So just why is Disney raising ticket prices so early

[mom2rtk]

Disney would probably fare better if they had a junior price on the tickets. Perhaps just split the difference between adult and child.

I think this is a great idea! But have a junior meal selection with smaller than adult portions of a greater variety of items.

 

[rt2dz]

I think this is a great idea! But have a junior meal selection with smaller than adult portions of a greater variety of items.

That's not a bad idea either. It's pretty standard in the restaurant industry (but since when does Disney follow industry standard ?), to have smaller/half servings at half price plus $1 or $2. They don't even have to offer it to all juniors (age 10-17). Maybe just ages 10-13 for those on the dining plan, and anyone paying out of pocket.

 

[mom2rtk]

That's not a bad idea either. It's pretty standard in the restaurant industry (but since when does Disney follow industry standard ?), to have smaller/half servings at half price plus $1 or $2. They don't even have to offer it to all juniors (age 10-17). Maybe just ages 10-13 for those on the dining plan, and anyone paying out of pocket.

Sounds perfect. And honestly, we don't need to be encouraging kids that age to be eating adult portions anyway.

We'll do the dining plan regardless, as we love doing nearly all the character meals. And once you pay out of pocket for a couple of those, you might as WELL be on the dining plan. But this bump at age 10 is going to be a tough one. Keeping my fingers crossed for free dining this December!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

This has been an interesting thread. Although I haven't read the whole thing, I read the last several pages and some good points are made.

I truly understand complaining about price increases, service cuts and other changes.

I also find it ironic that at the same time this thread is going on, there is another thread where people state that they would willingly pay even more than today's prices to come to Disney.

Doesn't it simply boil down to whether or not each family believes it's a good vacation value or not?

When you vacation, you have lots of choices. A local amusement park, camping at a national or state park, a cruise, an all-exclusive resort, skiing, visiting a foreign country or any one of thousands of other vacation destinations. There are so many choices and most are probably a lot less expensive than a Disney vacation. Yet, Disney still draws huge crowds year round every year.

Even though theme park tickets have increased, during the current times, Disney has lowered the overall cost for most families by offering free dining, room discounts, buy 4/get 3 promotions, etc. As demand increases, Disney will stop offering so many discounts. It's simply supply and demand.

So go ahead and complain. Disney will only listen once enough guests stop coming and then they will offer creative promotions to draw more guests back.

To me, it's even more interesting to watch the Disney cruise ship pricing. There are significantly fewer guests so Disney can, and does, change the pricing frequently for the exact same cruise. I've seen staterooms for a cruise over 16 months in advance of the sail date increase in price by over 50%! And as the cruise date gets closer, rooms may be 75% more than they were if you booked early. Yet, Disney is still able to fill those rooms. Think about that. Cruises are not inexpensive. A family of 4 may pay $150 per person per night if they book early (18 to 20 months out). If they wait a few months and book 15 months out, they may pay $225 per person per night. But if they want to cruise at the last minute (say 3 months out), they may pay $260 per person per night or more! For a 7-night cruise, that's a difference of $2,600 or more for waiting to book. And Disney still sails full most of the time! Yes, there are times where bookings don't fill up and similar to free dining, you may find "Kids Sail Free" or other last minute promotions to fill up a ship.

The point is, Disney will price to maximize profits by trying to find the price where they can get as many guests as possible paying as much as possible.

I have seen quite a few posts on here about those who will stay and eat off-site. This is exactly why Disney promotes their free Magical Express and "free" Disney park transportation. If you don't have a car, you will be eating every meal on-site and spending 24/7 at the Disney parks where you will purchase more than you may have originally intended. Plus, additional park days at Disney ($8 per day per person) are a lot less expensive than say a day at Sea World, Universal or even smaller attractions. These two items combined keep most guests "trapped" at Disney. Not everyone will stay off-site to save money as then they have the perceived additional cost of a rental car, parking and "inconvenience". Disney counts on these perceptions to trap guests on-site without a vehicle. If Disney perceives this to be an issue, they will lower their resort prices or offer more incentives to keep filling those rooms.


