Todd, J, John, I don t mean to take away from Disney s value. It is the cream of the crop, but when

As they say on ABC s hit show Once Upon A Time, magic has a price. If the magic you want to experience is one of Disney s theme parks, that price has just increased again. This time with tax and fees it now costs more than $101 to buy a one day, one park ticket to Disney World. Disneyland is a little cheaper at $92 (no sales tax on theme park tickets in California). With attendance at both resorts still very strong, cheap last minute airline tickets I m not surprised by the move.
At Disneyland the cost to buy a one park, one day adult admission is now $92 while 9 and under is $86. The adult price is a 5.7% increase. If you want to hop between the two gates at Disneyland you ll have to pay $137 for an adult (a 9.7% increase) or $131 for a child. With a stiff increase like that, Disneyland must want to discourage park hopping.
At Walt Disney World an adult one day, one park admission is now $95 and 9 and under is $89. Disney cheap last minute airline tickets World wants to encourage you to stay longer, so a 5 day one park per day pass only went up five dollars to $265 (9 and under is $244). That s a much more reasonable $53 a day admission price.
Still, cheap last minute airline tickets 5 years ago it was just $65 for an adult one park ticket. Compared to $95, that s around a 33% increase. Other than the price of gas, can you think of anything else that has gone up 33% in cost the last three years? According to the Department or Labor s consumer price index (CPI), the average price increase has been 9% in the last 5 years. So Disney is definitely way ahead of the normal pace of price increases.
Most of what I ve read on the twitter-webz is that people think Disney is out of step with their daily reality. In addition to the CPI difference previously noted, it s true that while Disney has been steadily raising their prices for the last 5 years, wages have remained stagnant and, by most measurements, earning power has decreased (as you might expect during cheap last minute airline tickets a deep recession). Each increase in the cost of a vacation by Disney slices off another subsection of families who will now choose a cheaper vacation closer cheap last minute airline tickets to home or are forced to save up longer for that one special trip (and boy, it better be amazing, or they re going to be even more upset, so the pressure is really on for Disney to perform in the parks).
From Disney s perspective they re doing their best to maximized shareholder value. The parks have been experiencing new visitor patterns. In part due to Disney s hotel expansion and smart marketing of discounts or Free Dining , there really is no off-season anymore. Additionally, the parks continue to see very high attendance levels and Disney has been investing heavily with its Next-Gen interactive elements, remaking California Adventure, and expanding Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom.
Disney is also factoring perceived value into its decision to raise prices. The brand of the Disney parks is that they re the crown jewel of themeparks everywhere. So there is pressure to make sure your prices are higher than your competitors. This has created a bit of a pricing war between the three major theme parks in Orlando. Whenever SeaWorld or Universal raises their prices in order to say, Hey look, we re as good as Disney, cheap last minute airline tickets it forces Disney to raise theirs so they stay atop the perceived value pyramid.
The competition for your theme park dollar is more intense than ever. Both SeaWorld and Universal have rolled out major new attractions in the last few years and Universal is planning to add even more Harry Potter (on both coasts), a brand that already drove millions cheap last minute airline tickets of new guests to their gates (smartly targeting the brits who love Central Florida). These parks know that Orlando is known worldwide as the place for family vacations.
I know this is a contrary view, but if raising ticket prices allow Disney, cheap last minute airline tickets Universal, SeaWorld to continue to invest in the theme parks and improving the vacation experience, then I m on board. Yes, there is a limit to this dynamic. But as long as multi-day prices continue to be reasonable and it continues to cost more per hour to attend a concert, Broadway show, or see a 3D movie, then I think Disney is still providing a value that its fans will want to pay.
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I wouldn t mind the price increase as much if it actually made the parks a little quieter. I also wouldn t mind it if they offered a sort of reservation policy, in the sense that you have an option to buy a ticket to use on a certain day and that guarantees you ll get into the park. I say this because I ve been considering a Passport for a long time, but a friend of mine had hers for 2 years before recently not renewing, due to the fact that she showed up at the park at 3 pm on a random Wednesday and wasn t allowed in due to capacity. cheap last minute airline tickets I understand that would be very difficult to somehow manage, but I would willingly pay a little extra to know that I ll get into the park, instead of panicking from the parking garage to the gates that I may be too late.
