Ahead of the holiday season, Disney announced that it will raise ticket prices to its parks in California. The entertainment giant made the decision to increase the rates to mitigate the impact of the reduction in its profits, and since 2019 they have not made changes to their tickets.
The increases will only apply to the days with the highest demand, that is, weekends and holidays. The adjustment is almost 6%, that is, the cheapest tickets, per day, are from US$104, and go up to US206.
This varies depending on the number of days purchased, or if other services are purchased with the ticket.
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“We always offer a wide variety of ticket options, meals, hotels, and promotional offers throughout the yearto welcome as many families as possible,” Jessica Good, spokesperson for Disneyland Resort, said in a statement.
According to Bloomberg, this decision has already been made by other parks, motivated by the slowdown in income in tourist complexes, in addition to the increase in operating costs.
The adjustment takes effect immediately, and affects several of the packages offered by Disneyland in California. For example, The cost of annual passes would reach US$1,750, or express line services will also rise by around 7%.
Logically, this could impact tourist packages. According to Clara Inés Pardo Martínez, professor at the management school of the Universidad del Rosario and tourism expert, The adjustments will affect plans purchased from today, while those purchased previously will maintain the rates.
“The problem is going to be with the new packages, currently plans are purchased for 2025 and those are the ones that will end up increasing the cost of the trip. That could discourage travelers due to the price, but it could also increase the expectation of visiting the destination.”Pardo explained.
Disney has not mentioned that these increases in prices are reflected in other parks or resorts, but according to Pardo, It is a pilot strategy, which these companies usually do to understand the effects of their adjustments, and subsequently unify rates.
“Disney is always attractive and people look for specific days to go, leaving other days to be valleys, impacting the parks’ income. This can help them balance costs, and in the case of tour operators it is like a hook to offer cheaper packages“Pardo explained.
It should be noted that Disney closed its parks in Orlando due to Hurricane Milton.
