Act Fast to Beat Price Increases at Disney World & Disneyland for 2025-2026

Walt Disney World and Disneyland raise certain prices throughout the year, but major increases on park tickets, food, parking, Annual Passes, upcharges and more all usually occur simultaneously at the start of the fiscal year. This covers dates of past price increases and when we’re expecting this to happen in Fall 2025. Plus how to prepare for (and protect against) increases, why they may not happen for once, and more.

For starters, we should emphasize the “usually” in the above paragraph, as prices increases are not a sure thing at Walt Disney World or Disneyland. There are good examples of this in the pent-up demand era, such as when Walt Disney World raised ticket prices in mid-February 2022 and again on December 8 of that same year.

This isn’t entirely unprecedented, as Walt Disney World and Disneyland have raised prices twice annually on a few occasions in the last decade. That’s why we’ve been advising readers to purchase tickets in advance to lock-in current prices in our 2025 Discount Walt Disney World Ticket Buying Guide and our 2025 Discount Disneyland Ticket Tips guides.

Disneyland’s last major price increase occurred on October 9, 2024.

Last year’s increase was a typical one at Disneyland, with prices going up on single-day and multi-day tickets, Magic Key Annual Passes (this happens even when they aren’t being actively sold), and more. As usual, admission was the big thing that went up, with percentage increases that were fairly hefty.

In the year prior to that, Disneyland raised its prices on October 11, 2023. Before that, Disneyland increased prices on October 11, 2022.

Last year, Walt Disney World raised prices on October 23, 2024. Prior increases had occurred on the same date as Disneyland.

These largely impacted restaurant menus, from outdoor vending carts to character dining experiences, as well as other add-ons and upcharges. Annual Pass prices also went up at the same time.

A few things are worth pointing out with regard to the Walt Disney World increases. First, the only reason they likely occurred two weeks after Disneyland was Hurricane Milton. That storm made landfall in Florida on the night of October 9th. It would’ve been bad optics for Walt Disney World to raise prices during that devastating storm system. (And as a practical matter, the parks closed, so there probably wasn’t sufficient staffing to implement a price increase.)

Second, there were fewer price increases on both coasts last year than in the previous two years.

The start of the fiscal year typically brings with it higher prices on parking, VIP tours, dining packages, dessert parties, PhotoPass packages, and a wide range of other upcharges. There was some of that, but not nearly as much as normal.

Third, as an offset to the negative news, it’s common for Disney to make other ancillary changes in the name of guest satisfaction or substantive offerings–ways to take the sting out of the price increases. Possibilities for Walt Disney World could include Seven Dwarfs Mine Train joining Lightning Lane Multi Pass, news about added entertainment, or returning perks for on-site guests–that type of thing, not necessarily those specific examples. Same for Disneyland; maybe this is when they’ll finally announce a reimagining of Fantasmic, which is in sorry shape.

Finally and most importantly, Walt Disney World did not increase prices on regular theme park tickets last year. This is probably because Walt Disney World had debuted higher prices for the following year’s tickets (2025) when releasing vacation packages and annual product earlier in the year.

The same thing happened this year with the annual release of vacation packages, which brought with them 2026 Ticket Price Increases at Walt Disney World. Normally, a price increase takes effect immediately, impacting all future dates–not just the annual product release for the following year. The last two years have thrown a monkey wrench into things, but this upfront approach makes a lot of sense and results in fewer price increase headlines.

Based on last year’s precedent plus Walt Disney World doing the same thing again this year with the annual product release plus softening attendance and demand, it is our prediction that Walt Disney World is unlikely to raise regular ticket prices for 2025 or 2026 when other prices go up at the start of the fiscal year.

(Note that Walt Disney World still has not released tickets for November and December 2026. Those months tend to be the most expensive of the year, and they almost certainly will have dates with higher prices than this year once released. It’s effectively a price increase, but the mechanics on how it works–a new product with a higher cost at launch–differs from a traditional price increase on an existing product. There’s also no way to get around paying the elevated prices for November and December 2026 dates.)

In all likelihood, both Walt Disney World and Disneyland will raise rates on or around October 8, 2025. (Again, probably not for base tickets at WDW, but for other offerings.)

