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The rollercoaster at the paradise pier in Disneyland
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Disney’s parks are getting more expensive, again

The real Mouse-heads might not care.

It’s a small, and increasingly expensive, world.

Fulfilling the dreams of kids and Disney adults alike got a lot pricier from Wednesday, with the most in-demand daily tickets at Disneyland rising between $7-$12, while annual passes to the park soared by as much as $125.

Although the base entry fee of $104 is staying the same, the move hasn’t done much to combat the growing feeling among many people that a lot of Disney’s parks are becoming almost unjustifiably expensive. In fact, a recent report from Disney blog MickeyVisit suggests that the most expensive daily tickets for the California park have risen 114% in the last 10 years, from $96 to $206

Visiting the Disney World parks in Florida, whose recent shuttering in the wake of Hurricane Milton could wipe $200 million from the company’s earnings according to Goldman Sachs estimates, will also be getting more expensive, though not until 2025, after the company announced price hikes there 8 months ago. 

The rising prices may have upset a lot of die-hard Disney-heads, but a lot of the evidence suggests that millions are still willing to pay up to get into the House of Mouse’s many global parks. In the first 3 quarters of Disney’s fiscal year so far, the company’s super lucrative Experiences division, which includes domestic and international parks and consumer products, brought in $25.9 billion — up almost 7% on the same period last year. 

Disney park revenues and popularity
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Disney still dominates the most visited theme parks in the world list too, according to the annual Global Attraction Attendance Report from TEA and AECOM, occupying 8 of the top 10 spots from Florida to France and Tokyo to China.

Deciding how much to charge for entry into some of the “happiest places on Earth” is always going to be a hard puzzle. For years, Disney’s answer has been: just a little more than last year.

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Sony is reportedly considering pushing the PlayStation 6 to 2028 or 2029 as AI RAM demand squeezes consumer electronics

AI’s ongoing need for more memory chips, which some are referring to as “RAMmageddon,” is reportedly shifting Sony’s plans for its next PlayStation console.

According to reporting by Bloomberg, the company is weighing a delay of the PS6 to 2028 or 2029 — a pivot from the company’s typical six- to seven-year console life cycle.

Memory costs could also result in Nintendo hiking the price of the Switch 2, per the report.

The report is part of a larger trend of AI demand impacting consumer electronics, including gaming equipment. Earlier this month, reports said that Nvidia will not release a new gaming graphics chip this year — a first. Steam owner Valve delayed its forthcoming Steam Machine console, and its popular Steam Deck handheld is currently unavailable for purchase in the US. Per Valve’s website: “Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.”

Amid the AI memory squeeze, gaming stocks have also experienced major recent sell-offs following the release of Google’s AI interactive world-generation tool, Project Genie.

Memory costs could also result in Nintendo hiking the price of the Switch 2, per the report.

The report is part of a larger trend of AI demand impacting consumer electronics, including gaming equipment. Earlier this month, reports said that Nvidia will not release a new gaming graphics chip this year — a first. Steam owner Valve delayed its forthcoming Steam Machine console, and its popular Steam Deck handheld is currently unavailable for purchase in the US. Per Valve’s website: “Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.”

Amid the AI memory squeeze, gaming stocks have also experienced major recent sell-offs following the release of Google’s AI interactive world-generation tool, Project Genie.

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Video game experts say Google’s Project Genie isn’t an industry killer. Investors don’t seem convinced.

Analysts and company execs are trying to dispel fears around AI’s impact on gaming, but Wall Street is still wary.

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