Too Many People Can Afford Disneyland

The Disney Company has decided that too many people can afford to attend Disneyland, so they've done something about it:

The regular adult admission ticket jumps to $56 on Monday, and the price for children 3-9 goes to $46. Each price reflects a $3 increase, and it's the second time this year Disney has raised prices for Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.

The price will be $9 higher than 2003, a 19 percent spike. Gasoline over that same period has risen 37 percent, from an average of $1.70 a gallon to $2.33 a gallon.

Disney's admission price includes nearly all attractions and shows. Parking is an additional $9. Annual pass prices will remain the same, ranging from $99 to $329.

Theme parks typically raise prices in response to consumer demand. Disney expects large crowds this summer after extensive marketing of its 50th-anniversary celebration for Disneyland.

Disneyland has long used its pricing policies to control crowd size. If the demand became too great, they raised the prices to adjust the demand. The admission price has gone up $13 since 2000. I don't mean to be cynical, but isn't it nice that they timed their announcement for the beginning of the summer season and after most people have made their vacation decisions.

At $56 for a 16 hour day, it now costs park patrons $3.50 an hour to stand in line. That's about a buck an hour more than I was making when I worked there in 1975, and that doesn't include the $10 to park (the article was wrong - parking was recently increased to $10).

I remember my family going to the park in the late 60's and it cost $25 for all four of us to get in, and I thought that was outrageous (I was only about 12 at the time, so $25 represented about 5 years of my allowance). My family has annual passes which set us back about $800 every year, but we attend quite a few times so it all works out when you average the visits.

I'd hate to be a tourist family of four coming to town for a couple of days and having to shell out between $214 and $234 just to get in the gate. And that price only gets you into one park, not both. Park Hopper tickets are something like $75 apiece. Food is going to run you somewhere between $30 and $50 a meal, depending on your choice of cuisine, not to mention snacks and souvenirs.

It's an expensive world after all.