Disney World Increasing Prices & Removing Reservations for 1-Day Tickets
Walt Disney World is increasing prices and making major changes to single-day ticketing and park reservations on December 8, 2022. This post offers details and our commentary about how this will impact the guest experience, motivations for the new approach, and more.
This is big news, but only somewhat surprising. It isn’t to the extent that there were a slew of price increases for Walt Disney World at the start of the fiscal year. This encompassed everything from Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers to a new (more expensive) date-based pricing for the Genie+ service. On top of that, Walt Disney World bumped up the price of hundreds of menu items all around the parks & resorts at Walt Disney World.
The surprising part is that this didn’t happen then, and that this is the second ticket price increase of the year at Walt Disney World, with the first happening in mid-February. Even that isn’t unprecedented. That’s why we’ve been advising readers to purchase tickets in advance to lock-in current prices in our 2022-2023 Discount Walt Disney World Ticket Buying Guide.
While we didn’t necessarily expect another increase this year, it’s not a surprise. Sadly, they’ve become all too common with Walt Disney World. The good news is that Undercover Tourist, one of our recommended third party ticket sellers, still has tickets at the “old” prices for a limited time. By buying through them before Walt Disney World’s upcoming price increases take effect, you can save a significant amount per ticket.
For the first time in several years, the price of single day tickets is increasing. These will now vary by park, and still start at $109, which has been the base price since the introduction of the date-based system back in October 2018. However, the maximum 1-day ticket price is increasing for Magic Kingdom, which is the first time that’s happening since March 2019.
With that said, we have no clue how the distribution of price points has changed during that time. We don’t track the price calendar that closely. It’s highly probable that even before this there was a shrinking number of cheaper dates and growing number of more expensive dates.
We also don’t know what that distribution will look like going forward, but we do have the new price ranges. Walt Disney World will introduce park specific pricing for single day, single park (so not Park Hoppers) tickets beginning December 8, 2022. Price ranges are as follows:
- Magic Kingdom – $124 to $189
- Animal Kingdom – $109 to $159
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios – $124 to $179
- EPCOT – $114 to $179
As before, ticket prices will vary based on dates, hence the ranges. This is not dynamic pricing, but it is demand-based in the sense that dates forecast to be busier also cost more. (H/t to theme park journalist Scott Gustin.)
Also starting December 8, there will be no need to make a Disney Park Pass reservation with single day, non-Park Hopper tickets. With these being park-specific, that would be redundant. As such, Walt Disney World’s system will automatically make a reservation for you.
This change is only for those who purchase 1-day tickets for a specific date and park. Most guests will continue to make theme park reservations. As before, Park Hoppers and multi-day tickets will need to make reservations. There are no changes to the Park Pass system for these ticket types (yet?).
Along with the introduction of park specific pricing at Walt Disney World on December 8, the cost to add the Park Hopper (and other options) to your ticket will also vary by date.
Walt Disney World has not yet provided pricing specifics–we’ll update accordingly once the new prices go live. Again, these are the second price increases of 2022 for park tickets, so we’re hoping that Park Hoppers don’t go up too much. Of course, what we hope happens and what actually happens are often two totally different things.
Similarly, although new Annual Pass sales remain paused, those APs will see an increase when sales resume. Here are the new prices for each tier:
- Incredi-Pass: $1399 – previously $1299
- Sorcerer Pass: $969 – previously $899
- Pirate Pass: $749 – previously $699
- Pixie Pass: $399 – no change
For those wondering when new AP sales will restart, Walt Disney World has no official answer. We cover our current expectations in When Will Walt Disney World Resume Annual Pass Sales?
As for commentary about the price increases, I’ve lost the capacity for surprise when it comes to those. This is similar sentiment to the commentary in other recent price increase posts (plural), but it remains true here. Even though this is the second ticket price increase of the year at Walt Disney World, it’s still not a huge surprise. Crowds are crushing, pent-up demand is still strong, and the parks have a devoted and passionate fanbase.
The busy Christmas season has arrived and with it, two of the highest attendance months of the year. Last year, Christmas was such a popular season that Walt Disney World ran out of reservations even at top-tier prices and suspended ticket sales for some dates. Our expectation is that this holiday season will be even busier.
On top of that, inflation is running hot around the globe, with the United States hitting a four-decade high above 8% this year. Most of these price increases are in the neighborhood that. On top of that, the least expensive single day tickets haven’t gone up since October 2018.