I don't care that I could have purchased a ticket in 1983 for a certain price and that the ticket has increased by x% since then. I only care about today. What are today's alternative vacation choices and what is best for our family.

Personally, we still find value in Disney vacations. When looking at alternatives for our 20th Anniversary last year, we looked at all-inclusive resorts, Vegas, other cruiselines, etc. However, we still chose a day at Epcot followed by a 4-night Disney cruise. It was about the same price as most of our alternatives and we knew we would enjoy it tremendously (we did!).

 

[dudelydude]

My best "investment" has been to buy a discounted ticket from Undercover Tourist just before the price increase, hold it until my next WDW vacation, then use it to upgrade to an annual pass. By using it at the turnstile before upgrading it, I get the current gate price applied to the cost of the more expensive ticket - thus saving me some money. The stock market has performed miserably in recent years, but the price of Disney tickets is almost guaranteed to rise! I am in effect "buying low and selling high"!

Hi NancyIL - this is "JoeIL" (Plainfield IL to be exact). I was wondering if I could trouble you for a favor. I signed up for the mousesavers newsletter and (as I have read so much on here), many sign up after the 15th of the month forcing them to wait til the next month to get their newsletter containing the link for the UT ticket discount. I did not get a newsletter yet, but I think I'm still getting the the discount when I enter my information on a mock order at the UT website. Could you (or anyone reading this) check for me? For 4 adults and 2 kids for the basic MYW tickets, I am getting a cost of $1431.70. Is this the best I'm going to do or should I wait until July 15th newsletter? Thanks in advance.

 

[flicx]

You actually couldn't hop until 1982, when Epcot was built. And they didn't start offering multi-day tickets until 1980. So until 1980, there were no leftovers on your ticket to expire (you bought a seperate ticket for every day you were in the park). And until 1982, a multi-day ticket was only good for one park. Starting in 1982, your multi-day ticket was, indeed, a park hopper (two parks) and didn't expire provided you had leftover days from your 3- or 4- day passport.

Two questions, regarding your comment of "I truly think disney should be a park for almost anyone to enjoy not a select portion of the population!"

1. What do you think would be a fair ticket price that would both reflect what WDW has to offer and would also make it possible for "almost anyone to enjoy"? (Keep in mind that the ticket price is often not the most expensive part of a WDW vacation -- there's travel and lodging in there too, so be sure to set the price low enough to make up for the money people would have to spend to get there.)

2. If WDW were suddenly cheaper and it was possible for "almost anyone to enjoy", what do you think that would do to the crowds and, in turn, the overall guest experience?

I really can't set that number,however something in line with what the increases in gas food etc have gone up would be fair.As far as crowds go I don't really think that would be much of a concern to disney.If it is crowded they will sell more of everything.Lets face it the most crowded times of the year are already the most expensive anyhow!One other thing we have all assumed is that there is more at the MK now than in the 80's.Not much,please remember they took out the skyway and 20,000 leagues(with no replacements)Also alot of rides have just simply been switched out such as Mr Toad,if you had wings,time keeper,mission to mars etc.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

ETA: I perused a couple of comments upthread regarding Disney's marketing of themselves as an affordable family vacation. I distinctly remember a commercial with a husband and wife sitting at a computer, pricing out a vacation and saying hey, it's not that expensive. So I'd have to agree that they have marketed it as such, at least in the past. Their current promo is the special memories each family can make at Disney.

Not only in the past, but today.

At the top of this page, I am currently reading the following:

"For example, enjoy a 6-night/7-day vacation package at select Disney Value Resorts, including room and Theme Park tickets, for as low as $69 per person, per day (based on a family of 4)!"

A similar add was just there for $91 per person, per day including the Quick Service Dining plan.

