A trip to Disneyland Resort is not an inexpensive vacation. Theme park tickets alone will cost you over $100 per ticket, unless you’re buying several days of tickets at once, and if you are, the price still adds up. It was not uncommon pre-pandemic to see Disneyland tickets increase prices in one form or another every year. Disneyland tickets have already seen a price increase in the last 12 months, but another price increase may end up becoming a reality before the end of the year, though this one comes not from Disney, but the City of Anaheim.
The agenda for next week’s Anaheim City Council meeting has been posted online (and noticed by Laughing Place). One of the items up for discussion and a vote on July 19 will b a 2% admissions tax that could be levied on events at large capacity sports and entertainment facilities. Large capacity here is defined as anything that can handle over 15,000 people, so Disneyland Resort would certainly qualify, and is specifically noted in the resolutions' proposed ordinance. If the city council approves the resolution next week, it would appear as a measure on the November ballot and would be voted on by the residents of Anaheim.
A 2% increase isn’t a massive amount of course. It would only add a couple of bucks onto most Disneyland tickets, but it would be yet another small price increase on top of numerous small price increases over the last several years. Prices have never gone up more than a few bucks at any on time, but the regular price increases year after year have now made Disneyland tickets significantly more expensive than they were just a few years ago.
And while the price increase will be minor for Disneyland, it could be significant for the City of Anaheim. It’s estimated the city could bring in between $55 and $82 million annually from the new tax, which is certainly money the city could use for various things, many of them potentially useful.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Disneyland Resort reacts to the potential tax that it would be responsible for collecting and paying to the city. The theme park and the city it resides in have generally had a very cordial relationship over the years. Disneyland is already a major source of employment and tourism for the city, so Disneyland is good for Anaheim, and as such Anaheim generally doesn't get too involved in Disney's business. Although, there have been occasional bumps in the road.
Several years ago Disneyland Resort was planning to add a fourth hotel on property, and had worked out a deal of tax incentives with the city. However, when the location for the hotel changed to a different area in the resort, the city took away the tax incentives, and Disneyland's response was not to build the hotel at all.
Right now, Disneyland Resort is working on a major expansion project, known as Disneyland Forward, and while the company is reportedly not looking for the city to pay for any of it, they do require Anaheim’s cooperation in changing some existing rules regarding how Disneyland is allowed to use its property. So while one might expect to see Disneyland fight an attempt for an outside force to increase its prices, playing nice with the city may be in Disney’s best interest long term.
