Found my family’s 1991 Disneyland tickets. One-day admission was $25.50.

[u/demasistyle]

[u/Starspiker]

About $62.50 in today's dollars.

[u/Grand-Spring66 → u/Starspiker]

And now the price is between $104 and $224.

[u/eAthena → u/Grand-Spring66]

before parking 

[u/angrydeuce → u/eAthena]

Took the kid to DisneyWorld for 5 days/4 nights 4 years ago, still paying that shit off. And that was with staying outside of the park and getting a place with a kitchen so we could have groceries delivered and not eat out for every meal.

Granted we treated it like a once in a lifetime sort of trip so weren't watching things as closely as we could have, but it's goddamn painful when you realize how much money you spend on something as fucking cheap as a 20oz soda, and the way it's deliberately engineered to have virtually every ride dump into a gift shop where all the flashiest toys are all at perfect toddler height to all but guarantee a meltdown with every $50 bubble want or Jack Sparrow sword you pass, the way they game their ride reservation shit (whatever they call it) so that you have to buy more time slots for an additional fee to make the most of your time in the park, and how there's almost nothing to do there besides spend money if you're not actively on a ride (that often needs the reservation that costs extra) or watching a show.

The thing is, I went to DisneyWorld myself as a kid like 5 times from the 80s through the early 00s and it was not like that then, it just wasn't. It was never cheap compared to something like 6 Flags, but man does it suck so much of the magic out of the shit having to put apps on your phone and not only spend $150 to get into the place per person but then spend $20 on a cup of fucking french fries in the park, it's like come on man, cut us a break why dont ya?

Just another experience that will end up being reserved for the rich, like retirement.

EDIT:  For the armchair accountants that cant seem to get passed the fact that I financed this trip, knowing full well that wasnt the point of the post, all I can say is, first off, the audacity, but secondly...if you've ever been poor, like generationally poor, you know that its not always just a matter of saving up for something.  When youre poor something always comes up, no matter how you scrimp and save.  Ironically enough, the beginning of the movie Up illustrates my point far more artistically then I ever could, but just as you watched their Venuzeula trip jar constantly get hit, I didnt want to have our Disney trip be something we save for 10 fuckin years to do, because just like that intro shows, it is more and more likely with every passing year that it will just not happen.  Unfortunately I don't have enough balloons to fly us over the walls and into the park like in the movie.

With everything else going on in the world, I didn't want to take the chance on DisneyWorld turning into my families trip to Angel Falls.  Saving up 10k might as well be 100k for how attainable that shit is with the price of everything these days.

Many of you would say "then you shouldn't go, idiot"...fair enough.  But it was something I was willing to do, as stupid as it may seem, because I wanted him to have those memories.  It was important to me that he have those memories even if it meant his mother and I had to make an otherwise stupid financial decision to do so.  Thats the shit he's gonna carry with him long after im in the fucking ground, a fuck of a lot more than his fuckin inheritance...if not, I clearly fucked up way worse then financing a trip to Disney.

I didn't post this looking for sympathy or approval. I neither require nor desire either...Im a big boy and we're all just anonymous assholes on the internet. I just posted because of how shockingly expensive the experience is now compared to the multiple times I went in decades past. Even for the time...that is the point, it's not a simple matter of "it costs more because everything costs more, duuuhhhh!"...it costs more than it should even with inflation and the experience is worse unless you're prepared to drop 6 months of mortgage payments on the shit, and felt compelled to comment on it. If that pains your ass...I dont care lol.

Now ill leave you to go back to using this opportunity to mock my poverty or desire to give my son something I had despite it being so relatively unattainable for us.

[u/hypntyz → u/angrydeuce]

I sense a distressing lack of empathy for the shareholders in your comments. Those $20 cups of fries help support hordes of corporate attorneys.

[u/Hefty_Map3665 → u/hypntyz]

We all hate the pricing. But the fact the park is full everyday shows people are still willing to spend crazy amount of money or go into literal debt like the above poster just to have a fun experience. I blame the ignorant people.

You think the parks are full now? Imagine if they lowered prices 70% how much more packed it will be. You thought 2 hour lines are bad? Imagine having 6+ hour lines

[u/hypntyz → u/Hefty_Map3665]

Oh i fully agree, and I've said the same thing to my wife during recent visits. "If people from all over the world continue to pack in here every day of the year, why not raise the price continually?"

[u/mortgagepants → u/hypntyz]

i know it kind of sucks, but also OP admits there are cheaper, other parks to go to.

i'm left wing and would like to see all americans have healthcare, education, and housing. but i don't think we have inalienable rights to theme parks.

[u/Clean_Insect5042 → u/mortgagepants]

But we could have salaries that match the increase in prices of houses, cars, and groceries.

Also I will say while a lot of people like many aspects of Disney, I think a lot of Americans subconsciously enjoy a car free space that accommodates families and young children. Think if our day to day communities had similar.

[u/RobotsFromTheFuture → u/Clean_Insect5042]

Disney is going to charge whatever they can, and since Disney World is a unique resource, they can charge a lot and still be at capacity. They have no incentive to reduce prices or reduce the number of attendees.

[u/TheWorldMayEnd → u/Clean_Insect5042]

No matter what salaries are, Disney is always going to be unaffordable. If suddenly everyone made 2x as much annually, ticket prices would go up at least as much because otherwise the park would be overcrowded.

Disney carefully controls the crowds with its pricing. They don't want overcrowding and the easiest lever they have to control that is pricing.

Sure they could keep prices "cheap" and set hard caps on capacity, but that's them just leaving tons of profit on the table for no reason, something we wouldn't expect any other corporation or company to do. And then people would just bitch anyway because even though they could "afford" it there is now a 4 year long wait list to go do Disneyland.