That’s a very specific date, but it’s more or less when prices went up in each of the last three years. It’s usually around the first week in October, on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Both coasts will likely revert to the same date this year in the (presumptive) absence of a hurricane closure.

On both coasts, Annual Pass and other prices will probably increase. But as noted above, the likelihood of base tickets going up is far lower at Walt Disney World. That doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee, and it’s always a ‘best practice’ to buy ASAP to lock-in current prices and protect against increases, but it’s not imperative.

Our expectation is that the bulk of the higher prices disproportionately hit Disneyland, likely including base tickets. It’s the “other stuff” that’ll likely go up on that date at Walt Disney World.

The good news is that you can protect against the likely increases.

If you’re a prospective Annual Passholder, you can purchase a voucher or certificate to secure current pricing. We actually recommend doing this ASAP before the current Free Gift Card for New Walt Disney World Annual Pass Purchase Promo comes to an end on September 30, 2025.

There’s a decent chance another promo will be released at some point in the coming months for APs, but it’ll likely be attached to higher base prices. Maybe it’ll be 15 months for the price of 12; perhaps it’ll be another gift card deal. Or it might be nothing at all. Just higher prices with no offset. It’s not a gamble we’d make!

If you have a Walt Disney World trip planned between now and October 2026, you can buy tickets now to lock-in current costs and guard against future increases. As always, we recommend using Get Away Today, our recommended authorized third party ticket seller, for the biggest savings, plus flexibility and customer service. They currently have the popular “Adults at Kids’ Prices” deal going on, so now is a good time to lock-in something.

With that said, if you’re on the fence but planning on buying via an authorized third party ticket seller, you are probably fine to wait until after the price increase is announced/occurs. For the past decade-plus, authorized sellers have maintained inventory of the existing tickets at the “old” prices, usually for a couple of weeks after the price increase. I can’t remember the last time that was not the case, so it’s safe to say it’ll likely happen again with the potential upcoming price increases.

One thing we would recommend not doing is waiting until Black Friday sales. For each of the last few years, the pre-increase prices in September have been better than the sale prices in late November. That’s almost certain to be true again this year, too. So if you’re on the fence or in ‘wait and see’ mode, you really should make a decision before the end of this month. It’s much more likely that there’s downside in waiting than there is upside.

It’s fair to point out that even as base prices have gone up, Walt Disney World has ramped up discounts significantly in the last couple of years. Walt Disney World has brought back the 2019 deal playbook, offering discounts on par or better than that year after slim pickins’ between 2021 and early 2023. (See All Current Walt Disney World Discounts for 2025-2026.)

As someone who books a lot of Walt Disney World hotel stays, I’m paying less for that component of travel now than I did in 2022. That was especially true this summer, when Walt Disney World had unprecedented discounts that essentially offered 2019 pricing.

This isn’t super surprising, as Walt Disney World is Worried About Its High Prices has been an ongoing topic since this spring. We offered a thorough discussion of demographics in Disney’s Response to Rising Costs Criticism. That specifically focuses on why Walt Disney World needs to continue attracting its core audience of families with young children.

You might be wondering why Walt Disney World and Disneyland would increase prices even as attendance stagnates and discounts ramp up. As we like to point out, Walt Disney World long ago adopted the “Kohl’s Model” to pricing, where the sticker prices are almost meaningless due to discounts. As Kohl’s learned ages ago, if the base price is higher, it makes the discounted rate look like even more of a bargain!

Walt Disney World leadership studied at the Kohl’s School of Business, and learned that lesson during the Great Recession. Since then, we’ve seen prices keep going up, even when discounts get better. That’s more or less what we’re seeing now, with the end result being a value proposition that’s worse than 2019, but better than 2022, all things considered.

Regardless, the bottom line is that we can expect Walt Disney World to increase prices around the start of the new fiscal year, which is October 1, 2025. This post uses a lot of weasel words since this isn’t an official announcement or a credible rumor. Nevertheless, it’s something that happens year in and year out around the start of Disney’s new fiscal year. I would be absolutely flabbergasted if Walt Disney World and Disneyland don’t increase prices in October 2025. (Well, unless they move forward the date to late September. That would also check out.)

