Ticket prices have risen
on most days at Disney World theme parks with the implementation of demand
pricing, and most guests will be willing to pay the increase, according to
Theme Park Review's Robb Alvey.
Many families do a Disney
vacation when school is out (the summer months plus spring, Christmas and
Thanksgiving breaks), and Disney is now charging "peak" admission prices
($124 for the Magic Kingdom) for most of these days on the calendar. All of
June and most of July are "peak" days.
The $124 price is 18%
higher than the "value" price of $105, which is available at the end
of August and all of September. The rest of the days in 2015 have "regular"
pricing — $110 for the Magic Kingdom, a $5 increase from what Disney was
charging before it implemented demand pricing.
While Disney doesn’t
release attendance specifics, more than 80% of Disney World’s visitors are
coming in from out of town, and many of those families don’t have the
flexibility to pull their kids out of school for an extended number of days,
said Alvey. He added that enticing visitors who do have the flexibility to
attend parks on"regular" or "value" days will be a guest benefit.
“The park has always had
overcrowding issues,” said Alvey. “The dynamic pricing will help balance that
out.”
Meanwhile at Southern
California's Disneyland, a higher percentage of its guests are local and often
have annual passes, for which demand pricing does not apply. Disneyland does
have twice as many "value" days ($95 admission, down from $99) as
Disney World.
“It’s still going to be
crowded,” said Theme Park Insider’s Robert Niles. “They just might not have to
close the gates at Disneyland at 1 or 2 in the afternoon during Christmas week,
as they have in the past.”