[u/Somanylyingliars → u/Clean_Insect5042]

Imagine that when I first went to WDW shortly after their opening our tickets was about 5 dollars. That's 25 dollars in today's money. Walt Disney nus be rolling in his grave w todays prices because he wanted all families to go not just rich.

[u/mortgagepants → u/Clean_Insect5042]

oh indeed- main street USA used to literally be everywhere across the country. now clean and affordable public transportation is fairy tale land.

[u/xSTSxZerglingOne → u/Hefty_Map3665]

The lines are completely unnecessary. They built basically the perfect ride queueing system like 20+ years ago and abandoned it because people weren't spending enough time or money in the park.

They want the ride lines to be boring and long because it's a literal conscious choice at this point.

Watch the Defunctland episode about Fast Pass. It will boil your blood.

Disneyland has a million annual dollars of accountants telling them what the price of the park should be while still filling to capacity. Almost nothing is engineered to turn a profit quite as hard as a Disney park. That ticket price carries a goddamn billion dollars worth of market research behind it (a billion for Disney, of course).

[u/Somanylyingliars → u/xSTSxZerglingOne]

As I said here elsewhere. Ok Man Disney must be rolling in his grave. Disney wanted park to be accessible for all. When they open tickets were about 5 dollars. The hourly wage then was 1.60. So average workers had to put in about 3 hours work to get into park. Today? How many hours do they need to work to be able to get in?

[u/slvrscoobie → u/Hefty_Map3665]

Crazy amounts, then as the posted above says paying Interest on that crazy amount. Why?

[u/Professional_Read413 → u/slvrscoobie]

Yeah fuck Disney dude. For the amount of money it costs you could take your kids on a "trip of a lifetime " to see REAL wonders like our national parks, and even have money to stay in a super nice hotel or VRBO.

The Disney obsession with people of my generation is pathetic

[u/Jump2ConclusionsM4t → u/Professional_Read413]

If your kids are under 6, they aren’t going to care about national parks. Not saying Disney is the only place to go, but hiking through Zion or Cascades isn’t going to wow young children.

[u/PartyPorpoise → u/Professional_Read413]

The company has convinced Americans that a trip to Disney is some essential childhood experience. So people are willing to go into debt because it’s something that most kids will only fully enjoy at a certain age.

[u/ForeverFieldsFD → u/Hefty_Map3665]

These tickets clearly say MKC member, so they’re discounted tickets. They either got them through work or they paid an annual membership to get discounted tickets.

[u/Former-Drawer4415 → u/Hefty_Map3665]

Yeah I’m sorry if you take out a loan to go to Disney world I blame no one but th. Stop buying this bullshit and selling it to your children that the “trip of a life time” is going to Disney World ffs.

[u/eastmemphisguy → u/Hefty_Map3665]

It's the American Parent Hajj. People feel an obligation to take their kids before they get too old to be too cool for kiddie stuff. I don't really get it, honestly.

[u/VulturousYeti → u/angrydeuce]

Covid allowed them to develop proper attendance tracking so they can always ensure the park is perfectly staffed (read: there will never be a wonderful ‘quiet day’ again in the future of DisneyWorld). It’s optimisation in absolutely the worst way for visitors. You’ll always be waiting in line unless you pay extra to skip them.

[u/send_nooooods → u/VulturousYeti]

This already sucks at other parks that have attendance charts like cedar point. Everyone just stockpiles onto the “dead” days from last year. Almost better to use it to pick a bog standard attendance day

[u/loueazy → u/VulturousYeti]

I always heard that the date of the Super Bowl is one of the best days to visit. Is it still like that?

[u/VulturousYeti → u/loueazy]

Only one way to find out!

I’m kidding, they’ll just massively understaff the park if they get low ticket sales for that date. So it will feel the same in terms of ride and service efficiency, there will just be less bodies wandering the paths.

[u/EatYourCheckers → u/angrydeuce]

This is their model now. They do not want to attract the locals who eat before they get there and don't buy the merch because they know where to get it cheaper. They want people who will come in, treat it like a "once in a lifetime" event, and spend the money on the sodas, and the character experiences, and the souvenirs. It sucks, but pendulums swing, and until this one swings back, by kids and are pretty excited about Dollywood

[u/TheAlphaCarb0n → u/EatYourCheckers]

Realistically their business model is "let's see how high we can raise prices and still keep the park full", and they still haven't found that ceiling.

[u/eaglessoar → u/TheAlphaCarb0n]

thats literally every business and disney has a monopoly on disney theres thousands of other theme parks but if you wanna meet the mouse you gotta pay the mouse

[u/Retr0scores → u/EatYourCheckers]

They’ve been trying to price out passholders for years now.

[u/SleazyKingLothric → u/EatYourCheckers]

Dollywood is an amazing experience around Christmas for the kiddos. The Christmas lights and locomotive really does make the entire experience feel like Santa is around the corner and Christmas is almost here.

[u/guto8797 → u/[deleted]]

There's also some pretty good theme parks in Europe and elsewhere, usually not as themed for children as Disney. Europapark is a blast

[u/PRSArchon → u/angrydeuce]

The problem is you treated it as a once in a lifetime trip. I will have zero regrets never going there because i know its not worth 350$ a day per person.

[u/Visual-Age-1025 → u/angrydeuce]

Gosh, I hear you and I agree with you. I am, however, aghast at the idea of still oweing on it four years later. How much was the trip and how much have you paid on interest in the years since?

[u/ExiledCanuck → u/Visual-Age-1025]

This right here. Sounds unbelievable to me, unless they did the whole trip on credit with high interest cards or something.

Went last year to Disneyland, family of 4, for 3 days, it was $1800 for the hopper tickets (granted they were the Costco ones, but still, most people either have a membership or know someone who does to take advantage).

