Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party tickets run $189 to $229 a head this year, depending on the night, and that’s before tax. Kids 3 to 9 get a $10 break. Disney World sells 25 of these nights between November 8 and December 22, and as of this week one recap says every November night is already gone.
I’d love to tell you that’s outrageous. It’s a ticket to a few hours of extra-crowded Magic Kingdom with holiday treats and a free ornament, and it costs more than a decent concert seat. But I keep running into the same stubborn fact. People are paying it.
The low end went up $20 from last year, when the range was $169 to $229. Most of the increases hit early in the season. By mid-December Disney is tacking on $5 or $10, and a few late nights didn’t move at all. The final night, December 22, has already sold out at $229. That’s the top price, with no passholder discount.
That is what pricing looks like when someone is actually watching demand. Slow Tuesday in mid-November? Cheaper. Five days before Christmas? Pay up. I wrote a few weeks ago about the reported $499 skip-the-line pass, and my gripe there was the nickel-and-diming. This one is different. It’s a separate event, it’s optional, and the price changes based on how badly people want that specific night.
Disney is a huge, wildly profitable company, and I have no problem with that. Charging what the market will bear is the whole game. If 25 nights sell out at $229, the sticker isn’t too high. It’s arguably too low, and the only people it hurts are the ones who wait.
Here’s where I’ll still push back. Once you add tax, even the cheapest night lands around $200 per person, so a family of four is looking at north of $750 before a single churro. I ran the numbers on Disney versus a concert, hour for hour, and the math is kinder than the gut reaction. The gut reaction still counts, though. If $750 for one night makes you wince, skip it. Nobody’s holding your kid’s stocking hostage.
If you’re set on going, the lower-priced nights are the ones to hunt for, and they go first, so don’t dawdle. Buy from Disney’s site, not a reseller, and expect a crowd either way.
So who’s wrong, Disney or us? Neither. Disney found the number, and we’re proving it every time we click buy. If you hate the price, the fix is simple and free: stay home and string your own lights.
My two cents: a price that sells out 25 nights isn’t a rip-off, it’s a receipt.