Disney raises ticket price

Expensive, yes. One of the best family experiences ever, yes. Seeing Disney through my kids eyes was a highlight of being a dad.

The longer packages break down to be cheaper per day.

Bingo. One could VERY reasonably argue that what all of us spend on RVs plus all the associated costs is ridiculous as well. And some of you reading this will gladly spend a few hundred dollars to go to the races, a ball game or whatever because it suits YOU. I agree these places are pricey and if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. However, penalizing a child on principle is just not right. Been to Disney 4 times-once with just the hubby, 3 times with my son. Wouldn't trade one second of the laughter, smiles and fun we had even if it meant having thousands more in the bank. Those thousands won't ever bring me the joy and happiness watching my son hug Mickey has.

Remember the saying from "Hello Dolly". It goes something like "Money is like manure. It doesn't do any good unless you spread it around".

To us, Disney is special. It is worth the cost. Our kids are taking their kids now & it's just as special to them. Have you tried to spend a day at a State fair lately & maybe catch a concert? Talk about pricey for not much!

valhalla360 wrote:
Good for disney. Glad to see they are doing well.

Remember, they aren't a charity or entitlement. They are buisness and the purpose of a buisness is to make money. This is not the new downfall of America it's been that way since the first stoneage guy traded a sharp rock for a haunch of meat.

Absolutely correct. Disney is a business and has every right to maximize profits. I don't think anyone here is disputing that.

Most posters here are just complaining about rising costs of our entertainment.

Complaining about rising costs be it Disney or a haunch of meat, is also as old as the stone age.

Good for disney. Glad to see they are doing well.

Remember, they aren't a charity or entitlement. They are buisness and the purpose of a buisness is to make money. This is not the new downfall of America it's been that way since the first stoneage guy traded a sharp rock for a haunch of meat.

Disney raises prices 10-15% every year, never fails. Which is why, the first time we went about 6 years ago, we bought 7 day tickets which never expire. Considering the price increase over that time and the cost we paid to get the 'no expiry' option, we'll be way ahead when we go back to use our last 3 days, which should be in a couple of years.

Couple of years ago we took one of our granddaughters to Dizzy World in Florida for a week. We hit every one of the parks, and on the last day hit two of them again to see a few things we had missed the first time.

All together it cost me about $3000, and that didn't include the air fare from California.

Originally it was just the vacation for the two of us. Later it sort of turned into her vacation.

Disney has little interest in people wanting to go to the parks for only 1 day. They want to make it a destination resort where people stay 3-5+ days.

At Disney World for instance, a 1 day pass is $99 but a 9 day ticket is $344 or just $38 a day. We just came back from a full week long vacation there. Had a great time and a very good value. Transportation from airport to Disneyworld was free and no rental car was needed our entire trip since Disney has their own transportation system.

That said, I agree its too expensive to go for just 1 day and its also way too expensive and over crowded to bother going over holidays or school break periods.

joe b. wrote:
To tag on to the above, what the market will bare has become the world wide economy, not just North America.. We were at the Mouse Land about three weeks back and while waiting for the grandsons to get off a ride, started talking to another guy waiting. He told me he was from Columbia and brought his family up to WDW a couple of times a year, with winter visits ending with going from WDW to Colorado for a week on the ski slopes. He went on to comment as to how great it made his family feel to be somewhere having fun and feeling safe. In Columbia, he and his family never went anywhere without armed bodyguards, for fear of kidnapping, etc. Money didn't appear to be a major concern of his, and I didn't feel I knew him well enough to ask him what line of work he did. LOL
Visitors from other countries are a major part of the crowd on any given day at the Disney parks.
While the prices may keep some from going, the park never seems to lack for visitors. We all have to prioritize how we spend our disposable incomes. I know couples that spend more a year for cigarets than we do for the 5 annual tickets. We all have to decide how to fund our vices, be it RVs, cars, entertainments, booze, smokes, etc.

While I don't like price increases any better than any ony else, it seems to be a fact of life that it is going to happen. In the last 10 years our RV fuel costs for our Alaska trips have gone from just over $2,000 to over $5,000 for the same amount of fuel purchased. So to try and keep the overal costs about the same, we cut back on other costs involved in the trip.

Great post. I think while the growing crowds mean a lot of money, I think Disney also worries that if it gets too bad, they'll lose more repeat visitors than they would lose to price increases. There are so many factors that get looked at, many more than I know. The foreign tourists are a huge factor as well, as you noted.

To tag on to the above, what the market will bare has become the world wide economy, not just North America.. We were at the Mouse Land about three weeks back and while waiting for the grandsons to get off a ride, started talking to another guy waiting. He told me he was from Columbia and brought his family up to WDW a couple of times a year, with winter visits ending with going from WDW to Colorado for a week on the ski slopes. He went on to comment as to how great it made his family feel to be somewhere having fun and feeling safe. In Columbia, he and his family never went anywhere without armed bodyguards, for fear of kidnapping, etc. Money didn't appear to be a major concern of his, and I didn't feel I knew him well enough to ask him what line of work he did. LOL
Visitors from other countries are a major part of the crowd on any given day at the Disney parks.
While the prices may keep some from going, the park never seems to lack for visitors. We all have to prioritize how we spend our disposable incomes. I know couples that spend more a year for cigarets than we do for the 5 annual tickets. We all have to decide how to fund our vices, be it RVs, cars, entertainments, booze, smokes, etc.

While I don't like price increases any better than any ony else, it seems to be a fact of life that it is going to happen. In the last 10 years our RV fuel costs for our Alaska trips have gone from just over $2,000 to over $5,000 for the same amount of fuel purchased. So to try and keep the overal costs about the same, we cut back on other costs involved in the trip.

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.