New Seasonal Ticket Pricing at Disney World & Disneyland
Today is the first day of seasonal pricing for 1-day tickets at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This post covers the pros & cons of tiered pricing, the range of prices, other info about flex pricing, and what all of this means to you. Let’s start with the details of the price increases and seasonal pricing.
Seasonal pricing is the same as flex, demand-based, surge, or variable pricing. The higher demand, the higher the cost, and vice-a-versa. For 2016, seasonal pricing applies only to 1-day tickets. On both coasts, there are three seasons: Value, Regular, and Peak.
At Walt Disney World, there are two sets of prices for 1-day tickets: Magic Kingdom prices and the 0ther 3 park prices. Let’s start with Magic Kingdom, where Value is $105 for adults and $99 for children; Regular is $110 for adults and $104 for children; and, Peak is $124 for adults and $118 for children. Moving to Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Value is $97 for adults and $91 for children; Regular is $102 for adults and $96 for children; and, Peak is $114 for adults and $108 for children.
Out at Disneyland, things are a little less complicated because both parks share the same pricing. The new 1-day prices are as follows: Value is $95 for adults and $89 for children; Regular is $105 for adults and $99 for children; and, Peak is $119 for adults and $113 for children.
Then there are multi-day tickets. We aren’t going to go through all of the individual increases, because there are approximately 1,955 different ticket options and it’s getting to the point where you need to have taken a 400-level course in Excel to be able to organize and keep track of them all.
Rather, I’ve compared a number of common ticket options and found that the smallest multi-day price increase is $10.68 and the largest is $42.60. In percentage terms, the average increase is around 6-8%, with a few of the 7 day and up tickets increasing by over 10%.
Okay, now for some commentary. I’m going to forgo the “Disney is a business” v. “Disney is pricing out the middle class” debate since that seems like beating a dead horse at this point. I wrote about that last year in Are Disney Tickets Getting Too Expensive? and save for a few details, that article more or less still applies.
Instead, let’s just tackle one thing: what it means to you. Honestly, probably not a whole lot. If you’re reading this blog, it’s fairly unlikely that you’re purchasing 1-day tickets, and those are the only tickets this affects. Perhaps if you’re a local and you occasionally buy 1-day tickets for your guests. To that end, the biggest “pro” is that seasonal pricing wasn’t introduced to multi-day tickets.
This is especially true at Walt Disney World, which is a vacation destination unto itself, which most people aren’t doing for only a single day. To be sure, 1-day tickets represent a surprising number of all ticket sales, but those who are making impulse buys for a single day in the parks typically aren’t the same crowd planning months in advance. There are likely some of you out there, but not many.
The other way it would affect you at the moment is indirectly. Disney’s stated goal is to “look for ways to help spread out visitation” and seasonal pricing is a means to that end. That’s a good way to pitch this, but I don’t see think redistribution of crowds will result from this being implemented on 1-day tickets.
As referenced above, I suspect 1-day ticket purchases are mostly impulse buys, not something planned out months in advance. Single day tickets always have offered poor value as compared to multi-day tickets, so those researching Walt Disney World ahead of time are probably (for the most part) going to skew towards spending multiple days in the parks, rather than a single day.
Further, I suspect that most single day tickets are being purchased by tourists with a “spare” day in their schedules once they arrive, convention-goers with an off-day, locals who visit infrequently and decide to go during a break, and a catch-all “other” category with various miscellaneous circumstances. I’d theorize that maybe 10% of these potential guests will shift their visits as a result of the seasonal pricing. Perhaps more like 15% at Disneyland where the locals with a school break group is larger (but SoCal resident deals are already a big draw for many in Los Angeles and Orange County).
Let me reiterate that all of this is theoretical, based on a number of assumptions that I can’t necessarily prove or disprove. I think it’s a reasonable hypothesis, though.
A change of 10% or so is not an incredibly significant amount–certainly not enough to make September suddenly have 180 minute waits while the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve becomes dead. I suspect that most regular visitors and Annual Passholders won’t even notice a change in crowd patterns.
That, I think, will occur when Disney inevitably introduces seasonal pricing to multi-day tickets in 2017.
We have more details about Walt Disney World and Disneyland ticket pricing, and the best ways to save (and also how to lock-in old prices) in our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets and Disneyland Money-Saving Ticket Tips posts.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the price increase and shift to seasonal pricing on 1-day tickets? Is this the straw that will break the camel’s back, or do you think it’s a good move to curb ever-growing demand? Other thoughts or insight? Share your opinions or questions in the comments below!
