Some At Disney Are Worried About The Price Gouging And Attendance Issues

A recent article from the Wall Street Journal indicates that people inside the Walt Disney Company are growing increasingly concerned about the ridiculous, out-of-reach pricing that is chasing off potential guests.

The article even refers to the constant price hikes as an “addiction” for the company.

“Some inside Disney worry that the company has become addicted to price hikes and has reached the limits of what middle-class Americans can afford, according to people who have worked on park pricing. Internal discussions over whether Disney parks may be losing their grip on the hearts and wallets of families with young kids have become more frequent, some of those people said.”

Why won’t they stop?

The likely answer is they can’t. Attendance keeps dropping at the US Disney parks, and the only thing holding them up is the increased spending per customer. Those upcharges and overpriced tickets are what is keeping them in the black at all.

According to the WSJ, domestic parks saw only a 1% increase in attendance compared to the 6% growth in the previous year. Meanwhile, per-customer spending rose 4% last quarter.

Disney needs the theme parks because they made up 70% of the overall operating income for 2023. That is about twice the percentage it was five years prior, at 34.5% in 2018.

Guests are starting to get fed up with the Walt Disney Company treating them like a piggy bank.

Ticket prices keep increasing. Disney will boast that the lowest ticket pricing has remained the same, but they fail to mention there are far fewer days at that price. Most of the ticket prices have crept up into the higher ranges.

Disney’s Lighting Lane is practically a requirement for enjoying attractions at the parks. It is a per-person/per-day add-on cost that makes the ticket prices even more expensive. The lines with it are becoming ridiculous, but the lines without it are worse.

The company even removed the eligibility of many from the “Disability Access Pass” DAS. While they claim it is to “stop misuse,” their answer was that guests who used to qualify for DAS should pay for Lightning Lane access. Many consider this a blatant cash grab at the expense of those with disabilities.

Touring Plans told the WSJ that the cost for a “two-parent family with two young kids” or a four-day visit to Walt Disney World at a value-priced Disney resort has gone up about $1k in five years. From an average cost of $3,230 to $4,266 in 2024.

Disney disagrees and even went as far as to say, “Come when it’s cheaper, basically.”

“Disney said that the Touring Plans numbers for the cost of a typical four-day visit were exaggerated and didn’t take into account the range of value options available. A four-day trip for a family of four in the fall could cost as little as $3,026 before food and transportation costs, the company said, and guests don’t need Lighting Lane passes to have a great time.”

Yeah. No. At this point, most people need the add-ons. Disney has made sure of it. The lines with the add-on are now as long as the old “standby” lines used to be. Those in the stand-by line will wait even longer as Disney lets more people through the Lighting Lane than they used to do with FastPass+.  There are phases that can go 4:1, with four people from the Lightning Lane entering before one single person from Stand By. But if the parks are “busy,” they can reportedly take them up to 10:1. 

The same article also said, “In total, anywhere from 80% to 93% of capacity at an attraction is devoted to Lightning Lane guests if Cast Members are running ratios correctly and if there is a constant flow of Lightning Lane users.”

Disney implying that you can have a great time either way is ridiculous, and it’s misleading because they didn’t say you could still get on rides. You just have a great time spending money walking around and spending more money.

Disney is no longer worth it to many.

The article gives several examples of people who will no longer return because the costs are too high. From people who have only gone once to those who have returned many times.

A Harris Poll for the WSJ surveyed about 2,000 U.S. households and found that 74% felt that Disney parks and experiences “have become financially out of reach.” Those potential guests are more interested in more nature-focused and lower-priced offerings.

Now multiply that 2,000 by one million families.

Disney’s response was that the data was “flawed and misleading.”

Disney has a huge problem. They can’t continue fleecing guests indefinitely, and it seems people inside the company know this, too. However, they refuse to acknowledge their own greed and issues and instead try to gaslight the public.

This is NOT what Walt Disney wanted. Less for MORE isn’t the Disney Difference that Walt wanted.

If Disney wants more information, all they have to do is read the comments in the Wall Street Journal article. They are NOT in Disney’s favor.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!