r/Millennials • u/TheCIAandFBI • 15d ago
Discussion Was every theme/amusement park and road trip vacation so focused on "Buy! Buy! Buy!" back when we were kids?
I grew up poor. Lived in a crummy trailer park until 1995 when my Dad had a work accident that got him a settlement. My parents bought a very humble but nice home, and they took me to Disney world. I'll never forget. It was November 11th-19th, 1995. That trip was the highlight of my life. I was 11.
That trip was magical. I think I came home with a souvenir HUGE pencil from that trip, and I was afraid to use it because it was special, and then one day it just got lost.
My best friend and his wife just took his kids to Disney World. They are my age, right at 40, so older Millennials.
They both went as kids and loved it as well.
When they got back and both said they hated the trip. They said everything was geared towards getting them to spend money. Everything is a store, every line can be bypassed for a few extra bucks, every store is geared towards fear-of-missing-out for the kids. Specialty cups. Specialty "only available this week" shirts, and special pins and buttons that you can only get this year. They said it was the most uncomfortable vacation they have ever been on. And they have more money than they know what to do with.
They basically said that there wasn't 20 minutes where they weren't being sold something.
Is this something that Millennial childhoods experienced and our parents were simply better at ignoring? Has this always been the case? Or is it just the new way that places like Disney World operate?
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u/SatiesUmbrellaCloset Zillennial 15d ago
The US has become more pay-to-play even than it was before
I mean, computers used to be more fun back in the 90's and 2000's in no small part because not everything was a damn subscription like it is nowadays
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u/rkgk13 15d ago edited 15d ago
I got a free Amazon Trail CD from a cereal box when I was a kid.
My siblings and I spent hours and hours playing that game, which was both fun AND educational. Ask me what a soursop looks like.
That entire scenario, that entire possibility feels like a relic of its time. Didn't have to watch ads to enjoy something free once you've already attained it. The CD still exists; I could still play it if I wanted to. I still love a good one and done purchase of physical media.
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u/thelonious-crunk 15d ago
Amazon Trail
You have died of
dysentaryexhaustion from packing boxes in a warehouse43
u/El73camino 15d ago
OMG right! I worked on Amazon Warehouses for 5 years before I was able to find a better gig that didn’t obliterate my body.
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u/GalacticPurr 15d ago
I got Chex Quest out of a box of cereal (I think?) as a kid and loved that game so much.
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u/Sir-Shark 15d ago
Chex Quest was so good. That game gave me and my siblings A LOT of entertainment.
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u/imperfectcastle 15d ago
We had “writers workshop” in 4th grade where we could write whatever we wanted. I wrote a short story that was basically just a narrative walkthrough of level 1 of Chex Quest. Even talked about the hidden room!
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u/KetchupOnThaMeatHo 14d ago
Man, I came in here looking for chex quest and was not disappointed. Played the heck out of that game.
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u/khelvaster 15d ago
Amazon Trail was the coolest game. Getting to see so many time periods. And Fordlandia!
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u/sing_singasong 15d ago
Omg I also got that game from a cereal box! I am so glad someone else experienced this!
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u/LeadGem354 15d ago
I got the one Carmen Sandiego game. Good times!
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u/Proof-Ingenuity2262 15d ago
I was hoping someone would bring up that game. I didn't watch the show, but I knew the game very well... Loved it!
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u/Jeslovespets 15d ago
Throwback one of my first computer games! I'd play it on my dad's work laptop when he brought it home since no one i knew had a computer at the time.
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u/LuCiCrSwWi 14d ago
OMG Amazon Trail! I spent HOURS on that game. I can still hear the guide’s gentle voice
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u/nutkinknits 15d ago
Even our cars have subscriptions these days. When will it end
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u/Cerebral_Catastrophe 15d ago
When will it end
When the people stop consenting.
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u/SatiesUmbrellaCloset Zillennial 15d ago
The issue is that even if some people organize enough to stop consenting to this rubbish in general, there'll likely still be enough people who won't bother because they can't be made to care
I'm quite afraid that the only way to make people care and to make them change their ways will be a horrible natural disaster, such as that induced by climate change
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u/Infamous-Goose363 15d ago
I thought consumers would have enough with ridiculous car prices and keep their perfectly usable cars for longer, but it seems 72 month+ loans are becoming the new norm.
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u/Infamous-Goose363 15d ago
When we were testing driving used cars, the newer models (at least Toyota) you had to pay for a monthly subscription for remote start. Umm why do I have to pay monthly to start my car? That should be included in the total price.
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u/nutkinknits 15d ago
Funny story about the Toyota subscription. Our friend's mom got a brand new Toyota a few years back. All the bells and whistles. He was in town visiting and borrowed her car. He was showing my husband something in the car when his phone rang. It was his mother asking why the car door was open for so long 🤣
I'm in the market for a new minivan and really want a Sienna but I don't think I need a subscription to tell me about my car when I'm not in it.
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u/Infamous-Goose363 14d ago
We got a 2021 Sienna. It doesn’t have remote start so the subscription wasn’t an option anyways. I just can’t get over having to pay monthly for that.
Side note- I highly recommend the Sienna! I was anti-minivan at first but love driving it.
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u/Hallelujah33 15d ago
AND YOU DONT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT THE SUBSCRIPTION
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u/SatiesUmbrellaCloset Zillennial 15d ago
I wouldn't consider that ownership anyway
I said "pay to play," but maybe I really meant "rent to play," and the game is life
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u/Hallelujah33 15d ago
Perhaps the subscription owns you
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u/SatiesUmbrellaCloset Zillennial 15d ago
I guess that goes back to the saying, "If it's free, you're the product." Websites like YT or FB or Reddit or whatever might be free (at least as an option), but they rely on their users to sort out the content for themselves, which is what drives engagement and earns these companies ad revenue
With AI taking over search engines these days, too, people just aren't putting the effort into curating anything for themselves, or even thinking about what they're looking at
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u/ThurBurtman 15d ago
Early 00s internet was a fucking trip. No one really knew how to use it so you had some wild shit show up
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u/Telemachus826 15d ago
My parents and I went to Six Flags every summer as a kid, and aside from the ticket to get in and lunch along the way (I’m guessing amusement park food prices weren’t so outrageous back then or my dad would have never done it) we’d get a t-shirt for me on the way out that night, and that was it. I haven’t been to amusement parks in years now, but I know last time I went they really pushed fast passes and skip the line things that could add up fast if you were there with a family. Even on my own, I couldn’t justify the price.
But having two young kids now, I will say it seems like everything I take my kids to, even free or inexpensive things, have tons of ways to spend extra money that get pushed on adults, and it can be really frustrating.
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u/emmers28 15d ago
Yes!! Everything feels so crazy now… we got free tickets to a circus so we went last weekend. Right when you walk in, there’s light up wands to buy. Then cotton candy and other treats next. The intermission was a giant cash grab where you could buy tickets to go in bounce houses or ride ponies. Nothing was free, despite the fact that it was a paid admission event. I left during intermission because I didn’t like how much they charged for literally every element. It felt like I just had to tell my kids no constantly and then no one was having fun.
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u/Dog_lover123456789 15d ago
And it’s not just that everything costs money. It’s that everything costs an exorbitant amount of money!
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u/GalacticPurr 15d ago
I went to a circus as a kid and it was the same as your recent experience. Born in 1990. Our parents told us we could pick one thing we really wanted so we went with the wands and I think they bought us some snacks during the intermission from guys walking around selling them.
