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

[JD80]

What other ticketed event goes from 8 AM to 11 PM?

I don't think that's relevant. We're talking about the price of stuff inside a paid event no?

 

[Biff215]

I don't think that's relevant. We're talking about the price of stuff inside a paid event no?

It’s relevant because you have a choice at a concert or game whether you eat at the event or before/after (elsewhere). Most can last the 2-3 hours you’re typically there. This is impossible at any theme park when you’re spending the entire day, particularly in the Florida climate and Disney “bubble”.

 

[mkt]

Are there clowns?

Mostly in the boardroom.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I don't think that's relevant. We're talking about the price of stuff inside a paid event no?

I mean, if you pay X dollars to go to one event for 2 hours, and the same to go to another event for 15 hours, I think that’s pretty relevant. There’s no all day basketball game.

 

[DisneyHead123]

For what it's worth, I am not even Gen X, much less a boomer. While my questions may seem "quaint," I am genuinely curious why we just accept this. I have no issue working hard or harder, but it shpuld mean more....."it is what it is" mentality doesn't appeal to me much. I suppose just wishful thinking....

I don’t know if you mean in general or are talking about Disney specifically.

If you mean in general - I’m not an economist but my impression is that 1. Our post WWII advantage is wearing off with globalization and 2. An influx of wealth in the past 50 years sent inflation in specific areas (housing, college, healthcare) absolutely through the roof.

If you’re talking about Disney specifically, it’s always the same issue. In spite of the price increases, park attendance has more than doubled since the 80s. Making the parks more accessible would be great but they would need an enormous increase in capacity to handle additional park attendance, because it’s still crowded even with the current pricing in place. In a perfect world I would love to see Disney just build a third US park, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Chi84]

I disagree, I think the blame absolutely falls on us, the average person, we want cheap products so much of what we buy is made overseas in countries that pay very low wages.

We can either have high wages, or we can have cheap products, it’s rare to have both simultaneously.

I watched a news report the other day where a company started producing products in the USA to avoid tariffs and they said it added about 10% to the overall cost, compared to the Chinese made product even with the tariffs, they said they put a made in America label on the Amazon page and still sold exactly 0 products, everyone continued to buy the Chinese made products that were 10% cheaper.

People speak with their money, and what they’re telling companies is they want cheap products.

I’m not sure about “cheap” products but we clearly are not willing to pay more for the same product simply because it was made in the USA.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I disagree, I think the blame absolutely falls on us, the average person, we want cheap products so much of what we buy is made overseas in countries that pay very low wages.

We can either have high wages, or we can have cheap products, it’s rare to have both simultaneously.

I watched a news report the other day where a company started producing products in the USA to avoid tariffs and they said it added about 10% to the overall cost, compared to the Chinese made product even with the tariffs, they said they put a made in America label on the Amazon page and still sold exactly 0 products, everyone continued to buy the Chinese made products that were 10% cheaper.

People speak with their money, and what they’re telling companies is they want cheap products.

It’s easiest to blame things on the fans, (wealthy or regular) when it’s the company that fails.

 

[Laketravis]

In a perfect world I would love to see Disney just build a third US park, but I doubt that will happen.

DisneyLand, Disney World, Disney Unive......oops, already taken.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

So been there, done that too. But it was not always like that for every generation. Households used to run off one, full-time income. Now, households need two full-time jobs plus some.

When they ran off one income, they had one car, maybe one TV, one house phone, no computers, etc. There were still plenty of families who couldn’t afford to go to Disneyland. We surely couldn’t afford WDW in the 70’s or 80’s. Didn’t resent that, either.

We’re comparing a post-war boom with a post-pandemic recovery. It’s amazing we weren’t in a recession for the last two years.

I remember that one year when Disney jacked up ticket prices by a large margin, before Covid. They took the risk, and it paid off. Still sold plenty of everything. Still crowded.

All the families going support his statement.

 

[CAV]

I see what Josh is saying; if they can't afford the bread service at Sanaa, let them eat cake on Main Street.

 

[CAV]

The only thing that I agree with is that Disney's QS generally is priced correctly, which I can say having been to major cities, non-Disney parks, etc. And the quality of the food is much better in a lot of the QS locations than other parks, especially Epcot, AK, and DL. Disney also does guests a favor by allowing outside food and beverages to be brought in, which is restricted in most other parks (this is a tip I give many people because they often don't realize it since other parks restrict outside food).

It does not, however, mean that it's "affordable" for the average family.

