News Disney to launch new Vacation Planning site to help guests with date-based tickets

[Macca250]

They’re doing that as well, evident from all of the things coming on line within the next few years. Later than they should have, but they are.

They’re investing in some great stuff, I agree. But they also seem hellbent on running what they have at the moment on a margin that’s tighter than Elastagirl’s suit. Great business sense, unless your income comes from people on vacation who do require a bit of spontaneity. I’m not saying Disney shouldn’t want the place to be as efficient as possible, just not at the expense where you make the place feel cold and clinical.

Not saying we’ve reached that stage yet either, but the business plan to expand capacity so crowds can be managed easier doesn’t appear to be top of the list (other than new attractions which mostly replace old stuff), the better option seems to be - let’s pin down everyone’s restroom breaks 60 days out so we can herd them from one experience to another.

Just saying, not a fan of where this leads us. Date-based pricing? Not a big deal on its own. Planning dining 180 days out? Understandable it’s a busy place. Decdiding on what attractions to do 60 days out? What an intuitive tool, I can skip the lines. Getting flights and a spot in your favourite hotel? A standard part of every vacation...

.... add all of that together though, your average holidaymaker’s whimsical trip from the ordinary world to Disney World starts to get complex and clinical. The exact opposite of what the place should be offering guests.

 

[Patcheslee]

Do you struggle to understand that plane tickets have different prices on different dates? No? What's the difference?

Planes are more limited on space available.

 

[xdan0920]

A website to help plan a vacation!? This is too complicated!!!

Didchya just notice that? You've never seen people post spreadsheets and on Reddit to figure everything out? Not news. And all this information was already on MDE, you just had to dig through the menus to find it. So, Disney is offering a 'wizard' to help newbies and it's being derided?


Surge/in-demand pricing.

Disney isn't copying what others are doing, Disney perfected this 20 years ago with their Broadway shows. Many tiered-pricing depending on where your seat is and when you want to go? Disney perfected that with Broadway tickets and it's pretty much the standard practice now. Disney also raises prices as inventory starts to get sold out... like airlines do. At least they haven't done that with the theme parks or resorts... yet.


Pricing and Time-frame

The whole purpose of the new pricing schema is to reward people who come at off-peak times and to discourage overcrowding at peak. They already did that with the (now defunct) surge pricing for a one-day ticket, and different levels of passes with differing blackout dates, and seasonal pricing on resorts. And we knew it was coming to all the parks for quite a while now. Hopefully, the off-peak tickets are a really good discount.

And as far as limiting the use of the tickets within a time frame (e.g., seven days to use your 4 days worth of tickets)... that's the whole point. To limit the time frame of usage. That's why they're cheaper ($100 cheaper per person) than any-time tickets.

Thanks for the explanation no one needed. No one, and I mean that in the most literal sense is asking why this is being done. People don't like it, they aren't too dumb to understand it. Your condescending explanatory post is nonsense.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

People don't like it, they aren't too dumb to understand it.

They don’t like it. Before they’ve used it. Before they even see how the price of their particular tickets will change. In many cases without even reading all the details that in fact mitigate some of what they claim not to like.

This obviously doesn’t describe everyone, and I can imagine not liking what the actual changes are. But many seem to just reflexively rail against any change in WDW — even before they have all the info.

 

[xdan0920]

They don’t like it. Before they’ve used it. Before they even see how the price of their particular tickets will change. In many cases without even reading all the details that in fact mitigate some of what they claim not to like.

This obviously doesn’t describe everyone, and I can imagine not liking what the actual changes are. But many seem to just reflexively rail against any change in WDW — even before they have all the info.

This is false. I don't really want to discuss this with you though. I don't have the time or energy to counteract the barrage of posts you blast the forums with.

Maybe someone else will indulge you and the avalanche of similar sounding posts you are itching to set off.

 

[eliza61nyc]

T
.... add all of that together though, your average holidaymaker’s whimsical trip from the ordinary world to Disney World starts to get complex and clinical. The exact opposite of what the place should be offering guests.

I've got no horse in this race as I don't need or use a planning site anymore, maybe touringplans to get crowd #'s

A thought....

Disneyworld for the most part always was a place that need some type of planning . (I've only been going steadily since 2000 so I'm going from that point) Now I've never gone on any major vacation and just totally "winged" it. I go to Paris, yeah I know the museum hours, get my museum pass etc etc and if you want to eat at the top of the Eiffel tower you better have your reservation in place 9 months in advance.

Next August we are planning on Greece, we are already looking at hotels and restaurants.

lol, I just don't think "whimsical" when I think of a theme park vacation.

I think it's the old "caught between a rock and a hard place" scenario. The main problem is its god awful crowded, so a vacationer has to make a choice. No you don't have to make fp reservations but then don't complain about long waits.

I'm a dvc'er so I'm use to planning my vacations at least 9-11 months in advance if I want to stay where I own which is the Beach club, with all the festivals at Epcot, last minute reservations there would be hard.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

This is false. I don't really want to discuss this with you though. I don't have the time or energy to counteract the barrage of posts you blast the forums with.

Maybe someone else will indulge you and the avalanche of similar sounding posts you are itching to set off.

You’re sweet.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Planes are more limited on space available.

??
Disney is also, it has a limited amount of visitors that are allowed in the parks at any time. they have a few days that they always stop admittance. No different.

 

[PuertoRekinSam]

I’ve watched the video a few times now. And I read through the comments. It seems confusing, but not that bad to me.

