# When did Disneyland get so Damn Expensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313 "2015-08-20T02:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/21 "2015-08-20T12:45:04Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Not to mention all the Disney resorts (hotels) campgrounds and such plus Disney cruises and even a Disney island. The mouse gets your money. > > Frankly Disney is maybe a once in a lifetime destination. You’ve seen it once, no reason to return. I agree. However, I live 400+ miles from Disneyland, yet there were/are families in my neighborhood that purchase annual passes every year. They say it pays for itself on less than 3 visits. To a lot of people, “vacation” = Disneyland. (shudder) I concur that when you break down the cost per person/day, it seems less painful. Remember, you will be getting a “magical” experience! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/22 "2015-08-20T13:08:59Z")
Seems like Disney is charging what “the traffic will bear”. This is sound business practice-if you want a discount, go some other place, like 6 Flags. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/23 "2015-08-20T13:18:53Z")
They’re setting attendance records right now. Whatever you think of thicket prices, the “market” says the rates are fine. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/24 "2015-08-20T13:38:32Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > They’re setting attendance records right now. Whatever you think of thicket prices, the “market” says the rates are fine. Maybe you could buy bulk tickets in advance as a hedge? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/25 "2015-08-20T13:53:24Z")
Most of their tickets have an expiration date. A few years ago, my wife and I bought 10-packs of Disney World passes that never expire. It was an option you pay extra for, and they don’t offer it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/26 "2015-08-20T14:16:45Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Most of their tickets have an expiration date. A few years ago, my wife and I bought 10-packs of Disney World passes that never expire. It was an option you pay extra for, and they don’t offer it anymore. Unused tickets never expire. You can even trade in 40 year old E-tickets against the value of a new ticket. But once you first use a normal multi-day pass, you have 14 days to use it up. The non-expiring multi-day passes (which as you said no longer exist) were much more expensive than the normal ones. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/27 "2015-08-20T14:21:59Z")
There is always a reason to go back… _Star Wars is coming to California’s Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida. The Star Wars Lands will encompass 14 acres at each park — the company’s largest-ever single-themed expansions. Disney CEO Robert Iger announced the new attractions today at D23 in Anaheim._ This explains the high ticket cost I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/28 "2015-08-20T14:29:20Z")
> [@journeyman\_southpaw](#): > > [Disneyland admission prices since 1981](http://dizscoop.com/2014/05/20/admission-prices-over-time/) > [@lisiate](#): > > Great data there. > > If this [inflation calculator](http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/)is to be believed those ticket prices have risen almost twice as fast as much as inflation. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > Just glancing, it looks like the prices have gone up more, year over year, from 2009-2014 then any other period (it’s about $4/yr during that time and 1-3 during previously). I wonder if they were trying to make up for the stock market crash. At first glance ( **journeyman\_southpaw** ’s link), the price increases don’t appear so drastic. Further analysis (which I don’t have time to do myself) by **lisiate** and **Joey P** indicates the prices _have_ risen faster and higher than they ‘should’ have. What always irked me was the number of rides one could ride vs. the cost of admission. Sure, you can ride the unpopular rides several times. But the _good_ rides can have a two-hour wait. So you may spend all day in the park and only get to ride four to eight rides for your very expensive ticket. (I understand the reservation system helps, but it’s been over a decade since I’ve been there.) In 2003, when I still lived in L.A., I had a season pass that cost $99. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/29 "2015-08-20T14:38:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > (I understand the reservation system helps, but it’s been over a decade since I’ve been there.) The reservation system helps a bit but has actually gotten worse at Disney World with the introduction of FastPass+. You can sign up for three rides – even before your day if you do it online. So some slots for the very popular rides might be full even before the actual day (unless of course you want to wait 2 hours in line). And it isn’t that great for the medium popularity rides either because you have to use all 3 slots before you can get more: no more picking the FastPass lines that only have an hour or so wait, then getting something to eat or riding a fast ride before your ride, then selecting the next fast FastPass ride. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/30 "2015-08-20T14:50:41Z")
I’ve been going to Disneyland since 1957. I was six on my first visit and the last time I went was about 10 years ago. I’m sure I’ve visited the park at least a hundred times. Even into the mid to late 60’s you could buy a “general admission” ticket (no rides included) for a small amount and spend hours just enjoying the park. Heck, when I was in my early teens, Disneyland and church were the only places I was allowed to go without direct adult supervision. Like anything else in life, it’s a personal taste. Some people love the “Disneyland Experience” and some don’t. It’s a highly engineered place at all levels and no matter how you feel about engineered fun, you have to admit that Walt Disney invented the modern day amusement park and they’ve been at or near the top of that game ever since. The guys that run the park have always understood that if it’s not a fun and enjoyable place to be, then there is no reason to be there, so yeah, you’ll spend money at the park, but unless you’re a hopeless curmudgeon, you’ll also have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/31 "2015-08-20T14:55:57Z")
[What to expect at Disney.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrfh2GCOq2c) ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/32 "2015-08-20T15:00:36Z")
Yeah, we went to Disney World in April and I really hated the Fast Pass + system. Constant technical glitches, and having to do _way_ too much planning ahead. I totally disagree with the person who said that Disney’s California Adventure is not worth going to. When it first opened, that was the case; however, they’ve put a _lot_ of work into it and it’s a damn good park now. Not necessarily worth a trip to CA just for itself, but definitely not a wasted day. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/33 "2015-08-20T15:05:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’d like to offer a different perspective; I don’t get what the complaint is. $700 for a three day pass for four people is $58 per person per day, which strikes me as being a perfectly fair price to visit a giant amusement park of the highest quality. Check your math. It’s two adults and one child under 10. That averages USD 77.78 per person per day, or $233 per day for a family of three. However, entertainment these days is extravagantly priced. My son just paid $75 for lawn seats for a pop music concert. I spend at least $200 (up to $300) just to take my family to an MLB baseball game, and that’s just the seats. So $700 causes sticker shock but compared to the other options it’s probably competitive. But it’s a shame that now many people will cannot afford to go at all. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/34 "2015-08-20T15:23:44Z")
can you get into Epcot without paying for Disney world? that is the onlyb place I’d want to go to. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/35 "2015-08-20T15:31:15Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > can you get into Epcot without paying for Disney world? that is the onlyb place I’d want to go to. Epcot is part of Walt Disney World. If you meant “Can you get into Epcot without going to Magic Kingdom” - which is the original park in WDW, then yes, you can. Basically, the pricing at WDW works on a multi-day pass system. Each additional day is incrementally cheaper than the previous one, until you get to the point where you’re paying “only” $10 per extra day. So you can buy a pass for as many days as you want, and go to whichever of the 4 parks in WDW that you want to. - Leaving aside the complications such as a single day pass to Magic Kingdom is more expensive than a single day pass to any of the other 3 parks, switching parks in a single day costs more, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/36 "2015-08-20T16:20:14Z")
