New ticket system coming to WDW - Begins October 16th

[Klayfish]

This is no different than airline pricing, sport stadium pricing (specifically baseball), movie theaters, etc... Sometimes I think WDW could give tickets away free and people would find something to criticize.

It's got my attention, but I want to wait and see what the pricing actually is before I jump to conclusions or form a solid opinion. I'd expect ticket prices will go up, but I want to see how much and how varied the costs are.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The "marketing speak" in here is just sooooo bad. How can they in good conscience write some of this stuff:

• we are constantly looking for new ways to deliver the best experience possible for our guests
• guests are increasingly looking for easier ways to plan a vacation with personalized options that fit their individual needs.
• These changes are designed to simplify the booking experience
• give guests an enhanced way to purchase theme park tickets
• help them more easily plan

Nothing about planning a Disney trip is EASY. They are welcome to do whatever they want with pricing...they run the company, but to claim this is the "best experience" and an "easier way to plan" and "simplifies the booking experience" and is "ENHANCING" something...is A COMPLETE LIE.

The ONLY true statement in the whole thing is this:

• Introducing date-based tickets and pricing will allow us to better distribute attendance throughout the year

And of course they follow that up with this gem of a line:

• so that we can continue to improve and deliver a great experience

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...

 

[Micharlotte]

I have a free dining B.B. booked for labour day week, but I was thinking about upgrading to a deluxe hotel. I’m torn between waiting to see if this make the price lower or if I should make up my mind now. Our week is traditionally one of the lower attended weeks.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I have an itch that this won't shift crowds around like they hope to. Most people are still locked in to certain periods due to school, work, etc. I think the bigger concern is that this system could very well support park block outs. Up charges for specifically visiting DHS on a weekend after Star Wars opens comes to mind.

I agree. I've seen the room prices during Christmas week and people pay those prices. The increased flight tickets, etc. I don't see the increase on park tickets making most change their dates.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

In my leisure activities I appreciate simplicity. Doing WDW was simple last year when we had APs (expired in July). I'm not sure when our next trip is, but I bet this steers us toward APs again. Well played, Disney.

 

[Klayfish]

Nothing about planning a Disney trip is EASY. They are welcome to do whatever they want with pricing...they run the company, but to claim this is the "best experience" and an "easier way to plan" and "simplifies the booking experience" and is "ENHANCING" something...is A COMPLETE LIE.

So how precisely do you actually know it's a "complete lie"? Nobody has used it yet, unless I missed something. Sounds like just angry jumping to conclusions.

If nothing is EASY about planning a trip to Disney, let's be clear in that much of that is the choice of the guest. Many here do extensive planning, with spreadsheets and all. That's great for them, but it's not a requirement to plan a trip. I'm not saying it's wrong to do all that work or go through all that effort. If that's what someone wants to do, then that's great. But it's not necessary. Plenty of WDW visitors, myself included, who do essentially no planning and have the time of our lives when we go.

 

[Farro]

So how precisely do you actually know it's a "complete lie"? Nobody has used it yet, unless I missed something. Sounds like just angry jumping to conclusions.

If nothing is EASY about planning a trip to Disney, let's be clear in that much of that is the choice of the guest. Many here do extensive planning, with spreadsheets and all. That's great for them, but it's not a requirement to plan a trip. I'm not saying it's wrong to do all that work or go through all that effort. If that's what someone wants to do, then that's great. But it's not necessary. Plenty of WDW visitors, myself included, who do essentially no planning and have the time of our lives when we go.

Agreed. As I said in another thread:

For myself and people like myself - who just buy tickets for their entire length of stay - this really isn't adding any stress to my planning, at all. Just need to look at the month we want to go, find cheapest ticket of the month and ta-da, we found our arrival date!

The only stress will be the price increase, but that would have happened regardless.

 

[GlamMistress]

I hate dynamic pricing. Airlines and some hotels do this too with rewards programs.

Having an AP this year has made trips easy. I can see myself getting another AP - perhaps taking 2019 off from the parks and then doing it again in 2020.

I got a negative reading the news about this... hope I'm wrong but I think this just means more frustration and higher prices all around.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I want to add 2 days to our December trip tickets. Made a note to call tonight and do this before the Oct 16th date as I'm guessing the change would affect our entire ticket price, not just the 2 extra days. Thanks for letting us know about the @rteetz!

 

[Roxyfire]

I love how they call it "flexible" when seems like the complete opposite. In fact, it's certainly locking people into using the ticket starting on a certain date through a certain time period, like 3 or 4 days after the starting period. For those who are thinking of hitting up WDW for a couple days during a longer trip to Florida it becomes far less flexible unless they pay up. Yeah, sure sounds "flexible" to me.

