Disney World Ticket Prices Increase for Remainder of 2019
Walt Disney World ticket prices for the remainder of 2019 have increased on 1-day and multi-day tickets, with jumps ranging from under 10% on some multi-day options to nearly 25% on peak holiday pricing. In this post, we’ll look at the changes and offer commentary on the likelihood of more Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge price surges.
While this is occurring a bit later than last year’s first increase, it is worth noting that there were effectively two price increases last year. First was the annual February bump, followed by the switch to the date-based pricing structure in October, which was a price increase by another name (the vast majority of prices increased then and only a sliver decreased in price).
Nevertheless, this is not even remotely surprising. We knew at least one price increase was coming before the debut of Star Wars land, and Disney recently announced that the first phase of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would open early at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. At that point, it became a matter of ‘when not if’ with the next price increase.
Covering this Walt Disney World ticket price increase is a bit more challenging than past ones because the date-based system is harder to track than the previously-published rate charts of past years. As we’ve previously noted, this is probably by design, as it allows Disney to quietly raise prices on the calendar without an announcement.
We don’t know the full extent of the price increases, but we do have a few examples. The biggest gains are for single day tickets during the peak week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, which are now $159, up from $129 previously. Several other holiday dates around Easter, Memorial Day, and prior to Christmas now cost $139 per day.
At the other end of the spectrum, single day ticket prices remain $109 for many off-season dates, and this includes most weekdays in September 2019, which is immediately after the debut of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. By this point, Walt Disney World undoubtedly has internal projections (based upon hotel occupancy and other data) about attendance for this period. It’s interesting that they’re still expecting it to be off-season.
Multi-day price increases are more challenging to ascertain, but we’ve heard of price increases of as little as ~$1 per day for some August and September travel dates to as much as over $10 per day for peak season dates. We’d expect these increases to track closely with the jumps to single day tickets, but we didn’t have the foresight to save before/after prices, so we’re unsure. (We’ll rectify this for the future!)
Curiously, Annual Pass prices have not increased…yet. (Aside from the water parks one, which makes sense given we’re approaching that season.) We’d put the likelihood of APs remaining at this price for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at around zero, so it would behoove you to buy a voucher now if you want to lock-in current pricing on Annual Passes. If this price increase is any indication, Walt Disney World won’t be giving guests advance notice ahead of that.
On another interesting note, standard parking prices have not changed, but preferred parking has dropped to $45 per day in regular season, while remaining at $50 per day during peak seasons. Previously, every day preferred parking was $50. This change is probably for the simple reason that preferred lots were sitting close to empty on off-season days, as there’s less of a “need” to buy it when the parking lots aren’t busy.
If you’ve read our 2019 Discount Walt Disney World Ticket Buying Guide, none of the price increases should come as any surprise. In that, we predicted two price increases this year–in February and October. While we missed the mark on the first increase by a month, we stand by that two price increase prediction.
At this point, we’re going to stick with October as the second price increase prediction–maybe the tail end of September. That’s far enough after the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge that it wouldn’t be picked up and lumped in with mainstream news coverage gushing over that land, but still early enough to capitalize on the busy holiday season.
Worth noting is that Undercover Tourist has a limited supply of their “old” inventory of discounted Walt Disney World tickets. If you’re traveling between now and December 31, 2019, we’d again strongly encourage you to buy now because (spoiler alert) Walt Disney World tickets will only continue to increase in price between the debut of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.
The real question is how many more times will prices increase this year? As mentioned above, it’s unlikely that anything will change between now and the late-August debut of Star Wars land, but another bump immediately after the opening is conceivable.
This is especially true if early attendance numbers for that new land beat expectations, or if projections for the holiday season are high. It seems unlikely Disney would try to squeeze another increase in after that (meaning a total of 3 this year), but we’re in uncharted waters with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Overall, we’re not really sure what else to say about the latest price increase at Walt Disney World that we haven’t already said…several times. It’s been four years since we published Are Walt Disney World Tickets Too Expensive? (The prices “back then” now seem like a bargain by comparison!) More recently, we posted Is Disney Eroding Fan Goodwill?
At this point, as long as the economy is strong, consumer confidence is high, and Walt Disney World is debuting high-profile (and marketable) additions, attendance will remain strong. We do question how well this strategy will play out in the long term, but suffice to say, don’t expect attendance to be any lower as prices continue to go up.
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 of the latest round of ticket price increases at Walt Disney World? Are you disappointed? Apprehensive/puzzled/curious by September 2019 still being considered off-season by Walt Disney World? 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!
First, it sure would be helpful if articles show the publish date (near the author name). I had to guess when this was published based on the dates on the comments.
Second, it’s late October and I see nothing on the Internet about any recent price increases. So is it most likely still forthcoming over the coming weeks?
