At the end of 2022, Disney World introduced what it called “surge pricing,” in which ticket prices varied from park to park, with prices varying depending on the date.
While ticket prices now vary by date, that pricing is fixed once it’s announced — as opposed to how airline tickets work, where the pricing is dynamic and can change from day to day. Recently, Disneyland Paris introduced a similar dynamic pricing system that changes ticket prices depending on when you book them — and we’re worried Disney World will do the same.
Disneyland Paris adopted its new, airline-style pricing model back in November, which is based on seasonality and demand. You know how when you go to book airline tickets one day it’ll show you one price, but then by the next week, the price is even higher? That’s essentially how tickets at Disneyland Paris work now.
And, while Disney World does have its version of surge pricing, which is also based on demand and season, the pricing doesn’t change once it’s been announced. Say you want to purchase a ticket to Disney World for later this year. With the current system, the price will be the same whether you buy the ticket today, tomorrow, or in two months.
But with Paris’ new system, that price can change at any point up until you decide to purchase it. If the date you’re looking to visit becomes increasingly popular before you have the chance to buy your ticket, the price could change to match.
This pricing model isn’t exclusive to the airline industry, either. In fact, it’s pretty common in the travel world. Hotels and rideshare services also operate on a dynamic pricing model, where the cost will fluctuate the higher or lower the demand for a service.
For now, Disney hasn’t made any official announcements about this pricing system being the way things are headed at Disney World or Disneyland, but Disneyland Paris has often been a guinea pig for making changes at other parks.
A new financial analyst report from New York City-based Lightshed Partners indicated that Disneyland and Disney World are both expected to “move to airline-style dynamic ticket pricing strategy similar to the variable pricing model rolled out last year at Disneyland Paris,” but nothing official has been announced by Disney.
“Given the early success of Disneyland Paris’ pricing strategy shift, we expect Disney to announce it is moving to a similar airline-style, dynamic pricing plan in the U.S. later in Q1 2025,” according to the Lightshed report.
The new Disneyland Paris pricing system is 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
The highest-priced tier had three times as many dates as the lowest-price tier over the next 12 months. And, if Disney World were to move to this new pricing system, there wouldn’t be a need for annual ticket price increases — or the negative press that comes along with announcing them.
If you’re looking for a travel agent to help with your vacation, we recommend our friends at Mouse Fan Travel. They’re experts in the field with over 20 years of vacation planning experience, and they can help take a bunch of the stress out of the entire booking process for you!
In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for more Disney World updates you need to know about. Make sure you stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney news!
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What do you think of these potential changes? Tell us in the comments.
Much like Disneyland Paris had the paid Lightning Lane service before the U.S. parks, DLP having surge pricing for tickets means that the U.S. parks will get that soon, too. Will definitely make ticking buying more difficult and enticing if it is done like the airline industry where airlines will keep track of your “cookies” on your web browser and how many times you are looking at a particular flight and destination and raise the price of the flight each time you look to get you to panic and buy.