Disney has increased Lightning Lane, Magic Key and regular ticket prices as of October 9, 2024 for the rest of the year and 2025 at Disneyland and California Adventure. Single day, multiday, Park Hopper, Annual Pass, and Lightning Lane Multi-Pass costs are now up almost across the board.
First of all, none of this is even remotely surprising. If you read our recent post about potential price increases or past updates to our 2024 Discount Disneyland Ticket Buying Guide, you already knew that our recommendation was to buy tickets ASAP. It’s an open secret that Disney raises prices at the start of its fiscal year. The question wasn’t if, but when and by how much?
Before we get going, the good news is that Get Away Today, our recommended authorized third party ticket seller, still has tickets at the “old” prices for right now. By purchasing your Disneyland park tickets via them, you can lock in the previous pricing and save significantly on multi-day tickets!
This October 2024 price increase is the first in almost exactly one year, with the last two increases occurring on October 11, 2023 and October 11, 2022. Here’s how the latest Disneyland ticket price changes stack up, with some comparisons in the old versus new prices. Unlike last year’s pretty extreme increases, these ones are a bit more pedestrian…
Disneyland Ticket Price Increases
Single Day & Park
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 0) – $104 (previously $104)
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 1) – $126 (previously $119)
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 2) – $142 (previously $134)
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 3) – $164 (previously $154)
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 4) – $180 (previously $169)
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 5) – $196 (previously $184)
- 1-Day, 1-Park (Tier 6) – $206 (previously $194)
Multi-Day Single Park Tickets
- 2-Day, 1-Park – $330 (previously $310)
- 3-Day, 1 Park – $415 (previously $390)
- 4-Day, 1 Park – $474 (previously $445)
- 5-Day, 1 Park – $511 (previously $480)
Additionally, the Park Hopper add-on will continue to start at $65. The exact cost varies by ticket type and duration.
Percentage-wise, these price increases range from 0% at the low end of the spectrum to 6.5% at the high end. Most tickets are increasing by exactly that amount: 6.5%. Aside from the zero tier tickets that are unchanged, the range of the changes is 5.9% to 6.5%.
That’s much lower than last year, but the cumulative increases over the last few years have been extreme. In some cases, tickets have increased by over 30% during that time, with the multi-day tickets seeing the biggest increases going up by over $100 per ticket. Even some of the single day tickets have increased significantly.
At the low end, the Tier 0 tickets did not go up at all, which is unsurprising. We didn’t expect the base price to go up on these because it’s an important talking point for Disney. When costs of visiting are discussed in the mainstream media, there’s typically a quote from a Disney spokesperson reiterating that the base price has not gone up in 5 years.
A couple of years ago, Disneyland pulled a page out of the Resident Evil playbook with a “zero” prequel for the ticket price tiers. At the time, we joked that it was named after the number of days that’ll be eligible for that low price. In reality, Disney has actually added more days at the $104 price point as part of its push to improve guest satisfaction in the last year-plus.
It’ll be interesting to see whether that continues to be the case in 2025 and beyond, or if the number of zero tier dates decreases. With Halloween starting earlier and Disneyland having a more compelling calendar of seasonal events (300+ days of celebrations and special offerings in 2024), there may not be as much of a need for these zero tier dates in what has historically been the off-season.
Honestly, all of this is relatively unsurprising. Despite the growing gap between Tier 0 and Tier 3-6 ticket prices, crowds have not really normalized across those dates. The last few weeks have actually been a pretty good example of this, in fact.
Setting aside the very end of last month when there was the typical rush to use the California resident tickets before they expired, late August and September were relatively slow by modern day Disneyland standards. (Which are very busy as compared to 2019, or even 2024 at Walt Disney World–just so we clear.)
This was despite Disneyland moving forward Halloween, which has edged out Christmas as the busiest holiday of the year, to late August. Even with that highly-popular seasonal event, late August through mid-September still saw mostly low crowds. October has been less busy than last year…so far. But the holiday weekend and fall break are right around the corner, so that will likely change in a hurry. It’ll be interesting to see.
In any case, it’s not a huge surprise to see increases of 6.5% for park tickets. Clearly, tourists on fall break are willing to pay the higher prices. Even as pent-up demand exhausts itself, Disneyland is still drawing fairly big crowds–the worst of the slowdowns we’ve seen have been confined to Walt Disney World.
Magic Key Annual Pass Price Increases
It’s not just regular tickets going up in price. Magic Key Annual Pass prices at the Disneyland Resort are increasing $100 to $125 depending on the pass type, which is after $50 to $150 price increases last year. As a result, most of these APs are up over $200 in the last two years.
Here’s a breakdown:
- Inspire Magic Key: $1,749 (was $1,649)
- Believe Magic Key: $1,374 (was $1,249)
- Enchant Magic Key: $974 (was $849)
- Imagine Magic Key: $599 (was $499)
For the most part, these are bigger percentage increases than regular tickets. On the low-end, the Inspire Magic Key is up 6.1%; on the high end, the Imagine Key is up 20%. Disneyland likely feels emboldened to keep raising prices on Annual Passes because they keep selling out whenever sales resume, with multi-hour virtual queues to purchase.