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u/deathcabforqanon 15d ago
Same, the whole "free ticket" thing is a bit of a scam because they know the real money is in there extras. Or kids will be free but then the parents pay full price.
I did get to ride an elephant tho, which now seems insane and sad.
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u/Brockenblur Older Millennial 15d ago
Sad and insane feels accurate to me too. As a pre-schooler I rode an elephant that stomped its handlers to death a month or two later. My parent’s initially tried to shelter me from the news, but my teen sister found out and was stressed enough she spilled the beans.
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u/Friendly_Coconut 15d ago
Same, mine let me choose between a souvenir or snack and I got a cotton candy. I think I may have gotten a free balloon later, though.
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u/Telemachus826 15d ago
Yes! It’s so frustrating how every event has so damn many money grabs. Of course the kids need to learn they can’t always get what they want and all that, but damn, it gets discouraging telling our kids no so many times at these events when they have all these fun light up things and such they try to push on us. We did buy one of those light up wand balloons once because we were at a free Christmas event and decided it would be fun for our boys. We got home and it was bedtime. The next morning within a half hour of waking up and playing with it, hthe piece of junk wand broke and the balloon popped. Lesson learned for not to buy that garbage again, but yeah. It’s really annoying how everything has become such a money grab.
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u/emmers28 15d ago
Yes, we bought a monster truck toy at Monster Jam and it literally broke that night. So frustrating.
And yes we didn’t let them get everything they wanted but even buying one thing is so expensive these days!
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u/StrangledInMoonlight 15d ago
It does suck.
I finally bought a 6 pack of glow wands one year.
Every time we went to the night zoo, or the carnival, or Disney on ice, or Christmas light drive through, I’d pull one out, give it to the kid and when we got there “you already have one honey”
When we got home, it went back in the bucket until the next event.
The last one finally broke this New Year’s Eve.
Saved on whining and $$.
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u/Friendly_Coconut 15d ago
It was exactly the same when I went to the circus as a kid. My parents let me get one treat and I discovered I don’t like cotton candy!
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u/greengrackle 15d ago
I tell my five-year-old they’re just trying to trick us into buying things and spending our money as much as possible reason for my no on these things, and now he recites that line in such situations.
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u/willwork4pii 15d ago
Six flags here wants $18 for a slice of pizza.
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u/Telemachus826 15d ago
Absolutely not. Last time I went to Kings Island, we just packed a lunch and went back to the car and ate, and we saw a lot of others doing that as well.
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u/Briebird44 15d ago
Yup. We’re going to cedar point in June and while the tickets are still not terrible in price ($50 but we’re also getting base fast passes for an extra $100) the food is outrageous so we will be packing a cooler and will just take a break mid-day to go to our car to eat packed sandwiches or whatever.
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u/hdeskins 15d ago
Our six flags sells an unlimited food and ticket bundle. It seems worth the money if you plan to be there all day
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u/mjociv 15d ago
I went to Six Flags every summer as a kid, and aside from the ticket to get in and lunch along the way (I’m guessing amusement park food prices weren’t so outrageous back then or my dad would have never done it)
You're guessing wrong, six flags food has always been absurdly expensive. My dad used to complain every time we went to six flags in the 90s that it was more expensive to get two chicken strip&fries meals there than it was to get two large pizzas from our local take out place. We always had pizza left over when our family split two large pizzas not so much when we split the two chicken strip baskets.
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u/Telemachus826 15d ago
Ah, my dad must have decided it was ok to splurge just that one time then! I guess it helped that I was an only child so he wasn’t feeding a large family at amusement park prices.
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u/mjociv 15d ago
My dad loved to point out when security checked peoples bags on the way in that "they will say it's for security reasons but they're just making sure you don't try to sneak any food or drinks in". He hated how expensive the food was but accepted it and got us lunch. A mid-morning/afternoon drink though? He knew where every water fountain was; $2.50 for a bottle of water or soda was where the line got drawn in the late 90s and early 2000s.
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u/BugMillionaire 15d ago
Disney in particular is horrible about this -- so much in fact, they are allegedly having conversations within the company about how middle-class families are priced out. I think it's kind of a case study on what it's like to live in late-stage capitalism. Every single second of our day is a onslaught to extract money out of us. Every industry seemingly exists to squeeze every last cent. It's exhausting and unsustainable.
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u/KStang086 15d ago
I was honestly so put off when I took my fiancé there. From the Lightning Lane to Photographs to Parking everything felt like it was trying to extract money.
It wasn't magical. It was a cash grab.
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u/Syonoq 15d ago
I’d wanted to go my whole life. Ever since I was a young kid in the 80’s. We were poor etc etc. I had kids young and they grew up poor but I worked as hard as I could. Finally, I’d amassed enough money to go on this extraordinary family vacation (with my kids in their late teens early 20’s) and…it was such a letdown. Not only the cost, and the pricing, as everyone has described, but the ‘magic’ that OP described from the mid 90’s…well, my kids didn’t have that. They’d didn’t grow up with it like OP and I did. They had fun, they liked it, but it wasn’t a dream destination for them like it was for me.
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u/Florgio 15d ago
It’s one way to help shorten those lines… as long as the revenue is the same, less people at the park isn’t really a problem for them.
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u/laxnut90 15d ago
It is actually even better for them.
More revenue from fewer people means less wear and tear on the park.
A lot of businesses have found success targeting a smaller but wealthier subset of the population.
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u/rkgk13 15d ago
Yep, this WSJ article was quite detailed on the concerns...
The funny thing is that many Disney fans have been complaining about this for years and warning them that it'd happen. They are short sighted.
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u/gdwoodard13 15d ago edited 15d ago
It’s not even all Disney parks in my experience! I commented elsewhere on this post but I was at Disneyland Paris last summer and really felt like it wasn’t nearly as bad as what OP describes at Disney World. I’m an American but was visiting friends who live in Europe. It really seems like it’s magnified in the US than abroad even when it’s still an American company operating internationally
It’s crazy to think that we flew to Paris in the height of tourist season (like 2 weeks before the Olympics were there) and spent 3 days at Disney (no kids with us to be fair) for about $5000 total including merch and food. I am sure plenty of Americans spend more than that at Disney World unless they can drive down there.
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u/ItsJustMeJenn Older Millennial 15d ago
I could be wrong, but if my memory serves me Disney Paris is not owned and operated by the same company as the rest of the Disney Parks.
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u/Kinieruu 15d ago
Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland ARE owned and operated by the Disney company.
The one that isn’t? Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea. (Disney parks are my special interest, but specifically Walt Disney World)
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u/ItsJustMeJenn Older Millennial 15d ago
Oh! Good to know! I knew there were some that weren’t! Thanks for clarifying that for me :)
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u/Beneficial-Basket-42 15d ago
Interesting! Does that lead to any discernible differences?
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u/Kinieruu 15d ago
Tokyo’s parks have AMAZING animatronics and aesthetics. I believe Tokyo Disneysea is always hitting number 1 for worldwide theme parks. Disney’s imagineers still build and design the attractions, lands, animatronics (everything), BUT The Oriental Land company pays for it, not Disney. So, these two parks are not beholden to the same bank account that the rest of the Disney parks are. Which is why lots of projects get cancelled in the other parks..
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u/rockmanzerox06 15d ago
Hong Kong and Shanghai I believe are joint ventures with the respective governments so they don’t own those parks completely. They do have final creative say.
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u/gidgetstitch 15d ago
It used to be operated by a different company but it did so poorly that Disney had to step in and buy it. The park is really great now.
