Walt Disney World leapfrogs Universal Orlando on one-day ticket price

I would still love to know how many single-day tickets they sell.

I was just thinking the same thing. And one park tickets for that matter. Even when we did only one Disney day, we still bought a Hopper pass so we could do Animal Kingdom AND MK.

I know a lot of people do stick to one park per day. That's fine for them I suppose, but since eating is like a sport at WDW, I tend to want the flexibility to move around (and eat at Epcot quite a bit).

Back when they were high $60s (maybe a 5 years ago?), we did a single day at AK. It was still worth it (given how much we paid for travel and such), but I'd definitely consider extending my stay and going for the multiday ticket (which is obviously the point).

I am not a park hopper at all. I'm not sure why, but it's never appealed to me. It may have to do with the fact that I'm usually squeezing in days at the beginning and end of a work related trip and it just doesn't make sense to me to buy a single or two day ticket and hop on it. I suppose that since I've been to all 4 parks in the last 6 or 7 years, I might be more interested in hopping.

Does anyone care to guess how long before it hits the $100 milestone?

I can remember a time when I said that it would never get over $50 a day, because people would NEVER pay that much. I was dead wrong. Now I don't think the limit will ever be reached because... Disney.

But look how much you save buying multiple days!

:)

To put some context around it, I've bought a fair number of tickets for Vegas shows that were more than $100, and I consider that fair. But again, when I'm in Orlando, I always do multi-day tickets, which makes the per diem more like $50-60.

I like the comparison to single event tickets going for $100 or more. Concerts, plays, and sports hit this number frequently and are only a few hours long each.

Our seats (front row mezzanine) for the traveling production of Lion King cost a shade north of $100 each. A full day in the Magic Kingdom is a relative bargain.

Everyone is in an arms race at Orlando to convince people to spend their entire vacation with their chain. The one day ticket huge fee is just one part of the subtle nudge.

Disney and Universal have deep discounts on multi day passes. Busch has deep discounts on multi park pasees (Sea World, Busch Gardens, Aquatica.) Disney has Magical Express so that you dont need a rental car, Sea World has a free shuttle to Tampa and back. Disney and Universal keep on adding hotels to their properties.

Its now to the point that for your average week trip to Orlando, the only economical way is to choose one of two options: Disney or Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens (or drop the animal parks and go to Lego Land.) In the not so distant future, you will be picking to spend your week with only one chain. Universal is adding attractions like mad making it very difficult to do all the rides at least in the Studios in one day, IOA Im sure is next; so is Sea World.

I think that Universal has a lock on the slightly shorter stay. If you want to do three days, they easily have the better scene, and you can't beat staying on property, walking distance to the parks and City Walk. But go to five days, and there is plenty of value in going to Disney instead, whereas I wouldn't spend that long at UO. I struggle with SeaWorld, because I honestly don't have a car very often when I'm in town.

This editorial says $100 will lead to psychological meltdowns. I doubt it.

I find it odd that they're charging a few bucks more for Magic Kingdom than they do the other parks. That doesn't seem necessary.

Well, maybe not a meltdown, but I think there is something to the perceived threshold. It's why retailers price things at 49.95. It's all of a penny less, but it rings less expensive than 50 bucks. To my pocketbook Disney's 95 bucks may as well be 100, but 100 just sounds awfully expensive.

Kind of like gasoline prices. I read an article a while back that said consumers, in their minds, drew a line where they would finally consider the price to be impossible, and they werent going to take it anymore. I forget how much, but I think it was 4 dollars. Some places are higher than that now.

If Disney does get to 100, it won't be 100. It'll be 104.95 or something, right?

Again, I just can't fathom that anyone really looks at the single-day price. Ever. I'm not saying that people aren't buying those tickets, but I think it's more than anecdotal that most everyone I've ever known to visit the parks was looking at a multi-day visit.

Surprise! Sea World and Busch Gardens just upped their gates to $92 and $89, respectively.

The hundred-dollar "barrier" is meaningless if your usual currency is anything other than dollars.

"Sweetie dahling, we simply can't take the kids to Disney, the price is now just north of 62 Euros." Just makes no sense when you take into account that Disney is an international destination...

Good point.

Now, Sea World and Busch are places where I would think visitors are more likely to use and purchase single day tickets. I dont see them necessarily as multi-day destinations, although you can get deals that include both places and the waterpark I think. Do they still offer year passes for the same price, or slightly higher?

I'm not sure that SeaWorld and Busch have the same luxury of hitting those gates. Those are one-day affairs for most people I would think. Weird.