Interesting Disney Parks Survey Question I got Today - Tiered Ticket Pricing by Season

[AEfx]

@lentesta

Were you surprised at all that they are coming out and pricing the MK higher than the other parks? That was the shocking part to me...Disney has seemingly done everything they can in the past to make it seem as if "all parks are equal" - trying to put down the notion of "1/2 day parks". Not because I don't think it's true (MK is worth more) but because it seems admitting that in black and white like this is a new strategy.

 

[asianway]

No way...less days? Disney has done everything in their power to make you extend your stay. Shorter stays means you go elsewhere. They want you captive and on-site for your entire vacation. They want you to have to eat Disney food 3x a day, to have to walk through Disney gift shops as much as possible, spend as many nights in their hotels as they can get you.

The goal here is to push how far they can push.

Why have one person for ten days getting off cheap when you can get two for 5 days paying full boat. I seriously doubt they're going to build more hotel rooms

 

[AEfx]

Why have one person for ten days getting off cheap when you can get two for 5 days paying full boat. I seriously doubt they're going to build more hotel rooms

Because admission is only a small slice of the pie of what Disney wants out of you money wise. That's the purpose of MYW pricing to begin with. When you figure that every thing that you eat, drink, or buy when you are on property is a) at Disney prices and b) goes to Disney, that's the whole point - guest spending is the most important thing. They want you captive, on property, relying on Disney transportation as much as possible.

If people only spend 3-4 days at Disney, the likelihood of staying on site without a vehicle is greatly reduced, meaning you can go off site to eat, buy souvenirs, etc.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well it's just me, it's all about revenue.

Why build attractions and investing capital expenditures when you can just raise prices?

Then with the new prices and small attendance growth you get, you get record profits.

Why spend half A billion on new attractions when most of your guests are one and done anyways?

/sarcasm

 

[lentesta]

@lentesta

Were you surprised at all that they are coming out and pricing the MK higher than the other parks? That was the shocking part to me...Disney has seemingly done everything they can in the past to make it seem as if "all parks are equal" - trying to put down the notion of "1/2 day parks". Not because I don't think it's true (MK is worth more) but because it seems admitting that in black and white like this is a new strategy.

In the next edition of the Unofficial Guide, I say this about the Studios (in a section about how Frozen doesn't belong in Norway):

And it’s not as if there wasn’t an entire theme park – Disney’s Hollywood Studios, within walking distance! - with so many closed or outdated attractions that charging $100 for admission is essentially petty larceny with better marketing.
​

ETA: This is probably why we don't get media invites.

 

[lentesta]

Great post Len, but I don't think Disney would raise prices by up to 90% for the longer stays. Why? Because it's been Disney's goal to keep people on property for as long as possible. That's the whole point of their current pricing system as well as programs such as Magical Express. With Universal's influence growing, I would expect financial incentives to stay on Disney property only to grow.

I thus think tiered ticketing will be for single day tickets only, or at worst, 3-or-less day tickets.

I agree - I think the discounts and multi-day items were placeholders, not what they'd actually do. And there's a huge difference between people saying "Yes, I'd still visit for the same number of days even if they were 'Gold'" and actually putting down the cash to do so.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I agree - I think the discounts and multi-day items were placeholders, not what they'd actually do. And there's a huge difference between people saying "Yes, I'd still visit for the same number of days even if they were 'Gold'" and actually putting down the cash to do so.

One would hope that a company like Disney would assume putting something like this out as a survey would get out like wildfire and then scrutinized to death. If they were just a placeholder, Disney probably should tell people that. You'd think they would realize that.....

 

[PhotoDave219]

And here's a visualized look at the peak/off peak distribution from last year by park. Resort baseline is at the far left.

The thing I noticed? From Park to Park, you have a solid 20% of the time "they're always busy."

Its just that off-peak seems to fluctuate a bit, with the middle being the middle. Magic Kingdom had the least number of slow days while the Studios were slow 1 out of every 3 days of the year. (To be fair, this was mainly in the first six months but the trend is continuing in 2015)

Like what Len said about paying for a Peak Day and it turns out its dead? While yay(!) for no crowds, You're still paying $80 bucks more for your family of four than you should have.

