There are many highly-anticipated changes coming to Walt Disney World in the near future - a new Star Wars-themed land at Hollywood Studios along with an immersive galactic hotel, a new gondola transportation system connecting certain resorts with Hollywood Studios and the International Gateway at Epcot, and exciting new experiences like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ratatouille attractions at Epcot as well as Tron at Magic Kingdom.
On October 16th of this year, a big change is coming to the way visitors purchase park tickets. Walt Disney World is moving to a date-based ticket model for one-day and multi-day tickets to “provide the best possible experience for the guest.” As Disney’s theme parks continue to increase in popularity resulting in growing numbers of people visiting, the new pricing structure will help Disney better understand ticket demand and manage crowds on any given day of the year.
What does this all mean?
First, let’s talk about what remains the same. Just like before, visitors will select the type of ticket they want - a “base” ticket or one park-per-day ticket, a “park hopper” ticket allowing for visits to more than one park per day or a “park hopper plus” ticket which allows for more than one park visit per day along with the same number of entries to the water park and mini-golf as the same number of days on the ticket. As in the previous pricing structure, visitors will also select the number of days of tickets they want.
So what are the differences?
First, visitors will now have to pre-select the date that their tickets will start; in other words, they will have to know in advance what date they plan to visit the parks for the first time during their visit. This will determine the total price of the tickets.
How will you know what the cost difference is per day? An online calendar tool will illustrate the price per day enabling you to compare ticket prices for different dates.
Second, the valid use period of tickets will change. Tickets will NO LONGER EXPIRE AFTER 14 days of first use. Based on the number of days of tickets, a pre-determined valid use period will allow visitors to use tickets on non-consecutive days. Each ticket will have a specific date of valid dates beginning with the selected start date and expiring at the end of a calculated valid use period. For multi-day tickets, the more days selected for the ticket, the longer the valid use period.
Say what?
If you buy a one-day ticket, it’s good for one day - period. If you buy a two- to three-day ticket, Disney gives you two additional days of usage. So after you redeem your first day of two-day tickets when visiting a park, you have two more days to use the second day of your ticket. Four- to seven-day tickets receive three days of additional usage, while eight- to 10-day tickets get four days of additional usage. Park Hopper Plus tickets add an additional day of usage to the pre-calculated periods. The additional days of usage allow visitors to use tickets on non-consecutive days like before, so you can relax by the pool in between park visits or shop and eat your way around Disney Springs.
Furthermore, Disney will offer a “flexible date” ticket upgrade which will cost more but allow visitors to use their tickets anytime during the year. These flex tickets will expire 14 days after the first day of ticket use. Unused tickets will expire on December 31st of the following calendar year.
What happens if I have a change in plans?
If you need to make a change after ticket purchase - adding admission days, upgrading the ticket type or changing the start date, you can do so through your My Disney Experience account, via phone or with your travel agent. We recommend the latter, of course!
If your ticket start date has already passed without a use, you can apply the original ticket price to a new ticket at guest relations of any of the Disney theme parks.
I like to stay on-property. How does this new ticket structure affect ticket + resort packages?
Rather than the number of days of tickets, the pre-determined valid use period for the tickets will be based on the guest resort length stay. But here’s the twist. Tickets will be valid from resort check-in date until midnight of the check-out date OR based on the valid use period of a ticket-only purchase - whichever is longer.
If you are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, for example, for six nights but only buy a three-day ticket, your tickets would be valid for seven days as part of a package rather than valid for just five days as a ticket stand-alone purchase. But if you stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge for six nights with a five-day ticket, the tickets would be valid for eight days as per the ticket-only policy rather than valid for seven days of the hotel stay. Confused yet? We at Beyond Imagination Vacation can sort it out for you!
Will ticket prices increase on October 16?
Disney has not released concrete prices related to the new date-based ticket structure. Tickets for certain dates may decrease, may increase or may remain the same.
If you are confident that you are visiting Walt Disney World later this year or beyond, we would recommend purchasing your tickets or ticket + resort package now. Even if your ticket prices were to stay the same after the structure change, you would benefit from the 14 days of expiration after first use as well as the validity of unused tickets until December 31 of 2019.
We hope that this helps makes the new ticket pricing structure easier to comprehend. Please let us know if you have any questions.