It’s not a matter of “if” but “when” and, equally as important, “on what.” Prices will go up, but what the increases will encompass is the mystery. My guess is that we’re going to see another year of more restrained increases. Disney has garnered a lot of headlines about pricing out the middle class. Not enough to not keep raising prices on some things, but they will be more careful and measured about it–especially as economic uncertainty increases.

With all of that said, this year might see fewer price increases than normal–or on fewer things that matter to a majority of guests. There are growing fears of a pullback in consumer spending, and Disney already appears to have hit some walls when it comes to balking points on pricing. Hence the increased discounting.

They thus might be reticent to raise the sticker prices on ‘everyday’ trip components, and instead focus on more niche or upmarket offerings. Maybe the average price of Lightning Lane Premier Pass will go up, with fewer of the “cheaper” dates. Same goes for Lightning Lane Single Pass. There are ways for raising average prices by shifting the distribution of costs towards the higher end of the spectrum–without changing the range (e.g. a specific LLSP still costing $15 to $20, but with fewer $15 days and more $20 days).

It’s also possible that Disney will try to find new revenue streams without necessarily raising prices. Last year’s launch of Lightning Lane Premier Pass is a perfect example there. For all of the fan complaints about that, both standby lines and Lightning Lane flow have improved this year. Premier Pass probably satiated Disney’s thirst for revenue gains, preventing a price increase on something average guests actually purchase.

Another possibility, if not an inevitability, at some point is a switch to dynamic ticket pricing at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This will happen eventually, but I’m skeptical it’ll be in October. I’ve heard zero rumblings, and this strikes me as a switchover that’ll be made with the launch of annual product.

With all of that said, if you’re booking a Walt Disney World vacation package that includes tickets, do not wait. Lock-in something ASAP. If those prices do go up, there’s no workaround for getting the old prices. Your only alternative would be a room-only rate, and buying tickets separately via the aforementioned authorized discount sellers.

This is especially true for those of you traveling between now and Spring Break 2026. Although discounts for next January through late March have not yet been released, there’s a high probability that they will within the next few weeks. I’d put the chances around 95% that these discounts will be available before the price increase.

Vacation packages, including discounted ones, reflect the price of tickets when originally booked. This means if general public discounts are released on September 30th and ticket prices were to go up on October 8th, you’d pay more if you booked that deal on or after October 8, 2025. Accordingly, we’d highly recommend booking or reaching out to a travel agent right now. As in, before the next wave of discounts is released.

As always, we recommend requesting a quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (they’re paid by Walt Disney World–so free to you!).

Travel agents will do the math for you, booking your vacation with the best-available special offer, and monitoring your package for future discounts that can be applied retroactively. Beyond that, they help take the stress out of planning and will assist with itineraries, dining reservations, and much more.

That “apply retroactively” line is the important part–meaning they can book today and modify on the morning deals are released to apply the discount. If you do this, we’d also recommend offering them flexibility in your preferred resort/room–not all hotels are included in promos or have availability as part of the deal. Lots of exclusions, both what’s listed and what isn’t.

It’s also important that the modification to apply the discount is made before prices increase. Finalize your plans sooner rather than later, as modifications after October 8 (or whatever day prices go up) will result in paying the new rate.

Over the years, we’ve heard from readers who have been surprised that their price is higher with a discount than without. This is usually why–base prices increased between the time they made the reservation and the time they applied the discount. That’s why it’s best to both lock-in rates and apply discounts ASAP, whenever possible.

If you’re traveling later in 2026, you’re not going to have this option since discounts for those dates probably won’t be released this month. But it is possible to at least book the undiscounted package now. After these potential price increases, it’s possible that’ll end up being better than future promotions. (We highly doubt it given how aggressive discounting has gotten, but we’d still recommend hedging!)

There’s also no real way to guard against price increases on the “little things” like parking, upcharges, food, and so forth. Air quotes around little things because these are actually the ‘budget-busters’ that catch planners by surprise, and result in trips costing much more than originally expected. Given that and the distinct possibility that Walt Disney World won’t raise ticket prices for 2026 again, there’s a good chance that there’s nothing you can do with this information. Still, better safe than sorry…right?

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

Thoughts on the potential price increases? Think Walt Disney World and Disneyland will raise rates across the board in October 2025, or will they hit pause due to economic uncertainty or decreased 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!