RUMOR: Disney World and Disneyland Will Go to Airline-Style Dynamic Ticket Pricing Based on Demand

UPDATE February 21, 2025 11:21 am PT – After completing additional reporting, we do not anticipate that these rumored Disney dynamic airline-style price changes will go into effect in the near term. Not nearly as soon as this quarter as the analyst report mentions below. We rarely report on rumors unless they are coming from notable sources as this one was. I still feel that these changes could happen in the future as they're the natural evolution of the ticketing process today. We'll keep watching this story. See the full original story below for full context.

We closely watch for increases of Disneyland ticket prices and Disney World ticket prices throughout the year. Last year we shared reports looking at the dramatic percentage increases of ticket prices across the past decade.

Now, there are rumors flying that Disney may introduce a completely new style of ticketing at Disneyland and Disney World that would change the way we think about price increases all together. I'll break down what we know right now, why this “rumor” is worth reporting on, and the likely motivation for why Disney would make this change.

Dynamic Airline-Style Pricing For Disneyland and Disney World

Looking backwards briefly, the ticket pricing format has changed a couple of different times over the past decade.

Up until 2016, Disneyland and Disney World had the same prices set for each day of every year regardless of demand for that date. That year, they shifted to offer three different tiers of pricing for one-day tickets based on different expected demand for those dates. In 2018, this style of ticketing expanded to include more ticket types and has expanded in the amount of tiers in years since.

This has been the style of the system. Ticket prices are set based on demand for specific dates and then remain the price for that date moving forward.

READ MORE – 9 Tips to Save Money at Disneyland on a Budget

Now, rumors are swirling ever since Disneyland Paris introduced dynamic pricing in mid-November 2024. In the new Disneyland Paris system, prices fluctuate for one day tickets you get closer to the actual date of the visit in the same way that the cost of an airline seat varies depending on when you book it. When you are looking at tickets on the Disneyland Paris website there is a listing that the current ticket prices will only be held for one hour and could shift after that point. After that 60-minute window the prices could remain, go up, or go down. Ticket prices vary based on “seasonality and demand” according to the Disneyland Paris site.

Previously we have seen other services introduced first at Disneyland Paris and then rolled out at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. That resort has served as a sort of testing ground for new products. Specifically, I am thinking of the various Lighting Lane offerings including the Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Premier Pass, both of which have paid FastPass predecessors in Disneyland Paris.

This change has been teased for the US parks since back in 2018 when a Wall Street Journal Report report shared that Disney was working on a dynamic pricing model similar to the airlines. That same year Disney rolled out the demand, date-based, pricing that we mentioned above and specifically stated that it wouldn't function like airline demand pricing. I don't know that they made that decision then because they didn't want to offer the airline pricing at the time or because it was too technically advanced.

We could see them use this service to both lower prices for dates with less demand or raise them. It would give Disney pricing teams the cover to meet guests where they are for specific dates.

Now, we know that they have the technical capabilities as they work on this offering for Disneyland Paris. Rolling out this new style of ticket pricing would allow Disney to never announce Disney theme park price increases again if brought to all ticket types and could bring greater variation into pricing as certain dates got more popular. It would also lock in guest spending earlier with the narrative that the earlier you book the better.

This has not been announced by Disneyland or Disney World at this time. We'll keep an eye on this story and update it with a comment from Disney if/when we receive one.

As we write whenever there's a price increase, the biggest issue about price increases is the perceived increase in cost and the round of national headlines. There are still low-cost ways to visit Disneyland and Disney World, but some families don't even end up looking based on the fear of being priced out based on the headline.

We typically don't report on rumors unless there is lots of buzz. This morning I woke up to a lot of chatter on this online and a notable investment advisor, Lightshed Partners which is home to the outspoken Rich Greenfield, posting an investment note about this likely change. Greenfield forecast that the change could be made sometime in the first quarter of 2025. While I don't know if it will happen that soon, I did deem it notable enough to share with you.

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