1) I think they are still using the 3 tiers of day seasonality from the 1-day tickets. So it’s really no different than my local regional parks: expensive on most days, more expensive on most weekends, stupidly expensive on the holidays. I don’t think this calendar is going to fluctuate as bad as 365 different prices a year.
2) the prices will be the same as they are now... meaning until there is a cross the board price change it will be the same cost at the gate as it is 6 months out. (So better than flights/rental cars/ hotels/ cruises where the same ticket goes up and down as time goes on)

3) yeah, we have to know what park we want to do what day months out... is this any different than fast pass selection?

And didn’t we all say this was going to happen when they went to surge pricing for one day tickets anyway? I am frankly surprised it took this long.

I don’t think this will impact the resort staying guest that much. (Outside off initial heart burn). But more the people who stay off property and visit “central Florida”.

But I will say I think those front of the park Ticket sellers just earned their $15 a hour wage with this

 

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

Listen teachers are a much needed profession, but no one had a gun to your head and forced you to be a teacher. Keep in mind most people don’t have summers off!! You act like it’s a burden to have 3 months off. Geeze

First off, I don’t know a single teacher that has a 3 month summer break. It’s generally two months at most. 2nd, I am a teacher and I just clocked in 73 hours last week for an elementary teaching position. Long after the children leave, there are papers to be graded, emails to answer, worked to be planned and copied, narratives to be written, etc. My summer includes attending workshops that I need so that I doesn’t lose my teaching license. It’s professional development and all districts require it. We start in August and I start going in in July to prepare my room, go to intake conferences upcoming students. Lots of others do too, so I am not unusual. You are right, nobody put a gun to my head to be a teacher. I love educating children. I do think everyday about somebody putting a gun to my head at work, because gun violence happens regularly, and I want my students to be safe. I don’t know your profession, but I do know that a teacher helped make it possible. You should look up a teacher that had a profound impact on your life. Go talk to them. You just might develop an appreciation for the profession. Maybe they could help figure out the planning of your trip now with the new tiered pricing of buying Disney tickets, because we all know the new system will crash regularly.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Let's see if Disney's new "service" will say 'But if you book 3 days later you can save X%"

Did you watch the video? It does exactly that.

 

[Indiana Stone]

The discount is offered until March 15, but I'm worried that the prices will go up for June (end of June) with this new date-priced tickets situation...

I am wondering the same thing. We have ben waiting to purchase tickets for next summer in case the value of the CDN$ goes up (come on NAFTA deal). The promo seemed really long (September-March) but surely it will remain unaffected by this?

 

[skyphotographer]

This is the worst decision Disney has made in the past 10 years!! It may very well be the tipping point for me. I like to buy my tickets before hand to reduce some of the out of pocket expenses when I get there. I also like to be flexible in my park dates because I never know when I will have to make a change. Just too complicated for me!!

 

[Mander]

I'm super curious to see how this plays out. My husband and I are fortunate that we aren't tied to certain times of the year, so that helps. I do feel bad for anyone who is tied to school breaks. That's going to be pricey! My parents are actually gifting a trip to very close family friends this spring- peak Spring Break/Easter time. Very glad that's already booked and nearly paid for as I don't see those prices going anywhere but up!

 

[dreamfinder]

But I will say I think those front of the park Ticket sellers just earned their $15 a hour wage with this

It seems to be pretty simple if you are walking up to buy a ticket. Digital signage changes to reflect the current daily price as the video indicates multi-day will be based off of first day, CM sees current price on their computer screen. The CM just needs to ask how days, and explain that a ticket with X admissions is good for Y days. It just gets confusing if you are trying to plan in advance. And odds are, with the advent of ADRs and FP+, most people planning in advance aren't buying their tickets day of at the window.

 

[flynnibus]

no matter how Disney spins it.... no one likes having to gerrymander their travel plans to avoid paying higher prices... especially when it’s for the exact same thing.

Will people do it? Of course, they have little choice beyond not going at all... but it’s going into irritate people even more.

This is just more manipulation of the same thing to try to squeeze more money out and make it harder for customers to track pricing. People stop comparing prices and trying to hold rates against you when they change too frequently.

 

[bcoachable]

Listen teachers are a much needed profession, but no one had a gun to your head and forced you to be a teacher. Keep in mind most people don’t have summers off!! You act like it’s a burden to have 3 months off. Geeze

bet you cant find one teacher who gets 3 months off, but i get ({kind of} what your saying.

 

[Rteetz]

Listen teachers are a much needed profession, but no one had a gun to your head and forced you to be a teacher. Keep in mind most people don’t have summers off!! You act like it’s a burden to have 3 months off. Geeze

I feel you might be unfamiliar with the profession. Teachers aren’t typically paid for those three months off. Teachers often get summer jobs because of that. I am not a teacher but did once upon a time think about becoming one. I applaud anyone who is and who can put up with what they put up with.

 

[monothingie]

This is just more manipulation of the same thing to try to squeeze more money out and make it harder for customers to track pricing. People stop comparing prices and trying to hold rates against you when they change too frequently.

In reality the net difference in peak vs non peak tickets is small portion of the total ticket cost. The notion that you will be saving hundreds of dollars on tickets by going during this month versus that month is laughable. Add park hopper and water parks and any semblance of savings goes away.

This is the worst type of price increase, one that is intentionally deceptive which conveys that there is a "savings" but makes it more difficult for the guest to plan and purchase what they actually need.

 

[CoasterSnoop]

??
Disney is also, it has a limited amount of visitors that are allowed in the parks at any time. they have a few days that they always stop admittance. No different.

Comparing the capacity of one Disney park to the capacity of one plane is like comparing an apple with a genetically altered, mutated, freakishly-large orange.