Disney World single day ticket approaches $60

Damn....that is a 15% increase since this time last year...

To get the full scope of this, the $59.75 1 day price, is part of a whole new ticket policy the park calls "Magic Your Way"

It is toted as allowing each customer to create the admission package that is best for them. A glance at the price tables reveals that Magic Your Way is designed to encourage longer stays. Most notably, if I read it right, the differnce between a 4-day ticket and a 7-day ticket is a mere $14. As the park states, if you get a 7 day pass, the price-per-day is under $30.

The way new ticket system works is you start with the Basic Ticket, and you decide how mady days admission you need (1-7). The basic price gets you a pass that allows you to visit 1 park each day for the number of days specified. So if you purchase the 7 -day "Magic Your Way" you are essentially buying a pack of 7 One Park/ One Day tickets, that all have to be used by the same person.

Then, the fun begins, and I'm glad I don't work a ticket booth at Disney.

Guests can purchase additional add-ons to their Magic Your Way ticket.

The add ons are Park Hopper (adds park hopping privileges), Plus Pack (adds a predetermined number of one-time admissions to the minor attractions at Disney (BLizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Pleasure Island, World of Sports, and Disney Quest)), Premium Pack which is reeally a combo of the Park Hopper and the Plus PAck, and lastly the "No Expiration" option, Without the No Expiration option, unused features on your pass become void after 14 days.

In addition to encouraging longer stays, these new tickets are priced in such a way to discourage tickets that never expire, and move towards 14-day tickets. All DLR multi-day hoppers expire---that change happened last year, IIRC. I would expect the next year or two to see WDW tickets moving entirely towards "expire-only" plans, too.

We're planning a week-long February trip, so I've spent some time looking at the numbers. If you are staying less than 5 days on your next trip, but you expect to be back, the best per-day cost is to get a 10-day no-expiration ticket, and use the days on that pass over time. If you are staying for six days or longer, it's cheaper per-day to get an expiring pass for the length of your stay.

If you are giong for a short, once-in-a-lifetime, credit-whoring trip, you're pretty much screwed.

It isn't simple, but it *can* result in significant savings depending on what you want out of your vacation. We had originally expected to spend five days in the parks at a cost of about $165 per day for the four of us (buying a 7-day parkhopper plus, and just keeping the extra days for a future visit).

Since our itinerary doesn't involve hopping, and we're going in February when I don't really want to be in a water park, we're going to be able to spend six days in the parks at a total cost of about $125 per day. So, we pay less for the six days than we would have for the five days on a pro-rated PHP, we don't have to tie up money in two "future visits", and we don't pay for water park admissions we aren't likely to use, since we only expect to be in Orlando during the winter.

*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 12/3/2004 11:49:21 AM ***

The new plan means it's going to cost a fortune if you only have one day there and want to go into more than one park. Which is what I'm expecting to do in May. Oh well.

I agree with not wanting to work in ticketing. It is complicated for the most veteran of park-goers. Try explaining this to anybody else, particularly in foreign languages.

It does mean one thing: Buy your tickets before you get there because the ticket booth lines will be slower than ever.

Before, the only way to go for one day and go to multiple parks was to buy multiple single day tickets, or get a 4-day (min) park hopper and save the extra days... At least now you can get a 1-day hopper if you want it - it will just cost more... $60 for the ticket and $35 for the hopper option.

Mousesavers has it all laid out on their site...

*edit* After poking around there a little, if you get a 10 day ticket withe the hopper and no expiration options, it comes to about $34 per day - which I think is actually cheaper than it used to be under the old system... The catch is you have the large initial cash outlay...

I agree with getting your ticket in advance... With all these options, ticket buying at the gate will be a nightmare...*** This post was edited by kip099 12/3/2004 1:07:46 PM ***

The corporate machine that is the Walt Disney Corp. never ceases to amaze me. If any other park or entertainment venue changed their ticketing so that the cheapest way to get into the place was to front the cash for ten visits, there'd be a revolt!

The monetary rewards of this for WDW is incredible though - not only are you more likely to get people to pay for days they never use, if they do buy a longer ticket than they intended, they might stay longer near the park (more hotel revenue, more restaurant revenue), not to mention the more days in the park, the more parking fees, in-park food, souveniers, etc. It's mind boggling that people think nothing of the Great Mouse doing things like this, but god forbid groceries might cost $0.20 more at your local grocery store over Wal Mart - what kind of price-gouging are those other people trying to push on us down-and-out-poor-as-dirt Americans? (as we put on our plastic mouse ears and drop hundreds in one day ... )

Ok, social commentary over for now.

Yes, I agree it will be frustrating at the start, but people will figure it out! Afterall, at one time Disney had the ticket system and people figured that out so it will work out for the good.

