Disney World is raising prices for theme park tickets in 2025, but hidden upcharges after you move past the turnstiles are turning the Magic Kingdom into an already-more-expensive experience for families.
Going to the Walt Disney World Resort is going to cost you at least ten dollars more in 2025 for your base ticket. That’s something we’ve known about for a while. What many families don’t contemplate is that Disney has found increasingly genius ways to separate you from your hard-earned dollars once you are inside the parks. One of those methods — Lightning Lanes — just saw another increase in pricing that goes towards making a Disney World vacation significantly more expensive.
Monsters Laugh Floor Wait Times; Image by WDW Pro
Starting October 21st, 2024, Disney World is increasing the costs of Lightning Lane passes for their “premium attractions”. For these rides, guests can pay a direct fee to Disney and receive the ability to largely skip the normal line. Unfortunately, that also means that these attractions aren’t always easily accessible by normal guests unless they win a lottery “virtual queue” pass on their mobile app which allows them to get a line skip for free.
Clearly the idea for Disney is to limit the number of free skips that are allotted in a day so that guests will attempt to win the lottery, most will lose, and then they will feel as if they must purchase the pass in order for their family to get all the enjoyment they need out of the day. With thousands of dollars already paid for a Disney vacation, families will often shrug their shoulders and say “we’re not coming back soon, so I guess we’ll pay for the ride.” The sentiment is a new one for guests of Disney Parks, which were renowned for their tremendous bang-for-buck going back decades.
Concept art for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
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While Rise of the Resistance (a Star Wars ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) will keep the same extra free to ride it ($25), others are increasing in cost.
Tron Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom is increasing from a current $20 fee to $22.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom is increasing from a current $11 fee to $14.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot is going from $16 now to $19 then.
Avatar: Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom will increase from $14 to $18.
Tron Lightcycle Run via TPMvids YouTube
For perspective, let’s see how this will jump the overall cost of a trip to Disney World for a family of four:
Because the cost of a Magic Kingdom one-day pass is always changing depending on the date, let’s give an average cost of $150 for our family of four. That means in tickets alone, they’re paying $600 for the family to be in the park.
Now, let’s add on that they do not win the “virtual queue lottery” and need to pay in order to ride Tron and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Today, that extra cost is going to add $124 to the family’s total expenses.
However, starting October 21st, that cost will go up to $144 per day. Or, in other words, it’s like adding exactly five dollars to the cost of a base ticket for each family member. As a result, the family that wants to buy both line skips starting October 21st would need to prepare to pay $744 (not including taxes) for a single day in the park.
A photo from Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance via Disney Parks website
Now obviously there are ways to reduce the overall cost per day of a stay at Disney. Buying multiple day tickets is one such example. But there’s no hiding that Disney World vacations are getting extremely expensive for middle class households, and those extra costs are often baked into the system in a way that isn’t totally obvious.
We’ll save discussing food, souvenirs and lodging for another day.
NEXT: Disney Caught Inflating Walt Disney World Wait Times Up To 300% To Sell Lightning Lane