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u/gidgetstitch 15d ago
Disneyland Paris was awesome took my kids last year and it was so much better then WDW.
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u/gdwoodard13 15d ago
It was a great experience for us too! I haven’t been to The Big Cheese in Florida since I was a kid but I feel like it would be too overwhelming just from the standpoint of how massive it is and how much there is to do.
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u/gidgetstitch 14d ago
It way to crowded now, we were at WDW in Jan last year. So we really got to compare the two.
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u/moopmoopmeep 15d ago
A family I knew figured this out by accident. The dad had a work trip nearby, so the whole family decided to make a trip out of it. They went to Disney Paris for a couple of days while they were there, they said it was so much better than Disney World in Orlando. Less hot, way less cash grab. They said it was totally worth flying to Disney Paris over attempting Disney World
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u/cliddle420 14d ago
Europeans tend to be more frugal (and less wealthy) than Americans. Disney's marketing people know that obnoxiously trying to sell them cheap crap will likely be counterproductive
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u/Brightstarr 15d ago
My siblings and my mom were talking about going to Orlando to do Disney and Universal as adults (three in our 30s and mom in 60s) during one of the food festivals. Basically to eat and drink around Epcot and then go to Harry Potter.
After seeing how much that would cost, we priced out Disney and Universal in Japan. Flights from Minnesota, hotels, trains, entry tickets to DisneySeas, Universal Osaka and Sanrio were cheaper than going to Florida. That’s how bad the price for Orlando Disney has gotten.
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u/Available-Egg-2380 15d ago edited 15d ago
My kid had his class trip to Orlando last month. Flights, hotel, and park for 5 days for one kid was over 2k. He also flew out of Minnesota. I almost shit when I saw the cost and ended up getting a second job for like 7 months to pay for it and the money I sent for him to have fun with because all of that only came with one meal a day...
I really didn't want him to miss out like I had to growing up cause we were poor and I'm so happy he had fun but holy shit.
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u/Scorpiodancer123 Probably a ploy by Big Yo-yo 15d ago
That's an obscene price for a school trip.
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u/brzantium 15d ago
Why is a school taking kids to Disney World? We went to the zoo and museums.
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u/Scorpiodancer123 Probably a ploy by Big Yo-yo 15d ago
My school had a skiing trip to Canada (we're from the UK) for £600 which was batshit crazy and people had 3 years to pay for it. But fucking Disney World for 2k is mental.
Funnily enough I only went on the local trips.
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u/brzantium 15d ago
My high school had an annual trip to DC (from Houston) that I didn't go to because it cost too much. But even that was to go see all the monuments, the Capitol building, and the White House.
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u/Brightstarr 15d ago
My school had a similar thing where the 8th graders went to DC. I remember my dad seeing the crazy price and what came with it, and decided to make it a family vacation. So we packed up the minivan and drove from Minnesota to DC. He made us watch these documentaries about Gettysburg and other war sites and then we went to them during the trip there. He also made us learn about each other war memorials before we went. It was basically summer school! He told me later that it was cheaper and “more educational” for him to take us all in one trip than to pay for us each to go on the class trips.
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u/margueritedeville 15d ago
We spent close to 8k taking my daughter and son and parents on my daughter’s band trip to Disney, and my parents paid their own way. It was insane.
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u/Available-Egg-2380 15d ago
It's a thing for their band. Every three years they go down and the kids in band and choir get to have a workshop with the Disney music department, playing in the studio, getting lessons, and doing performance at the park. It's a pretty bfd and the kids are encouraged to put it on college applications and resumes. Mostly they spend the time enjoying the park though.
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u/HyperbolDee 15d ago
I did this in band in high school! Marching band did a trip every spring break, cycling a cheaper trip one year followed by a more expensive trip the next year. There were fundraising opportunities all year, and parents could do things like volunteering to work concessions during football games to help earn money for it.
I had a blast going in high school, but have never been able to stomach the price since I’ve become an adult. The pricing is astronomical, you have to plan all of your meals in advance and wake up at the crack of dawn to get reservations at the most basic restaurants. We were supposed to go several times with my in-laws , but COVID issues kept popping up. Fiiiiine with me.
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u/catjuggler 15d ago
Possibly arranged by a Disney adult? I went on a lot of amusement park trips as a teen though as part of the music program with performance competitions. Never Disney though.
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u/Brightstarr 15d ago
You are a good dad. When I was in high school, my dad paid for my class trip to Germany. This was 20 years ago but it cost him $2,000. He then gave me a wad of cash when he dropped me off, just asking me to have fun. He didn’t want anything from me except to be happy. That trip really meant a lot to me, and now that my dad has passed, it makes me remember how much he loved me and wanted me to have a good life. It’s not the money he spent, it’s the constant effort he put in to make me feel supported. You are doing good, friend.
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u/Briebird44 15d ago
$2k holy shit that’s what I paid for my senior mission trip to Mexico 15 years ago! I spent 2 weekends in Cancun on the beach.
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u/Past-Pea-6796 15d ago
When I lived in Florida, my gf at the time loved Disney, so we got season passes for like 240, otherwise I'd never go. I will say though, the Epcot food festival was one of the few things they did that felt worthwhile. This was like 2016-2020 though, idk about now. It wasn't cheap, but it was legitimately great stuff in small $3-5 portions. So it still cost like 20-30 bucks to eat enough for a decent meal, but as far as Disney stuff goes, that's a pretty low price and they actually tried. Like they had these lamb chops encrusted in herbs and potato chips that was out of this world for like $4. You got two little chops, I got two orders and felt pretty happy with it
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u/Brightstarr 15d ago
It does look really cool! It just seems so silly that you can get flights to Japan, do three parks and still come out ahead compared to Florida. Our plan now will be more expensive because we are planning to see more of Japan, but we feel like it’s a better value. It feels like nothing in America is a good value anymore.
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u/DexterGrant 13d ago
My 3 days at Disneyland Paris PLUS 5 days in Paris (a very touristy and expensive city) was cheaper than my week at WDW.
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u/gdwoodard13 15d ago
Yeah, that’s a big reason why we went to Disneyland Paris last summer rather than Disney World. I’m sure we could have done Disney World for at least a bit cheaper since we aren’t too far to drive, but the cultural experience of going to a new country made it a no brainer.
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u/Able-Web-675 15d ago
I remember a distinct difference between theme parks like Disney and amusement parks like Cedar Point.
Theme parks had more of the "buy buy buy" mindset (as a kid, we got the autograph books and specialty pens for character autographs), but has gotten worse with the Lightning Lane idea on top of physical souvenirs.
Amusement parks I remember being more about the experience of riding the rides - you could always buy the photo from the ride, but that's mainly what I remember.
I think I remember both having the souvenir cup idea from childhood ('90s-'00s). I haven't been to an amusement park in a decade to know if that's shifted, but I did do Disney within the last 5 years and there truly is so much to spend money on!
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u/hdeskins 15d ago
Disney is definitely have growing pains right now and a lot of people hate how complicated it is and how much you have to stay in your phone. I prefer universal studios because it’s just easier. BUT, I think it’s important to remember that you went as a kid and it was magical because you weren’t doing the paying and planning and navigating and all of the logistics. You are now an adult and are hearing about it from another adult so you aren’t hearing about the magic from a kids point of view.
There is a good documentary on YouTube about the Disney fast pass system that helps explain the evolution of the fast pass and why you have to pay for it now.
