Here’s my predictions to what I think will happen this time around, from most likely to least likely:
1. Prices will increase for all 1 day, multiday, and Annual Passes. Duh.
2. The change will occur on Sunday, February 11th. The day before is when their Canadian Resident 20% discount ticket offer ends. (Why is it traditionally on a Sunday? Not a lot of people going online or calling to make vacation plans late on a Saturday, early Sunday.)
3. More hard ticketed events. They’ve proven that people will pay for Disney After Hours and the Star Wars Galactic Nights. Both, aside from a few unique entertainment and freebies thrown in, are evolutions of cheaper/free perks (Extra Magic Hours/E-Ride Nights and Star Wars Weekends respectedly.) I would not be surprised to see another Star Wars event prior to the Han Solo movie or on May 4th.
4. Park Hopper Plus option, just a year after being renamed from the Water Park Fun and More option, is being changed again or removed. It’s odd that it’s not offered with the new Florida Resident promotion that runs until June. Historically they have always offered it with the January special ticket offer.
5a. Seasonal pricing from 1 day tickets extends to multiday tickets. It’s simply a matter of time until this begins and unsure if it will be this year. If implemented, it would likely work the same way Free Dining is structured, but in reverse (Example: if any of the days you visit are Peak season days, you must purchase the Peak multiday version of that ticket.)
5b. Each different duration of multiday tickets will have an unique validity period. If the seasonal pricing is implemented for multiday tickets, they’ll need a way to discourage people from skipping the days they use their ticket to get the cheaper version and spending time/money at a competitor. Axing the standard 14 days from first use and adding a varying validity date will curb both.
6. First use by dates for brand new Annual Passes. They have slowly implemented this policy starting with 1 day tickets in 2016, multiday in 2017, and I’m sure this will happen again for Annual Passes soon so that people cannot buy the exchange certificates in bulk to save money. The DVC discount for Platinum Plus Passes already had it.
7. Removal of child versus adult prices. Annual Passes haven’t had a difference in prices since 2012.
8. Separate 1 day tickets for each park. I don’t see this happening this year, but Avatar and Animal Kingdom’s nighttime friendly additions have increased attendance. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Disney splitting all the parks into separate tickets - especially with Star Wars at Studios.