We stayed outside the park, but ate lunch and dinner there each day. Bought a bunch of gifts/keepsakes. I don’t think total we were in the hole more than $2500. That’s still not cheap, and we’re far from rich, but it’s been paid off.

[u/gargar070402 → u/ExiledCanuck]

> unless they did the whole trip on credit with high interest cards or something

Of course they did. How do you think regular people end up owing so much debt? No bank is giving you a proper loan for a disney trip.

[u/el_smurfo → u/angrydeuce]

I remember it in the '80s and '90s where you had a California locals pass that was really cheap and let you in there all summer. It was like a hangout place for a lot of kids and there was things to do or at least places to sit where you didn't have to pay for everything. Now I'm surprised there isn't a coin slot on a bench

[u/GoatFlow → u/angrydeuce]

Bro just go camping or something else more affordable. Taking debt for a vacation is nuts.

[u/ItsPickles → u/angrydeuce]

You financed a trip to Disney? Are you out of your fucking mind

[u/ErFarinn → u/ItsPickles]

This dude is the reason for the prices in Disney world, god damn. I can just hear the Disney executives say "just raise the prices, people will take out a mortage"

[u/testar0zza → u/ItsPickles]

This has to be ragebait

[u/fatherofraptors → u/testar0zza]

There's been a good amount of news coverage and YouTube videos (from like Business Insider or the sorts) covering this phenomenon. Yes, MANY adults are now financing Disney trips, whether via plain old credit card debt, or with financing options offered directly at the time of booking.

Yes, it's insane.

[u/Cheetawolf → u/angrydeuce]

The Greediest Place On Earth.®

[u/7485730086 → u/angrydeuce]

Took the kid to DisneyWorld for 5 days/4 nights 4 years ago, still paying that shit off.

How is this even possible? A five day ticket is not cheap, to be sure but it's sub-$1,000. Hotels offsite can genuinely be cheap, maybe a bit less so to have somewhere with a kitchen (great call) but I must be completely missing something here. How are you paying off (even assuming a family of four) $4,000 over four years? How much of what you're "paying off" is interest from a credit card?

There's no denying Disney is expensive. But this just screams fiscal malpractice.

[u/thegodzilla25 → u/7485730086]

Bruh going into debt for dinseyland is wild af. Feels like an American thing ig. Being from a third world country, I wont step out of my home or country if I cant pay if off completely comfortably.

[u/Humble_Chip → u/7485730086]

Poor planning on their part. People reading this should know Disney World can certainly be done without going into debt. Orlando hotels are not that expensive.

[u/Zephoix → u/angrydeuce]

Imagine financing a Disney trip…just don’t go

[u/qdtk → u/Zephoix]

Even worse on a kid so young they won’t remember it. But the trip is “for the kids.” I’ve been to Disney and the toddlers all seem to be crying anyway.

[u/Acceptable_Rice1139 → u/angrydeuce]

You went into debt for a Disney vacation?

[u/girthbrooks1 → u/Acceptable_Rice1139]

You’d be surprised how common this is

[u/Acceptable_Rice1139 → u/girthbrooks1]

I just reread his post and he's still paying on it for 4+ years. How stupid can you be?

[u/darknite38 → u/Acceptable_Rice1139]

https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/disney-goers-debt-survey/

Apparently 45% of adults with children <18 are going into debt for a disney vacation. Insane.

[u/500lbGuyForLife → u/angrydeuce]

While I don't disagree with you that Disney parks are money pits, you are the adult with the money. To let a child influence you to spend money on gift shop items that you don't want to spend money on or can't afford sounds like a you problem.

Edit: yikes, the amount of copium from this individual is more palpable then their sense of responsible financial decisions and the their inability to tell their child "No."

[u/AbstinentNoMore → u/angrydeuce]

still paying that shit off

Yea, no sympathy for you.

[u/StealthSBD → u/angrydeuce]

Why pay $6 for a 20 ounce soda in the park when you can bring a cooler in with your own food and drinks? This is kinda on you.

[u/DrZein → u/angrydeuce]

People will say you shouldn’t go but I bet it’s fucking tough wanting to do things for your family that’s in the zeitgeist of things you “should” do as a family like go to Disney world. It’s disgusting how so many things like that aren’t accessible for so many people. Even things like eating out or going to the movies for the family is tough for some people.

Personally I think if it wasn’t something super financially irresponsible and you’re not behind on your mortgage/rent because of it and are just slowly paying it off, that it’s dope as fuck you did that for them

[u/DutchOnionKnight → u/angrydeuce]

What you mean, you are still paying it off. Don't you guys save money before you go on a trip?

[u/ConsolationUsername → u/angrydeuce]

Defunctland on youtube has a really interesting video on fastpass and how it started as an innovative solution for wait times, only to end up as a bastardized cash grab.

[u/UsedAsk3537 → u/eAthena]

Was parking included in '91

[u/Flannelcommand → u/eAthena]

Went last year and rode the city bus from our hotel. Couple bucks. No line. Dropped right out front. 

[u/generalstinkybutt → u/Flannelcommand]

rode the city bus from our hotel

I do this from every airport into the city. Honolulu $3. SF $3 (or $11), San Diego $2.50. NYC $3 (or $9). Tokyo $1.50. Hanoi $2. Dublin $3.

Oslo $28 and Reykjavik $33 were pricey. There is a local bus for Reykjavik for $20, but when I went it was temporarily not direct so a 40 minute wait at a stop in the middle of nowhere between buses. Not worth the hassle, risk, or extra time.

[u/MylastAccountBroke → u/Grand-Spring66]

As much as that sucks, the most cited issue so many have is the over crowding in the theme park. If the park is packed, then I don't think "lower prices" is entering the mind of the people in charge.

