I just heard that starting tomorrow, DisneyWorld will raise its adult 1 day admission price from $75 up to $79 dollars, while the kids prices go up to $68 instead of the current $63…
I dont have kids, but does anyone else find it surprising that in this economy, Disney is raising (instead of lowering) the admission?
Is Disney such a popular attraction that its recession proof?
I’ll bet a substantial portion of guests are from overseas.
I’ve not been to Disney World (or Florida, for that matter), but when I was in L.A. Disneyland cost $50 to get in. (I had a season pass, which paid for itself in two visits.) And parking is expensive too. If one went on a weekend, he would be lucky to get onto five rides in a day because of the long lines. Ten bucks a ride? Too much.
Thats a good point runner pat—I should add that the price is only going up in DisneyWorld, not at DisneyLand…
That said, I am still shocked that they were getting the 75 bux, let alone raising the ante to $79; Maybe its just me, but that seems like a mighty steep day out for an average family, after everything (admission, food, a T-shirt) is said and done.
Of course, people are free to spent thier own $$$ however they see fit, and I suppose if it’s how they enjoy thier family time, more power to them (and the good people at the Disney Corp.)
From what I’ve heard, attendance has been high this year–heavy promotions such as the stay four nights and get three nights free. Raising ticket prices helps to recover at least some of that.
Active Duty members of the Military, and those called up to Active Duty get 5 days at 5 parks totally free. Guess you civilians are making up the difference. Sorry.
SSG Schwartz
DisneyWorld’s attendance numbers are certainly based around people from all over the world coming to see the sights. After spending thousands of dollars on the trip, I doubt an extra $4 a person is going to deter anyone.
You guys can also ski free at Squaw Valley, so I guess it all evens out in the end!
Exactly.
Also, a lot of the overseas tourists are working on some sort of package deal, where they pay (say) $5,000 and get their flights, transfers, meals, and accommodation at the park all taken care of. They are, therefore, unaffected by a $4 ticket price increase.
Or, more cynically, I suspect the attitude is “If you live locally you have a (relatively affordably priced) annual pass. If you don’t live locally, then you’ve had to pay bucketloads of cash to get here, in which case an extra $4 a head isn’t going to make any difference to you in the grand scheme of things anyway.”
I’ve never actually seen the ticket price for DisneyWorld admission before. The last time I was at a Disney park, I was young enough that money wasn’t my concern.
I’m actually kinda surprised, $79 doesn’t seem like much. It’s also a little weird; while rationally I know Disney tickets must cost some amount of money, emotionally I can’t reconcile it. Disney admission always seemed a mystical thing, granted to you based on the purity of your heart or something.
If you asked me to put a dollar amount to the tickets, I’d probably have hemmed and hawed and finally suggested something like $200. So $79 doesn’t seem all that much, and the $4 hike seems to me to be barely worth a mention.
The single-day pass only exists to encourage people to purchase multi-day passes. As such, the percentage increase for the multi-day passes will be significantly less than that of the single-day pass (not that a $4 difference is even that significant).
Also, attendance isn’t the problem at Disney World–its numbers are about the same as before the tanking economy; instead people are spending less at the parks, and this is one way to off-set that.
I recently paid just over $70 for a single concert ticket. The enjoyment I got as a kid going to Disneyland vastly outweighs the enjoyment I get as an adult going to a concert.
If you’re only getting on five rides, you’ve got some mighty poor planning going on.
Disney World’s pricing scheme has for years been designed to get people to spend as much of their Florida vacation time as possible on Disney property. If you look at the whole ticket price matrix, you’ll find a one-day ticket is expensive, and a one-day “Park Hopper” (which is to say, a ticket that allows you to visit multiple parks on the same day) is obscene… but after four days, each additional day only costs three or four dollars more. The more time they can get Jo Tourist to spend in the Disney parks with her family, the more money she’s spending on Disney food and Disney souvenirs. And if they’re really lucky, she’ll decide that as long as they’re spending all that time on Disney property, they may as well book a room at a Disney hotel…
We’ll be heading for Disney World next month, actually, and we’re staying for ten nights in a Disney hotel, with Park Hopper Plus tickets and the Disney Dining Plan, so this strategy clearly works on some of us 
(On the other hand, we’re on a Free Dining package, so Disney isn’t making quite as much money from our visit as they might like. But we have several small boys in our group who have saved up several months’ allowance for souvenirs, so…)
Even in my younger days, I couldn’t imagine spending multiple days in Disney. One day was quite enough. Each to his own, I suppose. When we lived in Jacksonville, Florida residents could get in one day for $20. I guess that dates me. Dating me further, I remember E-tickets.
If I compare the ratio of my income to the cost of a ticket, it’s probably cheaper for me to go today than eons ago. But I still can’t wrap my head around the ticket cost. It’s probably more emotional than logical, and I am a frugal soul…
No matter. I don’t intend to ever tread upon Disney property again. My future grandchildren will have to put up with other adventures - like sailing - if they spend summers with us. I have no use for The Mouse.
I’m surprised they didn’t raise it more. Make the children’s tickets the same price as adults, because the kids are the ones that get the most out of it.
They need more money so they raise the price. Lowering it is only done if you think you’ll sell enough new tickets to make up the loss the from the old tickets at reduced price and the shortfall you already were having. I can’t figure why people expect reduced prices when the businesses have to have more income to not close the doors.
If you want to ride what used to be the A-ticket rides, you could get more in. If you want to ride what used to be E-ticket rides, then two-hour lines are usual. I’d rather ride The Matterhorn Bobsleds, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and such than the Teacups.
Mice gotta eat too, you know. Besides, I know very few people domestically who pay full price for Disneyland/Disneyworld tickets in the first place. Seems like they are always discounted or there are coupons available if you look.
I once had a job where I had to feed mice. And I did. To the snakes.
We just spent over $10000 on a trip to Disneyland, not including spending money once we were there. I don’t even KNOW what the break down was for daily passes.
Yes, it was a deluxe trip. We did more than Disneyland. It was for 6 people. We got every add-on package we could think of. I mean, if we’re there already, might as well make the most of it.
I agree with Martini Enfield. Locals tend to have season passes. For myself, a bucketload of cash no matter how it breaks down. Once you’re looking at flying 6 people to another country, hotel, tours, meals… who would have even noticed a few extra bucks on passes.