The other year when Walt Disney World tickets went over the $100 mark for a one-day ticket, we decided to take a look at how these ticket prices compared to other theme parks.
Now that Disney has implemented “seasonal pricing” on one-day tickets to mitigate overcrowding issues at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, plus the upcoming debut of their Avatar theme park, Pandora in the Animal Kingdom Park, along with the new theme park at Universal Studios in in Orlando—Volcano Bay—and Universal's own seasonal pricing tactic, purchasing theme park tickets has gotten quite confusing. Thus, we thought it was high time we updated the cost of theme park tickets in 2017 and tried to make some sense of the madness.
Warning: save the wine-drinking for after your ticket buying. Math + Rosé + Credit Cards = Overspending.
Listed below is a sampling of some of the major theme park ticket prices in the U.S. Interestingly, Disney World is not the most expensive theme park…when it comes to single-day admission tickets. Legoland Florida has the most expensive 1-day ticket at $113 for one adult. However, if book online—and who wouldn't?—the price drops to $99. Universal Studios has also overtaken Disney World now that their 1-day ticket starts at $110 a person. Disney World starts at $99 for a 1-day value ticket to the Magic Kingdom. These tickets are available on select days while regular tickets are $107 a person.
On average, you can expect to spend about $91 on a one-day theme park ticket for an adult this summer. Ay yi yi.
Of course, buying multiple day tickets will lower your total theme park cost while upping your theme park experience. Other types of discounts are offered for those purchase hotel and park packages or for those who buy tickets online as well as those of a certain age (typically under three is free, while senior citizens can get discounts) or those who live in the same state as the theme park.
But remember, ticket prices do not include food, drinks and ridiculous souvenir items that your child HAS GOT TO HAVE.
Know of other outrageous (or totally affordable) ticket prices? Sound off in comments below!
*Ticket prices listed are standard ticket prices before taxes and other fees. We made note of discounts and multiple-day tickets where we could. We will be updating this list as the year goes on to reflect any ticket price increases as well as listing more theme parks.
FLORIDA
Magic Kingdom:
Starting at $99 for a 1-day value ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Staring at $107 for a 1-day regular ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Staring at $119 for a 1-day peak ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Tickets for children ages 3-9 are typically a whopping $6 less than adult tickets.
EPCOT, Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios:
Starting at $99 for a 1-day value ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Staring at $107 for a 1-day regular ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Staring at $119 for a 1-day peak ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Tickets for children ages 3-9 are typically a whopping $6 less than adult tickets.
Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon:
$62 for a 1-day ticket with no block-out dates (Ages 10 and up)
$57 for a 1-day ticket with block-out dates (Ages 10 and up)
$56 for a 1-day ticket with no block-out dates (Ages 3-9)
$51 for a 1-day ticket with block-out dates (Ages 3-9)
Park Hopper Options: You can buy park hopper tickets that will allow you into all four parks on the same day. You start to see real savings on the 4 and 5-day tickets. If you're crazy, you can buy all the way up to a 10-day ticket.
2-day: $259 (Ages 10 and up) and $247 (Ages 3-9), price per ticket
3-day: $349 and $331
4-day: $425 and $405
5-day: $445 and $425
1 Park Per Day Options: You can also buy multiple day tickets that allow you into one of the four parks each day. Which is probably smarter way to plan out your trip—doing one park a day. Let's just hope Junior is cool with that.
2-day: $199 (Ages 10 and up) and $187 (Ages 3-9), price per ticket
3-day: $289 and $271
4-day: $350 and $330
5-day: $370 and $350
Starting from $110 for an adult 1-day ticket
Startng from $105 for a child 1-day ticket (Ages 3-9, under 3 doesn't require a ticket)
Starting from $165 for an adult Park to Park ticket, one day
Starting from $142 for a child Park to Park ticket, one day
$67 for an adult Volcano Bay 1-day ticket
$62 for a child Volcano Bay 1-day ticket
*Multiple day tickets for all three parks are also available.
$113 for an adult 1-day ticket, $99 if you book online.
$106 for a child 1-day ticket (3-12); $93 if you book online.
$133 for adult 2-day park ticket
$126 for child 2-day park ticket
$99 for adult 1-day Sea World ticket (Ages 3 and up). *Note: SeaWorld offers $79 tickets if you buy one day in advance.
$139 for an adult ticket to two of four theme parks—SeaWorld, Aquatica Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, and Adventure Island Tampa Bay. The second visit must happen with six months of the first visit.
$149 for a 3-park ticket
$159 for a 4-park, unlimited visits ticket so long as your visits all happen within 14 days.
CALIFORNIA
Starting from $97 for adult 1-day Value ticket to Disneyland or California Adventure (Ages 10 and up)
Starting from $110 for a 1-day Regular ticket
Starting from $124 for a 1-day Peak tciket
Tickets for ages 3-9 are typically $6 less than adult tickets.
Park Hopper Tickets: These allow you to go back and forth from Disneyland and California Adventure. However, the 1-day tickets are affected by seasonal pricing as well.
1-day tickets start at $157 for a Value ticket and go up to $177 for a Peak ticket
2-day tickets: $244 (Ages 10 and up) and $232 (Ages 3-9)
3-day ticket: $315 and $303 (these tickets get you Magic Hours)
4-day ticket: $335 and $320
5-day ticket: $350 and $335
1 Park Per Day Options: Much like Disney World, these mulitple-day tickets let you visit one park per day over a series of days.
2-day ticket: $199 (Ages 10 and up) and $187 (Ages 3-9)
3-day ticket: $270 and $258
4-day ticket: $290 and $275
5-day ticket: $305 and $290
Starting from $105 for 1-day ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Starting from $99 for a 1-day ticket (Ages 3-9)
$120 for a 1-day ANYTIME admission (Ages 10 and up)
$114 for a 1-day ANYTIME admission (Ages 3-9)
Starting from $179 for Front of Line passes (ages 3 and up)
Starting from $369 for a VIP Experience with 1-day admission
Starting from $129 for a 2-day ticket (Ages 10 and up)
Starting from $123 for a 2-day ticket (Ages 3-9)
$90 for Legoland only 1-day adult ticket (Ages 13 and up)
$84 for Legoland only child ticket (Ages 3-12)
$104 for adult Legoland + Sea Life + Water Park adult ticket
$98 for child Legoland + Sea Life child ticket
*Legoland offers $5 discounts on 1-day tickets if you book online
$93 for a 1-day ticket (Ages 3 and up)
$353 for an adult Southern Calfiornia CityPASS and multi-park ticket which gets you entrance to one-day admission to SeaWorld, a Disneyland Resort 3-Day Park Hopper and one-day admission to LEGOLAND California Resort, valid for 14 days.
$324 for a child Southern California CityPASS and multi-park ticket.
*At the time of publishing this, Sea World had single-day admission tickets for just $69. The deal is good through June 15.
$45 for a single-day ticket purchased online
$75 if purchased at the theme park (Ages 12-61)
$45 if purchased at the theme park (Ages 3-11)
PENNSYLVANIA
Starting from $50 for a single-day ticket (Ages 2 and up)
$64.95 for 1-day regular admission ticket (Ages 9-54)
$41.95 for 1-day junior or senior admission ticket (ages 3-8 and ages 55-69)
$26.95 for 1-day Senior+ ticket (ages 70 and up)
There are also 2 and 3-day ticket options as well (Senior+ tickets excluded) as well as discounted “Sunset Hours” tickets.
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