Ticket Price Increased 8/3/2008

[rt2dz]

If my sources are correct .. comparing apples to apples will be harder. The ticket 'structure' .. how tickets and options are offered ... will be changing this year.

It's going to be interesting come Friday to see if any of this comes true.

Knox

Ah, now that makes more sense. If they are changing ticket structures UT might have an idea of a change to cause them to announce a price increase.

If UT went to place an order with WDW and were told they couldn’t place an order until such and such a time because of a change in ticket structure UT would have a heads up that might not normally be available. In the past I’ve always heard outlet places didn’t know before the rest of the world about ticket price increases.

It would also make sense that UT might want to get rid of as much inventory as possible, especially if the new structure would be more favorable to the guest. Perhaps Disney isn’t going to make expiration and/or park hopping cost extra any more? Maybe it hasn’t been overly profitable?

In another thread (on a different board?), someone said the CM told her the prices/tickets will be changing August 3, but the changes won't really go into effect until January. The poster was very confused.

Now I am much more interested (not that I wasn’t interested before) to see what happens this weekend.

 

[Cruz91]

Not true
(at least under the current rules of ticketing at WDW, rules that have been in effect for quite some time.)

OK - Lesson learned. I won't question you again!

PS - I already figured out you were right by clicking the link you had to the 'all things you could ever want to know about tickets' sticky thread.

 

[aribelle]

Between 2000-2008 ticket prices went from $46 to $71 (roughly a 55% increase during that time). I'm not sure where I could put my money and get that kind of return. I know my 401K hasn't done that well during that time.

Hmmm, then I suggest you speak with a financial consultant about what your 401k is earning, ....because 55% over 8 years is less than 7% return per year. And unless you are in your late 50's your 401k better be earning at least 7%, lol. If you're in your 50's you may be advised to scale back your risk load depending on how much you have and when you plan to retire, and how much you'll want to have then, etc etc. etc. But if you're under 50 you definitely should have a 401k with some earnings over 7%.

But...also keep in mind that in 2005 (I think...or 2004???) Disney completely changed it's tickets from the old style to MYW. Of course, with Pleasure Island closing in September, we all figure that this week's changes are going to be looking pretty different too. Of course, as with any investment, no one knows the future.....but I still stand by my recommendation that if you're not going until mid to late 2009 or later that you not put out the money now. And I didn't even go into those who might be looking to save this $9 now but have thousands on their credit cards costing them 20%+ in interest, lol. Obviously those people should be putting that $9 towards getting that debt under control not worrying about saving a couple dollars now for a in-the-future trip.

Just my opinion of course...but hey, my 401k is earning double digits for the last several years, so I must be doing something right!

 

[snykymom]

OK, so let's say I buy the tickets now. I'm going in January and can pay them in full. What happens if the ticket structure does change? Are my tickets still valid? Do I have to trade them in for the "new" tickets, and at what price?

 

[tinkbyday]

I heard the same thing - that the structure was changing. I'm going to wait and see - I would be mad at myself if I rushed to buy for a few dollars less and missed out on some new offering or option that I didn't have before. Worse case is it costs a bit more.

 

[Bumpy Grumpy]

Just purchased park hoppers, we'll be there in Nov.

Arlene

 

[jenseib]

Wow! My 401 K hasn't earned any money in a few years. Only loses.

 

[aribelle]

OK, so let's say I buy the tickets now. I'm going in January and can pay them in full. What happens if the ticket structure does change? Are my tickets still valid? Do I have to trade them in for the "new" tickets, and at what price?

Well, that's the million dollar question this year isn't it? Until we know what the changes are we can't predict what the cost is.....but.....every other time that Disney has made changes to their ticket structure, they have allowed people to upgrade tickets and credit them with what they paid. The biggest change was of course when they introduced the MYW tickets....and back then as I recall they allowed people to make changes for a certain amount of time without the requirement that changes be upgrades. I can't recall how long they had, but it was limited, so hopefully they'll do the same this time. I would think the PR if they didn't would be more than Disney would want of course.

