Seasonal Pricing at Walt Disney World: Pay More to Wait in Line Longer!
By Dave Shute
OVERVIEW: WALT DISNEY WORLD PRICES
This site recommends that you arrive in Disney World one of the first three Saturdays after Thanksgiving.
For those who cannot go to Walt Disney World then, the material that follows illuminates the different resort room prices you will face from going to Walt Disney World at different times of the year. For ticket prices, see this.
You can find 2019 Disney World price seasons here, and 2020 Disney World price seasons here.
PAY MORE TO WAIT IN LINE LONGER
The major prices at Walt Disney World that vary by when you visit are hotel room costs and ticket costs.
Hotel room prices change by season, sort of. “Season” does not mean anything as simple as fall or winter. Disney changes prices much more frequently than that.
It changes prices when it predicts a change in demand, or a change in willingness to pay.
The business intent of these changes is to extract maximum value from high demand/willingness to pay periods, and to attract families into lower demand periods by lowering the costs of attending during those times.
One of the upshots of this is that Walt Disney World charges more for the periods when most people want to be there–which is also when it is the most crowded.
As a result, in general, the more crowded the parks, the longer the lines, the more your hotel will cost.
There are a couple of exceptions to this.
- Very late February and very early March can be expensive, but not crowded. (This is from the increased willingness to pay of northeasterners getting away from the snow.)
- Early July to mid-August is cheap at the deluxe resorts, but still crowded. These dates are priced this way because the deluxes are hard to fill these dates, even though the parks are crowded.
You can find 2019 Disney World price seasons here, and 2020 Disney World price seasons here.
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10 comments
Hi Dave! We’re looking at a trip to WDW inmid November. We can get 20% off our rooms at a low end resort if we book directly. But this will not include a meal plan, theme park tics, or our flight. Or would oyu recommend going thru a T/A for the entire pkg
Hi! I’m guessing you are writing from overseas–likely the UK–as that deal is not available in the states. In the US a travel agent can’t get you a better deal than you can get yourself–the just do the work for you. But I don’t know if that’s true for visits from overseas…
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How much would it be (including meals) for 1 eight year old, 2 adults, 1 15 year old, and a 12year old to go to Disney world in Florida?
Hi Dave, I am planning a visit for the Dec. 2014 and wondering what day you see crowds going up at Disney from 12/13 through 12/20. Would it be before xmas or afterwards on Thurs. 26th. Ideally we would go the 17th – 24th to avoid taking the kids of school the whole week. thxs!
Amy, crowds will start being unbearable beginning 12/20.
Hi, a group of 20-somethings gals are visiting Disney World next week and tickets online have gone up since last time we checked, do you recommend buying online or is it better buying at the gate?
Frida, because of FastPass+ you should buy your tickets ASAP so you can pre-book your rides. See this.
This is my first visit pls cnfrm how many days spent at dsny world with my family and what is the basic expenses in one day all the rides with water park with food nd ngt stay
Sandeep, for how long to stay, see this. There’s no simple way to answer the budget question, as hotel prices are wildly different, ticket prices get lower the more days you stay, etc.
I have a party of 16 which includes 5 children under the age of 8
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