Disney is luring visitors with cut-rate tickets and family-focused promotions, helping drive higher attendance at its parks even as Universal and SeaWorld grapple with weaker traffic.
The entertainment giant rolled out a limited-time offer of a $59 evening ticket at Disneyland, along with resident specials, kids’ offers, hotel discounts and free-dining promotions — targeted deals designed to draw specific groups of visitors without broadly cutting regular admission prices.
At Walt Disney World, Disney has offered a three-day, three-park ticket for $89 a day, or $267 total, excluding its flagship Magic Kingdom.
The promotional push appears to be paying off.
Attendance at Disney’s domestic theme parks climbed 3% from a year earlier in the company’s most recent quarter — its biggest increase since 2023.
Even as Disney rolled out cheaper ways into its parks, domestic per capita guest spending rose 4% from a year earlier — showing that higher attendance coincided with stronger spending per visitor.
That stands in contrast to Universal and SeaWorld.
Attendance at Universal Studios Florida fell 9.3% in 2023 and another 2.6% in 2024, while SeaWorld has also reported softer traffic.
Universal parent Comcast’s theme-parks business posted roughly $2.4 billion in revenue in its latest reported quarter, up 2.7%, but adjusted EBITDA fell 5.1% to $609 million as higher domestic operating costs weighed on results.
“What we started to see in June was softness in Orlando,” Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong said at a recent conference.
“We’re continuing to see softness in that market.”
Armstrong said the pressure was “sort of equal parts” related to demand and to the wider economy.
Despite the near-term softness, Armstrong said Comcast remains confident in the long-term outlook for its theme parks.
“So incredibly bullish in the parks over the long term, but you’re not wrong. We do have some near-term headwinds.”
SeaWorld parent United Parks & Resorts has also reported weaker traffic, with companywide attendance down 3.4% in the third quarter of 2025 and 2.6% in the fourth quarter.
Disney executives have characterized the strategy as targeted promotion rather than across-the-board discounting, using special prices to reach particular groups of customers and make better use of available capacity.
At Disneyland in California, the $59 offer provides limited evening access on select dates rather than a full day in the park.
That is about 43% below Disneyland’s $104 lowest regular one-day ticket tier, although the two products are not directly comparable because of the evening ticket’s restrictions.
At the same time, Disney has pushed prices higher at the other end of the spectrum.
Disneyland’s cheapest regular one-day ticket remained $104 after a pricing change last year, while its highest-priced tier climbed to $224. Peak-date prices at Walt Disney World also increased.
At Walt Disney World, Disney offered a three-day, three-park ticket for $89 a day to EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, excluding Magic Kingdom from the package.
Florida residents have been offered a $190 two-day, two-park ticket, while Disney has also offered free dining for children ages 3 to 9 with qualifying resort and dining packages.
At Disneyland, the company previously offered $50 one-day tickets for children ages 3 to 9 during a limited travel window.
The company is betting that momentum will carry into 2027, when it is scheduled to begin rolling out new attractions tied to franchises including “Monsters, Inc.,” “Indiana Jones” and “Cars” as part of a multibillion-dollar investment in its Experiences business.
Disney’s latest discounts come after years of complaints that a trip to the company’s theme parks has become increasingly expensive, particularly for families traveling during holidays and other high-demand periods.
At Disneyland, the highest-priced one-day ticket has climbed from $119 in 2016 to $224 today — an 88% increase — while the cheapest ticket has risen much more modestly, from $95 to $104.
Over roughly the same period, US consumer prices increased about 39%, according Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The sticker shock extends well beyond the front gate.
Guests have increasingly complained about the cumulative cost of hotels, food, parking and paid line-skipping services on top of admission.
Disneyland’s Lightning Lane Multi Pass currently starts at $34 per person per day, while standard parking costs $40.
Some longtime Disney visitors have said the mounting costs have changed how often they visit — or whether they consider the vacation worth the money at all.
One repeat visitor told the Wall Street Journal last year that “the cost value is just out of order and not worth it,” while another parent described the stress of constantly thinking about how much her family was spending during a Disney World trip.
The Post has sought comment from United Parks & Resorts.