Disney World AP price increase? [Answer: Yes]

[twix516]

I ordered two annual passes yesterday evening from tickets at work at a discount off the old annual pass price. Still have not received the tickets (which I was supposed to receive within an hour), so I called and they said there is a huge back log that they are working through. I asked if there was a possibility that they have sold out and that my order will be cancelled, and they assured me that would not happen, but who knows??

 

[lugnut33]

I logged into my UT account and it still shows the order is "Processing". I can see my previous orders so I can do a quick price comparison since we have always purchased 8-day park hoppers.
Here was the cost breakdown for our previous trips:
2013 - $365.95 Adult - purchased BEFORE the 2013 price increase
2017 - $511.45 Adult ( 39.76% increase over the 2013 price) - purchased AFTER the 2017 price increase
2020 - $561.08 Adult ( 9.7% increase over the 2017 price) - purchased BEFORE the 2020 price increase

Wow, that is stunning.

 

[hertamaniac]

I still think it is a thinning the herd move ahead of anniversary to lower the number of AP holders. I think they are searching for the point of diminishing returns, the pain threshold, and are close to it.

I agree it is a search for the sweet spot. For us it's not a financial issue, but such a dilution of the experience(s) that drove us not opting for a WDW AP this year. It may change in the coming years, but as you said there are so many other experiences in Florida that I feel those businesses will welcome our expenditures with open arms.

 

[randumb0]

I don't see it as a thinning of the herd it is about maximizing profits. The minimum wage will soon be $15 an hour for CM's. I highly doubt that Disney will choose to just eat the cost when they have an option to pass it on to the consumer

 

[Windixon]

Just want to verify, if I buy an AP from Tickets at Work, I am buying the voucher that I can link to MDE and it doesn't become active until I arrive and activate it? But before that I can make Fast Pass and use it for resort discounts?

 

[Pens Fan]

If these dates are representative, the increases seem focused on days 5-10 of a multiday ticket (which have historically been ~$10 each), as well as APs.

That's interesting. I was checking some pricing for our son as he and his friends were considering adding a day onto to their 7 day park hopper plus tickets in May due to booking a late flight on checkout day. The difference between 7 and 8 days is now $27. I don't remember the exact amount it was before, but when we looked at it over Christmas break it was around $10 - $12, I think. It seems that Disney has changed their strategy on pricing longer ticket packages. It used to be after the 5th or 6th day the price of adding additional ticket days was negligible, but that appears to have changed somewhat. It's not a huge increase per ticket, for sure - but it does make a difference. Before, that $10 per ticket was kind of a throw away, but $27 per ticket would make me reconsider and just go hang out at Disney Springs on checkout day.

 

[Remy is Up]

I don't see it as a thinning of the herd it is about maximizing profits. The minimum wage will soon be $15 an hour for CM's. I highly doubt that Disney will choose to just eat the cost when they have an option to pass it on to the consumer

I believe offsetting increasing labor costs is part of it. Any business will do that. But keep in mind Disney still benefits from the College Program and that provides cast members at a much smaller price.
But, at times I think WDW in particular, sees AP holders as icing on the cake and if other visitors are maximizing the income flow, AP becomes secondary so raise the prices on them until the # of actual AP holders goes down enough to accomodate the day or typical guest without increasing the labor cost so much that they see diminishing returns on P&L or balance sheets when it comes to labor costs.

 

[MulanMom]

Thank you, OP for posting this thread. I'd encourage anyone with an upcoming trip to check WDW ticket prices. I had originally been looking at the 7 day park hopper ticket. That went up by $48. The difference between a 7 and 8 day, Disney pricing, is about $40. In the past, when you started to get in the higher numbers of the multi-day pass, it was usually $10-20 more per day. I purchased 6 adult 8 day park hoppers for Christmas week from UT and saved about $700.

For those interested in UT ticket delivery time, I purchased the tickets in the wee hours this morning (2am) and had my e-tix email by 6:30am.

 

[StageTek]

I don't see it as a thinning of the herd it is about maximizing profits. The minimum wage will soon be $15 an hour for CM's. I highly doubt that Disney will choose to just eat the cost when they have an option to pass it on to the consumer

We, the Disney guest, want to think Disney wants to thin the heard. I agree with you. The very last thing Disney wants is fewer guests in the parks. And they know a LOT of people want to be in The World for the 50th - the AP prices will go up at least two more times in the next 19 months

 

[CastAStone]

That's interesting. I was checking some pricing for our son as he and his friends were considering adding a day onto to their 7 day park hopper plus tickets in May due to booking a late flight on checkout day. The difference between 7 and 8 days is now $27. I don't remember the exact amount it was before, but when we looked at it over Christmas break it was around $10 - $12, I think. It seems that Disney has changed their strategy on pricing longer ticket packages. It used to be after the 5th or 6th day the price of adding additional ticket days was negligible, but that appears to have changed somewhat. It's not a huge increase per ticket, for sure - but it does make a difference. Before, that $10 per ticket was kind of a throw away, but $27 per ticket would make me reconsider and just go hang out at Disney Springs on checkout day.

Forever it was that you got almost no break on days 2 and 3, and then a huge, 70%+ off type break on day 4, and then days 5 and on were basically $10. Then maybe 2014 or 2015 (too busy to check rn) they starting rapidly increasing the day 4 price to the point where adding day 4 isn't any different than adding day 3. Now it looks like they're going after days 5+. I am a little surprised as I always figured the rationale for the low incremental price of a week vs a weekend was to help sell hotel rooms on Sunday through Thursday nights.

But I'm assuming they did buckets of pricing research and this was the best revenue increasing option they had.

