Does Disney World try to differentiate its annual pass holders? – The madman

This week, Disney World has decided to raise prices for its annual subscriptions and parking lots.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) regularly pushes up prices; Day tickets are on the rise every year since 1989. But this week's move stands out as it's the second time this year that Disney World is increasing its annual package price.

This is only the fourth time that Disney has raised the prices of its annual subscription twice in the same year. If you go back in 2015 (when the annual passes have been repositioned with new benefits, including free digital photos), you have to go back ten years back to find the last time the resort complex The most visited theme park in the world started with a double hike. There is a method with the mouse.

Paving the way for the star

The move of Disney this week drives prices up between 3% and 9% on its four annual pass levels. This is not necessarily exaggerated or exorbitant, but when you combine discounted prices with the February hike, the situation starts to look a bit more extreme.

The Disney World Platinum Package – the standard option that includes access to the four theme parks with no restriction date – went from $ 779 to $ 849 in February, before this week's purchase at $ 894. We are talking about an increase of almost 15% – or $ 115 – and it's a piece of decent change when you multiply by every member of your family.

Stretching the price elasticity is part of the game, but you can not rule out the timing of this week's increase. Disney World will open end 2019 Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney Studios Hollywood, the most ambitious expansion of the resort since the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998. This n & rsquo; It's no coincidence that the first year in which Disney raised the prices of its annual packages was 1997, the year before the opening of the animal-themed attraction.

Disney World will be a tourist hotbed in the fall or early winter when the new attraction will debut. It would not have been logical to wait until February to further increase the annual cards, thus leaving money on the table for people looking to buy or renew their cards in the coming months, in the coming months. hope to be among the first guests to discover Star Wars: Galaxy. Edge.

Declaring the price of some passengers on the picture could be a by-product not very encouraging of this week's increase, but Disney will have enough converging guests from all over the planet to discover the new space with its two flagship attractions. He does not need his subscribers as much as during the lulls when he has nothing new and exciting to offer.

The situation will change naturally if attendance begins to suffer. But in the past, Disney turnstile clicks have been dampened more by global economic woes than by its pricing strategies. With the rise of this week, Disney will lose more than a few pass holders, but no one expects a drop in Disney World attendance next year. The calculation is cruel, but it works.