$79 Base Ticket

[DisneyJoe]

Keep in mind though that Universal's ticket prices are undoubtedly going to rise as well. I never really understood that - why do the other two resorts (Sea World and Universal) raise their rates as well? It seems to me like they'd get far better press, not to mention happier customers, if they just ONCE didn't raise their prices.

It's called perceived value.

 

[WishIwasThere]

Average ticket is around $10. Popcorn is around $7, and that giant Coke $5. So that means that every time you go to the movies and get a popcorn and a soda, you'll spend on average $23, and the average moviegoer goes eight times a year. So on average you'd probably spend about $180 each year going to the movies and getting a snack each time.

Twenty years ago I used to be able to get military discounted tickets to WDW, 1 day passes, for $25 from the Navy base in Orlando. I think the regular gate price back then was $29 or so. Movie ticket prices back then were $5. So in those 20 years, movie prices have doubled, but ticket prices to WDW have more than doubled...almost tripled. While I never buy 1 day passes any longer, I think they are increasing the prices way too quickly. I think they have gone up about $25 in the last seven years...OWWCH!

 

[RSoxNo1]

The Six Flags park I worked at has 35 major rides, not including small kiddie rides...and is HALF the cost of admission to Disney. While it isn't Disney, these aren't cheap carnival rides either. I didn't include parades, shows, or meet-n-greets.

I definitely find the better value at Six Flags...but unlike Disney, Six Flags isn't marketing destination travelers.

Granted it's one man's opinion, but I was very unsatisfied when I visited Six Flags Magic Mountain back in June. We were there for 7 hours on a Tuesday and got on 5 rides in 7 hours. They were arguably the five most popular rides in the park, but in each location we saw glaring operational problems. Rides weren't being run at full capacity be it only using one loading zone, leaving vehicles unused, and consistently sending out vehicles with empty spots because they don't use groupers to assign you to a row. Our shortest wait was 35 minutes for their Superman attraction, by comparison the only wait in our 5 days in Disneyland/California Adventure that exceeded 35 minutes was one of our 4 trips on Toy Story Mania, when we waited 40 minutes. Magic Mountain wasn't crowded, it has the ability to have a large capacity and it wasn't being used.

I went to the extent of e-mailing the head of park operations, pointing out the ineffeciencies, and even offered to work for them pro bono as a way of fixing some of these glaring problems. I was turned down as apparently California law dictates that all employees must earn a wage. Needless to say, I smiled a bit when I saw they declared bankruptcy (Although on the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean too much to their theme parks).

Now, I admit, the coasters I went on were impressive, especially X2 - easily the best lightly themed coaster I've been on in my life, and truly a unique experience, but I'll use the Bill Cosby comparison: If your favorite meal is steak, you're not gonna like it as much if it's served to you on a dirty trash can lid.

 

[Slowjack]

In fact, like many have said before, raise the prices more. I would gladly pay 30% more to deal with 30% less guests.

Ah, you need to check your math. If raising the ticket price 30% meant a 30% decline in attendance, Disney would only net 91% of the original ticket revenue (0.7 * 1.3 = .91), so why would they do it? The decline would need to be a more modest 23% to balance out on ticket prices...but when you consider that those non-attendees would also not be staying at on-site hotels, eating at WDW restaurants, or buying souvenirs, I'd guess the make-or-break point for Disney would be much lower, maybe as low as 5%. Would you gladly pay 30% for 5% fewer guests?

Also, fewer guests don't necessarily translate into more attraction time for you, since Disney seems to aggressively scale back staffing as attendance drops, running fewer shows, boats, trains, whatever, or just cutting back hours.

Most likely the net benefit to you of paying that extra 30% would be nothing.

Don't get me wrong. If Disney can get people to pay more, it's in their business interest to do so. But let's not kid ourselves that this is good for anyone else.

 

[khale1970]

I have a friend who went for a day trip to Epcot this summer with his young adult son. This was an add on to another trip to South Florida, and was based on curiosity about seeing Disney (they had never been before). My friend didn't really want to go, and wanted a park with thrill rides. I advised going to Universal or Sea World for the lower prices and better thrill rides. My friend wanted to see what all the fuss was about at WDW. I told him if he insisted on giving it a try for one day he should go to EPCOT since it was two adults (would have said DHS for the thrill rides if there were more than the two to recommend).

