The Disneyland Resort in California raised prices across the board on tickets and annual passes this morning, with some one day-ticket prices rising over 10 percent and top annual passes going up by more than 20 percent.
The changes come 11 months after Disneyland's last prices increases and seven months after Disney tweaked its annual pass program to introduce park-specific blockout calendars.
Disneyland has not instituted variable ticket prices on multi-day tickets, as Florida's Walt Disney World Resort did in October. However, Disneyland continues to offer three price tiers on single-day tickets to the resort's theme parks, depending upon the expected attendance level each day.
"We continue to provide our guests with a variety of ticket offerings to meet their needs, while helping us to spread visitation, better manage demand and deliver a great experience," a Disneyland spokesperson said, in reference to the price increases.
Here are the old and new prices on Disneyland's tickets and annual passes, as provided by Disneyland:
| Ticket | Old | New |
| 1 Day, 1 Park VALUE | $97 | $104 |
| 1 Day Park Hopper VALUE | 147 | 154 |
| 1 Day, 1 Park REGULAR | 117 | 129 |
| 1 Day Park Hopper REGULAR | 167 | 179 |
| 1 Day, 1 Park PEAK | 135 | 149 |
| 1 Day Park Hopper PEAK | 185 | 199 |
| 2 Days, 1 Park/Day | 210 | 225 |
| 2 Days Park Hopper | 260 | 280 |
| 3 Days, 1 Park/Day | 280 | 300 |
| 3 Days Park Hopper | 330 | 355 |
| 4 Days, 1 Park/Day | 305 | 325 |
| 4 Days Park Hopper | 355 | 380 |
| 5 Days, 1 Park/Day | 320 | 340 |
| 5 Days Park Hopper | 370 | 395 |
| Annual Pass | Old | New |
| Select | $369 | $399 |
| Deluxe | 729 | 799 |
| Signature | 999 | 1149 |
| Signature Plus | 1149 | 1399 |
| Premier | 1579 | 1949 |
Prices on multi-day tickets went up by about 6 to 7 percent, for both Park Hoppers and one-park-per-day tickets. On single-day tickets, the price increase percentage rose with expected attendance levels, with Value day tickets rising the least and Peak day tickets the most.
But the biggest percentage price increases came on annual passes. Again, it'll cost you more in 2019 to visit the Disneyland theme parks on their busiest days. While the Select pass — which is blocked out for most of the summer, all weekends and many peak vacation weeks — rose a relatively modest 8 percent, the price of the Signature pass — which is only blocked for two weeks at Christmas — went up 15 percent. And the Signature Plus — which is good every day of the year — rose nearly 22 percent.
But the biggest price increase of all was for Disney's biggest ticket — the combo Disneyland/Walt Disney World Premier pass, which went up by more than 23 percent to $1,949 a year.
Disney also raised the price of its Maxpass upgrade by 50 percent, from $10 a day to $15. Adding Maxpass to an annual pass is up from $75 to $100.
Parking goes up 25 percent — from $20 to $25 a day. Downtown Disney's hourly parking rate goes up a couple of bucks — from $12 to $14 a hour, with a new $56 daily maximum. The validation rules remain the same — three hours are free with a $20 purchase from a merchandise or quick service restaurant and five hours free with validation from select table service restaurants.
To take some of the pain away, Disneyland earlier released ticket discount deals for Southern California residents, members of the U.S. military, and for the general public. Those deals remain in effect, so if you are considering a visit this winter or spring (in other words, before Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens, likely in June), get whichever ticket deal you can rather than paying the list price.
For other discount options on Disneyland's multi-day tickets, please visit our authorized Disneyland tickets page.
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For one year (back in...2010, maybe?), I had the Premier Passport DL/WDW AP. Gold, and so so pretty!!
It cost $799.
