Posted on 03/19/2018 9:18:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Opening the menu at the California Grill at Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Resort overlooking the Magic Kingdom, I expected to giggle at the affordability of everything. I’m a New Yorker. Nothing out here in the sticks costs as much as it does back home, right? Instead, I found $19 glasses of wine and a $75 rib-eye. If you’re a person of average means, a trip to Disney World could leave you bippity-boppity broke.
Disney World, that enchanted land of middle class dreams, isn’t so middle-class anymore. So why is it more popular than ever? Fort Mickey is exhibit A for why “the dwindling middle class” has shrunk — because so many have moved up to the upper-middle and upper classes. Disney World is booming because America is booming.
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, ticket prices were roughly $20 in today’s dollars ($3.50 back then). In 2018, a single weekend day at the Magic Kingdom will cost you $129. Don’t worry, kiddies, for you it’s only $123. Parking is another $22. With plane fare, accommodation, meals, car rental, and so on, a family of four can expect to spend close to $5,000 for a week’s vacation, and that’s if you take it easy on the souvenirs.
All of those left-wing columnists who fret about one-percenters and inequality seem not to have noticed, but the way capitalism is showering wealth on this country is as spectacular as Disney’s nightly fireworks show. If you can afford to drop $700 to $1,000 a day on vacation, you’re doing well. And tens of millions of us are. This month at the Magic Kingdom, my family discovered routine two-hour wait times for both the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
In a recent thread on FR, someone was arguing that Disney was a Satanist. As such.
Insert facepalm.
You can also bring the disabled relative who you haven't seen for years.
Disney World is proof that the American Middle Class is insane. My step-brother has spent a fortune taking his my two nieces to Disney World every two or three years and buying them stuff there (two years ago, it was the “Princess” Christmas Tree). You can spend a down payment on a house there.
Keep in mind that there are Disneylands in other countries:
Japan
France
Hong Kong
China
If you love it there,go.
If we “boycotted” all businesses that were ultra liberal there would be few places left.
I love movies and will go no matter what the Hollywood politics are.
Don’t deprive yourself-——life is too short.
.
Been to the Disney’s in Anaheim from when it first opened and the one in Florida in the mid ‘80’s with baby. I much preferred Colonial Williamsburg where I learned more about American history than in school. When I was a young teen, the girls there made the ones in Disney Anaheim look like dogs. And the foreigners who visited Williamsburg came from cultures where deodorant is de rigeur.
here's a link to food prices at the resort
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining/dininglist.cfm
Take a look at The Blue Bayou and Steakhouse 55, but also at how the captive guest is raped over the simplest fare and beverages. This is what greed looks like, this isn't honest profit it's rape, and anyone that says "well they don't have to go there" doesn't have children.
My BIL works at Disney Anaheim and while he can get us in for free, well the twenty dollar parking, it's not worth it. It's always over sold and crowded and even water is astronomically priced and all it leaves us is irritated. We, haven't been in years and don't anticipate going again for years either.
Japan
France
Hong Kong
China
I've been to all of them except the newest one in China. I liked Tokyo Disney the best, but none of them tops Disney World.
Amen.
Alternatives to this racket (with blow-your-mind-thrills for a fraction):
Slingshot (various parks)
https://youtu.be/q440I34UKAI?t=445
Terror Dactyl (Cave of the Winds, Manitou Springs CO, which has caverns and a climbing park, etc.)
https://youtu.be/-mPjxUICE18?t=72
Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster (Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg)
https://youtu.be/QzVGf-K2heg?t=304
Etc. And all with no preaching of silly myths.
I've eaten at the various Blue Bayou restaurants in s number of parks, but not Steakhouse 55. Both are high-end restaurants, taking kids would be a waste of money. But then, I don't have kids.
???
My kids survived the journey to adulthood without ever darkening the gate at Disney.
A while back, I was at Orlando Airport. A family of four was walking past with their dumb Mickey Mouse shirts all custom made with their names. They had an airport porter with a large luggage cart. There must have been fifteen suitcases and duffel bags for one family.
Just the flight alone with all the excess baggage charges was more than we’ve ever spent on a vacation.
Joseph E. "Joe" Roth (born 1948) is an American film executive, producer and director.
Roth was chairman of Walt Disney Studios (1994–2000).
He then founded Revolution Studios in 2000, then Roth Films.
Roth was born in New York City, the son of Lawrence Roth, a plastics plant foreman, and Frances Roth, of the Jewish faith.
In 1959, Roth's father volunteered his son Joe to be a plaintiff in the ACLU's effort to abolish mandatory prayer in public schools.
The case, filed in New York, wound its way through the system, finally reaching the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962.
The Court ruled that such prayer was unconstitutional under the First Amendment, in the landmark case of Engel v. Vitale.
We’re located in the Jacksonville are. It’s a 2.5 hour drive to Disney, do a park, and drive home on the same day, so we always get a room in one of the moderate resorts for two nites. That’s where the real cost lies. But as I said earlier, there really is nothing like it. Oh, and I really don’t mind paying the state, county and municipal uncharge... It’s better than paying State income tax! We’ve been there three times since November. Must. Stop. LoL.
Then I must be well below middle class ... I can’t afford Disney.
Good point. I would have to start “moving goalposts” in any attempt at a rebuttal.
When I fly, I use the largest possible carry on backpack...and nothing else. It was enough for two weeks in Thailand.
I did have to have my laundry done in the middle of the trip, but in Thailand that's cheap. :-)
Just to be clear, you are suggesting that an alpine gravity roller coaster is a legitimate alternative to Disney World?
Really?
So I would fly cross country, stay in a hotel, get a rental car, drive to this place and for $15 each get an 8 minute ride. Sure for the cost of going to Disney World I could ride it 8 times. That takes up a little over an hour. Ohhhh Nelly! Don’t think I can stand the excitement!
Really?
Woolite, the traveler's best friend. Did the laundry in the sink, hung the clothes in the hotel room and generally they dried in 24 hours. Took a single carry-on backpack for a two-week trip to Spain and Italy and did just fine.
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