Walt Disney World and Disneyland typically raise prices annually. Increases on park tickets, food, parking, Annual Passes, upcharges and more all occur around the same time at the start of the fiscal year. This post offers offers dates of past price increases and when we’re expecting this to happen in Fall 2024. Plus commentary about how to prepare for (and protect yourself from) the increases, why they may not happen for once, and more.
For starters, we should emphasize the “typically” in the above paragraph, as prices increases are not a sure thing at Walt Disney World or Disneyland. There are good examples of this in the pent-up demand era, such as when Walt Disney World raised ticket prices in mid-February 2022 and again on December 8 of that year.
This isn’t entirely unprecedented, as Walt Disney World and Disneyland have raised prices twice annually on a few occasions in the last decade. That’s why we’ve been advising readers to purchase tickets in advance to lock-in current prices in our 2024 Discount Walt Disney World Ticket Buying Guide and our 2024 Discount Disneyland Ticket Tips guides.
The interesting wrinkle there is that’s actually (still!) the last time prices increased for current admission at Walt Disney World. You read that correctly: the base prices of 2024 Walt Disney World tickets are the same as they were as of December 8, 2022. That doesn’t mean specific dates or the distribution of prices haven’t changed (read: shifted upwards), but that is the last time ticket prices went up across the board.
With that said, the annual release of vacation packages earlier this year did bring with it 2025 Ticket Price Increases at Walt Disney World. This is also an interesting quirk, as there was no increase for 2024. Normally, a price increase takes effect immediately, impacting all future dates–not just the annual product release for the following year.
This isn’t to say Walt Disney World hasn’t increased any prices in the last nearly 2 years. Anyone who visits regularly knows that’s patently false–an utterly asinine notion. Walt Disney World last raised rates across-the-board on Annual Passes, parking, water parks, Memory Maker, and a number of restaurants at the start of the last fiscal year, on or around October 11, 2023.
Walt Disney World also introduced date-based prices for fireworks dessert parties and tours, effectively increasing prices for those most dates, too. We’ve also seen localized increases at random dates for various menus and other things. It’s not as if Walt Disney World simply sat on its hands for the last couple of years. A lot of prices have gone up during that time-frame.
One of the most notable ones is Lightning Lane pricing. I’m not going to rehash this whole saga, but suffice to say, you’re paying a lot more (on average) for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass today than you would’ve back in late 2022. Although separate from admission and (arguably) optional, paid FastPass is purchased by a high percentage of guests and thus acts as a de facto increase to admission prices for a large subset of guests.
It’s also fair to point out, however, that Walt Disney World has ramped up discounts significantly since last raising ticket prices in December 2022. That was still during the period of pent-up demand, and deals were fairly scarce except for Annual Passholders and Florida residents. Even then, there were some dates when resorts were full price, with zero special offers.
Walt Disney World has brought back the 2019 deal playbook, offering discounts on par or better than that year after slim pickins’ between 2021 and early 2023. There are already a ton of discounts available for now through Christmas 2024–or even the entirety of 2025 if you book a bounceback. (See All Current Walt Disney World Discounts for 2024.)
As someone who books a lot of Walt Disney World hotel stays, I’m paying less for that component of travel now than I did in 2022. Small victory, I guess. (We’re still spending about the same amount as we did in 2022 and much, much more than we did in 2019–it’s all of the other stuff that’s making a difference, with Lightning Lanes being the biggest thing.)
Speaking of which, perks have been cut as compared to 2019. Free FastPass became paid Lightning Lanes, Disney’s Magical Express ended, etc–the nickel and diming has definitely increased. Resort rack rates have also gone up even as discounts have returned. As we like to point out, Walt Disney World long ago adopted the “Kohl’s Model” to pricing, where the sticker prices are almost meaningless due to discounts. As Kohl’s learned ages ago, if the base price is higher, it makes the discounted rate look like even more of a bargain!
Walt Disney World leadership studied at the Kohl’s School of Business, and learned that lesson during the Great Recession. Since then, we’ve seen prices keep going up, even as discounts get better. That’s more or less what we’re seeing now, with the end result being a value proposition that’s worse than 2019, but better than 2022, all things considered.
Regardless, the bottom line is that we can expect Walt Disney World to increase prices around the start of the new fiscal year, which is October 1, 2024. The title says “likely” but that’s only because this isn’t an official announcement or a credible rumor. Nevertheless, it’s something that happens year in and year out around the start of Disney’s new fiscal year.
It’s not a matter of “if” but “when” and, equally as important, “on what.” Prices will go up, but what the increases will encompass is the mystery. My guess is that there will not be an increase on park tickets for the remainder of this year or 2025. After all, if Disney wanted to do that, why not just rip the bandaid off all at once and increase 2024 prices when 2025 tickets were released at higher price points? That’s just a guess though, and perhaps a foolishly optimistic one–I certainly wouldn’t bet against it.
Turning to California–which is also instructive for Florida–Disneyland last raised its prices on October 11, 2023. Before that, Disneyland increased prices on October 11, 2022. (As you can see above, that same date is when Walt Disney World raised prices last year on vacation components other than tickets.)
In all likelihood, both Walt Disney World and Disneyland will raise rates on the same date. We’re not saying the next price increase is going to occur on October 11, 2024. To the contrary, I’d expect more of a day-of-week cadence than calendar date–meaning the increase happening on October 8 or 9, 2024 is more likely than October 11.
