Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World increased prices for some tickets and annual passes today. In what has become an annual event around January/February, the parks raised ticket prices for a range of tickets and passes by a variety of amounts.
Disneyland Adds New Ticket Tiers and Raises Pass Prices
Single Day Tickets
Over on the West Coast, Disneyland changed its “tiers” for ticket prices along with raising prices on passes. Previously the park used three tiers for pricing. They offered lower “value” prices for least busy days, higher “peak” prices for the most popular dates, and a middle “regular” level for everything else. They’re now changing that two a five tier scale. Tier 1 on the quietest dates, and tier 5 on the busiest. The peak date Tier 5 ticket goes for $154, compared to $149 for the previous “peak” tickets. The bottom Tier will actually remain the same at $104, but we imagine some “value” dates will now be “Tier 2” at $114. Tier 3 and Tier 4 tickets are $124 and $139.
The Grand Circle Tour is going to cost you a bit more.
Note that those prices are just for single park tickets. Adding park hoppers has also gotten more expensive. The peak Tier 5 park hoppers have now reached above $200 to $209. The lowest price park hopper also went up in price to $154. Multi-day ticket packages increased by similar amounts. Two day one-park-per-day tickets $235 from $225, and two day park hoppers to $290 from $280. If this all seems complicated, just know that you’ll save potentially a lot of money if you can be flexible on your dates you visit the parks. Summer time, holidays, and weekends will be pricey. Winter and weekdays you’ll find the best deals.
Annual Passes
Annual passholders are also seeing an increase. The lowest price “select” Annual Pass, which is filled with blackout dates, rose from $399 for $419, about 5%. At the other end of the spectrum, the “premier” pass, which covers both Florida and California parks, went up a whopping 13% compared to where it was a year ago. It’s now $2,199, after a price increase last June took it from $1,949 last January up to $2,099. Two price increases within a year is a pretty tough pill to swallow. I guess Disney figures anyone spending this much can afford a little more.
The success of Rise of the Resistance is probably part of the reason for these price hikes. The upcoming Avengers campus likely also plays a role.
The “Flex Pass” newest annual pass, introduced last year and that I currently have, is also going up. It’s increasing from $599 to $649. I’m a huge fan of the flex pass and found it perfect for anyone who wanted to go to Disneyland more than once a year, but wasn’t going all the time. It’s still not a bad deal, but now when it’s time to renew I’ll really have to think about whether I think I’ll go to Disneyland more than twice in a year.
Price Growth
In 2000, a single day ticket cost only $43. Disneyland pretty steadily increased prices about 5% a year for most of the last 20 years. But, there have been a few larger jumps in ticket prices, and the average increase in the last 5 or so years has been much higher. There were a few large jumps in the mid-2000s. Then, in 2016, 2018, and 2019 we saw much larger increases than the typical 5ish percent. We can’t expect prices to stop rising, but hopefully the rate slows back down to the low single digits and we stop seeing double digit increases.
Disneyland single day price increases since 2000.
Walt Disney World Raises Prices on Some Passes
Over on the East Coast, single day ticket prices haven’t change (yet), but prices for some annual passes went up. For the Disney Platinum Plus Pass (the top tier pass), the price went up for non-Florida residents only. For non-locals the price increased from $1,219 to $1,295, over 6%. But, for locals it remains at $999. At the other end of the scale, the Epcot After 4 Pass for Florida residents went from $309 to $319. A few other Florida Resident only versions of passes saw small increases as well. Overall, not nearly as much a hike as at Disneyland, but the lesson still stands. If you think you’ll want a Disney annual pass, buy it in December before the regular January/February price hikes.
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