wow if your upset about the new pass priceing your head if going to pop off with surge pricing

[dwight16]

the WSJ is reporting disney is close to putting in surge pricing for the busy times of the year.....so park passes will be more expensive during peak times compared to say September.......personally i am ok with this again after traveling at peak times i hope never to see the park again during those days......

 

[wdrl]

Essentially, the concept of "surge pricing" is already here: Anyone wanting to use an Annual Pass for Park visits around Easter and Christmas has to buy a Platinum AP, which costs about $100 more than the Gold AP, which blocks out those holidays.

 

[staceymay00]

Yes, in a way this makes sense to help with insane crowds. I know Disney is a for-profit company and I will not complain or hold a grudge about all the price increases, but they sure are making it easy for my family to do other things besides Disney!! We used to visit twice a year with APs and TiW card. We did not renew TiW once they added blackout dates (and I think price went from $75 to $100??) because we often travel during those time, and we reduced our TS meals a bit due to being overpriced. We took a year off from visiting and maybe we'll stretch it to every three years after our Christmas trip this year. Partly this is due to kids getting older and having busier schedules including some travel for sports, but partly because we can do other things we enjoy for less money. That said, selling our DVC points is not a consideration at this point because we only have 150. I think we'll continue to be glad to have them to use every 2-3 yrs at WDW, and we also have the option of HHI and VB since we are not too far.

 

[supersnoop]

Essentially, the concept of "surge pricing" is already here: Anyone wanting to use an Annual Pass for Park visits around Easter and Christmas has to buy a Platinum AP, which costs about $100 more than the Gold AP, which blocks out those holidays.

But that only applies to annual passes. It sounds like they may roll out the concept to normal tickets next.

 

[eliza61]

But that only applies to annual passes. It sounds like they may roll out the concept to normal tickets next.

 

[Harlemgirl720]

That is what I am worried about. Going for the holidays and I will be just purchasing regular tickets with Park hoppers. Not doing the APs. If they would allow us to pay monthly for the APs, then I would definitely get the Platinum. I love going for the holidays. And that is the only time some people with children in school can go.

 

[jdkdorn]

Bought my DS's ticket yesterday from Undercover Tourist for our March trip because I do not trust them to give any notice for a ticket change. The way they handled the AP change this last weekend was abhorrent and I can see them doing it for the regular tickets before month end. that way they capture the money form all those people that buy at the park for Christmas that will all need to buy the GOLD ticket due to crowd size. it was a hit on my budget since I did not plan to buy until January but I will deal with that and not take the change on a $100-$200 increase on ticket cost.

 

[Granny]

And of course with surge pricing, the current day pass pricing will be the "cheap season" prices, other times of the year will increase from that! So basically another price increase.

 

[TimR]

I suspect surge pricing is coming, but I think it will be harder for Disney to figure out how to deal with multi-day tickets. If my vacation covers 5 days of cheap time and 2 of expensive I don't want to pay the 7-day expensive price. I suspect they'll start messing with the 1-2 day tickets first and see how things go, like they have been for raising the price to visit MK.

 

[tjkraz]

And of course with surge pricing, the current day pass pricing will be the "cheap season" prices, other times of the year will increase from that! So basically another price increase.

Maybe...maybe not. I wouldn't expect any dramatic price reduction but I could see them going down maybe $5 from the current single-day price on the absolute slowest days.

I suspect surge pricing is coming, but I think it will be harder for Disney to figure out how to deal with multi-day tickets. If my vacation covers 5 days of cheap time and 2 of expensive I don't want to pay the 7-day expensive price. I suspect they'll start messing with the 1-2 day tickets first and see how things go, like they have been for raising the price to visit MK.

If (when?) Disney goes down this path, I'd expect it to start with single day admission. I suspect a large portion of their business is still single day visits. That business can be very easily manipulated with flexible pricing (i.e. charge insane prices for New Year's Eve in hopes that some of the business can be pushed to Jan 1 instead; bump prices on 3-day holiday weekends in hopes some visit Thursday before or Tuesday after.)