Other thought I had, what if it rains? Its Florida. You're charging extra for a Peak day and then it rains? Its going to be a guest service nightmare if they actually try and push this through. Operationally, its going to suck.

 

[lentesta]

View attachment 95652
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Like what Len said about paying for a Peak Day and it turns out its dead? While yay(!) for no crowds, You're still paying $80 bucks more for your family of four than you should have.
:

That's a good point. Under this Gold/Silver/Bronze scheme, there will be hundreds of guests every day saying "The crowds were not what you said they'd be. I planned my entire vacation around your chart." And that's going to happen even if Disney is right, because different people have different expectations about what "crowded" and "not crowded" means.

If Disney moves to Bronze/Silver/Gold, they're going to have to provide an objective way of verifying that their choice was correct for that day, and a refund policy if it wasn't. Free advice to anyone from WDC reading this: Wait times and attendance numbers are objective.

 

[xdan0920]

That's a good point. Under this Gold/Silver/Bronze scheme, there will be hundreds of guests every day saying "The crowds were not what you said they'd be. I planned my entire vacation around your chart." And that's going to happen even if Disney is right, because different people have different expectations about what "crowded" and "not crowded" means.

If Disney moves to Bronze/Silver/Gold, they're going to have to provide an objective way of verifying that their choice was correct for that day, and a refund policy if it wasn't. Free advice to anyone from WDC reading this: Wait times and attendance numbers are objective.

I can't see a day by day system working. The only way to make this a reality is to use the already established "seasons" that lodging uses. It will reduce confusion/consternation and still allow Disney to ring more money out of its guests.

 

[Ausdaddy]

Am I reading that right? That it could be almost a $200 increase for a 7 night stay? (for bronze) If that's true, I'm gonna be sick!
If Disney wants people to stay longer, that chart doesn't even make sense. I'm specifically looking at bronze level, because that's when we usually go, but after the 3rd-4th day, I wouldn't want to pay those prices anymore.
How does a person look at that and say "that's a bargain"
And that's per person!? Please tell me I'm reading that wrong. I admit I feel like I'm missing something in that chart though, because I don't see how you come up with those prices.

I just read Len's post yesterday and looked closer at the numbers today. If those multi-day prices hold, they will have finally priced us out. Just couldn't afford it anymore. I hope that isn't the case, but we'll see.

 

[PhotoDave219]

That's a good point. Under this Gold/Silver/Bronze scheme, there will be hundreds of guests every day saying "The crowds were not what you said they'd be. I planned my entire vacation around your chart." And that's going to happen even if Disney is right, because different people have different expectations about what "crowded" and "not crowded" means.

If Disney moves to Bronze/Silver/Gold, they're going to have to provide an objective way of verifying that their choice was correct for that day, and a refund policy if it wasn't. Free advice to anyone from WDC reading this: Wait times and attendance numbers are objective.

Exactly. I have my own ideas for what I consider crowded. To me, MK is crowded at 35k-40k when their average was 52k.

Point being, the tiered pricing is a HORRIBLE idea and going to cause more problems then its likely worth.

 

[punkabella]

Having just read lentesta's recent blog post, a question came to mind. While we may not the exact figures of the pricing for multi-day tickets, I can't imagine that AP prices will not go up as well. I know there is a breaking point as to when it's more cost effective to get an AP versus a multi day tickets a couple of times. How much would you imagine that AP prices will jump? Do you think some of their reasoning may be the increase in number of APs purchased this past year?

 

[punkabella]

And this from lentesta's post as well... a million times this (I mentioned something like this to some effect on a previous page):

"But I don’t see anything in this proposal that charges less for shorter days. Why does only 10 hours in the Magic Kingdom cost as much as 16? Yes, the park is open longer on other days during weeks with special events, but that doesn’t mean anything to families who only visit for one day. If we’re willing to complicate the pricing structure, where’s the discount for those people?"

