ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the first time, visitors will need to shell out as much as $200 for a single day, one park ticket to Disneyland, and for die-hard annual pass holders, about $1,750 to visit as much as they want with some restrictions.
The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday raised most Disneyland and Disney California Adventure single- and multi-day tickets and its popular Magic Key annual passes.
The new prices represent a significant uptick in cost for casual and annual Anaheim Disney theme parkgoers, with single-and-multi day park ticket prices rising as much as 6.5% and annual passes up 20%.
Disneyland Resort uses a tier-level ticket structure based on demand, with more popular days such as the Christmas holiday or Spring Break costing more to enter the park than a mid-week school day in September.
How much are tickets now?
For single-day tickets, Tier 0 — the lowest demand days — remains unchanged at $104, while all other tiers have seen a jump in price.
Tier 1 tickets, for example, have risen from $119 to $126, a 5.9% increase. Tier 2 prices jumped from $134 to $142. Similarly, Tier 6 tickets — the highest demand days — have gone from $194 to $206, reflecting a 6.2% rise.
This is the first time single-day, one-park Disneyland tickets have broken the $200 threshold. The last time one-day, one-park ticket prices were under $100 was in 2015.
Prices for multi-day tickets have also jumped.
A two-day ticket now costs $330, up from $310, representing a 6.5% increase.
Meanwhile, five-day tickets, which previously cost $480, have been raised to $511, following the same 6.5% trend across the board.
Besides regular ticket prices, Disneyland’s Magic Key Passes, used by many locals and frequent visitors, have also seen sharp increases.
Imagine Passes, the annual pass with the fewest days to visit, rose dramatically by 20% to $599. The Enchant Key saw a nearly 15% jump to $974; the Believe Key, a 10% increase to $1,374 and the highest tier, the Inspire Pass, has gone up by 6.1%, now costing $1,749.
Magic Key Passes are currently not on sale but will resume with renewals seeing increases as well, Disney officials said. Sales for Magic Key passes will resume later this year.
Disneyland’s popular pay-to-skip-ride feature, the Lightning Lane, also saw a slight uptick, with the price increasing from $30 to $32, a 6.7% rise.
The rise in ticket prices comes a week after Disneyland announced ticket prices for children ages 3 to 9 at $50, about half off, on some days starting Jan. 7, 2025. The theme park also added new hotel deals for visitors.
“There is nothing like a visit to Disneyland Resort,” said Disneyland Spokesperson Jessica Good in a statement to Spectrum News. “We always provide a wide variety of ticket, dining and hotel options, and promotional offers throughout the year, to welcome as many families as possible.”
Why is Disney raising prices?
The announcement is in line with the timing of other Disneyland ticket price increases. Disney has increased prices in October during the past three years.
Gavin Doyle, founder of MickeyVisit.com, a news site that provides Disneyland guides and planning advice, said the ticket increases come as Disney continues to reinvest in the Anaheim theme parks and grapple with higher labor costs and experiencing high demand.
This year, Disney spent a considerable amount of time and money to overhaul Critter Country into Bayou Country, the Hungry Bear Restaurant into the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree and Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The company is also expanding the Haunted Mansion area.
In July, Disney averted a massive employee strike by agreeing to a $24 minimum wage labor contract. Disneyland Resort, Orange County’s largest employer, employs over 30,000 people.
“All of these increases come at a time when in-person entertainment is more popular than ever and demand and Disneyland crowds remain strong,” Doyle said to Spectrum News. “It is also at a time when cast member wages are going up, Disney is investing in expanding their attractions with new rides for Disneyland, and the theme parks business is being relied on by The Walt Disney Company as a whole to drive higher profits for the entire company.”
According to the Themed Entertainment Association, an organization that Disney and other theme park operators belong to, Disneyland attracted over 17.25 million visitors in 2023, a 2.2% increase from the previous year.
Disney California Adventure drew 10 million visitors, an 11% increase from the previous year.
Disneyland was the second most frequently visited theme park in the world — behind Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando — in 2023, the Themed Entertainment Association reported. Disneyland’s sister park, Disney California Adventure, was the 10th most visited in the world.
“There is still so much demand,” said Doyle.
Is Disney pricing out consumers?
Doyle and other theme park experts said that while most fans will complain about the ticket prices, the Disney die-hards will still visit.
“This is not going to impact the Disney super fans,” said Doyle. “They are going to be proactive and find the deals.”
Robert Niles, the editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, a news site that follows the industry, agrees.
“I suspect that the $200 mark will not deter attendance any more than breaking the $100 mark did,” said Niles to Spectrum News. “Disney fans will continue to find ways to go to the parks, whether through discounts or frequent use of their Magic Key passes.”
Niles said Disney’s biggest challenge is reaching casual fans and first-time visitors.
These are “the potential fans who hear a lot about price increases but might not hear about available deals and discounts,” said Niles.
Still, it’s hard to grapple with the higher ticket prices amid rising inflation and uncertainty in the economy.
Ticket prices have gone up 108% in nine years and 400% since the 2000s, with the $41 single-day ticket price.
Eventually, Disneyland ticket prices are going to hit a ceiling, Doyle said.
But until that time, people are still going to Disneyland despite the steep price.
“There is always that shock and feeling with visitors when they think about the amount they pay for… but once they are inside, they realize Disney keeps delivering great value,” he said.