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The low cost of puberty

Image: Disney

Have adults suffered the same kind of gradual sticker shock? Obviously, a dollar then is $8.99 today. In 2016 terms, an adult could only buy an app for the same price as they could have entered Disney back in the day. It’s not even enough to buy a Disney digital movie. Those generally run $17.99 to $19.99.

The average movie ticket price in 2016 is (allegedly) about $8.75, so an adult theoretically COULD watch Star Wars: Rogue One at the theater for the same amount they used to pay for Disneyland. Rogue One wouldn’t be in 3D and it certainly wouldn’t be an IMAX experience at that price, though. Instead, a person would be going to a matinee showing. And what this ancillary discussion proves more than anything is that you should never believe what the movie industry says about average ticket prices.

Should an adult have wanted the full opening day experience at Disneyland, they’d have paid $8.70. That’s the equivalent of $78.19 today. You can already see where I’m going with this. While the price of admission for children has spiked over the past six decades, it hasn’t increased as much as you might expect for grown-ups. Offseason pricing of $95 for single day admission to Disneyland in 2016 is only 21 percent more than in 1955. Even if we use the Peak Season price of $119, it’s still only a 52 percent increase over 61 years.

Why is that reasonable?

I’ll have a burger, medium fries, a Cadillac, and three-bedroom rancher

Image: Disney

Let’s circle back to the examples I mentioned earlier. That Cadillac that cost $3,977 in 1955 would be $35,741.51. This analogy is a bit difficult to perform accurately since countless Cadillac models exist. Also, the price each individual receives depends on their negotiating ability and the decency of their local dealer.

Let’s do the best that we can with the comparison. TrueCar.com indicates that the most popular model in the line, the CTS Sedan, has an average price of $46,854. Only one vehicle in the Cadillac fleet has a TrueCar price less than $35,741.51. And since Cadillacs were also considered the pride of Detroit, we should compare a luxury vehicle from 1955 to one today.

That’s the Escalade, which TrueCar considers to have a fair price of $79,943. Picking virtually any model, Cadillacs have increased beyond the price of inflation since 1955. Comparing apples to apples as best I can, the luxury Cadillac has increased 123 percent. That’s slightly beyond the cost of children’s admission to Disneyland over time and quite a bit more than adult tickets during the same interval.

Also, I want to stress that I’m not picking data points that I know have a definite conclusion. I’m performing the calculations and evaluating the results in real time. I’m completely shocked that the Cadillac comparison is that linear with Disneyland admission prices.

 
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Comments

In my opinion Disney is for the wealthy, I currently have 6 foster kids ages 11 to 2 as well as my 2 teenage daughters living in my home, it would cost me just about 1,000 just to get in Disney for one day, not including food, drinks etc I really wish I could afford that but in reality I cant , these kids will probably never get to see in the inside of the parks for this reason alone

What's interesting to note is we don't have to pay for each ride. That's what make's up a bulk of the cost back in 1955. And even though this article talks about a single day ticket. You get a pretty decent savings for going multiple days. Obviously you wouldn't buy 4 single day tickets if you wanted to go to all the parks while you're down there. A 4 day pass is $81.25 a day which helps bring the cost down to about 73% of the original cost of a one day ticket.

So if anything. What's initially expensive is that one day ticket. The more days you go, the cheaper the entry fee is. Obviously if this article was about cutting costs it would go in detail about bringing your own food and drink..etc.

Even it's just perception...in 20 years tickets are up 60 dollars and parking 15 dollars.
Walt did buy that Florida swamp land for a nickle and a dime so asking 20 dollar to park is ridiculous compared to Universal who had to pay a premium for their land and even had to built garages (where your car stays cool, which is a bonus)

In my opinion Disney did not invest enough in rides the past decade...and even let Epcot with empty spaces. There are more shops and restaurants than rides...

There is a point where people think they are ripped off...and i think Disney is reaching that pricepoint sooner than later.

Even it's just perception...in 20 years tickets are up 60 dollars and parking 15 dollars.
Walt did buy that Florida swamp land for a nickle and a dime so asking 20 dollar to park is ridiculous compared to Universal who had to pay a premium for their land and even had to built garages (where your car stays cool, which is a bonus)

In my opinion Disney did not invest enough in rides the past decade...and even let Epcot with empty spaces. There are more shops and restaurants than rides...

There is a point where people think they are ripped off...and i think Disney is reaching that pricepoint sooner than later.

In reply to by Mind me (not verified)

You're not paying for the land the parking lot is built on. You're paying for the trams, the lighting, the maintenance, the security, the cast members that help you park, the signage, and on and on. How much the land cost is irrelevant.

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