Five Important Things That Will Cost More at Disney
During the pandemic, Disney theme parks closed. The Walt Disney Company struggled mightily due to the sudden loss in expected income.
Since then, Disney hasn’t messed around with its park management decisions. As a result, seemingly everything is going up in price.
Here are five things that will cost more during your next Disney trip.
FastPasses
Well, you can’t beat free. That was the price for FastPasses at Walt Disney World when they debuted during the summer of 1999.
Disney introduced the concept at three attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Audiences quickly appreciated the way that FastPass worked.
You could skip most of the line at many attractions, reducing your time spent in the queue by a significant amount.
Over the years, Imagineers modified the FastPass system several times. One feature remained consistent throughout the years, though.
Disney always included free FastPasses as part of the price of a general admission ticket…until now.
When Walt Disney World reopened last July, it had no need for FastPasses. After all, line queues were shorter than literally ever before.
Alas, the prevalence of vaccines has allowed more than 50 percent of Americans to immunize against COVID-19.
So, crowds have returned to the parks, increasing the need for the return of FastPasses.
Park officials had something else in mind, though. So they’re introducing a new virtual assistant named Disney Genie.
This free service will help you enjoy a more efficient park visit. However, if you want to enter shorter line queues, you’ll need Disney Genie+.
That service is effectively a MaxPass redux, meaning that it’s the paid version of what we used to call FastPass.
Now, you’ll get to skip most of the line. However, you’ll pay $15 per visit at Walt Disney World ($20 at Disneyland Resort) for the privilege.
Yes, the days of free FastPass have come to an end. The good news is that MaxPass has proven wildly popular at Disneyland, though.
As such, we have great expectations for Disney Genie.
Magical Express
You’ll notice a pattern with most of these listings. The first three are all things that Disney once gave away for free as recently as, well, right now.
You can still use Magical Express through New Year’s Eve, 2021. It’s a free transportation service to and from Orlando International Airport (MCO).
The system has worked smoothly for more than 15 years. You check-in at your departure airport.
When the time comes to drop off your bags, you add a Magical Express tag so that the people at MCO know what to do.
The workers there will scan the barcode on the tag and deliver your luggage to your hotel room a few hours after you touch down in Orlando.
Meanwhile, you exit your plane and walk to the Magical Express kiosk at MCO. A few moments later, a bus driver whisks you away to your Disney resort.
The term “Magical” does indeed apply to this marvelous service. But, alas, Disney has decided that Mears Transportation Group isn’t a reliable enough partner.
Mears laid off far too many bus drivers at the start of the pandemic. Then, they were unable to hire many of them back, which has led to performance issues.
For this reason, Disney is ending Magical Express. However, since Mears wants to, you know, stay in business, it’ll add a paid service called Mears Connect.
So, what used to cost you nothing will increase to at least $32 round trip per person in 2022.
Disney does have plans for a Brightline high-speed train station near Disney Springs. But, unfortunately, that won’t happen until 2024 or 2025.
We’re all stuck until then.
MagicBands
When Disney rolled out MyMagic+, fans cried out in rage at the death of paper FastPasses. Does that sound familiar?
Suffice to say that Disney fans rarely embrace change, at least at first.
Over the years, guests warmed to MyMagic+, especially the MagicBands.
These brilliant wearables allow the holder to do everything from entering parks to paying for meals and merchandise to opening hotel room doors.
MagicBands are also quite Magical. Disney isn’t choosing these names randomly, y’all.
Sadly, something happened that Disney officials couldn’t have anticipated. Smartphones became ubiquitous in society.
As Jimmy Buffett sings, everybody’s on the phone.
For this reason, demand for MagicBands has shrunk in recent years. Guests can now do nearly everything on a phone that they can with a MagicBand.
Conversely, you cannot use MyDisneyExperience on your MagicBand. So again, Disney’s choice was evident here.
While the company won’t admit it, MagicBands are trending toward extinction.
In the interim, Disney has stopped giving them away for free as part of a hotel stay. Instead, if you want a MagicBand, you must pay for it.
This is where the other shoe drops. Prices for MagicBands have also recently increased. A plain band starts at $19.99, and the best ones cost $34.99.
I think that’s a very reasonable price for a wearable with such utility, but I understand if you disagree.

Ticketed events
Disney hasn’t officially stated that Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is dead. Similarly, we don’t know about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, either.
What we do know is that Disney will host different after-hours events this year instead. Also, those cost more despite having fewer amenities.
Disney After Hours Boo Bash tickets range from $129 in August and September to $199 (!) on Halloween. Any October visit costs at least $159.
Tickets for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party in 2019 started at $79 (!) and maxed out at $135.
I cannot say anything optimistic about this. Disney has started charging a LOT more for ticketed events.
However, this decision seems justified. All Boo Bash dates have sold out thus far, although Disney does add tickets from time to time.
If you want to go, you should keep trying. Just understand that outrageous demand for the events has triggered price increases.
Hotel Stays
Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat. Hotel room rack rates go up annually across the tourism industry. It’s a standard business practice.
Hoteliers do this to guarantee that they always surpass the inflation rate and associated rise in the cost of doing business.
The hotel pays more. So, it passes along those costs to the customer to ensure a profit.
Official Disney resort prices haven’t increased significantly during the pandemic, which means they’re pretty much the only thing that hasn’t.
However, everything else HAS gone up some, which means that you’ll stretch your vacation budget more than in the past.
I can offer you a pro tip here, though! You want to experience the same high-quality vacation that you have in the past at Disney, right?
Well, that’s reason enough to use an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner like the experts at MickeyTravels.
Their services remain free to you, unlike three of the other items on this list. Also, these Disney vacation professionals know when new deals become available.
When you book your Disney hotel package through MickeyTravels, your agent will monitor deals and discounts whenever they come available.
Using an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner could feasibly save you enough money that you won’t even notice Disney’s price increases!
Be smart and place your travel plans in the hands of the best experts on Disney vacations! It’s the only way to maintain the status quo while Disney raises prices on everything!