Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek is preparing to release a new book about his time rising through the ranks at Disney. In one chapter, he takes credit for his strategies to raise prices at the theme parks after becoming theme park chairman, while commenting on Disney annual pass holders and Disney Adults.
We got access to a copy of the book to share details from his reflection on how he considered annual pass holders in decisions, his take on Disney Adults, and how he approached expanding VIP theme park experiences even though other executives pushed back on him. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a look behind the scenes at Disney housekeeping and price increases coming to Disney Plus.
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Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek Comments on Theme Park Price Increases
Bob Chapek’s new book “Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth” is set to debut on Tuesday, September 29, 2026. Pre-order the book now. We are sharing these specific quotes for the first time anywhere in this Mickey Visit article.
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Bob Chapek was Disney CEO from February 2020 to November 2022 after Bob Iger retired the first time. Chapek rose through the ranks from the film distribution arm of the company and led the Disney theme park division and consumer products before becoming CEO. Bob Iger came back to Disney as CEO and Chapek was out.
The book follows Bob Chapek’s life from an upbringing in Indiana through moving up the ranks at packaged goods companies before landing at Disney in home entertainment. While I won’t dive into that section of the book in this article, there were quite interesting stories about how he helped to create the Disney Vault approach there and then to later reorganize Disney Consumer Products around franchises. Hearing about his background gives a lot of perspective on who he was when he became Disney CEO. In fact, I think he would have benefitted from having more of that context in the public while he was CEO.
Turning now to one of the most interesting parts of the book for our readers: Bob Chapek’s comments about Disney Annual Pass Holders and theme park prices. He also commented on Disney Adults and how he viewed them inside the company. All quotes below are directly from the book and have not been verified by Disney or other outside sources.
In his first chapter on taking over the theme park job, Chapek wrote about the reality that there was more demand than supply for the Disney theme parks and his desire to shift the attendance mix from the established annual pass holder group to higher paying vacationers.
Chapek stated that on dates throughout the year the parks would fill to capacity by midmorning. He said that the crowds were a “symptom of a larger root cause” caused by “convention, legacy, and dogma” inside the Disney executive ranks. Existing executives didn’t want to raise prices, but Chapek stated that the parks had been in need of these kind of changes for years before he got the top job.
Others in the company had not had the “guts” to make the move and were afraid to change the outdated system given the fear of backlash, he wrote. Throughout the book, Chapek refers to himself as a disruptor within Disney who was willing to approach things in a different way. In an earlier chapter he spoke about pushing to create the Aladdin direct-to-video sequel even after the head of animation rebuffed him. He wrote that the sequel went on to make five times the profits of a typical theatrical release. He framed this thinking about changes to park pricing in the same way.
Chapek painted a picture of big problems with too many annual pass holders at Disneyland. He felt that the pass holders were crowding out the higher paying vacation guests: “The people who wanted to show up spontaneously were also paying the least per visit”, local guests “just wanted to wake up and decide ‘Hey, it’s a sunny day in Anaheim, I think I’ll head down to Disneyland!'”, and annual passes are a “fantastic deal for the pass holder, but a terrible one for Disney”.
While he initially mentioned wanting to implement park reservations even before the pandemic, he settled on price increases on passes with the team to begin restricting attendance.
The result was actually not an impact on the number of pass holders, but it did increase revenue. Chapek claimed in the memoir that before the first price increase there were 1.1 million Disneyland Annual Pass Holders. Then, that number dropped to one million after the increase but revenue went up due to the higher price of the pass. He wrote “I consider that a huge win.”
A couple of months later, the amount of pass holders actually returned to the 1.1 million number. Chapek said he implemented another price hike and the same thing happened over a couple of months. People dropped off and then others took their space and the number of pass holders held steady, but revenue went up 30% on each annual pass.
Chapek recounted hearing from super fans who were disappointed in the price increases on passes. He said that he understood that super fans were core to Disney, but that it wasn’t fair to families traveling on vacation to have their experience diminished by pass holders with “unfettered access to the park”. He stated that he wanted the parks to be accessible to as many people as possible and not just the smaller group of pass holders.
Chapek mentioned his goal to keep the least expensive ticket at $99 and to make sure that those looking for an affordable way to visit still had the opportunity.
After mentioning that desire for affordability he stated the following: “Contrary to what people tried to paint me as, I wasn’t just a maniacal, money-optimizing machine; I was protecting the guest experience…and that means all guests…not just local annual pass holders.”