Every year when the increase is put out there, it does feel counter to Walt s idea of making his original park accessible to all families, but that was the 1950s and we can not sit around imagining things still work the same way. If the company is reinvesting the bigger profits back into the park, creating a new experience for returning guests and making sure the continuing elements/attractions all look new to first-time visitors, then that makes sense, too.
That s not 33% more, it s 30/65 which means the price is just shy of 50% more than it cost 5 years ago. (Or you could say tickets cost 33% less 5 years ago than they do now.) However you put it, that is a totally crazy 5-year jump.
Think you ve made an error. It s only Magic Kingdom that s $95. The other 3 parks are $90. A fair price for Epcot, but Hollywood Studios? If I wasn t a pass holder it would be hard to imagine HS being worth $50 for a day.
My thoughts: they are trying to find the going rate for their parks. It s the law of supply and demand if the parks were $50, they could double the number cheap last minute airline tickets of people in the park, but that would make for a bad experience they could raise it to $500, but there would be fewer people in the parks so the effort cheap last minute airline tickets is to find the right balance where they can get the most people for the most money.
I promise that Mr. Walt Disney is spinning in his grave right now. His original idea/ concept, was to have a place People could afford to visit and have a wonderful family experience. I hope people do what I am going to do; boycott! cheap last minute airline tickets Then when attendance plumates, fire every single person responsible for the destruction of a wonderful and wimpsical Mans original dream.
I promise you this, Walt Disney is dead. D.E.A.D. No one knows what he would think of the company as it stands today. Everyone can have their opinion, cheap last minute airline tickets but not a single person alive can say or know for certain. But I will give you a hard truth, when Walt first opened Disneyland, prices and attendance were strictly geared towards the halves. The park was designed to cater to middle and high income families, as decades pass that mantra has changed. Tiered Annual Passes, monthly payments, hell it was only 5 years ago we saw the price increases. You remember 5 years ago, the world was in economic crisis and attendance was booming, why? Because free dining came into existence. The first price increase was to offset that. Additionally, costs, labour and expansions have tripled due to keeping up with competition and demand.
In the end, I d love to see Disney put this increase back into its front line employees pockets. Will they? Not likely. cheap last minute airline tickets Will this increase start to make people stay away. Aside from the few who promise you Disney s turning in his grave. No. Disney still holds the gauntlet for best theme park experiences. And the value hasn t declined. It s only grown with new and future expansions. Disney will continue to get my money. And Walt Disney is dead, lying still, in his grave. Respectfully. I m thankful for his existence high standards and contributions.
Free Dinning? What is this FREE dinning everyone talks about? You referring to the one that you have to stay in their resorts to even use? Sorry but that is not FREE. I could understand cheap last minute airline tickets raising the prices to reinvent themselves creating new rides or what not but there has NOT been new creation in a good while.
I have to agree with J. And I tend to agree with the company statement that came along with the increases. cheap last minute airline tickets The value is still there. The only thing that makes going to Disneyland a hassle sometimes are the crowds and the fast passes and the like have made that fairly manageable. Otherwise, the quality of the entertain is ridiculously good. We were just at Disneyland in April…the new Fantasy Faire right next to the castle is fantastic. The show that we saw was top rate. If just that show alone appeared at a theatre near you it would probably cost $12-$15 for adults cheap last minute airline tickets and $8 to $10 for kids. Just that show. Multiply cheap last minute airline tickets that by all the other stuff going on and I do think there is value at Disneyland. There is nothing else like it.
Todd, J, John, I don t mean to take away from Disney s value. It is the cream of the crop, but when you have a family to support there are certain cheap last minute airline tickets things you have to justify. It is simply too expensive for a family of four to be able to go. I can t afford it and my wife and I are doing okay. We re on a payment plan this time around for annual passes we got in January, but it s going to be a one time thing. At a cost of almost cheap last minute airline tickets $400 dollars to take them to just one park, it s back breaking. And how can any family who makes much less than we do ever be able to go? Disneyland will just be an untouchable dream for all but the fortunate and those parents who feel guilty if they don t let there kids experie