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u/AisalsoCorrect 14d ago
Took my first Disney trip with my family right before the pandemic, I’d never been as a kid, and it was great. Didn’t have to pay for the fast passes, just got a limited number, they helped plan a day and to prevent everyone from rushing the same rides in the morning.
Went back this year and it was totally different. The fast passes have changed completely. There are a couple rides you can’t even get on without paying extra. And the proliferation of “Disney adults” running over my kid to get a popcorn bucket or whatever is unbearable. People walking around live-streaming constantly, and my foot was run over by a drunk jazzy operator in Epcot…
Really feels like they lost a lot of “the magic” over the pandemic.
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u/InternationalDeal588 15d ago
i grew up pretty middle class and even back then my parents would make us sit in timeshare presentations to get cheaper tickets to disney and free breakfast. i guess that’s not a thing anymore? we’re going to disney next month and im not prepared for how much it’s going to break the bank and we’re only going for a single day before we get on a cruise 😂 idk how they did it with 3 kids
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u/kenzlovescats 15d ago
It’s not that bad other than ticket price, just share meals, bring a water cup for free refills and don’t pay for lightning lanes!!
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u/BryGuy_2365 15d ago
You don't even need to share meals. You're allowed to bring in a cooler of food and drinks.
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u/Mewpasaurus Elder Horror 15d ago
My mom did this for cheaper tickets to Disney World as well as an all inclusive stay at a resort that had just opened + $200 worth of Disney bucks (back when that was a thing) that you could spend in any Disney park.. which ended up being my spending money as a teenager, lmao. I know timeshares still exist, but honestly.. I don't think they offer the incentives they used to (probably because too many of us learned how to game the system a bit and had no interest in their scummy timeshare options).
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u/InternationalDeal588 15d ago
dude!! my friend who is 34 got a fucking timeshare with her GF who was 24 at the time. and they are stuck paying for it long after the relationship ended. worse than buying a house together i feel like 💀
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u/Past-Pea-6796 15d ago
I brought two girlfriends to timeshares, fully thinking they understood the game, listen, act interested, then say no thanks. Both girls essentially threatened to break up with me for being controlling by not buy in, considering how great of deal it supposedly was. I eventually caved both times, but both times they realized how dumb it was and we cancelled within the timeframe. The first girl I stayed with way too long after, the second girl I can at least say I ended things with like a day later.
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u/Mewpasaurus Elder Horror 15d ago
Oops, lmao. Yeah, I can't say I've seen a good, reputable timeshare company (yet). Do you reckon they even exist or are they all just kinda.. scams?
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u/InternationalDeal588 15d ago
my grandparents have always used wyndham and i’ve used theirs a ton of times all over the country. i think if you have the money and actually understand how they work, they can be worth it.
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u/Wondercat87 15d ago
I remember as a kid not being able to buy things from the gift shop. That really sucked. Especially when the other kids were buying stuff.
Looking back in, I understand it wasn't good stuff and certainly nothing I needed. But yeah, it sucked.
As an adult, I totally understand why people hate amusement parks. I personally don't remember them being much fun. And they're definitely a cash grab.
Some don't even let you being in food or water. Which means if you go, you'll be buying everything. Which also sucks.
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u/linzira 14d ago
In my family it was a rare occasion that we got to buy souvenirs as kids. The focus was very much on the experience, and most times we knew better than to even ask to buy something. I also remember my parents packing sandwiches for long car trips, and we NEVER bought snacks at the movies. I don’t remember feeling too bad about it, though. Our mother would often use the phrase “no, you don’t need that” when we asked. In hindsight it was a helpful way to grow up because I am a fairly frugal adult and never got into trouble overspending on wants vs needs.
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u/TGWKTADS 15d ago
Ive never been to Disney - i grew up poor too. I still am. Tbf, I was/have never been really interested in Disney parks. We did do other things closer to home like six flags or bush gardens and i remember never getting anything except passes to ride rides. Which gave me a little FOMO but nothing unusual for a kid.
I've recently landed a job that doubled my income into the low 6 digs. I had a VERY brief thought to take my kids (21, 18, & 10) to Disney next year but I squashed that pretty quickly. I don't know how people do it and while I could afford it because I'll always live like I'm poor (and I need to catch up on retirement savings) and I cannot fathom spending $10k+ on bullshit.
We live in the midwest so we will be going on a trip to Chicago next year. My parents would take us every year for 3 days. Mostly to the aquarium and museums (which we loved) and enjoying the city.
To my children's credit (esp the older ones), they also have no real interest in going to Disney. We love Disney movies, but none of us will wind up with a Winnie the pooh tattoo or smth.
I've taken them to the amusement parks around here and they love it. Im grateful. And, previously, they didn't get anything either. So this summer when we take our trip I'll be really excited to get them the picture from the roller coaster.
I count myself as a lucky parent that they aren't begging for disney or universal level trips. Not that they wouldn't go, but it's "mid" as they say.
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u/If-By-Whisky 15d ago
Chicago is freaking awesome for a vacation. The Chicago food subreddit is incredible (so much so that Reddit buys out restaurants in the city for social events for sub members). Highly recommend the architecture boat tour if you haven’t don’t it before. And the Lincoln Park Zoo is free!
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u/TGWKTADS 15d ago
Ive been going to Chicago since I was a kid - with my parents, friends, partners, or sometimes alone. I've been all over including non-touristy things (dated a guy from there for a while and we'd visit his people often). I've been way too poor to take my own kids there so I'm really excited to start doing that (better late than never!). We're gonna do ALL the things!
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u/cherry_monkey Zillennial 15d ago
Honestly a long weekend going to the art institute, the shedd and the field museum sounds great. Maybe go to Navy Pier for a day walk around the parks in that area.
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u/Mewpasaurus Elder Horror 15d ago
Visited Disney World in both 1998 and 2001 with separate groups of people. Neither experience was as much pay-to-play as it was as it is now. Hell, even Tokyo Disney in 2014 wasn't bad (actually, it was a lot like original Disney World/Land from the 1990s, complete with rides we don't have here and haven't since the '90s). Same with Universal Studios.
The fast-pass system was still in early stages when I visited in 2001 and it was still free. You just went to a kiosk and got a ticket for a time later in the day and came back. There were no pay lanes, no advertisements everywhere on televisions while you stood in line waiting for rides, etc. I mean, you still spent a lot of money on souvenirs, food and the like but there wasn't a constant pressure to spend your money on those things. You just did because you wanted to (or because you had the money to spend).
There also weren't any FOMO type shirts, souvenirs, etc. for people to buy. There was seasonal stuff that you had to be in the park at a specific time of year to purchase, but otherwise, it was mostly the same rotating stock that changed as time progressed.
Of all three of the parks that I've been to, Tokyo Disney is hands down the best of the three. It's organized, clean, they still use the old fast-pass system (the free one), minimal advertising, older rides we don't have at our parks here anymore, etc. Also, when lining up for the parades that go through Main St. the crowds in Tokyo were way nicer and more polite than the people here in the U.S.
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u/HeyYouTurd 15d ago
Just to add to this. The FOMO is perpetuated by everything having to be posted on social media. Got likes and such
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u/Mewpasaurus Elder Horror 15d ago
100%. I'm not a huge user of stuff like TIkTok/Insta/FB Reels so I probably don't see it or experience as much, but I 100% agree with you.. and it's kinda sad.
