- 3 hours ago
Disney originally started as an affordable experience for families. But prices have increased so much that middle-class families are feeling priced out while Disney shifts its focus to affluent travelers.
In addition to offering more experiences at their parks, which increases the cost of park entry, Disney has changed the way it charges for park tickets, adopting demand-based pricing that optimizes for profits at the expense of parkgoers. This aggressive monetization may be more important than ever, as the parks have become Disney’s most profitable division, while the entertainment division has faltered over the last decade.
In addition to offering more experiences at their parks, which increases the cost of park entry, Disney has changed the way it charges for park tickets, adopting demand-based pricing that optimizes for profits at the expense of parkgoers. This aggressive monetization may be more important than ever, as the parks have become Disney’s most profitable division, while the entertainment division has faltered over the last decade.
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00:00This Mickey ice cream bar would have cost $2.75 at Disney World in 2009.
00:06With inflation, that bar would cost $4.22 today.
00:10But the price has more than doubled to $6.50.
00:15And it's not just the price of ice cream.
00:18Basic Mickey ears are up 67 percent.
00:22And the Mickey pretzel is up 124 percent.
00:27It's also gotten more expensive to get inside the parks.
00:31From 2015 to 2025, Disney World's top-tier annual pass nearly doubled from $829 to $1,629.
00:42That's a 44 percent increase after inflation.
00:46Every year I think to myself, well, what's my breaking point?
00:50When will I say, oh, this is too much for an annual pass?
00:53Disney attributes these price hikes to inflation, rising labor costs, and the billions it invests
01:00to offer more experiences.
01:02But changes in how Disney sets park prices, and its volatile entertainment division, could
01:10also be to blame.
01:12Now I feel like every time I blink, something new is getting more expensive in the parks.
01:18So what's making a visit to Disney theme parks so expensive?
01:23And is there a limit to what fans will pay to experience the happiest place on Earth?
01:35Before Disney, America's earliest amusement parks weren't exactly designed with children
01:40in mind.
01:44Disney were loud, dirty, and geared towards adults, featuring thrill rides and spectacles
01:49like human cannonballs.
01:55The state of the amusement park industry was pretty sad because these parks had been around
01:59for a long, long time.
02:01A lot of them were in disrepair.
02:03Walt Disney saw this untapped market as an opportunity.
02:15On July 17, 1955, his vision became a reality, a sunny theme park in Anaheim, California.
02:21Walt Disney's creation of Disneyland was like a refreshing change for the attractions industry
02:29because it was a new kind of amusement park that was much cleaner, much safer, and newer.
02:37Disneyland wasn't just built for families.
02:39It was priced for them too.
02:42On opening day, the admission cost was 50 cents for children and a dollar for adults.
02:48Adjusted for inflation, that's about $6 and $12.
02:53Rides were separate, costing summer between $10 and $0.35, or about $1.20 to $4.20 today.
03:02And when ABC aired a live Dateline Disneyland special for Disneyland's grand opening...
03:07People and eyes around the world are focused on these 160 acres here in Anaheim, California.
03:15It became a national event.
03:17Ninety million American households tuned in.
03:21By the time they did the televised version from the park on opening day,
03:26everybody in the country wanted to go to Disneyland.
03:30And that was a tremendous marketing strategy.
03:35A strategy that worked.
03:38In its first 10 weeks of operation, one million people visited Disneyland.
03:44By 1960, some five million people were visiting California's Disneyland Park every year.
03:51In its first five years of operation, Disneyland helped drive Walt Disney Productions' gross income
03:57from $27 million to roughly $70 million, while Disney was poised to grow the empire.
04:06He knew there were a lot of people around the United States who were never going to make
04:09it to the West Coast to be able to see this beautiful theme park that he had created.
04:15And so he got it in his head that he would like to do something similar on the East Coast of
04:19the United States.
04:21Walt Disney World opened on October 1st, 1971, near Orlando, Florida.
04:27Tickets cost $3.50, or about $28 in 2026.
04:33The opening was also marked by another star-studded TV special on NBC.
04:37One of the things that Walt Disney said was, Disneyland will never be finished.
04:42It will continue to evolve and grow and develop.
04:45And that is still the case.
04:48But expansion came at a price.
04:51Take Epcot, for example.
04:54Ladies and gentlemen, Epcot Center, the opening celebration.
04:59When the new park opened at Disney World in 1982, it reportedly cost the Disney company
05:04between $800 million and $1.2 billion to build.
05:10That same year, the company's ticketing system changed to a flat rate for entry and rides.
05:15This chart tracks the price of a one-day, one-park ticket at Walt Disney World from Epcot's
05:20opening in 1982.
05:24When it opened, a one-day ticket to Disney World cost $15, equivalent to $50 in today's money.
