Is 2025 the year Disney fans start boycotting the happiest place on Earth? Fans across the country are fed up with the parks’ recent admission price hikes and the rollout of expensive add-ons, which can end up totaling more than the entrance to the park itself. According to The Wall Street Journal, attendance at Disney’s U.S. theme parks is down, and operating income “fell by five percent year-over-year.” At this rate, many travelers are considering a trip to Europe instead.
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A trip to Disney costs $1,000 more than two years ago.
Disneyland park tickets are pricier than ever, with single-day passes ranging from $104 to $206 per person depending on the day. And that’s before add-ons like a Lightning Lane pass, formerly known as FastPass. Both work essentially the same, with the incentive being you can skip the general admission line. However, FastPass was free. Today, a daily Lightning Lane pass can cost you up to $449.
A family of four can expect to pay at least $1,000 more for a four-day visit to Walt Disney World than in 2023, reports The Wall Street Journal. Data from Touring Plans, shows that such a trip in 2024 cost $4,266, excluding food and transportation like airfare. Lodging was included.
Ticket prices are up, but it’s the additional services and add-ons that are causing parkgoers to go into debt, per the WSJ and Touring Plans. On Reddit, fans say the hefty prices don’t reflect the Disney experience.
“I can confidently say—the value/customer service isn’t there anymore,” wrote one person in a thread.
“It’s bad customer service, and it feels so penny-pinching,” another said of their experience at a Disney hotel.
A third said, “Every single perk has a cost behind it – nothing is free.”
A trip to Disney is comparable in price to a trip to Europe.
When all the Lightning Lane passes, Mickey Mouse ears, and themed lunches are accounted for, the outstanding balance, on top of admission, lodging, and airfare, is similar to that of a European vacation. Thus, many Americans are going on international family vacations instead—and rightfully so.
“For $1-2K more than a trip to Disney at a moderate resort would cost, we could literally go to Europe for 2 weeks on a cruise,” reasoned one person in a Reddit thread.
“Time to travel abroad rather than going to Epcot,” quipped another user.
By this point, it’s just as expensive to go to a U.S.-based Disney park as it is to visit one in another country, wrote a Redditor, who chose Disney Paris over Disneyland after comparing expenses.
Someone else said the expenditure between their 12-day Europe trip and six-night Disney trip “wasn’t even close.”
“We spent much more on our Disney trip than Europe,” said the Redditor, who has been a Disneyland parkgoer for 30 years.
“I mean really, if I’m going to spend that much money, I might as well go to Europe or something. Disney is not worth that kind of money,” reads another comment.
Fans say Disney has become less enjoyable.
Has Disney become too tech-savvy? Parkgoers have a lot to say about the company’s technological advancements and their impact on the overall Disney experience.
“Now, everyone walks through the park like zombies on their phones to book the next ride, order food, snag coveted reservations etc, missing out on the ambiance and magic that is Disney,” wrote one Redditor. “Their ever changing Fast Pass/Genie Pass/Lightning Lanes and the monetization of it while also increasing the admission costs just makes it less and less appealing.”
A second person added, “They make it too expensive and too difficult to enjoy a day there.”
Although the park apps make things more easily accessible, they’ve “sucked the joy out being able to be present and in the moment,” wrote a third.
Securing ride reservations and fast-pass entries have led several travelers to lose interest altogether. “I’m not interested in planning my days out to the minute,” reads a post.