Ticket Prices...Feeling ripped off

[fvb9]

Let me first start by saying we love Disney as much as anyone here.

2002 I bought 5 day hopper passes that had a bonus of 4 flex days (water parks) on them. 2 adult and 2 child tix cost me $884 ($246 & $196 each). Three trips later, they are all used up and we're planning our next trip for Nov '06.

In looking at their new fully loaded Magic Your Way tix, the equivalent to what I just bought a little over 3 years ago would now cost me $1,574, a 78% increase. Seems a little exhorbitant to me. Their stock is not doing THAT well.

Second issue I have is that my wife's sister is coming down with her DD and DS (ages 9, 11) for what should be a one time trip for them, hence expiring tix. We expect to visit WDW and the water parks probably three days on our trip, and Universal two days. The three day ticket with Hopper and Water Park comes out to $781...for 2 adults and 1 child. Universal is currently running a deal where you can get a 3 day 2-park ticket for the price of a 2-day...totalling $304 for 2 adults and 1 child. This is $477 cheaper than Disney World.

What's going on here? What am I doing wrong??? I love WDW, but not this much. Are there discounts that WDW runs that I'm just not seeing???

Help!

 

[mickeymom629]

The Universal tickets are for two parks. The ones you are going to buy for WDW are for 4 parks and (waterparks/DQ if you are adding that option). So that's not really comparable.

Also, you don't need to add the cost of NO Expiration, since you could buy just the days you need. Personally, I would leave off the waterpark option if I was only spending 3 days at WDW. Then again, you could get the 10 day, hopper, plus waterpark and DQ and No expiration and have plenty left on your tickets for future visits. Afterall, I'm sure the prices are going to keep going up each year.

But I feel your pain for the cost of the tickets! I wish I had stocked up on those old hoppers

 

[msmayor]

Well first I have to ask...are you comparing apples to apples?

You said the first set of tix was 2 adult, 2 child...are your kids still in the child category, or have they gone into the adult category? That right there is going to increase the admission regardless.

Buying the maximum number of days is still a good value, IMHO. The per-day cost is very reasonable. The thing is, the 'front end' of the tickets (i.e. the first 3 or 4 days of a multi-day ticket) garner the most cost; adding on from that is just a few dollars a day.

Quite honestly, having been to a number of different theme parks Disney still does it best, and their attractions and activities for the younger set are unmatched by anyone. I still remember a visit to Orlando 6 years ago, when my kids were 5 and 8. They wanted to go to Universal to the Nick studios, so we took a day and went. Spent over $200 on admissions for just the one day, and when we saw that most of Universal was teen/adult type roller coasters and scary attractions, I couldn't believe what a waste for my family. I refused to spend even more so we could go over to Islands of Adventure since we already had Disney tix and could just spend our time there.

 

[labdogs42]

Do you need the "fully loaded" tickets? Do you really need the no expiration option? Will you use all of the water park admissions, etc or would you be better off purchasing those a la carte? I think a lot of people think they need the premium tickets, but when you look at it, buying only what you need is the better deal most times. Check it out -- I bet you can save a bundle by getting just regular park hoppers that expire and then paying for water parks etc as you go. Maybe I'm wrong, but it might just work out!

 

[NancyIL]

You can buy 10-day non-expiring premium passes (hopper and 6 water park/DQ/PI admissions) from Ticketmania for $432 adult/$381 child (ages 3-9). Total for 2 adults and 2 kids (if your kids still qualify for child's rate) would be $1626 - and that's for twice as many theme park days as you bought in 2002. You will save a little more if you subscribe to the Mousesaver's newsletter (next one comes out Feb. 15)

http://www.ticketmania.com/discounttickets.shtml#MagicYourWay

 

[PrincessAurora]

Everyone has given really good advice. I feel your pain. Around 4 years back I bought one of the first 3 day park hoppers that Disneyland offered. They were good for 3 years which was perfect for me since I only go about once a year, so this would save me a little money and it was easy. After I used my last day, I wanted to get another one and found the Mouse had closed that loopole. Now the park hoppers (of any day combo) are only good for 2 weeks after the date you first start using it. While I could buy it and hold on to it for a few years, I would still need to use all three days in a 2 week window. This is not feasible for me. To me, packages at WDW are a better bargin for a long vacation.

It all depends on what works for you. Disney is a company and their main goal is to make money. If it is making them money, they will find a way to do it (like it or not). That is just a fact. I can sit and think about how a day in DL use to be $25 and now it is near (if not already) $60. But people will pay it.

My opinion is just to realize that its expensive but you get a lot for your dough. Just drink the Kool Aid.

 

[cmassey]

as usual, no one here has addressed the point of your question. too many people here think that we all are looking for advice with every post. i'm sure the original poster is quite capable of doing simple math in order to create alternatives which would save money.

the point is that disney's new ticketing system is ridiculously priced for anyone spending less than 5 or 6 days in the resort. it seems very magnanimous for them to basically give you days 6 and up for free...not so much when we spend oodles of extra money anyway through lodging, meals, and the souvenir crud we all are unable to resist. what is a single day ticket? 65$ or so? give me a break.

with that said, i will take extra sugar in my kool-aid, please. i'm getting thirsty.

