AP holders...are you bumping to premium for renewal?

[ford91exploder]

I feel that the reduction of total pass holders is what WDW wants.

Local pass holders tend to think that they put more money into the Disney machine than others. And while that’s often true over the course of a year from a per person vs. dollar spent basis it’s not generally true from a resource use vs. dollar spent basis. By upping the cost of the pass they get a better return on their resource usages by eliminating a percentage of pass holders while getting more of a guaranteed return on the resources the returning pass holders use.

Disneyland has a fairly critical problem with pass holder overcrowding. WDW is probably trying to avoid that while they still can.

Disney's short memory is going to hurt them, Post 9/11 and 2008 it was the AP holders and locals who saved their bacon, Right now they feel invincible and that state has them riding for a fall.

 

[raven]

We won't be renewing. Time for a Disney break. Somehow paying more and receiving less just doesn't sit well. Especially with the crowd levels and the amount of construction across the parks.

We're taking a break, the crowds are already terrible without us being there according to the reports so why pay even more for so much less?

I have heard a lot more folks say they aren't buying any over downgrading or upgrading. Stunned that people would actually say "enough".

My exact reason why I didn't renew as well. Commercials for AP's keep saying "Been there, haven't done that!" but everything has been done.

Crowd levels are extremely high, lines are long, fast passes are harder to get, certain party offerings are now considered "separate ticket events", prices have gotten crazy out of control, food portions have gotten smaller, areas are being closed and won't be back open for years...

Why would I renew for another year of that? And at a higher price?

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

My wife and I renew every September and plan to do the same September 2016. We will keep the same level of pass which gives us access to all 4 parks without any black out dates.

 

[JWG]

Just look out west to see what is happening at WDW. DL passholders have been envious of the WDW rates for years. In a park where the passholder DOES matter, they were already paying more for two parks vs. four. Disney will be fine to have a reduced number of passholders and that appears to be what they're doing - trying to drive the price to the point people bow out. I don' think this will backfire on Disney at all. Outside of a major event such as 9/11, this will have the intended impact. Fewer renewals.

 

[JohnD]

I renewed my FR seasonal just before the upgrade. It was converted to Silver as I entered the first park on my recent trip beginning 11/8. I'll probably renew as Silver next year. Don't need PP, and no desire to go during busy blackout dates anyway (especially during the heat of summer and at the same time as Brazilian tourist season).

 

[FrostyNaples]

We've had regular annual passes for several years and just hit our renewal dates but with the new tier system it certainly jumped our per ticket cost to continue to have no black out dates. So I was wondering if this new plan of Disney's is working how they wanted in terms of AP holders. Did you renew at the equivalent to the current general annual passes or opt for one with black out dates now that the new tier system is in place?

We don't mind the black out dates as FL residents - those dates represent larger crowds we enjoy avoiding.

We will however, upgrade one to Gold, and leave the other @ Silver. this will allow all the photo passes for us (its like the one person who used to have the memory maker package).

I do understand both Gold & Silver have different black out dates, but again no issues there.

 

[POLY LOVER]

downgrading when my pass expires.

 

[raven]

Disney will be fine to have a reduced number of passholders and that appears to be what they're doing - trying to drive the price to the point people bow out. I don' think this will backfire on Disney at all. Outside of a major event such as 9/11, this will have the intended impact. Fewer renewals.

They already have cut most of the AP events (used to have previews, etc.) and the number of AP mailings you get per year is down to 2 now as well.

There was a time when they cherished the APs but that's gone now. If the economy takes a nose dive and gas prices skyrocket, they may have to heavily depend on those APs to keep them going (as Cedar Point did several years ago). But Disney wants new money, not old money.

 

[rucifee]

They already have cut most of the AP events (used to have previews, etc.) and the number of AP mailings you get per year is down to 2 now as well.

There was a time when they cherished the APs but that's gone now. If the economy takes a nose dive and gas prices skyrocket, they may have to heavily depend on those APs to keep them going (as Cedar Point did several years ago). But Disney wants new money, not old money.

Yeah, it's definitely gone now. If the economy does take another nose dive (and I think it will), I wonder if the people they're burning will remember what they've just done.

 

[WhatJaneSays]

Disney's short memory is going to hurt them, Post 9/11 and 2008 it was the AP holders and locals who saved their bacon, Right now they feel invincible and that state has them riding for a fall.

