Disney announces new Ticket system for WDW

[manning]

Doesn't bother me any. I sit at the pool and bathing suit watch.

 

[lylone]

Wonder how this will work with park hoppers. Do I have to decide what parks I will go to on which days?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Wonder how this will work with park hoppers. Do I have to decide what parks I will go to on which days?

No not necessary at all. Nothing with these new tickets is park specific - no different than it is now on multi-day tickets.

 

[skier_pete]

Right .. how much would any of us be willing to pay for a 4th "anytime, anywhere" fast pass per day considering we gladly pay $70 for Early Morning Magic .. or $70 for a better seat at a night show./QUOTE]

Speak for yourself, I've never paid for either of these things. But you are right, these products have been very successful for Disney, I nust don't understand them myself.

And Disney has not done much to turn me off, but if they start charging for fastpasses....

 

[tlmadden73]

I am just surprised they would announce this just a few weeks before this goes live and NOT announce the pricing and the breakdowns?
Seems odd to announce such a huge change without any specific details. Spin it how they want . .this isn't a "good" thing. Announcing a price change without prices just is weird.

 

[rteetz]

I am just surprised they would announce this just a few weeks before this goes live and NOT announce the pricing and the breakdowns?
Seems odd to announce such a huge change without any specific details. Spin it how they want . .this isn't a "good" thing. Announcing a price change without prices just is weird.

Each date will have different pricing so they would have to release the entire calendar to do that. It is likely better to just wait and roll it out with the new system.

 

[KatyWDW]

Bingo. We’ve been doing this for 13ish years.

Upgrading our regular tickets in Oct to the AP for this very reason! Really looking forward to two maybe 3 trips in one year!!!

 

[Planogirl]

Someone needs to create an online course in how to visit WDW. All of this nonsense makes me tired and I'm just reading about it. Will the house of cards fall? Time will tell.

 

[tlmadden73]

Each date will have different pricing so they would have to release the entire calendar to do that. It is likely better to just wait and roll it out with the new system.

I see your point, it just seems bad PR (no matter how you spin it) when you announce a price structure change .. and don't announce the prices.
I mean .. they have to have the calendar created and prices in mind already.

Or maybe this is a genius marketing move . .without actually announcing the prices .. there isn't anything for people to complain about until the system goes live.
Maybe they learned from the parking fiasco.

So .. does this mean you think the prices will TRULY be dynamic? That the system will allow them to charge MORE for a specific day as more tickets are sold for that day? If so .. UGH.

Really .. all most of us want to know .. what will the cheapest price be .. and what will the most expensive price be. I mean . .are we talking $10-20 dollar differences in price or are we talking $50-75 price differences? And selfishly, I want to know if Annual Passes prices will go up .. so I can choose to make that purchase beforehand or not.

I see Disney pricing becoming "easier" because you just wont worry about the individual price of tickets anymore. .. like say the Great Wolf Lodge .. you just pick days you want to go .. and see what the total price is. If you want it cheaper .. you try different days (say you go during the week). There will be no true ticket price anymore .. like hotels it will just be dynamic . you never really know if that is a "normal" price or "above normal" price. You just know that is the price for the time you are looking at.

Great Wolf Lodge just "bundles" in the price of tickets to their water park in with the hotel stay. The price difference is amazing though. Just looking at some dates in October for my local one. Stay on a Wed - Friday (10/10 - 10/12) .. and the price is HALF the cost if you want to stay just a few days later Friday-Sunday (10/12 - 10/14).

I wonder if these new ticket prices will vary THAT greatly. Will it now cost almost double the price (hotel and tickets) to say on a weekend as opposed to a weekday?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I am just surprised they would announce this just a few weeks before this goes live and NOT announce the pricing and the breakdowns?
Seems odd to announce such a huge change without any specific details. Spin it how they want . .this isn't a "good" thing. Announcing a price change without prices just is weird.

Each date will have different pricing so they would have to release the entire calendar to do that. It is likely better to just wait and roll it out with the new system.

my guess is that if they released the prices, that all anyone would be talking about is the increases and they want people to focus more on this change (as it is a pretty big change) - and not just for the individual consumer, but for all the travel agents to get comfortable with how it works

Plus might be more coming when they do have the final changes (thinking potentially big changes to Annual Passes and additional levels with more blackout re: Galaxy's Edge)

 

[Farro]

So .. does this mean you think the prices will TRULY be dynamic? That the system will allow them to charge MORE for a specific day as more tickets are sold for that day? If so .. UGH.

No. I don't think they are going to have a price set for a date, then as they see people buying tickets for that day, raise the price accordingly. I think that the next year, that date will have a higher set price.

Is that what you mean?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

No. I don't think they are going to have a price set for a date, then as they see people buying tickets for that day, raise the price accordingly. I think that the next year, that date will have a higher set price.

Is that what you mean?

Yeah - the truly dynamic pricing system isn't ready to roll out yet... That's the negative change coming in 2020....... I kid......I hope I kid

 

[dlavender]

I'm very interested to see if there are new tiers for seasons, like what they did with the resorts last year, I believe.

Will there be a Fall 2, for example....

And if you buy a 3 day ticket with the thought of using it on a Tuesday through Thursday which may be cheaper than a Fri-Sun, do you still pay the Fri-Sun price since technically you could use your ticket then since it's in your 8 day window?

I hope it doesn't get as detailed as that...hopefully it's just distinct "seasons", not weekday and weekend pricing.

