Walt Disney World Resort Introduces Date Based Tickets: Update 10/16 Tickets Now Live

The new Walt Disney World Ticketing System is live on the Walt Disney World website effective today.

As announced, the new policy uses a calendar interface for Guests to select the start date of their ticket:

Attachment 4975
Attachment 4976

Based on the number of days selected, the Tickets have a differing "use" period. This period can be seen in the table below:

# Day Ticket	Validity Period
1	Day Selected
2	4 Days from Day Selected
3	5 Days from Day Selected
4	7 Days from Day Selected
5	8 Days from Day Selected
6	9 Days from Day Selected
7	10 Days from Day Selected
8	12 Days from Day Selected
9	13 Days from Day Selected
10	14 Days from Day Selected

Use does not need to be consecutive, but does need to fall within the validity period unless the "flexible" add-on is purchased:

Attachment 4977

The Flexible add-on eliminates the Start Date Validity period and allows the ticket to be used 14 Days from your first Use from now till December 31, 2019. The pricing for the Flexible Add-On varies from $15.00 per ticket for a 1 day ticket to $55.63 per ticket on a 10 day ticket.

Other add-on options like Park Hopper appear to still operate in the same manner as before.

Additional Details on the New Ticketing Policy:

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Originally Posted by Walt Disney World

Valid Ticket Dates

After expiration date, the price paid for a wholly unused ticket can be applied to the purchase of a new ticket with an equal or higher price.

Changing Your Tickets

You can make changes to your tickets, including your ticket dates, prior to midnight ET of the day before your ticket’s first valid use date, {start date selected}. There’s no change fee to modify, but an additional cost applies for dates with higher ticket prices. No refund or credit is given for changes from dates with higher prices to dates with lower prices.

If you change ticket dates and you previously made FastPass+ selections, you will need to make new FastPass+ selections for any new dates you’ll be visiting the parks. Please check your selections after making any change to your ticket dates.

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Walt Disney World Resort announced date based tickets and a new online destination for vacation planning today.

Are you in favor of this or do you hate it?

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At Walt Disney World Resort, we are constantly looking for new ways to deliver the best experience possible for our guests – from the moment they book their vacation through the very last attraction they visit in the theme parks.

With all there is to see and do in our parks, we know guests are increasingly looking for easier ways to plan a vacation with personalized options that fit their individual needs. Beginning Oct. 16 on DisneyWorld.com, guests will be able to access our new online vacation-planning destination and purchase tickets priced by the date of visit. These changes are designed to simplify the booking experience, give guests an enhanced way to purchase theme park tickets and help them more easily plan the Disney vacation of their dreams.

The new online vacation-planning destination features park offering overviews, travel tips from Disney Parks Moms Panelists and customized suggestions based on each guest’s personal preferences – helping guests make more informed decisions.

When guests are ready to purchase tickets online, they may use an interactive online calendar, which displays different prices based on the dates guests choose to visit and states tickets will need to be used during a specific time period. The calendar also allows guests to quickly see the lowest-priced days within a month. For example, prices may be lower during off-peak travel periods.

Check out the video below for a first look at how it works.

Once tickets are purchased, guests will be able to continue seamlessly planning their vacation on the website through My Disney Experience, which guides guests through the different phases and steps of personalizing their vacation to make the most of their travel party’s unique interests. Guests can manage their plans through the My Disney Experience mobile app as well, where they will also be able to access the interactive calendar and purchase their tickets on the go.

So why are we making these changes? As our parks have increased in popularity, there are more and more guests who wish to experience our world-class attractions. Introducing date-based tickets and pricing will allow us to better distribute attendance throughout the year so that we can continue to improve and deliver a great experience.

These updates are designed to help you plan your dream vacation – both now and for years to come. This is an incredibly exciting time at Walt Disney World Resort, which continues to grow and expand with industry-leading immersive lands like Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. In addition to these groundbreaking expansions, guests will also have a chance to experience upcoming attractions that take creative storytelling to the next level from the recently announced “Ratatouille” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” attractions at Epcot to a Tron-themed attraction at Magic Kingdom Park, to the first Mickey Mouse-themed attraction with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and so much more coming soon.

