In recent weeks, Disneyland Paris has multiplied price announcements which annoy its fans. Latest: dynamic pricing based on demand that the group presents as advantageous for its customers.
Did Scrooge take over as CEO of Disney from CEO Bob Iger? In recent months, the prices charged by the American giant seem to have boarded the Space Mountain attraction.
First of all, it is the streaming service which continues to cost its subscribers more. After an increase of 5 euros in 2023, the premium subscription to the platform increases again this month by 2 euros and rises to 13.99 euros compared to 6.99 euros when it was launched in France in 2020.
But it is especially in the parks that certain prices raise eyebrows. The rumble began in 2023 when Disneyland simplified its annual pass offering by increasing their number from three to four with, in the process, very significant increases. These unlimited year-round tickets were previously sold between 229 and 499 euros depending on the package, the three new bronze, silver and gold prices are now between 289 and 699 euros.
Fan discontent continued this year as the winter season approached when Mickey announced that from now on you would have to pay to be well placed during the famous parade of floats and costumed characters. Disneyland has created a “reserved zone” and paid for around two scenes in front of the castle. For 21 euros per day and 24 euros per person in the evening, visitors will be able to be well placed when previously they had to position themselves more than an hour before to be sure of a good view, but it was free.
Overpriced queue skippers
Always sell more services. This has been the theme park strategy for years and Disneyland is a pioneer. Gone are the days when we only relied on the store to increase the average visitor basket. Skip-the-line passes are obviously one of them. For the most impatient visitors, the park has for years been selling coupons to avoid sometimes waiting several hours in line for an attraction.
More and more varied passes but also more and more expensive. In the United States, the group announced that its new Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which allows you to go first to an attraction without a specific arrival time, will be sold depending on the parks and times of the year between 129 and… 449 dollars. Per person obviously. The French park also has its queue skippers, less expensive but also less advantageous.
So the Premier Access One only costs between 5 and 18 euros but only allows you to skip the queue once a day and at a specific time. For the more fortunate, Premier Access Ultimate gives priority access to 15 attractions per day from a selection, but it costs between 90 and 160 euros in high season depending on park attendance. All these prices are of course added to the price of the entrance ticket.
Concerning this post precisely. Disneyland Paris has just announced a small revolution: the implementation of dynamic pricing. If prices varied until now depending on seasonality and the time of the week, they remained fixed once and for all throughout the year. This will no longer be the case. From now on, it is the actual attendance at the park which will set the price you will have to pay.
As with the plane, the sooner you do it, the less you will pay. Moreover, Disney now opens its reservations 18 months in advance compared to 12 months until now. Once in your virtual basket, the price will not change for one hour.
Dynamic pricing to democratize?
Will it cost more in the end? It's difficult to say, it will depend on demand. What we can say is that the price range will be greater: the cheapest tickets will start at 50 euros for an adult (compared to 56 before) but they will rise to 175 euros for the two parks whereas before the The most expensive tickets did not exceed 130 euros.
Initially appearing in air transport, “surge pricing” has in recent years spread to new sectors of activity such as rail, hotels, ski resorts but also concerts in certain countries as fans have recently noted. angry from the group Oasis.
“In France, Disneyland is a pioneer in amusement parks, explains Philippe Berland of the Sia-Partners firm. This will allow them to address demand more effectively. When we have a single price, some will find it too expensive and will not pay not when others would have been able to pay more.”
Dynamic pricing makes it possible in practice to optimize the filling of a means of transport, to smooth out attendance at a place over the year and therefore ultimately to reduce costs per user and therefore potentially to reduce the average price. .
This is what most companies that practice this dynamic pricing ensure, such as the SNCF or certain ski resorts.
“Flexible pricing allows a much wider range of prices, with a lower minimum price than traditional pricing would allow, thus making skiing accessible to as many people as possible,” explains Christian Vigezzi, director of the Saint-Foy ski area. -Tarentaise which has just put it in place with prices of 28 to 40 euros per package.
This is also Disney's argument, which points out that the price of entry has fallen and that for customers who book in advance, the cost is lower.
“People eventually get used to it”
It remains to be seen whether customers will be convinced. Because this flexibility of price according to demand often goes down very badly with consumers. And not just in France. Following the “Oasis controversy”, the British government has promised to look into these controversial methods of selling concert tickets.
If consumers admit that prices can be different depending on the period, they tend to find it unfair to pay more for the same service. Because now in the Disneyland Paris park, on the same day, visitors who booked very early and paid 50 euros will rub shoulders with others who booked later and paid twice as much.
“It often creates negative reactions among consumers, recognizes Philippe Berland. But in certain industries like aviation, people have gotten used to it and know that you have to book early. It’s when you change the pricing method that there is friction and a time of adaptation.”
For Disneyland Paris, on the other hand, the interest is obvious. If park attendance increased after the Covid years, it still remains behind these historical records. According to the annual report of the TEA (Themed Entertainment Association), the Marne-la-Vallée park remains by far the busiest in Europe with 10.4 million visitors in 2023 (compared to 9.9 million in 2022). But in 2009, a record year for Disneyland Paris, there were more than 12.7 million.
It is probably not in 2024 that the Ile-de-France park will return to this level. Disney confirmed that it had suffered a negative “OJ” effect on its summer attendance. In the publication of these latest quarterly results, the group conceded a 5% decline in turnover on these international “Experience” activities which also include cruises.
Better target demand with dynamic pricing and increase the average basket by charging for new services. Despite the discontent of fans, Disney is counting on this to redress the situation.