So, yes, Disney is still actively advertising itself as an affordable vacation destination.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Not only in the past, but today.

At the top of this page, I am currently reading the following:

"For example, enjoy a 6-night/7-day vacation package at select Disney Value Resorts, including room and Theme Park tickets, for as low as $69 per person, per day (based on a family of 4)!"

A similar add was just there for $91 per person, per day including the Quick Service Dining plan.

So, yes, Disney is still actively advertising itself as an affordable vacation destination.

Agreed.

Here's the youtube clip of the one I mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5qdaqLsSg

 

[WDSearcher]

I really can't set that number,however something in line with what the increases in gas food etc have gone up would be fair.As far as crowds go I don't really think that would be much of a concern to disney.If it is crowded they will sell more of everything.Lets face it the most crowded times of the year are already the most expensive anyhow!One other thing we have all assumed is that there is more at the MK now than in the 80's.Not much,please remember they took out the skyway and 20,000 leagues(with no replacements)Also alot of rides have just simply been switched out such as Mr Toad,if you had wings,time keeper,mission to mars etc.

I didn't ask if you thought crowds would be a concern for Disney. I asked how you thought it would affect the guest experience.

OK ... so ... let's raise ticket prices for a one-day, one-park ticket by a factor of three. I think back somewhere in the 290s you mentioned that other things had grown by about three times since 1985. So ... $17 x 3 = $51. It's now $51 to get into a park. That's $20 less than SeaWorld and about what it costs to get into Six Flags Over Georgia if you buy your ticket at the gate. This cheaper price means that a LOT more people are going to be able to come to the parks, including a lot more locals. APs and FL Resident APs will be a lot cheaper, so more people will have those as well. So the parks are going to be alot more crowded, and all the time. But there's not a lot of construction of new rides / attractions going on, because Disney is making less money. And if they're going to build anything, they're going to be building new resorts to house all the new people who can suddenly afford a Disney vacation. So there's bound to -- at least initially -- be a huge capacity problem. Long lines, not enough to do. Lines for everything -- bathrooms, Mickey bars, merchandise, water fountains. You think keeping bathrooms clean is a challenge now? Just wait!

Back around post 300, you said something about how bringing expensive new housing on Disney property was "hardly a move to improve 99% of the guests expierience!" So ... we've made WDW much more affordable to many more people, the parks are packed, lines are long, discounts are gone ... that's hardly a move to improve 99% of the guests experience either, is it? Sure, more people can get in. But if all they do is stand in line, how is that better?

 

[Kimi313]

I think prices are going up to pay for those people's backyards on "My Yard Goes Disney", hey just my opinion.

 

[AWHOFAN]

I was saving money for the end of July 2011 to buy 3 AP's. Now I will wait till we go in Dec 2011. No warning, No reason to get them now. thanks Igor.

 

[rt2dz]

I think prices are going up to pay for those people's backyards on "My Yard Goes Disney", hey just my opinion.

I want a Disney yard!! I didn't like the first one, but the second one was cool. Hey, I need to do something with my backyard. Right now it's just a big empty, fenced 1/2 acre of nothing.

 

[rt2dz]

I was saving money for the end of July 2011 to buy 3 AP's. Now I will wait till we go in Dec 2011. No warning, No reason to get them now. thanks Igor.

They gave the usual 3 day warning. They just changed the time. Prior to 5 years ago (when they've been raising in August), they did them at random times all the time. But not necessarily every year either.

 

[jayandstacey]

OK. How many attractions, rides and shows could you get for that $4.95 (or, rather, that $27.62) vs. the number of attractions, rides and shows you get for $90.53 today? Since most rides and attractions on opening day required additional tickets to be purchased, and since that $4.95 ($27.62) only covered basic admission and a few rides, my guess is that the over three times I'm paying for MK today is giving me well over three times the offerings. Particularly when you consider that I could literally spend all day long riding one thing over and over and over again, unlike on opening day, when I needed a hard ticket to ride something like Jungle Cruise or Pirates or see the Tiki Birds and then, if I wanted to see it again, had to use / buy another ticket. You have to look at value, not just price. The $90.53 ticket I buy today is worth more inside the park than the $4.95 ticket I could buy in 1985.:

I understand that the 1971 park also required hard tickets. Which is why I also included the 1982 admission price, the first year the hard tickets were completely gone.

