Have you seen the price increases for lightning lane!?

[GatorChris]

Just think. The first Disney Park ticket went over $100 for the first time in 2016. Just 9 years ago. Now it's topping $200. And 2016 included free FastPass!!!! 9 years and the price has more than doubled.

Disney is begging me to do something else for my vacations.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...Disney is begging me to do something else for my vacations.

Probably wise considering this was you less than two months ago...

While in line, I told my wife the next time I wanted to plan a trip to Disney, cut off my big toe with wire cutters.

 

[NickC]

And 2016 included free FastPass!!!!

And Magical Express. And included Magic bands. And free dining packages. And package delivery. And room service. And resort parking. And resort airline check in. And....

 

[emmabelle]

you have to pay for the right to get up early 7 days out, filled with anxiety, hoping to get what you want. Complete garbage.

we were in Disneyland in August and I loved that they still used the older version of the Genie. Even better that you couldn't start booking things until you were in the park. I'm not a fan of having to decide 7 days before what I want to do that day. I like to be more spontaneous. I also felt I had a better chance at things before, because if you only have a 2 night stay you're kind of SOL to the people with 7 day vacays.

 

[Dave006]

Just think. The first Disney Park ticket went over $100 for the first time in 2016. Just 9 years ago. Now it's topping $200. And 2016 included free FastPass!!!! 9 years and the price has more than doubled.

I don't see any $200 days. The highest posted price is $184 for a 1 day ticket at MK on October 10, 2026. The average price is $164 per day

The free FastPass was for 1 attraction at a time Disney chose, and you were required to go to the attraction to get a FastPass, and then find something else to do while you waited for you FastPass window to start.

Dave

 

[reddog21]

Just think. The first Disney Park ticket went over $100 for the first time in 2016. Just 9 years ago. Now it's topping $200. And 2016 included free FastPass!!!! 9 years and the price has more than doubled.

Disney is begging me to do something else for my vacations.

Is there an example of a vacation that hasn't gone up?? We cruise a lot and that in some cases they have gone up close to 120% in some cases more. Our trips to Williamsburg have gone up a little over 80% and it's as basic as it gets. I get the anger but everything is expensive and every company is getting rid perks.

And Magical Express. And included Magic bands. And free dining packages. And package delivery. And room service. And resort parking. And resort airline check in. And..

Magical express and airline checkin were not run by Disney.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The free FastPass was for 1 attraction at a time Disney chose, and you were required to go to the attraction to get a FastPass, and then find something else to do while you waited for you FastPass window to start.

There's Legacy FP and then there's FastPass+ (FP+). Legacy FP was the paper tickets. FP+ was through the app although there were some kiosks (that slowly went away). At WDW Legacy FP was gone in 2013 replaced by FP+ so if the PP is talking about 2016 it was already with FP+ being around for several years. You didn't go to the attraction to select your ride, it was done in advance via your MDE account (or if at the park using the kiosks when they had them but it was digital still) and redeemed using your phone or MagicBand. 3 in advance FP+ were included in your park ticket, subsequent FP+ selections up to availability but still were not an added charge. You selected the time you wanted (or what was available).

If you're talking about Disneyland that is different but what you describe is not what Walt Disney World was like for the time period the PP was talking about.

Neither Legacy FP nor FP+ carried an extra charge.

I don't see any $200 days. The highest posted price is $184 for a 1 day ticket at MK on October 10, 2026. The average price is $164 per day

If you're only looking at the calendar you're only going to see the lowest ticket price NOT the price of all parks. None of those will list it with tax (which brings the price up to $222.59).

The $184 is for Animal Kingdom

 

[MamaKate]

I don't see any $200 days. The highest posted price is $184 for a 1 day ticket at MK on October 10, 2026. The average price is $164 per day

The free FastPass was for 1 attraction at a time Disney chose, and you were required to go to the attraction to get a FastPass, and then find something else to do while you waited for you FastPass window to start.

Dave

The highest 1-day ticket is $199 for MK and $194 for DHS (pre-tax). Usually on Saturdays and Holidays. I see these prices in November, December, January...

 

[Tom_E_D]

The highest 1-day ticket is $199 for MK and $194 for DHS (pre-tax). Usually on Saturdays and Holidays. I see these prices in November, December, January...

Look at the Saturdays in November and December 2026. MK is over $200 in all of them as well as some other days those months. HS also has some days over $200.

 

[elvispursley]

This just reinforces why I will grin and bear the Aug/Sep heat. We managed to go sans LL on our trip a couple months ago and we managed surprisingly well in standby.

We did splurge on LL for our upcoming DLR trip right at Christmas. I guess if we were going to WDW for Christmas we’d likely splurge on them at the time of year as well.

 

[japanese maple]

Okay now the next two days in October are back to more reasonable levels. Which makes it more ridiculous the prices on 10/29.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Is there an example of a vacation that hasn't gone up?? We cruise a lot and that in some cases they have gone up close to 120% in some cases more. Our trips to Williamsburg have gone up a little over 80% and it's as basic as it gets. I get the anger but everything is expensive and every company is getting rid perks.


Magical express and airline checkin were not run by Disney.

Totally agree with this. I analyze all numbers and do hypothetical vacations to see costs all the time, and they are ALL expensive. Maybe you can get a deal if you can travel in the off season or you have a small family, but overall, everything is pretty high. Try going to NYC for a weekend

 

[TinkB278]

We go to Disney multiple times per year, have aps and dvc. The last couple trips i just haven’t enjoyed myself. I couldn’t figure out why exactly and then realized I was sick of paying for lightning lane every day. We have small kids so standing in line is not an option, but I feel like the value isn’t really there with LL, especially in parks like Epcot with only a couple big rides. With fast pass, you could get multiple fast passes for the same rides if any were still available, and it was great being able to ride favorite rides multiple times.

Now with the price increase we won’t be renewing our APs and will find new places to vacation. It just isn’t worth what it costs (to me) anymore.

 

[winnieofpooh]

Okay now the next two days in October are back to more reasonable levels. Which makes it more ridiculous the prices on 10/29.

Tempted to switch our park days around so we do AK on the 29th and don't need to pay for LL

 

[emmabelle]

Now with the price increase we won’t be renewing our APs

I just bought new AP's before the increase and got the $100 gift card. At least then I can just go into a park and not care if I do anything or not.

 

[Tatebeck]

We'll be there during the 29th but will probably skip LL that day unless prices drop. Seems better to buy it on the 28th, 31st, and 1st, with our party day being on the 30th.

On the 29th we will already be doing Moonlight Magic at Animal Kingdom and then switching to Extended Evening Hours at HS so LL would really only be used for around a half day for us.

 

[japanese maple]

Tempted to switch our park days around so we do AK on the 29th and don't need to pay for LL

We arrive 28th, but only have 9 day hoppers, so we weren't going to park that day. Staying at Boardwalk so next day we have plans to be at Epcot and then DHS for the extra deluxe hours. Kind of set on this plan. I would switch to the 28th, but we are traveling that day so who knows if we'd make any of our reservations!

Will probably keep plans as is, just not buying LLMP for later in the trip instead.

 

[NickC]

Magical express and airline checkin were not run by Disney.

Well, yeah. It might have been contracted out, but WDW paid for it and included it. My issue isn't with the price increase. It's more with what we 'got' in return. I can only speak for myself, but I would gladly give up SWGE, Pandora, GOTG and TSL for some of the perks that I mentioned. But, I do understand that my opinion might not be the popular opinion.
You can't put a monetary value on seeing Gus the bus driver to start your trip.