We know there will HAVE to be some change.....because Pleasure Island is closing in late September....obviously that's going to change the worth of those tickets with PI.

Personally, I think THAT is where the confusion is occuring.....several people have called Disney to ask about the changes and been told that the prices will occur next weekend, but that those tickets won't be good until January. So I'm guessing that they'll have some NEW tickets for 2009, but perhaps the same tickets for the rest of 2008, with appropriate price adjustment for the loss of Pleasure Island. I feel for the folks who bought a ticket with PI before the announcement and are being offered a round of golf as compensation. That would be utterly useless to me, as I have ever held a golf club in my hands in my entire life. No wait...do minature golf clubs count?

Only you can decide if the few dollars savings are worth the slight hassle that will come from having to upgrade/exchange the tickets.

In my other posts my discussion was purely on the finances of the decision....not on the speculation of what type of tickets will be offered. I'm just thankful I've got APs that are valid through our next visit, so I don't even have to deal with a price increase let alone a change in types of tickets. Since I have the regular AP that never included PI, I don't even have THAT to worry about.

 

[rt2dz]

OK, so let's say I buy the tickets now. I'm going in January and can pay them in full. What happens if the ticket structure does change? Are my tickets still valid? Do I have to trade them in for the "new" tickets, and at what price?

Your tickets will still be valid. If you have to trade them in or not will depend on what Disney does. The park hoppers prior to MYW were good, I believe (someone will correct me if I'm wrong--we do APs), for a while, but then you had to trade them in to a comparable (at no charge) MYW ticket. If you decide to upgrade your ticket somehow depending what the new tickets are, there may very well be a difference in price--just use your ticket first to get full value of it before upgrading/changing.

 

[aribelle]

Wow! My 401 K hasn't earned any money in a few years. Only loses.

Get thee to a financial consultant if you have control over the decision making of your 401k. Unfortunately, some people don't as it's funded through their employer, who sadly do a poor job managing it!

I pulled my 2007 statement out.....our 401k did a net 14.73% increase during the year 2007.....sometimes up higher than that, sometimes dropping lower, but by December 31, the net was 14.73. Not bad...and I've still got 20 years to retirement.

 

[aribelle]

Ah, now that makes more sense. If they are changing ticket structures UT might have an idea of a change to cause them to announce a price increase.

Last year, all the DIS-favorite sites that sold Disney tickets had annoucements about the possibility of a rate hike early in the week......Disney didn't make their "official" announcement until the Friday before the increase.

Sounds like this year is exactly the same....so watch for an official announcement on Friday from Disney.

 

[Minniekins]

That is wrong (the bolded). I've had no problems in the past adding tickets from UCT to my KTTW card.

I just wanted to clarify that for others that may be reading.

Hmmm, well I figured he was wrong cause I'd read so often of others who had done that, so, I thought I'd bring it up here and see what others had to say. Thanks!

Okay, I have a question now. I'm confused. I made my ressie on Sun evening. I wanted to do a room/ticket package, but also wanted to use my AAA for the discount, in case nothing else came along. But found out I can only do room only, not package. So, when he advised my of rising ticket prices soon, I bought my 10 day tickets then also and used the AAA on the room. He said I'd be able to apply a discount if one came out, not have to cancel. But, reading this thread has me confused and a bit worried. If a package discount does come out, will I be able to use it? Or will I have to buy another whole set of tickets with it? I'm afraid I may have jumped to buying the tickets too soon and may miss the package with tickets now. Can I cancel my ticket order to get a package discount with my room when it comes out? If the new ticket price isn't too bad, and the discount is good, is it worth it to cancel the tickets if they'll let my? Is the discount on a room only smaller than a discount on package of room/tickets? Or would they take my room ressie, take the AAA rate off and then combine the room with the tickets I've already bought? I'm very confused now. Maybe I shouldn't have made my ressie already now? I was just worried I might not end up with any room and I've had my air since late May.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Sorry to be so

 

[Rootskate]

Does anyone know if this rumoured price increase would include the MNSSHP tickets?

 

[aribelle]

Does anyone know if this rumoured price increase would include the MNSSHP tickets?

