Yep, variable pricing has come to American theme parks.
I like the way Legoland's framing this: You get a discount for visiting the park on certain (presumably, less popular) days. That makes sense in a couple of ways.
If you look at theme parks' current daily ticket price as representing the fair-market value of visiting on an average day, it's reasonable to assume that less popular days should be priced less under a variable pricing scheme. Of course, that means more popular days should be more expensive, but by starting the with discounted days, Legoland can introduce variable pricing in a way that the public's more likely to accept.
Variable pricing gives theme parks another way to manage their crowds. Instead of closing the gates and turning people away on busy days (such as during Christmas week), variable pricing and advance-sale, date-specific tickets can allow parks to reduce the number of people showing up at the park on those days. In the same way, parks can use variable pricing to encourage more people to visit on slower days, better distributing visitors throughout the year.
Of course, there are limits, especially for a park targeted specifically at school-aged children, such as Legoland. Most families just aren't willing to pull their kids out of school to visit a theme park, so all the discounts Legoland can offer won't entice those families to visit on those days.
Date-specific tickets and variable pricing aren't new outside the United States. When I visited Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Singapore, I bought tickets that were tied to the specific dates I visited, unlike U.S. theme park tickets, which typically can be used anytime after they're purchased.
And if you look at theme park tickets on a cost-per-hour basis, US theme parks long have had variable prices, except that parks charged less per hour on their busiest days. With variable pricing, perhaps the cost-per-hour price will even out, with parks charging less on days they're opened for fewer hours, and more for days when they open early and close late.
What do you think about variable pricing for theme park tickets? Please tell us, in the comments.
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However, I don't think any park will make the discount big enough, say 50% off, to have any noticeable change in crowd sizes. You are already paying many times the ticket price on the other associated vacation costs and a $10 to $15 a day discount won't be an influence on vacationers.
We accept variable pricing in airline tickets, in train tickets, in retail goods, (ever tried buying a new kitchen in the month before the January sales?), so I can't really see that variable pricing at theme parks is really such a great step. I think it's inevitable.
I fear that if the prices are variable throughout the week and year that no one will be able to track any sort of distinct price increase. If the prices were set by quarter, by day and were set at least three months in advance, I would think that was fair. But if prices can change on the fly like Airline Tickets or gas prices I'm not an advocate of that type of price structure.
On a second note the AP's (at least at Disney) are already based this way with the lower cost AP's not for use on the busier days.
On a second note the AP's (at least at Disney) are already based this way with the lower cost AP's not for use on the busier days.
Kings Dominion offered cheap tickets for passholders on fathers and mothers day, and it turned out that the park was a lot less crowded for a sunday than I would have expected, so I guess that was a good deal for them.
And their halloween is priced lower on friday which is only open 5 hours, than saturday or sunday.
Perks are also priced more on bigger days. The "front of the line" passes cost more during peak times than other times.
Really, the main people this might encourage to reconsider what days they visit on would probably be the locals. If you live in an area and know that it will be cheaper to go on certain days you might adjust what day you are going to accommadate that.
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