However, it’s also fair to point out that with the end of free FastPass+ and introduction of paid Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, which Disney has indicated that roughly half of Walt Disney World visitors are purchasing, the effective cost of visiting has gone up by more than 10%. In order to have an equivalent experience as compared to pre-closure, you’ll need to spend an extra $25 per day, at least, and that’s just for Lightning Lanes. That’s still not exactly apples to apples, but it’s close enough for the sake of our comparison.
During earnings calls and interviews throughout the year, CEO Bob Chapek has directly addressed price increases–and prepared fans for more of the same. He has said that Disney’s theme parks are seeing unprecedented demand, and have pricing power as a result. Chapek has also boasted that the company’s domestic parks and resorts have achieved all-time revenue and operating income records.
For several consecutive quarters, per guest spending at the domestic parks has been up more than 40% versus the same quarter in 2019, an absolutely staggering number. This has been driven by a more favorable guest and ticket mix (read: fewer Annual Passholders), plus higher food & beverage and merchandise spending, as well as contributions from Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. Revenue and operating income exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and that’s even as Disney continued capping attendance.
In essence, Chapek has said that the ball is in consumers’ court—so long as they continue to descend upon Disney in huge numbers and willingly pay more, Disney will continue to raise prices until met with resistance. (In the form of lost sales and reduced demand, not online complaints divorced from actual action.)
Sadly, Chapek is correct—at least in the short term. It’s hard to make a compelling case that Walt Disney World has any sort of pricing problem, at least for now. Even with all of the recent (non-ticket) price increases, the company is posting unprecedented numbers and demand is off the charts.
Excluding the early fall off-season, Walt Disney World crowds have been absolutely bonkers thus far in 2022. While the Florida parks haven’t hit Disneyland levels of absurdity, they are closing in on 2019 wait time levels (but almost certainly not raw attendance numbers due to the reduced capacity of the parks, which exacerbates “feels like” crowds). This is something we’ve discussed in countless crowd reports and Disney Doesn’t Want Lower Crowds, so we won’t belabor that point here.
In short, as long as consumers keep spending and pent-up demand is strong, people will pay the prices for Walt Disney World park tickets, Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and whatever else has gone up in price. The serious issue will come down the road when people are not feeling so hot about their economic circumstances and future.
At that point, it’s a question of whether discounting will be enough to incentivize guests to return, or if irreparable brand damage will have been done during the last decade or so of increases. We don’t have an answer to that–no one does–but it’s definitely something about which we’re curious.
We aren’t alone. During the Walt Disney Company’s fiscal fourth quarter 2022 earnings call, Wall Street analysts and investors asked CEO Bob Chapek and CFO Christine McCarthy about contingency plans to keep the company on track to meet its financial targets during a potential recession in 2023.
In response, they indicated that there are a number of “levers” they could pull in the event of economic downturn. We explain those options in What Does Walt Disney World Do During a Recession? However, in the here and now, pent-up demand still has not exhausted itself. This holiday season might be the ‘last hurrah’ so to speak, but it’s likely to be a busy one.
On a positive note, we are very pleased to see reservations rolled into 1-day tickets. This is a step in the right direction, and one we’re shocked didn’t happen at the start of this year.
The argument could be made that reservations are useful when it comes to staffing or resource allocation, but that doesn’t really hold water with single day tickets—especially under this new system. We’re skeptical that it ever was true for any tickets, as Disney is notoriously bad with data and analytics, even if it might fancy itself a tech company now.
As we’ve pointed out elsewhere, the only parks that are regularly running out of reservations are Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. This has been occurring on many days regardless of wait times, with both parks going unavailable on occasion with 5/10 or lower crowd levels.
This means that Walt Disney World is now using reservations not out of necessity, but to redistribute attendance on many days. They’re doing this by capping reservations at Magic Kingdom and pushing people towards Animal Kingdom and EPCOT to increase the utilization of those parks and normalize numbers across all four parks. There actually are a number of benefits to this approach, including making for a more pleasant guest experience and easing staffing shortages.
Multiple Disney executives have implicitly indicated that this is more or less occurring. When discussing the park reservations systems, they routinely mention yield management–or maximizing revenue by anticipating and influencing consumer behavior.
Disney CFO Christine McCarthy has also indicated that the company pivoted with the Disney Park Pass system from limiting capacity due to local mandates to using it to “better balance load” attendance. This is something we’ve seen with Disney attempting to manage Lightning Lane inventory, and load balancing is also occurring with park reservations.
With that said, there are downsides and potentially ulterior motives, as well. For example, if EPCOT has higher food & beverage spending–which it almost certainly does–management might have an incentive to funnel guests there.