When Disney raised it's prices last August 5, 2007, the ticket prices for MNSSHP and MVMCP did not change.

Obviously, Disney can change those prices at any time, but I'd say it was pretty unlikely.

 

[Just People]

DARN IT! We actually are arriving at WDW on August 3rd and we just wanted to buy our DVC discounted APs while down there! I guess i'm just going to have to buy our APs before we leave. Ugh! We dont have a working printer, though.

 

[Robo]

DARN IT! We actually are arriving at WDW on August 3rd and we just wanted to buy our DVC discounted APs while down there! I guess i'm just going to have to buy our APs before we leave. Ugh! We dont have a working printer, though.

You don't need to print anything to buy tickets (AP's included) on line.

 

[lugnut33]

Get thee to a financial consultant if you have control over the decision making of your 401k. Unfortunately, some people don't as it's funded through their employer, who sadly do a poor job managing it!

I pulled my 2007 statement out.....our 401k did a net 14.73% increase during the year 2007.....sometimes up higher than that, sometimes dropping lower, but by December 31, the net was 14.73. Not bad...and I've still got 20 years to retirement.

Individual yearly results do not pertain to long term gains. All you have to do is look at the S&P between the year 2000 and today to know people are not getting any returns on their 401K, over the long term. On Jan. 1, 2000 the S&P stood at 1469, today it's at 1260. Most people are lucky if they can just average what the S&P does. I think most people will tell you their 401 is either slightly up or still down from where it was on 9/11 2001.

As for financial consultants, they're just as dumb as we are. The greatest financial consultants have lost billions of other peoples money.

I think most people would be pleased with a 55% return.

 

[jenseib]

Hmmm, well I figured he was wrong cause I'd read so often of others who had done that, so, I thought I'd bring it up here and see what others had to say. Thanks!

Okay, I have a question now. I'm confused. I made my ressie on Sun evening. I wanted to do a room/ticket package, but also wanted to use my AAA for the discount, in case nothing else came along. But found out I can only do room only, not package. So, when he advised my of rising ticket prices soon, I bought my 10 day tickets then also and used the AAA on the room. He said I'd be able to apply a discount if one came out, not have to cancel. But, reading this thread has me confused and a bit worried. If a package discount does come out, will I be able to use it? Or will I have to buy another whole set of tickets with it? I'm afraid I may have jumped to buying the tickets too soon and may miss the package with tickets now. Can I cancel my ticket order to get a package discount with my room when it comes out? If the new ticket price isn't too bad, and the discount is good, is it worth it to cancel the tickets if they'll let my? Is the discount on a room only smaller than a discount on package of room/tickets? Or would they take my room ressie, take the AAA rate off and then combine the room with the tickets I've already bought? I'm very confused now. Maybe I shouldn't have made my ressie already now? I was just worried I might not end up with any room and I've had my air since late May.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Sorry to be so

I'm no expert, but I think yo udid jump the gun. I'm not sure who you bought through. But if you want some sort of package in the future, you will have to buy at least a 1 day ticket most likely. And using a package will lose the AAA discount. You should've booked right through AAA, as they can do a package with the discount. I would try and cancel what you did, but not sure if you can cancel the tickets. Be sure to let them know you were misinformed.

 

[aribelle]

Individual yearly results do not pertain to long term gains. All you have to do is look at the S&P between the year 2000 and today to know people are not getting any returns on their 401K, over the long term. On Jan. 1, 2000 the S&P stood at 1469, today it's at 1260. Most people are lucky if they can just average what the S&P does. I think most people will tell you their 401 is either slightly up or still down from where it was on 9/11 2001.

As for financial consultants, they're just as dumb as we are. The greatest financial consultants have lost billions of other peoples money.

I think most people would be pleased with a 55% return.

