Any Truth To This? 15 Month AP Renewal

[marsrunner]

There's no interest on it - but its interesting to note, there's a down payment of the cost of a one-day park admission ticket in order to participate in the monthly payment system for Disneyland AP's.

Hmm...didn't know, but doesn't seem too unreasonable. Certainly better than coming up with the whole amount at once anyway.

 

[MichWolv]

If they want to sell AP's, they need to allow you the option to be billed in monthly increments like some other parks do. Then the price becomes very reasonable to the average family.

Enough people have said this that it must indeed be true. I admit to being confused. If the monthly amount is doable, why not just save it up in advance, at $40 a month or whatever, then buy the AP with all the money saved up. It means starting the AP a year later than otherwise, but putting aside money for 12 months still gives 12 months admission to WDW. :shrug:

And I agree with those who object to putting it on a credit card. No sense paying 15 per cent interest. And if Universal doesn't charge extra for financing its AP, anybody who pays up front is foolish.

As for why Disney doesn't do it, no need to be mind-boggled. The powers that be don't believe the extra number of APs they would sell is worth the added administrative costs (processing 12 transactions instead of 1, record-keeping to ensure billings are made when appropriate, collection for those who cancel their credit card -- individually quite small, but all-in I'm sure a substantive amount of money) and the added financial cost (time value of money).

 

[DisneyEverest]

Wow this great! Next they need to make an annual pass that you pay monthly.

 

[WDW1974]

If true, then this marks the second time Disney has done this.

After 9/11 they hastily added three months to APs and said it was a gift for 100 Years of Walt the Dead Dude Who Created The Mouse After Some Bad Guy Stole The Rabbit.

Personally, what I'd like to see is what WDW used to do for decades with renewals: they didn't start until you activated the pass. So if your 'anniversary date' was Jan. 1st, but you didn't return until July 31st with the voucher (you still had to renew within 30 days of expiration), your pass was good for a year from July 31st. They stopped this practice about 5-6 years ago to match DL and I don't see any good reason for it except forcing people to either waste time, plan more trips or pay more and not renew.

 

[Monsterfan99]

Enough people have said this that it must indeed be true. I admit to being confused. If the monthly amount is doable, why not just save it up in advance, at $40 a month or whatever, then buy the AP with all the money saved up. It means starting the AP a year later than otherwise, but putting aside money for 12 months still gives 12 months admission to WDW. :shrug:

I'm moving down there next year and would love the payment plan as a local. Would be more of a monthly bill you can plan for then just make a chunk payment at once. Plus you can get a very small amount of interest if you pay monthly.

With the Universal pass, they do not offer payments on their best pass. It is upfront payment only.

 

[MissM]

"This change applies to: Tourist Premium Annual Pass, Tourist Annual Pass, Florida Resident Premium Annual Pass, Florida Resident Annual Pass, and Florida Resident Seasonal Pass."

I don't know what a "Tourist Annual Pass" is... and I HAVE an AP.

I'm guessing they're using the word "tourist" to mean "non-Florida resident." Florida Resident AP's are cheaper than non-Florida resident AP's. I don't think I've ever heard that particular term before but...whatever. I suppose they just wanted to differentiate between Florida residents and not.

 

[Skyway]

So if my pass expires 12/1/09 and i renew sometime between 11/1 - 12/31 my new pass won't expire until 2/1/11?

No. Your new pass will expire on 3/1/11.

You're getting 3 free additional months IF you re-new your AP.

Obviously, the keyword here is "re-new" since they're apparently not offering the benefit to new passholders.

Which begs the question....WHY DO IT?

It seems like Disney is afraid of losing current passholders. I'm sure with household budgets tightening, there's fear that those renewal letters (and the hefty price that goes with them) will be easily ignored this year.

Clearly Disney's philosophy during this recession (to both regular park guests and now AP's, too) is to offer discounts for extended stays in order to keep the parks full and (hopefully) encourage in-park spending.

It would be a sign of weakness (at least to Wall Street) for Disney to LOWER its prices. So instead, they RAISE prices, but then try to offer more value for that price (i.e. 7-for-the-price-of-4 hotel stays, free dining, and now three free months of AP) Although this might not make sense to the consumer ("Why not just lower the prices?"), Disney can more easily react to the changing economic situation by increasing or decreasing benefits than they can changing ticket prices every few months or so (If they drop prices, which has never happened before, the company's stock could plunge if analysts viewed that as Disney lacking confidence. Also, if they dropped prices and the economy suddenly rebounded, the company would be losing out on potential profits.)

I almost see it as a sign of fear and weakness that Disney is finally offering up this new benefit to keep AP's around. They are apparently desperate to have Florida residents and Drive-Distance visitors make up for declining International and airline travelers. It also encourages out-of-state AP holders to book another vacation within that new 15-month window.

Some are saying that Disney should sell AP's in monthly installments. While this would definitely make the AP more accessible, I can understand why Disney would not want to do that. It would truly screw up their brilliant ticketing strategy.

As it stands now, every AP sale is money in the bank for Disney. By selling an AP in installments, Disney runs the risk of people defaulting on payments, which is more likely in this economic climate. And quite frankly, I'm sure Disney would rather deal with the customer who can cough up $370+ all at once (or $1600+ for a family) because that customer is also likely to cough up money at stores and restaurants (which, again, seems to be their strategy of surviving this recession). Also, I'm sure there is a high administrative cost involved for Disney in terms of managing and collecting the installment payments.

But more importantly, an "Installment AP" would ABSOLUTELY DESTROY Disney's current Magic Your Way ("the more you stay, the less you pay") ticket pricing system.

If I recall correctly, the SoCal Disneyland "Installment AP" made you pay a big portion upfront, like 30-40%, and then spread out the remaining balance over the next 12 months. That prevented people from buying the pass for just one month at an insane discount and then defaulting.

