

 

[AliceandAriel]

Park hopping is $63.90 per ticket now.

Well heck, even better. That's a whole day of food for me assuming one place is a TS in WDW. Or two days of CS/QS meals and some snacks.

 

[SUSIEQ]

I might guess this change will put third party sellers out of business or seriously diminish their business.

Yea, I know that I would not buy from they anymore.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

 

[mom2rtk]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

Plans change. Friends pop up with a trip at the same time and you want to add a day to visit the parks together. That BOG ADR shows up but it's on the one day you had planned not to do the parks. You're in the parks and the weather turns bad, so you decide to skip your resort day and head back to the parks.

 

[AliceandAriel]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

Some of us add days with unplanned or spontaneous events. Typically, before this past trip, I've bought tickets for the parks each day I'm there not including the day I arrive because it's usually in the afternoon and I'm beat from the flight. This trip, I went to MK the day I landed because one, I arrived earlier than past trips, and two, I had the extra days from an Orbitz ticket that was Buy 3 Days Get 2 Free (or a 5 Day Hopper in short).

I was only supposed to be there for four days. But bad weather kept me in Disney for an extra night. The next day my plane didn't leave until late in the evening, so I used my last park day for MK again and enjoyed the sights for a bit. Had I not bought the 5 Day Hopper, I would have just sat and stared at the resort for a few hours, munched on food, and chilled out. But that park day was worth it.

 

[maxiesmom]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

For me there have been trips where I haven't been sure of the number of days I was really going to use, so I might guess a day or two less, and then upgrade once I was at WDW. Or we might make a park plan to use non park hopper tickets, and then decide we want them once we are at WDW.

If this news is true I will definitely not be under-guessing the number of days I need. If anything I will over-guess as adding an extra day I end up not using would still be cheaper than buying the same pass at Disney prices.

 

[Marionnette]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

Well, let's say I want to spend 7 days hopping at the parks. I can buy a 7-day hopper from "TeamMickeyTickets" for $20 off the gate price of the ticket or I can buy a 5-day hopper for $26 off the gate price of a 5-day hopper and upgrade to the 7-day hopper at the gate. I walk away from the ticket booth having saved $26 off of the gate price of the 7-day ticket. Multiply that by the number of people in your family and you can save some serious money.

It becomes an even bigger savings with more entitlements and days on a ticket. There are some UT tickets that are currently listed as being $99 off the gate price!

 

[SUSIEQ]

It isn't a huge deal if they don't do the price bridging anymore but to not make them upgradeable is what will make me mad. I basically would be out $330!

I don't mind if they don't price bridge anymore, but continue to let me upgrade, and from the price that I paid for the ticket...... not from the price the wholesaler paid for the ticket.

 

[suemom2kay]

I find it hard to believe Disney is changing things.

Well Year of A Million Dreams was such a success that this year the theme is Year of a Million Changes.

 

[KittyKat1978]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

With Air Miles, the only options are 3, 5, or 7 one park per day ticket.

If I could have gotten a 7 day park hopper I would have because I always hop on my last few days.

They don't cost me anything, so I save $300+ dollars buying them with points through Air Miles.

Well I guess the mountain of paper towel and toilet paper in my closet is what these tickets cost me LOL

 

[msdaisy]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

In my case I knew we planned on 6 park days. I have 10 nights rented at OKW. We were going to do some pool time and downtown disney time as well. When the Orbitz/ebates deal popped up, I just crunched the numbers. It was cheaper for me to buy the Orbitz buy 3 get 2 free and add a day once we had used our tickets once. So I knew from the get go we wanted 6 days, but I bought based on saving the most money. So now we will just have an extra pool day. Sometimes I swear my kids enjoy swimming at the resorts more than the park anyway. Maybe I should have just been saving for a pool all this time.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Thanks, all, I get it now. I'm an AP holder now so I'm grandfathered into the renewal process.

 

[Order66]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

I my case I'm not sure if I wanted 6 or 7 days. We are going to be there 8 full days. One day for sure will be water park/DTD day. We will spend one day at each water park, but we may or may not want to go to a park for just an evening. We could decide to just hang out at the resort or go DTD again. We also have an early evening flight and could decide to get up early and have a few extra rides before we go home. So many reasons I'm not 100% positive how many days I want. So I bought the ticket with the greatest discount and planned on adding days when I got there since it's only $10 a day plus tax. Or has been.

I also waffled on buying hoppers. We usually got them. Last trip we ended up not wanting to leave a park to go to another. I really felt we only park hopped once just so I wouldn't feel I wasted my money. This time I was going to wait and see if hopping was something we wanted to do when the time came. But since the difference was only something like $18 between a WPM and a WPM hopper I went ahead and ordered the tickets with both.

Now I'm just going to wait and see for an answer from the ticket broker I purchased from before deciding what to do about it.

regards

 

[HookdonWDW]

That's basically how I'll be handling it, too. [snip] I'd get one-park-per-day passes (unless my Mother absolutely insists on hoppers should she come along with.) At this point, I'll just get them through Disney and nix the Orbitz ticket buying I normally do using Ebates and their 10% cash back.

None of this will ruin my trip, but it will noticeably affect how much money I spend and how often I spend it on multiple things. Park hoppers will probably be out for me (hey, extra $59!) and I'll be one grumpy person for not being able to get my SOTMK card packs each day like I want to, but that's it, really. In a way, it might even be a blessing if this is true. Means I'll be able to save more for longer stays every couple of years versus two semi-long trips each year.

Oh wait… doesn't Disney want my money?

But Disney might actually get MORE of your $$$. Orbitz and Ebates are making their $$$ somewhere - and since it isn't from you, it's from Disney. If Disney cuts out the middleman, and you pay them directly, they get a bigger share of the pie. In other words, you don't buy the PH option from them, but you pay more for the base ticket through them. One less family hopping to a second park, and they still make around the same amount of $$$.

Also, part of the reason for the big discounts is that Disney is outsourcing the sales of those tickets to the wholesalers, which theoretically saves them $$$ since they don't have to have as many people working in the sales arena. If half the people who buy through wholesalers come back and add on to the ticket, Disney now has to have additional staff to accomodate those customers. In addition, the largest part of the ticket has already been paid for, so Disney is making less than they would have if they had just done the whole transaction in the first place, but their fixed costs haven't decreased.

So, the way I see it, this isn't a matter of Disney wanting less of your $$$. It's a matter of Disney wanting a bigger share of the money. And again... no one knows EXACTLY what the change is yet...

 

[damo]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

For us, we save up loyalty points and get our tickets. They don't offer the parkhopper option. The rest of our group already has the parkhopper option on their tickets that they purchased from UT, so that leaves half the party with parkhoppers and half without.

 

[rt2dz]

I always buy from Disney, so I have an honest question. Why are there so many people who need to upgrade when they get to Disney? Why don't they buy what they need at the discounted price to begin with?

Many of the reasons listed could be why I upgrade on any given trip, but one not mentioned is that I have a child with Autism. Kids with ASD might be able to handle several days in the parks, or just a few. In the special needs community, many buy what they feel their kid can definitely handle and then add as they go for additional days.

Another time we decided to take advantage of a Bounceback offer, which made more sense for us to upgrade to APs.

Other times, we took the package deal that required us to purchase tickets, but already had APs, so using those tickets and upgrading them later made more sense. Never know what the next trip might be--a short trip or an extended trip.

I've also received tickets as gifts, as most know we were big Disney fans. I've also on tickets in fundraising auctions that others have donated.

Then there is the cost savings of not buying from Disney, especially true for large families. Buying the biggest discounted ticket, especially prior to a price increase, then upgrading it. To what you want later has saved us a couple hundred dollars.