AP prices increased [6/18/2019]

[Nick6300]

Disney is absolutely expensive, don't get me wrong.

Maybe it's because I grew up in a large city, but a lot of the things complained about don't seem that outrageous to me. Frustrating? Yes. Unexpected or outrageous? No. Paying to park sucks. But, I went to the Rolling Stones concert in Chicago last night. Event parking at Soldier Field was anywhere from $55-$70. Water was $6.25. I parked in a lot a mile away using a discounted app and paid $16. To me, it's "normal."

The only issue I have with price hikes other than it severely hurting my wallet is that they don't seem to care about their employees wages. Few companies do, sadly.

That's pretty pricey for parking only. We're flying out of Midway and our parking lot that's right next to the airport is no longer overnight parking. We found some $6-10/day aftermarket parking sites for our upcoming WDW trip, but I really liked being able to walk next door to the airport and not having to worry about my new car in a small open lot, taking a shuttle.

Regarding your comment on employee wages. Take a look at this https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2019/01/11/bob-igers-compensation-see-increase-of-over-80/

While not that uncommon for the top corp execs, Iger's salary/bonuses increased from $36.3 million in 2017 to $65.6 million in 2018, mostly bonuses. He had the chance for up to $149.6 million in 2017 if he had hit all of his bonuses. Some of the newest performance laden bonuses are reportedly much more stringent and now include making Disney stock in the top 25% tier of the S&P 500.

So he has millions of reasons to make Disney as profitable as possible and keep those share prices up. And I think he agreed to remain as CEO through 2021 and as an adviser for several years after. I guess we can all read about his story and contributions in his new autobiography "The Ride of a Lifetime."

Even his chief strategists have been just under $9MM in comp. And they're into another round of layoffs related to the Fox merger. Although this latest one involved I think was under 100 employees total.

 

[FastPasser.]

they don't seem to care about their employees wages.

I'm curious why you think that, are you a CM?

 

[NancyIL]

I only learned about the 25% price increase for the Platinum Annual Pass today! I just upgraded to an AP in February, but there’s no way I’d pay the current price for another AP. However, when I read that Sam’s Club was selling them at greatly-discounted prices, I decided to buy the Platinum Pass from them and save it for 2021-2022 trips.

 

[disneywithfive]

I think the reason most people are upset about the AP price increase has more to do with the excessive amount of the increase then the increase itself. Many people expect an increase but not (for us) a $225 per person increase. To me, it’s just a slap in the face that they raised it that much. It’s as if they have no appreciation for the THOUSANDS of hard earned dollars they have received from us for our loyalty to the Disney brand. In a certain sense, I should be happy, as this increase has given me an opportunity to look for other places to visit. We’ve gone to Disney so much that my kids are tired of it. We will go again but we will see other parts of the world since there’s no financial incentive to go on repeated trips to Disney.

 

[JoJoGirl]

I think the reason most people are upset about the AP price increase has more to do with the excessive amount of the increase then the increase itself. Many people expect an increase but not (for us) a $225 per person increase.

Add the $45 price hike last October, and the total increase comes to $270, or 32% in one year.

As an aside — that’s nearly what my first AP cost twenty one years ago! The US Inflation Calculator (usinflationcalculator.com) says that the $288 AP price in 1998 would equate to $452.48 today. The current price of $1119 is 247% of that. So unless Disney is two and a half times as much fun today as it was in 1998, it’s more than fair to say that the value has decreased.

Apologies for the math discussion. Will stop now!

 

[StacyStrong]

I'm curious why you think that, are you a CM?

No, but I'm related to a current CM and prior CM.

But either way, salary data is relatively easy to find.

 

[donnsuz]

Ok, so I bought two sets of AP's for DH and I to be activated some time in the future. I think that I read somewhere, I can't find it now, that I should link one of the sets of AP's under our actual name and create a second set of false names to link the other two for future use. Has anyone done this and if so how? In the future when I'm ready to activate that second set of passes how do I switch them to our real names?

 

[starry_solo]

Ok, so I bought two sets of AP's for DH and I to be activated some time in the future. I think that I read somewhere, I can't find it now, that I should link one of the sets of AP's under our actual name and create a second set of false names to link the other two for future use. Has anyone done this and if so how? In the future when I'm ready to activate that second set of passes how do I switch them to our real names?