Now let's say that WDW made you pay for 40% of your AP upfront, which is a pretty high amount. Under that plan, a roughly $490 AP would cost you $196 for the first month (and $26 each add'l month).

The 3-day MYW ticket costs $219.

So if you were going to WDW for more than 2 days on a vacation, it would be cheaper to buy the "Installment AP" and default after the first month, instead of buying a 3-day, 4-day, 5-day, 6-day, etc.

The only way to fix this problem would be to increase the "Installment AP's" upfront payment to 50% or more. But by then, you're starting to defeat the purpose of an installment plan. And back to what I wrote earlier--- if you can afford the first $250 upfront but need to spread out the rest of the payments, you're not really the customer Disney is trying to lure with the AP (Remember, they're not giving you 365 days of admission for the price of 6 days because they're nice. They're doing it in hopes that you'll spend more $$ during your frequent visits)

(The reason Disneyland, and even Universal, can do installment AP's is because they do not offer the wide selection of multi-day tickets like WDW does. The average family can easily spend an 7+ days in a row visiting WDW's 4 theme parks and resorts. Disneyland and Universal do not offer 12-day tickets because they know its highly unlikely a visitor will spend more than 3 or 4 days at those resorts. In other words, there's no benefit for the customer to intentionally default after the first month like there is at WDW.)

 

[captainkidd]

People really need to get this "Disney should do what Universal and Sea World do" stuff out of their head. Disney is dealing with about 6x as many guests as Universal, and about 12x as many guests as Sea World.

Again, can anyone give one reasonable excuse that makes sense why Disney should offer a 12 month payment plan on AP's? Sure, I'd like it as well, but it's not necessary for Disney to do it.

 

[MousDad]

I know, so does Sea World. Boggles the mind Disney doesn't.

If they want to sell AP's, they need to allow you the option to be billed in monthly increments like some other parks do. Then the price becomes very reasonable to the average family.

Because somebody would buy an AP, make the first payment, go to the parks 30 days in a row, and then cancel the credit card.

Then it would cost Disney more to get the money out of the guy than what 50 people paying for a single AP would bring in.

Don't think for a minute that a whole host of people wouldn't try this, either.

Now if they could come up with a way to eliminate this possibility, at a low cost to them, then I could see it happening. Probably only for locals though, like DL.

 

[Hoop Raeb]

Disney has been focusing on APs lately for whatever reason. We've been neglected for so long, I'm kinda getting giddy about it. Passholder previews of new shows/rides, a great AP event about Wishes (that I missed, grrrr), a BLT tour the other day and now this. I wonder if there's a concentrated effort to keep their repeat guests happy. I'm sure they's seen the response from D23 and have started to get the hint that we're a solid revenue stream.

 

[EPCOTPluto]

Disney has been focusing on APs lately for whatever reason...I wonder if there's a concentrated effort to keep their repeat guests happy. I'm sure they seen the response from D23 and have started to get the hint that we're a solid revenue stream.

(sigh)

I missed every recent AP event but the HoP preview.

Here's to more good things (events, tours, lengthier APs, freebies, etc.) from Disney. :lookaroun

 

[EPCOTPluto]

So, one more day until the "rumor" proves to be true or false....

Anything new concerning this?

 

[coasterphil]

It's true, not a rumor.

 

[EPCOTPluto]

It's true, not a rumor.

I really hope so, it's just that it came from a random website, and the sources aren't named...

I just am not sure now... :shrug:

 

[The D.T.C.]

It Won't Benifit Us At All

We buy an annual pass to cover our pass the current year and then go a month earlier the following year. So if we used this new plan we would gain nothing because we can only afford to go once a year usually.:animwink:

 

[kapeman]

We buy an annual pass to cover our pass the current year and then go a month earlier the following year. So if we used this new plan we would gain nothing because we can only afford to go once a year usually.:animwink:

Same here. We got our APs in Dec and are going back in Oct.

The next trip is planned for Jan 2011 and we'll be picking up new passes then, most likely.

 

[Brian Noble]

it came from a random website, and the sources aren't named...

It was posted on DISboards by Cheshire Figment---who happens to be a GR Cast Member, primarily at the water parks. If he posts something about tickets, you can take it to the bank---he's the author of the DIS Ticket FAQ.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1452684

Here is his original post, which has been edited with a bit of new information:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2244475

 

[EPCOTPluto]

So much a true believer now! :sohappy:

 

[JPVonDrake]

To confirm...

Starting Sunday August 2nd, Walt Disney World Theme Park Passholders will be able to renew their Annual Passes for 15 months (459 days!) for the price of a 12 month renewal. That is an extra 3 months of the Disney magic for free! To qualify you must renewal within 30 days (before or after) of your current expiration date.

Annual Passes that are included in this offer are:
Annual Pass (Regular and FL) * Premium Annual Pass (Regular and FL) * Florida Resident Seasonal Pass

Note, if you have already renewed and your original expiration date was after 8/2/09, you will automatically receive the 15 month renewal offer!

 

[WDWFigment]

Because somebody would buy an AP, make the first payment, go to the parks 30 days in a row, and then cancel the credit card.

Then it would cost Disney more to get the money out of the guy than what 50 people paying for a single AP would bring in.

Don't think for a minute that a whole host of people wouldn't try this, either.

Now if they could come up with a way to eliminate this possibility, at a low cost to them, then I could see it happening. Probably only for locals though, like DL.

Somebody certainly would do this, but people always find ways to scam businesses, yet the businesses still exist. Chalk it up to the "cost of doing business". I would bet that the number of people doing this are an extreme minority. So long as Disney would still bring in more money by offering the incremental payments than they'd lose from scams, I'd think it'd be advantageous to do. :shrug: