Disney Annual Pass Struture and Pricing Change

[OrlandoGuy]

Price point or capacity issues? This crowding issue is a mess Disney made out of arrogance and greed. They haven't added significant additional capacity to The MK since 1992. Now guest satisfaction is nose diving because of the crowds. They should have built to keep up with demand, but they didn't. They smugly and arrogantly took pride in increasing profits by cutting amenities and no capital investments. Now the place is a complete cluster **** and since it takes Disney 7 years (concept to completion) to add attractions, they have absolutely no other options than to actively run off paying customers. Business Econ 101 will tell you that tha is a mind bogglingly bad business model. Particularly when guest satisfaction is plummeting.

I don't disagree with this at all. I hate that the parks have not grown proportionately with the crowds as they should have. That being said, Disney's a business, just like every other theme park out there. The parks ARE crowded, no matter what the reasoning is, and increasing ticket sales is a good way to keep supply and demand even. Just because YOU don't see it as a good value doesn't mean other people won't. Believe it or not, you guys will not wither up and die if you don't go to Disney World. If you think your money is better spent elsewhere, then that is your choice rather than a fault of Disney's. I was always taught, though, to be successful that you work for what you want, maybe even make a couple sacrifices, rather than ***** about what's being taken away from you. That being said, you're not gonna convince me otherwise and I won't convince any of you, so I'll bow out of this conversation. Disney will continue to be profitable whether we like the way they're going about it or not and that's all that matters to them and to their competitors.

 

[Teebin]

Yeah, I think my expletive is as much aimed at those that would pay top dollar as the park selling them. The people that moved to Florida just to live vicariously at WDW blow MY MIND!

 

[Frank Drackman]

These changes puzzle me a bit. I really have no horse in the game as we gave up our Disney APs around three or so years ago for many reasons (my perception of price to value being the main reason).

Most seem to see this as trying to control attendance, but to me, it seems a person that goes to parks solo who lives in Orlando is not hit so bad since parking is now included in what was the seasonal pass, this makes it easy for a local to stop in and spend no additional money at Disney.

For families though, chances are they only need one ticket that includes parking, if they go to a higher level, do they need multiple photo downloads?

For someone like my family that likes to stay in Orlando overnight(s) when we go, if we got a pass, I would see the included parking as a reason to stay off site as a way to save on our trips since parking at Disney wouldn't cost anything.

From what I've heard from a few business type reports is that the real change is come to regular park tickets. They seem to have promised Wall Street analysts that tiered pricing is coming to their parks. I think that is going to make AP's look like a steal.

Have they always touted park hopping as a benefit? I just see them at some point removing hopping from lower tiers at some point since few of there parks can't keep a regular visitor entertained for too long, I assume taking away hopping would help give higher paying customers a less crowded time at a park that has around four rides or maybe stop the rush at the MK when it is open late and all the other parks close early.

I am glad I live in FL though as we at least have better options if we want to visit Disney a few times in a year.

 

[awhen]

Most seem to see this as trying to control attendance, but to me, it seems a person that goes to parks solo who lives in Orlando is not hit so bad since parking is now included in what was the seasonal pass, this makes it easy for a local to stop in and spend no additional money at Disney.

For families though, chances are they only need one ticket that includes parking, if they go to a higher level, do they need multiple photo downloads?

We let our passes for expire in 2012. They removed child pricing around the same time our second was going to need his own ticket. For nearly $2000 a year for a family of four we decided to put the money aside to visit Disneyland instead. We're also on our third year of Universal passes.

I can't imagine controlling attendance is a motivation. Growth in attendance is one of those easy metrics you get to announce and say "Hey, attendance is up I get to keep my job!" Not sure it's as much fun to report that attendance is down but the guest experience is way up.

 

[johde]

Have they always touted park hopping as a benefit? I just see them at some point removing hopping from lower tiers at some point since few of there parks can't keep a regular visitor entertained for too long, I assume taking away hopping would help give higher paying customers a less crowded time at a park that has around four rides or maybe stop the rush at the MK when it is open late and all the other parks close early.

From a historical perspective Park Hopping was first introduced in 1982 with the addition of EPCOT. Prior to 2005 and the introduction of Magic Your Way tickets your options if you were staying offstite were 1 day ticket, 4 day and 5 day Park Hopper tickets, and 5-7 day Park Hopper Plus tickets. Park Hopping was a benefit only for people who purchased longer passes. With the creation of MYW tickets, you could add park hopping to any ticket.

 

[Teebin]

And... Universals just went up too.

 

[twebber55]

not a shock
mentioned it would happen a couple of days ago

 

[MrRoamer]

That headline is a little misleading. AP's were raised in May (no new price hikes here on APs or tickets). Only Parking increased by $3

 

[Teebin]

That headline is a little misleading. AP's were raised in May (no new price hikes here on APs or tickets). Only Parking increased by $3

Ah, my bad then. I apologize...

But why did Universal include APs in their announcement 1 hour ago?