Yea, ok. I stayed a CSR last weekend. After a morning run, I stopped in the quick serve to buy a bottle of coke zero. $5.50!!!! Five Dollars and Fifty cents for a bottle of soda they probably paid 25 cents for wholesale

 

[Lilofan]

I disagree, I think the blame absolutely falls on us, the average person, we want cheap products so much of what we buy is made overseas in countries that pay very low wages.

We can either have high wages, or we can have cheap products, it’s rare to have both simultaneously.

I watched a news report the other day where a company started producing products in the USA to avoid tariffs and they said it added about 10% to the overall cost, compared to the Chinese made product even with the tariffs, they said they put a made in America label on the Amazon page and still sold exactly 0 products, everyone continued to buy the Chinese made products that were 10% cheaper.

People speak with their money, and what they’re telling companies is they want cheap products.

Apple ‘s Tim Cook knows how to go around landmines. Instead of making phones in China he is moving operations to India. That’s why Apple is worth $3 trillion.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Mostly in the boardroom.

…winner

 

[FutureCEO]

I don’t disagree the pricing is out of hand, but people keep booking. Heck, bookings are up for YoY and look to be trending up the rest of the year as well. The customer is shouting that they don’t care about the price. Is it sustainable? I’m not sure, but the train keeps plowing on.

Just take a look at world cup tickets for next year and people will think Disney is a steal.

 

[John park hopper]

I don’t know if you mean in general or are talking about Disney specifically.

If you mean in general - I’m not an economist but my impression is that 1. Our post WWII advantage is wearing off with globalization and 2. An influx of wealth in the past 50 years sent inflation in specific areas (housing, college, healthcare) absolutely through the roof.

If you’re talking about Disney specifically, it’s always the same issue. In spite of the price increases, park attendance has more than doubled since the 80s. Making the parks more accessible would be great but they would need an enormous increase in capacity to handle additional park attendance, because it’s still crowded even with the current pricing in place. In a perfect world I would love to see Disney just build a third US park, but I doubt that will happen.

The US population has increased

• 1980: 226,545,805
• 2025: 343,603,404

more people = more crowds

 

[Nottamus]

“Seasonality used to look like a heart rate monitor. We’ve flattened that out with pricing strategies—lower prices in low-demand periods, and higher pricing when demand peaks”


But, but , I used to like the lower heart rate.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Just take a look at world cup tickets for next year and people will think Disney is a steal.

So you prefer glue herring red?

 

[Bocabear]

I just looked at the price of buying a villa on the coast of Italy, and people will think Disney is a steal.....

 

[DisneyHead123]

The US population has increased

• 1980: 226,545,805
• 2025: 343,603,404

more people = more crowds

There’s probably a multitude of reasons. Population growth, increased international travel, more people living in Orlando and surrounding areas (many who moved or retired there specifically for the parks), the increase in fandom communities with the presence of the internet, an increase in childless adults (or much smaller families) meaning increased disposable income, the rise of “experiences” as increasingly important to younger generations, and so on.

The reason doesn’t really matter though - the logistics are the same. There’s always talk and viral videos about the price increases at Disney, but it’s always the same underlying issue. Even with those prices, the parks are often overcrowded. There is not capacity to support a big increase in park attendance.

I will say it seems like initially, Disney focused more on increasing prices as a way to manage crowds. I think they’re just now seeing the upper limits of that and now they’re thinking more about capacity, so maybe that will change in the coming years.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

There’s probably a multitude of reasons. Population growth, increased international travel, more people living in Orlando and surrounding areas (many who moved or retired there specifically for the parks), the increase in fandom communities with the presence of the internet, an increase in childless adults (or much smaller families) meaning increased disposable income, the rise of “experiences” as increasingly important to younger generations, and so on.

The reason doesn’t really matter though - the logistics are the same. There’s always talk and viral videos about the price increases at Disney, but it’s always the same underlying issue. Even with those prices, the parks are often overcrowded. There is not capacity to support a big increase in park attendance.

I will say it seems like initially, Disney focused more on increasing prices as a way to manage crowds. I think they’re just now seeing the upper limits of that and now they’re thinking more about capacity, so maybe that will change in the coming years.

I think they know they have largely reached the upper limit of the lower level pricing - why the value resort picking and quick service pricing has, largely, state flat or even gone down after adjusting for inflation but deluxe pricing and "experiences" (like the Geo-82) are still going up a as know at least some people will pay it

Do also think a bit of a returned focus on families with younger kids with the "cool kid summer", 50% off kids tickets, free kids dining plan next year, etc - whether as counter programming to Epic or just trying to create the next generation of Disney families