Surprise AP & Ticket Increase

[Sandeep1]

This is the type of thing that I realize makes no difference to me. Each price increase announcement, I say I won't renew my AP because it's too expensive. I can barely make it a year without visiting before I go get another one. I have Signature. I wish the increase would make me not want to buy it again because that would stop me from buying purses and Pandora charms and overpriced Tshirts and sweaters. The cost of the AP is nothing compared to what I spend when I am at the parks.

I do hope that I find a less expensive obsession, but I've tried lots of other things and always end up back at Disneyland. Sigh.

For me, it's not about annual price increases. I'm okay with that. Where I draw the line is on what type of experience I have. I still have an excellent time visiting DL. It wasn't that way at WDW. I noticed each of my trips becoming less and less magical, combined with rising prices. So I had to throw in the towel on WDW, haven't been back since 2015 after about 15-20 years of going annually. Now, I'm focused on DL and some of the other Disney parks around the world.

 

[mom2rtk]

My guess? $500-1000.

Given that the preview for Pixar Pier was, what? $299? It has to be in the $500-$1000 range. And people will pay it.

 

[mom2rtk]

For me, it's not about annual price increases. I'm okay with that. Where I draw the line is on what type of experience I have. I still have an excellent time visiting DL. It wasn't that way at WDW. I noticed each of my trips becoming less and less magical, combined with rising prices. So I had to throw in the towel on WDW, haven't been back since 2015 after about 15-20 years of going annually. Now, I'm focused on DL and some of the other Disney parks around the world.

I threw in the towel on WDW in 2013, just as FP+ was introduced. Now I feel that Star Wars is going to break Disneyland. I'm giving a lot of thought to going back to WDW again, or maybe taking a nice long Disney break. Right now I'm not thrilled with any of the options in front of me.

 

[MommyLove]

What is LMT Club? Anyone have a link to share to their site? Thanks!

LMT is Last Minute Travel. I've never "joined", I've always called and I get the lowest price. When you call, make sure you specify DisneyLAND; sometimes they'll assume you mean WDW. They're always super nice & helpful on the phone.
888-918-9676

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I am debating buying five-day park hoppers from LMT right now and lletting our APs expire on February 27 and then using the park hoppers and upgrading. Anyone see anything risky about doing this?

 

[Animal]

Ordered my five day parkhoppers from LMT at lunch today. Got the etickets in my email a couple hours later. I had a time trying to find the page to order the tickets. I found the order page through google, but after adding tickets to the cart, I was redirected from lmtclub.com to lastminutetravel.com...and in the process, my cart disappeared. I recommend logging into the lastminutetravel.com site and then searching Activities for “Anaheim”. Disneyland should appear, and then things proceed normally. YMMV. I was about ready to give up!

 

[Animal]

I am debating buying five-day park hoppers from LMT right now and lletting our APs expire on February 27 and then using the park hoppers and upgrading. Anyone see anything risky about doing this?

I don’t see a benefit. Disneyland doesn’t bridge to gate price like WDW does. IIRC

 

[HydroGuy]

Undercover Tourist is also a legit place to buy discount tickets. They are very popular for WDW tickets, I think they only recently started selling DL tickets so DL people may not be as familiar with them. I bought my tickets through them and they are already loaded into the Disneyland app. As long as you are sure NOT to purchase the promo tickets (those are the ones that expire in May) you should be good for June travel date.
https://www.undercovertourist.com/los-angeles/disneyland-resort/

FWIW, I agree with @sbd78 and almost always buy my WDW tix through UT. I would have zero issues buying DLR tix through them.

 

[HydroGuy]

I threw in the towel on WDW in 2013, just as FP+ was introduced. Now I feel that Star Wars is going to break Disneyland. I'm giving a lot of thought to going back to WDW again, or maybe taking a nice long Disney break. Right now I'm not thrilled with any of the options in front of me.

Life can be really rough sometimes.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I don’t see a benefit. Disneyland doesn’t bridge to gate price like WDW does. IIRC

I did this when I first got my son’s AP and they did bridge the price!

 

[azdisneylover]

Attendance has increased, though. This came up the last time we had a huge increase/change. Many thought then too it would reduce demand. It didn't. And it's only going to get worse. I'm not priced out in that I can't afford it. But I'm choosing not to because with the current offerings and the additional expenditures I have, I don't find value anymore at this time. I'm doing what I've always suggested others do: put their money where their mouth is. But I'm also perfectly aware in the grand scheme I am one person and I don't even go during the summer. I don't make much of a difference.

Believe what y'all want. But there is zero way to convince me this idea has any large part to do with crowd reduction when that is the last thing Disney wants. Disney is looking to capitalize on demand. I'm not faulting them for it. They're a business. And as a consumer I decide what, if any, money I give them.

Well said. I agree with you 100%. We have a trip planned since last spring for this coming spring, and we have already cut back on our plans because of the increases. When we are there in spring, I expect the park to sparkle and shine. The magic should beam from all the CMs to guests. I understand price increases, do not give me a subpar product, especially since I have been purchasing your product for decades. Do not think I will not notice and not say anything. As it stands, we didn't renew our APs because they were not a good value when the days blocked were posted for summer.

Disneyland really needs to remember who keeps them in the green when the economy hits the skids, hint..... it is the AP holders. Disney take heed, take good care of these people, they have taken excellent care of you during hard times. Give them back decent perks.

 

[StormyCA]

FYI and HEAD'S UP!!