[u/Tough_Dish_4485 → u/MylastAccountBroke]

DisneyParks: We keep raising the price and people still keep coming!

[u/guto8797 → u/Tough_Dish_4485]

Unironically tho. If people just keep coming and the parks are always at capacity, either they raise prices or start imposing quotas

[u/Specialist-Toe-4438 → u/Tough_Dish_4485]

I went on a random week day recently, and could not make it, it was already full, It’s almost a reservation-only park, likely their faster lines pass or whatever is at max as well.

[u/sourlor → u/Tough_Dish_4485]

Honestly. I would rather have them increase the price to a point the it prices people out and decrease how crowded it is. Going to Disneyland is an awful experience when you are waiting inline 90% of the time due to how crowded it is.

[u/temp91 → u/MylastAccountBroke]

There's a documentary on YouTube about the fast pass system in all it's iterations. They could make the experience better, but it's apparent that wasn't the goal. They could extend park hours, have other attractions or performances that don't require queuing, or just have enough walkways and shade for all the people not standing in lines. The actual goal is to have people wait for rides inside a gift shop instead of a line.

[u/clitpuncher69 → u/temp91]

It has to be one of, if not the most min-maxed places for getting people to spend money

[u/TheWiseAlaundo → u/temp91]

Here's a YouTube documentary that's likely the one that is being referenced.

[u/Difficult_Collar4336 → u/MylastAccountBroke]

For real - for every person that won’t go due to prices there are 5 (like me) who won’t go due to crowds. I like to joke that they should do a month where they 5x the price and /5 the crowd capacity - I’d totally do that.

[u/mandalore237 → u/Difficult_Collar4336]

They sorta do. They do after hours events and it's the only way my wife and I like to go. You get to enter 2 hours before the park closes, then once the park closes there's barely anyone there (even though the event sells out) and you can stay until Midnight. I don't think we've waited more than 10 mins for a ride during those events. They also give you free Mickey bars and sodas!

It's usually around $150

[u/nalaloveslumpy → u/Difficult_Collar4336]

For every 10 that don't do to crowds or prices, there are 20 that are still going.

And they do have have packages like what you're talking about. There are "after hour" parties where an increased ticket price gets you more exclusive access for about three hours. They basically kick out all the "regular" ticket holders at 6 and the park runs for after hours ticket holders only for three hours. If you go on an ideal night, most people say you can ride every ride within that three hour window.

There's also the VIP tour where you get a private tour guide and get to literally skip every line. This is how most major celebrities visit.

[u/Fuzzy_Novel_5928 → u/MylastAccountBroke]

Build more parks 

“I am the problem solver”

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fix594 → u/MylastAccountBroke]

They actually track park attendance and either have more or less staff on shift depending on the capacity of the park. It's why the park never feels slow even if technically the attendance is down for the day.

[u/aliendude5300 → u/Grand-Spring66]

That's it? I remember it being way more expensive than that

[u/kridgellz → u/aliendude5300]

Thats per person, per day. With no fast-pass.

[u/MeasurementEasy9884 → u/kridgellz]

I miss the time where you would get a fast pass card printed out (for free) for another time period of the day so you can experience other parts of the park or ride another ride

[u/frozengash → u/aliendude5300]

You could get the California resident annual pass for 99 in the early/mid 2000s

[u/jennlody → u/frozengash]

I had a Florida resident pass in 2017 that was $280 and it was a great deal for me then. People spent that much on a 3 day park hopper pass even back then. I don't think they offer the same level of pass now though. It was weekdays only and blocked out during June and winter holidays.

[u/Papichuloft → u/Starspiker]

The greedy ass mouse now charges 200 a day for park hopper

[u/turdferguson3891 → u/Papichuloft]

Well there was no park hopper at Disneyland in 1991 because there was only the one park. California Adventure opened a decade later. It was built over the old parking lot.

[u/TrowTruck → u/Papichuloft]

And it’s still crowded as ever, so they charge what people are willing to pay.

[u/Waltzer64 → u/TrowTruck]

I mean... yeah, this exactly. It's supply and demand. Park space is physically limited so there is a cap on supply, and the only other lever then is to reduce demand. You do this by increasing the ticket price.

"Greedy corporation" comments as if this isn't just the most fundamental principle of the economy, as if everyone is entitled to go to Disney World.

[u/TrowTruck → u/Waltzer64]

Absolutely it’s supply and demand. “Greed” is not a particularly useful way to think about setting a price in a market. A company charging a lower price isn’t necessarily less “greedy,” they’re just seeking out the number that will maximize profit.

[u/eAthena → u/Papichuloft]

how else will they fund Iron Man 10

[u/Starspiker → u/eAthena]

I have a long term bet going with my partner that they’ll somehow bring RDJ as Iron Man back to life by 2035. She insists I’m wrong but there’s no chance Disney doesn’t milk that cow for more money.

[u/OpenToCommunicate → u/Starspiker]

What does your partner get if you're wrong?

[u/Dr8keMallard → u/Papichuloft]

not too imply they aren't greedy, but their voiced reason for the massive increases make sense. they were trying to keep the park population per day down so they started increasing prices dramatically and apparently it never slowed down.

[u/Soggy_Definition_232 → u/Papichuloft]

As a club member (which OP's tickets a were) you can get a one day ticket for around $100-$125. 

Still expensive but half of what you're claiming.

[u/frontfrontdowndown → u/Soggy_Definition_232]

Their 3 day hopper deal this year worked out to like $70 a day. Not much more than those 1991 tickets.

[u/plausibleturtle → u/Starspiker]

I would be curious on the size of the park (or number of rides, some kind of metric like that) versus today. There is undoubtedly 'more park' to account for as well, but it would be interesting if it's even close to relative.