However, this probably won't have a huge effect on people who already have committed to visiting during a certain time frame by buying a vacation package.

 

[georgina]

Makes me feel even better about the 2 - 10 day non-expiring park hoppers I have tucked away for future use. I think more of my solo trips will be Universal only instead of split. We will be visiting Disney for a few days Thanksgiving week but will be staying at Universal and driving over. DH, one DD and I all have leftover non-expire days, I had to buy one ticket for other DD.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Does anyone know what's going on with AP prices yet? Did I miss something?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So how precisely do you actually know it's a "complete lie"? Nobody has used it yet, unless I missed something. Sounds like just angry jumping to conclusions.

If nothing is EASY about planning a trip to Disney, let's be clear in that much of that is the choice of the guest. Many here do extensive planning, with spreadsheets and all. That's great for them, but it's not a requirement to plan a trip. I'm not saying it's wrong to do all that work or go through all that effort. If that's what someone wants to do, then that's great. But it's not necessary. Plenty of WDW visitors, myself included, who do essentially no planning and have the time of our lives when we go.

I'm not angry, lol. Just calling something like I see it - and there is definitely truth to what you say above that it depends on the style of guest.

EASY to me was: I want to go to Disney for 5 days...I buy a 5 day ticket...I can use it anytime over 14 days...cool. I can use it anytime I want...cool. I don't need to plan my dates in advance...cool. The ticket costs the same whether I go Christmas week or the 2nd week of September...cool. All that apparently is going away with this major shift.

I guess what I'm leaving out is my preference is I will not pay for easy and my preferences for a Disney trip probably aren't as "easy" as they could be . I will concede, you are correct, that easy still exists. You don't have to book ADRs, book FPs, try to go during a low crowd me and apparently now you're welcome to pay $100 extra per ticket to use your ticket any day.

I don't think either of us is wrong - probably all in your perspective and preferences

 

[Tksolomom]

I believe those numbers were arbitrary. No one knows at this point

It is based on your first day, so if the price goes up during your stay it doesn’t matter.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I bought a bunch of 5 day hoppers a few years ago from Undercovertourist. The app all shows the expiration date of 1/1/2031. Are tickets like this exempt from the new pricing restrictions?

Kinda off topic, but does anyone know if it's possible to see the ticket expiration on the desktop version of MDE...and if so...where? It shows on the app but can't find it on the desktop version. Thanks!

 

[Lehuaann]

Makes me feel even better about the 2 - 10 day non-expiring park hoppers I have tucked away for future use. I think more of my solo trips will be Universal only instead of split. We will be visiting Disney for a few days Thanksgiving week but will be staying at Universal and driving over. DH, one DD and I all have leftover non-expire days, I had to buy one ticket for other DD.

I wish we had purchased a few of those non-expiration tickets.

I’m just HAPPY to have (2) 9 day PH that are flexible to use any day of the year, within 14 days of first use, and expire 2030.

 

[crazyash83]

i think its a brilliant way for Disney to understand when ppl plan to visit. I also think ppl need to chill about this before understanding the full scope of it. Why panic without having all the information at your hands?

 

[FigmentSpark]

So, if you wanted to go on a cruise in between your stay, you don't have the days to save those tickets. Right now, I could buy a 4 day ticket that's good for 14 days, do 2 days at the parks, then cruise for 7 days and come back to use my remaining 2 days at the parks. It doesn't sound like this will be possible anymore. They allow for breaks in between your time at the parks, but they want to keep you coming to the parks, or at least paying for the park time. You can't do 2 days at WDW, take 2 days for Universal, then a waterpark day and still go back to WDW on that same ticket. At least that's how I'm reading it. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Lehuaann]

I bought a bunch of 5 day hoppers a few years ago from Undercovertourist. The app all shows the expiration date of 1/1/2031. Are tickets like this exempt from the new pricing restrictions?

Kinda off topic, but does anyone know if it's possible to see the ticket expiration on the desktop version of MDE...and if so...where? It shows on the app but can't find it on the desktop version. Thanks!

When you reassign a ticket to someone else, it shows the expiration date. That’s how I am able to see ours. Especially with this latest MDE fiasco.

 

[amylevan]

I chuckled at the “these changes are designed to simplify the booking experience”. Because going from tickets of any length that expire 14 days from the first day use to tickets that vary on when they expire and pricing that depends on start date is definitely simplifying the experience.