I noticed that there's a disclaimer put out that if your plans change and you need to change your ticket dates, that moving to a lower tiered season will not get you any refunded amount....If you bought peak season tickets but want to move your travel to a value time, for example, you are still paying that peak price....But that's probably how it works now as well, so not a huge deal.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm very interested to see if there are new tiers for seasons, like what they did with the resorts last year, I believe.

Will there be a Fall 2, for example....

And if you buy a 3 day ticket with the thought of using it on a Tuesday through Thursday which may be cheaper than a Fri-Sun, do you still pay the Fri-Sun price since technically you could use your ticket then since it's in your 8 day window?

I hope it doesn't get as detailed as that...hopefully it's just distinct "seasons", not weekday and weekend pricing.

I noticed that there's a disclaimer put out that if your plans change and you need to change your ticket dates, that moving to a lower tiered season will not get you any refunded amount....If you bought peak season tickets but want to move your travel to a value time, for example, you are still paying that peak price....But that's probably how it works now as well, so not a huge deal.

My understanding of it was that your ticket price will be based on your check in date. So it *should* be the cheaper price. But, this is Disney we're talking about...

 

[lugnut33]

As for pricing, I'd suspect there will be a minimal one now, and then a whopper come early next year.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

As for pricing, I'd suspect there will be a minimal one now, and then a whopper come early next year.

It will be interesting to see how far out the calendar goes - and if all the way until the end of the year I wonder if the prices are way up at one point when they expect Galaxy's Edge to be open

 

[mab2012]

I also think that while many people are assuming the ticket prices will be humungous, I am not sure that is really going to be the case here. We will have to wait and see.

I think the peak-period price increases could be substantial. Probably not so much at lower demand times.

IMO that's the whole point of all this. It's not really to "spread out the crowds"; at best, that's a secondary benefit. What they want is to maximize the profit curve at all times. They always want as many people in the parks as possible, at as high a price as they can convince them to pay. This new scheme will let them continue to raise prices at high demand times without negatively impacting attendance at lower demand times.

Maybe this is a sign that they've finally reached the limit of what people are willing to pay, at least at some times of the year? Or maybe not. I keep thinking that a limit must exist, but they keep raising prices, and people keep going, so what do I know?

 

[DisFanDad]

I think the peak-period price increases could be substantial. Probably not so much at lower demand times.

IMO that's the whole point of all this. It's not really to "spread out the crowds"; at best, that's a secondary benefit. What they want is to maximize the profit curve at all times. They always want as many people in the parks as possible, at as high a price as they can convince them to pay. This new scheme will let them continue to raise prices at high demand times without negatively impacting attendance at lower demand times.

Maybe this is a sign that they've finally reached the limit of what people are willing to pay, at least at some times of the year? Or maybe not. I keep thinking that a limit must exist, but they keep raising prices, and people keep going, so what do I know?

I take it as a sign that they are going to FIND OUT what the limit is of what people are willing to pay at certain times of year. Hell, they could even use this for Surge pricing. First 80 000 tickets for a day at regular price, next 40 000 for 1.5X, and if the parks get crazy and people still really want to show up / go in, 2X the price !

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I think the peak-period price increases could be substantial. Probably not so much at lower demand times.

IMO that's the whole point of all this. It's not really to "spread out the crowds"; at best, that's a secondary benefit. What they want is to maximize the profit curve at all times. They always want as many people in the parks as possible, at as high a price as they can convince them to pay. This new scheme will let them continue to raise prices at high demand times without negatively impacting attendance at lower demand times.

Maybe this is a sign that they've finally reached the limit of what people are willing to pay, at least at some times of the year? Or maybe not. I keep thinking that a limit must exist, but they keep raising prices, and people keep going, so what do I know?

I definitely think the lowest season won't see much of an increase over current prices (if anything maybe small decrease?) - so they can still use in their commercials "now a family of four can visit WDW starting at ....." - even if for the vast majority of times it would be well above that "starting at" figure

Also will be interesting how many "seasons" they have - if they stick to just 3 or if they add a 4th for the super crowded times (Christmas, 4th of July, etc.). If so, I could see the prices for that "ultra peak" season being nearly double current prices

 

[tlmadden73]

I'm very interested to see if there are new tiers for seasons, like what they did with the resorts last year, I believe.

Will there be a Fall 2, for example....

And if you buy a 3 day ticket with the thought of using it on a Tuesday through Thursday which may be cheaper than a Fri-Sun, do you still pay the Fri-Sun price since technically you could use your ticket then since it's in your 8 day window?

I hope it doesn't get as detailed as that...hopefully it's just distinct "seasons", not weekday and weekend pricing.

I noticed that there's a disclaimer put out that if your plans change and you need to change your ticket dates, that moving to a lower tiered season will not get you any refunded amount....If you bought peak season tickets but want to move your travel to a value time, for example, you are still paying that peak price....But that's probably how it works now as well, so not a huge deal.

I would put good money on that it will be weekday/weekend pricing -- just like their hotels. But, like you said, it is a mystery how they would implement it.

Like I mentioned elsewhere .. a place like Great Wolf Lodge has way different pricing weekday versus weekend ... I can go there during the week for half the cost of going just a few days later on the weekend.
I would expect the same thing here.

If so, this will shift a LOT of vacations to starting on Mon-Thursday (a lot of people do that anyway since hotels are significantly cheaper. )