I'll grant you that during the 2002-2003 post 9/11 lull there were a higher percentage of local APs in the parks and that they were contributing a higher percentage than typical of cash into the parks and resorts. However that didn’t mean they were spending more money than they had in years past. It was still a boon to the parks because they were visiting and spending at the same rate while the numbers of regular guests and non-local APs were traveling less and spending a reduces amount. Had the local APs reduced at the same rate Disney would have still been fine ... or at least just as fine as they were at the time.

Dollar for dollar local AP holders are a "resource hog" compared to other sets of guests of the same description.

Disney KNOWS over the next two years there will be a severely reduced capacity at DHS, an entirely new demand on resources at AK, and multiple other demand increases at Epcot and Disney Springs. The loss rate of current local APs is a more stable system for WDW (and the local APs that stay) in the coming 2-3 years because there is going to be an increased number of new APs into the system.

Disney wants new money, not old money.

It’s the "new money" that tends spend more per resource draw, whereas the older the "old money" gets it tends to be a greater demand on resources while wanting to spend less. They start falling into the "I pay your salary" trap of thinking.

 

[KeeKee]

I'll grant you that during the 2002-2003 post 9/11 lull there were a higher percentage of local APs in the parks and that they were contributing a higher percentage than typical of cash into the parks and resorts. However that didn’t mean they were spending more money than they had in years past. It was still a boon to the parks because they were visiting and spending at the same rate while the numbers of regular guests and non-local APs were traveling less and spending a reduces amount. Had the local APs reduced at the same rate Disney would have still been fine ... or at least just as fine as they were at the time.

Dollar for dollar local AP holders are a "resource hog" compared to other sets of guests of the same description.

Disney KNOWS over the next two years there will be a severely reduced capacity at DHS, an entirely new demand on resources at AK, and multiple other demand increases at Epcot and Disney Springs. The loss rate of current local APs is a more stable system for WDW (and the local APs that stay) in the coming 2-3 years because there is going to be an increased number of new APs into the system.


It’s the "new money" that tends spend more per resource draw, whereas the older the "old money" gets it tends to be a greater demand on resources while wanting to spend less. They start falling into the "I pay your salary" trap of thinking.

There's an "intangible" that's not been factored into the discussion here yet, and that is the amount of positive PR that all the satisfied AP holders gin up for WDW. There are a lot of Disney "evangelists" out there that persuade some people that might be on fence to go to WDW and spend that "new money" that they seem to be so interested in. That works the other way, too. A lot of disheartened AP holders that are treated shabbily or that don't feel valued anymore can have a negative affect on the bottom line. That said, I don't think there's anything that will stop Disney from printing money once Star Wars opens. Seems kind of a moot point, but maybe some of us feel a little better commiserating with other like minded folks.

 

[rucifee]

There's an "intangible" that's not been factored into the discussion here yet, and that is the amount of positive PR that all the satisfied AP holders gin up for WDW. There are a lot of Disney "evangelists" out there that persuade some people that might be on fence to go to WDW and spend that "new money" that they seem to be so interested in. That works the other way, too. A lot of disheartened AP holders that are treated shabbily or that don't feel valued anymore can have a negative affect on the bottom line. That said, I don't think there's anything that will stop Disney from printing money once Star Wars opens. Seems kind of a moot point, but maybe some of us feel a little better commiserating with other like minded folks.

I was a Disney evangelist once.

 

[KeeKee]

I was a Disney evangelist once.

Yeah, me too. Worked there for five years a long time ago.

 

[rucifee]

Yeah, me too. Worked there for five years a long time ago.

I've never worked for them or for their competition, but I spent a decade or so high on pixie dust.

 

[raven]

It’s the "new money" that tends spend more per resource draw, whereas the older the "old money" gets it tends to be a greater demand on resources while wanting to spend less. They start falling into the "I pay your salary" trap of thinking.

It's also the old money that will continue to be there over and over again.

 

[DisDadWoz]

Ours are up in March 2016. Thought long and hard about renewing for our trip then, but decided it just wasn't worth it for us. For those of us who have kids/work obligations that only allow Christmas and Spring Break trips for the most part, that pretty much sealed the deal. Next will be blackout dates for all major holidays. We'll buy park hopper tickets when we go and get our discounts elsewhere.

 

[Seanual757]

We will be upgrading to the premium