From Seth again:

When there is both pain and pleasure associated with your service, work extremely hard to separate them by time and geography.
Disney charges a fortune for the theme park, but they do it a week before you get there, or at a booth far far away from the rides. By the time you get to the rides, you're over it. The pain isn't associated with the fun part.

Clever little insight. Same happens with, say, concert tickets, if you've bought them well in advance.
Perhaps that's why promoters charge smaller prices in advance, to separate by time.