Big changes coming to Annual Passes

[Figgy1]

I'm a little late to this not so happy party! Our original plan was to get 2 APs one for me and one for my dh so we could do a big family trip in 2016 and one with just us in 2017. With the changes it looks like just one AP and maybe we'll still do a few days in 17 but only 2 or 3. We have APs for UNI and may just spend more time there. Sad very sad. We were planning on also getting the TIW card but now were not going to do that either. Just more qs or even go off site for a few meals.

 

[Lee]

Bottom line...they raised prices because they can.
I've seen numerous people online defending the price hike. The hardcore lifers will still buy them. The more average fans, such as myself, won't.

It's an obvious win-win for Disney. Fewer AP holders taking up room, using infrastructure and yes...complaining.

 

[willtravel]

That is not the kind of guest they are looking for. They want the guests that have disposable cash to spend to be taking up the valuable space in the parks. TDC is a for profit business and the new business model that has been slowly being implemented is upcharge events and raise prices while attracting the wealthy or people willing to over spend their means.

Last time I bought my AP was in 2011 for $424. Now for $649 + tax which gives me free parking and Photobomb. No thanks. Not worth the $225 increase in 4 years. Also just looked and I paid $169.20 for MNSSHP tickets and if I went this year if would be $240. A $70.00 increase since 2011 for 3 tickets.

I love WDW and miss going, but I have be logical and think about all that money would be spent.

I think if we have another 9/11 (God forbid) or another stock market crash like 2008 then you will see LOT's of Disney discount's to get your money no matter what your disposable income is.....

 

[Horizons1]

Bottom line...they raised prices because they can.
I've seen numerous people online defending the price hike. The hardcore lifers will still buy them. The more average fans, such as myself, won't.

It's an obvious win-win for Disney. Fewer AP holders taking up room, using infrastructure and yes...complaining.

Lifers will defend a pile of poo if Disney left it there. But the goal of this hike is as you said, to decrease AP crowd. Disney wants more money spent in the parks and they will get it one way or another.

 

[Horizons '83]

New Marketing Slogan: "2016 - The Year Disney Fans Said, 'Meh; I'm in No Hurry to Return.'"

Yeah, but again "if people don't like the prices then don't go" cliche applies here too. The only issue is that the parks are just constantly packed and honestly makes me believe that they could rise the prices even another 20% and they would see very little affect in attendance numbers or the bottom line.

 

[POLY LOVER]

on somewhat of a related type issue, I hear every year in my town people yipping at the local football team increasing parking, tickets, food, beer prices, they all proclaim that's it!!!! no more not renewing my tickets. To a man when the time comes they all buy the tickets again and proclaim OK but this is it for me. No one likes increases but they pay in the end(no pun intended) There are ways to compensate, just eat off property a few nights or bag a lunch here and there and it cuts your cost. OK now get out the check books and start writing in the new numbers.

 

[Wildflower]

Does anyone know if I have the option to upgrade my current annual pass to the new "platinum" annual pass to take advantage of the photo downloads? What would the upgrade cost? Since I was planning on getting Memory Maker anyway, if it's less than $169 to upgrade one pass, it would make sense for me to upgrade.

Yes but in person only if you aren't less than 60 days from expiration. IDK price since I don't know what your starting point is....but if regular AP it should be ~$24 if going to Gold and ~$127 if going to platinum (each).

 

[Wildflower]

So, I just got my voucher, for upcoming trip, in the mail a couple weeks ago. What level will I be at, platinum?

You will be at whatever you purchased. Anything bought before the changes were announced stays at that level until time for renewal (or upgrade).

 

[alphac2005]

I think if we have another 9/11 (God forbid) or another stock market crash like 2008 then you will see LOT's of Disney discount's to get your money no matter what your disposable income is.....