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So much for claiming the current cuts are due to lack of visitors!!!!

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According to Disney, “introducing date-based tickets and pricing will allow us to better distribute attendance throughout the year so that we can continue to improve and deliver a great experience.” So, in a nutshell, Disney World is getting too crowded, and making popular days more expensive is the most effective way to incentivize guests to visit during lower capacity times.

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I wonder how this will affect Annual Passes....It currently says it won't, but I think we all know better....

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Originally Posted by PopPhan

So much for claiming the current cuts are due to lack of visitors!!!!



I wonder how this will affect Annual Passes....It currently says it won't, but I think we all know better....

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I would love an annual pass that was non-peak season only. I don't go in the summer or at Christmas/Easter time and don't plan to. If there was an option for something more like one of the Florida Resident passes for everyone I would totally get an AP. Hotels are generally cheaper during those times so they wouldn't need to offer the same AP rates, and if they offered other discounts like Tables in Wonderland or 5%-10% off hard ticket events I'd sign up on the first day.

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Originally Posted by BriarRose0708

I would love an annual pass that was non-peak season only. I don't go in the summer or at Christmas/Easter time and don't plan to. If there was an option for something more like one of the Florida Resident passes for everyone I would totally get an AP. Hotels are generally cheaper during those times so they wouldn't need to offer the same AP rates, and if they offered other discounts like Tables in Wonderland or 5%-10% off hard ticket events I'd sign up on the first day.

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I agree with most of this...My trips are always during 'off' times...Between Thanksgiving and Christmas; end-April/early-May; etc. Never on, or during holiday rushes, and NEVER during the summer months.

What is this “seamless planning” of which they speak? Have they tried using MDE recently? I don’t mind a certain amount of planning, but this is getting ridiculous.

If I'm reading this correctly, you will be buying park tickets like you buy an airplane ticket--you need to absolutely know your dates in advance.
For those of us who fly, this really isn't that big of a deal--If my plane tickets are November 3-9, so are my park tickets.

But I think if I lived close enough to drive down on an "impulse trip" I would feel quite confined by needing to commit and needing to plan.
While I am a planner, I do understand that lots of folks aren't.

Will this affect tickets already purchased for vacations after implementation date? If you purchased from someone other than WDW, will those tickets be honored?

With the weather variability in central Florida, I would hate to be stuck with assigned dates for each park.

At some point, you'll need 3 advanced degrees from MIT to be able to book a decent trip at WDW.

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Originally Posted by texas211

At some point, you'll need 3 advanced degrees from MIT to be able to book a decent trip at WDW.

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Honestly planning a trip to Walt Disney World has become more complicated and needlessly stressful to the point that I refuse to go to WDW. In fact my last two trips have been to Universal Orlando and Disneyland because I do not need to go online 60 days before hand to plan a two minute ride and decide what I want for dinner.

On a positive note....it will be less crowded by one person (me) for all you die hards :)

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Originally Posted by BriarRose0708

I would love an annual pass that was non-peak season only. I don't go in the summer or at Christmas/Easter time and don't plan to. If there was an option for something more like one of the Florida Resident passes for everyone I would totally get an AP. Hotels are generally cheaper during those times so they wouldn't need to offer the same AP rates, and if they offered other discounts like Tables in Wonderland or 5%-10% off hard ticket events I'd sign up on the first day.

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So would I. Kind of like a "senior's pass". We aren't limited by school schedules, work schedules (been there, done that for many years) and can go when prices are lowest.

Pro and college sports, especially major league baseball, have been doing this for years now. They call it Dynamic Pricing. On popular days, like weekends or when your team is playing their rival, etc. they charge more for tickets as they know they will sell out anyway. Concerts now do this-- remember years ago when all tickets cost the same amount regardless where you were sitting? Now the best seats cost a lot more. Disney is just copying their model.

For those of us who have been around long enough...... do you remember when going to disney was a vacation?

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Originally Posted by missymouseworld

Will this affect tickets already purchased for vacations after implementation date? If you purchased from someone other than WDW, will those tickets be honored?

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From what I'm reading the tickets will be honored.

I assume you can still buy park hopper tickets?

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Originally Posted by VWL Mom

From what I'm reading the tickets will be honored.

