Robert Niles
Editor
Robert Niles

The Magic Kingdom Breaks the $100 Barrier This Weekend

February 18, 2015, 8:16 PM · Sources are telling us that Walt Disney World's annual ticket price increase is coming this weekend, and that the Magic Kingdom will be the first theme park to break the $100-a-day price barrier.

Olaf, Anna, and Elsa
One thing that's not 'Frozen' at the Disney theme parks is the ticket price.

We are expecting the price increase to happen on Sunday, Feb. 22 at the Walt Disney World Resort and possibly at the Disneyland Resort in California, as well. (Disney raised its ticket prices on Feb. 23 last year.) The one-day price of an adult ticket to the Magic Kingdom will rise from $99 to $105, while the one-day adult ticket price for the other three parks — Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom — will rise from $94 to $99. Prices for multi-day tickets and park-hoppers will increase down the line, as well.

A Disney ticket price increase typically triggers a response from the Universal Orlando Resort, so if you have scheduled or are thinking about a visit to the Disney or Universal theme parks within the next few months, you would do well to buy your tickets in advance before the weekend, to lock in the current prices. Disney tickets may be purchased in advance and will not expire until 14 days after their first use. Universal does offer some date-specific discounts on its tickets, so check the fine print if you buy one of the special deals offered on its website.

In addition to buying tickets in advance, you can save by purchasing multi-day ticket packages. Frankly, almost no one pays the full price for one-day tickets to Walt Disney World. (That's like paying the rack rate to stay at a hotel.) Most visitors instead buy multi-day tickets, to see more of the four theme parks at the resort. With multi-day tickets, the price per day to get into the Disney World theme parks falls to less than $40 a day on tickets of nine days or more. Similar discounts on multi-day tickets are available at the Universal Orlando Resort.

For More on Buying Theme Park Tickets:

Replies (6)

Mylo
Court E
February 18, 2015 at 8:38 PM · Needs to be more... I don't mind Disney keeping a strong profit but the crowds need to be thinned. Sometimes those parks seem dangerously overcrowded.
RobPastor
Rob Pastor
February 18, 2015 at 9:34 PM · I was anticipating this increase. I bought my (2) WDW 10 day park hoppers online two weeks ago. It certainly pays to follow theme park sites like TPI.
kellylou
Kelly Muggleton
February 19, 2015 at 1:56 AM · This is one of those situations where, it's not 'if', it's 'when'.
They can so they will quite honestly.
We have already bought our tickets for this year, but as mentioned above most tour operators here in the UK do good package deals so you rarely pay the one day price.
anonymous
67.242.6.251
February 19, 2015 at 6:32 AM · I agree with Court E about the crowd level. It can be scary especially for the younger kids. But increase the price even more? Not so sure about that. There's got to be a better way to control the masses on those specialty nights. As for the increase, of course it's "when" not "if." But, wow, like they really NEED to??? Every year???
anonymous
213.105.6.148
February 19, 2015 at 6:37 AM · It seems a bit of a cheek to be increasing prices at Animal Kingdom & hollywood studios, particularly as AK is a bit of a construction site & HS keeps closing rides down leaving less to do. I suppose as long as the crowds keep coming.... I don't think that any other park in the same situation would get away with a price hike though.
anonymous
209.44.133.160
February 19, 2015 at 12:57 PM · Disney will keep raising prices until the pip squeaks. Profit maximization pure and simple. Raising prices is not about reducing crowds to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone. It's about maximizing stock market value for Disney shareholders.

Monopolies tend to maximize profits by raising prices and lowering the quality of services (i.e. 2 to 3 hour waits for Disney's best attractions).

If Disney was truly interested in reducing wait times, they would have invested more money in new attractions. Instead they spent a reported $1.5 billion on MyMagic+ (an information gathering system that in theory will help Disney maximize profits, but will probably not do much to reduce wait times for the average customer).

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