Last year’s increase was a typical one at Disneyland, with prices going up on preferred parking at the theme parks, valet parking at the hotels, Magic Keys (this happens even when they aren’t being actively sold), and the Lightning Lanes service. Naturally, admission was the big thing that went up, with percentage increases that were fairly hefty.
As an “offset” to the negative news, it’s also possible that Disney will make other ancillary changes in the name of guest satisfaction or substantive offerings to take the “sting” out of the price increases. Possibilities for Walt Disney World could include Seven Dwarfs Mine Train joining Lightning Lane Multi Pass (doubtful), news about returning entertainment, or the dropping of the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Disneyland could reveal more details about the 70th, return of Paint the Night in 2025, etc.
The good news is that you can protect against the likely increases. If you’re a prospective Annual Passholder, you can purchase a voucher or certificate to secure current pricing. If you have a Walt Disney World trip planned between now and December 2025, you can buy tickets now to lock-in current costs and guard against future increases.
Again, see our 2024 Discount Walt Disney World Ticket Buying Guide and our 2024 Discount Disneyland Ticket Tips posts for recommendations on where to buy to save the most money. That also covers topics like whether to purchase Park Hoppers, AP breakeven point, and more.
With that said, if you’re on the fence but planning on buying via an authorized third party ticket seller, you are probably fine to wait until after the price increase is announced/occurs. For the past decade-plus, authorized sellers have maintained inventory of the existing tickets at the “old” prices, usually for a couple of weeks after the price increase. I can’t remember the last time that was not the case, so it’s safe to say it’ll likely happen again with the October 2024 price increases.
However, if you’re booking a Walt Disney World vacation package that includes tickets, do not wait. Lock-in something ASAP. Once those prices go up, there’s no workaround for getting the old prices. Your only alternative would be a room-only rate, and buying tickets separately via the aforementioned authorized discount sellers.
This is especially true for those of you traveling between now and Spring Break 2025. Although discounts for January through late March 2025 have not yet been released, there’s a high probability that they will within the next two weeks. I’d put the chances around 95% that these discounts will be available before the price increase.
Vacation packages, including discounted ones, reflect the price of tickets when originally booked. This means if general public discounts are released on September 24 and ticket prices were to go up on October 8, you’d pay more if you booked that deal on or after October 8. Accordingly, we’d highly recommend booking or reaching out to a travel agent right now. As in, before the next wave of discounts is released.
As always, we recommend requesting a quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (they’re paid by Walt Disney World–so free to you!). Travel agents will do the math for you, booking your vacation with the best-available special offer, and monitoring your package for future discounts that can be applied retroactively. Beyond that, they help take the stress out of planning and will assist with itineraries, dining reservations, and much more.
That “apply retroactively” line is the important part–meaning they can book today and modify on the morning deals are released to apply the discount. If you do this, we’d also recommend offering them flexibility in your preferred resort/room–not all hotels are included in promos or have availability as part of the deal. Lots of exclusions, both what’s listed and what isn’t.
It’s also important that the modification to apply the discount is made before prices increase. Finalize your plans sooner rather than later, as modifications after October 8 (or whatever day prices go up) will result in paying the new rate.
Trust us–this is important. Over the years, we’ve heard from readers who have been surprised that their price is higher with a discount than without. This is usually why–base prices increased between the time they made the reservation and the time they applied the discount. That’s why it’s best to both lock-in rates and apply discounts ASAP, whenever possible.
If you’re traveling later in 2025, you’re not going to have this option since discounts for those dates probably won’t be released this month.But it is possible to at least book the undiscounted package now. After these potential price increases, it’s possible that’ll end up being better than future promotions. (We highly doubt it given how aggressive discounting has gotten, but we’d still recommend hedging!)
There’s also no real way to guard against price increases on the “little things” like parking, upcharges, food, and so forth. Air quotes around little things because these are actually the ‘budget-busters’ that catch planners by surprise, and result in trips costing much more than originally expected.
As we’ve previously discussed, there were other compelling “arguments” against price increases. The first is that, upon returning, Bob Iger indicated that he was “alarmed” by previous Walt Disney World price increases and layoff plans in leaks to media.
Given that Iger was largely brought it to stem the bleeding from streaming and improve Disney’s financials, I had a difficult time believing that he is going to take the immediate hit on theme park prices in order to improve goodwill among Walt Disney World fans. It was difficult to envision Iger reversing course at that time given that streaming has hemorrhaging over a billion dollars per quarter.
The circumstances are very different now. Streaming is finally, barely profitable. And it’s the parks that are starting to struggle, with pent-up demand finally and fully in the rearview mirror. While Iger and D’Amaro have made changes to improve the value proposition and improve guest satisfaction since the start of 2023, it might finally be time to address pricing.
It will be a very bold move to increase prices for 2025 despite no major attractions opening next year on either coast. That’s not even the biggest issue, as Universal’s Epic Universe will open sometime in 2025 and is the elephant in the room. Raising prices in the face of increased competition, declining demand, and almost no new marketing draws (save for Disney Starlight Parade) is a really bold move. Nevertheless, I would not bet against it. Never underestimate Disney’s desire for more revenue at any (long-term) cost. Plan and prepare accordingly.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on the potential price increases? Think Walt Disney World and Disneyland will raise rates across the board in October 2024, or will they hit pause in light of the economy? Do you think Disney is going too far with increases in a way that’ll leave lasting reputational damage, or will the company be able to quickly pivot along with economic circumstances? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
