Entertainment giant the Walt Disney Co. has raised the adult ticket price for its Walt Disney World theme parks by $2, or about 4 percent, as the important summer season wraps up, a spokesman said on Monday.
The increase, which took effect on Sunday, raises the price for a single adult admission to $50 before taxes, said Disney World spokesman Rick Sylvain.The new price applies to single-day visits for each of the four parks that make up the Disney World resort complex: the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Disney last raised prices in January 2001.
"While this is only a $2 increase, we believe that Walt Disney World remains and represents an excellent vacation value," Sylvain said.
Disney World's price hike comes at the tail end of the one of worst summer seasons for theme parks in recent memory, as travelers scaled back trips and stayed closer to home during the post-Sept. 11 travel crisis and broader economic slowdown.
Disney maintained prices at its original Disneyland theme park in southern California. But it offered steep discounts for the newer and adjacent Disney's California Adventure, which has struggled since it opened a year and a half ago.
In August, Burbank, California-based Disney said business at its theme parks -- which accounted for 40 percent of the parent company's operating earnings last year -- was weakening, touching off a flood of earnings downgrades by analysts.
Company shares plunged on the news, falling from a close of $17.73 on July 31 to a seven-year low of $13.50 on Aug. 8. Shares bounced back after that, but, at a Monday close of $15.90 on the New York Stock Exchange ( news - web sites), still have yet to recover all their losses.
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Sebastian Horacek alias Coasters
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