He thought it was a decent experience (other than standing on line for 2 hours for Soarin...he messed up his order with the FP system and by the time he could get a FP to Soarin they were all gone), but did say it was really expensive for one day and that there weren't many thrill rides. Wish someone had warned him about those things...

I go and stay for 7 or 8 days, Park Hop, and use WDW transportation. I think it is an exceptionally good value. For a one or two day once in a lifetime trip, it is really expensive and would not be a good deal for me.

 

[Phonedave]

I go and stay for 7 or 8 days, Park Hop, and use WDW transportation. I think it is an exceptionally good value. For a one or two day once in a lifetime trip, it is really expensive and would not be a good deal for me.

I agree.

I remember as a kid, my family would go to ORLANDO. Not to WDW. We would go to WDW for 2 or 3 days, Sea World, Space Center, even make a trip over to Coco Beach.

Now, anyone who takes a family for a single day to WDW is going to feel like they have been ripped off.

-dave

 

[fosse76]

Granted it's one man's opinion, but I was very unsatisfied when I visited Six Flags Magic Mountain back in June. We were there for 7 hours on a Tuesday and got on 5 rides in 7 hours. They were arguably the five most popular rides in the park, but in each location we saw glaring operational problems. Rides weren't being run at full capacity be it only using one loading zone, leaving vehicles unused, and consistently sending out vehicles with empty spots because they don't use groupers to assign you to a row. Our shortest wait was 35 minutes for their Superman attraction, by comparison the only wait in our 5 days in Disneyland/California Adventure that exceeded 35 minutes was one of our 4 trips on Toy Story Mania, when we waited 40 minutes. Magic Mountain wasn't crowded, it has the ability to have a large capacity and it wasn't being used.

I went to the extent of e-mailing the head of park operations, pointing out the ineffeciencies, and even offered to work for them pro bono as a way of fixing some of these glaring problems. I was turned down as apparently California law dictates that all employees must earn a wage. Needless to say, I smiled a bit when I saw they declared bankruptcy (Although on the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean too much to their theme parks).

Now, I admit, the coasters I went on were impressive, especially X2 - easily the best lightly themed coaster I've been on in my life, and truly a unique experience, but I'll use the Bill Cosby comparison: If your favorite meal is steak, you're not gonna like it as much if it's served to you on a dirty trash can lid.

Keep in mind, though...that each Six Flags park is run differently. I think under the original 7 parks, Warner Bros. and previous owners essentially let each individual park run itself without corporate interference. I've heard horror stories about Great Adventure for years, and found it to be rather pleasant when I started going (despite looking very generic with NO themeing). For a well-themed Six Flags, go to the park in Chicago. It has always run its rides at maximum capacity.

One thing I don't like about Six Flags is their Flash Pass system. The first option is essentially a paid version of Disney's FP. The second option, however, essentially is the "line jumper." Unlike Disney's systems, Six Flags doesn't take a rides hourly capacity into acount. If everyone who purchased a FlashPass decided to choose Batman-The Ride at the same time...they would all be directed to return at the same time...where Disney's FP allocates only a certain number of FPs for each block of time. Six Flags needs a better system.

 

[elizs77]

but really — the idea of driving to the TTC to go to Magic Kingdom or Epcot for the day just sounds archaic the more you think of it.

But, see, that's sad to me. We used to do this a lot! Growing up, we would usually stay a week in Ormond-By-The-Sea, and more times than not, we'd head over mid-week for a long day at the park. To do this now, WOW, it would be insanely expensive just to get in. We were just there a few days ago, and the prices went up while we were there. I told DH I'd be super ticked if I paid that much for a day at Animal Kingdom not knowing exactly how small it is comparatively.

 

[mharrington]

I think maybe they ought to rename part of WDW's MK's dedication so that it's actually more honest about the park today:

"...a Magic Kingdom where the young-at-heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn and practically lose their shirts doing all of those together."

Profits are the corporation's (not just Disney's, but any) main Achilles' heel. If you want them to lower the prices on things (anything at all), hit them where it hurts, by not spending money on it and starving their profits until their stocks are so in the red that they might (and this is a big might) lower prices as a way to say "uncle".

Bottom line, if you want them to lower prices, you should trying starving their revenue.