Disney World gate rises to $79 for single-day, single park

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Wow. It's really getting out of hand. I'm sure all the other Orlando parks will follow.

I thought it'd be a good time for a trip down memory lane. :)

Sometimes it's fun to go back and read what we all thought when similar things happened in the past. So without further ado:

December 3, 2004 - Disney World Single Day Ticket Approaches $60

August 7, 2006 - Disney World Tickets Reach $67

August 4, 2007 - Disney World Tickets Rising To $71 For One Day

August 3, 2008 - Disney Tickets Go Up Again ($71 to $75)

I think the threads speak for themselves. Good fun reading how the opinions never really change and Disney just keeps bumping the gate and people still flock to Orlando.

Let's look at this from a glass-half-full perspective: Disney just increased the value of the "What Will You Celebrate" birthday promotion by 5.3 percent!

What other park will be giving (some of ) us 5.3 percent more free starting tomorrow?

Our "standard" tickets...7-day hoppers, three adults one kid...went from $1,077 to $1,111---an increase of $34, or about 3.2%. It still comes out to a shade under $40/person/day, and it's *still* less per-day than than a week-long trip would have cost in the "old" ticketing system, prior to 2005.

Personally, it's a lower increase than I was expecting, and not enough to even get me to bother buying my tickets for next February/March early.

Most interesting to me---the adult 7-day hoppers went up $8. The kid tickets went up $10 on a lower basis for a much larger percentage.

I think Universal should steal a march on Disney

Imagine a commercial with the CEO of Universal Orlando
saying "In these trying economic times Universal would like to help the working families have a vacation unlike some others we will be cutting our ticket prices 5-10 %.

Can Universal afford to lower prices?

Amnesiac said:
Can Universal afford to lower prices?

it cost them more for those free superbowl ticket than this would cost Plus you do not get anything if they don't come to the park
More people thru the gate = more money

All my wallet has to say is OUCH!!!!!! :(

APs are going up as well.

The price break for my DVC AP Premium cost is still 8 days of visit, which isnt bad. Plus the discounts you get off of food (20% food and alcohol) and regular rooms (if I so desire), still makes it a worth while cost.

kevin38 said:
More people thru the gate = more money

Only if the percentage of attendance increase is more than the percentage of the ticket price decrease.

Actually, with a promotion like that, there's no need to cut prices. Just announce that you're not increasing prices, so you have no "lost" revenue from discounted tickets to worry about making up.

If the surveys that UO has been putting out lately are any indication, they've finally stopped considering marketing that tries to compete on price. It's a stupid way to differentiate yourself because the theme parks attract people on an emotional level, not financial.

Universal would be absolutely heroic if they announced a slight drop in prices. They could keep advertising it even when Wizarding World opens, and people would eat that up. It could end up very positive for the company.

Could Disney have been gradually raising prices all this time in an effort to control the large crowds that their parks get? Probably not, but it's something to think about.

That would be wrong. If you have a great new attraction, the last thing you do is decrease your gate.

Because people will be going there anyways to check out the new attraction...I know.

Can we officially call it a "great new attraction" yet?

As long as build what they describe, I think it is safe to call it great.

If it is built and designed to fit the description, I'd rather visit Potterland than anything Disney has to offer.

I agree.. It certainly may be great, whether its RRR or Potterland, but they are just carefully chosen adjectives to me until the paying GP speaks.

Discounting isn't going to draw away a guest who intend to visit Disney to Universal. The people who plan to visit Universal will likely do so whether there is a discount or not.

The marketing many of you are proposing is an approach that is geared towards locals, not vacationing tourists. The majority of the attendance at Orlando parks is from vacationing tourists and in many cases the tickets are part of a package.

If Universal wants to discount to attract attention then they should focus on multi-day vacation packages including lodging, which is what Disney has been doing to keep rooms and parks full.

The single-day gate prices in Orlando are so insignificant since the majority of the guests are multi-day visitors and single-day visitors are not what this market is after.