Speaking of which, no Magic Keys are currently available for purchase (only renewals), but perhaps that will change post-price increase. Disneyland has suggested that AP sales will resume at some point later this year. As discussed in When Will Disneyland Resume Magic Key Annual Pass Sales?, we viewed the end of the last ticket deal and these price increases as the mileposts for a resumption of AP sales.
Due to California’s slower reopening than Florida, pent-up demand at Disneyland has lagged Walt Disney World. But if the latter is any indication, Disneyland is already starting to hit a wall, and will need to pull its own “levers” to entice back locals and tourists. Resuming Magic Key sales and offer more AP appreciation is probably one way of achieving that.
Lightning Lane Price Increases
Admission isn’t the only thing that has gone up at Disneyland. The Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ticket add-on will now cost $32 per day for pre-arrival purchases, which is up from the previous cost of $30 per day. As a reminder, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass includes PhotoPass at Disneyland, which is one reason why it costs more.
The California parks also have a better Lightning Lane ride roster, so the line-skipping service is more useful. See our Guide to Lightning Lane Multi Pass & Single Pass at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure for more background and info on how paid FastPass works at DLR and what all it includes.
As with Walt Disney World, same-day Lightning Lane Multi-Pass purchases will be variably priced based on date and demand and now will start at $32 per day. Today is already a $36 day at Disneyland, and it’s a Wednesday. We think it’s only a matter of time before Disneyland breaks the $40 barrier. Perhaps as soon as the upcoming holiday weekend.
Disneyland Price Increase Commentary
If you read last year’s ticket price increase commentary, you should probably skip this section as it’s mostly unchanged. Suffice to say, I’ve lost the capacity for surprise when it comes to Disneyland price increases.
Although there’s been a bit of a slowdown this year, demand for Disneyland still going strong. Late August through mid-September were relatively uncrowded, with an emphasis on relatively. Disneyland is still busy by historical standards, or even as contrasted with Walt Disney World. Trust me, I spent considerable time on each coast in back-to-back weeks, and Walt Disney World was downright dead as compared to Disneyland.
I understand that price increases are an emotional topic. No one likes them, how they put the squeeze on fans, or price out some guests. It’s an emotionally-charged subject, for obvious and understandable reasons. With that said, I doubt anyone who has visited Disneyland in the last month or so could say with a straight face that Disneyland does not have an objective basis for raising prices on the busier days of the year.
Quite clearly, attendance is still strong and the parks have a devoted and passionate fanbase even as pent-up demand has (presumably?) played out. The busy Christmas season is right around the corner, too.
On top of that, inflation is still an issue. This has thankfully decelerated in recent months, but inflation does remain elevated. Not only that, but Disney just reached an agreement with unions on well-deserved pay increases for Cast Members. Nevertheless, its own costs having increased and consumers being willing and able to pay higher prices, Disney has a motivation for raising prices.
It’s also fair to point out that with the end of free FastPass+ and introduction of paid Lightning Lanes, which Disney previously indicated that roughly one-third to half of guests are purchasing, the effective cost of visiting has gone up by more than 30%. In order to have an equivalent experience as compared to pre-closure, you’ll need to spend an extra $32 per day, at least, and that’s just for Lightning Lanes. The amount tickets are up really varies, that is, unless you purchase the single day zero tier.
All of this is almost beside the point, though. Disneyland prices are not dictated by input costs–but by demand. They’re not a grocery store operating on razor thin margins, trying to stay competitive with the competition. Disneyland doesn’t have that in a direct sense, unless you count Knott’s or Universal. Disney charges what the market will bear, increasing prices because people keep coming in huge numbers.
In any case, it’s hard to make a compelling case that Disneyland has any sort of pricing problem, at least for now. Even with all of the recent (non-ticket) price increases, the company is posting unprecedented numbers and demand is off the charts.
In short, as long as consumers keep spending and demand is strong, people will pay the prices for Disneyland park tickets, Lightning Lanes, and whatever else has gone up in price. The serious issue will come down the road when people are not feeling so hot about their economic circumstances and future. If Walt Disney World is a good snapshot into the future for Disneyland, that shouldn’t be too far down the road. So the clock is ticking on all of this runaway spending and Disneyland’s pricing power.
Then again, maybe not. We thought this would’ve already happened by now, and with the Disneyland 70th Anniversary right around the corner in 2025, perhaps there’s at least another year of strong attendance. (Especially if Disneyland brings back Paint the Night or other fan-favorite entertainment.)
Ultimately, there will be a question at some point down the road as to whether promotions, seasonal celebrations, and new additions will be enough to incentivize guests to return, or if irreparable brand damage will have been done during the last decade or so of increases. We don’t have an answer to that–no one does–but it’s definitely something about which we’re curious.
For now, Disneyland is doing pretty well and we don’t see that changing anytime soon. They just released details about the Kids’ Ticket Deal at Disneyland in 2025. There will almost assuredly be a ticket deal for adults that runs from early January through early June 2025, with the big question being whether it’s for Southern California residents (like normal) or everyone (like the last one that just ended). Suffice to say, there are levers that Disney can pull to keep people coming to the parks. And they’re probably going to need to use a lot of them, as there are no new attractions for the next few years.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of these price increases to Disneyland base ticket and Park Hopper price increases? What about higher prices for Magic Key Annual Passes? Thoughts on the Lightning Lane increase at Disneyland Resort? Will you still be visiting the parks this year, or are you priced out? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
