Disney raises Magic Kingdom tickets above $100
Walt Disney Co. raised the cost of a single- day admission to its flagship Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida, by 6 percent to $105, breaking the $100 level for the first time.
Prices for the company's three other Orlando resorts will rise 3 percent to $97. At Disneyland and the Disney California Adverture parks in Anaheim, California, tickets will rise 3 percent to $99. The increases take effect Sunday.
Disney, the world's largest theme-park operator, has invested more than $8 billion in the past five years in its U.S. parks, opening new attractions such as Cars Land at California Adventure and doubling the size of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland section.
"We continually add new offerings and experiences, and many of our guests select multiday tickets or annual passes, which provide a great value and additional savings," Jacquee Wahler, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an e-mail.
The cost of admission to the Magic Kingdom has doubled since 2003. Tickets were $3.50 plus the cost of rides when the park opened in 1971, according to the fan website allears.net.
The increases were larger for some of the company's annual passes. A premium annual pass, which comes with no blackout dates, for entry to the company's California parks will rise 11 percent to $779.
Even with the price increases, domestic park attendance climbed 3 percent in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 27, according to company filings. The parks division generated operating income of almost $2.7 billion on revenue of $15.1 billion in 2014.
Disney ticket-price increases often lead to similar moves by other operators such as Comcast Corp.'s Universal Studios and SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. locations.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzobloomberg.net Bernard Kohn, Stephen West