 

[NancyIL]

as usual, no one here has addressed the point of your question. too many people here think that we all are looking for advice with every post. i'm sure the original poster is quite capable of doing simple math in order to create alternatives which would save money.

the point is that disney's new ticketing system is ridiculously priced for anyone spending less than 5 or 6 days in the resort. it seems very magnanimous for them to basically give you days 6 and up for free...not so much when we spend oodles of extra money anyway through lodging, meals, and the souvenir crud we all are unable to resist. what is a single day ticket? 65$ or so? give me a break.

with that said, i will take extra sugar in my kool-aid, please. i'm getting thirsty.

The simple math is that the OP bought a 5-day hopper + 4 water parks in 2002 for $246/adult, and he used those over three trips. In 2006 he can buy a 10-day non-expiring hopper with 6 plus admissions for $432 (from TicketMania). The actual cost per day is LESS than he paid in 2002! Yes, it's a LARGE amount of money to pay up front, but it will surely last him for several more trips!

And yes, it DOES cost a lot more per day if you just want 3 or 4 days' worth of admissions. It is still a lot of bang for the buck - even at gate prices for a single-day ticket. And probably less expensive than say a ticket to a football game or a rock concert! I say bite the bullet and buy non-expiring tickets that can be used over several trips.

 

[mom22boys]

What's going on here? What am I doing wrong??? I love WDW, but not this much. Are there discounts that WDW runs that I'm just not seeing???

I feel your pain! I have already started looking at ticket prices for our next family trip and I am trying to find a way to save money. For us the cost of tickets is really going to jump, because our youngest DS will be over age 3 for our next family trip. One thing we are debating about doing is not purchasing the hopper option. On our last trip we had 4 day park hoppers. On this trip we thought we might go with a 6 day base ticket. Plus for us, we thought not having the option of parkhopping might make for a more relaxing vacation.

Good luck! Let us know what you come up with!

 

[DisneyGeek2000]

We expect to visit WDW and the water parks probably three days on our trip, and Universal two days. The three day ticket with Hopper and Water Park comes out to $781...for 2 adults and 1 child.

Do you need the Park Hopper option? How do you do 2 theme parks and 1 water park into the same day?

 

[fvb9]

Thanks everyone, but I wish it could solve my concern. As DVC members, we vacation here every year. As much as we love WDW, going every year means that 2 days in the theme parks is all we want to do if we don't want to get completely burned out.

The prices I quoted included apples and apples (2 adults/2 kids...74% increase. The actuality is we now need 4 adults and 1 child ticket, so the damage will be much worse. But I know that and I'm looking at this apples and apples, and it's not acceptable.

And a couple of posters suggested we just buy what we want to use each year. That's what my sister-in-law wants to do and it's $477 (157%) higher than Universal. Disney and Universal used to be comparatively priced on a per-day basis, and now the equation is upside-down.

As far as the water park arguments go, my kids love the water parks, and it's a staple of our trip.

Disney's intention is to incent us to go to the park everyday, but what they are doing is chasing us away by either forcing too much WDW on us, or pricing our days too high. And if either of those happen, we need to evaluate our DVC holding as a feasible investment.

I'm just checking here to see if I'm off base or if there are alternative specials that Disney runs from time to time.

 

[fvb9]

Do you need the Park Hopper option? How do you do 2 theme parks and 1 water park into the same day?

We stay at Beach Club Villas. We'll take the ferry to Disney Studios in the AM, walk to Epcot for lunch, come back to the room and swim, then go to Epcot for dinner, take the mono to MK for the evening.

We do that twice and hit a water park a third day.

 

[njchris]

as usual, no one here has addressed the point of your question. too many people here think that we all are looking for advice with every post. i'm sure the original poster is quite capable of doing simple math in order to create alternatives which would save money.

What's with all the snotty replies lately by people? There was absolutely NO NEED to put anyone down in order to give your advice.

 

[jlovesee]

I agree I do think $65 for a single day ticket is a rip off, I promise I wont get into the who haves' and who don'ts argument here, but think about what I am going to say next.

Parks across the country raised ticket prices every single year in the 90's, business was good they felt they didn't have to care. Well turns out they did have to care, as they were slowely pricing their target middle class market of out of the fun, plus iritating those who still wanted to pay the cost. A lot of parks are finally learning their lesson.

Case in point, I have a home park called Worlds of Fun, ten years ago admission was $24, now its $36.95 (which it has been since 2003), 10 years ago attendance was over 1 million a year EVERY year since 1974. Now, attendance in 2005 was 800,000, and 2004 was 860,000 a downward slide, why? Because $36.95 in 2003 was a ridiculous amount to pay for what you got. Now the price is not AS bad as they finally got smart and kept the price steady while they added new rides and attractions. It will probably take several years to achieve what they lost in 2 short years though.

Going back to Disney World, prices are $64 now, and you can talk all you want about 10 day hoppers being super cheap, but most people don't go for 10 days, or for even 10 days spread out over 5 years. Most people go for 4-5 days maybe once every 5 years if they are lucky! So it brings you back to the expensive argument.

