Surprise AP & Ticket Increase

[sherilaine]

This has me even more interested in visiting soon and taking advantage of the 25% discount for Canadians!

 

[UnderCoverTourist]

blackout

Hi There,

The blackout dates are:

Blackouts for the PROMO tickets
Not valid for admission:

• Before January 7, 2019.
• After May 23, 2019.
• April 14, 2019 - April 22, 2019.

We of course have the regular tickets at discounted pricing too.

Thank you Undercover Tourist

 

[ArchOwl]

Thanks for the informative thread. First thing I did was check the promotional ticket page and those prices remained unchanged as far as I could tell. This makes my Feb trip even more of a deal. But I am truly sorry for those who are facing increases. And I am thinking this means some kind of announcement regarding SWGE is coming up.

 

[dina444444]

Thanks for the informative thread. First thing I did was check the promotional ticket page and those prices remained unchanged as far as I could tell. This makes my Feb trip even more of a deal. But I am truly sorry for those who are facing increases. And I am thinking this means some kind of announcement regarding SWGE is coming up.

Yup, I think we got the big increase before the fairly soon to be made announcement.

 

[Malcon10t]

I'm not surprised. Still sad that my family of 6 can no longer afford APs, but it is what it is. Thankfully there are other theme parks in the area that don't price gouge quite as much. I do go through withdrawals sometimes now that we don't have APs, but it makes the few trips we do get that much more exciting and special.

I still miss the 90s when APs were $100 and so cal resident day ticket promotions were $21 per day.

It would be nice, but can you imagine trying to go with those prices today? People complain about overcrowding. How do you handle a product that outsells it's production? You increase the price. Then people complain about pricing and gouging....

I hope you’re right! I’m not trying to be argumentative but I don’t think anyone expected Deluxe to get blocked out that much time this summer. And Disney has made a point now that they can and will change the blockout calendars at any time. Just makes me nervous.

The Deluxe blockout dates were announced in mid-June, so people buying the Deluxe pass knew what they were buying. I do not expect any major change in the blockout calendar as it stands now.

So your belief is that they won’t change Signature around the opening of SWGE opening? What changes to do see possible?

Possibly making some sort of reservation on visitation but I think it would be difficult to do.

I’m trying to plan some dates for future trips and don’t want to plan one where we might end up blocked out. Also, if there are changes, in your opinion, how much notice do you think they’ll give? Will they come with the official SWGE opening announcement?

The unofficial announcement has been made. June 2019. I can't see any major change coming without some warning. For example, the June 2019 calendar blockouts for Deluxe were announced in June 2018.

 

[serendipityaey]

I don’t understand people saying that price increases don’t and won’t decrease crowds and then saying in the very same post that they will be cutting back visits/won’t be buying AP’s/aren’t going at all anymore or for years.... How does that math work...

 

[Kender]

I don’t understand people saying that price increases don’t and won’t decrease crowds and then saying in the very same post that they will be cutting back visits/won’t be buying AP’s/aren’t going at all anymore or for years.... How does that math work...

Because they haven't reduced crowds. Crowds have only increased even with those who have stopped going with every increase.

For everyone who stops going, there's someone else to always replace them. The payment plan makes the passes seem still a bargain to some people. When that's eliminated then, and only then, will I believe Disney is truly trying to reduce crowds. There will be a breaking point of course, but I do not believe Disney is using price increases as a form of crowd reduction. They're raising prices simply because they can do so and many people will still happily pay it.

 

[serendipityaey]

Because they haven't reduced crowds. Crowds have only increased even with those who have stopped going with every increase.

For everyone who stops going, there's someone else to always replace them. The payment plan makes the passes seem still a bargain to some people. When that's eliminated then, and only then, will I believe Disney is truly trying to reduce crowds. There will be a breaking point of course, but I do not believe Disney is using price increases as a form of crowd reduction. They're raising prices simply because they can do so and many people will still happily pay it.

There might be more people coming in to the market but you are still not going so it is still crowd control, when even more people would be going if prices stayed the same. We were priced out of AP’s years ago and thus have reduced our visits quite a bit. And when we went in November crowds were significantly smaller then the couple times before. Any person that doesn’t go because prices increase is direct crowd control.

 

[Kender]

There might be more people coming in to the market but you are still not going so it is still crowd control, when even more people would be going if prices stayed the same. We were priced out of AP’s years ago and thus have reduced our visits quite a bit. And when we went in November crowds were significantly smaller then the couple times before. Any person that doesn’t go because prices increase is direct crowd control.

My point is the increases are not intended to be crowd control despite what some think or claim. Disney wants those parks close to capacity every day. They do not want lower crowds. And if they truly wanted fewer APs, they would eliminate the payment plan.

Additionally, the lower crowd days are rare and unpredictable. You got lucky when you went. Those are not the days Disney wants and are pleasant surprises when they occur.

 

[Turksmom]

To be honest if they had a payment plan for AP’s for other states, I’d buy one.