The original tickets, actually, were only good for one day. Multi-day tickets weren't offered until 1980. So I'm not sure that you can make that claim on an opening day price ticket.:

I was trying to compare a single day ticket back then (1982, after hard tickets) to a "single day" park hopper of today. But there's no such thing today - today's park hoppers begin at 2 days. So I compared the 1982 ticket price to 1/2 the price of today's 2 day park hopper - making it as close to apples-to-apples as possible.

Again ... for that buying power of $32.78, how many rides and attractions were you getting vs. the ones you're getting for your $90+ today? Are you receiving three times the value for three times the price? I am. You may not be.

Here's a map of the MK from 1979, roughly the era we're talking about. There was certainly less in the park - but I'd say not a 1/3 of what's there today. I'd argue that maybe 20% ish has been added to MK since that era. And we can't count things like hotel amenities, water parks, etc - as they aren't a part of the ticket price.

To me, the bottom line is more that Disney was UNDER priced then, vs. overpriced now. I've never said today is a ripoff, rather that it isn't the same deal it has been in decades past, and that Disney has been relentless in advancing the total average dollars collected per person per trip. Park tickets are just a part of that. I'm also making the case that today's prices aren't the wonderful deal they were back then. Still not a ripoff, but quite a trade of value for dollars.

 

[WDSearcher]

Just read this in the Orlando Business Journal:

Universal Now Priciest Park in the US

ORLANDO (6/21/11) – After raising its ticket prices on Monday, Universal Orlando is now the priciest theme park in the nation in a nationwide comparison by consumer website MainStreet.com. MainStreet.com compared prices for single-day passes plus parking for two adults and two children for a Saturday visit. At Universal, a one-day ticket costs adults $85, kids $79 and parking $15 for a total of $343. Walt Disney World came in at No. 2 using the same guidelines, at $342. SeaWorld Orlando finished at No. 4, at $301.96.

So there.

 

[jayandstacey]

They gave the usual 3 day warning. They just changed the time. Prior to 5 years ago (when they've been raising in August), they did them at random times all the time. But not necessarily every year either.

And not necessarily only once a year either. We may see another price raise at the normal time (aug/sep) as well, or a price raise in some other aspect of a trip. Just sayin'

 

[mom2rtk]

Just read this in the Orlando Business Journal:

Universal Now Priciest Park in the US

ORLANDO (6/21/11) – After raising its ticket prices on Monday, Universal Orlando is now the priciest theme park in the nation in a nationwide comparison by consumer website MainStreet.com. MainStreet.com compared prices for single-day passes plus parking for two adults and two children for a Saturday visit. At Universal, a one-day ticket costs adults $85, kids $79 and parking $15 for a total of $343. Walt Disney World came in at No. 2 using the same guidelines, at $342. SeaWorld Orlando finished at No. 4, at $301.96.

So there.

I'm glad you find it all so amusing.

But honestly, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Universal would follow suit.

In my book, I don't care one whit what the "other guys" are doing. What matters is MY budget and whether MY family can afford to continue going.

You sure you don't work for the Disney accounting department? Maybe the PR department?

 

[jayandstacey]

Just read this in the Orlando Business Journal:

Universal Now Priciest Park in the US

ORLANDO (6/21/11) – After raising its ticket prices on Monday, Universal Orlando is now the priciest theme park in the nation in a nationwide comparison by consumer website MainStreet.com. MainStreet.com compared prices for single-day passes plus parking for two adults and two children for a Saturday visit. At Universal, a one-day ticket costs adults $85, kids $79 and parking $15 for a total of $343. Walt Disney World came in at No. 2 using the same guidelines, at $342. SeaWorld Orlando finished at No. 4, at $301.96.