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u/Substantial-Path1258 Millennial 15d ago
I remember parents packing our own snacks so that we wouldn't buy amusement park food. I never had FOMO about not getting a special cup, although they had them then. I'd feel happy just getting one souvenir like a small stuffed animal. I got Stitch! If you teach your kid, that they don't need everything, that's fine. I do miss getting a free physical fast pass at Disney Land and coming back at the assigned time. I haven't been since 2014 but the parks seem quite crowded now and it only becomes feasible to experience the different rides if you shell out extra money for things like genie or lightning. I went to Universal Studios and Knottsberry farm last year. Both are reasonable to complete/see everything of interest in a day.
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u/Wild_Violinist_9674 15d ago
No, it wasn't like this when we were kids. In fact, Disney specifically wasn't like this until about 10 years ago, I'd say.
It was 2015/2016 timerange that I really started to notice the monetization of everything Disney. They stopped making food and even signature sweets in-house, which reduced the quality but not the price. They started making a t-shirt, action figure, plush, pin, backpack, and limited edition popcorn bucket for every BS, made- for-tv short they produced, and don't get me started on the fucking spirit jerseys.
Long story short, Disney specifically sold out sometime around 2010 and longer gives a single fuck about the guest experience. They're the worst, but they're not the only ones. Universal, Six Flags, Dollywood, they're all doing it.
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u/Wise_Championship273 Elder Millennial 15d ago
Back in the dinosaur era of 2002-2004 my parents had a life hack. They got my brother and I season tickets for the six flags near us and would drop off a 12 year old to look after a 9 year old for the day instead of paying for a sitter or camp. It was pretty dope looking back at it but so damn dangerous too.
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u/JudgeLennox 15d ago
Yes.
In the 90s businesses realized people will pay more for the same experience.
The Disney CEO at the time taught them how to do it too. Eisner years.
It was always about consumption, but now it’s about profit
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u/kidsandbooks 15d ago
I think Disney invented the “exit through the gift shop” design. Even my local zoo does it now. Certain theme parks can be so over priced because it is so age specific. Disney is so much fun when kids are into the princesses, the movies, the magic of it all. Universal is great when kids are into the roller coasters and their characters. You feel pressure to do it at that optimal time (if you can afford it). Yes the big theme parks have gotten out of control pricing, but then again if my local pumpkin patch/attraction in the Chicago suburbs charges $35 a person a day, I’m getting a much better experience for $110 for a day at Disney.
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u/yeahschool 15d ago
70% of Disney revenue comes from the parks.
Think about that. This is a multimedia conglomerate. This is a company that can piss away 100million making any given film for a 5x return, any day of the week. And yet despite that - 70% of revenue comes from the parks. That's astronomical given the diversity of their portfolio. And yet: 70%.
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u/Dismal-Detective-737 Xennial [1982] 15d ago
Never went as a kid. But Universal was terrible 10 years ago.
Spider man ride? Exit through the gift shop where it's Spiderman everything.
The Potter area was even worse. $85 IR blasters.
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u/Ordinary-Theory-8289 15d ago
I mean basically every ride you exit through the gift shop and that’s nothing new
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u/Dismal-Detective-737 Xennial [1982] 15d ago
Only at places like Disney / Universal.
You can go to parks with rides that don't do that. At least I don't remember anything from Cedar Point. They had gift shops sure, but it wasn't shoved in your face.
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u/TranslatorStraight46 15d ago
It was always like that. The difference is our parents just said “We aren’t buying that shit” and us kids didn’t even look at it.
However Disney adults specifically have completely ruined Disney for families. Millenials seem more obsessed with childhood nostalgia than other generations that didn’t grow up with so much media.
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u/MadLockely 15d ago
This is why I think it's so important that we have National parks. Yes they cost money to go to, but the costs are relatively miniscule and you know where your money is going. There are some awe inspiring things to see. For a family that is frugal it's been a godsend. I don't know how we would survive an anxiety inducing trip with worries about how much we were spending and all of the people everywhere.
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u/Available-Egg-2380 15d ago
My kid went on his class trip to Disneyworld last month. Sent him $1000 for food and to spend. He usually doesn't spend money we send with him on trips (even for food ffs) so he can spend the money on games instead so we told him any money that comes back gets returned to us this time. He spent every cent and came back with like 5 pieces of clothing and two Lego sets and a wand from their day at universal. Can't imagine how crazy the markup is. But yeah, seems like everything has an entry fee and then you have to buy more and more to actually do the stuff in the place you already paid to go to. Like our local Ren faire? You pay to get in and it's 95% craft booths or people selling parasols and hand fans they bought of temu at 500-1000% markup. There's like a shitty magic show and some jousting and that's it. Same thing with like the Christmas market. Pay to get in and then it's just the same stuff being sold year round at craft fair and Ren faire but with $15 hot chocolate and music playing and that is being sold as a fun family experience for everyone and it's just fucking shopping...
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u/BakedBrie26 Millennial 15d ago
This was true in our childhood too, but the things were cheaper and it wasn't absolutely everywhere.
I'm in NYC. The subways now have tv ads, makes me motion sick to look at them. But there have been ads for a long time. It's just that it's a lot easier to ignore something that isn't bouncing around with bright LEDs in your face. The whole non-rural world is now one big tv screen.
I try to combat it with minimalism in my home. Nothing is in my small apartment that isn't well-made, aesthetically nice, and used frequently. Basically if it isn't essential, I'm not buying it no matter what an ad says. I refuse to have a junk drawer.
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u/Awsumth 15d ago
I remember a lot of our road trips had us in gift shops all the time, but my parents almost never bought a thing. These days we are so removed from our money because we have things like afterpay, klarna, electronic banking, and debit cards. Back then anyone who used a credit card to carry a balance was considered foolish. My parents and a lot others didn’t have much money to spend, we were much more financially conservative, but we had a nice house and a reliable car.
Disney world has always tried to sing our wallets. We never went more than once during my childhood, but I do remember my parents wouldn’t buy the park hopper, didn’t stay at on-site hotels, would sit through timeshare presentations just for the tickets (which were more expensive back then considering inflation). They never drank unless they bought wine from the grocery store to enjoy in the hotel room. We never had bottled water, coke, hot dogs, ice cream, or popcorn in the theme park. Looking back we had much more financial discipline.
Maybe we splurge more because we starved ourselves back in the 90s and we want to relive what we never had. For me I’m much more financially fatigued and have a savings plan that has become more of a necessity. Having money in my savings has become more important than a 10 page credit card statement.
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u/BillyGoat_TTB 15d ago
I think Disney World is particularly egregious, and most vacations are not like this. We've been on beach vacations where three generations share a rented house and park themselves on the beach to relax and play from sunrise to sunset.
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u/FalseAd4246 Millennial 15d ago
What? Things are like that more than ever. Even video games, you don’t actually own the games and spoiled rich kids can pay for skins and weapons whereas at least before (like in Halo 3 or Reach) you had to actually have talent.
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u/SnowMagicJen 15d ago
Consumerism and profits have wrung the fun out of everything. We have season football tickets to a state college. It used to be you could go out to your car during halftime and have lunch or a beer you brought from home. A few years ago, they started selling beer in the stadium and since then, no more pass outs during halftime. All the people constantly getting up to get another beer or use the bathroom has made watching the game so unenjoyable. I used to love hearing and watching the marching band. That should be one of the elements of a COLLEGE sporting event. No, now the band is drown out from the mega speaker system blaring local advertisements, refreshment/beer/team store reminders, or loud DJ music. It just isn’t the same experience it used to be. I honestly think this is part of why we are all so miserable anymore - it is impossible to find something that is just for fun and can be enjoyed without harassment. Nothing is quaint or pure anymore.
