But other consumers know that Disney's hardly alone in charging $100 and up for a day's entertainment. In fact, many popular tourist and entertainment destinations charge that much — and more — for far less than a full day of enjoyment.
In my Orange County Register column this week, I look at some of Disney's competitors and what they are charging these days to suggest that maybe Disney's triple-digit tickets aren't such a bad deal after all. And I remind readers that most visitors to Disney's theme parks aren't paying that sticker-shock, $100-plus-per-day rate, anyway. At the Walt Disney World Resort, most visitors are getting into the parks on multi-day tickets that can drive the price per day of visiting Disney under $50.
And here at Disneyland in California, many if not most visitors have annual passes, with which a day at the parks can cost less than going to the movies, if you visit often enough.
Compare that with a day skiing at a major resort, a round of golf on a top-quality course, seeing a Broadway show or top-name concert, or going to a pro sports game. The cost of any of those could top the price of even the most expensive one-day Disneyland or Disney World ticket. Yes, we're Theme Park Insider and we're biased in favor of theme park entertainment here, but I think that just about any reasonable consumer would agree that a Disney theme park can deliver just as much, if not more, entertainment as any of those other diversions.
Of course, none of this answers the question "is it too much?" Heck, it's possible, maybe even likely, that all high-quality out-of-home destination entertainment in this country is grossly overpriced at this point. But that raises much broader economic issues.
Fortunately, theme parks — and not just Disney's — do offer those multi-day tickets, annual and seasonal passes, and other discounts that make visiting the parks affordable for many families than might not be able to drop more than $100 per person, per day for some fun time out of the house. So when you compare time at the parks with other ways to entertain the family, you might find that going to Disney (or Universal or some other park) is a pretty good deal, after all.
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Disneyland is ending discounted ticket price programs accessible to the public in September pic.twitter.com/bormMvQvqR
— Disneyland Doc (@DLdocumentary) August 16, 2016
Yes, theme parks have become WAY overpriced. They are exceeding the cost of living, wages and inflation rates by several times over and thats just for the admission prices.
Food, drinks, souvenirs, parking, hotels, etc. have increased at an equally high rate of inflation.
I'm glad my kids are grown now, because we used to go nearly every year to Orlando on vacation, but I probably couldn't even afford a long weekend there now.
The amount of entertainment for your dollar at these parks is still fantastic, the issue is that they have previously been such great value that the price hikes astound people.
The other way to look at it is simply supply/demand. The parks are still busy, so the price changes haven't significantly affected demand. Until they find the sweet spot on the curve, expect prices to continue to rise.
I am the manager of a tourist attraction in the UK, much MUCH smaller than the theme parks we talk about, but the same principles apply. We charge $15 entry (which includes 20% tax) for what is about a 2 hour visit. A significant number of people complain about the 'high' price yet they will go sit in the pub and spend more than that on drinks, or visit a theatre show and pay $80-$100 etc. etc.
I detect, in the UK at least, people forget these are private businesses and there is often an underlying feeling that visitor attractions/theme parks are somehow a public service/facility that shouldn't cost so much and should be available to everyone regardless of what they can afford. People also forget that whilst in the past attractions and theme park could pretty much stand still, people now expect constant change and 'improvement' which of course costs a lot of money.
Likely? Try Definitely. Greed is rampant in the entire spectrum of entertainment. Even taking inflation into account, the rise in prices far outstrips the average rise of the rate of pay for 99% of the families in the United States.
- Brian from Florida
A Six Flags pass sells for$41 to $66 for a one day pass. This includes the water park and the rides. A season pass is about $70. But I still think that Disney is a far better deal. You get what you pay for. Food is expensive wherever you go, but Six Flags is actually more expensive than Disney, and Disney food is a lot better.
Overall, Disney is a great place to vacation. If they lowered the price, they might get a bigger crowd. I wouldn’t like that!
I take it you haven't been skiing on a holiday weekend, then? ;^)
During peak hours, 2 of top complaints I receive every year are "too expensive" and "too crowded". The suggested solution proposed the most is "let less people into the parks". Well raising prices is an attempt to lower attendance...
I think it could be so much better, but i know it could be so much worse.
My main problem is that the concessions and parking have gotten really, really ridiculous. A bottle of water should not be $5 when it is 100 degrees in Florida. Aramark food service hamburgers are awful, and to be charged $13 for one is just brazen.
As for Disney's motives for these prices, profitability is certainly high amongst them (as it is at ALL of the regional and cheaper parks - don't kid yourselves the these places are cheaper due to some altruistic intent). Also amongst their motives is crowd control. Either crowds would be completely insane for cheaper tickets, destroying everyone's experience, or they would have to put a cap on attendance and lock people out, which would justifiably anger shareholders and seasons pass holders.
Disney's price rises were an inevitability. The only way to reduce then is for more competition at a similar level of quality (more than just Universal that is), which the market probably couldn't sustain.
Remember this site is a unabashed, PR machine for Disney. Don't expect unbiased analysis here.
In 1982, a ticket to Disneyland cost $12.00. In 2016, that same ticket cost $119. Adjusted for inflation, a ticket to Disneyland would cost $29.95 today. Adjusted for inflation, Disney is charging 4 times as much as they did for a ticket in 1982.
But what about the E-ticket attractions that Disney has added since 1982? Do those E-ticket rides justify the price increases? Well, Disney has not added an E-ticket attraction to Disneyland since Indiana Jones Adventure in 1995. In 1995, a ticket to Disneyland cost $33.00. Adjusted for inflation, that same ticket would cost $52.00 today. Disney is charging a $67 premium per ticket for a park that hasn't changed since 1995.
So what justifies these price increases? Is Disney paying their park employees more? No. Adjusted for inflation, Disney is paying its park workers less than it did in 1982 and 1995. So, where did the extra money go? Michael Eisner, Bob Iger, bad investments and stock buybacks designed to juice the bonuses of Disney executives.
But Disney is a business, they can do what they want, right? Disney doesn't behave like a business in a competitive market, because Disney is a monopoly. In 1998, Disney bribed the U.S. congress to grant them an extended monopoly on characters created by Walt Disney that should now be in the public domain. What would tickets to Disney cost today, if fans of Mickey and Donald and the princesses could meet and greet them at the local Six Flags park?
Wise up, fellow fans. Disney is not your friend. Disney is an abusive monopoly. And Disney's monopolistic practices have jacked up prices for the entire theme park industry.
Want to know more? Google the Copyright Extension Act, aka the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.
Lines more often than not do not exceed 10 minutes, even on the most popular ski lifts and there are usually some lifts with little or no line at all. High capacity, high speed, detachable lifts have eliminated the long lines that ski areas were known for in the 70s and 80s.
As for Disney, the direction they're taking is to cater to the high end consumer. It's a very smart move on their part. It doesn't exclude anyone per say, but it will make the visits of some fans less frequent, but Disney doesn't care about the value oriented consumer.
I still haven't seen Cars Land because I'm NOT paying $100 for the "pleasure". We only recently traveled to WDW because the prices do drop greatly once you get up into 6 days and beyond. But that's not true for Disneyland, unless you live in SoCal and buy a SoCal Annual Pass. Yes, you could, in theory, get a 5-day Pass for a per-day total of $59. But anyone who wants to spend 5 days there needs to seriously think about a long hospital stay instead!
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