New ticket system coming to WDW - Begins October 16th

[FigmentSpark]

My local AAA office wasn't even told there's a new system coming. I got my tickets today, but it does concern me that they didn't know about it the day after this kind of announcement.

 

[Moneypenny]

If you book that 2nd package, those tickets won’t even be active until check-in day of your 2019 Stay. No need to go to Guest Relations this November.

Oh, duh. Thanks!

 

[hiroMYhero]

I have an old non-expiring hopper ticket. Will I need to pay to make a flexible ticket when I go to use it?

No because it’s already a flexible ticket.

New ticket rules do not apply to any tickets purchased before Oct 16.

 

[Searc]

(first time I'm posting on these boards! I've learned so much already here, though.) What would you do? I'm planning a trip in May but have been holding off on booking anything - room, tickets, flights - because there's a smidge of uncertainty in our dates and I'm slightly concerned about my father's health (trip is for me, my husband, two kids, my parents). Definitely want to stay on-site. Seems like my options are:
1) continue waiting until late October until I feel much more confident about our dates and risk paying more
2) book room only reservations now and get tickets from Undercover Tourist now (my original plan was to do this in late October)
3) book room and ticket package now from Disney
Is there an option that makes the most sense to any of you more versed in these details? Does getting the package from Disney give me more flexibility if I have to make changes than doing room and tickets separately? I'm guessing second week of May will not be peak season for the date-dependent ticket prices, but we also would only be getting park tickets for 3 days with a 5 night stay. Trying to balance saving money with not locking myself into a trip too early. Of course booking flights is another issue entirely! Many thanks for any insight!

If you are unsure of your travel dates, but know how long you plan on staying, I'd purchase ticket from Undercover Tourist now. Right now, the tickets are the focus of your conundrum. Room only and flights can be booked later. Once you have the tickets, you can much more flexible in your travel dates.

 

[DizBelle]

Just watched the video. This is exactly what all of us on the boards feared 2 years ago. Tiered pricing across the board. This is truly the worst, greediest money grubbing thing ever. And charging you $100 more just to have the options you currently have without an extra fee. Iger and his cronies are truly ruining the parks with their excessive greed and cutbacks. They truly feel they can do anything. There are limits to what they can do without losing guests. They will lose a lot of people by doing this. Any new guests they pick up won't have the loyalty of the old ones and it'll be diminishing returns with gradually less and less people in the parks. Either this is what they want or they're just thinking in terms of short term profits. As for us, I think once we've used up the tickets we currently have we'll be done

You're assuming that prices will start at where they are now.

Maybe the ticket price without the flexible option will be less than the current ticket price and once you add on the $50 for the flexibility, it is only a little more (say $15 or so) more than the current ticket price. The price increase of what you get now over what you got before (multi day tickets with the same options) is only a small percentage more.

 

[DizBelle]

The Disney video if you watch it shows same cost of $85 per day all 4 days ....

"$85" per day ... Disney video says it is per day and = $338.13 plus $21.98 tax = $360.11.

Which is less than tickets are now at $404.70 .......... hmmm, does this mean there will be more on the higher end or that we haven't seen the worse start days during peak times yet in the samples? No way they are actually reducing ticket prices overall.

So if it does reduce for more days as the graphic shows .... it must not start until after day 4.



Oh and the video also has a disclaimer that ... "Prices shown do not reflect actual pricing ..."

So will the start date prices be higher, lower .....

Add the $50 for the flexible dates and you get $410.11 which is only about $6 more than you pay now. I'm thinking this price increase will be on the order of past increases as far as what you will pay for the same thing you've gotten before.

 

[Lynne M]

Maybe I missed this in there somewhere, but how does the flexible dates option work with single day tickets? As I understand it, if you buy a single day ticket, you currently have to pick a date for it, and it's only valid for that date. Does the flexible dates option let you use it anytime within a 14 day period? Or is that option not available for single day tickets?

 

[MJ6987]

Does this really make things easier for guests, as the Disney Parks Blog claims?

 

[rteetz]

Maybe I missed this in there somewhere, but how does the flexible dates option work with single day tickets? As I understand it, if you buy a single day ticket, you currently have to pick a date for it, and it's only valid for that date. Does the flexible dates option let you use it anytime within a 14 day period? Or is that option not available for single day tickets?

Not really sure yet. I would think if you buy the flexible option with it you could use it any time until it expires.

 

[rteetz]

Does this really make things easier for guests, as the Disney Parks Blog claims?

