Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Why does Disney offer a discounted rate for FLA residents? Was this an agreement made pre 1971 when D received tax $ to build DW?
In Ontario Canada, my local tourist attractions don’t have an elevated price hike for tourists. I wonder how many parks outside of FLA do this. Can recall if Hershey Park or Cedar Point Sandusky had lower admission rates for state residents.

There is no "discounted rate" for Florida residents on daily tickets. The only thing exclusive to Florida residents is a cheaper Annual Pass with lots of blackout dates. And FL resident deals when TDO is desperate to get people into the parks and into rooms.
 

monothingie

Nakatomi Plaza Christmas Eve 1988. Never Forget.
Premium Member
Why does Disney offer a discounted rate for FLA residents? Was this an agreement made pre 1971 when D received tax $ to build DW?
In Ontario Canada, my local tourist attractions don’t have an elevated price hike for tourists. I wonder how many parks outside of FLA do this. Can recall if Hershey Park or Cedar Point Sandusky had lower admission rates for state residents.
A Disney trip for out of state visitors is usually not a spur of the moment decision, it is often booked months out and extensively planned.

Locals are much more flexible to take an off the cuff visit or stay a couple of days at WDW. Which is why Disney offers targeted discounts or specialized passes to capitalize on that flexibility. This is especially true when there are forecasted gaps in attendance that need to be filled.

Locals and AP are a necessary evil for TDO and it's a very abusive and/or contentious relationship with their most loyal customers who they often take for granted.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
A Disney trip for out of state visitors is usually not a spur of the moment decision, it is often booked months out and extensively planned.

Locals are much more flexible to take an off the cuff visit or stay a couple of days at WDW. Which is why Disney offers targeted discounts or specialized passes to capitalize on that flexibility. This is especially true when there are forecasted gaps in attendance that need to be filled.

Locals and AP are a necessary evil for TDO and it's a very abusive and/or contentious relationship with their most loyal customers who they often take for granted.

I ARE THE MAGIC!!!
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
Why does Disney offer a discounted rate for FLA residents?

Unsold capacity and yield optimization. If the park can hold 60,000 people and you can only sell 45,000 full-priced tickets, you offer a discount on the remaining 15,000. Those discounts get progressively steeper (all the way up to $0 for CM admissions) until you hit 60,000 in order to receive the maximum yield from your capacity outlay.

Their general problem now is that they have more people willing to pay full price and so they've been trying to squeeze out the local discounts, which ultimately erupted in fan complaints. Disney seems to have relented a bit and offered up annual passes again (tho limited) as an olive branch to their "biggest fans."
 

John park hopper

Well-Known Member
Bob's theme song ------I want to take the prices higher
images-1.jpeg
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
Why does Disney offer a discounted rate for FLA residents? Was this an agreement made pre 1971 when D received tax $ to build DW?
In Ontario Canada, my local tourist attractions don’t have an elevated price hike for tourists. I wonder how many parks outside of FLA do this. Can recall if Hershey Park or Cedar Point Sandusky had lower admission rates for state residents.
Cedar point does offer Michigan resident discounts on occasion... although they are located in Ohio. My guess is Michigan is just far enough that many people don't have annual passes, but have the flexibility to make a spur of the moment day trip.
 

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
As an out-of-stater I don't know much about this topic, so I ask purely out of curiosity: if Disney wants to discourage locals and incentivize guests who are coming further distances (and thus staying longer, and on-site, and spending more), which does make some logical sense, then why do they offer discounted ticket and hotel rates to Florida residents? Is that something the state requires Disney to do, or is it just a relic of a former, more local-friendly policy?
If I had to guess: out of staters need more ramp up time to book a trip. The locals discounts are to nudge those within driving distance and fill rooms and the parks with unused capacity that the more desirable customers haven’t booked.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
There is no "discounted rate" for Florida residents on daily tickets. The only thing exclusive to Florida residents is a cheaper Annual Pass with lots of blackout dates. And FL resident deals when TDO is desperate to get people into the parks and into rooms.

Maybe they don't any more, but I though they had something like a 3 day pass that you could use over 3 or 4 months or something for Florida residents. And don't Florida residents get cheaper rates for "regular" park tickets?
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Maybe they don't any more, but I though they had something like a 3 day pass that you could use over 3 or 4 months or something for Florida residents. And don't Florida residents get cheaper rates for "regular" park tickets?
There was a 4-park ticket deal like that last summer, I think.

I stand corrected - There is currently an up-to 30% off 3 day and up-to 40% off 4 day ticket deal (non-Park Hopper) for FL residents. Not that it makes pricing all that attractive when you can get a Pixie Dust AP for the same price.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - ticket prices are the biggest barrier to entry that Disney refuses to budge on. When a 6-day PH is $200 cheaper than a Sorcerer Pass, something's wrong. Not that their pricing schemes aren't a major problem right now anyway. Just look at what Genie- has done - Constant revenue stream that they are now dependent on, so downtime becomes a bigger problem but needed downtime for maintenance is almost impossible to justify because of the financial hit taken.
 

GhostHost1000

Premium Member
There was a 4-park ticket deal like that last summer, I think.

I stand corrected - There is currently an up-to 30% off 3 day and up-to 40% off 4 day ticket deal (non-Park Hopper) for FL residents. Not that it makes pricing all that attractive when you can get a Pixie Dust AP for the same price.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - ticket prices are the biggest barrier to entry that Disney refuses to budge on. When a 6-day PH is $200 cheaper than a Sorcerer Pass, something's wrong.
Speaking of ticket prices, I saw today in an email where I purchased 10 day tickets in 2018 for a friend for $445 and today I purchased 3 day tickets for an upcoming business conference for $458.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom