As if it doesn’t already cost enough to visit Disney World, this month will usher in a number of price increases at Mickey’s Florida home.

Guests using the Lightning Lane Single Pass system will see the cost of four of the most popular attractions increase by $1-$3 per ride, in two stages, on October 18 and 21.

October 18 will bring the first round of price rises:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom: $12
• TRON Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom: $21
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT: $17
• Avatar Flight of Passage: $17

Those increases will be followed on October 21 to:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: $14
• TRON Lightcycle / Run: $22
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind: $19
• Avatar Flight of Passage: $18

The price for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance remains at $25.

Lightning Lane Passes offer access to rides that are not included in the Lightning Lane Multi Pass (for details see Lightning Lane Pass Guide and FAQ.) The prices are based on dynamic pricing, so costs fluctuate based on expected crowd levels.

Getting into the park will be more expensive as well. Disney World already announced the first price increase in five years for its least expensive ticket, the one-day one-park entry, to $119 from $109, and as much as $200 in peak seasons, effective January 1.

Disney will continue its expansion into Asia with year-round cruise vacations in the Land of the Rising Sun, under a new agreement with the owner of Tokyo Disney Resort, Oriental Land Co., Ltd. (OLC).

“Disney Cruise Line has ambitious plans to bring family vacations and Disney storytelling to more guests around the world than ever before,” Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro said.

Under the terms of the agreement, OLC will operate a new ship that will be registered and based in Japan year-round. With about 1,250 staterooms, the ship will be a sister to Disney Wish, but also feature “imaginative designs created by Walt Disney Imagineering,” including “select modifications specially designed with Japanese guests in mind.”

More details about the maiden voyage, itineraries and onboard experiences will be announced at a later date, Disney said.

The ship will be the ninth in the Disney fleet, which will almost double in size from the current five ships — Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wish by 2029, with three more ships expected by the end of 2025. It will be owned by OLC, however, and leased to Disney.

It also will be the fourth in the Wish class, which will add two more ships by next year, Disney Treasure later this year and Disney Destiny in 2025. These ships are slightly larger than Disney Dream and Fantasy, holding about 4,000 guests in 1,250 staterooms. Disney Wish features the AquaMouse water coaster, a Marvel-themed restaurant and a Frozen-themed dinner theater.

Disney Cruise Line also plans to begin year-round cruises from Singapore in 2025 and this summer debuted a private island, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, in The Bahamas. Its fleet sails the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska, Mexico, Canada, Hawaii, the South Pacific, and Australia and New Zealand.

Disney Cruise Line shared details of its 2025 schedule this week, including plans to homeport three ships in Port Canaveral, as Disney Treasure debuts this winter and joins Disney Wish, while Disney Magic and Disney Fantasy take turns there.

Two more new ships will join the fleet in 2025. Disney Wish will get a sister, Disney Destiny, and Disney Adventure will head for Asia, where it will homeport in Singapore in early 2025.

Disney Treasure will sail seven-night Caribbean sailings, while Wish sails three- and four-night Bahamas trips.

Disney Magic will be in Port Canaveral for the summer months and into September and October, then head to Puerto Rico for a series of seven-night Caribbean sailings, and then on to Galveston, Texas, for four- to seven-night western Caribbean trips through May 2026.

Disney Fantasy will sail four- and five-night itineraries out of Port Canaveral from November 2025 through May 2026.

Disney Dream will sail from its new home in Port Everglades on three- to five-night Bahamas itineraries through May 2026.

Disney Wonder will spend the summer of 2025 in Alaska before heading Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in late 2025 and then homeporting in San Diego beginning in March 2026 for three- and four-night Mexican Riviera sailings.

Bookings for the new itineraries open to the public June 28, with earlier dates available for the line’s variety of club-level members, but details can already be found on disneycruise.com.

Also this week, Disney shared that its Castaway Cay private island in the Bahamas has brought in $220 million in dividends from DCL Island Development since 2014, though it does not share figures on how much revenue was generated. The island debuted in July 1998 as the first private island to allow ships to dock directly at the shore, so guests did not need tenders to come ashore. Disney’s CFO Hugh Johnston said on its second quarter earnings call last month that “the cruise business, frankly, is one that has an enormous number of opportunities for us over time. And that is why we’re leaning more heavily into that business.” It is no exaggeration.

Just ahead of opening sales for the 2024 season, Walt Disney World announced a handful of sure-to-be-popular changes that seem designed to turn things back to the way they used to be.

Leading the list is the return of Disney Dining and Disney Quick Service Dining Plans, which again will be available on Disney World packages that include a Disney Resort hotel stay, beginning January 9, 2024. The plans include more than 100 dining venues across the park.

Also beginning January 9, guests will no longer be required to have theme park reservations in order to buy date-based tickets at Walt Disney World, and annual passholders and cast members will be offered occasional “good-to-go days” when they can visit the parks without a reservation.

Disney also said that early park entry (for all Disney Resort hotel guests) and extended evening hours (for guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resort Hotels and Disney Deluxe Villas) will continue through 2024, and that it is working on ways to help guests plan Disney Genie+ service and Lightning Lane selections in advance of their visits, rather than only on the same day.

Tickets for the 2024 season at Walt Disney World will go on sale May 31, and Disney then will also release complete details on the new dining plans, it said. But the company did say the plans will allow guests to make dining reservations up to 60 days in advance of their trip.

Insiders attribute the renewed focus on the guests experience to the return of Bob Iger, who six months ago canceled his retirement and returned to Disney as CEO. Since then Walt Disney World has stopped charging for overnight self-parking, allowed annual passholders to visit after 2 p.m. without a reservation, offered free digital downloads of photos on rides for guests using Disney’s Genie+, ramped up character meet-and-greets, added new characters, and restored annual passes.

Adventures by Disney is expanding its repertoire of destinations for 2024, for the first time adding Colombia, home of its hit movie Encanto, and Canada’s Atlantic Coast.

Bookings will open on May 12 for the two itineraries—an eight-day “Colombia: Bogota, the Coffee Region, Cocora Valley and Cartagena,” and an eight-day “Canada’s Maritimes of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island,” and for a third new tour, an enhanced 12-day New Zealand itinerary.

The Colombia tour will include guided tours in Bogota and Cartagena, a visit to a coffee farm, an arepa-making class, trekking in a dry forest, and snorkeling in the Rosario Islands. Guests traveling in 2024 will get a signed lithograph featuring art from the animated movie Encanto. Rates begin at $4,999 for children and $4,999 for adults.

The new Canada itinerary will include visits to the Sugan Moon maple syrup farm in Nova Scotia, the Wood Island Lighthouse and the Millbrook Cultural Heritage Centre to learn about the indigenous Mi’kmaq Peoples, plus horseback riding and kayaking at the Bay of Fundy. Rates start at $5,109 for children and $5,399 for adults.

Adults-only departures for both itineraries will be available on select dates.

The news was announced by Josh D’Amaro, Disney Parks chair, at Disney’s D23 Expo that their cruise line division would be unveiling a new ship, Disney Treasure. This new ship will be styled like the setting of the Disney movie Aladdin, including a statue of Aladdin and Jasmine riding the magic carpet character and an opulent interior similar to the grand palace of Agrobah (also featured in Aladdin).