Dear Disney, Bring back No-Expiration Date Tickets

[1153rsmith]

I have a feeling Disney watches comments on the Disboards for informational purposes, so I want to post this here.

Disney,

Please bring back no-expiration date tickets. They were a great way for families to plan a day or two at the parks without having to spend a $100+ per day for a one or two day ticket. Our family of 4 was able to make a 10 day no-expiration Park Hopper last for 3 or 4 visits, which allowed us to go more often. That did not mean we only stayed 2 or 3 days, because we are 9 hours away. What that meant was we would stay for 5 or 6 days and the days we were not in the parks, we would visit Downtown Disney (Disney Springs), the beautiful Disney resorts, Disney Quest (RIP) and enjoy horseback riding and dinner reservations.

Just because we were not in the parks every day did not mean we didn't put money in disney's pocket. Quite the contrary, we probably spent more than we would have being in the park that day.

Having the no-expiration date tickets allowed us to maximize the time we spent in the park on park days and use other days for other disney adventures and not loose a park ticket or have to pay an incredible amount.

I know you can't tell it from your attendance, but your continual price increases, are pushing many families out of a disney vacation.

My family has been blessed to make several trips in the past 9 years, and the no-expiration date tickets really helped make that possible. Our next trip will use up the last of our tickets, and then, we will have to buy them every trip. This will force our trips to be further apart.

 

[Patrick N]

Well said, I agree totally. I've bought a no expiration ticket in the past and went whenever I wanted to go to the park when I was in Orlando. Now I buy a two day, and I only go two days, even when I wish I could go a 3rd or 4th day. I am determined to never buy a day that I have to throw away.

I have however discovered that I also enjoy Universal and Sea World. In the past I wouldn't have even been interested in trying them.

I'm saving the last day of my no expiration ticket for a visit where I only want to go once, like a very short stay in Orlando.

 

[mom2rtk]

I understand and sympathize but you said yourself why it won't happen:

They were a great way for families to plan a day or two at the parks without having to spend a $100+ per day for a one or two day ticket.

 

[chalee94]

I miss the no-expire option, too.

Now I get an AP to use for 2-3 weeks of visits within a 12 month period, then skip WDW for a year or so.

 

[1153rsmith]

I know they won’t do it, but even though Walt was in it to make money, I think he would be ashamed of some of the ways management is continually charging for more and more things.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

Disney is very smart and knows that the price point is at 4 days. The price difference between 4 and 10 days is minimal compared to the jump from 1-4 days (price per day). By eliminating the non-expiring tickets, they either get you to stay longer and buy a minimum of 4 days, get annual passes if you got more than once in a 12 month period, or you take the hit on single day tickets. For a family of 4, the price of the tickets is going to be one of your top expenses for a trip. Disney has it down to a science as to how to maximize the price paid per guest per visit.

BTW, they are never going to change back. If anything, I can see the tix becoming more restrictive/limited and the price for Hoppers and Water Parks and More increase and become more limited.

 

[1153rsmith]

Disney is very smart and knows that the price point is at 4 days. The price difference between 4 and 10 days is minimal compared to the jump from 1-4 days (price per day). By eliminating the non-expiring tickets, they either get you to stay longer and buy a minimum of 4 days, get annual passes if you got more than once in a 12 month period, or you take the hit on single day tickets. For a family of 4, the price of the tickets is going to be one of your top expenses for a trip. Disney has it down to a science as to how to maximize the price paid per guest per visit.

BTW, they are never going to change back. If anything, I can see the tix becoming more restrictive/limited and the price for Hoppers and Water Parks and More increase and become more limited.

You are right. For us, it means we will go less, but stay a little longer when we go. In the end, Disney won’t get as much money from my family.

 

[AllieBoo]

I so wish this too! We went to Disney for a week last summer, but are going to try out Universal this summer. If I had been able to buy a no expiration ticket last year, we would have saved a few days so that we could do Disney and Universal this year. We would have stayed onsite at Disney for the days we went to their parks, so we still would have spent money there.

