Death, Taxes, and Disneyland Ticket Price Increases

This man is not amused at the price it cost to get in

The phrase has come through many sources but the most common utterance comes from Ben Franklin in The Works of Benjamin Franklin (1817):

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Well, starting tomorrow, June 2, we can now update the phrase with...

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes and the annual Disneyland ticket price increase.

Here you go...

Disneyland Resort Ticket Options

Ticket	Ages 10+	Ages 3-9
5-Day Park Hopper	$300	$279
5-Day 1-Park Per Day	$265	$244
4-Day Park Hopper	$285	$265
4-Day 1-Park Per Day	$250	$230
3-Day Park Hopper	$260	$244
3-Day 1-Park Per Day	$225	$209
2-Day Park Hopper	$210	$197
2-Day 1-Park Per Day	$175	$162
1-Day Park Hopper	$137	$131
1-Day 1-Park	$92	$86

All multi-day tickets expire 13 days after first use.

Disneyland Resort Annual Passports

Premium	$669
Deluxe	$499
Southern California*	$359
Southern California Select*	$279
Annual Passport Block-Out Day Ticket	$84

The Disneyland Annual Pass Conundrum - Price vs. Value

Where Dreams Come True - At a Steep Price

As I've mentioned before, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I have a Disneyland trip on the horizon, hopefully in the late April - early May time frame. We have been Disneyland annual passholders on and off for the last 10 years or so. Our system has worked something like this. For our next trip, we each would get park hoppers ranging from 3 to 5 days. Once we got down to Disneyland and began enjoying ourselves immensely, we'd start talking about our finances, schedules, and calendars as to how soon we could come back and maybe even how many times we could possibly come back in the next 12 months. If all looks good, we'd take our parkhopper tickets and convert them into annual passes and the sweet Disney freedom to just walk in and out of the park would be ours. The decision was an easy one a few years ago but that was when the Annual Passes were cheaper, much cheaper.

I think our first annual pass might have been somewhere around $239 each. We would always get our annual passes in the Deluxe category as the Saturday and holiday blackout dates were not big deal for us. Since we already had park hopper tickets we were converting to annual passes, the cost of the conversion usually amounted to the cost of a real nice dinner at the Blue Bayou or something. Skip the dinner, get the passes. It was a no-brainer. 

But that's all changed. That Deluxe Annual Pass that used to be in the mid-$200 range is now $469 (each!). A Premium Annual Pass runs $649. (Thank you Cars Land) You have to look long and hard at where the value line is located. We would have to absolutely make two extended multi-day stays during our pass period to justify the cost of the passes. Three trips would be better. 

Then there is the pressure factor. If we just stuck to multi-day park-hoppers, there is no pressure to get back to Disneyland. We'll get back when we are good and ready. With annual passes in hand, the pressure is already on to make the next trip whether you have the funds budgeted or not. 

But there is a huge advantage in having an annual pass, especially for Mrs. DLT and I living about 450 miles away. After 6 or 7 hours of driving, with annual passes in hand, we could go over to park for a few hours once we checked into our hotel. With park hoppers, you are always on the clock so to speak. You would never waste a park hopper admission day for a "few hours" of park time like you would with an annual pass. If you are Disney cheap like me, you would also have a tendency to never, ever, leave the park from the time it opened until the time they told you had to get out to maximize Disney day.

What to do....what to do? It really depends on if we can make those two extended trips in a 12 month period. I think we can, I hope we can. Disney used to make this decision pretty easy. Now? Not so much.

Disneyland Can Be Yours - For $87 Down and $32 a Month

With Mrs. DisneylandTraveler returning to the ranks of the gainfully employed, the Boy bringing home a paycheck from a local taco establishment, and me forever hanging in there in whatever it is I do for my real job, things are clicking on all cylinders again at the Disneyland Traveler household. We'll skip over the fact that the band the Boy plays in is one of the opening acts for Marilyn Manson at the Sunset Strip Music Festival in Hollywood this month.  So as things move forward, the scheming begins as Mrs. DLT and I look towards just when we can make our next escape to the Disneyland Resort for some much needed fun and excitement (tempered by the moments of utter frustration that also occur with any visit to Disneyland). 

That last admission price hike was a bitter pill to swallow.  The annual pass that we normally get is up to $469, almost double from what we paid not too many years ago with our first go-around as annual pass holders.  I said I wasn't going to do it.  But here I am, thinking, "an annual pass, maybe not such a bad idea after all".  Yes, in this blog I think I've said that I was going with park-hoppers from now on, but I reserve the right to change my mind which I somehow seem to be doing.

Although we live 434 miles away from the Disneyland front gates (Disneyland fans keep track of things like that) we still have a California zip code.  And bless those people at Disney, they somehow conveniently offer California residents an opportunity to buy annual passes with a monthly payment option.  For our annual pass, right now (barring another price increase this year) the price is $87 down and about $32 a month per pass.  In my head, somehow that just seems a little more tolerable than shelling out close to a grand for two of them. 

