Today is the day that a change has come to Disney World ticket prices. Guests wishing to purchase Disney World tickets are able to access the new system via DisneyWorld.com or the My Disney Experience app to see the new date-based ticket pricing. (Click here to see Annual Pass price increases that went into effect today.)
We’ve compared dates at the old pricing model and the new pricing model below so that you can see how the new ticket pricing system will affect YOUR trip.
Walt Disney World entrance
The new system:
• Assigns each individual calendar day a specific ticket price (each day reflects a different price based on various factors like crowd levels)
• Uses an interactive calendar for ticket purchasing, and to show guests the highest and lowest ticket prices within a given month or year
• Offers guests the option to upgrade to a ticket with a “flexible start date” for an added cost.
Comparison Of Disney World Ticket Prices Before and After the Date-Based Price Update
Ticket prices for Disney World theme parks have generally been grouped based on seasons over the last few years: Value (lower crowd levels), Regular (regular crowd levels), and Peak (especially high crowd levels during seasons like Spring Break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). The same theory applies, but now to specific dates.
Disney shared a graphic here that compares the two pricing models.
We also did our own comparisons, which we break down below.
For example, November 15th was previously in Value season, with a ticket for Magic Kingdom priced at $109 for an adult, and $103 for a child (ages 3-9). For the other parks, the price was $103/$96, respectively.
Today, a one-park ticket is $114 for adults, $109 per child for the same date of November 15th.
November 15th highlighted on calendar with price
Note that children’s ticket prices are in view once you scroll down.
November 15th ticket prices adult and child
December 3rd, for regular attendance, with a ticket for Magic Kingdom previously priced at $119 for an adult, and $113 for a child (ages 3-9). For the other parks, the price was $114/$108, respectively.
December 3rd highlighted on calendar with price
December 3rd child and adult price
All parks under the new system are priced at $114/$109 for that same date.
Christmas Day, December 25th, is peak season, with a ticket for Magic Kingdom previously priced at $129 for an adult, and $123 for a child (ages 3-9). For the other parks, the price was $122/$116, respectively.
December 25th highlighted on calendar with price
December 25th adult and child price
Now, a one-park ticket is $129 for adults, $124 per child for the same date of December 25th. Please note that none of the figures include tax (which guests can view in the subtotal for their order).
The new system also accounts, of course, for multi-day tickets, giving guests the chance to view how the daily ticket prices decrease for any number of days from 2-10 days.
Select Number of Days to view
You can also select an option to view the lowest-priced ticket months for the year.
Option to see which months offer lowest ticket price
Months in 2019 offering the lowest ticket prices
Do you think this new system will affect your vacation planning? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Click Here To See Annual Pass Price Increases!
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Thank you for all of the work you put into these articles! Have been a reader for years and will continue to recommend you to everyone. Love that you report on these important things here and there too and don’t feel required to stick to food only.
Hate it. Shouldn’t have to pay extra to allow flexibility for the date. Disney World is my nostalgic favorite, but ridiculous in comparison to other resort ticket prices. Definitely not reflecting the heart of its founder.
Not happy with the increase,it limits our visits,and vacation time.
I don’t think it’ll effect my vacation plans much. As much as I hate when prices get raised, it’s not like they jumped from $90 to $150. Hopefully it’ll keep some of the crowds down. A jam packed park isn’t much fun. Either not riding rides because of a long wait time or fighting thru a crowd just to see a parade isn’t my idea of a fun day at an amusement park.
I read our articles as soon as they are delivered to my inbox. I enjoy the articles and the information provided helps me plan our time at Disney World.
Keep up the good no great information.
Super helpful as always! Thank you!
Hi! I am confused! The cost of the tickets went down with the more days that you bought. So 5 day ticket didn’t equal the cost of 5 1-day tickets. Has that changed?
I hate this new system. Once again they are taking away spontaneity from vacation. Started with advanced dining reservations and online fast pass reservations. Now having to pay extra for flexible park dates, you need to have everything planned out in advance. EVERYTHING! If you want to change your mind it’ll cost you dearly. Unfortunately I think my WDW days are numbered. It’s become overpriced, overcrowded, and difficult to enjoy. Makes me very sad.
Why keep raising prices, there are hundreds of people coming every day, weekly and yearly. It just seems like that they are hurting so they need to raise prices?
We want to bring our families, enjoy our selves, make memories, but that is hard when we get priced out of our own vacation.
Huge kudos to AJ & the DFB team for their tireless effort to help the rest of us plan ahead and get the most magic for our money!
While, I agree that the good ol’ days of just wandering the parks are long gone (unless you’re local with an AP), I actually enjoy all of the planning that goes into a WDW vacation. The admission increases are much lower than I was anticipating and hopefully this does have its intended effect – spreading the crowds over the year versus the crazy peaks and lows that we’ve started to see. Ultimately, I will miss my cherished low seasons, but I think evening out the crowds will work out much better for the phenomenal Cast Members’ schedules and staffing levels (AND paychecks) – and that gives me more that much more incentive to spend my money there.
