Ahead of new Star Wars land, Disneyland raises pass prices by up to 25%

boing
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I’m just going to leave it at the idea that there’s a lot of room between starving in the streets, and right to having Disneyland be affordable.

Quoted because it’s worth repeating. We have a middle and lower-class under siege on all sorts of fronts.

And then we want to spend that concern on Disneyland being priced out of our reach??

I’m not certain I could I could manufacture a more effective tool to portray those of us on the left as silver-spooned babies crying that those guys are eating with gold spoons. Which is a bloody tragedy considering what our real concerns are.

There are plenty of hills worth dying for. This one isn’t even worth walking up.

And as for appreciation of privilege, I suspect you are more cynical than I.

I find that people work harder when they’re fighting for those less privileged than themselves. “Ask what you can do for your country, not what your country can do for you” and all that. As well, we actually have a moral imperative behind our actions that’s far stronger when we’re part of those making personal sacrifices towards social justice, rather simply irate because others aren’t doing their share.

Perhaps you believe that people are only motivated to fight when they feel that they, personally, are being ripped off. I’m more optimistic than that. I feel that recognition of our privilege leads to stronger action, not less. Certainly it’s what I’ve observed in my circles.

If there are Libertarians who believe they’ll diminish the push towards social justice by pointing out our privilege, they’re sorely mistaken (again). But little surprise. They believe that everyone is as selfish as themselves.

And are we saints? No. I don’t think we’ll see a reasonably ethical marginal tax rate of 50% on $60K+ income or a tripling of immigration from third world countries in my lifetime (although it’s not out of the question on taxes - Scandanavia’s been close), but we’re a hell of a lot better than “I only support justice if someone else is paying for it” that the Republicans believe.

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It’s as good a symbol as any for what’s been lost since the neoliberal consensus took hold. Again, you could replace Disneyland with any once-in-a-lifetime special trip or other big family splurge that middle- and unionised working-class people could afford when they had some breathing room to save up for it and the time to eventually cash out and enjoy it.

One way or another, yes. Idealists and altruists are amongst the leadership of progressive movement, but historically they’re members of a country’s elites and intelligentsia. Relatively speaking (and in some cases not so relatively), they have the time and financial resources to work on behalf of those who spend all of their time scrambling to live hand-to-mouth. As a result, they also have the luxury of indulging in the sort of noblesse oblige that leads them to fight for those less privileged (and for a more just society that’s more pleasant for them to live in).

In contrast, those folks that join the movement as followers, the rank-and-file and those who rise in the ranks, are historically people who have woken up to and are are just plain fed up about the rigged system keeping them down (or indeed, that they’ve been kept down by the system at all). If not being able to take their kids to Disneyland once in their lives like their parents did for them is what gets members of the dwindling middle class in America aware and angry, I’ll take it.

What I don’t have time for is virtue-signalling contests about what the less privileged 80% of the country “should” be angry about. This is especially true when one sets the bar at nostalgic “modest and old-fashioned American aspirations” that were really only available in America to white people (and often only those with a certain amount of social capital) as late as the 1970s and '80s.

For example, those inexpensive trips to the local amusement parks or campgrounds you talk about? If there weren’t explicit rules barring PoC from them, there was (and in many case still is) enough open hostility to their presence by whites that it wasn’t a guaranteed pleasant experience. And as for 9-year-olds setting out on that “voyage of discovery” across the city or dropping boulders off cliffs, those would have been very different experiences for a black kid – the return home might have been in a police cruiser, if the kid was lucky.

Say what you will about the casual racism of Disney and his studio, the theme park never enforced racial segregation from its opening in 1955. If a black family from Georgia was one of the lucky few who could afford to save up the price for a trip and admission in 1960, it was as welcome as any white family.

Do you think they would have been better off going to a less expensive local amusement park or campground where, if they were allowed in at all, they’d be dealing with apartheid-style restrooms and water fountains and a lot of angry stares from whites? Would they have been more virtuous because they chose the more modest alternative to Disneyland?

I’m not saying that, and neither is @anon61221983 . If you think the Republicans support social justice in any form on anyone’s dime, you haven’t been paying attention for the last 30 years.

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Disney is going to be have problems if they become a company that only caters to a few, considering the lack of class mobility. A company that is part of the consumer economy and doesn’t cater to as broad an audience as possible must constantly jack up their rates or constantly reinvent for the elite. Disney started as a brand for the masses, not for only those who can afford it.

Um no, so miss us all with those “you lefties are out of touch” histrionics, please. We’re just aware that Disney is a company that has MASS appeal and that by making some of their products, and that when fewer people have access to things that were once accessible to them, that is a symptom of a larger problem.

Also, let them eat cake, right?

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Thankfully it hasn’t gotten to that level yet, not by a long shot. Sure, it’s way pricier now for local residents to buy an all-inclusive annual pass, but that was something that’s been so underpriced that it’s basically just been re-priced to be the same as their competition (Universal, etc). But all of the big massive theme parks are about $100 for adults for a day. Heck, Universal is even worse – you have to pay extra to get into the Harry Potter area, and if you want the sort of ‘fastpass’ treatment you’re used to getting at Disney, add another $50. Yes, if you want the ‘ultimate Disney experience’ of staying in a Disney resort, eating all Disney food, buying lots of merchandise, doing some extra-special events, it gets super pricey really fast. But just visiting a park? That’s still as affordable as other big family outings.

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Sure, maybe for now. But as you point out, the costs are going up and there are already divisions in the sort of access you can get based on how much disposable income you have…

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It’s undeniably an experience more segregated by economic class than it used to be. Despite the price increases, though, Disneyland hasn’t gone crazy in outpacing the rate of inflation and has kept it a mass experience at the entry level.

A little research shows that a fully maximised day at Disneyland in 1955 would have cost an adult roughly $8.70 for base admission plus the various per-ride fees they had back then. That translates into $81.51 today, which isn’t horribly far off from the current off-peak base ride-what-you-want admission of $97 (for a significantly enhanced experience compared to what you got in 1955).

My takeaway is that they’ve decided to keep it a mass experience at the still-awesome base level as always while making extra money by soaking the wealthy who want more convenience or more frequent access or add-ons. Which is a smart way to go, even if the park has lost the the appearance of egalitarianism it once had.

The real thing preventing middle and working class people from visiting, as you’ve pointed out, isn’t so much that Disneyland has become significantly more greedy since the 1980s but that America’s entire political-economy has.

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Not really; I mean, there’s “ultra VIP” experiences you can pay for if you’re a high roller / celebrity, but at the Disney parks, there aren’t really ‘divisions of access’ for the vast number of attendees. An expensive annual pass gets you some discounts on food, but you’re still getting the same experience anyone else is. It’s at parks like Sea World and Universal that you get upcharged if you just want to get a better spot in lines. But it’s true that it’s a much different place than it was back when it opened: back then it cost about $4 to get in in 1955 money, with the rides all costing extra. (and I see that @gracchus has just posted all of this but said far better than I did :slight_smile:

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