You don't even have to go that extreme. Just a typical U.S. economic downturn mixed with international economic weakness (look at Brazil as an example of a large WDW segment that is going into economic meltdown) and/or continued appreciation of the U.S. Dollar and they have a lot of issues at the Florida property. Common sense would tell most that having a strong AP base keeps a reliable and stable revenue base when there are all sorts of microeconomic issues at hand all over.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Bottom line...they raised prices because they can.
I've seen numerous people online defending the price hike. The hardcore lifers will still buy them. The more average fans, such as myself, won't.

It's an obvious win-win for Disney. Fewer AP holders taking up room, using infrastructure and yes...complaining.

I'll have what they're having then, because I don't know how anyone can be that delusional without taking something. A 10-20% increase over last year, and a 50% (!) increase over the price five years ago? Justifying it based on what? For goodness sakes, 2 of the 4 parks actually have fewer things to do today than they did in 2010. Water parks haven't seen anything new, and 1/3 of Downtown Dis - oops, sorry, Disney Springs - is still a pile of dirt.

The next round of ticket price increases is going to be a fun one. Anyone taking bets? I'm going with $125 for MK, $105 for EP/DHS/AK.

 

[drew81]

How? By only allowing shorts and t-shirts while banning certain color schemes?

I'm being sarcastic.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I think if we have another 9/11 (God forbid) or another stock market crash like 2008 then you will see LOT's of Disney discount's to get your money no matter what your disposable income is.....

I agree, that it will unfortunately take some sort of financial or terrorist happenings to stop the increases.

In 2000 WDW total guest attendance 42,600,000
In 2005 WDW total guest attendance 42,800,000
In 2014 WDW total guest attendance 51,500,000
911 was an immediate hit, but by 2005 they were already hitting the attendance record.

The unfortunate fact is that they have not expanded WDW ride/show offerings fast enough to handle the increased amount of guests and now they have been able to create a point to where they can and will raise the prices to now use as a control to flatline the attendance numbers. These tiered annual passes are the first way for TDC to control some of the guests visiting certain overcrowded times of the year.

I also expect a price tier structure by date to come out for the Magic Your Way tickets in the near future as well. I would assume that the free dining offers will be discontinued once these tickets go into effect.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Exactly my point - and why I chose not to DVC. I'm not buying into DVC to eat offsite or see other attractions in Orlando (or near Disney properties elsewhere). That's just silly. I could just go with a regular timeshare if that were my goal.

Maybe go off sight to eat.

Perhaps tickets and dining are 66% of the equation for you and your family. I can certainly understand that a vacation to the Orlando area to you means hitting the Disney parks and eating in Disney restaurants. That's exactly the mindset Disney loves. But, not all of us feel this way, and every time Disney changes their pricing and benefits more and more of the visitors realize there is life outside of the Disney universe. Florida is a big, amazing place...

 

[ford91exploder]

New Marketing Slogan: "2016 - The Year Disney Fans Said, 'Meh; I'm in No Hurry to Return.'"

Sadly already there

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Even if it's not a business expense, single people/or even couples should be able to come up with the funds, if they really value WDW. Everybody with a halfway decent job, pretty much has a yearly entertainment budget of a size to cover this. Whether its green fees/new clubs, new car parts, concert tickets, sports tickets or even just things like a top of the line cable package, alcohol, cigarettes. It's a matter of prioritizing (people may have to pick & choose).

So I don't quite see how this is going to disrupt a lifestyler. It's the families with kids, who have to multiply by 3, 4 or more that are more likely to be priced out. The ones doing the trick of, "I'll visit in November this year, and October next year, and so I get 2 trips for the price of 1-ish.

We are going the end of January and staying off sight, first time off sight in over 10 years.

We stayed at Bonnet Creek for the first time in July. (A surprise trip for one of our kids for her birthday). We were at the Wyndham. I got a 2 bdrm unit. It cost us for 3 nights probably the equivalent of 1 night discounted at The Boardwalk Inn. I would do it again. Got a great rate through Orbitz. We are AP also and just re-booked us for Fort Wilderness Cabins in April. We are 6(4kids), and while it is smaller than a 2 bdrm at Bonnet Creek or any 2 Bdrm villa on site, it saved us $5000 compared with staying at the Beach Club. We do get the water transport to MK which is really convenient. As for renewing next year, we may be crunching numbers. We have found "Disney" at WDW less "Disney" than other Disney owned properties like HIlton Head, which we just love and is so much cheaper than WDW. The CM's there are definitely old school Disney and should give WDW CM's a lesson on it. I told them that in the survey I just finished for them.

