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Credit: Inside the MagicMany know that a vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort is a costly endeavor, but just how expensive is it? And how does the everyday guest budget for it? New data has been shared with Inside the Magic that correlates to the overall attendance downturn at the Central Florida resort and the overall takeaway: Guests are being priced out.
In a new study, Online Casinos found that 95.2% of Disney enthusiasts (based on a pool of 2,500 individuals) in the United Kingdom believe a Disney World vacation is “out of reach” for the average family due to rising costs.
While domestic guests make up a large proportion of guests at the parks, 1.14 million tourists from the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) visited Florida in 2023, per Travel Weekly.
“The cost of Disney World tickets has 586% since Mickey and Minnie welcomed the first visitors 53 years ago. The price of a day ticket for the Disney World park in Orlando ranges from $109 to $159 depending on the time of year you go,” Richfield Research shared with Inside the Magic. “That equates to roughly £84 and £122, respectively.”
“Considering that the minimum wage in the UK is £11.44 per hour, it would take more than a full day’s work just to enter the park at peak times in the year,” the report concludes.
The initial report also acknowledged that it is not just the price of admission that makes a Disney World vacation incredibly pricey. 69.3% of enthusiasts also believed that purchasing the Lightning Lane service is needed to fully embrace the parks. If a guest is paying thousands for flights and hotel accommodation, then the need to ride popular attractions is heightened.
Disney recently abolished its Genie+ service, rebranding it as the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass. Much like the formerly free offering FastPass+, Disney guests can now pre-book experiences up to seven days in advance, depending on where they are staying.
International visitors will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for times and rides, though, due to Lightning Lane users needing to be in the United States to utilize the offering. Not many guests, unless visiting neighboring parks like Universal Orlando Resort or SeaWorld Orlando Resort, will be in Florida this far ahead of their Disney vacation.
With the current cost-of-living crisis plaguing the United Kingdom, these fans expect to pay 51.1% more for their next trip than their last.
The rising costs of a Disney World vacation have not just affected international guests. The price of ticket admission, accommodation, food, beverages, and, of course, the aforementioned Lightning Lane are creating barriers for domestic guests, too.
Perhaps the most telling sign that there is a disconnect between the House of Mouse and its consumers was the news of flat attendance out of the Q3 shareholder earnings call. During the quarterly presentation, Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston outlined that Walt Disney World Resort had level visitors for the past quarter.
“We saw attendance [was] flat in the quarter, and perhaps [it was] up a little bit. We expect to see a flattish revenue number in Q4 coming out of the parks,” Johnston told listeners.
“According to Johnston, he expects similar results for the next several quarters,” Travel Weekly wrote. “Lower-income consumers are feeling some financial stress, he said, while higher-income consumers are traveling internationally more; he expects those trends to continue.”
Despite this, Josh D’Amaro’s latest address at INBOUND 2024 did not acknowledge the softer attendance at the flagship resort.
Last week, the Disney Experience chairman took to the stage in Boston, MA, to deliver his presentation on Disney’s industry-leading storytelling both on screen and in the parks. D’Amaro said, “When we tell our best stories and fully believe in them, our audience responds,” adding that this was the reason the parks all over the world have been visited four billion times in the last seven years.
Related: Disney World Without a Monorail: Could 15-Year-Old Rumors Come True?
Of course, that seven years features the widespread closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including the extended shutdown and sporadic closures of Shanghai Disney Resort, but D’Amaro did not allude to any current attendance issues or those predicted for the future.
Instead, the theme park executive honed in on how the important story is within the gates of each resort, commenting on the placement of trash cans and the marks left by R2-D2 in the concrete at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
D’Amaro skirted around criticism, though, acknowledging that Disney “may not always get it right” and that they need to be aware of how altering parts of the parks is like changing part of a guest’s personal history.
These comments came in the wake of Disney’s D23 Expo presentation, where the theme park giant shared that franchises like Monsters Inc., Cars, Encanto, Indiana Jones, Avatar, and the Disney Villains were coming to parks across both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort.
Related: Disney World Files Permit for ‘Star Wars’ Ride, Changes Incoming
The biggest fissure was caused by the confirmation that the already-unusual placement of Cars Land in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland would see guests bid farewell to the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
While these aren’t the big e-ticket attractions guests flock to Magic Kingdom for, discourse flared upon the concept art’s release, with many fans questioning Disney’s apparent decision to sacrifice themeing for IP implementation.
D’Amaro focused on building experiences for the next generation of Disney fans. Hopefully, they’ll have the thick wallets they need to enjoy them.
How do you feel about Disney World’s rising costs? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!