That’s yet to be seen.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Maybe I missed this in there somewhere, but how does the flexible dates option work with single day tickets? As I understand it, if you buy a single day ticket, you currently have to pick a date for it, and it's only valid for that date. Does the flexible dates option let you use it anytime within a 14 day period? Or is that option not available for single day tickets?

The Flexible option allows the ticket to be used any day prior to December 31, 2019.

It would be best to choose the lowest priced ticket and then make it Flexible.

 

[rteetz]

The Flexible option allows the ticket to be used any day prior to December 31, 2019.

It would be best to choose the lowest priced ticket and then make it Flexible.

Be strategic with your one day ticket purchases

 

[krybandt]

My apologies if this has been addressed already, but does anyone think Disney will release the prices before the system goes live on Oct 16?

 

[MJ6987]

That’s yet to be seen.

Not quite sure how this will “help [guests] more easily plan the Disney vacation of their dreams”

I found the current system pretty easy, to be honest - decide how many days you want, do you need to park hop, buy ticket. Job done - you don’t even need to know what dates exactly you’re going.

If this new system is even easier than that, then great.

 

[hiroMYhero]

My apologies if this has been addressed already, but does anyone think Disney will release the prices before the system goes live on Oct 16?

No. And all the posters (TAs) who have this info aren’t sharing.

When Disney gives directives not to release info, some hold true to that.

 

[AngiTN]

Good news for people who go in the “low” seasons as, presumably, it will mean lower priced tickets for those times?

For a VERY few, presumably. Emphasis on VERY.

We don’t really like to move hotels (done it with 2, 3, 4 hotels) and yes we do. A few days at WDW, a few days of low key stuff mixed in with a few days at Universal, then we like to finish on a Disney high at WDW.

I know others that do with moving in middle to use ME at both ends.

Ah, ME. That would be why. We don't use ME to the airport, which is why we usually end our trip at Universal.

My local AAA office wasn't even told there's a new system coming. I got my tickets today, but it does concern me that they didn't know about it the day after this kind of announcement.

I guess this goes to AAA no longer being a partner with Disney. They haven't gotten any training/info. Just my guess anyway.

 

[china mom]

I just finished the webinar. There was a lot of emphasis on packages to get the most flexibility on your tickets.

in other words, your ticket is good for the number of days plus 2, 3 or 4 more days based on length. BUT if you stay onsite and your tickets are part of a package, they are good for your length of stay regardless of how many tickets you purchase. So, you could buy a 3 day ticket and stay 14 days and you can use your tickets any three days within the 14.

They emphasized that this was the case if you purchase a package. while they did not address staying onsite but purchasing tickets elsewhere, the way they kept saying "package" leads me to believe that this is only a perk for packages.

 

[ArwenMarie]

This is an interesting line from Mousesavers (https://www.mousesavers.com/disney-ticket-changes-coming-october-2018/) on flexible tickets:

"That means that flexible-date tickets will be more expensive than seasonal-priced tickets for any dates you might choose."

I wonder if they have inside info? On the basis of Disney's "informational" video, a lot of people here discussed buying value tickets and adding the $50/ticket "flexible option". The video does clearly state the pricing shown is not actual pricing. Maybe it's going to be much more than $50/ticket?

It could be that flexible tickets are a lot more expensive than even the highest priced peak tickets?

That’s interesting

It makes sense. It has to be that the Flexible Option ends up being the same price as the highest price ticket for that year (let’s say Christmas week). Or even more with the added flexibility of the 14 day usage

 

[china mom]

No. And all the posters (TAs) who have this info aren’t sharing.

When Disney gives directives not to release info, some hold true to that.

I am a TA and I do not have this information nor have I been told that anything is confidential.

 

[AngiTN]

I just finished the webinar. There was a lot of emphasis on packages to get the most flexibility on your tickets.

in other words, your ticket is good for the number of days plus 2, 3 or 4 more days based on length. BUT if you stay onsite and your tickets are part of a package, they are good for your length of stay regardless of how many tickets you purchase. So, you could buy a 3 day ticket and stay 14 days and you can use your tickets any three days within the 14.

They emphasized that this was the case if you purchase a package. while they did not address staying onsite but purchasing tickets elsewhere, the way they kept saying "package" leads me to believe that this is only a perk for packages.

Makes sense. Honestly, the discounts are going to have be higher than they've been for me to go to the trouble for a separate room/ticket purchase.
Last I looked, you saved $30/ticket, at most.
While great if you are just buying tickets (like I do for DD or DGD) since we always book room only no matter what it's not worth it if you are deciding between room/ticket package and room only/tickets separate for everyone. Maybe if you had a party of 10 but not for a typical family of 4. I know I would want to save more than $120 to save the hassles of it all.