Right now Disney is sitting on cloud 9, people are coming back to the park after 9/11, crowds are good, and they actually are doing not such a bad job about adding rides, Everest, Soarin', Test Track, Tower of Terror, these are all fairly new rides and all very good rides, but they need to keep going. As great as Pirates and Haunted Mansion are (and I can do to whole Haunted Mansion script in my sleep!) people are going to realize that these rides are 40 years old! All Im saying is I think Disney should take a good hard look at their core audience wallets, and put a lot of consideration into new attractions, so hopefully the attendance that they have now, doesn't become the downward slide tommorow.

And yes it can happen.... look at Cedar Point.

Jennifer

 

[NancyIL]

Thanks everyone, but I wish it could solve my concern. As DVC members, we vacation here every year. As much as we love WDW, going every year means that 2 days in the theme parks is all we want to do if we don't want to get completely burned out.

The prices I quoted included apples and apples (2 adults/2 kids...74% increase. The actuality is we now need 4 adults and 1 child ticket, so the damage will be much worse. But I know that and I'm looking at this apples and apples, and it's not acceptable.

Looking at TicketMania...a 5-day non-expiring park hopper with 4 plus admissions is $320 adult/$284 child. While definitely more than you paid in 2002, you could get TEN days with 6 plusses for $432/$381 - as I mentioned. Why buy just 5 days?

 

[mill4023]

Thanks everyone, but I wish it could solve my concern. As DVC members, we vacation here every year. As much as we love WDW, going every year means that 2 days in the theme parks is all we want to do if we don't want to get completely burned out.

The prices I quoted included apples and apples (2 adults/2 kids...74% increase. The actuality is we now need 4 adults and 1 child ticket, so the damage will be much worse. But I know that and I'm looking at this apples and apples, and it's not acceptable.

And a couple of posters suggested we just buy what we want to use each year. That's what my sister-in-law wants to do and it's $477 (157%) higher than Universal. Disney and Universal used to be comparatively priced on a per-day basis, and now the equation is upside-down.

As far as the water park arguments go, my kids love the water parks, and it's a staple of our trip.

Disney's intention is to incent us to go to the park everyday, but what they are doing is chasing us away by either forcing too much WDW on us, or pricing our days too high. And if either of those happen, we need to evaluate our DVC holding as a feasible investment.

I'm just checking here to see if I'm off base or if there are alternative specials that Disney runs from time to time.

It's true that if you only want to buy 5 day tickets, it's more expensive now. But if you buy 10 day tickets, it's actually less expensive.

If you go every year, why not buy the 10 day non-expiring tickets? Yes, you have to make a bigger investment at first, but you are actually spending LESS money for each day at the parks.

For 2 adults and 2 children, you spent $176/day with your old tickets.
For 2 adults and 2 children, if you buy the 10 day tickets, you're spending $162/day now.

 

[Karnak]

I agree that ticket prices at WDW seem too high at first glance. But when you consider all the cast members employed, landscaping, transportation, rides, shows, and all the many expenses involved in running a resort like WDW, I don't think the prices are too high at all.

Besides, if ticket prices were lower, think about how much more crowded the parks would no doubt be. Sorta works to benefit all, don't you think?

Enjoy.

 

[jaletu2000]

NancyIL, I think you have hit upon a great solution. Buy the 10-day tickets and use them over time. It might not work for a family whose children might grow to adult overnight (10-year-old adults, that is) but for a family like mine with two teens, it might work well.

Of course, my problem is they are getting tired of Disney. They want to try Universal - and I can't blame them. Good to know Universal has some good deals.

I feel the OP's pain too. It gets more expensive every year to feed my Disney habit. But I'm hooked!

 

[fvb9]

Nancy...thank you! My other pet peeve is the Disney website, but don't get me started. I called Disney and they explained what you just alluded to. A 10 day is really a 16 day ticket when you choose the water park option. If that's explained on the website, it went right past me.

OK, I'm good. The math is still high, and my sister-in-law who is looking at just three days at Disney, is still overpaying (IMHO), but this makes a little more sense. They need to give the infrequent guest a better incentive to go.

I've bought from Ticketmania before and will gladly do it again. Thanks again.

 

[DisneyGeek2000]

We stay at Beach Club Villas. We'll take the ferry to Disney Studios in the AM, walk to Epcot for lunch, come back to the room and swim, then go to Epcot for dinner, take the mono to MK for the evening.

We do that twice and hit a water park a third day.

So you obviously need the park hopper option, I would not purchase the Water Parks and More option, which costs $50 plus tax per ticket.

I would purchase 2 day hoppers for 2 x $175.73 + 2 x $152.31 = $656.08, and then purchase individual water park admissions for 2 x $37.28 + 2 x $30.89 = $136.34 for a grand total of $656.08 + $136.34 = $792.42 - only buying what you need.

Have your sister buy the same way.

If you want to make them last multiple trips, purchase the 10 day Premium tickets with no expiration, and you will truly get your money's worth, even hedging against future ticket price increases.

Yes, pricing has gone up, but the tickets and their options have been made more flexible, so now you can purchase only what you need.