News Disney to launch new Vacation Planning site to help guests with date-based tickets

[DisneyOutsider]

Ok thanks that makes sense! Guess I will be able to see how much they would be under new system and if significant amount change toward my favor wonder if I can call guest services and get a price adjustment?!

I'd say it's unlikely, but you can try.

 

[jbolen2]

Sounds about right for what WDW is intending with 'surge pricing': a $10/day premium for a very busy time of year.

The worst part for me is I was on the fence about upgrading back to annual passes for the family between now and then. Now I’m back to the drawing board since I’m locked in at the cheaper single trip tickets or do I pay for the increased annual passes that I should have went ahead and bought months back.

 

[MisterPenguin]

The worst part for me is I was on the fence about upgrading back to annual passes for the family between now and then. Now I’m back to the drawing board since I’m locked in at the cheaper single trip tickets or do I pay for the increased annual passes that I should have went ahead and bought months back.

Undercover Tourist may still have the cheaper tickets until the end of the month.

You can price out the cost of just one person getting the AP to avoid paying for parking at the parks and for the Memory Maker (which everyone in your group can use).

 

[Ghost of Disney Past]

I can understand the theory behind date based pricing, even though I find it highly unlikely that a few dollars difference in pricing will sway anyone into changing the dates of their trip. Thus the "goal of spreading out crowds" seems like a weak justification for pricing increases. However, the biggest concern for me is the time limitations placed on the tickets. My family often takes a 2 week trip to Orlando each year and we often do 4-5 days in Disney. We loved the flexibility of being able to pick those days from the 2 weeks based on weather/mood/etc. However, now we would have to pick a specific date up front and jam our Disney days all in to a week's time. Or else pay a premium. THIS is the real issue to someone like me.

 

[Tinkwings]

I'd say it's unlikely, but you can try.

Think I will just for fun.....it comes out to $23.48 less with new system for my 8 day total...before tax. Interesting....might just buy a few dole whips! But thinking if my trip got cancelled due to unforeseen events, my old tickets could be redeemed for Disney gift cards before they expire and what would happen with these dated tickets if you couldn't go?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I can understand the theory behind date based pricing, even though I find it highly unlikely that a few dollars difference in pricing will sway anyone into changing the dates of their trip. Thus the "goal of spreading out crowds" seems like a weak justification for pricing increases. However, the biggest concern for me is the time limitations placed on the tickets. My family often takes a 2 week trip to Orlando each year and we often do 4-5 days in Disney. We loved the flexibility of being able to pick those days from the 2 weeks based on weather/mood/etc. However, now we would have to pick a specific date up front and jam our Disney days all in to a week's time. Or else pay a premium. THIS is the real issue to someone like me.

I do find it strange that the difference between peak times and slow times is so small. I expected a bigger differential.

 

[jbolen2]

Undercover Tourist may still have the cheaper tickets until the end of the month.

You can price out the cost of just one person getting the AP to avoid paying for parking at the parks and for the Memory Maker (which everyone in your group can use).

I’ve already booked our fast passes for my direct family, the rest of my family i let them know so they can go ahead and buy tickets from undercover tourist asap before they are gone.

I ran the numbers and you are correct in upgrading at least one of our passes to annual has benefits still. How big of a hassle is it to upgrade to an annual pass when you haven’t used the tickets yet but they came from undercover tourist?

 

[MisterPenguin]

I do find it strange that the difference between peak times and slow times is so small. I expected a bigger differential.

I guessing this is just testing the waters and not wanting to shock customers during the initial rollout. I'm sure that over the next few years the price differential between peak and off-peak will increase.


Interesting side note: I tested a 5-day ticket at peak (Christmas week) v. cheapest off-peak (mid-January) to see what the cost of making it an 'anytime ticket' would be. The off-peak ticket's anytime add-on was $63, but the peak ticket's anytime add-on was just $8. That made both anytime versions cost just about the same.

So, getting anytime tickets would cost the same no matter when in the calendar you chose.


Another interesting side note: Forget all the online crowd calendars. The day-by-day pricing will tell you what WDW thinks will be crowded or not crowded (at least, overall, not park by park). You can scroll through the prices in the Spring and easily see what week Easter is and when Spring Break is in full gear just by the cost of the tickets.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I’ve already booked our fast passes for my direct family, the rest of my family i let them know so they can go ahead and buy tickets from undercover tourist asap before they are gone.

I ran the numbers and you are correct in upgrading at least one of our passes to annual has benefits still. How big of a hassle is it to upgrade to an annual pass when you haven’t used the tickets yet but they came from undercover tourist?

I would think if you have a Disney ticket confirmation number, you can just call CS and upgrade. Or, ask Undercover and they might do it for you.

 

[MisterPenguin]

what would happen with these dated tickets if you couldn't go?

They can still be used. If you're going at a time when the ticket prices is the same or less, you just use them (no refunds for the difference). If you go at a time when the tickets cost more, you pay the difference.