You create the names under your MDE and assign them to the two others. Use your middle name/initial and your last name or something like that. Then after your first set of APs have expired, you reassign the others to your names.

 

[mrocco90]

Hi, I just ordered 3 annual passes for my family from Sam’s club. I added them to my Disney experience but I am unable to see any passholder discounts. When I clicked on the discounts it takes me to the page to buy the annual pass. Are you not able to view anything until you activate your pass?

 

[Nick6300]

Add the $45 price hike last October, and the total increase comes to $270, or 32% in one year.

As an aside — that’s nearly what my first AP cost twenty one years ago! The US Inflation Calculator (usinflationcalculator.com) says that the $288 AP price in 1998 would equate to $452.48 today. The current price of $1119 is 247% of that. So unless Disney is two and a half times as much fun today as it was in 1998, it’s more than fair to say that the value has decreased.

Apologies for the math discussion. Will stop now!

Wasn’t Figment alone worth the 247% increase in price?

 

[ah10is]

Hi, I just ordered 3 annual passes for my family from Sam’s club. I added them to my Disney experience but I am unable to see any passholder discounts. When I clicked on the discounts it takes me to the page to buy the annual pass. Are you not able to view anything until you activate your pass?

You won't see the pass holder discounts until you activate your AP! So even though you have the voucher linked to your account...the AP isn't active yet!

 

[Nick6300]

I think the reason most people are upset about the AP price increase has more to do with the excessive amount of the increase then the increase itself. Many people expect an increase but not (for us) a $225 per person increase. To me, it’s just a slap in the face that they raised it that much. It’s as if they have no appreciation for the THOUSANDS of hard earned dollars they have received from us for our loyalty to the Disney brand. In a certain sense, I should be happy, as this increase has given me an opportunity to look for other places to visit. We’ve gone to Disney so much that my kids are tired of it. We will go again but we will see other parts of the world since there’s no financial incentive to go on repeated trips to Disney.

So mark you as a “maybe” for the rsvp to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge?

 

[shoreward]

Add the $45 price hike last October, and the total increase comes to $270, or 32% in one year.

Actually, that is a 32% increase in eight months.

 

[Nick6300]

Actually, that is a 32% increase in eight months.

Wasn’t there another ticket price increase in between oct 2018 and this month? Like a couple months ago? Or was it for tickets only and not APs, not that it’s ok

 

[Nick6300]

You won't see the pass holder discounts until you activate your AP! So even though you have the voucher linked to your account...the AP isn't active yet!

Darn Sams Club APs. What if they’re duds?

 

[mrocco90]

You won't see the pass holder discounts until you activate your AP! So even though you have the voucher linked to your account...the AP isn't active yet!

thank you.

 

[PPFlight75]

You create the names under your MDE and assign them to the two others. Use your middle name/initial and your last name or something like that. Then after your first set of APs have expired, you reassign the others to your names.

Can I ask why you would need to do that? I have current APs that expire in a July and we will be at Disney next week. I also have AP vouchers that I purchased to use later but you assigned them to our regular names. Is there a problem doing that?

 

[PPFlight75]

You create the names under your MDE and assign them to the two others. Use your middle name/initial and your last name or something like that. Then after your first set of APs have expired, you reassign the others to your names.

Oh, is this what you should do if you have 2 vouchers for one person?

 

[Allison]

Hi, I just ordered 3 annual passes for my family from Sam’s club. I added them to my Disney experience but I am unable to see any passholder discounts. When I clicked on the discounts it takes me to the page to buy the annual pass. Are you not able to view anything until you activate your pass?

You won't see the pass holder discounts until you activate your AP! So even though you have the voucher linked to your account...the AP isn't active yet!

Some people are not able to see the discounts. Others can. You should be able to. I am not sure why it doesn't work for some people.

 

[L_MD]

Some people are not able to see the discounts. Others can. You should be able to. I am not sure why it doesn't work for some people.

Yeah, I bought an AP last week and can't see the discounts. I think part of it is the place you link them...I linked it under the "My Tickets" and not my "Profile" so for some reason that means the Disney system doesn't see it, and of course then you can't add it to your profile because it's already linked. Fun!