[u/dc2b18b → u/plausibleturtle]

There is more park today, higher quality rides and attractions, and the plane tickets to get to California are significantly cheaper today than they were 35 years ago.

Disney tickets in 1991 are a different product than Disney tickets in 2026. They’re not really comparable.

[u/RcoketWalrus → u/Starspiker]

I went there in the 80's with my family, Family of 5 stayed in a hotel for 40 dollars a night. We ate at Shoney's for 27 dollars and gas was 1.10 a gallon. On the trip back, my mom gave us a few dollars each to by comic books, which where .75 cents each.

To those dealing with modern inflation, I am sorry you have been f****d so bad, but we were told greed was good and a lot of people believed it.

[u/SchradersThumb → u/Starspiker]

If tickets were still $60ish. How fast would the park hit capacity?

[u/Think_Chocolate_ → u/SchradersThumb]

There's 90 million more americans and 3 billion more people in the world since then.

At $60 the park might as well be a sardine can.

[u/pandazerg → u/Think_Chocolate_]

Plus, we didn't have nearly the number of "Disney adults" clogging up the parks that we do today.
At least that's my recollection from the handful of times my family went in the 80s and 90s, it felt like it was mostly families with children. Not to say there weren't adult Disney fans at the time, just that they weren't as much of a presence at the parks.

I feel like it was only after the "renaissance" that park attendance started to change.

[u/MerfinRaleigh]

My family went to Disney around 1993. There was some kind of situation and we ended up with a set of free passes. My mom still has them. They have no expiration date.

[u/Aggravating_Shoe_ → u/MerfinRaleigh]

You should try using em

[u/muegle → u/Aggravating_Shoe_]

My parents converted our unused days on tickets to non-expiring from the early 2000s and they're still good. Only problem we ran into was whey I tried to use some of mine a few years ago Disney was switching backend systems and they weren't completely done transferring everything over so some things got mixed up with mine where it used a non-expiring park hopper first instead of the tickets I had bought for that trip that weren't park hopper or non-expiring. The guest relations lady helped fix it for us and even gave me a free day which was nice of them to do.

[u/camebacklate → u/Aggravating_Shoe_]

Their worth more not being used. Disney will honor them if you do decide to use them.

[u/Darigaazrgb → u/camebacklate]

Yeah, my mom gave me a bunch of crisp Disney dollars from the 80s and 90s that can still be redeemed but they’re worth less now in terms of value to redeem than they were back then, but I can sell them to a collector for way more money.

[u/LordOfCows → u/Darigaazrgb]

Damn inflation's even coming for my Mickey Mouse Money.

[u/Getatbay → u/camebacklate]

It depends on if you signed up for Disney plus or not. Disney plus user agreement has terms that, if signed, void all park passes dated prior to 2016 /s

[u/Ambo424 → u/MerfinRaleigh]

I’ve been using leftover days on my family’s passes from 1997 and 2001. They still honor them.

[u/Grand-Spring66 → u/MerfinRaleigh]

They have no expiration date.

They expire 2 years after you get them.

[u/UCFknight2016 → u/Grand-Spring66]

not these. The ones from back then are good forever and still accepted. You have to go to guest relations to exchange them.

[u/guynamedjames → u/UCFknight2016]

Yup, I had some of those passes from like 2003 or 2004 and redeemed them in 2013. They also weren't tied to anyone's name originally so I was able to use them with a different person

[u/LicketySplitz → u/UCFknight2016]

My mother had some from 1989 that we redeemed a few years ago.

[u/GoBlueVictors01 → u/UCFknight2016]

I bought a set of 10 lifetime unlimited park hopper passes in 2000 ($300 for the set of 10 - great deal). There were a couple days I hadn’t used yet and the last time I looked at the Disney app, it is now showing an expiration date of 2030. So it would be a good idea to check. 

[u/lilaccheesecake → u/Grand-Spring66]

They would probaly still honor them due to its rarity / novelty.

[u/Heavy-Construction90 → u/lilaccheesecake]

Would be a fun story too if the right PR Disney folks got onto it

[u/op4arcticfox → u/Grand-Spring66]

A lot of the older Disney passes were valid and without a set expiration. They aren't gift cards.

[u/fishloofah → u/Grand-Spring66]

I have ones from around the same time, they don’t.

[u/StealthSBD → u/Grand-Spring66]

How does this heinously wrong comment have 100 upvotes?

[u/ShadyNoShadow → u/Grand-Spring66]

Older ones didn't. 

[u/gootchvootch]

I remember in the late 1980s, if you presented a specially-marked brown paper bag from Ralph's or Vons, you would get a daily admissions ticket for precisely $20.00.

[u/Ok-Sheepherder7898 → u/gootchvootch]

I think they had coke cans where you could get in for that or even less, maybe $5.

[u/Deathcommand → u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

I remember something like that but for six flags. I used it a lot.

[u/Ok-Sheepherder7898 → u/Deathcommand]

Ah yes it might have been Magic Mountain.

[u/postitpad]

In 1992 I was 13 and my older brother and I joined my dad at Disney since he was down for a conference. We stayed at the newly opened dolphin. It was the fanciest hotel I’d ever seen. By a lot. When I would get up in the morning my dad would be getting ready for work stuff and he would give me 100 dollars to go get my brother and myself park tickets and lunch. I usually ended up with like 10-20 bucks left over at the end of the day. It was the most exciting vacation I had been on, we had so much autonomy I couldn’t imagine it.

[u/LittleRedCorvette2 → u/postitpad]

That's a lovely memory.

[u/postitpad → u/LittleRedCorvette2]

Thanks. I think if I look around hard enough I might still have a mug I bought on that trip.

