Disney World’s Latest Pricing Changes Take Aim at Crowd Control
Photo Credit: Crowds are shown at the Magic Kingdom in March. Walt Disney World is changing the way tickets are sold to try to even out demand. Flickr / Marada
Skift Take
Disney shifted to seasonal pricing a couple of years ago, and the entertainment giant is drilling down even more with the latest changes. Visitors will likely grumble at the more complicated new system, but we don't expect Disney's business to suffer.
When Disney put seasonal pricing into place two years ago, setting the price for one-day tickets based on demand, observers said it was only the beginning.
They were right. This week, Disney announced a new model that will tie all tickets at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida — for a single day or multiple days – to a specific date. Prices will be set in advance according to historic demand, and the booking site will give guests the option of searching for the cheapest time to visit.
"I think that anyone paying attention saw this coming a mile away," Martin Lewison, an assistant professor of business management at Farmingdale State College in New York who studies theme parks, said in an email. "The Feb. 2016 switch to tiered pricing for one-day one-park tickets made [Monday's] announced changes a forgone conclusion, and we just had to wait to see how it would be implemented."
Unlike airline or hotel models, the ticket prices will not fluctuate once they are set, a spok