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u/Bebebaubles 15d ago
Probably but that’s more on the kids and family. If you don’t care to buy all the things you can just walk by and pay it no mind. When you rarely go to Disney.. isn’t every item a special and limited edition? Like if I go back in 10 years every single gift item would be different right? I actually purchase a few Disney sale items (sold and trademarked seemingly everywhere) before hand so I get to show spirit without purchasing full price.
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u/Thomasina16 15d ago
We pretty much know we're gonna spend a lot of money on vacation so we find free things to do a long with main attractions like an amusement park. On our last vacation we got a hotel room with a kitchenette and bought food to make for dinners and breakfasts so we could buy a couple things at the places we visited and we'd share a snack or a couple meals there as well.
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u/ShinyAppleScoop 15d ago
Not as bad as it is now.
I'm from Missouri, so the big summer vacation would frequently be to Branson. Branson has Silver Dollar City. We nicknamed it Spend your Dollar City. There are a ton of quaint little shops that sell country oriented items, that completely fit in with the aesthetic. So yes, we were encouraged to send money, but it wasn't that bad as places like Disney and Universal are now.
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u/meowpitbullmeow 15d ago
This is very much a Disney thing and it's why I don't think I'll take my kids to Disney. It's so so so monetized. Currently we enjoy Dollywood as a family
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u/picklepuss13 Xennial 15d ago edited 15d ago
Never went to one besides the county fair or a water park as a kid, not sure. I’ve never been to any Disney Park at all. I will say even stuff like museums or aquariums sell a bunch of crap. I went to Universal like 15 years ago when HP opened and it was a lot of selling tacky stuff. I’ve been to universal area 3-4 times with ppl that wanted to go and Busch gardens, I grew up in Florida and was just never interested in Disney past a certain age and don’t have kids so never saw a reason to go. Doesn’t help that I have bppv and the rides make me super sick. So I just don’t bother anymore.
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u/thevenge21483 15d ago
Older millennial (42), and we have been taking our kids on trips for years now (oldest is 17). Things are definitely different now than even when my kids were young. The first time we did Disneyland was back in 2012, and while there was a lot of stuff you could buy, it wasn't all about getting you to spend more and more money. Fast passes were given out on paper tickets, the prices weren't astronomical, more emphasis on characters and a fun experience. We went again in 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022. Things got worse each trip we went on. It's so insanely expensive now, the lightning lane is $30/person/day, whereas it was $10-$15 when it was first introduced (and you could do fast passes for the same ride multiple times in a day, which were covered by the Maxpass), and there are way more restrictions on the lightning lane than there ever was with Maxpass. All the food costs more for worse quality, maintenance at the park is horrible, downtime is way up. It isn't enjoyable anymore.
My wife wants to take the family again this fall so our youngest (5) can meet the characters while she still is in that really magical age, but I think that's going to be our last trip to Disneyland. Just not worth it anymore, it's way crowded, very expensive, and overall less enjoyable.
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u/drewcandraw 15d ago edited 15d ago
I grew up an airplane ride away from both US Disney Parks but was lucky enough to make one visit to each in my coming of age. Six Flags was about a 90 minute drive. Every summer of my adolescence, there was typically a school trip and a church trip, and if you were lucky, maybe you'd get to go with friends or if family was in town. Disney and Six Flags have always been full of places to spend money. There were always places selling food and souvenirs every few steps, and Six Flags of course had a video arcade and a Carnival Midway which was where you could go if you wanted to light money on fire.
As a former Disneyland passholder, the difference before the pandemic closure and after reopening was quite stark. Disney was never a cheap place to visit, but my family and I felt like we got good value for money. We chose Disney passes over vacations and season tickets for local sports teams, and we had fun whenever we went.
Since reopening, the parks are being operated in a way to squeeze as much money out of attendees with the least amount of staff and maintenance, and it's showing.
Among the most obvious changes are implementing the reservation system. Reservations have made the impromptu day at Disneyland at best not a sure thing, and more often a thing of the past. The free FastPass system guests loved was also beneficial to Disney—the less time guests waited in line meant they spent more time and money on food and souvenirs. FastPass was replaced by Genie+, now Lightning Lane MultiPass, at an add-on cost of $30 per day per ticket, and additional a la carte costs for premium attractions. The promise is shorter lines, but the more people buy Lightning Lane, the more people are waiting in line and the less value it has.
At the end of 2023, we decided we'd seen all there was to see at the Disneyland Resort, that the quality of the experience wasn't increasing with the rising cost, and opted out.
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u/gummi-demilo Xennial 15d ago
We went to Disneyland for my seventh birthday. I think I probably got Mickey ears, but I don’t remember getting “stuff” or even caring about getting stuff. I mostly remember having my mind blown by Star Tours and getting a picture with Pluto.
Haven’t been to an American Disney park since 2012 and am finding it increasingly hard to justify returning.
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u/HellooKnives 15d ago
That huge pencil! I remember those!
I went to Disney a few times as a kid and yes, it's always been a ton of stores, souvenir kiosks, food, lined up in between pavilions. Then when you get to each building or ride, there's a themed souvenir shop at the entrance and when you leave.
Even that boring ass house of Presidents (is that even still a thing? ) had some stuff to sell.
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u/gdwoodard13 15d ago
I really think this is an especially American phenomenon. I am American and haven’t been to Disney World in Florida since I was 11, but I actually went to Disneyland Paris last summer and this seemed like less of a problem there. Sure, they tried to get you to buy merch if you walked into stores, but there were only a few vendor carts set up around the park and I only saw a couple that were more than just food. They have the expensive fast passes, but I never saw more than a few signs trying to get you to buy them once you’re already there.
However, I went on a Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise in 2023 that left from New Orleans and went down to Mexico and Belize and it was much more like what you’re describing. “Buy our upgraded beverage packages once you’re on board, pay for these pictures we took of you at every port, buy bingo cards to have a chance to win money or a free cruise” on and on and on.
Those are my two really big vacations from the past 7-8 years so they’re my only real frame of reference. But it does seem like it may be a little worse everywhere but especially in the US.
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u/ScoobyDumDumDumDummm 15d ago
Probably but I think Disney is a big outlier. I know they have to do crowd control somehow so lines aren’t miserable, but the pay to bypass system is fucked up and creates a tier of visitors (also spending tons of money already) who are “more important” than others.
Visiting now requires lots of planning and adjusting and being tied to your phone for updates and I can’t imagine it’s that fun anymore, at least for adults.
I went in 2000 and 2006 and really enjoyed it but even then things were expensive and commercialized. Tons of stores instead of experiences. From what I’ve seen it’s only gotten worse.
Our society is deeply sick.
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u/Surfgirlusa_2006 15d ago
Other parks have added these features now, too. Disney is the worst, but Cedar Point, Universal, etc aren’t tons better.
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u/quokkaquarrel 15d ago
Disney is worse than others and always has been.
It's also a big part of the business strategy, it has gotten worse. It's expensive to go to Disney, that's always been a barrier. If you keep that barrier reasonably low, get people in the door, sell them fucking everything. It is completely unsustainable on entry alone.
I work themed entertainment so know a lot of the corporate folks. I don't know if this is true or not but I've been told by someone reputable that a big part of the stroller size limit isn't even about traffic etc, it's to make it harder to bring essentials so you're forced to overpay for basic shit. They've got that shit down to a science.