[u/GSturges → u/postitpad]

https://giphy.com/gifs/etjcZ88kV1rLG

[u/tdfast]

We live in western Canada. We can fly three people to LAX, get an Uber to the hotel, pay for the hotel and eat for four days, all for cheaper than it is to buy the Disneyland tickets. The tickets are more than half of the entire cost of the trip.

[u/tumes → u/tdfast]

Depending on what you’re doing, I think at this point there are relatively few scenarios where flying to and from Tokyo Disney is not the least expensive option. And it is absolutely the best ratio of money spent to enjoyability.

[u/land0man → u/tumes]

Right, until you actually go to DisneySea and look at the wait times. Unless you buy the fast passes for the rides there you aren’t doing much.

[u/Sw429 → u/land0man]

Yep, this is basically how it goes. People talk about how you need to be totally optimal with your planning, but the result is if you're going with your family with kids, you're going to basically feel either cheated or nickel-and-dimed into buying the expensive fast passes.

Last time I went to Disneyland, which was a couple of years ago, we faced the prospect of either waiting three hours in line with our 4-year-old for the Cars ride, or paying about $70 for fast passes. We paid, because we didn't want to leave without doing it, but god damn did I feel ripped off afterward, especially considering how much we paid to just be in the park. It wasn't always this way, either, which is what pissed me off the most.

[u/Laiko_Kairen → u/Sw429]

Yeah, I see people here talking about strategies to beat lines, etc.

And I'm just sitting here like, that's not fun. I wanna go and mill about the park. I don't want to try to maximize my fun... I wanna relax.

Disney isn't built for that anymore.

It's like when I lived in LA and I'd visit the museums I'd already been to, not to explore the exhibits but just to be in a nice place and poke around.

And somehow nobody stopped to question why we need to turn a visit to a park into a game of trying to beat the system

[u/sourcefourmini → u/land0man]

Counterpoint, I did all of DisneySea in one (1) day last year with no fastpasses. I'm not saying anecdotal experience beats an anecdote, but it's definitely possible. And admission to a Disney park for $60 USD per person is hard to beat.

[u/ConstableBlimeyChips → u/tumes]

Disney Hong Kong too probably. I was there in February last year, most rides were a fifteen minutes wait at most, though I imagine that's partially down to being there in the absolute low-season.

[u/AracariBerry → u/tdfast]

A ticket to Disneyland is about $200 (sometimes cheaper, sometimes more expensive). I’m impressed that you can fly to LA, pay for a hotel and meals for three people for less than $600.

[u/atlasdreams → u/AracariBerry]

The uber alone is like $100

[u/ThisIsNoize → u/AracariBerry]

I'd assume they're saying they'd be going to Disneyland all four days. So $2400.

[u/AvailableReporter484]

Im from south Florida and I can’t imagine going there today. Not only does it seem like it’s filled to the brim with some of the most unhinged and unbearable people on the planet, but it’s hot, expensive, and nothing but lines.

Go once if you got kids or if you’ve just never been and call it a day. Even if you’re a rollercoaster enthusiast there are way better places to go.

[u/Loose-Atmosphere-558 → u/AvailableReporter484]

Still good if you can afford the LL premier...but damn it's expensive....

[u/AvailableReporter484 → u/Loose-Atmosphere-558]

If I HAD to go to an Orlando theme park I’d go universal. It’s the same experience but I hear way less about weird universal studios trash TikTok people being there. With the exception of islands of adventure. I’m sure HP world attracts all sorts of people I’d rather not hang around with lmao.

But I acknowledge that I’m clearly not a spend the entire day surrounded by people and stand in long lines kind of person. I also don’t drink, so there goes that aspect of it lmao

[u/Loose-Atmosphere-558 → u/AvailableReporter484]

Yeah I'm not that kind of person either. I went a year ago-ish for my 10 y old. We did a day in each Disney park then a day at universal. We stayed in park at the Disney themed hotels so could easily take the monorail or Disney boat to the parks, and paid (WAY too much) extra for lightning lane premier passes at the Disney parks and whatever skip the line unlimited was for universal. We only plan on going once and didn't want to spend all day in lines. I'm glad we did as we went on pretty much every ride at each park within a few hours, then could do extra rides on some of the best ones and take out time exploring and not waiting. It was actually a really great trip but only because we are privileged enough to be able to arrange huge added costs of the LL/fast pass.

[u/PlayfulPresentation7]

Latest earnings call their profits were led by parks division their best performing segment.  The parks are too packed, their top tier hotels are booked one year in advance, and you need to wake up at midnight to reservations as their best restaurants.  It doesn't fit the Reddit narrative to say it but honestly a strong argument can be made they aren't charging enough at Disney World.

[u/KemonoMichi → u/PlayfulPresentation7]

I came here to mention this. Disney has increased their prices specifically to try and lower the amount of people that come. Disney actually defies economics in that no matter how much they charge, they don't lose business. Not in any significant way. I saw something that said they are simultaneously underpriced and overpriced.

[u/PlayfulPresentation7 → u/KemonoMichi]

If Six Flags sold a new random food item at one of their snacks stands in one of their parks, it's less newsworthy than a fart if it even gets noticed.  Disney World does it and it gets extensive coverage and discussion on the dozens of Disney world YouTube channels out there.  It's crazy.

[u/BobCreated → u/PlayfulPresentation7]

There's 334 million Americans and six Disney parks in just two cities. It's not a price issue, it's supply and demand.

[u/southwick → u/BobCreated]

I know they've done the math, but I still can't imagine how they don't open another one in central US. Texas or Arizona.