The downside for Walt Disney World is it could backfire, which probably explains this change (and why we expected this to occur a long time ago). It’s one thing to manipulate reservations for multi day tickets or Annual Passholders, as they will simply adjust accordingly (most of the time).
It’s another entirely to do that for those who purchase single day tickets, which is a surprisingly large portion of Walt Disney World visitors. If you’re taking a Florida trip and want your kids to “get the Disney experience” for a day, that most likely means Magic Kingdom. If only EPCOT is available for regular ticket reservations, some guests will choose not to buy tickets at all and simply not visit Disney. (Keep in mind that for many causal visitors, Magic Kingdom is synonymous with Disney; EPCOT and the rest are not a comparable substitute.)
Of course, this is also precisely why Magic Kingdom is going to cost more than any of the other parks. Maintaining the same range as before for Animal Kingdom while effectively increasing prices (potentially by significant amounts) for each of the other 3 parks is savvy marketing that will also yield significantly more revenue from visitors who do day trips to Walt Disney World and want to do “the Star Wars park,” “the Disney World park,” or “the Drinking World park.” (Sad trombone for Animal Kingdom, forever “the zoo park.”)
We’re only half-joking. Walt Disney World is becoming even more adept at yield management, and trying to shape consumer behavior or capitalize on the popularity of the parks.
While they’re getting “good” at this, it’s still a delicate needle to thread. Consumer behavior is also the ultimate ‘check & balance’ on corporate behavior and could prevent the Disney Park Pass system and so much of Walt Disney World’s current approach from being viable once demand for ‘make-up’ vacation starts to abate and spending falls back to regular levels–or worse, if there’s a recession.
Ultimately, it’s still our belief that things aren’t too far from normalizing. (You might call it wishful–or delusional–thinking!) Again, this holiday season will certainly be busy and we’re not suggesting otherwise. However, these price increases and other changes last beyond Christmas. It’ll be interesting to see whether capturing extra revenue for another couple of months is worth the headlines that further cement Walt Disney World as a travel destination with ever-increasing prices.
It’ll also be interesting to see just how quickly Walt Disney World is able to pivot and pull some of those “levers” (to borrow a phrase from the c-suite) when attendance or the U.S. economy (or both) switches gears. At some point, pent-up demand will fizzle out and inflation on necessities will negatively discretionary spending; on top of that, higher interest rates, underperforming investment portfolios, and growing household debt will bring the party to an end. The clock is ticking on all of that.
When all of some of that happens, consumers will return to being more cost-conscious and price sensitive, and things will normalize to at least some degree. However, there don’t appear to be any signs of those things happening anytime soon. So, get used to high prices, heavy crowds, and nickel & diming at Walt Disney World and Disneyland as this record run of revenue and income continues for at least the immediate future. We’ll be paying careful attention to all of the changes, and will keep you updated as we learn anything new.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Walt Disney World’s decision to change the park ticketing system and increase prices along with it? Do you think Disney is going too far with increases in a way that’ll leave lasting reputational damage, or will the company be able to quickly pivot along with economic circumstances? Think Chapek is right or wrong about how guests essentially control Walt Disney World’s prices by virtue of demand? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
…and yet DESPITE all these “unprecedented numbers in attendance and profit” their share price CONTINUES TO FALL…..
.’nuff said…..
And no dividends!
Tom you have helped us so much over the years with planning our trips. I meant to post about this earlier regarding the reservation system. On our first post covid trip in September we learned just how frustrating it is. Chapek can tout that it helps manage crowds, but I call BS on that. We went to HS our second morning, not long after rope drop, and only managed to get on one ride before the wait times were over 90 mins across the park. We did 3 shows, wait times were even higher at this point, and it wasn’t even noon. We had just activated our APs, had other trips planned, so we decided to abandon the park and head back to our RV for lunch. We pivoted to AK right at 2 and walked on pretty much everything, so that saved the day. But I remember thinking, if I was visiting on a multi-day ticket with no plans to return soon or ever, I’d be so upset that I was trapped in HS with those wait times until 2 pm. You either stick it out and suffer, or leave the park and kill time until 2, hoping for better later in the day. It would be miserable IMO.
And because we did pretty much all of what we wanted to do at AK in that one afternoon, we decided to skip it the day I had reservations. We did putt-putt that morning instead and went over to HS at 2 pm thinking that we would try again, but we got the dreaded red mickey head at the gate. After a brief discussion, the cast member told us that because we didn’t check in to AK, where we had our reservation, we couldn’t hop! I had no idea that was a rule, and if you’ve posted about it I definitely missed it! Luckily, there were reservations available at HS, b/c September, so I had to stand at the entrance with my family while I cancelled the AK we didn’t use, then rebook HS, then swipe our bands. It was crazy to me! I can’t imagine we were the first people this has happened to, but it definitely made us realize the complete inflexibility of the reservation system, especially at times when some parks aren’t available. I don’t understand the need to check in to the reserved park if you decide to change your plans AFTER park hopping has begun.
