Disney raises theme park admission prices as much as 8.7%
Visits to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim just got more expensive, with admission prices increasing as much as 8.7%.
One-day passes for the Disney theme parks in Anaheim increased 5.3% as of Sunday to $80 from $76, a Disney spokeswoman said.
A three-day pass to visit Disneyland and California Adventure jumped 8.7% to $224 from $206. Annual passes for Southern California residents, among the most popular ticket options, increased 8.1% to $199 from $184.
The Disney spokeswoman said the price increases were the result of a regular evaluation of rates and were unrelated to the opening of new attractions this summer.
This summer, visitors to California Adventure can ride the new attraction Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, which opened this month. At Disneyland, visitors can try the newly refurbished Star Tours attraction, which also launched this month.
David Koenig, an author of several behind-the-scenes books on Disneyland, said guests to the theme park will grumble about the higher prices but few will be discouraged from visiting the park.
“These prices are going to get everyone to say, ‘This is too high,’ but they will turn around and go to the park anyway,” he said.
Ardent Disney fans will probably not be deterred by the new prices, agreed Robert Niles, author of Theme Park Insider, an online guide to the nation’s most popular theme parks.
“If you’re an out-of-town guest, four extra bucks is not going to make a difference in determining if you are taking a vacation in Anaheim,” he said.
Niles said the new attractions are already drawing huge crowds, particularly Star Tours, for which guests have waited in line up to two hours to ride.
One possible reason for the long lines: Star Tours offers 54 randomly selected experiences. So “Star Wars” fans will probably try to ride the attraction more than once.