 

[Seanual757]

No we do not your current AP will stay the same until it expires then you will need to choose one of the new AP plans.

For myself ours is up in April 2016 so we will switch over to the Platinum Pass. Will I continue to go yes for our family we visit the parks 2-3 times a month I have 3 small kids and another on the way. Disney will be our family vacations for a rather long time. Our DVC will expire in 2065 so I already made the investment and Disney is counting on families like us as well as others to help pay the big wigs. If I had to I would cut one out my 3 non DVC stays a year out to make up the difference but I will not do that to my kids.

 

[ABigBrassBand]

Yep I did which although I'm in the teaching profession and moved a bit higher than just a teacher salary, I'm certain my time off will mean higher prices. Yeah and really Disney has made things pretty clear that squeezing every last dime is their goal. How much longer until deluxe guests get 10 FP+ or earlier reservation windows.

They already have. My family stayed at the Contemporary and was randomly upgraded (think it was because of our size--7--and a mixture of a birthday in the party) to a top floor suite on the concierge level. This was our first time with FP+ and were having trouble with it, only to find out that we would be able to get as many FP+ reservations as we wanted. All we had to do was reschedule ours for earlier (even then, the concierge got us some that we weren't able to get online) and then after we used them text a number, which would dole out FP+ reservations whenever we needed them. Sometimes we even racked up 10 in the course of a day.

EDIT: To elaborate, sometimes it'd be so simple that we would scan our magic bands, enter the queue, then text the number for our next ride, and by the time we got out of the queue we'd have a fastpass for soon thereafter. Ridiculous!

Pretty messed up system, we were all shocked when we found out...but, since it was early/mid August and boycotting a free upgrade wouldn't change anything, there was no reason not to use it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Details at Disney introduces tiered Annual Pass ticket program with new benefits and pricing structure

Well, this is something I probably either ignore or choose not to see, just like tour groups. I've had exactly ONE run in with a tour group that impacted me as a long term memory, and that was 2013 when they couldn't figure out how FP+ worked (during testing)...and mobbed the FP+ line.

As far as drunk 40 somethings, frankly, they have never bothered me, and the closer I get to 40 something myself, they bother me even less. They have money to spend, and tend to keep to themselves. I've not seen them running around acting like asshats...but, I suppose others have.

I have never experienced it, either. And we often close Epcot.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Yes because not wanting a thousand pics means I don't love my kids. Don't think being condescending makes you right. But since you don't seem to grasp the basics of my point. If you are a person who normally uses Memory Maker and its $169 price, it's an okay deal. But if you happen to have photography skills and feel $169 is a waste. It's not a deal. It's a price increase. If you live close enough to go every weekend or so, you obvously wouldn't buy Memory Maker either.

This is a price increase because the perception of the deal is greater to people who already over pay for it.

As for me who has 4 kids and been going to WDW yearly (if not thrice yearly), I take my own photos with maybe one or two photopass pics per trip. I make my memories with my kids and don't need $169 worth of photos to have memories with my kids. I participate in the memories.

I love that you used "thrice."

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I think they are finally doing at WDW what they did at DL a few years ago. Jacking up prices enough to get people to drop down to black out date passes. Screwing over out of state people who would come in the off season periods and buy a lower tier pass.

All this is due to the fact of years of not updating the parks has caused MK to not be able to handle the crowds. So this is their answer. Also still gotta make all that MM+ money back.

I'm gonna have to do some serious thinking about renewing in December. The price increases the last few years have been insane.

This is true. If more of the current and dormant attractions were working, obviously people would spread out more.