ANAHEIM – Is tiered ticket pricing in the works for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure?
The Walt Disney Co. sent an online survey to guests earlier this week seeking their thoughts on a three-tiered pricing structure: Customers would pay more for visits on the busiest days.
A one-day, one-park ticket is now $99.
In the survey, the tiers are Gold, Silver and Bronze, and they are mapped out on a calendar.
Gold, at $115, would cover a day’s entrance to a park during peak times – much of summer, Christmas time and the first week of April for spring break.
A Silver ticket would go for $105 and be for days that typically are mid-demand ones: some weekdays, and weekends in most months. Bronze, for $99 apiece, would be good on select weekdays in the off-peak months that include January February and September.
Such flexible pricing based on demand, which some call surge pricing, is becoming more common in various fields, including hotels and Major League Baseball.
Park hopper tickets would be an extra $55. Child ticket prices would be 10 percent off the regular ticket price, according to the survey.
A Disneyland spokeswoman would only say this is one of several surveys sent out to guests on a variety of topics.
Some on social-media sites see the possible pay structure as a way to prevent the overcrowding that occurs at Disneyland at times.
Last week’s 24-hour kick-off of the theme park’s 60th anniversary included a 12-hour closure of the front gate, apparentlyh to prevent over-crowding.
Multi-tiered ticket pricing is not new for Disneyland; Disney has similar tiered pricing for annual passes, with the less-expensive versions carrying more black-out days.
Robert Niles, editor at ThemeParkInsider.com, which covers theme parks, said a tiered structure makes sense if Disney wants to continue raising ticket prices.
“At some point, they can’t continue to increase prices without affecting overall attendance,” Niles said. “People will brush this off as Disney raising prices just on busy days and the days that are in high-demand. …
“This is just a survey,” he said. “No one really knows if this will ever happen.”
Contact the writer: 714-704-3764 or jpimentel@ocregister.com
