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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Bloggytown

Walt Disney World raises prices, but not wages

Posted By Erin Sullivan on Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 5:45 PM

By now you have surely heard that Walt Disney World has jacked the price (again) for tickets to the Magic Kingdom. A day at the park will now cost you $99, and the Orlando Sentinel's Beth Kassab has feelings about what that means for locals, which she included in her column posted last night. This price increase comes a year after the park raised prices last year to $95 per person. If you're paying $90+ for a day at a theme park, that extra $4 probably won't break you, but still.

But less widely reported today is the news that hundreds of Disney employees – housekeepers, ride operators, restaurant workers – rallied at a hotel near the park a couple of days ago to demand a better labor contract for unionized workers, many of whom make less than $10 per hour and struggle to make ends meet. Disney insisted that most of the workers who make the lower wages are only working part-time, and that many of Disney's unionized employees have chosen to work for the park for 10 years or more. So basically, if things were so bad for Disney employees, why aren't they quitting?

Union reps point out that the Disney Co. posted increased profits at the end of 2013, and the New York Times reported that a lot of the company's theme-park growth came from higher guest spending at the Orlando parks. So, to celebrate that victory, Disney is raising prices again this year while fighting the union on its request for a pay raise.

Happiest place on earth!

We posted this chart last year listing the park's ticket prices from the year of its opening through 2013.

click to enlarge