When Bob Iger returned to the role of CEO of the Walt Disney Company it was clear that significant changes would be in store for the entire organization. Many top-level changes, like the dismantling of Bob Chapek’s DMED organization, were expected. But what’s been perhaps more surprising are the number of significant changes that have already taken place at the consumer level. First we saw changes to everything from parking fees at Walt Disney World resorts to park hopping rules, making trips to the resort much easier. And now Disneyland has done the nearly unthinkable, and actually removed recent price increases, making some add-on experiences more affordable.
Back in October, we saw a massive price increase nearly across the board for domestic Disney parks. Ticket prices went up, of course, as did prices on food and additional experiences, like droid and lightsaber building at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. However, as of now, the prices for those Star Wars experiences have seen prices drop back down, at least at Disneyland. The Lightsaber building is back down to $220 per blade, down from $250, and the Droid workshop is down to $100 from $120. Lightsaber building is still a bit more expensive than the $200 it was when Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disneyland in 2019.
As of this writing, pricing hasn’t changed at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World. It’s possible that the Disneyland experience saw a noticeable drop in revenue due to the price increases, but Walt Disney World did not, leading to the two resorts having different prices. But whatever the reason for Disneyland dropping the price, it’s incredible to see such a move made. We almost never see prices at Disney Parks go back down once they’ve gone up.
This change, along with the addition of free hotel parking at Walt Disney World resorts, something that was available years ago but hasn’t been for some time, shows that there’s something of an effort to walk back some of the changes made under the previous regime, and to generally try to give guests at Disneyland and Walt Disney World more for their money. Many fans and vacations have found over the last few years that between price increases and added paid services, like the paid Genie+ replacing the free FastPass system. Parks were more expensive, but were adding little to no additional value for those added costs.
One hopes this won’t be the end of the changes at the consumer level. While a complete rollback of all recent price increases seems unlikely, some of these changes are happening without attention begging drawn to them, so it’s possible we could see more changes happen in the weekend and months to come. Bob Iger will host his first earnings results call since Iger’s return this week. There will certainly be questions for the new old boss, and possibly some new announcements of further changes.
