Disney announces new Ticket system for WDW

[SaharanTea]

As someone who plans on converting 5-day tickets to AP in November, I have been told that you can only convert existing tickets to AP in person at the parks. (Otherwise I would have done it already).

Over on the TPAS ticket sticky, there have been one or two people who posted being able to upgrade to APs over the phone recently, but a few posters after that haven't been able to do the same.

Everyone's kind of waiting to see how it shakes out. This new ticket change is going to throw everything up in the air for a while regardless.

 

[1lilspark]

Well.... Annual Passes just became a cheaper option

I don’t know it depends how much the price bumps up (plus all the new blackouts potentially added)

 

[LaRaine]

As someone who plans on converting 5-day tickets to AP in November, I have been told that you can only convert existing tickets to AP in person at the parks. (Otherwise I would have done it already).

Thanks!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Any ideas how this would impact resellers like Undercover Tourist or Parksavers? Seems like it would be really complicated to try to do that with specific dates. I hadn't really thought it would be too crazy if tickets were sold in "seasons" but specific dates is a whole other ballgame.

I saw on another thread that the Authorized 3rd party re-sellers have been clued in on this implementation and will continue to be able to offer tickets.

 

[LaRaine]

Over on the TPAS ticket sticky, there have been one or two people who posted being able to upgrade to APs over the phone recently, but a few posters after that haven't been able to do the same.

Everyone's kind of waiting to see how it shakes out. This new ticket change is going to throw everything up in the air for a while regardless.

Thanks!

 

[tlmadden73]

So this "demand" based pricing is just odd to me. I mean .. I get it .. I just don't like it. It's not like it is really anything new -- we pay for hotels more during high demand times. Go to a place like Great Wolf Lodge (which is tickets plus hotel all in one package) .. you can probably pay near HALF the price if you go in the winter compared to the summer.

So you increase demand for months like September and January by it having the cheapest tickets AND cheapest hotel costs .. but will demand for those times make those dates high-demand -- thus justifying a future price increase? What happens when demand is the same across all dates because of this?

I can't imagine what the pricing will be for the high demand times like October and major holidays. Eesh.

If this spreads out the crowds, great, I guess this is fine. Hard to really judge without the pricing.

If going in October costs like $150/day, compared to like $100/day in January .. that is a pretty huge difference in the cost of a vacation.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

On the one hand it's not as complicated as I thought because they removed the different parks aspect and just lumped it into one though I think we'll be paying higher than we would have TBH since they priced MK higher due to demand---just my thoughts.

On the other hand both Disney and Universal are making it ridiculously hard to plan trips. Between Universal reducing their ticket expiration to 7-days and Disney reducing their ticket expiration to dependent on how many days you bought (but still a reduction unless you purchase a 10-day ticket) I'm annoyed with both. I'll get over because it'll be several years before another Orlando trip occurs (that's the plan at least) but it's annoying for me now lol.

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

If the prices on the November calendar in the video are correct, then my park days will be cheaper.

Currently, a 4-day park hopper is $455 but according to that video my 4 days would be $81/day plus $55 for park hopper so a total of $379. Am I understanding this correctly? I must be missing something.

 

[Ponderer]

So this "demand" based pricing is just odd to me. I mean .. I get it .. I just don't like it. It's not like it is really anything new -- we pay for hotels more during high demand times. Go to a place like Great Wolf Lodge (which is tickets plus hotel all in one package) .. you can probably pay near HALF the price if you go in the winter compared to the summer.

So you increase demand for months like September and January by it having the cheapest tickets AND cheapest hotel costs .. but will demand for those times make those dates high-demand -- thus justifying a future price increase? What happens when demand is the same across all dates because of this?

I can't imagine what the pricing will be for the high demand times like October and major holidays. Eesh.

If this spreads out the crowds, great, I guess this is fine. Hard to really judge without the pricing.

If going in October costs like $150/day, compared to like $100/day in January .. that is a pretty huge difference in the cost of a vacation.

Yeah, I think the hope is more that it'll spread it out a little more. Not that they won't gouge out for every extra buck, but in general, consistency is good for the bottom line because it makes operational planning much easier for them. I'm assuming with this system, they could actually lower prices even more for certain stretches to make it up in attendance volume.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If the prices on the November calendar in the video are correct, then my park days will be cheaper.

