Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s memoir, “Behind the Castle Walls,” is out today, September 29th, after Chapek announced the tell-all in August. In a chapter titled “The Theme Park Revolution,” he explains how he approached pricing, annual passes, and guest mix during his years running the parks and then as CEO. Josh D’Amaro, who took over as Disney CEO in March, appears throughout, presented as one of Chapek’s closest partners in the changes and even a “key ally” in changing the way guests experience the theme parks. In this article, we’re taking an inside look at Chapek’s account alongside our own reporting on the same decisions.
Bob Chapek Talks Disney Park Pricing, Annual Pass Changes, and Park Reservations
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- How Chapek says he approached annual passholders, ticket prices, and park attendance
- What the book says about D’Amaro’s role in the pass changes and the reservation system
- How Chapek’s account lines up with our coverage of reservations and later price increases
Chapek describes a company that was comfortable with the status quo when he took over the theme parks. Other executives essentially told him to keep the present parks healthy and enjoy his position. Many people at the company considered a percent or two of growth within the parks division a success. Chapek says he saw a no-growth business as the opposite of everything he believed, so he set out to raise revenue and improve the guest experience at the same time.
His review of attendance numbers convinced him that too many people were in the parks, and he decided Disney needed to limit attendance. He admits that sounded like a crazy move for an executive trying to raise revenue and profitability. After doing some research, Chapek said that guests did not all want the same experience. This stood in opposition to the Disney way of making sure that all guests were treated equally. Chapek saw a time for change.
Price Hikes at the Parks
Chapek splits guests into two groups. Vacationers who visit maybe once every five years and plan entire trips around the parks, and annual passholders, who visit far more often. By the time he took over the parks in 2015, he says, Annual Pass tiers ran from $300 to $800, and demand had far outpaced supply. Some passholders entered the parks as many as 200 times a year. Chapek says those frequent visitors contributed about $25 per day on average, while other guests were willing to pay an average of $150.
The strategy, as Chapek tells it, was to raise prices and restrict access relative to the price of the pass. He says the goal was to serve shareholders and improve the experience for the vast majority of park visitors. Even if that meant angering some Annual Passholders. It also meant changing the mix of guests and better commercializing demand. He compares the approach to airline pricing, noting that Delta raises fares when demand climbs. He said that the approach made sense for airlines, so why wouldn’t Disney do the same? Chapek then walks through the first two rounds of increases at Disneyland:
- First increase: Disneyland had 1.1 million passholders when Chapek announced the first round of price increases. The number fell to 1 million, then climbed right back to 1.1 million months later.
- Second increase: A 15 percent price hike followed the Passholder rebound. Again, the count fell to 1 million before returning to 1.1 million.
- Result: By that point, Chapek says, Disney was making more than 30 percent more on each annual pass while the number of passholders held steady.
In his telling, those results proved Disney had been leaving revenue on the table to avoid stirring up passholders. Of course, Passholders complained when the prices went up. Chapek says he sympathized, because superfans are a core part of the Disney magic. He also argues that families who live far away, save for years, and pay more per visit should not see their experience diminished to give passholders unfettered access to the parks.
Our own analysis of the Walt Disney World pass overhaul in August 2021 came after Chapek became CEO. In it, we found that Florida residents moving from the old Platinum Plus and Platinum passes to the new Incredi-Pass faced increases of 50 percent and 56 percent once the add-ons were included. At the time, we wrote that Disney was culling the herd. While Chapek speaks about Disneyland Annual Passholders, we can see that the same underlying principles were applied to Walt Disney World once Josh D’Amaro was promoted to the head of the theme parks division.
To All Who Come To This Happy Place
Chapek says he also challenged an unwritten principle that Disney must give everyone the same experience. He kept hearing that Disney could not create a bespoke experience for guests willing to pay more. When he became head of the theme parks division, Chapek said that he read every strategic document available. He said that none of the written materials contained the idea of every guest receiving the same experience. Chapek then asked whether guests really wanted a one-size-fits-all approach in an era of personalization.
He said his team decided to offer premium options discreetly. Families who paid for VIP tours, unique dining opportunities, or fireworks cruises at EPCOT could enjoy them without feeling conspicuous. Revenue from those experiences also let Disney hold the general admission price increase to a more modest level, he says. Chapek adds that he kept Disney’s least expensive daily ticket at $99 throughout his five years as president of parks.
He credits the strategy with 18 percent compound annual growth in parks profits over his tenure. In his estimate, the guests the strategy upset accounted for 20 percent of total attendance, but overall guest satisfaction soared. Iger and the board, he writes, were at the front of the crowd cheering him on. Iger’s only concern, Chapek says, was that prices might rise too high and hurt demand.