I’ve been accused of planning our WDW vacations like strategic military maneuvers – wants, needs, possibilities, contingencies, disaster management, the works! Multi-tab Excel workbooks, bookmark folders, and YouTube playlists are mainstays when I’m in the planning phase. (Which, if I’m being honest, is every day that I’m not actively visiting a park!)
40 days to go for my 10th visit and first as a DVC owner – this time just the hubs and I though. Last trip I planned was for my coworker plus 17 of her kids/grandkids (ages 4 weeks to 70 years), before that 10 people (aged 4-55, including my dear Aunt in a scooter), next on the horizon is 12 and our first stay in a Grand Villa!
Well it is confusing with these changes I am coming March 1 to March 6th 2019. Thank u for all your updates.
Do these changes affect current tickets? Since we live in the UK we booked nearly a year ago and our visit date it coming up in December. I’m not keen on this new system, it’s not the best system for people travelling from overseas and offsite. Kinda seems like they’re trying to force you into staying onsite. But admittedly I don’t really understand this system 🙁
Amy, tickets that were purchased before 10/16 will not be impacted by the changes. And I agree: this system isn’t the easiest thing to wrap one’s head around! Still, I hope you have an amazing trip in December!
Michelle, you’re my kind of planner! Go, you! Major kudos for planning the magic for so may other people! Enjoy your trip with your husband!
Heather, that’s a great question. There is still a noticeable savings the more days you buy. So, for example, I looked at the month of October for five-day tickets, which were $83-$84 per day. When I reduced my days to four, the price per day rose to $100. You should see this on the calendar when you search for tickets for 2+ days. I hope this helps!
I don’t like the idea that you have to pick pacific days to use your tickets, sometimes you want to take a day off from the parks and now you cannot
Disney is a business. It exists to make money so prices will continue to go up gradually like in all businesses. But the big surprise is the introduction of the heavy daily charge for parking. A lot of money at the start and will assuredly go up over time.
Hate it with a passion. Price increase I can deal with. Assigning dates is a whole other ball of nonsense. I’ve had to change vacation dates several times due to life stuff. Having preassigned ticket dates would be a disaster for me. And no I will not pay extra for that flexibility. All I think this will do is make the value seasons even more crowded as people try to save a few dollars. Thankfully I bought tickets for my upcoming trip a few days ago. Been traveling to Disney since the 70s. This is likely to be my last trip. The fun of spontaneity is gone. Feels like a job planning a ridiculously expensive vacation now.
Love all the work the crew and you Aj puts into DFB. Thank you.
All I see with this new system is exactly like one hotels use…The closer the hotel is to full capacity the higher the price. So you end up paying more for a weekend rate than mid week. Also hotels decrease the cost if you stay more than a night, the more days in a row you stay the less you pay per day.
Thank you DFB Sarah for clearing that up for me 🙂 We will definitely have a good trip, you can’t not at Disney 😉 but it’s my friend’s first time so I’m more excited for her to experience the magic!
Hi, any idea whether the UK can expect similar price increases on our 14/21 day ultimate ticket costs? Thank you for all the hard work in your blog!!
Matt, we haven’t heard this, but if we do, we’ll update!
Peter, when you purchase multi-day tickets, they will give you a range of days in which to use it. When I plugged in a couple days in February, it gave me a five day window in which to use them. So there’s a bit of flexibility, it seems. Hope this helps!
Have you looked at this with park-hopper at all?
It seems that park hopper has gone up also in some cases. I bought a 4 day ticket a few weeks ago, without hopper. It was $398, hopper was $70 more.
When I look at the new pricing it works out to $75 more. So to get 4 day ticket with hopper, it is an extra $4 a day. Not huge, but I find it odd that they also increased how much it costs for park hopper depending on when you go. Of course they did make it harder to figure out the differences in price – I was debating adding hopper to the ticket, but I am not sure if they would charge the new hopper price, or if they would charge me the difference in ticket price plus the addition of hopper.
If they do – we are going to live without hopping for the portion of the trip my bf will be there 🙂 I have an AP & will be there a few more days than him.
Amanda, it can’t hurt to call and ask. Since you purchased tickets before 10/16, your original price should stand. But without asking, it’s hard to know how much they’ll charge you to add the Park Hopper (the price when you purchased the tickets OR the new price). Let us know what you find out, if you decide to check! And have a stellar vacation!
I don’t really have a problem with the ticket prices. I do think if you keep it up you will price the average Joe out. My problem is with charging people who are paying good money to stay in the park for parking. To say the prices are exorbitant would be an understatement. This makes me think you want nothing but the rich to come!
On first observation, Disney is attempting to spread the park attendance by adjusting pricing by crowd size. It’s brilliant strategy for anyone who has been to WDW at Christmas and watched “Park closed” signs while driving with 3 kids in the car. Or waiting in a 3.5 hour line for Toy Story Mania. We never did that, but we were offered that option there and Soarin’ and more. It’s still an issue for families who can only travel during school vacations. I applaud their effort.
I am not a fan of the new assigned dates for tickets. But my really big issue with the new structure is what happens if you need to change your dates. If you reschedule for a higher priced start date you have to pay the difference however if you reschedule for a lower priced start date you don’t get a refund. It’s seems like a blatant push to get you to purchase the flexible dates option.