Tiered pricing official per Disney Blog

[Congo Queen]

Yeah I agree w Sherilaine on this. Hard to imagine how this is going to have a significant impact overall in the short term. I am trying to imagine a scenario where it might mean fewer visitors. Maybe it would on singular special days like Fourth of July when all but top APs are blocked and lots of SoCal residents who don't have an AP might have thought to visit Dland for a single day. Now they will have to pay $20 more for a single tix which means something like a total of $100 additional cost if it is a family. So on July 4 instead of being off-the-hook crazy crowded, it will be just really crowded. The only other thing I can think of that makes this make sense is that it is a first move strategy for Disney to get people introduced to the idea of variable pricing. Then overtime they increase the variance in tix price in such a way that they can really curate the mix of visitors on any given day to maximize both tix revenue and collateral spend on food/merch in the park.

 

[atricks]

Single day tickets still are probably the most common for day trippers, which is more common than you may think. However, wow you are paying more during the busy season and still having a full park (which likely means you won't get to do much... so ultimately more money for less). 1 day tickets were already a pretty bad deal, this makes them worse (especially the periods people can actually go).

 

[grelca]

Based on my 100% anecdotal evidence of the number of people I see getting their hand stamps checked whenever I hop parks (usually at least half of the people in line in front of me), I would say plenty of people buy one-day tickets.

 

[StormyCA]

Based on my 100% anecdotal evidence of the number of people I see getting their hand stamps checked whenever I hop parks (usually at least half of the people in line in front of me), I would say plenty of people buy one-day tickets.

But I think everyone has to get a hand stamp unless they have an AP, don't they? I remember having to get one when I had a 5 day hopper in early 2014.

 

[I M Fearless]

Remember folks, Disney are simply drip feeding us the CONCEPT of tiered pricing in principle.

Once people accept the tiered pricing as the new "normal" the next logical step is to adjust the price up or down accordingly.

It also paves the way towards tiered multi day passes in the future.

Like people have said $20 is not likely to massively alter crowds. $50 would do though!

All I'm saying is they were never going to introduce something this controversial in a way that didn't minimise the potential for bad publicity.

 

[Malcon10t]

But I think everyone has to get a hand stamp unless they have an AP, don't they? I remember having to get one when I had a 5 day hopper in early 2014.

For the last 2 years (since they introduced pics with multiday tickets), only 1 day tickets are required to get a hand stamp.

 

[grelca]

But I think everyone has to get a hand stamp unless they have an AP, don't they? I remember having to get one when I had a 5 day hopper in early 2014.

at the very least, the last few times i've been they've said at the exit only one-day tickets need hand stamps. multi-day tickets get photos taken on their first entry like aps.

 

[VandVsmama]

Something to keep in mind is that while there are a lot of AP holders and certainly a lot of people who visit DL from out of town for a vacation, the greater southern California area had a population of 22.68 million people in 2010. Most of them do NOT have AP's, so most of them who decide to go to Disneyland would likely end up purchasing a 1-day ticket. I'm betting that DL has had a lot of complaints from tourists who visit for a few days in a row...people for whom a trip to DL doesn't happen very often and they have to save up a lot of $$ in order to go once every few years. Purchasing airline tickets has been like this for years. If you want your trip to cost less, you go at a less popular time of year.

And that $$ difference might be the difference for local non-AP-holders to switch their 1-day visit from summer or holidays to another day when it is not as busy.

 

[tarheelalum]

I don't think this will have any significant effect on crowds. Reducing crowds will reduce profits and Disney has no interest in that whatsoever. Disney could care less about crowding as long as profits keep going up. They pay it lip service from time to time but actions speak louder than words. 20 dollars is not going keep locals away from disneyland on the weekend. It's just going to make Disney more money.

 

[sherilaine]

But I think everyone has to get a hand stamp unless they have an AP, don't they? I remember having to get one when I had a 5 day hopper in early 2014.

Nope! If you have a 3 day or longer ticket they take your picture so you don't need a hand stamp. I think many people get a hand stamp that don't know they don't need one.

 

[sherilaine]

Isn't Disney a publicly traded company. Then all their shareholders are greedy too I guess. Selling pixie dust and mice and happiness is no different than selling smart phones or oil, it's all about $!

 

[Indiana Scott]

So more than a 20% increase for 5 day hoppers. Did anybody here besides Disney get that big of raise this year?