> [@journeyman\_southpaw](#): > > [Disneyland admission prices since 1981](http://dizscoop.com/2014/05/20/admission-prices-over-time/) Thanks for that link. I always wondered what I paid the one time I went ($17.95), because I can’t remember the exact amount, but I don’t remember it being the equivalent of nearly $100 ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/37 "2015-08-20T16:21:34Z")
Building on the price data that **journeyman southpaw** found, I built a table of Disneyland price changes relative to CPI-W. It looks like the worst periods for price increases relative to inflation were 1985, 1987, and 2005 (which had two increases). CPI numbers from here: [Consumer Price Index (CPI-W)](http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/cpiw.html) ``` Annualized Price Ticket Price Annualized change ``` Date Price % change Increase CPI-W CPI change \> CPI 1/1/1981 $10.75 87.5 1/1/1982 $12.00 11.6% 11.63% 94.7 8.23% 3.40% 1/1/1984 $14.00 16.7% 8.00% 101.6 3.58% 4.42% 1/1/1985 $17.95 28.2% 28.14% 104.9 3.24% 24.90% 1/1/1986 $18.00 0.3% 0.28% 108.9 3.81% -3.53% 1/1/1987 $21.50 19.4% 19.44% 110 1.01% 18.43% 1/1/1990 $25.50 18.6% 5.85% 125.7 4.54% 1.31% 1/1/1991 $27.50 7.8% 7.84% 132.8 5.65% 2.19% 1/1/1993 $28.75 4.5% 2.25% 140.3 2.78% -0.53% 1/1/1994 $31.00 7.8% 7.83% 143.6 2.35% 5.48% Jan-99 $39.00 25.8% 4.70% 161 2.31% 2.38% Jan-00 $41.00 5.1% 5.13% 165.6 2.86% 2.27% Nov-00 $43.00 4.9% 5.86% 170.9 3.84% 2.02% Mar-02 $45.00 4.7% 3.48% 174.7 1.67% 1.81% Jan-03 $47.00 4.4% 5.32% 177.7 2.05% 3.27% Mar-04 $49.75 5.9% 5.01% 182.9 2.51% 2.50% Jan-05 $53.00 6.5% 7.83% 186.3 2.22% 5.61% Jun-05 $56.00 5.7% 14.25% 190.1 5.00% 9.25% Jan-06 $59.00 5.4% 9.30% 194 3.52% 5.78% Sep-06 $63.00 6.8% 10.35% 198.4 3.43% 6.93% Sep-07 $66.00 4.8% 4.76% 203.889 2.77% 1.99% Aug-08 $69.00 4.5% 4.96% 215.247 6.08% -1.12% Aug-09 $72.00 4.3% 4.35% 211.156 -1.90% 6.25% Aug-10 $76.00 5.6% 5.56% 214.205 1.44% 4.12% Jun-11 $80.00 5.3% 6.35% 222.522 4.68% 1.67% May-12 $87.00 8.7% 9.57% 226.6 2.00% 7.57% Jun-13 $92.00 5.7% 5.29% 230.002 1.38% 3.91% May-14 $96.00 4.3% 4.76% 234.216 2.00% 2.76% Feb-15 $99.00 3.1% 4.15% 229.421 -2.70% 6.85% ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/38 "2015-08-20T16:44:28Z")
> [@NinthAcolyte](#): > > Not really. They offer cheaper passes to us SoCal residents, but it’s ludicrously pricey nomatter how you slice it. You can look on Craigslist and social media - some people will sell two or three day passes with one or two days left on them for steep discounts, but you’re taking a risk of being scammed. I was at a meeting at Disneyland earlier this month with some Orange County residents, and they said the SoCal tickets had so many restrictions as to be nearly useless, and expensive to boot. They are jammed. They are a lot more restrictive about our hotel block then they were 2 years ago last time we were there. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/39 "2015-08-20T16:47:53Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I totally disagree with the person who said that Disney’s California Adventure is not worth going to. When it first opened, that was the case; however, they’ve put a _lot_ of work into it and it’s a damn good park now. Not necessarily worth a trip to CA just for itself, but definitely not a wasted day. We went before the revamp, and the place was deserted. Not any more. Much better rides now. One of the Disney people we talked to said that they were getting pulled off the Magic Kingdom to work at CA because of the crowds after the revamp - I assume they have things straightened out now. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313/40 "2015-08-20T17:21:33Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Great data there. > > If this [inflation calculator](http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/)is to be believed those ticket prices have risen almost twice as fast as much as inflation. Yesbut- there are now nearly _four times_ as many attractions as when DL opened. Not counting DCA, which you can get access to for a few bucks more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-disneyland-get-so-damn-expensive/728313.md?page=3)