New seasonal pricing is turning away Canadian tourists. Due to exchange rate, Magic Kingdom is not about $170 for a day. We’re changing our plans — not by changing season, because we’ll already be there during “peak” season. We’ll just not go!
My family is one of those that will only be buying a one day ticket, at least from now on. For the past 7 years we have gone to Disney once or twice a year, for 4 days at a time. We will not be doing that any more. The cost simply is no longer worth what we get out of it. We still enjoy Disney, but now will only be going when it is tied in to another trip or when my husband has a conference in Orlando. For the amount of money we would be spending we would like to try Universal, or Legoland, or Cape Canaveral. We think we will get a lot more “bang for our buck”! It’s probably a good thing Disney gotten so greedy – we have started taking the kids to the National Parks instead. It’s kind of opened my eyes, and made me realize that we don’t have to throw our money away to have a wonderful, memorable time together as a family : )
P.S. For what it’s worth, we’ve pretty much stopped going to movie theaters as well. The prices there are also ridiculous! We just watch it on Netflix or buy it on blu ray.
Well, you definitely get what you pay for. Lesser parks around the country offer much less, while not really costing much less than Disney. Regular season tickets to a Pittsburgh Penguins game are $285 for good seats. For 3 hours tops. A 2 hour concert can be $100+…
No complaints from me.
Most people who complain about Disney or say “Disney sucks”, or whatever, are the same people who do no planning or researching.
I wouldn’t mind paying DOUBLE for each ticket, if they would just reduce the number of guests admitted to the park each day! That would be my suggestion to solve the overcrowding epidemic. It has gotten to where there is really no good time of year to go anymore, unless it happens to be raining. Just admit 10% fewer guests each day and charge those who enter 10% more. Oversimplification, but you get the idea. Obviously, Disney won’t do this but, if they can get fewer guests in the gate who spend more, they would still make a higher profit and guests would be happier. Duh! Let’s be clear – there’s nothing that will keep my family away from Disneyland…ever. But if you’re asking how I feel about the tiered pricing, voila! (I hope someone from Disney reads these blogs)
BTW, I agree with Rebecca also. We are definitely getting what we pay for and then some. No complaints that we are paying more but not getting more. Disney is constantly upgrading, refurbishing, and reinventing the whole park. And I don’t think it’s a senseless cash grab. I can’t even imagine what it costs for the nightly fireworks alone, never mind all the other entertainment and ‘extras’ Disney provides every single day.
I truly think Disney has gotten more popular than expected and than the parks are designed to handle.
Disney has (FINALLY) started to pour money back into the Parks after years of languish post-9/11. Look at some of the projects over the last several years on both coasts:
– Buena Vista Street/Cars Land
– New Fantasyland
– Star Wars
– Art of Animation
– New DVC rooms (Poly, BLT, GF, WL expansion)
– Disney Springs
– Avatar
And even with these big marquee projects, there have been much smaller ones that dramatically improve the quality of a Parks visit (MK hub renovation, Skipper Canteen in a formerly vacant spot, turning an abandoned ride into Tangeld restrooms) and these are projects that can’t be touted in a guidebook or put on a billboard or TV spot but add to the perceived “value” of a visit.
Disney Parks is in a period of growth not seen since the late 80s/early 90s under Eisner and there is demand for all the new offerings. The Parks look better than ever and people are flocking to them. If these prices were going up but the Parks looked like they did circa 2004, nobody would visit. Disney’s offering an improved experience at a higher price point.
Add to this the focus on seasonal offerings- Flower and Garden, Food and Wine, RunDisney- and the parks are almost always busy or at least steady- even on Mondays in September!
Prices will continue to increase every year (or even sometimes twice a year)- in part to fund (or justify) improvements, in part to continue to attempt to even out the visitor calendar and ensure consistent year-round crowds, but most importantly to increase the bottom line.
As long as demand doesn’t subside (and it shows no signs of that), prices will remain high. But we as fans benefit from the improvements and the increased focus on the Parks division.
Hopefully the Armed Forces Salute tickets will continue…
I think you’re right that this won’t change crowds at all until they make adjustments to multi-day tickets. It’s just a cash grab at this point. If they truly wanted to spread out crowds, they should make slower times LESS expensive. Increasing prices and calling it a “value” isn’t going to help.
Disney’s Billion Dollar bet with RFID is tracking every move at WDW to crunch data on where you’re from, how much you spend & where, how you use the parks, etc. Using this info to coax us into more spending, and to cater to those who increase profit margins most.