 

[SamJay]

I have mixed feelings about this whole thing but I think the fact that all the Disney AP options now have free parking is a game changer and in a way, Disney sets the standard for every Orlando park's pricing so Universal really didn't have much of an option. If anything, it seems like Disney's move gave Universal "permission" to raise the AP prices. I think the fact that Disney added parking to each pass was a better move than just raising prices but UO's Preferred pass is still an absolute steal for locals.

EDIT: unless Universal Didn't actually raise prices and my reaction was pure kneejerk...

 

[Nick]

The parking change is just natural. If Disney is gonna charge $20, then might as well do it yourself too.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Ah, my bad then. I apologize...

But why did Universal include APs in their announcement 1 hour ago?

Because that's not an official UOR outlet. It's just somebody with a FB page.

 

[Teebin]

Because that's not an official UOR outlet. It's just somebody with a FB page.

Parkscope on twitter just made fun of me for posting that. Bastards.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Parkscope on twitter just made fun of me for posting that. Bastards.

Nah, it was other people posting on Twitter about the price increases.

 

[UNIrd]

I was gonna say.. those UO AP prices don't look any different.

 

[IzzyB]

Disney was pretty smart doing this. They are trying to get AP holders to not go during the busy time, while allowing the seasonal people to come more often in the less busy times and spend money. I bet you they find seasonal passes will go more and normal AP holders will go the same, but instead of going to candlelight processional in the busiest weeks (which I have done) it will force us into going earlier when it is less busy. So they are doing crowd control by moving people outside the busy seasons.

I don't mind it too much. They added parking to Seasonal and pictures to gold. I think we will get one gold and two silver. We don't go enough all year round anymore to justify all gold passes or moving to Platinum. So in reality we will end up spending less on passes. But I really like that picture option as many times I have wanted pictures of my daughter with minnie, the other characters, or her first ride on something. So I really like that they added photopass downloads, hence the one gold.

The parks are all getting out of hand in reality. My sister and brother in law are coming down and REALLY want to go to Universal to see Harry Potter. It is going to cost them almost $300 for both of them to go one day. They don't have a ton of money and they are staying with us and coming down in October. So going more than one day is just not something they would do since it takes away from family time, costs more, and not needed since it is off season and they are not roller coaster people. I feel bad that they are going to spend that much for one day. Wish I knew someone that worked for Universal, but I don't. Disney, yep, Sea World, yep, but not Universal. As people said, it is a luxury item and they are pricing themselves so that not everyone can afford their luxury item. But don't fool yourself that Universal isn't doing the same. They raise their prices too and they make you get a park to park for the train ride which is the ONLY reason my family has to get the park hopper. They would be perfectly happy staying in studios since they saw the Islands of Adventure stuff during another trip a long time ago.

 

[JungleSkip]

Parkscope on twitter just made fun of me for posting that. Bastards.

I assure you I had no idea your post here even existed when I tweeted that.

But don't fool yourself that Universal isn't doing the same.

Meh. I just renewed my non-Florida resident Universal pass with no blackout dates, counter service food discounts (something Disney doesn't do period), and included parking for 170 dollars. Add in that I get 3 weeks of HHN for 70 dollars, and I get way more for way less at Universal

 

[Nick]

Meh. I just renewed my non-Florida resident Universal pass with no blackout dates, counter service food discounts (something Disney doesn't do period), and included parking for 170 dollars. Add in that I get 3 weeks of HHN for 70 dollars, and I get way more for way less at Universal

For sure, right now you get a great value for the product offered at UOR. But right now, we are in the last years of getting such an amazing deal for so little.

Down the line 5 years or so after Fallon, F&F, Kong, New Hulk, Avengers, Nintendo, VB, Potter 3, more hotels, etc, etc, I can guarantee prices will see a steep jump. Not unwarranted at all as i'd actually say they are undercharging in some cases right now, but these great deals are quickly going to go away.

 

[JungleSkip]

For sure, right now you get a great value for the product offered at UOR. But right now, we are in the last years of getting such an amazing deal for so little.

Down the line 5 years or so after Fallon, F&F, Kong, New Hulk, Avengers, Nintendo, VB, Potter 3, more hotels, etc, etc, I can guarantee prices will see a steep jump. Not unwarranted at all as i'd actually say they are undercharging in some cases right now, but these great deals are quickly going to go away.

Maybe. But I would have said the same after Transformers, Simpsons, Diagon, Cabana Bay, CityWalk renovations, etc and it didn't happen.

 

[Nick]

Maybe. But I would have said the same after Transformers, Simpsons, Diagon, Cabana Bay, CityWalk renovations, etc and it didn't happen.

Simpsons was simply a theming of an area where there was an already existing ride. TF is fun, but eh if you went on Spidey during the day and CityWalk renovations aren't something that has been too publicized by Universal to the GP. It makes the place look better, but it's CityWalk (same with CB... I know I mentioned new hotels, but I was just talking resort enhancements).

Point is, you can't use something you updated or added outside of the actual parks as a reason to up the prices. Plus those are just money makers on their own. Everything being added (for the post part) will be inside of a park - either the existing parks or VB. The only things we know of besides that is Sapphire and the NBA replacement. There's A LOT coming in the parks that are either D's or E's down the pipeline. VB itself will cause a major restructuring.