I'm buying one anyway, but it would be a lot easier if they did. I had the pass in the cart yesterday and talked myself out of it because I thought I'd have a few more weeks before the price increase and wanted to replenish the old savings account after Christmas.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Possibly making some sort of reservation on visitation but I think it would be difficult to do.
The unofficial announcement has been made. June 2019. I can't see any major change coming without some warning. For example, the June 2019 calendar blockouts for Deluxe were announced in June 2018.

Thanks! I didn’t realize the announcement for Deluxe was made so far out based on the level of surprise on this post. But perhaps the surprise is the cost increase given the longer black out.

I saw the unofficial announcement and can possibly tack on a Disney trip that suspected weekend (June 21st) to an already scheduled vacation. Would just hate to go to all the work/money to just find out we’re blocked. But it doesn’t sound like that will be the case.

ETA: June 21st is still the suspected date, correct?

 

[ashley0139]

Disney has no desire to reduce crowds. Their goal is to get as close to capacity as possible every single day of the year without going over. Why would they want to do anything else? Of course their desire is to increase profits, and if you are in the park you are (likely) spending money on high margin items (food and merchandise). Disney raises prices because they know that people will still come to the parks. I can't begrudge a business wanting to make as much money as possible. In fact, they have an obligation to. Guests say that the crowds lessen the experience, but they are still showing up.

 

[serendipityaey]

My point is the increases are not intended to be crowd control despite what some think or claim. Disney wants those parks close to capacity every day. They do not want lower crowds. And if they truly wanted fewer APs, they would eliminate the payment plan.

Additionally, the lower crowd days are rare and unpredictable. You got lucky when you went. Those are not the days Disney wants and are pleasant surprises when they occur.

Yes. They want good attendance rates. They do not want the PR nightmare of capacity every day, earlier and earlier, which is what would happen without price increases. Crowd control is still a part of balance.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thanks for posting about that! It should go through. These third party vendors want to sell all of their old ticket stock. The question is usually how long the stock will last. A day? A few days? A few weeks? Good for you for jumping on this!

True. That makes me feel better. My main objective is to go to Star Wars land when all APs under Sig and Sig+ are blocked.

Edited: Oops I meant to reply to a different post!

 

[Kender]

Thanks! I didn’t realize the announcement for Deluxe was made so far out based on the level of surprise on this post. But perhaps the surprise is the cost increase given the longer black out.

I've repeated this a few times, but the surprise is that it happened without any rumor it was coming until after it happened. We usually have some warning. The surprise is not the increase itself.

Yes. They want good attendance rates. They do not want the PR nightmare of capacity every day, earlier and earlier, which is what would happen without price increases. Crowd control is still a part of balance.

I refer you to the post above by @ashley0139

 

[Cal-Pie]

I have a four day hopper for the time during the promotional discount, which is still available now, but I’d planned to upgrade to a five day hopper when there. Wondering if they’ll still let me do that at the promotional rate, or if I’ll pay the new difference

Do you have a standard ticket that you're wanting to upgrade to a promotional ticket? If so, I'm wanting to do the same thing, upgrade regular 2 day to promo 3 day. I am so confused about how upgrades will work with these changes! When are you going? I'm hoping to hear some 1st hand accounts about upgrading before my trip in March.

 

[Erin M]

Do you have a standard ticket that you're wanting to upgrade to a promotional ticket? If so, I'm wanting to do the same thing, upgrade regular 2 day to promo 3 day. I am so confused about how upgrades will work with these changes! When are you going? I'm hoping to hear some 1st hand accounts about upgrading before my trip in March.

I’ll be there at the end of Feb, but I have the promo ticket already, not the old full price ticket.

 

[WillowRain]

I honestly DO NOT get how the payment plan is a deal??? The Sig Plus would be 500 a month for my family, to go 3 times a year, hotel, food etc? Seriously where are people getting all this money?

 

[Kender]

I honestly DO NOT get how the payment plan is a deal??? The Sig Plus would be 500 a month for my family, to go 3 times a year, hotel, food etc? Seriously where are people getting all this money?

It's a deal in the sense that it spreads the payment out without interest. Many can't afford the full cost up front, but spreading the payment out gives the illusion of being cheaper and/or takes the immediate burden off. There's a reason Disney advertises passes as the monthly cost. It makes it look more reasonable to California residents who don't multiply that monthly by 12 and add in the down payment if applicable.

When Disney added the payment plans, the number of people holding APs drastically increased. Payment plans made APs seem attainable to many more people. Some who shouldn't have gotten them because they truly can't afford it.

I don't have a family, by the way. I afforded it (and still could, but many factors including this latest increase are why I won't be renewing; I'll get a pass again later) because I only pay for myself. My mom buys her pass. We share the hotel, travel, and food cost. I feel so bad for the families that are way more affected by this financially than I am

 

[serendipityaey]

I've repeated this a few times, but the surprise is that it happened without any rumor it was coming until after it happened. We usually have some warning. The surprise is not the increase itself.



I refer you to the post above by @ashley0139

Then I’ll refer you to the part where they say “without going over”. Balance. Crowd control.