Hugh Johnston, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, said that The Walt Disney Company is investing in dynamic ticket pricing, and this approach could be making its way to the domestic parks in the coming years.
Scanning in!
In 2022, Disney World introduced “surge pricing,” where ticket prices can vary by park and day. More popular dates had higher prices, and more in-demand parks saw an increase. Because of this, Magic Kingdom is the most expensive park on Christmas Day, for example. Dynamic pricing could be coming soon, so let’s see how this would change.
With surge pricing, once the ticket price is announced, it’s fixed and doesn’t change if you check back another day. Whether you buy a ticket one day or in two months, the price will remain the same. Dynamic pricing could mean ticket prices change every time you look at them, so you’d have to be more aware of when you book.
Disney World Theme Park Tickets
Disneyland Paris recently introduced a dynamic pricing system in which prices change based on when you book, similar to how airline tickets work. You could see a lower price one day, a higher price the next, and they could just back down the day after — this could seriously throw a wrench in your ticket budget.
Disneyland Paris
While this system hasn’t arrived at Disney World or Disneyland yet, Disney has been dropping hints that it might be coming sooner rather than later. Hugh Johnston answered questions during a Wells Fargo Technology, Media, and Telecom Summit and said that, after testing the system at Disneyland Paris for about a year, this approach could come to our domestic parks as Disney works to optimize it.
Magic Kingdom
Disneyland Paris currently has its pricing system broken into six tiers:
- Tier 1: $57 to $63
- Tier 2: $64 to $72
- Tier 3: $73 to $82
- Tier 4: $83 to $95
- Tier 5: $96 to $101
- Tier 6: $102 to $152
If you look at the calendar, Tier 6, the most expensive, had three times as many dates as Tier 1, the lowest-priced tier. Disney World, looking to implement this system, could eliminate the need for ticket price increase announcements, which usually draw bad press.
Annual Pass
This could also open the opportunity for dynamic pricing for Lightning Lanes, Disney’s paid skip-the-line service. Currently, prices are based on the park’s popularity and the date, similar to how ticket prices work now. Once the price is listed, it doesn’t change, but if dynamic pricing comes to tickets, it might also come to Lightning Lanes, where you’d have to strategically plan when you purchase them.
Lightning Lane
We don’t have a timeline or official confirmation on whether dynamic pricing is coming to Disney World and Disneyland, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear more announced in the future. Make sure you keep following Disney Food Blog to stay up to date with more information.
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