Ok, you know best. I'll keep my 14% return (and I only quoted one year as an example....since 1999 when we started this investment it has been well over your 55% accumulative return....with just one year of net loss, in 2000), and you can keep your accumulative losses, lol. Our financial consultant seems to be doing ok by my family, so I'm pleased with his dumbness. Yes, we have lost money with him at some point during every year, but as I said only 1 year of net losses in 9 years....and honestly the net gain/loss is the most important. If you bailed every time something went down you'd have nothing left to invest......it's knowing WHEN to bail that is the hardest knowledge to come by......and his advice has gotten us above the average return, especially by your S&P standards since I can tell you our 401k (and other investments) are more than slightly up.......so I like his kind of dumb.

2001-2002 was definitely a challenging time for investing.....but we started this account in 1999, and our only year end net loss was in 2000. 2001-2002 was some of the smaller gains, but at least it wasn't a loss. It was really really tough to stick with it right after starting and seeing about 25% of our money disappear in 2000, but we did (ok, DH did, I was ready to bail), and if (and I know that's a big if, but since I don't know the future, I can only go by what I've seen so far) if we continue as we're going, we'll be retiring early, and enjoying some travel while we're still physically able to....and hopefully taking along the kids and maybe a grandkid or two. It's really hard to compare 2001 with today, because we have turned over our investments so often that I seriously doubt that we have anything in there now that we had back then. Of course, that's one of the things people do wrong...they pick an investment and then leave it alone to just sit in their portfolio (I know that's what I did before I met DH)....mostly because they don't have the time to gain the knowledge about what else is out there or what their current investment might be doing in the future. That's a full time job....hey, maybe the job description of a financial advisor.....and since he doesn't have a crystal ball to the future either, no, he isn't right all the time. But get one with enough experience who works hard at continuing to gain that knowledge and it's a heck of a lot better than a consumer who thinks S&P means salt and pepper, or only checks their investment in the Sunday paper right after they read the comics. I'll take my gains and my occasional losses from my dumb advisor anyday over the salt and pepper method.

He's only dumb when he loses.

 

[aribelle]

Hmmm, well I figured he was wrong cause I'd read so often of others who had done that, so, I thought I'd bring it up here and see what others had to say. Thanks!

Okay, I have a question now. I'm confused. I made my ressie on Sun evening. I wanted to do a room/ticket package, but also wanted to use my AAA for the discount, in case nothing else came along. But found out I can only do room only, not package. So, when he advised my of rising ticket prices soon, I bought my 10 day tickets then also and used the AAA on the room. He said I'd be able to apply a discount if one came out, not have to cancel. But, reading this thread has me confused and a bit worried. If a package discount does come out, will I be able to use it? Or will I have to buy another whole set of tickets with it? I'm afraid I may have jumped to buying the tickets too soon and may miss the package with tickets now. Can I cancel my ticket order to get a package discount with my room when it comes out? If the new ticket price isn't too bad, and the discount is good, is it worth it to cancel the tickets if they'll let my? Is the discount on a room only smaller than a discount on package of room/tickets? Or would they take my room ressie, take the AAA rate off and then combine the room with the tickets I've already bought? I'm very confused now. Maybe I shouldn't have made my ressie already now? I was just worried I might not end up with any room and I've had my air since late May.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Sorry to be so

Did you buy these tickets through Disney as part of a package along with your room? If so, I believe that the rules of that package govern.....meaning that you can cancel the whole thing or make whatever changes you want to so long as you are more than 45 days out from your arrival. If you bought tickets only from Disney, then I think you are stuck, as tickets are non-refundable. The difference is the tickets IN a package aren't actually purchased yet, they're subject to any changes you want to make before the cancellation period (which is 45 days for packages).

But, I think the other poster is correct....to get a AAA room rate AND tickets or dining (i.e. a "package") you have to go through AAA directly. The CM's at Disney CRO can add the AAA rate to a room only ressie if they are available, but they can't add tickets/dining to that reservation. Doesn't quite make sense to me since going through AAA you'll not get any better discount on the room, and no discount on the tickets or dining. But it might be because AAA packages have other little perks...usually a pin or lanyard or some other trinket, the Diamond Parking (not a discount on parking, just a special area closer up that you can park, subject to availablity) and perhaps Disney doesn't want to deal with those parts.

I hope you're able to make the changes you want!