Years ago, my sister and her husband were into boating.  Over many years, they bought 3 boats I think, making payments on all of them.  So in the middle of January, when boating is the furthest thing one would be thinking about, you are still making a monthly payment.  It's like that for 6 or 7 months out of the year when you have a boat, making payments on something you can't use at all. Disneyland isn't like that.  I can go to Disneyland in January with my annual pass in hand.  I might be cold, wet, miserable, irritated that half the rides in the place are closed for refurbishment, but at least I'm there.  Monthly payments for a Disneyland annual pass - better than a boat payment at least.

The Razor's Edge Of Disneyland's Admission Pricing

Tilly at the Main St. Cinema Ticket Booth

Two feature articles came out this week on the two Disneyland websites I most often follow that seem to be such complete opposites of one another that it is hard to reconcile the two.

Author, Disneyland insider, and MousePlanet contributor David Koenig writes that Disney, delighted with the crowds this summer at the resort, are quickly formulating plans to increase admission prices to capitalize on the great reception of their recent park enhancements. They are possibly pointing to another increase by Christmas this year and another one before next summer's prime vacation season. You can read David's article here.

Yesterday's weekly In The Parks feature on MiceChat spent some time discussing that while Cars Land in Disney California Adventure continues to pull in huge amounts of guests, the crowd levels throughout the rest of DCA and especially over at Disneyland are quite manageable and seem to be a little flat. The comments seem to be based mostly on observation but since they are in Disneyland on a weekly basis, who am I to argue? MiceChat went further by putting up a poll as to the reason why the attendance would appear to be lackluster. The overwhelming majority point to high prices.

So which is it? "We're doing fine, let's raise prices" or "Uh-oh, maybe that last hefty price jump has bitten us in the rear". The one thing that is for certain is that Disney has a pretty good idea. All the data collected from survey takers, online surveys, and even in depth surveys taken of guests in the park in special rooms is not done just for the heck of it. Disney also has their hotel capacity and bookings well mapped as well as keeping tabs on the area hotels and motels (they are called "Good Neighbor" hotels for a reason). Disney also tracks the buying habits of various pass holders - those food and merchandise discounts are not given out to be nice. Disney wants to know how much you are spending along with where and what.

If I were a betting person (and I'm usually not) I would tend to go on the side of David Koenig. He is not someone prone to wild speculation or rumor in his Disneyland writings. On the MiceChat side pointing to flat attendance and manageable crowds, I think back to the trip my family made in July 2005 during Disneyland's 50th Anniversary celebration. You would have thought the place would have been packed during that time but it really wasn't. The blocking out of Southern California pass holders during several weeks of the summer just makes the crowd levels more bearable. We were certainly surprised.

One thing is for sure - the prices on annual passes will not go down. If there are additional price increases coming, I suspect the jump on AP's will be in smaller increments going forward. Same with daily admission price (does anyone take their family to Disneyland for one day anymore?) and the popular multi-day tickets. And I would guess that if things do slow down because of over-pricing, Disney is really good at various discounts on admission tickets as well as accommodations in their hotels.

I also know that if there is another increase before Christmas, the screams will be long and loud. Go out and read the Disney website message boards if you don't think so.

Disney Apologists

For many, the announced price increases to Disney theme parks is yes, a bit earlier than usual, and yes expected, and yes we'll pay it because it's Disney and we love everything Disney. These are the Disney apologists (and the Disney apologists websites), In their eyes, Disney can do no wrong until revisionist history proves them wrong.

But there websites, good websites, that give a Disney perspective from all sides - MousePlanet and MiceChat are the two that immediately come to mind - even if it doesn't swing with the company line. The price increase sucks. It hurts consumers in an economy that has already hurt people in a very big way. At least be honest about it.

Hey, Disney apologists (and you know who you are), the line starts over there. The rest are trying to save, scrimp, plot, and scheme ways to come up with the money to get into the park we love.

"Momma, Can We Go to Disneyland?"

Tomorrow, the price of admission to Disneyland goes up. The single day adult park-hopper is up $4.00 to a staggering $105.00. The annual pass I have in my wallet goes up 50 bucks to $379.00.  Seems like only yesterday it was 269 - oh wait a minute, that was 2008, only 3 years ago.

But Disney raises admission prices every year regardless of the economy, sometimes I think they do it twice a year. The summer price increase usually happens in August I believe. June is a bit early and a bit surprising. The suits at Disney are pretty sharp with the bean counting. If the high cost of admission starts keeping people away, they are really good at coming with a myriad of discount programs to keep the turnstiles humming and bank accounts flushed with cash.

But when I read about the price increases yesterday, I thought about kids - kids who see the countless commercials on TV that say "Come and enjoy a Disney park". So they asked their parents "Can we go to Disneyland?" And the parents, countless parents, who are dealing job loss, home foreclosures, dwindling bank accounts, depleted 401k's, saying "No we can't afford to go to Disneyland this year" and in the back of their minds the real thought is "maybe not ever".