Tiered Pricing on Tickets....

[randumb0]

The issues surrounding multi-tiered ticket prices isn't necessarily tied to picking your dates paying for your tickets for whatever tier/dates you chose, it's what happens when you need to alter the trip and reschedule. Could be adding a day at the beginning or end, or pushing it out a week or a month or longer due to various circumstances. What if the weather is bad and the parks are closed on the "lower" (or "higher") priced day you expected to go and now need to use a down day where you weren't going to a park. Say you had paid for the higher tier and the only other day you could go was in the lower tier or vice-versa.

How about when Hurricane Irma came to town last fall. Many folks ended up rescheduling their existing trips for which they already had tickets around their family's schedules and holidays/vacations. Now imagine trying to reschedule around your family's schedule AND the available dates for the tiered tickets you purchased.

It'll be interesting to see how they implement this.

I see it as being similar to an annual pass. If you purchase a pass with blackout dates and want to go on a day that is blacked out then you need to pay to upgrade your pass. If you pay for a pass that has no blackout dates but are only able to visit during a "value" day then Mickey wins and you lose. This is currently how 1 day tickets work.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

What I'm wondering is if I buy tickets right now that expire at the end of 2019, will I have to upgrade them when the new tiered system gets put in place. We are going sometime next year with the whole family, but we aren't sure when. To me it seems that what I pay now should be honored, but who knows?

 

[ArwenMarie]

Well as the proud owner of a few one-day tickets that I just upgraded to Peak MK before the recent price increases went in, I can say it is going to be a pain in the neck for sure.

Nothing that can't be dealt with, but definitely way more annoying than just having general tickets that can be used any day, any park.

Of course, this all already started with the MK/Other Parks breakout for the one-day tickets, but that didn't affect too many people it seems.

 

[Colleen27]

Add me to the crowd that feels like this will become crazy-complicated. We're not local so our trips aren't usually short, and almost always span more than one pricing tier. Are we going to have to purchase tickets based on the higher tier for the whole trip? Or buy one ticket for each price-season? Or will every ticket be custom-priced based on the number of days in each season, effectively making tickets date-specific? I suspect it will be the first, which will offset the pricing advantage on multi-day tickets for guests whose trips involve more than one price season (so, anyone whose trip includes a weekend) because rather than a four-day "value" ticket, you'll end up paying the five-day "regular" price if you want to go to the park on Fri/Sat/Sun.

 

[dreiwhit]

Iger saying that tiered pricing is good for guests is ridiculous. When he says it's good for the company, he's correct.

IMHO, its also the reason for the increased crowd levels at historically slow times.

Which stinks because I enjoy our visits much more at slow times than at busy times. But Disney seems to care more about the bottom line than guest enjoyment and satisfaction these days......

 

[mshanson3121]

Honestly, does anyone look at ticket prices and go, "I'm not going at such-and-such a time because it's cheaper to go at this other time?"

I don't.

I look at when I can go and plan accordingly.

Iger saying that tiered pricing is good for guests is ridiculous. When he says it's good for the company, he's correct.

If I had the option, yes, I would definitely go during a cheaper time of year. Unfortunately, we do not have the option.

 

[mshanson3121]

I find it interesting that Iger says they're introducing Peak Multi-Day tickets, and that we'll see "more" tiering in the future.

So, this leads me to wonder, will they initially be rolling the program out with different pricing for "peak" season tickets only, and then the other two tiers (regular/value) will be separated out at a later date?

Or will they do it all at once, and they're going to be tiering the cost of other experiences etc... in the future?

 

[Scar1199]

My wife is a teacher and I'm a school bus driver, unfortunately we can only go during peak times. We already have to pay higher prices for flights, so this is dissapointing to hear. Something I'll need to keep an eye on for our next trip, March 2019.

 

[mshanson3121]

IMHO, its also the reason for the increased crowd levels at historically slow times.

Which stinks because I enjoy our visits much more at slow times than at busy times. But Disney seems to care more about the bottom line than guest enjoyment and satisfaction these days......

Yes it is, because that's exactly what they're going for, to spread out the crowds more. I would say in the near future, there will no longer be "slow" times, where the crowds are 2s, 3, etc...

 

[mab2012]

I agree with @randumb0. Multi-day tiered pricing will almost certainly work the same way APs work now. So silver tickets get you in on "value" days, gold gets you "value" and "regular", and platinum is good any day. If you have a gold ticket and want to go on a peak day, no doubt Disney will be happy to sell you an upgrade. It's yet another price increase, so I can't see anyone being happy about it, but it's not all that complicated.

I also expect that the tiers will be seasonal, at least in the near term. Weekend tickets are not necessarily "peak" now, so there is no reason to assume that will change on multi-day tickets. Your trip might still span two seasons, but I don't think we're going to see Tuesday / Thursday "value" , Monday, Wednesday, Friday "regular" , and Saturday / Sunday "peak". That would be complicated, and unnecessary. Their goal here is to charge more for the busy seasons (because they can) without impacting attendance in slower times.