I just priced (7 Jan,3:45pm PST) an onsite package for a stay in September 2019 (5 nites & 5 day hop w/MP) and the price increase has NOT yet been passed on to packages. I had previously priced this same package in October and there has been no change in the price. So if you're going, book right away.

(I know, it's generally cheaper to book separately, but it may be worth comparing as online booking shows MP is still $10/day and the ticket price increase hasn't been passed on yet).

 

[Didi8367]

Just confirming that tickets bought today through LMT will be honored in June. Was looking at the 3 day hopper tickets. I have used them before with no issues.

Just wanted to add another confirmation that the LMT tickets I bought yesterday are good through 1.13.20. I bought ours for same price they were charging prior to the increase. Ended up saving enough to more than cover the MaxPass increase, so I'm happy about that.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

For me, it's not about annual price increases. I'm okay with that. Where I draw the line is on what type of experience I have. I still have an excellent time visiting DL. It wasn't that way at WDW. I noticed each of my trips becoming less and less magical, combined with rising prices. So I had to throw in the towel on WDW, haven't been back since 2015 after about 15-20 years of going annually. Now, I'm focused on DL and some of the other Disney parks around the world.

This. Our guest experience at WDW deteriorated so much from when we first started going as adults in 2006 to when we took DD on her first two trips in 2015 and 2016. I flat-out didn't enjoy our 2016 vacation to WDW. As @mom2rtk titled one of her trip reports, "We Defected to the West," in 2017 and are going back in 2019. I don't mind a little increase here and there as long as DLR continues to provide the high quality experience we had in 2017. I fear that SWGE will negatively impact our guest experience, so we are planning for our trip next week to be the last DLR trip for our family for a while.

I am planning to give WDW another go in late 2020.

The good news? We discovered in December 2017 that DCL provides an excellent guest experience, and that we (especially DD and I) enjoy cruising just as much as we enjoy the parks! DCL will be getting some of our money in the next couple years, to be sure. Also, as DD grows older, we are starting to look at vacation destinations around the world that are available to us. DH has always loved the national parks, and we made our first (of many to come) national park trip with DD to Yellowstone and Grand Teton this summer. Other than the cruise on DCL, this is DD's favorite vacation we have ever taken - and there were no princesses involved!

 

[Sandeep1]

This. Our guest experience at WDW deteriorated so much from when we first started going as adults in 2006 to when we took DD on her first two trips in 2015 and 2016. I flat-out didn't enjoy our 2016 vacation to WDW. As @mom2rtk titled one of her trip reports, "We Defected to the West," in 2017 and are going back in 2019. I don't mind a little increase here and there as long as DLR continues to provide the high quality experience we had in 2017. I fear that SWGE will negatively impact our guest experience, so we are planning for our trip next week to be the last DLR trip for our family for a while.

I am planning to give WDW another go in late 2020.

The good news? We discovered in December 2017 that DCL provides an excellent guest experience, and that we (especially DD and I) enjoy cruising just as much as we enjoy the parks! DCL will be getting some of our money in the next couple years, to be sure. Also, as DD grows older, we are starting to look at vacation destinations around the world that are available to us. DH has always loved the national parks, and we made our first (of many to come) national park trip with DD to Yellowstone and Grand Teton this summer. Other than the cruise on DCL, this is DD's favorite vacation we have ever taken - and there were no princesses involved!

Did Yellowstone in 2017 (also went as a child) and it was definitely one of the best trips of my life. Doing Yosemite in June (first time) and I'm stoked.

 

[mom2rtk]

Life can be really rough sometimes.

I'd probably be handling it better if my daughter wasn't heading for college this year and leaving me with an empty nest at the same time. So much for my top coping mechanism!

 

[egritz]

We spent $2800 Dec 2017 for our family of 4 to get Deluxe AP's w/ MaxPass. That will now cost us $3600. That is, if we planned to do it. After a huge # of trips since 2012 and twice having AP's we had already planned a different vacation for this year, but were hoping to revisit DL in a couple years. Now I honestly don't know if or when we will ever return.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Did Yellowstone in 2017 (also went as a child) and it was definitely one of the best trips of my life. Doing Yosemite in June (first time) and I'm stoked.

Sweet! We need to get back to Yellowstone, because 3.5 days was not enough! We have a California national parks road trip tentatively pencilled in for 2021 or 2022. We'd like to take a couple weeks and hit the whole loop of Pinnacles, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite. These parks look absolutely stunning!

Before DD was born, DH and I honeymooned in Glacier and did a big Utah trip to see Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef. And, we visited Volcanoes National Park this fall! DH has been to several without me (Badlands, Acadia, Smoky Mountains), so he's doing pretty well on his goal to see every national park!

 

[AprilJ26]

This might be a dumb question...but I just have to ask. Will the current ticket promotion really be available for purchase through the May date that's listed (May 18)? We are planning to visit in either March or early May, but I'm scared to buy tickets this far out since they're nonrefundable and have an expiration date in late May. It says on the promotion that the tickets can be purchased through May 18th. If so, I'll wait until closer to our trip to purchase them. But if it's possible that the promotion will be taken off the site early, I might need to go ahead and buy them.

 

[MommyLove]

I don’t see a benefit. Disneyland doesn’t bridge to gate price like WDW does. IIRC

Yes they do. We've done it at least three times now when upgrading from LMT tickets to APs. We've always gotten credit for full gate price.