Disney raises ticket price

djsamuel wrote:

Dog Folks wrote:
Visitation must be up. Disney is the worlds best at calculating supply and demand. They will charge the absolute most they can, without radically affecting the numbers of visitors.

I was told they count the cars in the parking lot frequently. When the lots are consistently full or nearly full, they raise prices.

They only will charge what a majority of visitors are willing to pay. Not for me, they priced themselves out of my budget years ago.

This has a lot to do with it. In years past, the ticket prices had the side benefit of limiting crowds (simple supply and demand). My wife has worked there for over 15 years, and we go all the time. In years past, there was always an off season, and in fact September or early December were outstanding (and empty). Now there is really no off season, and hasn't been for at least the last 5 years or so. The strange thing is, no matter what they charge, people seem to keep coming.

This particular price increase may also have been sped along because of the costs of the whole "My Magic" project, which includes the strange Fast Pass+ system, and the Magic Bands. The costs are up on this, and also the returns have not really been defined yet. To top that off, they are in the middle of the massive rebuilding/expansion of Downtown Disney; including the removal of Pleasure Island. The costs of that must be huge.

I agree that at some point the prices will affect the crowds, but the thing is, previous price hikes of late seem to have no effect. I think maybe they're reaching that point where the crowds dip a bit, yet their revenue will be up. Fort Wilderness hit that in 2013. Occupancy was down a bit, yet revenue was up. They raised the prices for 2014, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. We're spending a few days there this weekend, so it will be interesting to see how it is.

Let us know what you find. Thanks.