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!
To your question, “is (Disney) going too far with increases in a way that’ll leave lasting reputational damage?”
I believe Disney has already reached lasting reputational damage for many fans. Now it’s a matter of how high that percentage will go.
My question to you is do you think one of the reasons Disney is grabbing as much as they can now is because of the looming new park that Universal will be opening soon? Do they see the writing on the wall?
Having not been to Disney since the last time we ran the Marathon during Marathon Weekend in 2013, I’m still intrigued by the manner in which the company operates it’s pricing model for theme park admission, food, upcharges, etc. It’s nothing under-handed, of course, it’s merely supply and demand economics, so the greater surprise is not the price increases but rather the ongoing public acceptance of those increases as born out by elevated attendance numbers. The system truly does work, though, for both parties.
Since we don’t have any Disney “bonds” that lure us to take trips there, this phenomenon is interesting to observe from a distance. One can only surmise that market forces will once again prevail when Disney prices their product at a rate above which the market will stand. At that point, at not a moment before, pricing (either real or interpreted via other indirect, non-financial incentives) will be adjusted accordingly.
Until that time though, it’s fascinating theater to behold.
Excellent comment. You wonder where the price cutoff point is. I don’t think Disney will stop raising prices. If demand softens, they will introduce limited amount of “deals” like 25% room, or a package deal, etc… maybe even free dining.
Went last week and the best thing that happened was the so called hurricane. They closed the parks for a half day so as we arrived at Magic Kingdom around 1:30, the parking lot was pretty much empty and the crowds were not bad at all. Eventually, Chapek will hit his price limit and only those fortunate to have that much throw away cash will be able to attend and that’s probably when people will see more manageable attendance levels. It’ll take a while but I’m sure one day it will happen. I probably won’t go again at least not for years now. It takes a while to save enough to go and not have to worry about penny pinching while there. As far as riding the rides, we didn’t need to do Genie +. We used early entry and got in the more popular rides with no line waiting. Then, going back another day, we’d zag while others zigged and got on some rides we liked with hardly any waiting. Favorite of the week was Guardians of the Galaxy. Got into virtual queue right at 7 and was given a 5pm return time! That sucked and not sure how that can happen but it eventually worked its way down to 3pm. A few days later, got a 10:15am return time. That ride was certainly the highlight for me, more enjoyable than Rise of the Resistance which was decent in and of itself.
We are long time WDW visitors from the Midwest, dating back to “E” ticket days. We booked rooms at Polynesian, New Orleans, and Boardwalk. We no longer stay in the parks. We loved the non expiring tickets as those continued to bring us back. I think on marketing mistake Disney makes is limiting annual pass ability for out of state. It is much harder for us to use them and out of staters would have fewer visits, making the cost per visit higher Wuhan’s compared to Florida residents. We are now annual pass holders at Universal and perhaps go to Disney two days a year. Even with higher prices at Disney, the company only sees a fraction of the annual dollar amount we oiled spend there.
My family have been going regularly for the last 15 years but our visit this April will be our last for a while. Due to all the new restrictions on park passes, reduced magic hours, park hopping and cost of LL etc we did not enjoy it like the previous visits. All the previous perks have now gone and you have to plan everything. When the covid backlog and recession kicks in Disney will have to up their game to get us back.
While I, too, have “lost the capacity for surprise” on price increasing, I am disgusted with The Disney Company right now. And as to – “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.” – here is what I would like to say – What would Walt Disney say? I do not begrudge them making a profit, but Walt Disney did not start this company with the intent to gouge people. In fact, he nearly went bankrupt trying to fulfill his dreams and vision for the company bearing his name. It was not about offering something special to squeeze as much money as possible. It was about creating a clean, enjoyable place for the whole family to create good memories and have fun. This company has done well because of Walt’s vision, not Chapek’s. I believe Chapek is ruining the company brand, which is the very essence of what made it special. It is a sad thing to see, as I have been a life-long fan of Walt Disney.
Another round of the price increases on top of the already onerous price increases in 2022 that increased per-guest spending by 40% is just bad optics.
