There’s plenty of magic in the world. But you’ll have to take out a second mortgage to experience it.
Walt Disney (DIS) just announced price hikes for tickets to its Disneyland theme park in California, just a few months after jacking up costs at its flagship Walt Disney World in Florida.
The most notable price changes for Disneyland:
- One-day single-park passes: Up $4 to $96.
- One-day “Park Hopper” passes: Up $13 to $150.
- Deluxe Annual Passports: Up $20 to $519.
- Premium Annual Passports: Up $30 to $699.
- Parking: Up $1 to $17.
Southern California residents got it the worst, however, as Disney temporarily suspending new sales of Southern California Annual Passports, which were available only to SoCal residents and allowed them to enter both Disneyland and the California Adventures park on Sundays. The only SoCal-specific pass remaining is the Southern California Select Annual Passport, which does not allow weekend use.
The news was not previously announced by Disney, and instead was reported by several outlets after the updates were made to Disneyland’s website.
The move comes just a couple months after Walt Disney World in Orlando launched its own set of ticket hikes, which brought the price of a one-day pass to the Magic Kingdom right against the triple-digit mark, at $99. That announcement was similarly buried, coming on a Saturday in February while Universal Orlando was holding its own press event.
So, why the new set of loftier prices?
Frankly, because Disney can. As the Detroit Free Press points out, Disneyland is No. 2 among the world’s most popular theme parks, lagging only its big brother in Orlando. Meanwhile, would-be rival California Adventure park is down at No. 11.
That dominance come in no small part thanks to billions of dollars spent on adding to and improving Disney’s various theme parks over the past few years.
Investors in Disney stock appear confident that park-goers won’t balk, either. Shares of DIS were up 1% on Monday morning, and remain just a couple percentage points short of its all-time high at $83.65 set in March. Overall, Disney shares have been cruising, up 22% in the past year and nearly 400% out of the 2009 lows.
A full list of new prices for Disneyland tickets can be found at Theme Park Insider.
Kyle Woodley is the Deputy Managing Editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Follow him on Twitter at @KyleWoodley.
