Here we go again... ticket prices increase for 2017

In what has become an annual post, I am again writing about the increase in ticket prices at Disney.  Ok, ok, I get it.  Ticket price increases are as anticipated as the sunrise.  It just happens each year.

Magic Kingdom ticket prices from 1982 to today.  Notice how the rate of increase has steadily grown sharper?
Click for a larger view.

What I have a problem with is the continued decrease in value of that ticket.  What do I mean?  Long-time Disney park veterans can remember the days when the cast member was the biggest difference between a day at a Disney park and a day at some other theme park.  The cast members and the exceptional level of service were unmatched.  Period.

Let me be very clear - Disney cast members still provide the best service in the world -- with what they have to work with.

In recent years, the guest experience has diminished.  No longer is Disney service unparalleled.  Part of this is due to other parks catching up, but part of this also is due to the numerous cost-saving measures implemented under Bob Iger's direction.  I've seen the value of a Disney trip continue to be less and less due to these cost-saving measures.  Live entertainment is a rarity.  Dining offerings have slipped and aren't quite the level they used to be, especially counter-service.  Merchandise has become homogeneous.

Where this all leads to is a decline in the Disney reputation.  Ok, ok, I understand that people are still pouring into the gates each and every day in droves, and that's correct.  I also see all the construction that's going on in the parks and I get that too. 

For now.  I continue to be very concerned that Disney is pricing itself into elitism.  I know of many long-time annual passholders who have given up their AP's because it's just not worth it anymore.  I'm one of them.

Maybe one day Disney management will start to see the trend and will try to find ways to bring back the Disney shine.  Maybe not.  So long as Bob Iger is there, I don't think you will see a commitment to the guest experience that Walt Disney was so proud of.  Don't get me wrong, I think Bob Iger has done a great deal to benefit the Disney company - he brought in many new brands to the Disney family and that's been a huge benefit to the parks.  He also has expanded the parks with the launch of Shanghai Disneyland.  According to reports, he's working to bring Disneyland Paris fully back into the fold - something that's desperately needed.  It's time to turn the attention to home and shore up the U.S. parks.

Will my family and I still go to Disney?  Yes.  But maybe not as much.  And that's my fear -- Disney is pushing away the repeat visitor.  I understand that the 1st time visitor is Walt Disney World's bread and butter, but what better way to expand revenue than to turn a 1st time visitor into an annual (or bi-annual) visitor?

What are your thoughts?

If there's one thing you can count on...

It's that Disney will raise the prices of tickets at their theme parks.

According to several published reports, this weekend, Disney will raise the prices of tickets at Walt Disney World.  This year, Disney is crossing a major milestone - the $100 mark.  A one-day, one-park ticket for the Magic Kingdom will now cost $105 per person.  This is the first time in history any single-day Disney park ticket has cost more than $100.  While this price increase is not surprising, it is in another way - crossing the $100 mark is a big deal in the minds of consumers. 

Take a look at this chart of one-day, one-park prices since this type of ticket became available:

Click for a larger view.

What's readily apparent is that ticket prices have been steadily increasing at a rate of anywhere from 0 to 20% each year, with the average price increase being about 6%.  This kind of annual rate increase is not common in the world of business.  The price for most items hasn't risen a steady 6% each year for the past 33 years.  For instance, gas in 1982 cost about $1.19 a gallon and milk cost about $1.49 a gallon.  If gas prices followed this same rate of increase, gas would cost about $9.43 a gallon and a gallon of milk would be more than $14! 

It is true that even at $105, a one-day, one-park ticket is a better overall value than, say, a round of golf at your local course.  With greens fees today running at least around $50 a person, the cost-per-hour for golf is far high higher than that of a day at the Magic Kingdom.  Even so, I continue to be concerned that Disney is slowly pricing itself out of range for lower income families.  That one-in-a-lifetime trip may become a not-in-my-lifetime trip because the prices are getting so high.

Attendance is just as high as it has ever been, so guests seem to be willing to pay the constantly higher price.  I'm just worried that there will, someday, be that point where too much becomes too much.

A historical view of MK ticket prices

Click for a larger view

Back in February, Disney announced the next round of price hikes for park tickets.  Today a one-day, one-park (ODOP) ticket for the Magic Kingdom is $99.  Given that this price increase came in February, it's entirely possible (and, sadly, not unprecedented) that another price increase may come later in the year.

