Disneyland brings back SoCal ticket tier to lure locals

05.12.2024 - 19:07 / insider.com / Bob Iger / Hugh Johnston

Disneyland is bringing back a special ticket pricing tier for Southern California residents to lure in locals, even as the park deals with criticism over its large crowds and long wait times.

The lower pricing tier — available for people who live in select zip codes in California — offers a 3-day, 1 park-per-day ticket for $199 or Park Hopper passes starting at $289. That's compared to 1-day, 1-park tickets, which start at $104 for non-peak dates and can reach over $200 for peak dates like the week of Christmas.

The tickets at the lower pricing tier are now available for reservations from January through March. It is unclear whether the promotion will continue beyond March, but it has been discontinued and reinstated several times since the park stopped offering a lower-price annual pass for Southern California residents.

The promotional rate comes as the Anaheim theme park faces criticism over its large crowds and long wait times. In August, the Disney fan publication Inside The Magic reported wait times at the Princess Pavilion in Fantasyland, where guests can greet actors dressed as their favorite characters, skyrocketed to 300 minutes and that the sheer volume of guests at the park was "beyond manageability."

The company said its California-based theme parks saw increased guest spending and attendance growth at the beginning of 2024 but had less favorable results in the second quarter. By the third quarter, operating income at Disney's domestic parks and experiences was down.

Hugh Johnston, the company's chief financial officer, said Disney's Experiences sector — which includes its theme parks and cruise ships — had a "slight moderation in demand" during the company's third-quarter earnings report. The report said the Experiences sector's operating income decreased 3% to $2.2 billion.

"But overall, I would just call this as a bit of a slowdown that's being more than offset by the Entertainment business," he said.

CEO Bob Iger said the company's Experiences sector rebounded during its latest earnings call in November.

"In domestic, we certainly feel like the consumer is strengthening," Iger said. "As I mentioned earlier, we obviously saw growth in domestic parks and certainly feel very positively about that. And that's our expectation going forward, is a gradual strengthening in the consumer."

Disney recently unveiled a series of new rides for Disneyland. During the D23 event in August, Disney said it is adding new attractions based on Marvel and that the Avengers Campus would be expanding. Disneyland will also build new attractions based on James Cameron's Avatar franchise.