I grew up about 6 miles from Disneyland in the 70s/80s. While in high school we would sometimes go after school (Monday thru Thursdays) and hit all the rides in a few hours and be back home by 8pm. It only cost $8 then and the longest wait to get on a ride might have been 30-40 minutes (Space Mountain or Star Tours), but every other ride would be 5-10 minute wait at most. We never went on weekends or holidays as it was always packed, but the first 4 days of the week were great.
Haven’t been back since my kids went off to college and couldn’t imagine paying $244 per person while standing in line for 2 hours for each ride. And I have been told by friends that it is packed from opening until closing 7 days a week, and that the park usually stops admitting people inside around 10am-11am because the park has reached maximum capacity by that time. That and the price of admission, combined with the overpriced carnival food is insanity in my opinion. But you can’t blame Disney for that if people are willing to pay that much money and tolerate the crowd, congestion and standing in line for hours on end.
College tuition in 1975-76 was $2,291 for a private school.