[u/Arkose07 → u/southwick]

Totally missing the opportunity for Disneyland New York and erecting a scale Avengers tower, kinda like the millennium falcon

[u/No-Lead-6769 → u/Arkose07]

They probably only want to open in places where they can be open year round 

[u/ProfMcGonaGirl → u/No-Lead-6769]

And afford the land.

[u/enkafan → u/southwick]

I think they should buy Cairo Illinois and turn it into a full balls to the wall Tom Sawyer Island. 

[u/Retr0scores → u/southwick]

Do they have land for $100 an acre?

[u/worldspawn00 → u/Retr0scores]

In some parts, yeah, like the land in Florida when they bought it, it's inhuman wasteland with no roads or utilities anywhere near it. But for Disney, it's probably worth the investment.

[u/Ok-Plantain2948 → u/PlayfulPresentation7]

At this point, Disney movies are simply adverts to get people into the parks.

[u/MaximusHomerdrive]

I remember '91. It cost $3 to go through the Lincoln Tunnel and I remember being outraged when it went to $4. What is now, like $16? Funk that. You can't leave the house anymore without spending at least $100 these days.

[u/robotsdottxt → u/MaximusHomerdrive]

Well at least Zuckerberg and Bezos have nice rockets and yatchs.

[u/ThrowRA-un1337]

Disneyland isn't priced or targeted to average people or southern california locals anymore. Like Vegas and other such places, it's aiming at the global wealthy. Disneyland isn't for teenagers anymore for a weekend day-adventure anymore, it's for a well-heeled Chinese families or Omani playboys and Corporate Execs to come and dump five digits on a weeklong trip.

[u/The540Incident → u/ThrowRA-un1337]

Recently the tickets have never really been priced for locals besides the SoCal discount ones. Disney is pricing the annual pass accordingly for locals. The top tier annual pass (many people get this one) is now almost $2000 and gets more expensive every year. There are other tiers, but the block out dates can be so extreme that they can be harder to justify.

I used to just get the enchant key which I think is $1000. There's also a SoCal key but I think virtually all weekends are blocked out. The enchant had some weekends and recently was upgraded to include parts of summer.

[u/Romnonaldao]

in 91 you could also go to Pizza Hut get two large pizzas, breadsticks, a 2 liter, and desert for around $20

[u/StealthSBD → u/Romnonaldao]

in 2026 you can go to pizza hut and get the big box deal for 19.99, which is the same thing minus the dessert

[u/subpoenaThis]

$60ish in today dollars. Better than the $200 for one day. Some people say, "but it's only $105 a day if you go for the week." I hear, "Tickets are only $525. Haven't been in 25 years, probably won't go again. Too expensive.

[u/afleetingmoment → u/subpoenaThis]

‘90s kid. We used to go visit my Grandma in Boca and drive up for a couple days. You parked, bought some tickets, and enjoyed the park for a day. $99 rooms at the Caribbean Beach and spend another day swimming in the many pools.

Now it’s insanely expensive and stupidly gamified. Which type of ticket, which pass, which day, which ride are you running for first, where should you eat…

It’s more work than going to work.

[u/ClamsMcOyster → u/afleetingmoment]

90s kid here. I remember when you could when passes to Six Flags from soda caps.

[u/Yangoose → u/afleetingmoment]

Now it’s insanely expensive and stupidly gamified. Which type of ticket, which pass, which day, which ride are you running for first, where should you eat…

Yes! So much this!

Earlier this year I took the whole family on a trip to Orlando. My kids are all grown and moved out so the trip also included SO's, so there was 7 of us total. I handled everything. Flights, lodging, food, schedules, rental cars.

Buying tickets for Disney was the absolute fucking worst. Much harder than everything else combined.

How many days worth of tickets are you gonna buy, is park hopper worth it, the three different levels of lightning passes and how you're going to manage each of those passes while you're at the park, trying to choose which parks on which days...

I think if I do it again I'll just fly everyone down to a giant AirBnB with a nice pool and throw a thousand bucks at each of them and tell them they are welcome to do whatever they want, I'll be here floating in the pool with their mom drinking cocktails.

[u/20PoundHammer → u/subpoenaThis]

$100 when you are member, which is what OPs family was.

[u/All-the-pizza]

Isn’t this that magical place where that lady-guide got crushed in the walls??

[u/Epstiendidntkillself → u/All-the-pizza]

I don't know how I'm just hearing about this now.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/deborah-gail-stone-disneyland/

Holy crap.

[u/kkeut → u/Epstiendidntkillself]

tbf most people don't know about random fatal mishaps from 5 decades ago, even if they happened somewhere notable 

[u/ryushiblade → u/All-the-pizza]

Within three days they had reopened the ride with breakaway walls and pressure sensors. Kinda makes you think they could’ve done it all along but wanted to save a buck

[u/Bauld_Man → u/ryushiblade]

It's one of those things that's easy to correct when the problem presents itself, but you think couldn't possibly happen during construction. Just one of those awful edge cases that resulted in a death.

[u/RelativeMatter3 → u/ryushiblade]

It was 70s. Health and Safety wasn’t given the same consideration as today. That stuff was installed because they thought ‘how do we stop this happening again’. It’s unlikely there was a thorough ‘how could people get hurt on this ride and how do we prevent it’ during a ride’s construction.

[u/ErdenGeboren → u/All-the-pizza]

Crushed is a nice way of putting it. More like pepper-grinded and juiced.

[u/bigred2342 → u/ErdenGeboren]

Yikes

[u/UCFknight2016 → u/All-the-pizza]

Yes. She got between the wall and the stage and got crushed.

[u/RabidJoint]

I miss the SoCal resident price

[u/not_so_subtle_now → u/RabidJoint]

I grew up about 2 blocks from Disneyland. My friends and I got those passes for 89 bucks or whatever it was and used to hang out there a couple times a week. I remember walking over to New Orleans Square and getting clam chowder bread bowls for dinner, and then walking back home. It was good times.

