Disney ticket price increase

[Florida_Bear]

Disney World to raise ticket prices
One-day admission up $4, or 6.3% - the second increase this year.
August 6 2006: 10:29 AM EDT


ORLANDO, Fla. (REUTERS) -- Walt Disney World is hiking ticket prices for the second time in 2006, raising the cost of a basic one-day, one-park admission to $67, according to a pricing chart posted on the company's media Web site.

The $4 price increase takes effect on Sunday.

"We're doing this to meet the production needs of the travel industry," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said on Saturday.

Polak said raising ticket prices now allows the new price to be included in 2007 travel guides and brochures, which she said are being prepared for publication. Polak said she did not know whether it precludes any further price hikes in 2007.

"At this point, I'm not anticipating anything," she said.

The Walt Disney Co. raised prices at its Florida theme parks on Jan. 1, to $63 from $59.75. It was followed in short order by ticket price increases at nearby SeaWorld, which is part of Anheuser-Busch, and Universal Orlando, which is controlled by General Electric Co.'s Universal Studios.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney ticket prices have gone up 22 percent since early 2004.

The latest price increase comes at the peak of Florida's hurricane season. To allay tourists' concerns about ruined vacations, Disney this week announced a new policy allowing guests to reschedule their vacations and reapply their deposits to future trips if the National Weather Service posts a hurricane warning for Orlando or their hometown within seven days of their scheduled arrival, Polak said. Universal and SeaWorld maintain similar policies.

Disney (Charts) is scheduled on Oct. 1 to begin a new promotional celebration called "Year of a Million Dreams" during which cast members will award a million prizes to resort guests during the year.