I think its a great program because not everyone likes to park hop. It allows you to forgo some of the cost if you arent using those benefits. At Tokyo Disney you can only park hop on certain days on certain passes, so it seems this system is a combination of that system and the old park hopper system.

You don't know how many times people have asked for one, two, or three day park hoppers, something Disney doesnt offer directly to the public. Now they have it. I wonder what this means for all those ticket stands around 192?*** This post was edited by haiderodes 12/3/2004 1:31:43 PM ***

Supply and demand...

Anybody been there recently? How were the crowds! I'm going for 2 weeks over the holidays. We'll see if the pricing is affecting the crowds.

I was at Disneyworld over Thanksgiving and it was the most crowded I have ever seen it. 90 minute waits for most major attractions including Aerosmith coaster, Space Mt, Splash Mt and Big Thunder. Not a fun time. I must say Fast Pass saved me. It worked wonderfully. Also, staying at the hotels and getting in an hour early was even better. However, each day I was there about 11:30-noon the parks became packed and unbearable. I was poolside most days after lunch.

Well, you can buy 100 sodas out of a vending machine and pay $50-$75 or you can buy 100 sodas at Sam's Club and get a big volume discount. It isn't unheard of in other businesses.

If the people don't like it, it will be changed.

If you buy a 10 day pass and only use part of it, lets say 5 days. You can sell the unused days on ebay and will recover more than half your intial investment. The buyer on ebay is only having to buy a 5 day pass and will be willing to pay more than you paid per day, but will also be saving money by not buying their tickets from Disney.

Almost $60 per day? Oh well, still cheaper than what Snow White's going rates are in Dresden, Germany....

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=40330

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

Is Mickey a Mouse or a Rat?

I guess Disney is thinking we will charge more money to get in if you are only going to be here for one day since you won't be here longer to buy more of our beverages, snacks, other foods and what not. We will just get some of that potential money at the gate instead.

*** This post was edited by coasterpunk 12/3/2004 6:46:33 PM ***

Let me just play devil's advocate and ask why this is any worse than a park that charges $30 or $40 at the gate. but hands out season passes for under $100?

Seems like the exact same logic, but since WDW is a destination resort/location, they offer more days at a discounted rate. Kind of like whoo skipper touched on - you're buying in bulk. The more you play, the less you have to pay.

The $60 one day gate price may be a tad on the steep side, but who goes to WDW for a day other than locals (who'd have a pass and/or use one of the numerous FL resident deals anyway) or enthusiasts who are either credit whoring or looking for an extra day of something to while at other parks (or functions) in the area?

In fact, if you plan on taking a vacation of a certain number of days, it will actually be cheaper under the new plan at a certain duration (not sure of the exact time you'd have to stay).

Not really taking sides here, just wondering who really gets screwed. Seems like the only ones losing out are the short term (3 or 4 day) vacationers or the occasion stray single day visitor. Everyone else should make out equal or better.

I will stick with the High Pressure, 2 hour, Time Share Sales "presentation" and get my tickets for $20 (or less).

If you can handle high pressure sales people, and have some extra hours to spend in Orlando, it is possible to get into almost every park for $20 or less a ticket. The trick is finding different "ticket office(s)" representing different TimeShare Resorts. Visit a few presentations in a single day and save money on tickets, sometimes you can even get them for "free". It is not for everyone, but for me it works.

Of course, one would have to be able to say NO to a high pressure sales pitch or else you may be paying 10,000 dollars for a disney ticket.

By the way, I visited Disney last week and did the timeshare presentation thing. Even the smallest units "sell" for 10,000 +($399 a year for "maintenance").. Thats $10,000 a week *52 = $520,000 for a glorified Hotel Room. Crazy.

Sorry for my rambling, back to the topic at hand...

James: I don't know what your time is worth, but mine is considerably more than $20/hour. Heck, my *babysitter's* time is worth more than half that, and she's in high school.*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 12/4/2004 10:52:15 AM ***

My biggest complaint about both Disney and Universal is this: If you take all the rides in Disney that most of us here are interested in riding, it still does not equal the rides available at Cedar Point. In order to do it though, you would have to go to all four parks. Would anyone pay $240 for a one day admission to CP? It's terrible what both Disney and Universal are doing. Imagine CP or Great Adventure putting up a fence right through the middle of the park and charging a seperate admission for each side. This is basically what is happening with these parks.

I know I'm wasting my breath in trying to apply logic to the situation, but the mouse can do no wrong. I also know that it is supply and demand, and that the public loves to be fleeced by corporate America. Time to wake up and take a stand. Even health insurance hasn't risen by the same percentage in one year.