Why Is Disney World So Expensive?

Walt Disney World has been the most popular theme park vacation destination for decades. 

People travel to Orlando, Florida, from all over the world to experience the magic and wonder of Disney, no matter the price of tickets.

That said, parkgoers often ask themselves why Disney is so expensive, considering how popular the parks truly are.

Disney World uses demand to set ticket prices, meaning busier times of the year are more expensive than the off-season. Tickets are priced to cover the costs of overhead, maintenance, and new development at the parks. Disney parks demand high infrastructure costs and skilled support to maintain, and running them requires employing thousands of people all year round.

This article discusses why ticket prices seem expensive and what guests can expect from the cost of admission. 

Disney World Continues to Invest in the Parks

Disney World theme parks constantly change as Imagineers replace older, less popular attractions with newer, more technologically-advanced rides. 

Disney continues to push beyond the boundaries of imagination, conceiving new ways to bring movie magic to life. 

The new rides use modern technical innovations that cost far more than older mechanical rides.

Many new attractions at Disney World also follow the popularity of Disney and Disney-related movies and TV shows.

Disney Imagineers develop ideas from these franchises to create interactive experiences, immersing guests into their favorite film and television worlds.

The cost of these constant innovative achievements is one reason why ticket prices are high, but it also explains why guests continue to pay those prices.

What’s New at Magic Kingdom?

In Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom, Disney Imagineers have taken the old 1982 movie TRON, which spawned video games, comic books, and the more recent movie sequel TRON: Legacy, and turned it into an epic ride. 

TRON Lightcycle Run will arrive in 2023 and will be one of the most exhilarating roller coasters at any Disney park.

What’s New at EPCOT?

There are a few new rides and attractions at EPCOT.

The Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is a new reverse-launch roller coaster that rotates 360 degrees so riders can see all the action.

This thrill ride is one of the largest enclosed roller coasters in the world and one of the few attractions at Disney World that uses a Virtual Queue. 

The new ride at the France Pavilion is the first at EPCOT’s World Showcase in many years. 

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a 4D experience based on Pixar’s movie Ratatouille. 

Next to the ride, a new crepe restaurant, La Crêperie de Paris, has also opened.

One of the new attractions arriving at EPCOT in 2023 is the Journey of Water, inspired by the movie Moana. 

This attraction will allow guests to play with water and learn about the importance of preserving natural environments. 

(Another Moana-themed attraction may also arrive soon at Animal Kingdom.)

What’s New at Blizzard Beach?

Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park has incorporated details from the popular Disney movie Frozen into its theme. 

These new features will engage younger visitors who love this timeless film.

High Demand for Tickets

When Disney World opened its first park – Magic Kingdom – in 1971, an adult ticket cost $3.50, and a child’s ticket was $1. 

A ticket to enter Disney’s theme parks now is more than $100, and this significant price increase can be blamed, in part, on the large increase in visitors.

Disney World received more than ten million guests the first year it opened. 

In recent years, except for 2020, the Magic Kingdom alone received almost twice that number at nearly 21 million people.

The ever-changing rides and updates to Walt Disney’s Florida theme and water parks drive visitors to return many times over the years, and when a new ride or attraction arrives, Disney fans want to experience it.

The Disney brand has also become synonymous with the ultimate family vacation – children want to go, and parents want to take them. 

Adults without children likewise love Disney because it’s been a consistent part of childhood worldwide for nearly a century.

Disney World raises ticket prices as demand increases to support the costs of catering to tens of millions of visitors every year. 

Aging Infrastructure Requires Support to Maintain It

Some of the rides at the Magic Kingdom have been in service for nearly five decades. 

These attractions have been upgraded, refurbished, and modernized over time, and because of their multi-generational popularity and nostalgia, many will likely exist for several decades more.

The oldest rides at the park include the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, “it’s a small world,” Jungle Cruise, and Carousel of Progress. 

It’s expensive to maintain these older rides, just as it is costly to create new attractions. 

Disney Imagineers, engineers, and other maintenance professionals invest a lot of time and money to ensure these rides continue to function properly and safely. 

They also take time reimagining these rides as the world moves forward with new technologies and people conceive new ways to interact with the world around them.

Disney World makes a tremendous effort to keep the older rides operating, perhaps because nostalgia plays an important role in bringing visitors back.

Cast Member Wages, Equipment, and Costumes

Walt Disney World employs 77,000 people at theme parks, water parks, shopping centers, hotels, resorts, and more – the largest number of employees on a single campus in the United States. 

Many people work together to support the day-to-day operations at Disney World, from groundskeepers and restaurant servers to ride attendants and characters.

Every Cast Member has a specific set of uniforms, and everything must look stage ready. 

There’s also an incredible amount of administrative work required to ensure the parks run smoothly and that guests are taken care of.

Disney World spends a lot of money on staff who help maintain its reputation as the “Most Magical Place on Earth.”

Conclusion

Walt Disney World contains the most popular theme parks in the world, and tickets to visit these parks are expensive for a few reasons. 

Disney’s Imagineers constantly work to develop new rides and attractions, which requires a massive budget to plan and execute. 

Additionally, the older, popular rides and attractions need continuous care and creative refurbishing to keep them running and entertaining new generations of guests. 

Because of these rides and attractions, visitors flock to Disney World throughout the year, and the high demand for tickets, especially during peak seasons, also drives up prices.

Lastly, Disney World also requires thousands of employees to keep its gates open – so many, in fact, that it has the largest workforce in any single location in the US. 

“The Most Magical Place on Earth” is an expensive place to visit, but it’s also an expensive place to operate.