Guillermo Molero’s Post

I can’t read the article without signing up for Bloomberg but $40k is nuts. Yes, it’s been a few years since I’ve went but we last priced it out in 2021 and it was going to be about $9k for 4 people staying on-site with a healthy budget for food and souvenirs. I don’t even know what someone could do to get the price tag 4x+ that amount unless Mickey is their personal assistant for the week.

Where do these numbers come from? We go to Disney at least one weekend a month. Eat at the restaurants, buy souvineers, use Genie + and lightning lane and it’s nowhere near this.

It was the most over priced, overrated experience of my life. The food everywhere was great for theme park food, like shake shack is good for fast food, but I think we could have actually flown to another country and actually experienced it instead of paying ridiculous prices for what felt like every tourist trap chain restaurant stuffed into an Americanized version of what we think other countries are. I don't know, but I would love to hear from people who come from other countries and see their countries depicted there. The most fun I had was waking up at 6:55am to get in the virtual queue in or to get on Guardians of the Galaxy Ride, which I did (don't use cell service, get on the wifi) it is by far the best ride in the park.

When I was an employee of Disney, I used to get 4 free entry tix per year. I'd always save those up and then send them anonymously to friends and acquaintances with young children. Every kid under the age of 10 should be able to experience Disney theme parks at least once, but sadly, it's financially out of reach for the majority of families.

As a mortgage lender I've done loans for at least three families that have practically ruined themselves financially by thinking they should take the Family to Disney every year. It's a racket.

When a vacation to a *THEME PARK* costs as much as a college education then maybe you have jumped the shark? I only went to Disney once with my mom and dad back in 1999 when I was a kid and honestly I wouldn't go back now if I had children of my own. *NO* theme park experience is worth that much money, no matter how amazing their movies and media are. And the sad thing is that Disney's movies and shows aren't even that good anymore, and are probably in even worse shape than where Disney was back in the 1980s before the Disney Renaissance started with The Little Mermaid. If Disney ends up losing customers because of this then they only have themselves to blame and considering places like Central Florida have a bad child poverty problem, it only makes their price gouging that much more obscene.

Instead of bankrupting a family, a trip to #Disneyland was an exciting recap of pleasant memories of children's films. I enjoyed my trips as a child. It was a lot cheaper 50 years ago, and that was some of its charm! When a single mother could afford to take her son, it was more magical because children from across the country could enjoy something for all #children in #America. #Society benefitted from what became almost a #pilgrimage as millions shared a #cultural experience that helped to define us. Walt Disney died and that dream of providing a service to uplift society died too and has been supplanted with a money-making machine. Granted, what replaced Walt Disney's vision still provides a service, but it's the same in name only.

I had a DVC membership for more than 15 years and sold it last year because the points didn't buy much any more and the cost of everything else became so inflated, not to mention the stupid mask and vaccine mandates...Disney has become a racket and has gone so far astray from it's core and founding principles...It has been a downward spiral since Michael Eisner left...very sad.

I love Disney, and had a great experience there recently by myself while on a work trip; however, I cannot imagine what it would cost an average family of 4 to spend a week at the most magical place on earth. They'd have to take out a second mortgage to be able to afford it. I grew up going to Disney during a time when it was less expensive than going to the Jersey Shore for a week. The parks were always magical - exceptionally clean, methodically mapped out, and employees smiled and felt like they were a part of the Disney magic. I say this with the utmost respect for a brand that I have loved and adored my whole life - Disney needs to strategically reexamine and reimagine its business model before the magic runs out of pixie dust.

I was just there last week and the lines were long and the lightning passes were as long on some of the rides. They have the Halloween special going from Aug 11th on till Halloween and the wine tasting just started so don't say things are slow. They shut down the parks early and kick you out for 5pm for the night halloween festival which by the way is an extra fee and people get dressed up which uses special tickets. The resort rates are not cheap anymore and they did not clean our room the 3 days we were there on the resort. We were told cleaning is every other day. Well that never happened. It's getting too expensive for me and my kids are all grown up. It was a lot of flash back memories since the first time I went was in 1976.