Honestly, I’d spend 10% more to insure mostly comfortable crowd levels. It’s more upsetting to pay for a premium vacation, only to have a lousy over-crowded experience. I’d rather space out my trips to better afford them, than to pay so much & still have a rough trip anyway. Crowd spreading strategy is already starting to work, if you note how much busier “off-seasons” have become. Hope they’re smart about re-investing all of these profits to continue capturing our hearts & imaginations.
WDW continued tracking us, even without the RFID band…
After visiting Feb ’15 during a school break, WDW sent us a poster in Sept with all the breaks our 13 yr old’s school had this year. His school is one of very few having Spring Break beginning a week *after* Easter. WDW knew this (somehow?), and suggested those dates. We were planning not to go this year, but that mailing changed our minds. Take my money! 😉
Donald Gennaro: And we can charge anything we want, 2,000 a day, 10,000 a day, and people will pay it. And then there’s the merchandise…
John Hammond: Donald, Donald… This park was not built to cater only for the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals.
Donald Gennaro: Sure, they will. Well, we’ll have a, a coupon day or something.
I also agree with Rebecca. Every time there’s a price increase I see a lot of complaints (not here but on other sites) along the lines of ‘they’re increasing prices without increasing value’. My question to those people would be ‘do you hold your other favorite entertainment options to the same standard?’ Are movies a greater value than they were decades ago? As Robert mentions, are sporting events? The prices I saw for Superbowl tickets were $1000 to $3100 and college sports aren’t a whole lot better than the pros. Albums and concerts? I’d say they have lost value; I haven’t been to a truly great concert in years.
The area where I’ve always felt Disney’s prices were utterly insane were their hotel rooms. But that’s a different topic.
I do have to preface all of my comments on this subject…
Living in Southern California my wife and I always get the Disney Signature Plus Annual Passport and ny price increase for the regular tickets won’t affect us.
My problem centers on them trying to says it’s for crowd control and I just don’t see it having much control over that…
Another thought on the subject…
For the rest of the year, there are 83 value days, mostly Mondays through Thursdays during off-season months or when school is normally in session. There are 142 regular days, covering most weekends and summer days. And there are 83 peak days that fall on spring break, some summer weekends, and nearly all of December.
Let’s see how long it goes before Friday and Monday become peak days because of the people that try and skip the weekends and save a few bucks…
While I certainly understand supply vs. demand pricing, it is unfortunate that visitors have to pay more money when the lines are longer!
I’m gonna be honest here, this price increase does not upset me. Before my husband and I visited Disneyland last year, he was shocked by how expensive tickets were. He really thought they were overpriced but, then we actually went. After he saw Fantasmic! he said “now I completely understand why it costs so much”. You easily pay as much for a broadway show that was only a couple of hours and wasn’t nearly as much fun as you do for an entire day at disney that includes rides, broadway quality (albeit shorter) shows, fireworks, street performances, and more.
The truth is, we’ve all come to expect a lot from Disney. Bigger, Better, more technology. All of that costs money. We all know that Disney makes tons of money off of the parks but, we all also want the parks to keep improving and wowing us. If you consider your other entertainment options, Disney is really not that expensive. Seeing an IMAX 3D movie costs $20 and usually lasts around two hours. Disney is at least that entertaining and we are frequently there for about 10 hours in a day so, yeah, around $100 is what we should expect to pay. Compared to movies, concerts, broadway shows, and other forms of entertainment, Disney is actually a pretty good deal for the amount of time you get and quality of entertainment per dollar.
Do I like paying more? No. But I still feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.
I agree with this 100%. My NFL ticket is $110 and that is only 3 hours. So why not pay $110 and get over 10 hours of entertainment.
I second that. Broadway, local plays, movies, sports venues, skiing… all priced higher hourly.
I still feel we’re getting value WDW. The hotels seem expensive… but hotels ARE expensive in popular areas. People complain about food prices, but these prices seem on par to me (even cheaper at times) to what we regularly pay in the ‘burbs of NYC.
Museum of Nat’l History NYC had 5 generic things on it. The 3oz hamburger on a bun with NOTHING else (no fries, pickles, cheese) for $8 plus tax, & barely edible.
Devil’s game- $8 for 1 puny dried out sausage on stale roll which made it mandatory to buy a $10 draft beer to wash it down.
At least you can get a decent meal at WDW now.