So there.

What's interesting about this - Universal believes it now offers equal (or better) value for the same $$$. And people are agreeing.

I agree it is completely different value, but news like this means Disney has lost much of it's economic/marketing "moat" of separation from competitors.

 

[WDSearcher]

I understand that the 1971 park also required hard tickets. Which is why I also included the 1982 admission price, the first year the hard tickets were completely gone.

I was trying to compare a single day ticket back then to a "single day" park hopper of today. But there's no such thing today - today's park hoppers begin at 2 days. So I compared the 1982 ticket price to 1/2 the price of today's 2 day park hopper - making it as close to apples-to-apples as possible.

You can buy a one-day hopper. $127.80, including tax. Or, roughly, $32 per park for one day, if you can make it to all four!

Here's a map of the MK from 1979,[/URL] roughly the era we're talking about. There was certainly less in the park - but I'd say not a 1/3 of what's there today. I'd argue that maybe 20% ish has been added to MK since that era. And we can't count things like hotel amenities, water parks, etc - as they aren't a part of the ticket price.

But it's qualitative too. Sure, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin was a "replacement" for Delta Dreamflight, so it's not techncially an addition, but I happen to think that the Buzz ride is a significant improvement over what was there before and worthy of being called an addition and not a replacement. You may feel differently. I also include entertainment changes and upgrades, like the addition of Tink's flight and Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial on my list of "new stuff". Most people only look at rides and attractions. And lots of people don't count upgraded fireworks, new technology in parades or stage shows (articulated heads, for example) or additions of things like Capt Jack in POC or a new ride system at Space Mountain as "additions". But all of those upgrades cost money, made those rides better and have made MK better as a result. So it really depends on how you're counting. I try to look at the park as a whole -- what they've upgraded, what they've improved, what they've changed -- in addition to just what's been added. I still maintain that I'm getting at least three times more now than I was getting then. You may not feel the same way.

To me, the bottom line is more that Disney was UNDER priced then, vs. overpriced now. I've never said today is a ripoff, rather that it isn't the same deal it has been in decades past, and that Disney has been relentless in advancing the total average dollars collected per person per trip. Park tickets are just a part of that. I'm also making the case that today's prices aren't the wonderful deal they were back then. Still not a ripoff, but quite a trade of value for dollars.

I'll agree with you about the underpriced part and that Disney is trying to kind of over-compensate, perhaps, by raising prices at a more ... shall we say ... enthusiastic rate. But I still don't feel it costs "too much". I still feel I get value for the dollars my family spends there. But I'm also one of those people who -- even though I know I can get the same TV at Walmart for less than Target -- will still go to Target simply because I find the experience more pleasant. I'll pay the extra for a better overall experience. Lots of people won't.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

I'm glad you find it all so amusing.

But honestly, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Universal would follow suit.

In my book, I don't care one whit what the "other guys" are doing. What matters is MY budget and whether MY family can afford to continue going.

You sure you don't work for the Disney accounting department? Maybe the PR department?

My thoughts exactly. Budgets are personalized to your needs. For us, we have to pay more now due to two of our daughters being ten and older. Now it's getting outside our budget.

Sure we could stay in an RV at Ft. Wilderness, cook all of our own meals and limit our park days. But for us, that's not a vacation. Sigh, why can't my kids just stay small?

It will be interesting to see the trend over the next several years since Disney announced their plan to wean people off of the discounts. If true, prices will continue to rise and discounts may fade. Who knows. It's hard for DH and I to stomach the cost at this point for a week long vacation when for the same price, we could take two or three vacations (or go somewhere else and stay longer.) It's all so relative, I know, but that's where we're at now.