 

[goofyernmost]

Please bring back no-expiration date tickets. They were a great way for families to plan a day or two at the parks without having to spend a $100+ per day for a one or two day ticket.

I understand and sympathize but you said yourself why it won't happen:

The thing is that many people that used the 10 day non-expiring ticket will not be paying the $100.00, we simply will not be going there. It is one thing to go there for 10 days straight, but, then one wouldn't need a non-expiration ticket. Folks, like myself who live a days drive away, would buy that ticket, which was a pretty good chunk of change and spread it out over a brief period of time, when we could break away. Now not only am I not buying the ten day tickets, I am not buying anything. I have spent the money on Universal a couple of times though. So, no meals, no souvenirs, no snacks in the parks and no tickets at all. I fail to see how that brings up revenue. All they really did was force out those of us that went year after year, spent a lot of money, but, didn't stay there for more then three or four days at a time, but, by buying those tickets we committed to 10 days and paid in advance for them. They got the money to invest and we got a break on the cost because we were basically regulars. We still spent more then AP's over time. We would have bought AP's if we had been able to go that often in one year. It was a perfect fit between the one time visitor and the daily visitor. On the plus side I am saving a lot of money by not going at all.

 

[MouseLover]

I miss it also. In the past, whenever I got a spare $300, I would buy a pass and put it up for our next trip, whenever that might be. Now, tickets expire within a year or so, so I can't buy them this way.

I also miss hopping, a feature that costs Disney nothing, but now they are making a load. I refuse to pay $65 each to hop.

 

[mom2rtk]

The thing is that many people that used the 10 day non-expiring ticket will not be paying the $100.00, we simply will not be going there. It is one thing to go there for 10 days straight, but, then one wouldn't need a non-expiration ticket. Folks, like myself who live a days drive away, would buy that ticket, which was a pretty good chunk of change and spread it out over a brief period of time, when we could break away. Now not only am I not buying the ten day tickets, I am not buying anything. I have spent the money on Universal a couple of times though. So, no meals, no souvenirs, no snacks in the parks and no tickets at all. I fail to see how that brings up revenue. All they really did was force out those of us that went year after year, spent a lot of money, but, didn't stay there for more then three or four days at a time, but, by buying those tickets we committed to 10 days and paid in advance for them. They got the money to invest and we got a break on the cost because we were basically regulars. We still spent more then AP's over time. We would have bought AP's if we had been able to go that often in one year. It was a perfect fit between the one time visitor and the daily visitor. On the plus side I am saving a lot of money by not going at all.

Well, for whatever reason, Disney has decided it's not in their best interest to offer this any longer. Attendance is up, so I guess they're OK with the previous non-expiring folks not coming any longer.

One thing to keep in mind is that Disney is not a theme park company that operates hotels. In Orlando they are a hotel company that operates theme parks. Their primary interest is in filling hotel rooms. Packages with tickets do that. I'd venture to say that a lot of the non-expiring folks might have stayed offsite.

 

[goofyernmost]

Well, for whatever reason, Disney has decided it's not in their best interest to offer this any longer. Attendance is up, so I guess they're OK with the previous non-expiring folks not coming any longer.

One thing to keep in mind is that Disney is not a theme park company that operates hotels. In Orlando they are a hotel company that operates theme parks. Their primary interest is in filling hotel rooms. Packages with tickets do that. I'd venture to say that a lot of the non-expiring folks might have stayed offsite.

You're probably right, and that is to bad because all we need is a simple economic downturn and those hotels will be empty again. Couldn't happen to a more thoughtful group of people.

 

[jamarmiller]

They should bring this back right now for a limited time to raise some money. I am not interested in going to Disney with all the rules. So I am waiting. So I am not spending any money at Disney at the moment. HOWEVER, If they offered a 10 day non expiration ticket right now. I would buy about 8 , so each person in my family would have two of them for a total of 20 days. I think this would be a good way for Disney to raise some money at the moment and anything I would imagine would help a lot right now.