Disney increases park prices every year. Here’s how it avoids pricing out families

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Disney raised prices on many of its theme park offerings today, coinciding with the start of the company’s new fiscal year. But consumers aren’t pushing back the way they did a few years ago.

Disney’s price hikes are an annual October ritual for the company, and it’s always a tricky balancing act between increasing revenue and consumers’ willingness to pay.

Many ticket types, passes and add-ons at Disneyland are not increasing at all this time. But premium products are getting more expensive, like the highest-level, skip-the-line service at Walt Disney World, which could now run just shy of the $500 mark during peak demand.

It’s a reflection of the company’s strategy: Spread the price boosts across different audiences, while leaving bottom-tier prices - like the slowest season, one-day, one-park tickets - unchanged.

Its theme parks strategy, Disney said, has evolved over time. Higher-priced premium products and add-ons, alongside targeted discounts and a refresh of older attractions, allowed the company this summer to generate the strongest parks and cruises revenue in two years.

Disney parks and cruises saw their best growth in two years despite a travel slowdown. Here’s how they did it

The company kept entry-level prices stable this year, when many consumers are reigning in discretionary spending .

“Our goal is to put guests at the center of our decision making, and that starts by listening to them,” Thomas Mazloum, chairman of Disney Experiences, told CNN ahead of the price hikes. “That matters more now when families are watching every dollar, and we see it in the choices they make every day — in how they plan, in how far ahead.”

Some prices at Disneyland are inching up, like adding the option to hop between two parks in the same day ($5 to $15 more), most middle-tier Disneyland tickets (about $5 or 3% more), and its Lightning Lane Multi Pass skip-the-line service ($1 or 3% more).

However, a broad slate of products at Disneyland are not increasing in price: the cheapest tickets for the slowest days of the year, the peak tickets for the busiest days of the year, multi-day tickets, parking and annual passes.

The base ticket price has held steady at $104 since 2019. But for the first time in a decade, the most expensive one-day, one-park ticket for Disneyland (usually during end-of-year holidays) is also not budging from its current $224. The fact that none of the annual passes are changing in price is also a first. The relative lack of price movement this year in Anaheim, California, speaks to the main clientele: locals.

Disney told CNN that visitation to Disneyland tends to be more regional with shorter stays; Disney World guests typically plan further ahead, travel longer distances, and take longer vacations.

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Pnina Feldman, associate professor of technology and operations management at the University of Virginia, said Californians “are deciding how many times to visit this year.”

“That decision is price sensitive,” she said.

The very same items at Disney World in Florida are seeing different price treatments.

“We have all kinds of guests coming through our gates,” Disney’s Mazloum said, “and it’s exactly why we think about pricing market by market, rather than with one broad brush.”

Current Disney World ticket prices have been set through October 2027. But for the remainder of 2027, the new price of the peak, one-day, one-park ticket will increase by $10 to $229 plus tax. The lowest-priced, one-day, one-park ticket will stay the same at $119 plus tax.

Feldman said that at Disney World, more guests are from out of state.

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This is what Disneyland looked like when it opened 70 years ago

“For guests who flew in and booked a hotel, a few dollars on a ticket rarely changes the decision to go, so the increase in price won’t fundamentally decrease demand,” she said.

Annual passes to Disney World are going up by $10 to $120, depending on the pass. Middle-tier Disney World tickets, multi-day tickets, and a skip-the-line service for individual premium rides, will also see a moderate increase.

The high-end version of that service that allows guests into every available fast lane without reservations could go up $50 based on demand.

The price of the cheaper skip-the-line option that requires reservations, as well as parking rates, will not change.

Gavin Doyle, founder of third-party Disney news site MickeyVisit.com , said his readers follow the company — and the annual price increases — closely.

“I’m just seeing Disney start to really listen to fan feedback in a way that they haven’t in the past, always,” Doyle said.

In post-pandemic years , he said some guests felt like the changes to policies and price increases made it more difficult to visit a place over which they feel so much ownership. In response, Disney rolled back some pandemic-era decisions , such as making Disney World hotel parking free again for guests.

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Some recent Disney price hikes outpace inflation. But the crowds keep coming for now

Beci Mahnken, CEO of MEI-Travel agency, said that even in financially uncertain times, her clients aren’t foregoing Disney trips altogether.

However, “some clients are willing to adjust their dates, resort or length of stay when the right offer comes along because it can make a meaningful difference in the overall cost,” Mahnken said.

That’s exactly what Disney is hoping for: to use pricing to spread crowds out more evenly throughout the year, hopefully providing a better experience for all visitors.

“We’re so proud that guests keep choosing us, year after year. It tells us we’re getting that balance right,” Mazloum said.

