Disney put out a few news tidbits today. We’ll talk about what they are, but more importantly, WHY they were announced today of all days. I guess I shouldn’t bury the lede here – any positive news that came out was offset by the annual ticket price increase that always comes around this time of year. I don’t know whether it will soften the blow of higher prices, but Disney must think so. In any case, let’s start there.
Ticket Price and Annual Pass Price increase:
Disney had already rolled out new pricing into 2026 when packages became available earlier this year, so this is mostly a continuation of that and the addition of November and December 2026, which of course are the highest priced tickets you will find at any time. Trying to pinpoint exact increases on various days is sort of a fool’s errand, because there are so many variables at play.
But in general, the prices seem to have gone up by about $5-10 a day on average. The floor for prices remained the same, but the ceiling increased. It had been a point of pride (I think anyway) that Disney hadn’t broken the $200 barrier for Magic Kingdom. This now changes, as the highest priced tickets now hit $209.
Listen, we know ticket prices at Disney are expensive (to put it mildly) and that everything, everywhere is increasing. Disney is mostly just following suit, though that doesn’t make it more palatable when it comes to paying more money. It’s just a fact. As always, since these are largely incremental increases, most people aren’t going to balk at paying a little bit more to enjoy the weeklong vacation they were already planning on. It’s only when you take a look back at, say, a decade ago that you see the price creep in full force, and you can say how much more expensive a Disney vacation is now versus then.
Besides the daily tickets, Disney also increased the prices of their annual passes across all tiers. The breakdown is as follows:
Pixie Pass - $489 (up from $469)
Pirate Pass - $869 (up from $829)
Sorcerer Pass - $1,099 (up from $1,079)
Incredi-Pass - $1,629 (up from $1,549)
This follows largely similar updates from a year ago. There’s not much else to add that I didn’t say above, but AP holders are Disney’s most loyal customers (despite often not being treated as such) and will surely take issue with another increase. Whether it amounts to meaningful numbers of guests opting out (or going down a tier) remains to be seen.
Lightning Lane Price Increases:
Speaking of increases, I thought this deserved its own section, as prices for both Lightning Lane MultiPass (LLMP) and Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP) have increased as well. This is amorphous as well, because not all dates and prices are the same. When we say they increased, we mostly mean that the busiest days have now breached a higher cost bracket than ever before.
This is more of an issue on LLMP, as LLSP largely only increased by $1 each at maximum, except Guardians of the Galaxy, which hit a high of $22, up from its previous high of $19. As far as LLMP goes, the biggest news is that the highest price at Magic Kingdom (and multipark) had been $39, and now that number goes up to $45. And as Disney Tourist Blog pointed out, this is not REALLY the highest price point, only the highest price point shown as of today, which is October 29. When it hits the peak of holiday season (the week between Christmas and New Year), this number will surely go up.
This is more sticker shock, unfortunately, but not unexpected. LLMP sells well for Disney, and there’s no reason for them not to push the price point higher. It’s sort of ironic, but on many days (particularly less busy ones), LLMP isn’t all that useful for the amount of money you would spend on it, but on the busiest and most expensive days, it is a must. This means that you can “save” money by not buying it on slower days but that you have to pay more in order to make your experience more positive on the busiest days. It’s just another reason NOT to visit on those days if you have a choice.
Rock N Roller Coaster Featuring the Muppets to Open Summer 2026:
Turning to some positive news, Disney announced the opening date (well, opening SEASON anyway) for the reimagined Rock N Roller Coaster, which will replace Aerosmith with the Muppets. “Summer” is sort of a vague term and certainly leaves open the possibility of it opening later if the reimagining takes longer than expected. For Disney, summer usually starts around Memorial Day and runs through … I don’t know, August, when Halloween season starts? It’s hard to say if that’s the timeframe they’re working with.
No official closing date for the Aerosmith version of this ride has been announced, though previously Disney said that it could be enjoyed through 2025. I doubt they go back on this now, as they need as much capacity as they can get during the busiest season, which, as noted above, is around the holidays. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it closed in early January 2026, though, as soon as the post holiday crowds start to die down.
If we work with that date, how soon could the Muppets version open? A lot depends on what is being done to reimagine it. I suspect it’s actually not that much, in a relative sense. The track is staying the same, the large guitar outside the attraction is staying, etc. This isn’t like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, filled with audio animatronics. While there will be some of these, it’s not chock full of them or anything. Could this be done in five or six months, putting this in line to open around the 4th of July holiday? I would put money on yes as of now, though obviously that’s subject to change, depending first on when the ride actually closes.
Preview Dates For Zootopia Attraction and new Animatronic Debut:
Annual Passholder previews for Zootopia: Better Zoogether at Animal Kingdom will be November 5 and 6, ahead of its announced opening on November 7. As with any shiny new toy, Disney is using a virtual queue (at 7:00 and 1:00) for this attraction on the preview dates (and possibly beyond, though nothing official has been announced yet). Also of note is that Disney shared a look at the new Clawhauser animatronic. I mention this only because this is noted in the Disney Parks Blog post about animatronics, though the second part of that piece warrants its own section.
Updates Coming to Audio Animatronics on Frozen Ever After:
Now THIS is interesting, and something I didn’t see coming. When Frozen Ever After debuted at Epcot in 2016, the animatronics were cutting edge at the time. They used “face projection” technology on the human characters. This was a pretty quick turnaround from the Maelstrom that had previously been there, and the attraction was well received.
Even though 2016 doesn’t seem like that long ago, by the time next year rolls around, this attraction will have been open for ten years. And the way technology advances nowadays means that the projection technology is actually out of date. If you look at ride through videos of Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disney, you will see a whole new generation of AA technology being used and that ride opened in 2020.
When Hong Kong Disneyland opened the World of Frozen in 2023, they had their own version of Frozen Ever After. That ride is largely the same as the one in Epcot, but the facial technology is based on the newest iteration, and therefore, the faces look much more realistic. That is the technology being brought to the Epcot version of this ride. I’m not an expert on these things and I think “our” version still looks good, but I can see why they would want to update this if they can.
The question is how long this reimagining will take, and I suspect not very long. It’s basically going to involve swapping out one AA figure for another (I think; I don’t believe they can just change the technology on the existing ones) and Sven and Olaf won’t need any updating. These can be built offsite and changed out quickly.
So far, no other changes or enhancements have been announced for this ride, though that may change if they have any downtime. Epcot is playing a shell game of having one major attraction come down at a time. Test Track just reopened and Spaceship Earth is currently closed (briefly; the bigger reimagining that attraction needs is still waiting). Frozen appears to be next in line, though I doubt they could sustain having this one down for an extended period of time. We’ll have to see as we approach 2026, but I’m hopeful that this doesn’t create too much downtime here, since it is still a major draw and a fairly new ride.
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