The problem is Disney raised prices and people responded by coming in even greater numbers and spending even more money. Did anyone really expect a corporation was going to keep the price is the same in the middle of the biggest inflation in this century?
Other Orlando parks like Universal are way cheaper and the crowds still come to Disney. Let’s face it: Disney isn’t going to drop prices unless guests stop coming.
Sure, I enjoy Universal since they added Harry Potter, but in my opinion outside of those areas the park might as well be a local Six Flags.
False. Universal is not “way cheaper” than Disney.
Living in RI/MA as middle class, I was brought up with going to Disney, starting in 1979, and have gone to Disney for week-long trips 15 times since. We just went this past Aug/Sept with our now-teenage children, and I’m sorry to say I believe this time to be our last. I cringe at the money we spent for tickets/hotel (Pop Century, not the Floridian, folks)/fast pass/food/drinks, but as we had a good time like we always do, I’m not sorry we did it. But as we continually see the high crowds continue, and the prices increasing at an alarming rate, this particular enjoyment has come to an end for us. I just want to send out a huge thank you to Tom and Sarah, for giving freely the information and insight that helped us out tremendously in our planning. As others have noted, it’s nearly impossible for this to be a spontaneous trip anymore, if you have any hope of getting into a particular restaurant or going on popular rides. So we’ll be another one less Disney family (agreed, like Disney execs care).
I will not be going back to Disney again. I’ve been going to Walt Disney world since 1976 and with this new “CEO” it’s disgusting how he is just destroying Disney a little piece at a time. They need to get rid of him and get back to what Walt Disney envision. So sad.
The prices going up while getting less is getting out of hand. I don’t know when it will stop but it can’t go on forever. It’s time to push back on our spending. We have a trip planned and it will be the 1st one without dining reservations. It will also be without Photopass. I usually spend quite a lot on merchandise, not this trip. We have never spent a cent on Genie + or LL so that is a plus. Until other people plan on spending less it won’t get any better. Chapek and his team are destroying the parks that we know of the past
We just got back a week ago. Going through my credit card statement I was struck by how much we spent on G+, ILL, and dining. We have DVC and AP which kept room and tickets “manageable” for cost and similar to other trips. But spent $80 to $200 per day additional for 4 people for ILL and LL. We didn’t have a strategy and used LL similar to what we did when FP+ was free, accepting the cost for the convenience. In hindsight those “ticket add on” charges really added up. We spent almost $2000 for 4 people over a 6 night trip for dining/snacks. That was with groceries and leftovers for breakfast and lunch almost every day. In past years $83 per person per day would get more than enough food on the dining plan without needing to eat 2 meals a day in the room. I am VERY happy we renewed our APs early, or that would have been an additional $400 with the price increase. We have 3 remaining trips already planned on this AP but after that we will likely scale back. Partly because of price increases and partly because our kids are getting older and we have other travel destinations we’d like them to experience before they leave home.
Do you think this will affect multi-day tickets as well?
1st useful comment on this post
I’m in my pass renewal month but haven’t done it yet. Do you know if the renewal price is based on a discount from the increased price yet or will the renewals be based on the previous prices until they start selling again (or some other date)? Basically asking if I need to renew asap or if I can wait a couple of weeks.
Hi, TD. You should be able to see what price you’ll have to pay when you go to renew through your account. You’ll see that info before you actually renew/pay. I know last year (Oct), I was able to renew just before the price increase. Otherwise, I have no idea.
Disney has finally done us in. It used to be just a fun vacation, make the reservation, pay for it, get your free magic bands in the mail, use the dining plan and make reservations for dinner, and show up. Now, there’s so much planning involved that, quite frankly, I’m not sure I’m going to have a very good time. It’s a family vacation for 5 adults, and…try to figure out park reservations for 5 separate people. Also, prices keep going up, so the meal budget has gone out the window. I hope I have enough $$$ to go. Very disappointed to say this is our last Disney World vacation. (Like Disney cares)
Yup-We have a trip to Disneyland booked and paid for early 2023. 4 adults-rabid Disney fans. This may be our last trip. While I loved planning our prior trips to both Disney Word and D’Land, it’s now become just become too much! With so much to see in the US, we are rethinking how to spend our vacation dollars. Hope someone from Disney is reading this!