Thanks to the folks at AllEars.net, we can take a look back at the Magic Kingdom ticket prices since 1982 (that's when the old ticket books went away completely and regular park admission started).  Looking back at 1982, a Magic Kingdom ODOP ticket was just over $13, a mere fraction of today's price.  If you look at the chart above you'll notice that prices rose fairly steadily until the late 1990s.  When Bob Iger became Disney's CEO in 1999, a Magic Kingdom ODOP was $44 - more than four times what it was seventeen years earlier.  Now, in 2014, that same ODOP ticket is $99, more than double what it was just 15 years ago. 

Now I understand costs do go up each year, but what I'm most concerned about is Disney's pace of increase.  If you look at the trend line (the black line), you'll see that from 1982 to around 1992, the ticket price was just slightly above the trend, but pretty close.  From 1992 until 2002, ticket prices dropped below the trend line.  In 2003, that's when things really started to change.  Notice the general slope of the ticket price line starting in 2003 - it's much steeper than it had ever been.  That meant the price of tickets started increasing at a greater rate than before, and for the most part that new slope hasn't relaxed.

In the small chart above, you can see the percentage change of ticket prices from year to year.  After 1999, the percentage of change has been quite volatile, from no change to as much as 12-percent.  Granted, the economy over the last few years has been anything but stable, so I guess it's not much of a surprise to see volatility in Disney's pricing structure.

So what's the point behind all this?  Using a tool like this, we can attempt to predict what prices will be in the future.  Given this rate of increase at around 6% a year, we can expect a Magic Kingdom ODOP ticket to run around $105 next year (that is if they don't already do another price increase this year), and could be around $140 by 2020.  Stop and think about that -- by the time the Magic Kingdom celebrates it's 50th anniversary in 2021, a one-day one-park ticket will be ten times what it was just after the Magic Kingdom's 10th anniversary.  I can't think of too many things that cost ten times what they did about 40 years ago.  If gas prices followed the same rate of increase then one gallon of gas will cost $13 by 2020. 

Maybe now you'll see what I'm concerned about -- Disney pricing themselves out of business.  There will come a point when the average family will no longer see the overall value of a Disney vacation.  I know some are already wondering if it's really worth it.  Sure, the parks are packed and attendance is still strong right now, but it doesn't take much to change all that.  Would you still drive a car if gas cost $13 a gallon?

I'm not griping about ticket prices.  Yes, they're too high, but that's not my main point.  My concern is the value of a Disney vacation.  I want people to be able to afford a Disney vacation.  I want the average family to be able to enjoy the magic.  I want Walt Disney World and Disneyland to be the premier theme parks in the world and the standard for which all others reach.  The more and more a Disney vacation starts to get our of reach for the average family, the closer Disney becomes to developing a reputation as something for the elite only.  Walt was never an elitist and I think he'd never want his parks to become something only for the elite. 

I understand prices have to increase, i just hope Disney will realize that their prices are going up too fast and will slow down that rate of increase. 

Disney increases ticket prices... again

Once again Disney has increased the price of tickets to Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

A one-day, one park ticket for the Magic Kingdom now is $95 per person ($90 each for the other three parks).

Standard annual passes are now $609 and the premium annual pass is $729.  The Premier pass is up to $979.




Here is a quick chart I created plotting the price of a Magic Kingdom one-day, one-park pass since 1982, when Disney fully implemented a single day full-access ticket (no more ride ticket books).  As you can see, the price of a one-day, one park ticket has steadily risen over the years.  In 1982, a ticket cost $13.25.  Five years later, the cost had doubled to $26 per ticket.  The next doubling in price occurred 16 years later in 2003 when a ticket ran $53 a person.

In looking at the overall percentage increase per year, ticket prices are increasing at an average rate of about 5-6% a year, especially over the last five years.  If this rate remains constant, by 2020, a one-day, one-park ticket will cost about $141 each.  That in just seven years from now.

So if you're thinking about a Disney trip in the coming years, you may want to think about purchasing with a no-expiration option.  However, as of this writing, Disney no longer offers no expiration as an option when purchasing tickets online.  You can get the option if you purchase on property and I suspect you can request the no expiration option if you order tickets by phone.

I should note that Disney isn't the only Orlando-area theme park hiking up ticket prices.  SeaWorld and Universal routinely increase ticket prices every year.

Cost of magic increases

In what should be no surprise to anyone, Disney has again increased the price of a one-day base ticket from $75 to $79. The cost of a child's ticket has risen to $69 for a one-day ticket. Park hopper add-on has risen to $52 a day.

Check out official prices here.