Josh D’Amaro Called Key Ally
According to the book, D’Amaro helped shape the pass changes from the first round of analysis. Chapek says Michael Colglazier and D’Amaro studied the issue with him in detail, with D’Amaro leading resort operations in Orlando at the time. After reviewing trends, guest surveys, and analytics, the pair presented a suggestion they thought made the most sense to keep the parks accessible to everyone. It called for changes to the annual pass program that would shift demand, even out visitor flow, shorten lines, and keep crowds low enough to ensure all guests could enjoy the parks more.
Colglazier and D’Amaro said the passholder experience was a fantastic deal for passholders and a terrible one for Disney, Chapek says. The group of executives understood that eliminating annual passes altogether would draw heavy criticism, but it sounds like it was considered. Instead, the group decided to raise ticket prices and shape demand through new ticket categories and structures. D’Amaro and his team understood that the goal was to alter the mix of visitors through pricing strategies, Chapek writes, and everyone agreed on the problem, the opportunity, and the solution.
Chapek says he watched D’Amaro find a unique balance of high-level business acumen with strong interpersonal skills. Chapek said that D’Amaro was very smart, but also a people person. D’Amaro, Chapek says, had been a relative unknown until he singled him out and put him on the internal succession list. When Chapek became CEO, he moved D’Amaro into his former role overseeing the parks. As we reported when excerpts of the memoir first surfaced, Chapek takes credit for D’Amaro’s rise. Disney named D’Amaro CEO in February of this year, and he took over on March 18th.
Chapek, D’Amaro, and the Reservation System
Chapek also talked about the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system. In his words, it forced intentionality on behalf of guests and gave the company predictability. Knowing how many guests would show up each day, he writes, let Disney decide how to staff labor and shape pricing.
D’Amaro appears here as Chapek’s full partner in the reservations initiative. Chapek, who was CEO at the time, called D’Amaro the “tip of my spear” in the Disney Park Pass reservation system implementation. That said, Chapek said it was he who was “tarred and feathered” when the system proved unpopular with superfans. Annual passholders, including this website, complained about limited flexibility in reservation times and about restrictions on park hopping. He says the strategy boosted parks’ profitability, which helped him respond to cast members lobbying for $20 an hour.
D’Amaro’s connection to the reservation system is something we have covered since the beginning. Disney announced the Disney Park Pass system ahead of the July 2020 reopening of Walt Disney World, requiring a reservation for every park entry.
We first reported D’Amaro’s view of the system’s future in August 2020. During an interview with Roger Dow, D’Amaro listed the reservation system among the technologies helping Disney through the pandemic. He then added, “So these are things that are helping us now, but I think they’re here to stay.”
The milestones since then show how central the system became:
- September 2021: Chapek, then CEO, told a Goldman Sachs conference that the reservation system was the “backbone” of Disney’s yield management technology strategy.
- March 2022: We wrote that yield management was essentially a corporate mandate from Chapek and D’Amaro.
- January 2023: A memo from D’Amaro announced that Annual Passholders would not need reservations after 2:00pm on most days, except at Magic Kingdom on weekends.
- May 2026: Disney made Park Pass reservations bookable in the My Disney Experience app for the first time. We said we feared the update signals the system is nowhere close to being sunset.
In April, we described the Disney Park Pass system as a COVID-era creation of D’Amaro’s from his time leading the parks division. We also noted that the new CEO is one of its biggest champions. Reservations remain in place for Annual Passholders today.
Chapek on Iger’s Pricing Reversal
Chapek says Iger stayed in his corner through the changes and considered the 18 percent growth rate a win-win. Iger’s reaction changed afterward, Chapek says, once Disney had fired him.
One of Iger’s first remarks after Chapek’s exit, according to Chapek, was that Disney’s prices were too high. Iger said Disney may have been a little bit too aggressive about some of its pricing in its zeal to grow profits, Chapek writes. Chapek adds that Iger then raised prices a number of times over the following two years.
Our Annual Pass coverage shows the increases that followed Chapek’s exit:
- December 2022: Disney announced Annual Pass increases in November, effective December 8. The Incredi-Pass rose from $1,299 to $1,399.
- October 2024: Walt Disney World raised Annual Pass prices by an average of roughly 6.4 percent. Incredi-Pass prices rose from $1,449 to $1,549.
- October 2025: Disney raised Annual Pass prices again by just over 4 percent on average. The Incredi-Pass rose 5.2 percent to $1,629.
Iger was CEO when each of those increases took effect, and more price increases are slated to be implemented next month under Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro and Parks Chairman Thomas Mazloum. While Chapek is long gone, policies on using pricing to manage demand remain in place.
Keep Reading
- Our report on Chapek’s account of his firing covers his claim that Iger waged a campaign against him.
- In April, we questioned why Annual Passholders still reserve entry on most days and how the Good-to-Go dates fit into the system.
- The 2022 look at the reservation system we published explains why Disney treats it as a yield management tool.
- Another piece, our August 2021 analysis, compares the new Walt Disney World Annual Pass prices with the tiers they replaced.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!