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Thank you …. I was looking around online and couldn't find any info on that.

(we used to buy from the sponsor here from this site, but our local automotive club had better pricing this time)

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Originally Posted by disney obsessed

For those of us who have been around long enough...... do you remember when going to disney was a vacation?

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Four score and 7 years ago...

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Originally Posted by MarkC

Pro and college sports, especially major league baseball, have been doing this for years now. They call it Dynamic Pricing. On popular days, like weekends or when your team is playing their rival, etc. they charge more for tickets as they know they will sell out anyway. Concerts now do this-- remember years ago when all tickets cost the same amount regardless where you were sitting? Now the best seats cost a lot more. Disney is just copying their model.

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Could be why I don't go to sporting events and concerts.

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Originally Posted by texas211

Four score and 7 years ago...

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Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a theme park, conceived with the idea that all parents and children could have fun together, and dedicated to the proposition that all park-goers are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that theme park, or any theme park so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure the bean counters.

One thing I noticed when watching the video is it seems that multi day tickets are no longer good for 14 days from first use. The example they're using is a 4 day ticket which looks to be good for 7 days only.
I was able to find this on DTB courtesy of Tom Bicker but was able to see it elsewhere. There was evidently an FAQ email to ticket brokers and the like.

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Ticket Duration - Valid Use Period
1-Day Ticket
Only the start date selected
2-Day Ticket
Any 2 days within 4 days beginning on the start date
3-Day Ticket
Any 3 days within 5 days beginning on the start date
4-Day Ticket
Any 4 days within 7 days beginning on the start date
5-Day Ticket
Any 5 days within 8 days beginning on the start date
6-Day Ticket
Any 6 days within 9 days beginning on the start date
7-Day Ticket
Any 7 days within 10 days beginning on the start date
8-Day Ticket
Any 8 days within 12 days beginning on the start date
9-Day Ticket
Any 9 days within 13 days beginning on the start date
10-Day Ticket
Any 10 days within 14 days beginning on the start date

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I'm actually surprised they waited this long to go to this ticket price model. Others have being doing it for years, i.e. Universal, for instance.

I remember the original pricing model for the MK at WDW. FREE Park Admission, :jaw::eyes::fworks: pay by the ride. The more popular attractions cost the most, the old "E tickets". Who would like to go back to that model. (Sometimes I think I would like it.) :secret:

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Originally Posted by VWL Mom

One thing I noticed when watching the video is it seems that multi day tickets are no longer good for 14 days from first use. The example they're using is a 4 day ticket which looks to be good for 7 days only.

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They are really tightening it down. At this point, it doesn't really matter to me whether the market will bear this or not. I don't want to be part of the scheme.

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Originally Posted by joonyer

Who would like to go back to that model. (Sometimes I think I would like it.) :secret:

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I think I would be in favor of full on-demand pricing. As the queue gets longer, the prices go up. If the ride breaks down, you get the option for express access later (at the price you paid), or instant refund. Parents can authorize ticket purchases up to a set amount, then it turns off until they raise the limit. This would really distribute people around the parks much better, as they look for attractions with lower prices. It would also open up attractions later in the day when spending limits have been hit, rather than relying on queues dropping because people are too tired to carry on.

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Originally Posted by disney obsessed

For those of us who have been around long enough...... do you remember when going to disney was a vacation?

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My head hurts ......

My wallet is actually much more comfortable after a Disney "vacation", since it is so much thinner. So there's that, in return for all the hard detail work of planning the trip.

**Update**

Also copied into the Theme Parks forum for additional visibility.

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Originally Posted by Tekneek

I think I would be in favor of full on-demand pricing. As the queue gets longer, the prices go up. If the ride breaks down, you get the option for express access later (at the price you paid), or instant refund. Parents can authorize ticket purchases up to a set amount, then it turns off until they raise the limit. This would really distribute people around the parks much better, as they look for attractions with lower prices. It would also open up attractions later in the day when spending limits have been hit, rather than relying on queues dropping because people are too tired to carry on.

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A refund.. Disney can't even spell refund.

I do agree w/ this logic, b/c they know people will come due to their upcoming plans. The parks will be packed for a long while.