Currently, a 4-day park hopper is $455 but according to that video my 4 days would be $81/day plus $55 for park hopper so a total of $379. Am I understanding this correctly? I must be missing something.

IF somehow there was a decrease for some periods through this change...I will GLADLY eat all my words of criticism!! LOL!

 

[Bing Showei]

If the prices on the November calendar in the video are correct, then my park days will be cheaper.

Currently, a 4-day park hopper is $455 but according to that video my 4 days would be $81/day plus $55 for park hopper so a total of $379. Am I understanding this correctly? I must be missing something.

Clear disclaimer that, “Prices shown do not reflect actual pricing.”

They wanted to save the fireworks for when real prices come out.

 

[skier_pete]

Again - I have no issue with Disney making changes they feel will benefit their profitability. It's up to me to decide if I will continue to go or not based on any changes...BUT please don't patronize me with 4 paragraphs of marketing speak telling me how great these changes are...

Well, here to me would be the only argument in favor of this change being a great benefit to consumers:

If certain ticket prices on date went "down". For instance - if I now buy a mid-week 3 day ticket in January, it is now a less expensive offer than the generic "3-day ticket" was. Even if 80% of the time the ticket prices are higher, but 20 % of the time they are slightly lower - that IS a potential benefit to the consumer. The fact that they are eliminating the "MK 1-day" price alone may be considered a benefit to the consumer.

Now if ALL ticket prices go up, but just some of them go up more, this is of no real benefit to the consumer.

Another note to this. One this that drives Disney crazy (and most businesses as well) are unused tickets. Disney has spent the last 10 years trying to drive away unused tickets. First getting rid of the Non-Expiring option. This is another example of this, by putting an extra $50 fee on an "open ended" ticket, it really will reduce consumers buying tickets just to hold them for future trips.

 

[skier_pete]

IF somehow there was a decrease for some periods through this change...I will GLADLY eat all my words of criticism!! LOL!

it is completely possible they will do this - though my guess is the weeks they do it would be limited...but you could easily see this as an alternative to free dining. Buy your tickets for September 5th to 25th and save 20%.

 

[soniam]

Just love how they spun this in the Disney Blogs title I'm shocked it didn't say "due to guest demand" in there somewhereThank goodness we still have our APs.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Well, here to me would be the only argument in favor of this change being a great benefit to consumers:

If certain ticket prices on date went "down". For instance - if I now buy a mid-week 3 day ticket in January, it is now a less expensive offer than the generic "3-day ticket" was. Even if 80% of the time the ticket prices are higher, but 20 % of the time they are slightly lower - that IS a potential benefit to the consumer. The fact that they are eliminating the "MK 1-day" price alone may be considered a benefit to the consumer.

Now if ALL ticket prices go up, but just some of them go up more, this is of no real benefit to the consumer.

Another note to this. One this that drives Disney crazy (and most businesses as well) are unused tickets. Disney has spent the last 10 years trying to drive away unused tickets. First getting rid of the Non-Expiring option. This is another example of this, by putting an extra $50 fee on an "open ended" ticket, it really will reduce consumers buying tickets just to hold them for future trips.

Yeah - somebody pointed out in the video it looks like tickets for their dates went down. IF that is true and ticket prices are LOWER for some dates...I will GLADLY eat my words there. That would truly be a positive part of this change...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Just love how they spun this in the Disney Blogs title I'm shocked it didn't say "due to guest demand" in there somewhereThank goodness we still have our APs.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Sept. 24, 2018) - In an unprecedented move, Disney has released data from surveys showing that guests are now asking for higher prices and increased complexity to booking their trips. CEO Bob Iger is please to report that after years of attempting to convince guests that this is in their best interest, he has finally succeeded.

 

[Limes96]

I’d hoped the MDE glitchiness would be cleared up by the time my fp+ date arrives...October 16.

 

[wareagle57]

I'm glad to see you don't have to pick your park each day, but I thought one of the major drivers behind this decision was going to be Galaxy's Edge, charging more for DHS on certain days and being able to see exactly (minus APs and park hoppers) how many people would be coming on a given day.

 

[ShayBells]

I have a headache. Is it not going to be called park hopper anymore? Is it flexible option now? Or is that something different?

Off to do more research and pray it’s not as bad as it sounds. Then debate whether to buy my tickets now for next year or wait and see.

 

[ShayBells]

And one more thing... did anyone notice... are we not getting better deals for longer tickets? Is it all going to basically pay per day no matter how long you stay??