Iger saying that tiered pricing is good for guests is ridiculous. When he says it's good for the company, he's correct.

Iger saying that tiered pricing is "good for guests" is patronizing almost to the point of being offensive. How dumb does he think we are? It might be good for some guests if they actually dropped prices in low-crowd seasons, but we all know that's not how this will work.

 

[DVCcurious]

Honestly, does anyone look at ticket prices and go, "I'm not going at such-and-such a time because it's cheaper to go at this other time?"

Yes.....

But not WDW ticket prices. I do look at hotel and airfare prices when deciding when to go.

I believe(maybe incorrectly) that resort/airfare have enough difference in prices between high/med/low demand times it’s worth my effort to look in to. I also believe (again, maybe incorrectly) that WDW Park tickets do not have enough variance or have the same variance as hotel/airfare that I don’t waste my time.

My assumption is that if dates A have lower airfare than dates B they’ll probably also have less or the same WDW ticket prices

 

[catfan98]

What I'm wondering is if I buy tickets right now that expire at the end of 2019, will I have to upgrade them when the new tiered system gets put in place. We are going sometime next year with the whole family, but we aren't sure when. To me it seems that what I pay now should be honored, but who knows?

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I bought our 6 day park hoppers for our December trip before the price increase. Will they still be honored if the tiered pricing takes effect before my trip? I sure hope so! I would think that they would be since they were purchased before the change was implemented, but who knows.

 

[Miffy]

Disney is making taking a vacation at WDW more and more complex. I doubt they're trying to drive people away, so perhaps what they intend is to cause a potential vacationer to look at all the confusing options--when to go, off site, on site, Value, Moderate, Deluxe, ADRs, FP+s, room discounts, dining plans, and now tiered ticket pricing, etc., etc., etc.--drive themselves nuts with all the decisions involved, and finally throw up their hands, and say, "This is too much to study up on--for a vacation. Instead, I'm going to buy this WDW package and screw the cost. It's just more convenient and easier this way, and I know that the vacation's paid for."

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I bought our 6 day park hoppers for our December trip before the price increase. Will they still be honored? I sure hope so! I would think that they would be since they were purchased before the change was implemented, but who knows.

NM. Read it wrong!

 

[catfan98]

NM. Read it wrong!

I'm rewording it....it sounds confusing, lol.

 

[ShadeDK]

I really can't buy into the "crowd shifting" argument in favor of tiered pricing. Although it may have some effect on crowds, the argument from Disney's perspective would amount to " You know - we're totally fine with the overall number of people coming to the parks each year - we just need to spread them around the calendar." The goal isn't to smooth out crowd numbers but to grow - to keep peak season near capacity and bring the slow season closer to capacity.

As PPs have already pointed out, peak season is peak because that's when many people can go or want to go. The increase in numbers during value season would not just be guests shifting their vacation schedules, but from guests who otherwise might not go anytime except for the "deals" during value season. Some shifts will occur, but I suspect that what will actually happen is: peak season visitors will enjoy slightly less crowded parks at higher ticket prices, and value season visitors will enjoy slightly less expensive tickets with more crowded parks. Can't really say that's a "win" for either group.

 

[SarahC97]

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning that this will help guests by making crowds better. Won't it make "off-peak" times even more crowded? Or is the reasoning that it will spread crowds out over the course of the year better? I guess just more support for the idea that there's no longer a slow time at Disney.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm rewording it....it sounds confusing, lol.

Haha it really wasn't that bad. I'm just a bit sleep deprived at the moment!

 

[mshanson3121]

I really can't buy into the "crowd shifting" argument in favor of tiered pricing. Although it may have some effect on crowds, the argument from Disney's perspective would amount to " You know - we're totally fine with the overall number of people coming to the parks each year - we just need to spread them around the calendar." The goal isn't to smooth out crowd numbers but to grow - to keep peak season near capacity and bring the slow season closer to capacity.

As PPs have already pointed out, peak season is peak because that's when many people can go or want to go. The increase in numbers during value season would not just be guests shifting their vacation schedules, but from guests who otherwise might not go anytime except for the "deals" during value season. Some will shifts will occur, but I suspect that what will actually happen is: peak season visitors will enjoy slightly less crowded parks at higher ticket prices, and value season visitors will enjoy slightly less expensive tickets with more crowded parks. Can't really say that's a "win" for either group.

Can't crowd shifting achieving this goal? If you shift crowds so current busy times aren't so crowded, guest experience improves, which makes them more likely to return, give positive reports to others etc...

That all said, attendance numbers were down in 2016 and 2017. The only reason revenue was up was due to increased tickets costs and park spending. So who knows?

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think it will be something like this...

If you have an onsite package booked, it will calculate your total ticket cost based on the days. If you change the package, it will automatically change the ticket prices as well for you. So less thinking involved for the customer

If you have standalone tickets, that's where it will get fun. If you're going any time during a "peak" season, you'll probably need the whole set of tickets to be peak. If you can see that you are only going during Value or Regular, then you can just buy those