Preparing for a Disney Ticket Price Increase
Price increases are imminent; resistance is futile.
Okay, it’s not quite as bad as all that, but it has been over a year since Disney increased their regular ticket prices. Yes, they increased the cost of their Annual Passes in October, but it was February 22, 2015 the last time the regular tickets went up. History and our intuition indicates that will change any day now. So let’s take a quick look at what that may mean for you.
Tiered Ticket Pricing
In June of last year a Disney survey seemed to hint that they would eventually be implementing a tiered ticket system. This system would mean that guests would pay more–up to $125 for a single-day ticket–during times of peak attendance. There was no real indication when, or if, this system would ever come to be, but we suspect it will eventually be utilized. We have no evidence that this will be what Disney goes to on the next increase, but we wouldn’t be surprised either.
How Much Will They Go Up
Since June of 2013, Disney has increased their ticket prices four times. The average one-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom has increased incrementally in that time from $89 to $105. The average increase has been around 5%. If that percentage holds, that would mean that the one-day adult ticket to the Magic Kingdom would be approximately $109. The other parks have only increased 3% on average, but that is skewed because Disney went to separate pricing for their non-Magic Kingdom parks in that time. If the Magic Kingdom moves to $109, we would expect the other parks to be priced around $100.
A caveat to this is if the tiered system is put in place. In that case we would expect the peak days to increase further than $109, but the lower attendance days to increase less, maybe not at all.
What This All Means For You
If you have a trip approaching but have not bought tickets yet, you may want to seriously consider it. A family of four could save $100 by buying multi-day tickets now versus after an increase. Also, if you are visiting at a peak time–say July 4th or Thanksgiving–you may save even more if the tiers are implemented. Even if Disney changes the ticket rules in their next increase, they will undoubtedly honor the rules of the tickets at the time of purchase. If you want to find out the cheapest tickets right now at this moment, we have a ticket calculator that will help you out.
We occasionally get a day or two notice about an increase, but not always, so be ready for it. Also, the last time Disney went more than a year without increasing ticket prices was…??? (our records don’t go back far enough).
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Off topic, but your mentioning of guest surveys (indicating this change in ticketing prices was imminent) reminded me:
I recently returned from WDW earlier this month. The survey I received via email had all of the usual questions about my stay- resort check in, staff friendliness, transportation, etc.- but then I had several questions asking me if I used a credit card to pay for my stay, if I used a credit card to make purchases within the parks, would I stay at a WDW property if cc’s were no longer accepted, would I return to the parks if cc’s were no longer accepted, and more. Do you have any idea where they are headed with this?
This article was written by Brian “Nostradamus” McNichols. 🙂
I am struggling to work out how the proposed tickets will work with tickets we get from the UK where we can buy 14 day or 21 day tickets for WDW. It looks like the only way you can be spontaneous is to pay for the most expensive days. I have made some enquiries with the agents who sell the tickets in the UK. Apparently if we bought the tickets now they have to be used by 31st December 2016 and next year’s tickets aren’t out until the middle of the year!
I see people have used really old tickets many years down the road, but has Disney implemented any time limit? Could I buy tickets now to use in Spring 2017?
Thanks. Great and helpful blog!
As far as I know, Disney’s tickets expire 14 days after first use but there is no limit to how long you can wait for that first use. Does anyone have any experience with this?
I don’t know about regular tickets, but when I bought APs last year, the certificate on MDE said it had to be activated by December 31, 2030
Both Parksavers & Undercover Tourist have small print that say “must be activated by Dec 31,2016”
Maybe someone can answer this. I have some park hoppers from 96 with unused days. Do they retain data for that long so I can use these? They’re the barcode not the stamp kind.
In 2013 I used an old park hopper from 1998 that had one day left on it. We were there in 2013 as a family of 5 on a 6 day hopper. They were able to transfer the single day from 1998 onto my new hopper and make it a 7 day hopper. However – it had to be done by the CMs at the Magic Kingdom. My resort CM was unable to assist me. When the CM at the gate tried to scan the old 1998 ticket for entrance it would not work either. The CM at Guest Services inside MK had no problem accessing the info on the ticket and converting it. – so plan ahead and be persistent. If you want to use it as your only entrance into the park you may need to go to ticket center outside MK? My old ticket was a paper card with Timon on the front and a barcode on the back.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t they already announced a tiered ticket system for the new Shanghai park? Seems like the writing might be on the wall…