I actually plan my days out by the hours available each day, not by the day of the week. I prefer going to the parks in the afternoon/evening. I'm going to choose a park to go to based on how late it is open. I love those 11pm-2am evenings (I'm looking at you MK and Epcot).

I ended up going to WDW 3 times this past year, so an AP was worth it. I've been planning to take a few years off WDW trips to give it time to change a bit.. hopefully for the better. These prices make me cringe and make me think it may be worth going to WDW a shorter period of time and mixing it up with Universal Studios, which I haven't been to since 1998 whenever we do decide to go back.

 

[asianway]

Having just read lentesta's recent blog post, a question came to mind. While we may not the exact figures of the pricing for multi-day tickets, I can't imagine that AP prices will not go up as well. I know there is a breaking point as to when it's more cost effective to get an AP versus a multi day tickets a couple of times. How much would you imagine that AP prices will jump? Do you think some of their reasoning may be the increase in number of APs purchased this past year?

My over under is $200. That cheap for all the lifestylers running their businesses using then

 

[PhotoDave219]

And this from lentesta's post as well... a million times this (I mentioned something like this to some effect on a previous page):

"But I don’t see anything in this proposal that charges less for shorter days. Why does only 10 hours in the Magic Kingdom cost as much as 16? Yes, the park is open longer on other days during weeks with special events, but that doesn’t mean anything to families who only visit for one day. If we’re willing to complicate the pricing structure, where’s the discount for those people?"

I actually plan my days out by the hours available each day, not by the day of the week. I prefer going to the parks in the afternoon/evening. I'm going to choose a park to go to based on how late it is open. I love those 11pm-2am evenings (I'm looking at you MK and Epcot).

I ended up going to WDW 3 times this past year, so an AP was worth it. I've been planning to take a few years off WDW trips to give it time to change a bit.. hopefully for the better. These prices make me cringe and make me think it may be worth going to WDW a shorter period of time and mixing it up with Universal Studios, which I haven't been to since 1998 whenever we do decide to go back.

Especially hard ticket days. Operationally, this won't work. But that doesn't mean much to someone behind a desk who's never dealt with a guest.

 

[BrianV]

Especially hard ticket days. Operationally, this won't work. But that doesn't mean much to someone behind a desk who's never dealt with a guest.

Agree. But if you are going to have gold, silver and bronze days, you could add another modifier. Gold1 would be usable on gold days where the park was open at least 14 hours. Gold2 12 hours, etc.

Better yet, We could make the system even more complicated if that is humanly possible...maybe just make people buy tickets for actual days and every day of the year has a price depending on crowds, length of day. And the price could dynamically leading up to and during the day change based on weather, and crowds, and time of day. Show up at 4pm on a rainy day when the park is open until 7pm and you pay $40. Show up at 7am when the park is open until 2am on a beautiful spring day, that will cost you $250. A year in advance when whether is unknown some where in the middle.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Agree. But if you are going to have gold, silver and bronze days, you could add another modifier. Gold1 would be usable on gold days where the park was open at least 14 hours. Gold2 12 hours, etc.

Better yet, We could make the system even more complicated if that is humanly possible...maybe just make people buy tickets for actual days and every day of the year has a price depending on crowds, length of day. And the price could dynamically leading up to and during the day change based on weather, and crowds, and time of day. Show up at 4pm on a rainy day when the park is open until 7pm and you pay $40. Show up at 7am when the park is open until 2am on a beautiful spring day, that will cost you $250. A year in advance when whether is unknown some where in the middle.

.... Yeah..... make it even MORE complicated.

How about this? One price. It costs "x" to get, regardless of crowd size, time of year, weather, or closing early?

 

[BrianV]

.... Yeah..... make it even MORE complicated.

How about this? One price. It costs "x" to get, regardless of crowd size, time of year, weather, or closing early?

Maybe all tickets could be sold on eBay. Let the bidders and the market sort it out. Like beanie babies.

 

[DznyGrlSD]