News Annual Pass price increases June 2019

legwand77

Well-Known Member
If they raise gate prices as well, I think this is fine. I think the single and multi-day ticket prices are still underpriced by quite a lot.

I agree, compared to sports tickets and concerts tickets (which also are underpriced), Disney is very inexpensive. Concerts for just 3 hours at most run $200-300/ seat for top tier acts, which is a good bit more than a whole day of entertainment at WDW
 

jaxj21

Active Member
I just recently watch a youtube video of SW"GE a Disneyland and I was surprised to see that there were hardly crowds! Could this be whats coming for WDW SW:GE!? If so raising the prices to cut the crowds I going to work against them!
Everyone currently in GE is by limited reservation. It opens to the public next week.
 

bubbles1812

Well-Known Member
I just recently watch a youtube video of SW"GE a Disneyland and I was surprised to see that there were hardly crowds! Could this be whats coming for WDW SW:GE!? If so raising the prices to cut the crowds I going to work against them!
That's because it's on a limited reservation system right now. Only the hotels are getting the reservations. Next week, I believe, is when SWGE opens to people not in the hotels. What you are currently seeing is not a reflection of what will be the true reality going foward.
 

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
If this is why prices are obscene; they should cap attendance, have a reservation system, and stop raising prices. The only reason he says this is so they can hike prices beyond the American family’s budget and blame attendance.
If you're going to limit the number of guests, it seems logical to admit the people willing to pay the most.
 

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
That is absolutely not what Iger said unless you want to play Obi-Wan's "from a certain point of view" game.

Iger has said on many occasions that they are aware that overcrowding is impacting customer satisfaction and so they are using strategic prices to move demand around, not simply a complete "decrease in attendance." Yes, they want a decrease in attendance at the overcrowding times, but, they don't want those people to go away, they want them to come in the 'off-peak' times. So, while there are general and specific price hikes, there continues to be discounts for the off-peak.

Now, if they ever become overcrowded all the time...
Fair enough. For those wondering:

"And what we're trying to the basically is 2 things, is to price according to demand, and in managing demand, try to basically spread out attendance so that we can preserve or improve the guest experience; it's that simple."

So I was too broad when I said "decrease attendance." They want to decrease attendance at peak times and increase attendance during slower times.
 

Lensman

Well-Known Member
I think everyone agrees that the AP price increases are shocking.

Exactly. If I was pricing AP's, you'd pay a surcharge if you live within 150 miles of WDW.
I think Disney wants to be able to reduce AP attendance more during peak periods. I think we can see this in how the increases for Plat passes are much higher than, say, for Weekday Select.

I wonder if they'll ever implement seasonal surcharges? You know, like instead of raising the price of the Platinum Pass by $200, have a season-specific gate surcharge of $10 or $20 per entry or day. You could even make the surcharge MK-specific or exempt Epcot.

That is absolutely not what Iger said unless you want to play Obi-Wan's "from a certain point of view" game.

Iger has said on many occasions that they are aware that overcrowding is impacting customer satisfaction and so they are using strategic prices to move demand around, not simply a complete "decrease in attendance." Yes, they want a decrease in attendance at the overcrowding times, but, they don't want those people to go away, they want them to come in the 'off-peak' times. So, while there are general and specific price hikes, there continues to be discounts for the off-peak.

Now, if they ever become overcrowded all the time...
I agree that it's this "smoothing out" that's the goal. I think that it's on top of across-the-board price increases (as inferred earlier n the year from daily ticket price increases), plus some extra price increase due to the SW:GE opening.

What I'd really like to see (but probably never will) is a strategy where margins stay the same or only increase slightly, but the competitive moat is made wider by an accompanying increase in value. That's the investment in cutting edge attractions, better food, and transportation infrastructure that I'd like to see.

It would make me feel like the high prices I pay are worth it and keep me as an enthusiastic customer rather than a somewhat resentful one.
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
APs are a unique problem with SW:GE in particular because they're the ones most likely to camp out in the Cantina with their laptops open sipping on a single drink for eight hours straight.

#TaxTheAPs

I'd imagine Oga's is going to have the same limits as at DLR: 2 drink maximum and 45 minutes in a booth. You can hang out at the bar for as long as you want, but you can't get any more than 2 drinks.
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Yeah! I noticed that too. The attendance at DL has been really, really low overall.

I just recently watch a youtube video of SW"GE a Disneyland and I was surprised to see that there were hardly crowds! Could this be whats coming for WDW SW:GE!? If so raising the prices to cut the crowds I going to work against them!

This is because they blocked out all CM maingate passes and were only opening them a few days before the date - after schedules had come out.
 

Katie G

Well-Known Member
We were two days from renewing our APs 😢. Has anyone ever had any luck calling and getting grandfathered into the old rate? Probably a ridiculously dumb question...but it doesn't hurt to ask.
If they every sent you a letter or email with the renewal rate on there, I believe they have to honor what they offered you.
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Any idea how long these certificates are good for?
Could I buy them and save them? There is no language on the Sam's club page about expiration so I have to ask.

If they work like ordering an AP online used to, they don't expire - they start when you exchange the certificate for an actual ticket.
 

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
I'd imagine Oga's is going to have the same limits as at DLR: 2 drink maximum and 45 minutes in a booth. You can hang out at the bar for as long as you want, but you can't get any more than 2 drinks.
Initially, sure, but long term you think?

All I can think of is the crowd that was in Disneyland's Trader Sam's during my trip in February. The resort QS spot was closed for refurbishment so we had to get food there a couple of times and the SAME people were there for entire days at a time on multiple different days. From the badges they left conspicuously on the table, they were half cast members and half pass holders.
 

RustySpork

Oscar Mayer Memer
Fair enough. For those wondering:

"And what we're trying to the basically is 2 things, is to price according to demand, and in managing demand, try to basically spread out attendance so that we can preserve or improve the guest experience; it's that simple."

So I was too broad when I said "decrease attendance." They want to decrease attendance at peak times and increase attendance during slower times.

Spreading guests out sounds nice in theory, but with school breaks being in the summer freeing up most families it's got to be a difficult task. Then again, shifting the non-family demand to other times of the year will reduce the crowd levels over the summer.
 

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Spreading guests out sounds nice in theory, but with school breaks being in the summer freeing up most families it's got to be a difficult task. Then again, shifting the non-family demand to other times of the year will reduce the crowd levels over the summer.
I believe all the schools near me (in Georgia) have a Fall break in September, Christmas/Holiday Break in December, a Winter break in February, Spring Break in April then the typical Summer break so spreading crowds in theory should be easier to do, but I am not sure that is how it is for Florida schools.
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Initially, sure, but long term you think?

All I can think of is the crowd that was in Disneyland's Trader Sam's during my trip in February. The resort QS spot was closed for refurbishment so we had to get food there a couple of times and the SAME people were there for entire days at a time on multiple different days. From the badges they left conspicuously on the table, they were half cast members and half pass holders.

From what the bartenders were told - thats the long term plan. A member of our party was a regular and knew a bartender in the cantina that had transferred from Lamplight.

Trader Sams has a ton of regulars as well, even Emmett, but the line is usually a max of 20 minutes or so. I'd say a 20 minute Oga's line will only happen first thing in the morning.
 

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