Walt Disney World prices rise to $82 for single-day, single park ticket

Cue Gonch's "nobody pays this price anyway"! ;)

Nobody pays this price anyway.

Are we really becoming that predictable?

For stories that repeat annually like this, probably.

For the record, visit WDW for 7 days and the per-day price is lower than the listed gate (or RAD) price at Knoebels, Kennywood and Holiday World.

That's value!

(and yes, I realize there's travel, lodging and other costs beyond that, but for me to visit any of those other parks there is too)

No, not too many people pay for a one day ticket at the "rack rate" but it does beg the question...how much higher can it go? And, is it worth it? Me personally? I'd never pay $82/person to go into a Disney Park for a day. And, I wouldn't have to considering Florida Discounts, APs etc.

For $80 you can buy a pass to get into any (and ALL...if you want) fee based National Parks...for an entire year. And it covers the pass holder plus three other people. Now, you aren't going to ride Ol' Faithful like you will Summit Plummet but, holy cow.

I've mentioned it before but it bears repeating. When I worked on the WDW College Program I asked an executive why park entry fees were so high. In 1992 a one day ticket was $34. I was told the prices are high because they want to keep a certain element out of society out of the park.

$82 will keep some people out of the parks. Are they allowed to do it? Sure, I'm not questioning that at all. I just wonder what the ceiling is. If "no one" pays for a one day ticket anyway, why not make it $200?

Omg......

It's gonna cost me $13 more to stay for a whole week....I better cancel my plans to go. End sarcasm.

wahoo skipper said:

$82 will keep some people out of the parks. Are they allowed to do it? Sure, I'm not questioning that at all. I just wonder what the ceiling is. If "no one" pays for a one day ticket anyway, why not make it $200?

I asked that same question two years ago (almost to the day!):

Lord Gonchar said:
At this point why not just go all the way and make it $230 to visit the park and your ticket is good for up to 10 consecutive days? They're only a step or two short of that already.

I still kind of believe that.

Why not? The difference between a 3-day pass ($224) and a 10-day pass ($262) is $38. Just make the ticket price something like $249. It's good for up to 10 days.

The one-day price is just there to make the 'real' prices seem like a discount or a bargain.

The pricing scheme forces your hand to make a certain decision because it's clearly the best one. Kind of like we were recently talking about CP pass pricing leading you to purchase a Platinum pass.

Heck, I ended up with a platinum CF pass this year despite not living in the country as it was better value for the parks I wanted to go to!

^Richard, my Merlin pass from last year probably got less usage than your CF pass this year...LOL. Still, the early entry to Alton was a huge benefit! ;)

I would never go for one day...I need a week! But I am not certain $82 per day is unreasonable for a full day of entertainment at the level Disney offers. Compared to sport events, high production shows (Vegas, New York), ther can be an argument that $82 is too low.

I agree.

There is no way to do it in a day anyways.

First off, the Disney College program students would not have any interaction with top exec's. Second, they would never comment about keeping the certain element out. It may be implied in many people's opinions that WDW is more expensive than the county fair, but money is money. Read what I am saying...Disney's brass will take money from anyone.

If that was the case, the 950,000 plus season pass holders at Disney California would be paying much more. Disney knows a good thing, and in-park spending is one of them. The $82 is their way of pushing you to a 2-3-4-5-6-7 day park hopper, stay on site, eat, drink, and be merry. Nothing else.

The free dining option opened the whole resort up to a segment of Americans who would have never made the trip to Orlando, or if they came, would have stayed on I-Drive at $49/night in leiu of staying on Disney property. A one day park hopper for Universal Floriday is like $99. I just bought a season pass anyway in March, and now IAAPA is there for 10 more years, so I may buy more.

We stayed at a motel six just outside the park last time, and paid $40 a night. But then we got stuck paying the $12 a day to park. Not to mention, staying at a Disney resort is something special. And when you add in the extra magic hours.... paying the extra $30 more a night to stay on property is worth it.

Pop century is around $80 per night.

I booked a deal a few years ago for the 4 of us. It was $1,300. That was for a week at pop century, park hoppers for a week, meal plan,transportaition to the parks. That came out to $325.00 per person. Thats a hell of a deal.

But I am not certain $82 per day is unreasonable for a full day of entertainment at the level Disney offers.

I'm not either. I'm toying with the idea of taking my wife for a weekend trip to DC this fall to see Cirque's OVO. The cheapest tickets in the house for a Saturday show? $60 for nosebleed seats in the corners...for a 2 hour show.

I think you (Jeff, Gonch) would be surprised how many people buy a 1-3 day pass. I would be willing to bet it's 40% or greater.

Sidenote: I Googled "what percentage of people buy single day pass disney" and the first result was the coasterbuzz headline "Disney World single day ticket approaches $60". LOL. And 3/4 of the way down the page Gonch says "but who goes to WDW for a day?"

Actually, if you follow that story link, they have a big historical thing linked in the middle of it, showing the whole pricing history. (direct link)

Disney is an interesting destination in part because it caters to such a wide range of budgets. You can get by reasonably cheaply depending on when you go, what sort of lodging you choose, and how well you plan to eat. Right now, I can book my family of four for the last week of summer before school starts with counter service food, tickets, and a Value-class room for $1650. That's a pretty cheap week of vacation. Or, if I wanted to live large, I could book a 2BR/3BA villa at Bay Lake Tower, on the monorail, with a sweeping view of the Magic Kingdom, and bump one of those counter service meals to a sit-down one for just a bit under seven grand. And, that's not even as high as you can go.

TerraCoaster said:
And 3/4 of the way down the page Gonch says "but who goes to WDW for a day?"

If I've been saying it for 6 years, I must believe it. :)

I'd love to know Disney's guest per-cap. I'd like to know what percentage of guests stay in a Disney resort while there. I'd like to know the average length of stay for WDW visitors.

I can't seem to find that info anywhere.

I'd like to see a per cap on a Resort Hotel guest staying for a week broken down showing just how much they're giving to Disney.

It's obviously paying the bills.