News Disney Parks Chief Josh D'Amaro Says Pricing Model Aims to Keep Vacations Affordable for Families

[Lilofan]

So at the risk of scouring 18 pages...can you fill me in on how this would make Disney more affordable for families?

Disney would be more affordable if families drill down their weekly expenses. Back in my day after school kids like myself played stick ball, basketball bike riding , dodgeball , king of the mountain until our moms called us out for dinner. Now some families coddle and pamper their kids by paying for after school activities to entertain them before dinner time. Our cost of having daily fun to our parents budget was $0.00. Our relative complains of living week to week and can’t get ahead but their kids have acting, equestrian , karate sessions etc, frequent eating out etc weekly. It’s fairly easy to blame the high cost of Disney but some fail to look inwards and see what they are paying in daily life and make some life decisions.

 

[John park hopper]

Are the big Brazilian tour groups still coming to WDW don't remember seeing them my last visits ? Have they been priced out as well

 

[Lilofan]

Are the big Brazilian tour groups still coming to WDW don't remember seeing them my last visits ? Have they been priced out as well

Brazilian tour groups peak June-August which is their winter time. Back in the day we were at MGM in July and one unique offering open to all guests was the last 2 Indiana Jones shows that day - was strictly in Portuguese. When the Argentina and Brazilian groups are in the same park they have sing off sessions towards each other. If you understand what they are saying it’s not exactly PG-13 language and storytelling.

 

[monothingie]

Today is May 23, 2025 and Josh D'Amaro thought about affordability today. Specifically with the opening the new Little Mermaid Show at Disney's Hollywood Studios Josh wondered out loud and in song "I've got whosits and whatsits galore. You want thingamabobs? I got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want more."

He also thought about if he could afford to have a mermaid tail surgically installed.

Ok next update is sometime next week because rich guys like Josh always take extra time off on holiday weekends.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Today is May 23, 2025 and Josh D'Amaro thought about affordability today. Specifically with the opening the new Little Mermaid Show at Disney's Hollywood Studios Josh wondered out loud and in song "I've got whosits and whatsits galore. You want thingamabobs? I got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want more."

He also thought about if he could afford to have a mermaid tail surgically installed.

Ok next update is sometime next week because rich guys like Josh always take extra time off on holiday weekends.

…oh go check in for your flight

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Are the big Brazilian tour groups still coming to WDW don't remember seeing them my last visits ? Have they been priced out as well

We were in DHS on May 6th and saw one group that was from South America, not sure if Brazil or not though

 

[HauntedPirate]

Any word on removing discounted annual passes for locals. Simply no need for this giveaway, when you have so many tourists wanting to get in.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Any word on removing discounted annual passes for locals. Simply no need for this giveaway, when you have so many tourists wanting to get in.

So which is it?

Attendance is down, folks don't want to travel to the US, OR, so many tourists wanting to get in????

Its confusing.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Any word on removing discounted annual passes for locals. Simply no need for this giveaway, when you have so many tourists wanting to get in.

There are heavy discount promotions going on here in the UK. Maybe tourists aren't queuing to get in ?

 

[SamusAranX]

So at the risk of scouring 18 pages...can you fill me in on how this would make Disney more affordable for families?

You’re gonna have to scour 1k pages to see this guys consternation in full. Godspeed

 

[monothingie]

…oh go check in for your flight

United is giving me whiplash with all the schedule changes.

But EWR is so convenient!!!!

 

[monothingie]

Any word on removing discounted annual passes for locals. Simply no need for this giveaway, when you have so many tourists wanting to get in.

Donnie what type of conditioner do you use for your luscious curls?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

United is giving me whiplash with all the schedule changes.

But EWR is so convenient!!!!

Likely my last ever SW (it’s been years) flight out of Philly…hope they remember to fuel it

 

[DisneyHead123]

Disney would be more affordable if families drill down their weekly expenses. Back in my day after school kids like myself played stick ball, basketball bike riding , dodgeball , king of the mountain until our moms called us out for dinner. Now some families coddle and pamper their kids by paying for after school activities to entertain them before dinner time. Our cost of having daily fun to our parents budget was $0.00. Our relative complains of living week to week and can’t get ahead but their kids have acting, equestrian , karate sessions etc, frequent eating out etc weekly. It’s fairly easy to blame the high cost of Disney but some fail to look inwards and see what they are paying in daily life and make some life decisions.