05:31Throughout the rest of the 1980s and 90s, that price climbed steadily as Disney World expanded
05:37with new lands, like MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom.
05:41After 2000, no new Disney World parks opened.
05:45But there were new attractions, and park prices rose even faster.
05:50But two years in the 2010s would change how the parks were priced for good.
05:55In 2016, under the leadership of CEO Bob Iger, Disney introduced seasonal ticket pricing.
06:06This model created tiered ticket prices based on seasonal demand, with days categorized as
06:12value, regular or peak.
06:16As a result, one-day ticket prices climbed above $100.
06:21And in its first quarter earnings the following year, Disney said higher average ticket prices
06:26helped push parks and resorts revenues up 6%.
06:32Two years later, Disney World switched to a date-based pricing model, where ticket prices
06:36vary by date.
06:38So everybody wants to come during summer vacation and Christmas when their kids are out of school.
06:43And the trouble is that if you've spent billions of dollars, really, to build these attraction
06:48facilities, they're open 365 days a year.
06:51It's just not efficient to have them filled to the brim for 4, 5, 6 weeks out of the year,
06:56and then, eh, not so much the rest of the time.
06:59That's Robert Niles, the founder and editor of the trade publication, Theme Park Insider.
07:05Business Insider talked to him in 2018, at the height of Disney's pricing changes.
07:10They really want to use all of their pricing and promotions to try and equalize the crowds
07:15throughout the year.
07:16This approach is an example of dynamic pricing, where prices change based on demand, timing,
07:22competition, or customer behavior — something most people are already familiar with from
07:27airline fares or rideshare apps, which charge more during rush hour or when the weather's
07:32bad.
07:34Disney is not the only theme park company to use this approach.
07:37In 2016, Universal Studios Hollywood, Disney's biggest competitor, introduced demand-based tiered
07:44pricing, raising single-day tickets to $115.
07:50Disneyland's lowest-priced ticket for its slower season is $104 — the same price it's been
07:56since 2019.
07:58In 2024, Disneyland Paris went a step further, adopting an airline-style model where prices
08:04can fluctuate until the ticket is purchased.
08:09And it's not just tickets.
08:10Prices inside the parks have climbed, too.
08:14We visited Disneyland ourselves to see just how much prices for food and merchandise have
08:18increased.
08:20We started by making a list of items sold in the past that are still sold today, and how
08:25much they used to cost.
08:28Then we went to the park to check out the new prices for everything on our list.
08:35The price of every item we checked has increased faster than inflation over the past 17 years.
08:47Now even diehard fans are having to make hard choices about investing in the happiest place
08:52on earth.
08:53How long have you been a fan of Disney, and how long have you been going to Disney parks?
08:58The womb, potentially.
08:59I was a Disney child, to a Disney teenager, to a Disney adult.
09:03I've never really lost that love of magic.
09:07Now that I have adult money, I can start buying and collecting things I really like.
09:11And I love Disney art.
09:12I purchased this piece, which is Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is my favorite Disney film
09:19of all time, and it's not appreciated nearly enough.
09:23This is something from my mom.
09:24It's a set of limited edition stamps.
09:27I have a huge Disney pin collection.
09:29So I have a pretty wide-ranging collection of ears.
09:33So these are my favorite pair.
09:35They're modeled after Thanos' gauntlet.
09:37I have these in Scarlet Witch ones.
09:39This denim hat with the ears built in.
09:41These probably are my actual favorite.
09:43It's all very candy-inspired, Ariel-inspired, look like the old-school character hats from
09:49the 90s, like character headbands, but this is just a small amount of my collection.
09:57Even superfans like Sarah are struggling to contend with the high prices at the parks.
10:02To me, Disney World has always been one of the few companies and one of the few places
10:08that truly, truly cared about its fan base.
10:11My relationship with Disney has changed partly because Disney has gotten very expensive over
10:17the years.
10:18In a 2025 Wall Street Journal survey, 74% of people said experiences like cruises, amusement
10:25parks and trips to Disney resorts had become financially out of reach.
10:30It's expensive to operate Disney.
10:32And so I do understand some of the price increases, but I do think they are starting to price out
10:37your average middle-class family into that once-in-a-lifetime trip.
10:43Disney is offering a summer promotion starting in May 2026, a $50 one-day Park Hopper Pass for
10:50kids ages 3 to 9.
10:55Over the past decade, Disney has also layered new premium experiences on top of its core
11:02offerings.
11:04Take Fast Pass, for example.
11:06Check this out.
11:07Roll up to the Fast Pass kiosk.
11:09Throw your ticket in.
11:10Boom!
11:11Boom!
11:12Until 2021, this service allowed park visitors to skip long lines for free.
11:17Today, its successor, the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, is a tiered and pricey add-on, costing
11:23up to $449 depending on the park and time of year.
