Disney announced not that long ago that they would be changing up the ticket purchasing experience for Walt Disney World. Today is the day that those changes go into effect.
It seems a little confusing at first, but it’s not that bad. The biggest change is that not all the tickets have a 14 day time frame to use them anymore. The fewer days on the ticket the fewer days you have to use them. The only ticket length that still has 14 days to use all the days on the ticket is the 10-day ticket. The list below shows how many days each ticket length has to be used.
| Ticket Duration | Valid Use Period |
| 1-Day Ticket | Only on 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 |
Here’s a video Disney put together to help better explain the new ticket purchasing system.
Another change is that the days to use the tickets begin on the day you choose as the start date. So when purchasing your tickets, if you are not planning on going to the parks until the second day of your trip then that would be your start date, not your arrival date.
Here’s an example: If your trip is from October 21 – October 28, but you are only getting a 3-day ticket, the time you have to use the ticket is less than the number of days you will be in Disney World. So if you don’t plan on going to the parks until October 22 then that would be your start date, not when you arrive on October 21. That way you have more time to use the tickets.
The good news is that the date-based ticket pricing might actually cost you less, it just depends on when you are planning to visit. So not all dates have gone up in price. Disney Parks Blog gave an example of dates that would be less. Here is what they said:
Compared to previous pricing*, some tickets have decreased, increased or stayed the same, depending on the start date and length of the ticket. For example, a guest purchasing a 3-day ticket with a start date of Feb. 10, 2019 will now actually pay $4 less per day than they would have before. A Guest purchasing a 6-day ticket with a start date of this Thanksgiving will now pay a little more – an average of $5 per day – since it’s one of the most popular times of year to visit.
When you go to purchase your tickets a calendar will pop up with different prices on each day of the month. This is also a good way to start planning your trip. If you haven’t booked anything, but are flexible with your dates, then you can see which dates are cheaper to visit. Again, it may sound confusing at first, but it’s not that bad. Disney has also included new online tools to help with planning and one of those tools allows you to see which months would be less expensive, which is helpful when planning.
Check out the side-by-side comparison below for the date-based ticket pricing for November.
In addition to the change in purchasing regular tickets, the price for Annual Passes has also gone up. For example, a Platinum Annual Pass used to be $849 and is now $894, and a Platinum Plus Annual Pass used to be $949 and is now $994. This is after an increase earlier this year. So it’s the second increase for the year and it’s not a small increase. Keep in mind that if you are already an Annual Passholder you can renew your pass at a lesser rate.
This all comes after Disney raised prices on merchandise and food around the parks recently. Hopefully, this will be it for price increases for a while. However, Disney has historically raised prices for tickets in February. So we may only have a few months of these prices before we see another increase. I’m hoping that’s not the case, but we’ll see.
Did you buy your tickets before today to avoid this new date-based ticket pricing?
Thanks for reading!
*Liz*
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Liz
I love all things Disney, but my main love is for Disney World and I'm always planning for the next trip. Before becoming a Disney blogger, I was a radio DJ, so I guess I'm just continuing in the communication industry, just in a different form. I love talking Disney and I could talk about Disney all day. That's why I started blogging and created the Facebook group. The Disney community is full of friendly, helpful, and happy people...and I love being a part of it! If there is any Disney subject you would like to see covered just let me know! Need help planning your Disney vacation. Feel free to contact myself or Melissa at Never Stop Dreaming Travel Co. We love helping people plan their trips! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to check out our Countdown to Disney app! Feel free to email me with suggestions of things you would like to see in the app :-)
Hi there! I have a question for you 🙂 if you decided to go to a water park the first day, with the park hopper plus water park, would that count as your first day? Or not until you go to one of the four main parks? T I a!
Hi Elizabeth!
That’s a great question, and I’m honestly not 100% sure, so I don’t want to tell you one thing and have it be wrong. I’ll look into it and see what I can find out.