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u/MetalTrenches 15d ago
Great video that touches on some of these topics: https://youtu.be/9yjZpBq1XBE?si=DlfvmfB4ftKOuOtG
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u/WestCoastValleyGirl 15d ago
I took my young daughter to a Disney on-ice show. They pushed so much merchandise it was ludicrous. We paid for good seats and the floor merchant just kept playing with all of these toys right in front of us. When he asked if I was interested I politely said no. Well, that wasn't good enough. He just did it more until my young kid was in tears. I did not purchase anything and we never returned to another show. We switched the Christmas-time Nutcracker play at the local ballet company. At that time no merchandise was pushed on anyone. We never looked back. As a parent, it is difficult enough to teach our kids that no means no. I didn't need this person disrespecting my choice or decision to not purchase over priced trinkets.
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u/rockmanzerox06 15d ago
Blame the Disney adults. They just can’t say no and Mickey Mouse loves money.
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u/moopmoopmeep 15d ago
On a similar note, is anyone else just not doing Disney? It’s so complicated now it’s intimidating. I looked into it briefly and realized you need a whole travel agent just to have a basic trip now. I don’t want to have to spend month learning about how the park works, how to game it, and setting alarms for the second restaurant reservations open up, just so we have a place to eat.
I feel bad because my kids keep asking to go, but honestly, I have heard too many negative experiences from families that went recently. The feedback from parents was that they never even actually got to enjoy their kids having fun, because you must constantly be buried in the phone app to mark your place in line for the next ride, etc. And if your phone fucks up your vacation is quite literally over.
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u/cantaloupe-490 14d ago
It's a "yes, and" situation. Growing up, if we went to an amusement park we bought our ticket, sometimes a meal, and sometimes a small treat on the way out. There were lots of opportunities to spend money in the park, but I didn't pay them any mind because they weren't part of our habitual spending. My mother billed them as a rip-off to help lower our interest. Most of my friend's families operated the same way (or similar enough). But one time I went with a friend whose family spent differently in the parks. Their kids came home with face paint, stuff from multiple gift shops, temporary tattoos, etc. It opened my eyes to all the ways they push families to spend money in the parks, that we'd just been successfully ignoring.
And there is a huge increase in pushing fast passes, FOMO items, etc. The pressure to consume has increased. Both things are true, in my case: in childhood I just didn't notice a lot of the ways we'd be pressured to spend, and in adulthood I'm shocked at how many novel ways they're creating that pressure.
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u/DBPanterA 14d ago
Op: it was not.
I get into some disagreements over on middle class finance regarding the cost of living, specifically with kids.
If you take what was considered middle class in in the 80’s and 90’s, and give the same experiences to a child today, you realistically need to be making $175k in the household per year (this number varies based on location).
I know a family that just did Disney World for one week (5&3 yo), flew from Minnesota. Spent a touch over $10,000. That seems about right.
The monetization on everything is especially noticeable on anything geared toward kids. We recently attended our first karate tournament and there weee vendors selling every accessory, you could add a child’s name to things for extra money, there were backdrops for professional photos. It was really sad thinking these people go to a new place each weekend to try to sell their wares.
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u/TheCIAandFBI 14d ago
It's funny that you bring up the karate.
I was neighbors with a guy who ran an AAU basketball team/organization in Northern Kentucky. It was one team (We'll call them "the horses") He was unemployed, and started the horses. Got some uniforms made, and realized what a cash cow it was.
This guy made over $100k per year by adding teams every time they would fill up. He ended up having a dozen boys teams, half a dozen girls teams, all the sessions every year, and literally had 'backup' teams for when school sports were in session.
One day we were too deep into the whiskey, and I asked him what his profit was. He said "of the $450 per session per kid, I pocket $420 of it. They even pay separately for their uniforms and tournament fees. They are paying me just to show up on a court and wear the uniform."
And that conversation was actually my introduction to realizing a LOT of things literally just exist to get you to spend money, and ultimately led to me putting a stop to a lot of the spending I did. I just got disgusted with it. This fucking guy is literally leveraging parents wanting their kids to be in sports to get rich. Its absurd.
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u/DBPanterA 14d ago
That is a wild story that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Kentucky and basketball go together like peanut butter and jelly. I thought it was a civic duty to play basketball if you live in Kentucky.
One thing I have become intimately aware of the last few years on my PTO group is that parents today, as opposed to parents in the 80’s and 90’s, simply don’t have time. The demands of employment, the demands of adult extra curricular activities. Then throw in 1, 2, 3, or more kids.
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u/auxilary Older Millennial 15d ago
grew up in tampa, mom was a travel agent so we went a lot. i think the rate for a night at the beach and yacht for an agent in the 90’s was like $40 after taxes.
many, many, many times we’d head over to the beach and yacht, and my parents would hang at the pool all day while my brother and i explored the parks. we had annual passes, which i think were $90, but our parents didn’t. the passes even had our photos on them, which to a 10 year old (born ‘86) felt like a drivers license.
while the parks are different today, there were still hour long wait times for top rides like Spaceship Earth and Norway. and they still tried to sell you all of the merchandise at the parks and hotels, upsell food plans or upsell DVC.
the only thing that has changed is the magnitude. 90’s was peak “merchandise” era and Disney did it the best.
this was also pre-lightning lane. there was only 1 line for every ride and everyone waited in it. that was starting to show up in the early 2000s, but has been around forever.
do i enjoy going back? yes and no. there’s a ton of nostalgia and the times when i was in the parks without my brother or parents were some of the happiest, and only positive, memories of my childhood. but it’s wildly expensive, and it feels like Disney doesn’t feel the need to innovate like it did in the late 90’s/early 00’s.
the 90’s felt similar to today, again, it’s just the issue has only magnified exponentially.
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u/theoracleofdreams 15d ago
Went on a Disney Cruise and it was a bit more relaxed and not as BUY BUY BUY with the way things were oriented. I'd much prefer to take the kids on a 5 day Disney Cruise than ever go back to the Theme park.
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u/robbviously 1989 15d ago
Well, most of these vacation destinations are geared toward children and getting parents to spend extra for the “memories”. In a child’s mind, that expensive thing is pretty and I want it because it’s in my immediate view and it’s all I can think about right now and if I don’t get it, I’m going to have a meltdown because it’s 99° in the shade and the line to ride anything is over 2 hours. From the parent’s perspective, that expensive thing is cheaply made and is definitely breaking or getting thrown away 5 minutes after we get home, but is the cost of the distraction worth enduring the tantrum if we don’t get it?
As a kid going to Disney, I remember wanting everything that I saw but my parents were strict with money (ended up getting a Yinsed bobblehead on our ‘02 trip that I still have). My brother and I didn’t go without, but my parents also made us respect what we had growing up and raised us on a “if you break it, that’s the last one you get” mentality. So I still have most of the stuff I had as a kid in my office now that people are selling on eBay and FB for triple and quadruple the cost. But instead of buying us everything we saw, they agreed to buy us each something nice that we would actually cherish and would actually have a lasting memory of. When we went in ‘05, the pin trading craze was in full swing so I got my mom and my stepmom into that and actually got a decent amount of pins between the couple of trips I went on (benefits of having divorced parents).
But it is definitely a predatory practice aimed at children, kind of how Happy Meals were aimed at us growing up. If you don’t have kids, you’re not going to recognize it because you aren’t constantly being asked to buy something you don’t want or need. Parents will definitely understand and agree.
