Credit: Chad Sparkes, FlickrAlmost every family that visits Disney Springs regularly has a Blaze order.
That is not an exaggeration. For a decade, Blaze Pizza has been the answer to a very specific problem at Disney Springs, which is that the district filled up with excellent restaurants nobody can casually afford. Morimoto Asia. STK. The Boathouse. Jaleo. Wine Bar George. All wonderful, all requiring a reservation and a conversation about the budget.
Blaze was the release valve. Walk up, build a pizza, watch it cook in about 180 seconds in an open-flame oven, feed four people without a reservation and without a hundred-dollar check. That was the whole appeal when it opened, and co-founder Rick Wetzel promised “an amazing flagship restaurant” when the location was announced in July 2015, back when Downtown Disney was still becoming Disney Springs.
That release valve just got tighter.
Blaze Pizza at Disney Springs has raised prices across most of its menu and replaced its entire signature pizza lineup, cutting eight pizzas in the process. And when you run the percentages instead of the dollar amounts, a pattern shows up that nobody should be happy about.
The New Prices
Here is the build-your-own tier, which is what most families actually order.
- Build Your Own: $13.50, up from $11.95
- Build Your Own 2 Top: $11.95, up from $10.95
- Build Your Own 1 Top: $11.50, up from $9.95
- Build Your Own Simple Pie: $7.95, unchanged
Crust upgrades remain extra. Gluten-free dough is $3, high-rise dough is $3.50, and cauliflower crust is $4.
Run the Percentages and It Gets Worse
Dollar amounts flatten what actually happened here. Percentages do not.
- Build Your Own 1 Top: up 15.6 percent
- Build Your Own: up 13 percent
- Build Your Own 2 Top: up 9.1 percent
- Cheesy bread: up 15.2 percent, from $8.25 to $9.50
Look at which item took the biggest increase.
The one-topping pizza is the cheapest real pizza on the menu, the order you place when you are trying to keep the total down. It absorbed the largest percentage increase on the board.
That is the budget option carrying the heaviest load, and it is a pattern that shows up over and over in Disney World pricing when you stop looking at dollars and start looking at rates.
The Comparison That Stings
Here is the single clearest way to understand this change.
The old two-topping pizza cost $10.95.
The new one-topping pizza costs $11.50.
You now pay 55 cents more for one topping than you used to pay for two.
The Gap to the Cheap Option Nearly Doubled
The Simple Pie survived untouched at $7.95. Mozzarella, Parmesan, red sauce, same oven, same 180 seconds.
That makes it the best value at Blaze by a wide margin and one of the better values anywhere at Disney Springs.
But look at what happened to the step above it.
Moving from the Simple Pie to a one-topping pizza used to cost $2.00. Now it costs $3.55.
That step-up is 78 percent more expensive than before, which means the cheap tier is now more isolated from the rest of the menu. Adding a single topping went from a minor upgrade to a real decision.
Eight Pizzas Cut, Eight Added
The signature lineup was replaced entirely.
Gone: the Art Lover, BBQ Chkn, Green Stripe, Hot Link, Meat Eater, Red Vine, Veg Out and White Top.
The new lineup, most priced at $13.50:
- Margherita: red sauce, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil
- Carnivore: pepperoni, Canadian ham, crumbled meatball, balsamic glaze
- Meatball Pie: red sauce, mozzarella, dollops of ricotta
- Blazed BBQ: BBQ sauce, roasted chicken, red onions, pickled jalapenos, ranch
- Four Cheese: mozzarella, ovalini mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan
- Herbivore: spicy red sauce, mushrooms, roasted garlic, cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, arugula
- Vegetarian Pizza: $16.58, on gluten-free cauliflower crust with artichokes, black olives, red onions, spinach
- Vegan Pizza: $15.50, vegan cheese, vegan chorizo, mushrooms, green peppers
The old signature pizzas were all $11.95. So the signature tier went up the same 13 percent as the build-your-own.
And yes, the vegetarian pizza is $16.58. Not $16.50. Somebody at Blaze is committed to exact change.
If one of the cut pizzas was your order, you can still try to rebuild it at the toppings line.
In Fairness to Blaze, There Is an Argument Here
This deserves honest treatment rather than pure outrage.
Blaze made this change nationally first, launching a “Chef Inspired” signature collection on May 29, 2024, replacing a lineup that had not changed since 2012, according to Restaurant Dive.
Blaze’s marketing chief at the time, Christian Kuhn, told Restaurant Dive that the old signature pizzas accounted for just 7 percent of sales and that their prices had drifted away from build-your-own pricing in a way that confused customers.
He also said the Carnivore carries twice the pepperoni of the old Meat Eater and 50 percent more meatballs, plus ham.
So on the Carnivore at least, there is a case that you are getting more food for the money. Worth noting that Kuhn used that pizza as his own example, and comparable ingredient breakdowns for the other seven have not been provided.
It is also worth saying plainly that this is a chain-wide change arriving at Disney Springs two years late, not a Disney-specific markup invented for a captive audience.
What It Costs an Actual Family Now
Four people, each ordering a full build-your-own:
- Before: $47.80
- Now: $54.00
Add cheesy bread to share:
- Before: $56.05
- Now: $63.50
That is about 13 percent more, and it is before drinks and before tax.
The workaround is real, though. Four Simple Pies still runs $31.80, exactly what it did before. For families watching the total, that is the move, and the same pizza oven is producing it.
The Gluten Free Penalty Is Worth Naming
One group gets hit harder than everyone else, and it is not a matter of preference.
Cauliflower crust costs $4 extra. Gluten-free dough costs $3.
So a build-your-own on cauliflower crust is $17.50, and the Vegetarian Pizza arrives at $16.58 because it comes on that crust by default.
For a guest with celiac disease, that is not an upgrade. It is the only option available, and it now carries a premium on top of a menu that already went up 13 to 16 percent.
Everything Else Moved Too
Cheesy bread climbed to $9.50, and the Pesto Garlic Cheesy Bread is gone. The Simple Salad and Citrus Berry Salad were replaced by a $9.95 side salad and a $12.50 entree salad.
Desserts now include Bookies at $3.25, cinnamon bread at $5.50, and a S’mores Pie at $3.50. Applesauce is $1.80.
Blaze Joined a Long October List
This did not happen in isolation.
Within the past month, Walt Disney World has raised prices on character dining, buffets, annual passes, and food and beverage. At Magic Kingdom’s Curtain Call Collectibles, basic embroidery jumped from $4.99 to $7.99 per line, which is a 60 percent increase.
Against that, Blaze’s 13 to 16 percent looks restrained, which says more about the month than about Blaze.
Blaze is still the cheaper option at Disney Springs. It is just no longer the obvious relief it used to be, and the $7.95 Simple Pie is doing a lot of work to hold that reputation up.
Sources: Pirates and Princesses reporting, WDW News Today, Restaurant Dive, and LaughingPlace.
