Disney World started taking 2025 reservations on Tuesday and announced a ticket price hike for next year. But park-goers who stay at one of 31 on-site Disney hotels will get a very cool perk: complimentary waterpark admission on check-in day.
The benefit is worth at least $302 for a family of four with two young children. Currently, one-day tickets to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach waterparks start at $74 for adults and kids age 10 and up and $68 for children ages 3 to 9. Add tax on top of the $284 and the total cost tops three Benjamins.
Single-day theme park tickets at Disney World are priced on a dynamic sliding scale depending on which of the four parks you’re visiting and when. The price of the least expensive single-day, single-park ticket—Animal Kingdom park during the slowest periods—will go up by $10 in 2025, from $109 to $119. The priciest one-day ticket, Magic Kingdom during the peak holiday period around Christmas and New Year’s, will remain at $189.
While the one-day, one-park ticket is often seen as the benchmark for Disney ticket pricing, most visitors purchase multi-day hotel-and-ticket packages. The complimentary waterpark perk will be available to those who choose one of the eligible Disney Resorts Collection properties, which run the gamut from the Campsites at Fort Wilderness Lodge to the five “value” resorts all the way up to the deluxe villas at the dozen most on-site luxurious resorts.
To make the most of the waterpark perk in 2025, families should plan for an early arrival to make the most of the lazy rivers, water slides, wave pools, interactive play areas for younger kids.
Disney’s parks-and-experiences division was a major profit driver last year. According to the company’s year-end financial report for 2023, the parks business saw a 13% increase in revenue to $8.16 billion, mainly due to its locations in Asia.
Comparatively, Walt Disney World in Florida did not fare as well, with the company blaming year-over-year declines on a number of factors, including the end of its 50th anniversary celebrations, which had boosted attendance in 2022; the closing of its Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel; and wage inflation.
But even so, when the Florida park’s 2023 numbers are compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, Disney World saw growth in revenue and operating income of over 25% and 30%, respectively.