 

[AquaDame]

That's interesting. I was checking some pricing for our son as he and his friends were considering adding a day onto to their 7 day park hopper plus tickets in May due to booking a late flight on checkout day. The difference between 7 and 8 days is now $27. I don't remember the exact amount it was before, but when we looked at it over Christmas break it was around $10 - $12, I think. It seems that Disney has changed their strategy on pricing longer ticket packages. It used to be after the 5th or 6th day the price of adding additional ticket days was negligible, but that appears to have changed somewhat. It's not a huge increase per ticket, for sure - but it does make a difference. Before, that $10 per ticket was kind of a throw away, but $27 per ticket would make me reconsider and just go hang out at Disney Springs on checkout day.

Agreed... we reconsidered going into a park on our arrival day as it would only be a couple hours at best and decided against it at that cost. If our flight is delayed we certainly wouldn't bother but $10 would be worth a risk. $27? Nah. We'll just grab something off site rather than go into Epcot for F&W booths which has always been our go to (and would have meant yet more $ for Disney).

 

[Sandiz08]

Just an fyi, it would probably be a good thing to purchase tickets if your have a trip coming up soon, the 4 park magic disney ticket I was looking at yesterday on undercover tourist went up overnight.

 

[ajwilhorn]

Just want to verify, if I buy an AP from Tickets at Work, I am buying the voucher that I can link to MDE and it doesn't become active until I arrive and activate it? But before that I can make Fast Pass and use it for resort discounts?

Yes. I did the exact same thing last year when the price increase was announced on the AP.

 

[holyrita]

Hello! First post as I discovered these boards researching the recent price hikes! I've been contemplating an annual pass for the past few months and noticed the price hike yesterday when I went to pull the trigger .
If I'm able to still purchase at the old price from Tickets at Work that would be incredible. I have a friend with access through her work, I reached out this morning but haven't heard back yet. I'm afraid these passes will sell out before I do :-\.
Is anyone aware of a way to purchase from Tickets at Work? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[KM82]

I'm trying to figure out if I would be better off going through tickets at work or renewing my AP once I'm finally in my window (assuming no further increases by then). Is the renewal price simply 15% off of the new AP price? I'm struggling to make a decision since I can't see the actual cost of the renewal. Any help is certainly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

In my view the onus should be placed from the consumer back onto WDW.

Stop running half capacity. Stop shortening hours....

If I could like this post more than once I would.

It’s not the fault of AP holders, 60+7 and up guests, a strong economy, lots of tourists from a certain country/area, school breaks, random holiday, etc. There’s ALWAYS an excuse or something to blame for the crazy crowds. It doesn’t have to be that way. Disney could have across the board longer hours. Disney could do away with after hour events. Disney could run attractions at higher capacity. It is so frustrating that they don’t.

Regardless of what they say, I can’t believe so many people still think price increases are done to benefit the guest. An attempt to curb the crowds. There are so many things they could do to actually lessen the crowded feel but they don’t. As crowds have grown over the years they’ve done LESS in that department.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I know people were angry last year with that massive AP increase, and who wouldn’t be (DH and I got burned by it), but with how much regular tickets have come up in recent years it should come as no surprise that APs needed to be increased a large amount too, and will continue alongside the regular tickets.

 

[Searc]

I'm trying to figure out if I would be better off going through tickets at work or renewing my AP once I'm finally in my window (assuming no further increases by then). Is the renewal price simply 15% off of the new AP price? I'm struggling to make a decision since I can't see the actual cost of the renewal. Any help is certainly appreciated! Thanks!

The current renewal rate is 15% off the current AP price. That discount is not guaranteed and could be taken away at any time.

 

[KM82]

Thank you!

 

[bryanb]

This is one of my major issues. The proliferation of hard ticket events, shortened hours, and staffing "optimizations" affecting ride capacity, have all been major negatives in my eyes in the last few years.

Whens the last time there's been a 1 or 2 AM EMH at MK? When we visit at "slower" times, rides are being run at half capacity resulting in the same length waits instead of shorter wait times. MK closing early 3 or 4 nights a week for expensive hard ticket events really dampens the way we like to tour.

I agree it would be great but the issue was the stopped for the same reason they were so popular.
They weren't well attended.
For those that went, that was great. They went BECAUSE of that reason.
Unfortunately, too few went and they were no longer cost effective.
Had they been more crowded, they probably would have continued, at least more than they do now.
But at the same time, people who went because they weren't crowded would have complained because the crowds were higher.
We are night people, not morning people so I get it, trust me
We've become fans of Christmas week (I just booked our resort today) because we know we'll get late nights. The crowds end up being workable and we don't worry about what we get done since it's just another trip for the year and we've already done it all many times.

Unfortunately, I agree with both of your posts as well. I'm a night person, especially when I'm on vacation, and especially when I'm still on Pacific time traveling from the west coast. When it's 10pm at the Magic Kingdom, it's only 7pm in Los Angeles and I'm just getting my second wind.

But most visitors aren't night people. I was shocked at how empty it was during evening EMH. I remember walking past Pirates and Jungle Cruise, and there were CMs calling out to passersby telling them, "come in, we're open!" Personally, I love the empty park, but attractions get their budgets based on when the "turnstiles" are clicking.

These decisions don't happen by accident at Disney. If rides are running at lower capacity or that hours are a certain way, it's because Disney as studied the average guest and realized that longer hours and more capacity are doing nothing to help ticket prices and guest spend. You better believe that the moment it causes a dip in spending, they will reverse it immediately. The only answer is to choose how often you yourself go and how much you want to spend, and then enjoy the heck out of your vacation once you've decided to spend that money.