Replying to myself to add, of course if you don’t have the hopper, you’re stuck the entire day, which would be even worse. You’re just hoping the park you pick on any given day isn’t crazy crowded. This also leads me to believe that the entire purpose of genie + is to guarantee that every guest is either paying for park hopping, genie +, or both. B/c if you’re not hopping, the only way to reasonably accomplish things in any park that has long wait times is to have the genie.
Heading to Disney World late this week. We are the type family Disney doesn’t want:AP holder, ten year DVC owner, drive to WDW, drive out each day to nearby restaurants, minimal money spent onsite at Disney. Years ago we always flew, rode Magical Express didn’t leave WDW until return flight home. Might or might not renew APs later next year depends how the next few trips go. Chapek is going to keep squeezing the consumer until he’s bled them dry. At some point consumers will head for the exits and not return. Many to “big to fail “ companies are no longer in business. Staffing or lack of and guest experience for money spent will be the tipping point. Consumers have an innate value/cost benefit meter that Disney is pushing into red line category.
I love WDW and thank you for your article, but WDW is starting to become more and more greedy. It’s great that they have a good demand for the parks, but should not be using that to increase prices. WDW is suppose to be about families coming together to have a magical experience together. WDW has made many changes over the years- good and bad, but it really feels like it’s only about the money. They use to have programs to help those less fortunate to be able to take their children which from my understanding has all been stopped. I believe Walt Disney would not be happy with taking the magic away from WDW. I have gone many times through the years with my children and now my grandchildren which make my heart happy to see their faces but it’s beginning to be a financially stressful happy which is really sad.
As a 20+ times visitor from the U.K. ( former annual pass holder and DVC owner ) I have just returned from a trip and have no plans to visit again. The combination of reduced value as a result of rides being down , lack of catering facilities and much reduced transportation plus the mismanaged response to Storm Nicole leads me to the conclusion Disney should be reducing prices and not increasing them. It will be interesting to see how quickly they can hit those levers to adapt as we spoke to several other visitors who shared our opinion and don’t plan to go back.
I have to say, I’m surprised it took this long after breaking out one-day Magic Kingdom tickets for the other parks to be specialized as well.
Still, I came here to ask the question that will launch a thousand jokes: Tom, are Pixie Passes still available?
Thanks for this, Tom! I assume if we already have single-day park tickets and park reservations for January, nothing changes with these updates. Is that right?
There really should be no complaing. I do not like “Paycheck”, but he is outfront by stating that as long as people will pay, we will charge. It is not just Disney, every place you shop is under this same assumption. So, consumers are to blame, enough said.
Does anyone know if there is any impact on the old “non-expiring 10 day tickets?” In my zeal for Disney and anticipation for future price increase, I purchase them years ago for me and my family. We go to the parks sparingly at each annual visit, but with how expensive things are getting, my view of Disney is turning sour. I don’t plan to go every year, but I don’t want to lose the tickets that I had purchased. So far, even in my last visit, I have had no problems with using these tickets.
No, it shouldn’t.
(I will note that the app requires an end date, though, and while my wife has 2099 on hers, I have 2030 on mine. They’re both clearly marked No Expiration so I’ll get it fixed before then.)
I also have several days left on some long ago purchased tickets. When I questioned them at a guest services, they said they should be good forever. Great! They also wanted to roll them onto our magic bands which I refused to let them do. I felt that they would be the first to be used when we entered a park verses our AP’s. I’m saving them for when the time comes to let out AP’s expire, and still have a few days as we age.
Disney is my happy place and has been for years. The money they are making in a days time is crazy. The prices do need to come down. I refuse to pay for LL and Genie because the cost of the ticket is so high. I think they should do away with those. People who can’t afford the extra money to jump the lines have to wait in line and so should everyone else. You are correct as long as people pay the prices for Disney they will never go down. I grew up staying in the Contemporary and now I have to stay off property which I don’t mind just because I want to see the Castle. It would be nice to stay on property if prices ever come down.
As always, great analysis Tom. This part really sums it all up, “In essence, Chapek has said that the ball is in consumers’ court—so long as they continue to descend upon Disney in huge numbers and willingly pay more, Disney will continue to raise prices until met with resistance. (In the form of lost sales and reduced demand, not online complaints divorced from actual action.)” Until people stop supporting these changes with their wallets, nothing will change. We have actively decided as a family to no longer support these crazy decisions made by Disney. Our next family vacation will be going back to Universal. It is just night and day and such an enjoyable experience!
