Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Scares me to think about what it'll be like if they ever do have a third park.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder What I like is how they notify us APers by e-mail of the huge increase. Please note sarcasm. They've done no such thing. I realize they haven't before, but considering the size of theincrease, good "guest" service would seem to require it.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Our passes expire in August. I just tried to renew online, and got a message that Icouldn't renew them online. I just called Disney services, and they closed at 6:00 p.m. We lost out.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder We couldn't renew online because we weren't eligible yet, likely because we're three months out. I feel for the people on the road to the parks right now who didn't buy ahead of time and thought they could walk up to the gate and buy tickets. Not everybody has the wherewithal or credit to do that. It's a shame if it happens to even one family. Oh well, Disney Magic and all that.
Originally Posted By WestWind I ordered some tickets online a couple hours ago. I had some problems with the online ordering and although I got a confirmation number, I have not yet got the tickets by email...not sure how long that takes. I think there are a lot of orders being processed before the increase takes effect.
Originally Posted By TheParsec When we renewed our PAP's last year, they let us have it for the price of a couple years ago. Now, I'm hoping when we renew next month, they will do the same and let us have it for last years price.. I'm just hoping.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros <<< Maybe they are going to use the price increases to finance more renovations and expansions. >>> From my understanding, the financing of the improvements was put into the budget of the years that the improvements took place. Now, they get to sit back and watch the money roll in. I'm sure that they did the improvements with the final goal of increased attendance at higher ticket price levels, but all the work has already been financed and paid for.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo While it is a bummer, consider this. Disneyland is full of live entertainment all the time, offers fireworks, Fantasmic and World of Color throughout much of the year, has late hours most of the year too. There are continual new additions and tweaks with Star Tours, haunted mansion, Matterhorn, as well as the little mermaid, tsmm, carsland and BV street. As well as new entertainment coming to dca this year. The parks are pretty much pristine and you can get a bite to eat without waiting an hour because only 30% of the restaurants are open. Compare that to Disneyland Paris where additions are few and far between (last one was 3 carnival rides themed to Toy Story), live entertainment (if you exclude rubber headed meet and greets) is virtually non existent, where until this 20th anniversary the parks often closed before 6 and 8pm with 12 weeks of small fireworks a year (thankfully Dreams and the 20th Anniversary celebrations have sorted that issue out this year), the parks have several noticeable broken effects that a 6 and 8 year old notice and are bummed out by, and during the peak Easter vacation, most of the counter service restaurants are closed, causing hour long lines in the ones that are open (charging $23 a meal that you might have to eat sitting on the floor). But the Dream AP (DLP's PAP) is only $300. Personally I would rather pay California prices and get a real Disney experience rather than see the cuts Paris has endured (and WDW) over the last 15 years.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>What does the WDW PAP get for $691? << It appears that the days of DLR being a "bargain" relative to WDW are over. Then again, maybe a massive WDW price increase is in the works.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder For us, once we get over the corporate greed, it's all relative. With the corresponding increase in one day ticket prices, it still comes down to the fact that if we visit the parks 8-9 times a year, we've gotten a "deal" with our PAPs. Since we're local, and we go during the Christmas season at least 5-6 times, we know we aren't coming up short, again that being relative. According to the Orange County Register, it cost $16.50 for entry into Disneyand for unlimited attractions. That was the passport that was introduced in 1981. According to this inflation calculator, <a href="http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl" target="_blank">http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl</a> $16.50 in 1985 has $35.28 of buying power today. There was no DCA then, so compare that to the now $87 entry fee for a one day, one park ticket. In 1995 the entry price was $33.00, per the Register. In 2005, $56.00. So while it took Disney 20 years to raise prices about $40.00 from 1985 to 2005, it's only been seven years to raise them $31.00. 1985 to 2005 saw all manner of development and construction around the parks (don't kid yourselves, DL ticket increases also had DCA costs factored in too), while the previous seven years have seen attempts to fix what they did the 20 years before that. And that $56.00 entry fee from 2005? It has the same buying power as $65.97 today. So any argument that Disney is just trying to keep up with inflation is incorrect. They've raised prices far , far beyond the pace of inflation. They're doing it because they can. They're doing it because they know we'll all pay it. They have more than enough money. They also just want more of yours and mine, too.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance " So any argument that Disney is just trying to keep up with inflation is incorrect. They've raised prices far , far beyond the pace of inflation. They're doing it because they can. They're doing it because they know we'll all pay it. They have more than enough money. They also just want more of yours and mine, too. " Well of course they are. Any business that has the problem with over crowding that they do would do the same thing. If they were starving for more people they wouldn't. That's the way supply and demand works. If I had my own business and was selling a product for $5, and they were flying off the shelf, couldn't make them fast enough to keep up with the demand. What if I found that if I raised the price to $10, I could not only keep up with demand, but I could increase production time which would create a better over all product because of allowing more attention to quality in the increased production time. Wouldn't I be an idiot not to raise the price? Would that make me greedy? Even if the product I was selling would still sell out quickly at $10, the logical thing to do would be to raise the price again, trying to find the spot that would level out the demand for the product to a more reasonable level. If Disney keeps finding that their attendance is growing despite last years ticket increases, logically they would need to keep raising the prices. Especially with all the the stuff being added this year. I know everyone understands how basic supply and demand works, but when it's effects hit close to home it's hard not to take it personally and start talking about corporation in human terms like "greedy". Yes a business is made up of people, but it's a bunch of people who's main job is to try and make the most money they can for their company or else they will be fired and replaced by someone else who can do it better. Why should Disney not raise their prices? To be nice so that everyone who wants to come to DL can? So then the park will fill to capacity everyday and it'll be a miserable experience for everyone and then people really do decide to stop coming?
Originally Posted By CDF2 "If Disney keeps finding that their attendance is growing despite last years ticket increases, logically they would need to keep raising the prices. Especially with all the the stuff being added this year." Exactly - supply and demand. If raising prices does not cause demand to slip then you can expect the seller might raise them again at the most opportune time. Golfers complain about paying $500 a round to play Pebble Beach but they still keep booking expensive vacation packages at Pebble to get on the course.
Originally Posted By CDF2 "It appears that the days of DLR being a "bargain" relative to WDW are over. Then again, maybe a massive WDW price increase is in the works." If you stay offsite and buy non-park- hopper tickets I believe DLR will still be a better value than WDW. At least the logistics of getting around DLR are simpler and easier than one finds in Orlando, particularly if you are staying offsite.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Who here complains about gas prices and oil speculators? OK with gas companies raising their prices simply because they can?
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance They simply can raise prices because the demand is there. If it wasn't they simply couldn't. Doesn't mean I like paying higher gas prices and ticket prices to get into DL. But I'm not going to take it personally.
Originally Posted By jdurk Looks like the 6-day park hopper is gone unless they just don't list it. For out of towners like myself, we like to stay longer than the 5-day pass. The parks the last couple of years (summer) have been really crowded and it did seem more local than out of town people. With those price hikes for the APs, I would think that is going to be tough for families to pay. That is a lot X3 or X4, etc.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I'm not sure why they would want to get rid of the six day park hopper. Hmmmm.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>OK with gas companies raising their prices simply because they can?<< Absolutely! Prices are set by the marketplace, and the marketplace has been screaming that DL APs are crazy underpriced for several years now. There are areas where the marketplace can't set prices because of the nature of the market, and those should be regulated. Theme parks (and gasoline) aren't among them. If the new prices are too high, then they will be lowered.