Agree the multiday tickets are the toughest nut to crack. Much room for confusion. For those passes, I suspect Disney is content knowing they have guests visiting for numerous consecutive days rather than worrying about peak rates. Especially now that non-expiring passes are gone and there's virtually no way to re-sell unused days.

 

[jdkdorn]

i can see the scenario where they give the benefit to those that book pkgs through Disney and let you pay the least price of your trip but those who do not buy pkgs would need to buy a ticket that covers the highest price of their trip. This would increase the people buying full pkgs during the busy seasons and not using an outside ticket broker

 

[disney junky]

It's just become more and more complicated to plan anything any more. I always tried to get some savings, but now everything seems to be in limbo. There is no normal any more.

 

[smiths02]

Bought my DS's ticket yesterday from Undercover Tourist for our March trip because I do not trust them to give any notice for a ticket change. The way they handled the AP change this last weekend was abhorrent and I can see them doing it for the regular tickets before month end. that way they capture the money form all those people that buy at the park for Christmas that will all need to buy the GOLD ticket due to crowd size. it was a hit on my budget since I did not plan to buy until January but I will deal with that and not take the change on a $100-$200 increase on ticket cost.

We are going in June, DH, older DS, and I have annual passes from our trip this June (2015), but I will need to buy tickets for my twins who are now 3 (but were free on our last trip) for June 2016. I was going to wait until January as well to avoid the usual February price hike, but I may have to bite the bullet sooner. Guess the tickets can be Christmas presents? LOL

 

[HopperFan]

But that only applies to annual passes. It sounds like they may roll out the concept to normal tickets next.

No surprise as it was reported in the spring with surveys regarding it. CM friend said they saw a memo that new prices on regular tickets are coming but had no date on memo. Just said would be no surprise if it were a overnight like this - saves lots of aggravation to have no pre-change discussion. If I were planning a trip, if I could, I'd be buying tickets now.

A great way for Disney to not only crowd control but to meet their goal of NO SLOW SEASON is to price the tickets accordingly, swaying guests to shift their trips to a time when hotels and tickets may be less. I know I never stay onsite during peak rates, why not add to the savings.

 

[bluezy]

This is not something new. Disney was doing surveys about tiered pricing at least six months ago so they've certainly been looking at it for probably at least a year. I know there were discussions here on the boards about it -- that's how I found out about it the first time. I think the surveys were in the April/May time frame. I know it was before we went in June. Not sure why WSJ is just reporting this...maybe because the of the AP price changes over the weekend.

 

[Granny]

Maybe...maybe not. I wouldn't expect any dramatic price reduction but I could see them going down maybe $5 from the current single-day price on the absolute slowest days.

Tim...no doubt that my comment had a portion of trolling to it. It was more an expression that Disney is really punching the admission revenue button at a time when the parks have the fewest attractions since I've joined DVC (2001). I don't dispute that they could do something like a $5 drop on slow season pricing...but there will always be that guy at their table saying why "give up" any revenue?

 

[chris springer]

Isn't terrible when it all comes down to the all mighty dollar?

 

[corpcomp]

Going to wdw first week of January and was undecided about buying an annual pass
The decision was just made for me, not worth it

 

[CandleontheWater]

I don't think it would be as hard to do surge pricing for multi-day tickets as people are thinking. What will change is that you no longer buy a 5 day park hopper, you buy a ticket from May 1-5. You'll get on the MDE site, pull up a calendar, pick the dates you'll visit, and then Disney will let you know the cost (and likely send you a pop-up window letting you know that you can add May 6th for only $10 more!). Then when you get to the parks, you're ticket will be tied to the days that you bought. If you try to use your May 1st day on April 30th, you won't be let in, unless you pay a "day switch premium" and any difference in the price of ticket you bought and the current day.

It wouldn't be hard for Disney to implement and enforce it, but it would majorly stink for us!

 

[Brian Noble]

If my vacation covers 5 days of cheap time and 2 of expensive I don't want to pay the 7-day expensive price.

Universal already has variable pricing for their VIP tickets. They solve this problem by (1) not varying the seasons too frequently and (2) charging you the price in effect based on the first day you use it.