I think you're focusing on a generational difference and assuming that if kids were raised the way they were in your day, everything would be fine. The thing is that extracurriculars are a relatively - relatively - small piece of the pie for most families, unless you get deep into travel sports, competitive cheer or something like that. Also, fwiw, extracurriculars are not about 'coddling' or 'pampering' kids. They take a good bit of work, after kids have already been in school all day. It's more about doing something that you hope will be developmentally beneficial for children and teach them stamina, discipline, teamwork, etc. (And before you tell me they should be playing stickball in the streets for that, lol, there's no one out in the streets to play stickball with and it's entirely possible someone would call the authorities if they saw a kid wandering the streets alone. It's just not an option in 2025.)

Things that have gone up exponentially in price - home prices / rent, home repair prices, car prices, car repair prices, college tuition / room and board, health insurance, health care and prescription prices (it used to be that you paid your copay and that was it, now it's commonplace to get a random bill for anywhere from $50 - $900 after fairly routine medical care). I'm not sure that daycare was as common in previous generations so I can't necessarily say costs have gone up, but current cost for daycare near me is $22,000 a year for an infant, around $19,500 for a preschooler. Also, if you want to be a working professional in many areas, for a family a requirement of that is often a two car household, two laptops, two smartphones, and internet. Recently, of course, groceries have gone up quite a bit in price as well.

Of course average household incomes have also gone up quite a bit over the past few decades. I'm just saying, I don't think you can make blanket statements. Sure, some people might be missing out on Disney because they're frivolous with money - I don't claim to know the finances of everyone in the US. But for many, I think the basics of life have grown exponentially more expensive since the days when kids played until the streetlights came on.

 

[DisneyHead123]

The children yearn for the mines. Put them back to work!

If you saw the play on that meme in Minecraft... Jack Black and that miner!

 

[JoeCamel]

There are heavy discount promotions going on here in the UK. Maybe tourists aren't queuing to get in ?

They are waiting for the new Uni park.......

 

[HauntedPirate]

Any word on removing discounted annual passes for locals. Simply no need for this giveaway, when you have so many tourists wanting to get in.

Since tourists are shunning WDW in recent years, they are starting a new promotion this summer!

"Visit any local participating Race Trac gas station, and with a 10 gallon fuel purchase, get a free WDW Annual Pass!"

Win, win, win.

 

[threvester]

You’re gonna have to scour 1k pages to see this guys consternation in full. Godspeed

Im well aware of the poster..scouring pages is his line lol

 

[John park hopper]

I think you're focusing on a generational difference and assuming that if kids were raised the way they were in your day, everything would be fine. The thing is that extracurriculars are a relatively - relatively - small piece of the pie for most families, unless you get deep into travel sports, competitive cheer or something like that. Also, fwiw, extracurriculars are not about 'coddling' or 'pampering' kids. They take a good bit of work, after kids have already been in school all day. It's more about doing something that you hope will be developmentally beneficial for children and teach them stamina, discipline, teamwork, etc. (And before you tell me they should be playing stickball in the streets for that, lol, there's no one out in the streets to play stickball with and it's entirely possible someone would call the authorities if they saw a kid wandering the streets alone. It's just not an option in 2025.)

Things that have gone up exponentially in price - home prices / rent, home repair prices, car prices, car repair prices, college tuition / room and board, health insurance, health care and prescription prices (it used to be that you paid your copay and that was it, now it's commonplace to get a random bill for anywhere from $50 - $900 after fairly routine medical care). I'm not sure that daycare was as common in previous generations so I can't necessarily say costs have gone up, but current cost for daycare near me is $22,000 a year for an infant, around $19,500 for a preschooler. Also, if you want to be a working professional in many areas, for a family a requirement of that is often a two car household, two laptops, two smartphones, and internet. Recently, of course, groceries have gone up quite a bit in price as well.

Of course average household incomes have also gone up quite a bit over the past few decades. I'm just saying, I don't think you can make blanket statements. Sure, some people might be missing out on Disney because they're frivolous with money - I don't claim to know the finances of everyone in the US. But for many, I think the basics of life have grown exponentially more expensive since the days when kids played until the streetlights came on.

Incomes have gone up but the value of the dollar has gone down

 

[Agent H]

Again, I realize “Won’t you think of the executives!” is not necessarily going to be a popular take, lol. But honestly, from the little I know about them, I like Iger and D’amaro. I think they get painted as these cartoon villains on here sometimes when any account of them I’ve read on Reddit or wherever says they’re genuinely nice people who really do care about the Disney company and what the Disney company creates.

This. They may not always make the right decisions but they’re not terrible evil Scrooges either. Nuance.