For most families, a trip to Disney World is all about riding their world-class attractions. However, others, enjoy dining, drinking, and shopping at Disney World. The downside is Disney tickets are expensive, especially if you are only going there for food, drinks, and shopping. Now, Disney World is offering a new ticket option for those who only want to eat, drink, and shop in the parks.
Disney is known for their souvenirs. After almost every ride, there is a gift shop. They actually force you to walk through a store after a ride to encourage you to buy stuff. You can’t avoid it. Also, before you exit the parks there are more stores. Disney corners you everywhere you go in hopes that you buy more merchandise. Disney Park’s retail makes up a significant portion of its revenue according to its financial documents.
Another huge money maker for “The Mouse”, which will soon be “The Dragon”, are food and drinks. It’s no wonder EPCOT has an event called The Food and Wine festival. In fact, there are more than 200 places to get food at Disney World. From a drinks standpoint, EPCOT mops the floor with revenue from drinks, which is why Disney is lobbying to lower the drinking age to 18, which we reported on here. The shopping, eating, and drinking trifecta is why Disney will offer a new ticket option.
What is the New and Cheapest Disney World Ticket Option?
Disney World guests can now buy the brand new DDS ticket. DDS stands for Dining, Drinking, and Shopping ticket. Guests who buy this ticket can go to Disney World parks to shop til they drop and eat and drink until they need to rent an ECV Scooter, despite the ban on those, which we reported here. This is truly the perfect ticket for those who want to go to Disney World, but not ride the rides.
For those who buy the new drinking, dining, and shopping ticket at Disney World, it will act as a Park Hopper ticket. Those guests can jump from park to park with no issues. Also, unlike current Disney World tickets where you can buy a single park or Park Hopper, with the DDS ticket, it’s always a Park Hopper ticket. This allows guests to get the most use out of it and ultimately spend the most money.
The DDS tickets will start at $50 but can go as high as $100. A standard one-day park ticket for Disney World costs between $109-189 per day. So the DDS tickets are about half the price of a regular ticket. This makes sense because dining, drinking, and shopping are about half the Disney experience anyways. If you have a DDS ticket, you can make dining reservations for the parks as well as eat, drink, and shop as much as you’d like.
If I Have a DDS Ticket, What Stops me From Riding Rides?
This is a great question. When guests buy a DDS ticket, they must go through a special entrance at the front of the park. This is a lot like the special Passholder line. Once they scan their ticket, the cast members at the gate will give them a special MagicBand to wear in the park. This MagicBand will signal to cast members at the rides that you are only there to drink, eat, and shop and that you are not allowed to go on rides.
The next question is, can’t I just take it off? The answer is no. Disney has designed special MagicBands for the DDS tickets that can only be removed by Disney cast members at the park exit. This means before you leave the park, you have to get it taken off your wrist. Otherwise, it will be stuck on you. Disney has a proprietary technology that allows only them to take it off. This special MagicBand will function much like an ankle monitor, however, it will be on your wrist.
Don’t worry, this new MagicBand will not be harmful. Also, Disney will be able to remove it from your wrist inside the park in case of emergency or if you are experiencing discomfort. If you park hop, you will get your DDS MagicBand removed at the exit and will need to get a new one at the next park. Despite this, it’s possible guests with a DDS ticket will still be able to sneak on some rides, however, Disney cast members will be trained to look out for these and prevent that as much as possible.
What do you think of Disney World’s new Dining, Drinking, and Shopping ticket? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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They already have something similar to this. It’s called Disney Springs! Also, it’s free to enter Disney Springs!!!
You don’t mention when this will start to be offered, what are the dining/drinking restrictions, is it a per park cost?