 

[Fairy32]

We bought yesterday and now the tickets would be $5 less today. The upside of us buying is that we did 2 day tickets and we plan on going to the parks more than 4 days apart which the new tickets wouldn't allow I guess?

 

[MisterPenguin]

We bought yesterday and now the tickets would be $5 less today. The upside of us buying is that we did 2 day tickets and we plan on going to the parks more than 4 days apart which the new tickets wouldn't allow I guess?

That's correct.

 

[Ghost of Disney Past]

I guessing this is just testing the waters and not wanting to shock customers during the initial rollout. I'm sure that over the next few years the price differential between peak and off-peak will increase.


Interesting side note: I tested a 5-day ticket at peak (Christmas week) v. cheapest off-peak (mid-January) to see what the cost of making it an 'anytime ticket' would be. The off-peak ticket's anytime add-on was $63, but the peak ticket's anytime add-on was just $8. That made both anytime versions cost just about the same.

So, getting anytime tickets would cost the same no matter when in the calendar you chose.


Another interesting side note: Forget all the online crowd calendars. The day-by-day pricing will tell you what WDW thinks will be crowded or not crowded (at least, overall, not park by park). You can scroll through the prices in the Spring and easily see what week Easter is and when Spring Break is in full gear just by the cost of the tickets.

I agree that this is probably just the beginning when it comes to date based pricing. The anytime add-on price differential between peak and off-peak just further adds to my frustration though. Disney is forcing a premium if you wish to have flexibility with your vacations.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So, getting anytime tickets would cost the same no matter when in the calendar you chose.

I went through the same thought process and ultimately landed on "well... duh." If it's an "anytime" ticket, of course the calendar doesn't matter. Because it's an anytime ticket.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I went through the same thought process and ultimately landed on "well... duh." If it's an "anytime" ticket, of course the calendar doesn't matter. Because it's an anytime ticket.

Right. Just wanted to point that out since I'm sure some folk would be thinking that they can get cheaper anytime tickets by first choosing the cheapest time of year as the base price.

 

[Horizons '83]

Another interesting side note: Forget all the online crowd calendars. The day-by-day pricing will tell you what WDW thinks will be crowded or not crowded (at least, overall, not park by park). You can scroll through the prices in the Spring and easily see what week Easter is and when Spring Break is in full gear just by the cost of the tickets.

Good point here. You can almost create your own crowd calendar. If the price is $109 (cheapest I have seen for a one day ticket) , its most likely going to be a 1 to 3 out of ten, $114 3 to 5, $122 5 to 7, $129 7 to 10.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I guessing this is just testing the waters and not wanting to shock customers during the initial rollout. I'm sure that over the next few years the price differential between peak and off-peak will increase.

I'd say that's a guarantee. They know people are going to flood the parks on the big holidays, may as well soak them for an additional $20-30/person/day, right? That may end up being low by the time Iger finally vacates the CEO position in 2021.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I took a look at prices for next Oct-Dec to see if there were any clues to SWGE opening dates but didn't see any obvious hike in prices around any specific dates....do you think this can change in the future or are the prices somewhat setting moving forward? Do you think once the opening date is announced that they will hike the prices?

Can you price tickets past Dec 16, 2019?

 

[Lensman]

I do find it strange that the difference between peak times and slow times is so small. I expected a bigger differential.

The highest priced one-day one-park ticket is $129. The lowest priced one-day one-park ticket is $109. These prices are the same as the old non-MK 1-day Magic Your Way base ticket. The $20 differential is also the same as the differential between the Peak ($137) and Value ($116) prices of the 1-day MK ticket. As a side-note, this does mean that a one-day MK ticket has gone down in price.

So the max price difference between days is set as $20 per day. You could alternately think of the max value discount off of peak as being 15%. Now we have to take into account that multi-day passes are themselves discounted on a per-day basis. A 2-day peak ticket is $119 per day, or an 8% discount to the 1-day price. The cheapest 2-day ticket is $101 per day, or an 8.5% discount off of the peak 2-day ticket or a 9% discount off of the 1-day value price.

The other thing keeping multi-day off-peak prices from being that low is that a 2-day ticket can be used over a total of 4 days, so for my example above I had to look for 4 consecutive days with super-value priced single-day tickets. One other effect is that the mid-week discount disappears when you look at anything much over a 2-day ticket because the usage window spans Friday or weekend use.

Anyway, I think they based the peak/slow prices based on their existing 1-day peak/slow prices. It remains to be seen how they evolve this over time.

I do hope that they address the most common complaint I hear here, which is the plight of the 2-week visitor using a 5-6 day passport. Though for those in that plight, remember that the best way out of your bad situation is to get a 9 or 10 day passport. A 10-day passport is only $45 more expensive than a 5-day passport, or about 11% more.

 

[Rteetz]

Can you price tickets past Dec 19, 2019?

Currently for me I priced a one day ticket and the calendar only goes to Dec. 16th.