 

[sherilaine]

So more than a 20% increase for 5 day hoppers. Did anybody here besides Disney get that big of raise this year?

No. $20 is not 20%!

 

[Indiana Scott]

No. $20 is not 20%!

My bad, I was looking at the 1 park 5 day ($275).

 

[PinkBudgie]

I'm trying to understand how this works- if you buy a one day ticket you have to pick the date you want and then it is only good on that date? Or can you only buy one day tickets at the park same day?

 

[sherilaine]

I'm trying to understand how this works- if you buy a one day ticket you have to pick the date you want and then it is only good on that date? Or can you only buy one day tickets at the park same day?

I believe you pick your date so you buy the right category of ticket, either value, regular or peak. But I could be wrong.

 

[VandVsmama]

So here's something interesting...the tickets part of the DL website this morning was offline until about 10am or so. Now that it's up, I found the pricing calendar for 1-day tickets to be intriguing.

March:

• Value: Mon-THurs 3/1-3/10
• Peak: Fri 3/4-Sun 3/6, Fri 3/11-Thurs3/17
• Peak: Fri 3/18-Thurs 3/31

April:

• Value: Mondays - Thursdays 4/11-4/28
• Regular: all Fri-Sun 4/15 through 4/30
• Peak: Fri 4/1-Sun 4/10

May:

• Value: Mon-Thurs the 1st 3 weeks of the month.
• Regular: Fri-Sun the 1st 3 weeks of the month, plus 5/23 - 5/26 & Tues 5/31
• Peak: Fri-Mon of Memorial Day weekend

June:

• Value: no value days
• Regular: entire month of June is regular pricing
• Peak: no peak days

July:

• Value: no value days
• Regular: All Mondays - Thursdays except for Monday 7/4
• Peak: all Fridays - Sundays, plus Monday 7/4

August:

• Value: Mon 8/22 - Th 8/25, Mon 8/29 - Wed 8/31
• Regular: Mon 8/1 - Th 8/4, Mon 8/8 - Sun 8/21, Fri 8/26 - Sun 8/28
• Peak: Fri 8/5 - Sun 8/7

September:

• Value: all Mondays - Thursdays with the exception of Labor Day
• Regular - All Fridays - Sundays except for Labor Day weekend
• Peak: Fri - Mon of Labor Day weekend

October:

• Value: All Mondays - Thursdays
• Regular: all Fridays, Sat, Sundays

November:

• Value: 11/1-11/3, 11/7-11/10, 11/14-11/17
• Regular: Fri-Sun the 1st two weekends & Mon-Wed 11/28-11/30
• Peak: Fri 11/18 - Sun 11/27

December:

• No value days
• Regular: Mon-Thurs for the 1st 2 weeks.
• Peak: Fri, Sat, Sundays for 1st 2.5 weeks + entire last 2 weeks of December.

Seeing this calendar, I am now more convinced that this pricing structure is:

1. intended to distribute the southern California local 1-day visitors more evenly across the calendar year.
2. intended to encourage visitors to get multi-day park hopper tickets & stay longer &, thus, spend more $$ in the parks.
3. intended to go along with similar pricing that Universal Studios just unveiled very recently.

The next thing that DL needs to do is eliminate the ability for So Cal resident AP holders to pay for their AP on a monthly basis. They should have to pay for it all in 1 fell swoop like the rest of us sorry saps. Next year, I would expect them to make the park hopper tickets seasonal, too.

 

[Malcon10t]

My understanding is the calendar is there to give you the price for the date you are going. You can buy a one day Value ticket and use it any day it is valid, or upgrade it at the ticket booth when you arrive if you end up going on a regular or peak day.

 

[Redarrow5150]

When has ticket prices EVER been adjusted down?

Remember folks, Disney are simply drip feeding us the CONCEPT of tiered pricing in principle.

Once people accept the tiered pricing as the new "normal" the next logical step is to adjust the price up or down accordingly.

It also paves the way towards tiered multi day passes in the future.

Like people have said $20 is not likely to massively alter crowds. $50 would do though!

All I'm saying is they were never going to introduce something this controversial in a way that didn't minimise the potential for bad publicity.

 

[agamble]

When has ticket prices EVER been adjusted down?

Today. LOL! The one day value ticket is actually $4 cheaper than the previous 1-day ticket.