Note that he used “just” there to acknowledge that he viewed himself as even partially a “maniacal, money-optimizing machine”. The ellipses were his and included in the book.
Chapek commented on Disney Adults later in the chapter. He wrote that they are a key constituency and are a big reason that the Disney magic is so palpable and that for these fans “the love of Disney is one of the most, if the most, central parts of their lives.” He pretty quickly flipped here to say that not everyone in the park is a Disney Adult though. He said that the math didn’t lie and local Disney Adults weren’t the driving audience for the park with their annual pass. I found it interested that he conflated all Disney Adults as local pass holders. As I shared in my commentary below, I think this was a big mistake that he made.
Chapek then explained that there was an ongoing belief internally that all guests needed to be treated the same and because of that they couldn’t create any unique experiences for those willing to pay more.
He wrote that the true meaning of the mantra was that all people are welcome at Disney and that everyone visiting would be treated equally. Again pivoting to share what he viewed as the hard truth, he wrote, “the fact remains that some customers generated more revenue than others.”
He said that from all the market research he had seen, some people cared about affordability and others were willing to pay for additional experiences. Chapek pointed to the Annual Pass program as an example of something that was already a unique experience for certain guests so they should be able to create more offerings like that.
He wrote that they needed to create opportunities for guests in a discreet manner that would not make those not paying feel excluded, but create additional revenue. He gave the examples of VIP tours, unique dining, and fireworks cruises. Chapek never mentions Lightning Lane or Genie+ by name in the book, but this section clearly explains his thinking on the up charges.
Chapek claimed that the revenue from these additional charge experiences helped to keep the price increases on the general admission ticket to a more modest level and provide raises and improvements in benefits for cast members. On cast member raises, he wrote “Selling enough popcorn, churros, turkey legs, and Dole Whips to cover labor costs at $20 an hour was tough.” He said that he couldn’t make the numbers work initially, but “positive economic growth” allowed them to give more raises and benefits. He also called it a more progressive agenda to be demanding a living wage. More details on this in my next article.
In conclusion of the chapter, he stated that while they may have upset the 20% minority of Disney visitors, referencing annual pass holders, it led to increased guest satisfaction scores and higher revenue.
Ending his chapter focused on these increases, Chapek wrote that when Iger returned he told investors and fans that they had been too aggressive in price increases. Chapek then commented saying that in reality Iger continued the increases in the following two years.
To add context here, Disney has continued to increase some ticket prices, but rolled back specific changes at the theme parks from the Chapek era, including bringing back free resort parking, increasing the amount of lowest cost ticket dates, and removing charges for other perks. Since then, Disney has placed a strong emphasis on listening to fans in a way that is a complete about face from the Chapek actions and approach. In his comments mentioned above, Chapek thought that he only frustrated 20% of the base, but what he missed was that the 20% of the base is the critical bedrock of the fandom that magnifies their passion and pulls in other guests. That group that may get better access because of their dedication and willingness to commit to pay for a pass are also the ones who are best set up to promote the experience to their friends and bring in new people.
Today, it feels like Disney understands this. They have centered the company around the fans and continue to make a strong push to integrate feedback. New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has emphasized fandom and the value of the Disney fan as the key to his overall strategy. We see Disney put fans in the center of their marketing with a knowledge that they are both the best customers and ambassadors of the brand.
When Chapek proudly frustrated Disneyland annual pass holders, he came for and made enemies with all Disney fans. Even if he felt that they needed to reduce the amount of annual pass holders at the parks, his open approach that led to mentioning an “unfavorable attendance mix” at the resort in a financial filing made it seem like he didn’t understand the Disney fandom at all created a divide and in many ways led to the opening for his downfall. The way that he speaks about the fandom in this book only furthers the point.
The book is enlightening and provides an interesting perspective on Chapek’s years at Disney. Throughout there are many moments where I thought, “if only he had listened to the people around him more.” He proudly keeps his Indiana Hollywood outsider label throughout the book. It seems to be a point of pride for him to not be accepted in Hollywood or among the powerful ranks of creatives. At some point, after working at Disney for nearly 30 years and reaching the highest offices it is important to join the club and become an insider. He speaks to his abilities to deliver revenue, but at no point does it seem like he made a true effort to understand what makes Disney special or the important creative partners and in doing so solidify his place as CEO.
Order the book on Amazon here for a full perspective on how Bob Chapek increased revenue across the company and his frustrations with Bob Iger taking the CEO job back from him.
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