Yep. All the planning totally ruined it for me. The amount of work that goes into having a somewhat enjoyable day has just become too much.
I wonder if the price increase for the annual passes is really just so the renewal price is based off of the higher price with no plan yet to begin selling new passes any time soon. We’re within our renewal window by about a week – was going to renew them when I got around to it, but on hold to renew now without knowing when those price increases will “take effect” and raise the renewal price.
I think you’re right Anthony.
We let our incredipass passes expire two weeks ago, and I never ever thought I would do that, given the fact that we live only 10 minutes away and loved going. But we have become too put off by the “experience,” which is so far from what it was a few years ago. The thing that has made us the most irritated is the number of times we’ve wanted to go to a park and not been able to, due to the reservation system. Even looking a day or two in advance. For a pass that has no blockout dates, this is ridiculous. And it’s not like I’m talking about Christmas or Thanksgiving day. Seemingly normal days when all parks were booked, and capacity was definitely not anywhere near full. We’ve now become pass holders for the top tier at Universal and it’s incredible how much cheaper it is, and how much more they give you. Maybe we’ll return to Disney eventually, but not anytime soon. We are really soured out.
I just want to say that the “if it weren’t for the kids/grandkids we would be DONE” line of thinking is exactly what Disney is banking on. There will always be kids and grandkids, and if the adults in their lives keep finding ways to “make it work” Disney will keep the increases coming. Nobody wants to tell their kids “no” or see them disappointed. But I want to remind everyone that their are literally millions of kids who are told “we can’t do X because it’s too expensive” who grow up just fine. ESPECIALLY if the kids have already been once, really think about if you actually need to take that return trip. As Tom said, complaining about the prices while continuing to pay them means nothing to the megacorporation who has always been very interested in profits.
Right now, I’m in that gray area where I think we’re probably done with Disney, but I’m still holding out hope that we’ll be able to return again. However, as Disney continues to increase prices while worsening the guest experience, they tip fans such as myself closer to the point of no return. We are heading to Universal for the first time next month – I’m reading everything you’ve written about it, so we can maximize our first experience. 🙂 I am SHOCKED at how much more affordable it is compared to Disney! If our trip to Universal gives me the same feelings of elation that once marked my trips to Disney, then our family’s split with Disney will be finalized…
We are voting with our wallet. In the last 2 years, Disney has lost thousands and thousands of our dollars and I’m sure Universal was happy to receive them. Our next Florida trip is late February and we will be enjoying our Universal APs and only visiting DIsney to stay at our DVC resort. My sister was thinking about a family visit to Epcot in June and it’s been vetoed, not because we couldn’t afford it, (privilege recognized) but because the value is just not there for the price, even more so with the ticket increases. We still enjoy the DVC Resorts but no longer feel compelled to visit the parks regularly or buy the poor quality merchandise. Not thrilled about the new Disney plus price increase, but at least we feel the value there. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years…..
Due to prices, we have cut our time at Disney drastically and will continue to do so. We went from going every year, to every other year, and now heading into going every 4-5 years with these prices. I understand the reasons why for price increases as I’m already having a less than stellar guest experience with the crowds currently going into the parks. I kept asking myself in my last few visits how there can be this many people at the parks with little to no low seasons anymore (I’ve always been strategic with crowd levels and my trips). My conclusion is that overall population has just increased THAT much leading to so much demand. I don’t see that demand going down too much ever. The long term answer may be in opening up a 5th gate as the ever growing population is just too big for just 4 parks.
As for me I’m heading to my last trip in a few weeks to get some Christmas spirit Disney style even with incredibly large crowds expected. I won’t be back for at least 3-4 years most likely.
we are a middle class family been to Disney 88 times before 2019 with all the increases of gas ,food and basic needs we can not afford Disney world no more they have price themselves out of the main family class . thanks for the fun in past but we going elsewhere.