It’s a sick trend really, as Disney and the other Orlando area parks have raised priced each and every year for about the past 15 to 20 years, and the overall impact is staggering at just how much more they are taking from your wallet than they were just 10 years ago.Whenever Disney increases admission prices, there is a flood of pieces sharing similar sentiment published on the internet. But they systematically ignore two very important things:
1. Inflation. In 1993 a one-day, one-Park ticket at Walt Disney World cost $35. Compared to today's prices, that's astounding. But that number's meaningless unless it's adjusted for inflation. $35 in 1993 does not equal $35 in 2010. Here's a list of historical admission prices, adjusted for inflation:
1985: $21.50 ($42.30)
1988: $28.00 ($50.13)
1993: $35.00 ($51.32)
1998: $42.00 ($55.02)
2002: $50.00 ($59.28)
2. Higher Ticket Prices ≠ Greater Profit. Revenue from admissions does little to pad the bottom line. The cost of getting a guest in the door of a theme park is still highly subsidized. Theme park admission is like a magazine or newspaper subscription. The $15 you pay to have a magazine delivered to your home is a loss for the publisher. The real money is made from selling advertisements.
When you go to a Disney Park, Disney makes no money until you start buying souvenirs, eating at restaurants and staying in a Disney-owned hotel. Those are the high-margin profit centers.
The difference between a newspaper subscription and admission to Epcot is that there is demand for Epcot.
Of course, all of this is ignoring that the vast majority of guests to Walt Disney World don't purchase a one-day, one-Park ticket. This is reflected in Disney's pricing.
I'm not defending the price increases. My argument is not that a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland is a bargain. It's not. It's expensive and often prohibitively expensive. Even taking into account inflation, the rise in prices has been precipitous.
Nor do I wish to unduly criticize Lance Hart, the webmaster of Screamscape. It's fair to feel sticker shock. His essay was merely brought to my attention, but there are dozens that could have been chosen.
But there is more to the discussion than simple greed.