Disneyland Raises Ticket Prices by 3% to $154 a Day

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. raised admission prices by 3.4% at its Disneyland resort in California, but the increase was smaller than in years past despite coming after the opening of a costly Star Wars-themed land last year.

A single, peak-day ticket now costs $154, the company’s website showed Tuesday, up from $149. Last year, the single, peak-day price rose 10%. Annual passes also increased, with the highest-priced Premier access rising to $2,199, up 5% since June and 13% from a year ago.

Disney, the world’s largest theme-park operator, has been trying to find ways to manage crowds and keep its resorts more accessible by offering lower prices during off-peak times, such as weekdays in the winter when kids are in school. The company has also expanded its offering of annual passes, as it invests billions of dollars in new attractions.

“A visit to our parks is the best value in entertainment bar none, and we offer flexible ticket choices to enable families to choose what’s best for them,” Disney said in a statement.

Last year, Disney opened Star Wars-themed lands at its Hollywood Studios park in Orlando, Florida, and at the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California, at a cost of $1 billion each.

Attendance at the company’s domestic resorts was flat in the fiscal year that ended in September, and up 2% in the most recent quarter.

The company also increased prices for annual passes at its Orlando parks, according to the website WDW News Today.

Disneyland is the second-most-visited theme park in the world, after the company’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando. It attracted 18.7 million guests in 2018, according to the Themed Entertainment Association.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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