A new airline-style demand pricing model recently adopted by Disneyland Paris that rewards visitors who book early and punishes those who wait too long to buy tickets may soon be coming to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said during a question-and-answer session on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at the Wells Fargo Technology, Media and Telecommunications Summit that the Disneyland and Disney World resorts may switch to dynamic ticket pricing.
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Johnson noted that Disneyland Paris moved to a dynamic pricing model for individual dates based on seasonality and demand in November 2024.
“It’s off to a very good start, but we’re really going to make sure we optimize it before we bring it into the domestic parks,” Johnson said at the Wells Fargo summit. “So that’s probably something that you won’t see this year, but you may see in the subsequent years.”
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The new Disneyland Paris dynamic pricing system allows theme park ticket prices to change based on demand — rising on popular dates, dropping on slow days and continuing to vary between the time of purchase and date of visit. Disneyland Paris ticket buyers only have an hour to make their purchase before prices may fluctuate.
The new Disneyland Paris pricing model mimics pricing strategies used by airlines, hotels and rideshare operators that raise prices when demand spikes and lowers them when demand decreases.
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Johnson was asked if the Disneyland and Disney World dynamic pricing systems would be similar to airline pricing models.
“I’d like to not think about it that way, to be honest with you,” Johnson said at the Wells Fargo summit. “But yes, similar.”
Disney already uses dynamic pricing at Disney hotels in Anaheim and Orlando “to some degree,” according to Johnson.
“So this is basically just bringing it in the parks, but done in a way that obviously doesn’t create guest experience issues or consumer negative feedback and all of that,” Johnson said at the Wells Fargo summit. “And frankly, so far in Paris, we haven’t seen any.”
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Disneyland Paris is currently the only Disney theme park resort in the world using the airline-style dynamic ticket pricing model.
The shift to dynamic ticket pricing could help increase attendance and visitor spending in Disney parks and encourage theme park visitors to buy their tickets further in advance, according to a financial analyst report by New York City-based Lightshed Partners.
“If a consumer is worried that prices will go up, they are likely to purchase their tickets sooner than they probably would have done in the past,” according to the Lightshed report.
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Disneyland and Disney World moved from a flat-rate ticket model to tiered pricing in 2016.
The current ticket model requires Disney’s U.S. parks to announce upcoming price increases — typically on an annual basis.
A move to a dynamic-pricing model would mean Disneyland and Disney World would never have to publicly announce ticket price increases again — or endure the headlines that come with the annual price hikes.
“In the new fully dynamic, airline-style pricing plan, there is no ‘set’ price for a ticket on any given day,” according to the Lightshed report. “The only way to find out what a ticket costs is to try and buy one at that moment in time. In turn, you never have to publicly raise ticket pricing.”