New ticket system coming to WDW - Begins October 16th

[ArwenMarie]

I am not putting too much weight in that “$50” Flexible fee. We don’t know the numbers yet.

 

[vinotinto]

We don't really know yet what the "flexibility fee" will be. While the sample showed it as $50, but the video said that these were not real rates, so it could be less or it could be more. For example, we don't know if the flexibility fee will increase according to the number of days on the ticket or if it will be one price a la park-hopper.

@ArwenMarie said what I twas thinking more succinctly and beat me to it!

 

[boilermakeric]

I guess my questions were intended to be regardless of what the price/fee ends up being; I'm just trying to understand where the flexibility even really shows up? If you could already change your tickets at any time, and just pay the increase in static pricing that corresponds, I can't rationalize an incentive to consciously pay high upfront, at least for date flexibility? Especially if their touting an improved/easier system to make upgrades when needed.

Definitely looking forward to having all the real numbers though!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I think they released the ticket pricing news to generate more of a frenzy for their January Stay/Play/Dine packages. To announce ticket pricing one day before releasing resort packages is amazing timing.

Also an excellent point. AND releasing these discounts prior to the end of the quarter... The theory's definitely hold water:

1) Release Ticket Info - there's probably going to be some negative energy around it BUT it also gets people thinking about buying tickets NOW
2) Release Jan/Feb/Mar discounts - people are now excited about discounts. Takes away a little of the focus from yesterday's bad news (or at least weird news...still too early to tell maybe)...
3) Everybody scrambles to book resorts, tickets, etc. right before your quarter end. Deposits and payments are flowing! Again, I'm not sure if this is Income Stmt revenue our Deferred Revenue but either way it's a good thing for Disney.

I know one thing...now with today's discounts a) I'm not focused on the ticket thing at all suddenly and b) I'm rethinking all my booking options for Jan/Feb. Good move Disney...Good move, haha!

 

[hiroMYhero]

I can't rationalize an incentive to consciously pay high upfront, at least for date flexibility?

Date Flexibility will mainly be used by offsite guests who may buy a 3 day ticket but will be in a time share for a week or longer. Will it be worth x-amount of money to pick and choose their park days or cram 3 days in within a 5-day period.

And to obtain “free” ticket flexibility, all they have to do is stay onsite.

 

[twoolle]

I wonder if Walt Disney World released this news as early as they did to generate some ticket sales late in the quarter. I'm not exactly sure how they'd book this accounting-wise - whether it would be revenue now or if they defer it until people use the tickets. Either way it either strengthens their balance sheet or their income statement at the end of the quarter if they were looking for a little push in ticket sales... Just a thought...

Obviously they also released it early to avoid negative backlash if they didn't provide a heads up as major changes like this could freak people out.

"Retired" CPA/ revenue accountant here...revenue can not be recognized until it is earned (service has been provided), meaning the guest has visited the park. So it sits on the balance sheet as deferred revenue. Not a bad thing if they have already collected the cash and that gives them a bettercash balance. But otherwise if it's still A/R then their balance sheet is just grossed up and that doesn't do much for them. So it is still intersting
..oh how i wish I could work in their accounting office and see how it all works!

 

[The Prophet]

If I need to change my date-specific ticket, will I be subject to a $200 change fee?

 

[hiroMYhero]

If I need to change my date-specific ticket, will I be subject to a $200 change fee?

No; you can change the tickets via your MDX account and pay the difference if it’s for higher priced dates.

The first 2 Posts of this thread will help you.

 

[MrsPete]

Don't forget, everyone that saves a ticket for the future is costing Disney money.

Eh, I don't know -- though I'm sure Disney would claim the difference is significant:
- If I (could) buy a 10-day non-expiry ticket today ... but I didn't use it for ten years, I'd give Disney my money today, and they'd have full use of it for a long time before they had to serve me. All the years they're holding onto my money, they're earning interest on it.
- I don't think long-term ticket purchasers exist in such numbers as to harm Disney's profit in any way. I mean, the Magic Kingdom costs X amount to operate each day, and (totally making up these numbers) 5,000 visitors vs. 5,050 visitors makes little difference in their cost.

I do think it's trouble for Disney to upgrade those single-day-left-over-tickets, but that's not really the question.

 

[a11ie]

I'm interested to see how different the prices really are. I cant imagine it would be too enormous. Disney knows a lot of people have to vacation during certain times due to school or work. Unless the price difference is substantial, I doubt it will encourage that many people to visit during an "off peak" time.
In my opinion, Disney is rolling out "peak prices" for their pockets .They know people will pay it because they have to go during those times.