Times, they are a changin'
Yes, yes, yes! Please increase ticket prices to the point where there are very short waits for rides. It is interesting that people will pay for a 3 day pass only to ride as many rides as you'd ride in 6 hours at the park on a slow day, or about 600% more per ride-time than usual... plus hotels if they're from out of town. People will also pay $200-$800 for a concert ticket, or basketball/football game, or tickets to Wicked or Hamilton, and those things last only a few hours. I personally would like to see tickets be purchased by specific date, and have a wristband that gives you admission the entire day, but access to rides in 1/2 day increments. Start low, control the population able to ride rides, and work on queuing theory models to optimize guest satisfaction and enjoyment. This way you have a 'base price', but now that I no longer live down the street from the parks (for decades now), I would easily pay $350 per ticket to have a more controlled population... I'd pay $500 for a ticket/wristband that gives me front of the line passes for each ride... I'd easily pay $750-$1000 for a ticket/wristband that gives me unlimited front of the line passes for rides. Disney would optimize revenue, I'd go less often, but when I go I'd not be aggravated and frustrated and disappointed so much as I have been for the past 30 or so years of visiting the park on a busy day and seeing a 3 hour wait for main attractions. Anything beyond 30 minutes is a struggle, but I've done it... and if I am in a line I'm not spending money. Please, please increase prices more... limit populations, guarantee low wait times, give options for higher priced front-of-the-line passes... get guests to get 2-3 days of visits into 1 day. Stop the crowd madness... thanks!
Let's see...for the cost of a deluxe pass, I could get a top tier pass for Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and SeaWorld, plus still have enough for two one-day tickets to Disneyland and come out ahead. Yeah...I think I'll probably refrain from renewing when my pass expires in April.
Honestly, I don't fault Disney one bit for these changes, nor am I at all mad about it. They're looking to move away from a reliance on locals and focus on out-of-area visitors or passholders who visit a moderate amount, so discouraging day visitors during peak times as well as people who visit excessively (more than twice a month) is the right move for the resort. It's just time to stop looking at Disneyland as a local's park and start thinking of it more as a vacation resort.
When Pfizer Pharmaceuticals offers a pill to reduce the public obsession with Disney, attendance will fall and lines will become manageable. It will be expensive of course but Universal will likely offer a subsidy.
And of course today was the day we renewed our passes. We got lucky two years ago and renewed tbe night before a sizable increase, but it was small compared to the jump today.
I know it wasn’t an impact today, but IsItPacked.com predicted today as being a “Forget About It” day. It was honestly very comfortable.
I know this will win me no support, but if the goal is to thin the heard, I still think the best way to do that is to stop providing the monthly payment option, not to just raising the prices. Of course, more is more is more.
I tend to be interested in the 1 day ticket prices. This sets the standard for what all other ticket prices build value from. The cheapest 1 day ticket has passed $100 and the most expensive 1 day ticket is ready to pass $200.
Also.. I think the Premier Annual Pass will be $2020 by the year 2020. Neat!
I know it's hard for most people to go to Asia, but man....Hong Kong Disneyland! Not the biggest or best, but crowded is a word nobody would ever use to describe it.
If you want to experience a leisurely stroll through a Disneyland park, with no more than 15 minute wait times, you can still get it. I love that park so much!
The reality is there are 7.5 billion people in the world and Disneyland is one of the places that it seems like every one of them wants to visit in their lifetime. They could charge twice what they do and the place would probably still be packed.
The So Cal Select increased $30, Deluxe increased $70, Signature increased $150, Signature Plus increased $250. That tells you where the overcrowding problem lies, not with the So Cal Select locals.
Yes, on non-blockout days it gets crowded, especially at night after people get off work, but if Disney really wanted to thin the So Cal passholders, wouldn't it raise the price more than $30? Disneyland needs the locals to fill in the off days, I don't think enough tourists come to Disneyland as a vacation resort from January to the spring, hence the So Cal 3 day deal. You don't see a So Cal deal in the fall during Halloween/Christmas season.
Disney is making a ton of money, and it didn't even have to invest in a third park. It may seem like a smart financial move, but at the great expense of customer experience.
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I expected an increase for sure, but I wasn't expecting the increase on APs to be this extreme, practically denying mathematical sense. For example, I currently have a Deluxe AP, which I purchased foolishly before they had released the blackouts for July and August. My AP expires right when the blackout ban for Galaxies Edge is lifted, so I was thinking of upgrading my pass to the next level so I could experience a few days of Star Wars before the end. But the price difference between my current $729 Deluxe pass and the new $1149 Signature pass is so high, I could by 3 day tickets to Disneyland for less.