Well if you think about the rising Tickets,parking fee and what kills me is once your child turns 10 you have to buy a adult ticket and pay full price for food which runs the bill up fast!! If you go when the parks are at there max you can spend more time in lines than enjoying the parks and with children in school the times to go are always peak season.Hate to say but with the amount of people in the parks these days and prices rising we are opting for other vacations! And this if from a Die Hard Disney guy with 70+ visits. Just so many changes in last 3-4 years that I don’t like and overcrowded parks has turned this DVC member away! And shout out to Tom for the great updates and Great reviews!!!
I think the only way this will effect Disney if people stop going. Sadly I don’t think prices will ever slow down people from going to the park. Plus Disney today is a business and they know that people visit on spring break, summer months, and holidays. So why not charge more since they can get away with it. Are you getting more in peak vs value– no. But if you can take a trip in value it will be worth it since the crowds will be far less then if you went in peak.
Like you I would also expect the same scheme to be applied after the ‘heat’ from the single tickets changes dies down to be applied to the multi-day.
Since the multi-day prices are driven from the base single day price the change could easily be applied without much notice.
I also expect the ‘formula’ to start changing so there are many, many more ‘Peak’ days to start showing up on the calendar. As an added twist I wouldn’t be surprised if they start cutting back on how long they remain valid after purchase.
At Disneyland the other day I asked a lot of people in the lines what kind of ticket they had and not one had a single day pass! If this holds for most of the parks I don’t see much in the way of crowd control.
If we give them the benefit of the doubt that they honestly think this will help crowd control then I would say the executives and upper management need to spend some quality time in the parks the same way the average visitor does! No valet parking, shortcuts or special access to the rides.
At Disneyland a couple of years ago we were right at the point of getting on our Pirates of the Caribbean boat when the gates didn’t open instead a man, woman and two children got in the middle of the boat from the opposite side and took off. Seriously, hundreds of people waiting and this guy gets escorted in and put on a boat! I asked the CM near me who that was and she said he was a Disney VP and they all got special treatment and access.
So how can any of these people understand the problems if they never experience them?
I think Jim brings up good points and to add to that if there are so many places I want to take my kids – and experiences I want to share with them. It’s now cheaper for my family to go to Europe for a week than go to WDW. You can fly round trip for $300 -$400 from Vegas to Europe. That’s where we’re going —to see the real castles.
I personally have no problem with Disney making this decision, and I think that especially once they implement this type of pricing for multiple-day tickets it will have at least some impact on spreading out crowd levels. I am sure it’s a good business move on their end to maximize profits as well, but after reading a few articles on this and reading countless angry comments from people saying they won’t go anymore for reasons of cost or “principle”… I’m sure Disney spent plenty of time on research and made this decision very deliberately, and I’m sure they’re still going to have plenty of loyal fans that will make this move a success. I guess what I’m saying is: I don’t fault Disney for making this call, and I think it will help achieve the goal of spreading out crowds, at least after some time.
I have a few thoughts on the new pricing plan.
This is nothing more than a poorly disguised money grab by Disney. Increase prices, slap a “it will help alleviate crowds” sticker on it and then tell me it is to make my experience more magical. Sorry, not buying it. Just another way to increase revenues.
Although I can’t quote statistics, I think the number of visitors who purchase single day tickets are more numerous than most people think. The state of Florida draws in huge numbers of vacationers, many of whom spend the majority of their time on the coasts. That is what we did / do. It doesn’t take much to get up early, drive two hours to Orlando, buy single day tickets, spend the day and drive two hours back to the coast. It’s a long day, but when it is your only vacation and potentially your only chance (during the year) to visit the most magical place on earth, many people will make the effort to visit for one day. And now, they / we have to pay more. See my gripe above.
Will this cut down on crowds during the busy seasons???? NOT ONE BIT! Will this add considerably to Disney’s pockets??? ABSOLUTELY!
Don’t patronize me, Disney. If my family can visit for only one day, we will not hesitate to pay your higher prices. But don’t think I, and most people who visit your parks, are fooled by your pretty words, saying you have our best interests at heart. With each price increase, I keep wondering when the axe will fall. I guess the Disney magic extends far beyond the parks.
You’re right. Seasonal multi-ticket pricing is just around the corner. But I’m not sure how many people will be able to alter their potential vacation timeframes. I know the number of homeschooled students are growing, but most children are in public school. I know some parents are willing to pull their children out of school for the “educational experience” of Disney (oh, the lies we parents tell ourselves), but many more are not. As much as I would like to take my child in September, that’s just not going to happen. If we want to enjoy WDW, we are going to have to learn to enjoy the crowds and expect to pay more.