Executives at the Walt Disney Company are reportedly worried that soaring prices are alienating families from its theme parks, with internal surveys showing a decline in guests who are planning return visits to Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
The price of attending a Disney park has skyrocketed in recent years, with the typical price of a four-day stay inside the park rising by $1000 between 2019 and 2024, a new study conducted by The Wall Street Journal showed. The vast majority of that increase — nearly 80 percent — comes from new charges for services that were once free.
This has put a serious damper on fan enthusiasm. Internal surveys obtained by the Journal showed a decline in guests planning return visits to Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim — a potentially disastrous trend for Disney whose theme parks have served as a reliable cash cow for decades.
Attendance at Disney’s U.S. parks rose a mere 1 percent in the last fiscal year, down from 6 percent from the year before.
At the same time, families are being forced to fork over money for add-on services, including premium pricing.
As a result, Disney executives are concerned they are alienating their core theme-park audience — middle-class families who save up for years to attend a Disney park. Executives are now questioning if their strategy is hurting the overall Disney brand by shifting too much toward premium pricing, the Journal reported.
The Walt Disney Company responded to the Journal’s report in a statement this week.
“The number-one thing we hear from the millions of guests who visit our parks each year is how much a Disney vacation means to them, and we intentionally offer a wide variety of ticket, hotel, and dining options to welcome as many families as possible, whatever their budget,” said Josh D’Amaro, the executive who oversees Disney parks.