Thank you for another great article, Tom. We have 2 more Disney trips planned in 2023, but then we will be done. The trip in March is because my daughter’s HS Marching Band is going (she is a baton twirler) and she will get to twirl down Main St. USA (I will NOT miss seeing that) and the second trip is in October for our daughter’s 16th birthday. After October 2023, you’ll find us in Europe. Disney is simply pricing people out of the parks. They say the parks are their largest revenue but I wonder what the heads at Disney will think when that revenue slows way down because people can no longer afford to walk through the front gates. For it to cost a family of 4, $500+ just to walk through the gates, and that’s on a slow day, is absurd.
For us personally, we will enjoy our next two visits and move on.
So what’s next? Annual Passes per park instead of for all 4?
We are in the Orlando area so we don’t have to travel.
If it wasn’t for our grandchildren it would be time to say GOODBYE.
By the time the out of towners decide it’s too much, Disney will not be able to react in time. They will be gone for many years.
This is not the experience that Walt wanted.
I’m surprised with the park specific pricing consumers don’t get a percentage discount on EPCOT proportional to the square footage that is a giant dirt pit.
We leave for Orlando in two weeks, and this will be the first time vacationing down there we aren’t doing anything at Disney. It’s tough to know we will be so close, and not going (especially as we reflect back on all the good times), but the price hikes and diminished customer experience are too much for now.
Just got back from a Disney trip 2 weeks ago. Had a good time, but the prices on things are crazy. Will be a while before I bring my family back to be honest (yearly visitor).
They should be raising the prices for the pixie pass, the loudest complainers end up paying the least. Pricing out more people would be good.
Oh, I don’t know if it’s the Pixie Pass complaining the most, just maybe that there are more Pixie Pass APs left than the other types to complain! As an out-of-town AP (renewed for several years), it’s obvious that we are getting hit hard with price increases and the value-to-cost is disappearing, if not already gone. With the new AP pricing above, it would cost less for all 4 of my family to get a Pixie Pass (not that they allow this for out-of-state), than to get just even 1 of the only AP that we are allowed to purchase! In other words, our next AP renewal would cost greater than 4 TIMES that of a Pixie Pass – and we can only get to the parks 2-3 trips per year! I guarantee that most Pixie Pass AP holders go to parks more days per year than our family does. I’m not upset with Pixie Pass AP holders at all, this is just a simple price comparison of how off-balance and price-gouging Disney has gone with out-of-state APs. After this year, I see many more days at Universal with only a few single-park tickets sprinkled in here and there at Disney.
Thank you for this thoughtful breakdown of today’s news. Chapek wins…he has priced me and my family out of Disney World. We will take our final trip in a few weeks. It will be very bittersweet. I think what I will miss the most, aside from our time in the parks, is the larger Disney fan community. Hard to spend time reading about a place I can’t afford to visit.
I guess you could see this coming with their last earnings report. Parks are profitable, streaming not. Disney laying off significant # of ees in non profitable sectors…..they are doing the very short term thing & looking to the easy theme park cash cow. Long term, Chapel has angered many fans who won’t forget and who are gradually shifting how they do Disney. I’m a long time Disney fan, former cast member, go several times a year, have for years, and almost $200 for a ticket?? And no AP sales for out of state? We will continue to cut our Disney time, and will just keep enjoying our Universal annual passes & looking forward to Universal’s new park,
How annoying that some parks are more expensive than others now! But in answer to your question about the future – my bet is that people will happily respond to discounts and will either not notice, not remember or not care that Disney had previously nickel and dimed us all.
Honestly, what I most want back is all-day park hopping. Obviously, everyone has different plans. But my ideal day would be: early hours to hit the Toy Story and Star Wars rides at HS; hop to AK for a couple hours of animal-watching (forgive me, but I do not like Pandora nor do I like the new version of Lion King); take a mid-day break; and finish at MK or Epcot. It really annoys me that I can’t use the early-morning benefit combined with another park before 2 p.m.
Thanks again for the great article Tom. I have complained a lot about the terrible changes that Disney has made and you can add this to the list. All this does is make it more confusing for guests as opposed to simplifying everything. How many different ways are there to now buy a ticket at WDW? This is insane! Higher prices, more confusing, more customer anger. So do thes enew date based non park pass tickets take inventory away from mutli day Park Hoppers, AP holders, etc? WDW continues to make decisions based on bottom line only and they have lost their customer focus