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今天，迪士尼提高了旗下许多主题公园项目的价格，恰逢公司新财年的开始。但消费者并没有像几年前那样强烈抵制涨价。

迪士尼每年十月都会进行价格上涨，这已成为该公司的惯例。如何在增加收入和消费者支付意愿之间取得平衡，始终是一项棘手的挑战。

迪士尼乐园的许多门票类型、通行证和附加项目此次并未涨价。但高端产品的价格却在上涨，例如华特迪士尼世界最高级别的免排队服务，在高峰期价格可能接近 500 美元。

这反映了该公司的策略：将价格上涨幅度分摊到不同的受众群体，同时保持最低档次的价格不变，例如淡季的单日票、单园票等。

迪士尼表示，其主题公园战略随着时间的推移而不断演变。高价高端产品和附加项目，加上有针对性的折扣和对老旧景点的翻新，使得公司今年夏天的主题公园和邮轮收入创下两年来新高。

尽管旅游业低迷，迪士尼乐园和邮轮业务仍实现了两年来最佳增长。以下是他们如何做到这一点的。

今年，在许多消费者都在缩减可自由支配支出的情况下，该公司保持了入门级产品价格的稳定。

迪士尼体验主席托马斯·马兹卢姆在提价前接受CNN采访时表示：“我们的目标是将游客置于决策的核心，而这首先要从倾听他们的意见开始。如今，家庭都在精打细算，这一点显得尤为重要。我们从他们每天的选择中就能看出这一点——他们的计划方式，以及他们提前多久做计划。”

迪士尼乐园的一些价格正在缓慢上涨，例如在同一天内往返两个乐园的选项（价格上涨 5 至 15 美元）、大多数中档迪士尼乐园门票（价格上涨约 5 美元或 3%）以及闪电通道多日通行证免排队服务（价格上涨 1 美元或 3%）。

然而，迪士尼乐园的大部分产品价格并未上涨：淡季最便宜的门票、旺季最繁忙的门票、多日票、停车票和年票。

自2019年以来，迪士尼乐园的基本门票价格一直稳定在104美元。但十年来，迪士尼乐园最贵的单日单园门票（通常在年末假期期间）首次维持在224美元不变。此外，所有年票的价格也未作调整，这也是史无前例的。今年加州阿纳海姆迪士尼乐园价格相对稳定，反映了其主要客群：当地居民。

迪士尼告诉 CNN，去迪士尼乐园的游客往往是区域性的，停留时间也较短；而去迪士尼世界的游客通常会提前更长时间计划，旅行距离更远，假期也更长。

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弗吉尼亚大学技术与运营管理副教授皮娜·费尔德曼表示，加州人“正在决定今年要来加州几次”。

“这个决定对价格很敏感，”她说。

在佛罗里达州的迪士尼世界，同样的商品却有不同的定价策略。

迪士尼的马兹卢姆说：“我们接待各种各样的客人，正因如此，我们才考虑按市场定价，而不是一概而论。”

目前的迪士尼世界门票价格已设定至2027年10月。但从2027年剩余时间起，高峰期单日单园门票价格将上涨10美元，至229美元（另加税费）。最低价单日单园门票价格将保持不变，仍为119美元（另加税费）。

费尔德曼表示，在迪士尼乐园，来自外州的游客更多。

艾伦·格兰特/LIFE图片收藏/Shutterstock

这就是迪士尼乐园70年前刚开业时的样子。

“对于乘飞机前来并预订酒店的客人来说，机票价格上涨几美元很少会改变他们出行的决定，因此价格上涨不会从根本上降低需求，”她说。

迪士尼世界年票价格将上涨10美元至120美元不等，具体涨幅取决于年票类型。中档迪士尼世界门票、多日票以及部分热门游乐设施的免排队服务价格也将小幅上涨。

该服务的高端版本允许客人无需预约即可使用所有可用的快速通道，根据需求，价格可能会上涨 50 美元。

价格较低的免排队预订选项以及停车费将保持不变。

第三方迪士尼新闻网站 MickeyVisit.com 的创始人 Gavin Doyle 表示，他的读者密切关注着这家公司及其每年的价格上涨情况。

“我看到迪士尼开始真正倾听粉丝的反馈，而他们过去并非总是如此，”多伊尔说。

他表示，疫情后几年，一些游客觉得政策变化和价格上涨让他们更难前往这个他们充满归属感的地方。作为回应，迪士尼撤回了一些疫情期间的决定，例如重新为游客提供免费的迪士尼世界酒店停车位。

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迪士尼最近的一些涨价幅度超过了通货膨胀率。但目前来看，游客依然络绎不绝。

MEI-Travel 旅行社首席执行官贝西·马恩肯表示，即使在经济形势不明朗的情况下，她的客户也没有完全放弃迪士尼之旅。

“不过，马恩肯表示，有些客户愿意在合适的优惠出现时调整入住日期、度假村或入住时长，因为这可以显著降低总成本。”

这正是迪士尼所希望的：通过价格策略将客流量更均匀地分散到全年，从而为所有游客提供更好的体验。

“我们非常自豪，客人年复一年地选择我们。这说明我们在这方面做得恰到好处，”马兹卢姆说。