[u/CAFunked → u/RabidJoint]

Looks like it's just Anaheim residents now, too greedy to give all of Orange County a cheaper rate

[u/ProfMcGonaGirl → u/CAFunked]

Seriously? Used to be all of SoCal too. Santa Barbara county and everything south.

[u/Sentinel13M → u/CAFunked]

There is a Socal one and an Anaheim one.

[u/OnyxLightning]

I grew up poor. We went to Disney (mom, dad and three kids - though my brother was a baby so he was probably free) in 1986 and the only way we could afford it was because someone gifted us tickets and we stayed with friends of the family. $20-$25 went a long way in the 80s.

[u/nightreader]

A lot of people are unaware that, like many things in late stage capitalism, Disney parks are foregoing the common customer in favor of the whales who will spend more. There are plenty of videos on YouTube breaking this down in explicit detail for anyone interested.

[u/Seienchin88 → u/nightreader]

And they found out that there are enough whales to fill the parks most days of the year…

[u/espresso_martini__]

What amazes me is people borrow money to visit. Getting in debt for Disneyland is wild. I was there last year and the amount of merch i saw people buying was insane and at those prices as well. I guess if you have kids there is a pressure to give them that experience while they are at that age.

[u/Time_Traveling_Panda]

This is my moms ticket from 1990

[u/AlizarinDragon → u/Time_Traveling_Panda]

I love the implication from your username that you went back in time to get these

[u/Time_Traveling_Panda → u/Time_Traveling_Panda]

[u/Typingdude3]

I'm old enough to remember when Disney sold tickets for each individual ride. I don't know how many decades ago they stopped doing it, probably sometime in the 80's, but I can remember (vaguely since it was so long ago) standing in line for tickets to the Haunted Mansion. You had to buy tickets for each individual ride back then.

[u/IceNein]

When I was a teen, I used to go see Metallica in concert a couple times a year for 16.50 plus service charges, for like $20 a ticket total. Minimum wage was $4.25 so that’s 4.7 hours of work. Minimum wage is now $17/hour so tickets to big bands should be roughly $80 a ticket, but good luck with that.

[u/ProfMcGonaGirl → u/IceNein]

Only Washington state and DC have a min wage that’s $17/hr. Federal minimum wage is still $7.25/hr in the US.

[u/StealthSBD → u/IceNein]

metallica nosebleeds are less than $80 today

[u/fiizok]

Disneyland used to have special annual passes for people who lived locally in Orange County or Los Angeles County whereby you could come at night and hang out until closing time. You paid once and you could come in any night for the rest of the year. It was actually a great bargain.

[u/StealthSBD → u/fiizok]

you could make a free reservation for a restaurant inside the park, they'd let you in free, and then you could go to the payphone inside and cancel the reservation lol

[u/bigred2342]

Those were the days!

[u/punk1984]

I have a bunch of stuff from my mom and my grandma's trip in 1979. It was $7.75 (a $13.20 value!) for a ticket book; equivalent to $35.65 in 2026. They were broken up into A, B, C, and D level attractions. Not exactly sure how they were redeemed. It kind of looks like areas of the park were broken up by attraction and you could only visit a specific section per coupon.

[u/MasterPip]

Disney isn't worth it anymore.

Even during off months you have 2-4 hour waits for the popular rides. A 5 day stay for a family of four is around $5,000. Its insane. For every happy person I see there's two dozen miserable people walking around.

I say, if you've never been and want to experience it once and have the money, go for it. But its nothing like it used to be when I was a kid so no matter what you're getting the greedy billionaire version, not the one who had a vision.

The "magic" that was Disney existed because of the times, right when the technology was advanced enough to make kids stare with wonder, versus now every child has access to a smartphone and is bored by anything they've interacted with before (oh thats just a screen, its a robot stupid, its just AI, its just some guy in a costume, theres someone in a booth watching us on camera and talking to us, etc). Obviously the younger the kid the less of a problem this is. But I saw an 8 year old saying this stuff the last time I was there.

Its just not the same anymore and I doubt it ever will be.

[u/Retr0scores → u/MasterPip]

Disney world stopped having a “slow season” even before covid hit. We used to wake up and plan some fast passes for the evening. A little before covid that started to become impossible and was just nuts to butts year round. Once they did the reservation system even for passholders we didn’t renew our annual passes and kept our universal passes.

[u/sarahshift1 → u/MasterPip]

I went to Disneyland with my extended family in mid June and we had an incredible time. The app made it so convenient to see which rides had a short wait and I don’t think I waited longer than maybe 45 min for anything in the whole 2 days we were there.

It was definitely a nostalgia trip for all of us- we used to do the big grandma-and-all-the-cousins trips in the 90s. Now that even the youngest cousins are mid-20s it’s a totally different and superior vibe.

[u/petmaster → u/MasterPip]

I'm not a Disney fan, but claiming 3-4 hour wait times is pure exaggeration. All summer wait times have been under 2 hours according to a separate local post.

[u/gecko_father]

Vote with your wallet. Stop supporting these terrible companies and they will stop making everything worse.

[u/redditor001a → u/gecko_father]

It doesn't affect them though. You are no longer their target customer. They target the ultra rich now and your absence makes no difference to them.

[u/DreamyGlowKitten]

honestly that's wild, it'd be like $70+ today right?

[u/Cryptocaned → u/DreamyGlowKitten]

$62.52, close!

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

[u/JauntyGiraffe]

I remember when it was like $50 and I thought it was a lot already

[u/toomany_geese]

As someone who is not into disney things and detests crowds: can someone exain to me the appeal of disneyland? What makes it so much more special than a regular theme park?