Credit: Faisal Aljunied, FlickrAfter years of complaints about “childless millennials” taking over Disney parks, the naysayers seem to be finally getting their wish: adults are leaving Disney.
If you’re a diehard Disney fan, no doubt you’ve drowned in the anti-Disney Adult propaganda in recent years. We’re not going to bother getting into the “who’s right and who’s not” debate right now (although, let’s be real, there are much more harmful hobbies for an adult to partake in than visiting a theme park), but what we will say is, are you happy now?
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As per a recent report from Pinzuba, the number of adults visiting Tokyo Disney Resort is declining – and declining fast.
The number of guests visiting the two Disney parks (Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySeaa) between the ages of 18 and 39 currently stands at 41%. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this number was 50%.
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Meanwhile, the percentage of visitors over 40 has been on a steady rise, climbing from around 20% to now surpassing 30%.
One possible reason for the drop in both the older portion of Gen Z and most millennials (typically those aged 28 to 43 as of 2024) could be rising ticket prices.
In 2004, a one-day adult passport to either Disney theme park was 5,500 yen ($39 USD), increasing to 6,200 yen ($44 USD) in 2014 and 7,500 yen ($53 USD) by 2019. In 2024, the price ranges from 7,900 yen ($56 USD) to 10,900 yen ($77 USD), depending on the entry date.
Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort ticket prices are considerably higher, having also risen post-pandemic. However, interestingly, a January 2024 survey found that 71% of these guests were between 25 and 44 years old.
So why is Tokyo Disney Resort still losing millennials? Disney fan Yoshika Yoshida told Pinzuba that he believed the loss of the Annual Pass plays a significant role.
Since October 2020, these passes have been inaccessible to all Disney fans, meaning anyone who wanted to experience Tokyo DisneySea’s new Fantasy Springs area or catch a final ride on Space Mountain when it closed earlier this year needed to purchase a ticket.
“It’s been about four years since the Annual Pass was abolished in 2020, but I hear that many fans have started to look elsewhere now that the Annual Pass is no longer in effect,” Yoshida said (his quotes have been translated from Japanese).
“Younger generations, in particular, have many other things they want to spend their money on besides TDL (Tokyo Disney Resort), such as smartphone bills, and once they have fewer opportunities to visit due to financial reasons or the abolition of the tools that allowed them to visit frequently, it seems difficult to visit the resort as frequently as before.”
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Tokyo Disney Resort (which is owned by the Oriental Land Company, not Disney) has slashed its park capacity since COVID-19, aiming to manage its notoriously overwhelming crowds – as proven by the mass that gathered outside the parks to try and secure passes for the new rides in Fantasy Springs (including Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure, and Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies) as early as 2 a.m.
While the frenzy remains, the reduced capacity has worked its magic, helping to cut down those infamous Disney park wait times. Regardless, guests have still been caught on camera gathering outside the park entrances en masse.
Why do you think millennials are visiting Tokyo Disney Resort less?