Expansion

Image: DisneyDisney parks rarely stay the same for an extended period. The company’s commitment to plussing ensures that they’re always working on something new while refreshing something not-new. For example, the belief is that Star Wars Land will cost the company $1 billion. Imagineers will have worked on the project for four years by that point, placing the annual cost at $250 million. That’s $685,000 daily just so that you can make Light Saber sounds. It’s the cost of doing business at a sustained level of excellence.

Adding it all up

Image: DisneyThe math here is sloppy and almost assuredly wrong. Every guess about the operating cost of a Disneyland park is a fun exercise with little basis in reality. Even as I’ve attempted to source as much as I can, I’ve had to accept how many different assumptions I’ve made that could easily collapse with the introduction of additional information. Basically, I’ve said “screw it!” and taken my best shot.

My math suggests that Disneyland pays its employees $890,800 daily. The corporation adds $10,000 more for utilities. The government asks for a hefty $344,000, and expansion adds another $685,000. That’s $1,929,800 for a single day at the Happiest Place on Earth.

That guesstimate doesn’t factor in other costs such as emergency services (ambulances and fire engines), white-collar activities (political PAC expenditures and legal fees for park-related lawsuits), healthcare for cast members (I doubt their healthcare provider could answer this precisely) and material costs (hamburger meat, cheese, and buns for that overpriced cheeseburger you were complaining about). When those items get factored in, the cost would soar.

Image: DisneyAlternately, we could take the lazy way out on our estimate. According to Disney’s fiscal 2017 reports, their park operating expenses were $14,461,000,000. Disney has six theme parks, giving each one a yearly cost of $2.44 billion. Disneyland’s portion of that divided by 365 days is $6.685 million. That’s about triple what my calculations suggest, and so I think it’s fair to call those as the low and high ranges for this discussion.

So there you have it: running the Happiest Place on Earth costs somewhere between $1.93 million and $6.69 million each day. Remember that the next time you complain about your $18 cheeseburger.