Admission prices up at more Florida theme parks

[rotag]

Another Florida theme park has boosted its admission prices, bringing the cost of a single-day adult ticket to the major parks there to over $80...

http://m.usatoday.com/Travel/2209726/;jsessionid=5EBADE3686DE50ABD0E9C84F564DB10B.wap1

[RaptorGuy]

All of the Florida parks have increased admission prices at least 65% in the last 7 years. I doubt anyone has gotten a 65% pay raise in that same amount of time. I don't know how these parks can justify such a huge increase for their parks, and how people can actually afford to go! The Cedar Fair parks, and I assume Six Flags have only increased their admission by a few dollars over the same time period. A day admission to Kings Island now is around $50. Most of the other parks are in that same neighborhood. Florida is WAY beyond that for some reason. But, of course, according the current commercials running for Disney World, if you stay on site, you can save 25%, Whoopie Doo! They act like THAT'S affordable! "Oh We can do that!" Ha ha, yeah right, if you're Bill Gates, maybe!

[bkroz]

The two things that greatly impact that in my opinion are as follows:

1) People will pay it. A few bucks here and there and the numbers start looking pretty awful. But the fact is, people can't say "Oh, okay, we just won't go to Disney World," because there's nothing else it compares to. If you've been saving and saving and saving for a trip to Disney World, you know prices aren't going to drop, and Disney World is the only Disney World. There's no off-brand or light version that costs less. To me, it's sort of like Apple. In some ways, it's a monopoly. They can really charge whatever the hell they want for an iPod, because people are going to buy them, plain and simple. Yes, there are competitors, but they're not comparable in every way. iPods are iPods, and no matter how prices increase (to a degree), people will still buy them.

2) It's not really $80 per day. The way Disney (and now, Universal) operates is with the "more you stay less you pay option." Most people with common sense see that and do exactly what Disney wants - they stay longer. And why wouldn't you? In planning my trip, I was absolutely baffled at how well the pricing scheme was at making me want to stay longer. A four day ticket is literally $15 more than a three day one, and it's only $10 to upgrade from four to five. It makes sense to stay longer, which is exactly what they want you to think. With the opening of the Wizarding World, Universal switched to the same style of pricing. It's like $80 for one day... or $150 for seven. So naturally, people lean towards more days (which means they sell more food, more hotel rooms, more drinks, more CityWalk passes, etc). I would imagine (though I don't have the numbers) that very few people get one-day, one-park passes.

As far as SeaWorld, they raised prices by $1, and Busch Gardens by $4. But even that is somewhat inconsequential - for the most part, any special multi-day ticket to SeaWorld Orlando can add a day at Busch Gardens for practically nothing, and includes transportation down to Tampa. They just want people in the gate down there.

[RailRider]

Disney is not priced or geard for a single day visit, nor are you doing yourself or the parks justice if you try and visit in only one day. As mentioned their pricing becomes more affordable the more days you stay and especially if you stay on site. Universal is now using this model.

Disney is in a class of its own and in my opinion you get more than what you spend. I think my trip report linked bellow is a perfect example of that. The memories, the experience, the magic are almost priceless. Disney cannot be compared to the regional parks because they are in a different league as is Universal. Those that have gone and experienced what I am talking about understand. Disney if done right is not anymore expansive than many other vacations and there are quite a few experts around this site that have invaluable information.

Disney and Universal do not want you visiting only 1 day and this is more incentive not to. Great business strategy and you as the customer will be much happier if you spend more days in the park.