11:28There are other services Disney once offered for free that no longer exist, like Magical
11:33Express, a complimentary shuttle that transported travelers between Orlando International Airport
11:38and resort hotels.
11:40After Disney discontinued the shuttle in 2022, it gave guests the option to choose between services
11:46like Mir's Connect, about $32 roundtrip for adults, or its more premium minivan service,
11:53which can cost roughly $400 roundtrip for adults.
11:57There are also luxury lodging options.
12:00For example, when Walt Disney World's Bora Bora Bungalows opened in 2015, One Night at the
12:05Bungalows cost upward of $2,100, or $2,876, adjusted for inflation.
12:14Now a one-night stay at these deluxe bungalows can cost guests a minimum of $3,500, or over
12:21$6,800 depending on the season.
12:25Disney understands the demographic changes that are happening in the United States at this
12:29point.
12:30They understand what's happening with income and economic inequality.
12:36They know that the money is in the upper level, the top 10%, the top 1%.
12:41They've created a wide variety of new products to try and frankly extract more money out of
12:47the people who have money to spare.
12:49Now the downside with that is if you're one of those remaining middle class people in America,
12:54you can get squeezed here.
12:56I do firmly believe there are still ways to do Disney in an affordable way.
13:01But it is becoming harder.
13:04And that's tough and I feel that too and I understand it.
13:07But at the same time, if Disney's going to grow, it's got to go where the money is.
13:16And the parks are perhaps more important for Disney's overall business than ever.
13:22Disney is made up of three main segments.
13:26And entertainment led the way for decades.
13:29TV is sort of a big fuel of Disney's other businesses.
13:35Then came the cord cutters.
13:36Well, online streaming is rapidly killing cable, Meg.
13:40Does this portend the death of TV?
13:43In 2019, when Disney Plus first launched, Netflix already had roughly 140 million subscribers.
13:52Disney committed an enormous amount of money to catch up with Netflix.
13:57It committed tens of billions of dollars, at one point spending more than double what
14:02Netflix was spending.
14:04As time went on, the cost of building the streaming service began to weigh on Disney.
14:11At one point, it was running losses of $11 billion on a streaming service.
14:19Disney CEO Bob Iger would later admit he thought the company invested too heavily in streaming.
14:25But at the same time, Disney parks rebounded quickly from pandemic shutdowns.
14:31Since 2022, Experiences, the division of Disney that controls theme parks and cruises, has become
14:37the company's biggest moneymaker, making up about 70% of operating income.
14:43So Iger made a choice, invest in what's working.
14:48In September 2023, Disney said it planned to invest $60 billion in the parks division over
14:53the next decade.
14:56And in 2025 alone, it increased spending from $5 billion to a whopping $8 billion.
15:04In 2024, at a conference for Disney's official fan club, Disney announced four new cruise ships
15:10and 14 new attractions.
15:15As the company invests more money in new rides, cruise ships, resorts, and themed lands, the
15:22parks are what it's relying on to fund its future.
15:26But will shiny new attractions be enough to keep Disney fans returning?
15:34Some families are even seeking out help to budget their trips.
15:38There's a whole industry built around planning a Disney vacation.
15:42Search online and you'll find countless groups, some even directly affiliated with Disney, who
15:47navigate this increasingly complex world of trip packages, vacation rentals, line-skipping
15:53passes and more.
15:56From a planning perspective for families, you then have to think about how are we getting
15:59there?
16:00Where are we going to stay?
16:01How long do we want to stay?
16:02How much can we spend?
16:03All of those things become factors.
16:07And Disney is still raising prices.
16:10In October 2025, it raised the price of the Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
16:16If prices keep rising, yeah, we're probably going to have to cut back on how often we go.
16:22But I also think that, yes, Disney fans will find a way.
16:25And sadly, that is just to go into debt to go on these trips, which is a larger problem.
16:31A lot of times people will complain when the prices rise, but they do still go.
16:37And I'm an example of someone who's still going, even though the prices will rise.
16:42This year, I didn't even blink an eye.
16:43I just gave my credit card and I renewed the pass.
16:46Yeah.
16:47And I get to that point where I'm like, really, I don't know, but I haven't reached that point.
16:50I don't think I'll reach that point for a couple of years.
16:53Otherwise, it's a welcome I'll reach that point.
16:56I really don't with money.
16:59Bye.
17:00Bye.
17:01Bye.
17:02Bye.
17:03Bye.
17:04Bye.
17:05Bye.
17:06Yeah.
17:06Bye.
17:10Bye.
17:12Bye.
17:13Bye.
17:13Bye.
17:13Bye.
17:14Bye.
17:15Bye.
17:15Bye.
17:16Bye.
17:16Bye.
17:17Bye.
17:19Bye.
17:20Bye.
17:20Bye.
17:21Bye.
17:21Bye.
17:21Bye.
17:22Bye.
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