Hello! I am going to WDW for 8 days in February 2020. We have our airplane tickets so the dates are locked in but want to buy our tickets before the increase in October 2019. I am patiently waiting to see if they offer a discount prior to the increase like they have years past but am worried I will miss it. My brother has an alert set up but whatnot would you do?
Thank you!
Disney as far as I know never runs any sort of discount.
i am still trying to figure out what the cost is going to be for the 38 nights i am going to be in disneyworld and i dont seem to be able to find the answers,i am planning all four parks and hitting the water parks as well,can someone share the info please,? it will help with what i have in mind
38 nights wow thats too long ! I would just get an annual pass .
i plan on making it 45 days and as to buying a season pass,i dont see me coming back for a long time
It appears to me that the increase did impact Florida Resident annual passes. My husband and I renewed in May (with the 15% renewal discount) at $550.61 each. A month later, we renewed our teenage son’s (had to wait because we had bought his previous pass a month later) and his was $632.61. A 15% increase. Yikes!
[email protected]
Is there still time to book for a July 2019 trip and get some discounted tickets?
Wow, this is crazy! I am already researching prices to stay and run the Princess in 2020. With ticket prices going up maybe I should factor in a 10% variance… Unfortunately it doesn’t look like runDisney offers any kind of discount over what Disney reservations are offering and I am being told they are not offering hotel blocks to outside vendors either. Maybe the Play Stay and Dine will be offered so we can at least get a discount on dining. Any ideas on how to proceed?
ALERT. If you go to Undercover Tourist, do not use Microsoft Edge as your browser. Their web site does not work with Edge. Google Chrome works!
I was finally able to save $30 a ticket for 4 day Park Hoppers in September.
Brickers,
Thanks for saving us $60! We are going for a quick trip in June with 2 days in the parks. Following your advice, we bought tickets last month. Those same tickets have gone up $10 per person/per day! We will think of you when we are enjoying our “free” dinner. As always, we appreciate your comedic insights and excellent Park information.
Cheers!
remember free dining has requirements for full price room and full price tickets. I will make sure to ask ahead of time on the modification prior to making changes. Note the word modification, it isn’t a new reservation…… I did this because there were rumors that ticket prices were going to go up. I wanted to lock those in. I did a ton of research, looked at past history of discounts, the time frame that we were willing to go on vacation and booked for two weeks knowing full well we will only be going for 1 week. I believe I did ask cast member when I booked how that worked and it really depends on what you are doing…..we are really hoping that disney will do some kind of discount for this time period as they usually do…..if they don’t we will probably not go at all.
If you buy an annual passport voucher now, how long before you actually have to use it. Could you save it for May of 2020?
ap is only good for one year from purchase
I think I sent them an email about this. Its one year from activation. Ie when you go to Orlando and use it .Can some one verify this?
I am sending another email to confirm
If you buy an AP now, you will likely get credit for how much you paid for it and that credit can be used towards getting a new AP. In other words, while you wouldn’t be able to use the AP in May of 2020, you would not lose the value but you might have to pay an additional amount A better place to find answers about this would be the disboards. They have a ticket thread and the people there can answer your questions.
If you know for sure you aren’t going till then, it may be better to wait to get an AP around the first of the year, though you might still want to look at disboards unless Tom answers which he usually doesn’t
Dear Adam,
Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort and for being one of our valued Annual Passholders!
Annual Passes are valid 365 days from the first date of usage. You may purchase your Annual Pass in advance of your visit so that you may plan ahead with FastPass+.
Your Annual Pass is in a certificate state when purchased. When you arrive at Walt Disney World® for your first visit with your Annual Pass, please visit any ticket window or Guest Relations location at the theme parks or Disney Springs® to activate.
If you have any other questions or challenges, please do not hesitate to contact us by calling us at 407-WDW-PASS (407-939-7277) or by chatting with us in the Help Center of the Walt Disney World® website. Cast Members are available from 7:00 AM until 11:00 PM, Eastern Time, seven days a week. We will be happy to assist you further!
Sincerely,
Vanetta
V.I. Passholder Help Desk
Last month we purchased one day tickets for mid April at $129 each. We did get the use any day feature for free. That day is now $139. So will we need to pay the increase of $10 each at the gate?
As a separate note, how do we get into the park using the one day ticket in our account? Do we just go to the gate and use our linked magic bands? Should we go to the ticket office first??
Your tickets should still be honored if you bought the tickets with the flexibility to choose your date. You should not have to pay any difference at the gate.
no that would be very illegal to have to pay 10 dollars extra. You paid they gave you tickets
We have a 5 night trip booked for December followed by a 4 night cruise.
Price increase is 300 total. Can’t decide if i should buy today from undercover tourist or wait and buy from Disney in case they over a discount or free dining. We are staying at Port Orleans. Thoughts?
Amy I would lock in now. Most discounts for the remainder of the year are already out. i.e. Canadian deals etc. And in December, there are never discounts!
Thank you!
We have been twice before, but only in September with free dining. This trip is so much more expensive