Disney World Raises Prices on Most Important Multi-Day Tickets 8-11%; Introduces Largely Irrelevant Seasonal Pricing for One Day Tickets
By Dave Shute
Disney World yesterday raised prices on its adult (10 and older) multi-day tickets from 5% to almost 10.5%. Child (3-9 years old) tickets went up even more, from 6% to more than 11%.
The higher price increases were on the five day and longer multi-day tickets that make for the best first visit for those who may not be able to return, and are also the most common tickets for returning visitors.
Price increases by length of ticket (except for one day tickets) for adult tickets are in the chart:
In addition, while it is still relatively inexpensive to add days to a ticket at least four days long, there’s now two prices for adding days to such tickets. For shorter tickets, it costs around $16/day, and for longer tickets, $10.65.
The full data on the new ticket prices is here.
At the same time, Disney changed the form of its one day tickets.
- One day tickets still have different prices for adults and children, and (unlike any other ticket lengths) still have different prices for the Magic Kingdom vs the other three parks.
- Now, in addition, one day tickets (but not any multi-day tickets) have different prices at different times of the year, creating more than 70 bazillion different possible ticket prices for these largely irrelevant one day tickets.
WHY THE BIG PRICE INCREASE AND MINOR SEASONAL PRICING ADD?
My speculation is that both of the curious features of the new prices are strategic–that is, they are about the future, not about 2016.
The high increase in ticket prices for 2016 follows a high increase in 2016 resort prices that came out last summer. Both are trading off an increasing US willingness to spend on vacations now that we are years out of the recession with major exchange-rate issues for overseas visitors, in the context of the Disney hotels being for all practical purposes full, Magic Kingdom capacity a constraint to growth many weeks of the year, and a whole sequence of new attraction investments coming on line this spring, this summer, and next year.
I see this year’s minor stab towards seasonal ticket pricing as simply being the first shot at this seasonal pricing model.
That is, I believe that next year–or sooner, or a little later–seasonal ticket pricing will become more general across Disney World ticket types, as Disney tries to get people into the parks more in the lower-demand periods of the year. Until something relieves pressure on the Magic Kingdom during busier times, and additional hotels get built, that’s where volume growth has to come from.
The high increase this year lets the increases next year in the lower-priced seasons of the year be less, zero, or even a cut, while still showing a good two-year average growth, allowing for a wider band between the lowest and highest cost ticket dates.
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
0 comments
Comment by typing in the form below.
Leave a Comment | Ask a Question | Note a Problem