 

[JenzyHP]

This whole change has completely turned me off of Disney. Maybe we will go again in a few years but dang this is so greedy.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

"Retired" CPA/ revenue accountant here...revenue can not be recognized until it is earned (service has been provided), meaning the guest has visited the park. So it sits on the balance sheet as deferred revenue. Not a bad thing if they have already collected the cash and that gives them a bettercash balance. But otherwise if it's still A/R then their balance sheet is just grossed up and that doesn't do much for them. So it is still intersting
..oh how i wish I could work in their accounting office and see how it all works!

Good insight - and kinda what I figured . I'm not a trained accountant, just a corporate banker.

So obviously this can't help this quarter's income statement but still strengthens the balance sheet and shows future bookings and attendance appears strong. All good things when you're coming up on the end of the quarter. Thanks for sharing!

 

[twoolle]

Good insight - and kinda what I figured . I'm not a trained accountant, just a corporate banker.

So obviously this can't help this quarter's income statement but still strengthens the balance sheet and shows future bookings and attendance appears strong. All good things when you're coming up on the end of the quarter. Thanks for sharing!

Yes, their pipeline will look good which is important for their earnings call!

 

[anomamatt]

I'm interested to see how different the prices really are. I cant imagine it would be too enormous. Disney knows a lot of people have to vacation during certain times due to school or work. Unless the price difference is substantial, I doubt it will encourage that many people to visit during an "off peak" time.

It will be interesting to see. FWIW, Disney Shanghai has these kind of multi-day tickets and has a 'value' to 'peak holiday' price swing of close to +200%. That kind of differential might be enough to shift the needle and get people to switch when they take trips.

 

[10CJ]

Does anyone know if an e-ticket purchased through UT can be upgraded to an AP (at park)? I’ve always had an actual ticket to upgrade. I realize all the rules may change, but calculating my risk for buying a park hopper now for my March trip with plan of upgrading to a Platinum pass for a second trip in December.

I would consider just buying the AP now. I was going to do the same thing, buy UT tickets and then upgrade. Looking at past AP price increases I decided we were probably better off just getting the APs now.

 

[jeni16]

"Retired" CPA/ revenue accountant here...revenue can not be recognized until it is earned (service has been provided), meaning the guest has visited the park. So it sits on the balance sheet as deferred revenue. Not a bad thing if they have already collected the cash and that gives them a bettercash balance. But otherwise if it's still A/R then their balance sheet is just grossed up and that doesn't do much for them. So it is still intersting
..oh how i wish I could work in their accounting office and see how it all works!

With the tickets being purchased for specific dates, it should also help them to better forecast revenue, especially offsite guests. As before, you could purchase tickets & use them anytime before they expired & now you will be using them at a specific time as I’m guessing most won’t make changes.

 

[Stitch808]

I would consider just buying the AP now. I was going to do the same thing, buy UT tickets and then upgrade. Looking at past AP price increases I decided we were probably better off just getting the APs now.

That's what we are planning now. We were going to buy UT tickets and upgrade when we are down there next Sept, but now we're going to buy just the DVC gold pass. When we purchase online, we would need to activate it at the parks and that's when the AP time starts.

 

[Robo]

When we purchase online, we would need to activate it at the parks and that's when the AP time starts.

Yes.
And, MORE specifically, you would "activate" the new AP at a ticket booth or Guest Relations (which might be on one day) and THEN, the AP time would only "start" on the day you actually enter a park using that new AP (which might be on a different day.)

 

[BayouQueen]

With the tickets being purchased for specific dates, it should also help them to better forecast revenue, especially offsite guests. As before, you could purchase tickets & use them anytime before they expired & now you will be using them at a specific time as I’m guessing most won’t make changes.

Makes sense to me.
Especially so they can really drill down on staffing. Payroll is always the biggest expense, and this will probably help them to cut staff down to essential levels.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Date Flexibility will mainly be used by offsite guests who may buy a 3 day ticket but will be in a time share for a week or longer. Will it be worth x-amount of money to pick and choose their park days or cram 3 days in within a 5-day period.

And to obtain “free” ticket flexibility, all they have to do is stay onsite.

Just stay onsite or stay onsite with a PACKAGE?
I don't book packages b/c they are less flexible to late changes, different people having diff tickets, etc. So will I (and dvc and ap holders, etc) have to pay extra for flexibility since we won't have packages. Seems like how it is reading so far. Will be interesting to see.
From Disney's perspective I can see multiple reasons why they prefer package guests. One of the biggest being that they get the balance much earlier and that accrues interest for them, instead of the guest.