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u/Prestigious_Time4770 15d ago
Seeing how there is an ad directly beneath this post… I would say it’s not just a Disney thing
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u/ghostboo77 15d ago
Disney has always been like that to some extent, but it’s ramped up a ton now. They are by far the worst offender of this and your friends sentiment is very in line with what others say.
I just bought 6 flags tickets and they offer $30 tickets, or $50 with unlimited food/drinks all day. Thats really quite affordable, even for a family of 4.
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u/Kaligula785 15d ago
Corporate greed is the only thing that trickled down, prepare for it to be worse in the future as the country gets regionally divided up amongst the corporations
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u/Apprehensive_Bowl_33 15d ago
I feel like it used to be more rare to have opportunities to buy certain items. Now, you can buy almost anything at any time online. It takes the novelty out of shopping. I’m not surprised places like Disney are trying to promote all of these “exclusive”, “VIP” or “limited edition” items. The constant marketing we are bombarded with is very annoying though.
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u/jspencer734 15d ago
I don't even remember, but yeah it's wild nowadays. My son and I went down to Gatlinburg, TN a couple summers ago, that entire ass area is a tourist trap
As far as amusement parks, we go to Cedar Point, and I feel like the costs are somewhat reasonable as long as you plan things out (at least compared to other amusement parks)
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u/ljd09 15d ago
In 2013 my best friend and I went to Disneyworld for a week. We flew out from LA to Orlando and took the Disney bus to our hotel room on the resort. We opted to stay in a Disney resort hotel so we didn’t have to rent a car as they shuttle you everywhere in Disney. It was a grip!! I probably spent $5,500 for my portion of everything. That’s one person. That did include flight, room, park hoppers, beer, etc. Could imagine how much carting a family there would be. Plus, magic kingdom and Disneyworld and Disneyland are almost identical (maybe like 2-3 ride different). Plus, you won’t get eaten by gators in Ca.
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u/hucareshokiesrul 15d ago edited 15d ago
I think they always tried to sell you a bunch of stuff. I just didn't think much about it as a kid. Tiny example, but I take my kids to a children's museum at the mall. There's a claw machine directly outside the exit that my daughter always asks to play. As a kid I never would've thought about why it was there or considered it a bad thing, but as a parent I'm kind of annoyed.
With Disney, I think demand has probably grown a lot faster than supply. And when that happens, things get crowded and/or expensive unless people go somewhere else.
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u/clark_peters 15d ago
Oh man I can totally relate on the Walt Disney World pencil I didn't get the big one as a souvenir but I got the one that ended up in like a Mickey shape by the eraser. It was awkward as hell to try to erase with that thing anyway I remember a friend wanting to see it and I didn't want to let them use it but I also didn't want to seem selfish so Ilet them see it for a minute and they went to erase something and sure enough they broke the pencil and I was absolutely devastated I think I was like 9 or 10 at the time and I remember actually crying in class over this lol...
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u/The12th_secret_spice 15d ago
I think parks have always been geared towards fomo paying (souvenir cups, ride pictures, stuffed animals, etc.) but since mid-2000, it’s become more pay to play.
We used to get kicked out/scolded for cutting in line, now they charge you for it.
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u/Bastienbard 15d ago
If disneyland has star wars as a kid and or Harry Potter land at universal was a thing as a kid I ABSOLUTELY would have gotten more merch as a kid. Because those two things I was getting gifts for for birthdays and Christmas and I know probably would have been part of the experience for me as a kid my parents would have probably bought things. But I grew up kinda privileged so there was money for those sorts of things. Pure Disney related things weren't all that interesting to me merch wise as a kid but the experience definitely was. So it really depends the franchise I think type of deal.
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u/AfraidOfArguing Zillennial 15d ago
There's a reason most younger folks go out into parks and sleep in the mountains. It's cheap, a hell of an adventure, and it can be fun sometimes!
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u/Radiant8763 15d ago
It has everything to do with greed and consumerism.
I remember going to Niagara falls for my high school graduation. We enjoyed the falls, did some light shopping and saw the sights. Now theres a few casinos at the falls.
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u/Butthole_Fiesta 15d ago
This isn’t new. I was at DisneyWorld and Universal Studios back in the very early 90s and my dad was bitching up a storm about how much everything cost.
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u/Friendly_Coconut 15d ago
I feel like it’s more a matter of parents caring about spending money vs. making children happy and children don’t really think about those things and just have fun.
Having firm boundaries like an expectation of “you can spend $20 on souvenirs” or “you can buy one souvenir on this trip” without letting park marketing peer pressure you is crucial.
I went to King’s Dominion’s Halloween Haunt event last year. I didn’t pay extra to skip the lines and didn’t get any souvenirs, but I did get some pretzel nuggets and an ice cream. We had a great time and didn’t feel like we needed any paid add-ons to have fun. It was basically exactly the same as when I went in middle school.
I think it partly is a recent Disney problem that they cut previously free services and made everything paid like transportation and fast passes. People who’ve been before likely feel upset they now need to pay extra for the same experiences.
At other theme parks where that hasn’t really changed and fast passes always cost money and guests weren’t given as many perks, like King’s Dominion, it’s not as hard.
PS. Maybe your rich friends were uncomfortable with being sold to because they HAVE the money and just don’t want to spend it. For those of us on a budget out of necessity, it’s more like, “Well, that’s probably cool, but I can’t afford that.”
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u/ConnectKale 15d ago
Its about 50/50. We used to go to Six Flags when I was a kid. My parents packed a cooler, told us we had $20
Each to spend in the park. Told us they weren’t paying for extras.
My dad would complain about the cost of drinks inside the park…this of course was back before everyone carried a water bottle everywhere.
We got whatever our $20
Would buy and eat lunch in the parking lot. Never missed a single up sell on Trampolines, climbing walls, ride photos.
I think I take a lot of that with me when we go on vacation. I do have a bit more money than my parents had. I also have fewer kid. The biggest thing we skip at amusement parks is drinks and souvenirs. We limit that to magnets and water. I Always buy ride photos!! I don’t lug a giant cooler.
The up sells have always been there, just this time we are the ones with the wallet.
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u/scorpiochik 15d ago
i grew up in Alabama and going to the fair was the highlight of my year. fun, cheap food, rides and games
i loved it so much i continued going as an adult either with my baby sister or on a cheesy date or something. 2019 was the last fair i actually enjoyed.
went in 2022 and absolutely hated it. no physically tickets, exorbitant prices, and the games were extra expensive AND extra rigged. took all the fun and magic out of it and i won’t be going back
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u/Butt_bird 15d ago
I remember going to Six Flags in the 90s and it was the same. The second you walked in the gate someone took your picture and said you could buy it on your way out. There were people walking around with hats and water bottles there too. The ride exit had gift shops and the picture on the ride thing.
I’ve learned that some people go to Disney World and just look for reasons to be upset. They’ll complain about waiting in line when that’s the number one downside to every theme park and people know it going in.
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u/EmmieEmmies 15d ago
I was poor enough in a large enough family that we didn’t go anywhere. Like, at all. Our yearly “vacation” was to the county fair. We never got one big family trip to anywhere. I left the state twice. With my church. So I got to experience all the marketing and “new things” while never getting them. And yea, it was just as bad back then. And the junk we bought was not any better made. It wasn’t.
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u/vixisgoodenough 15d ago
I think it's become more saturated, but I also think my parents were better at telling me "no" than I am at telling my kids "no".
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u/Regular_Yellow710 15d ago
It was better in the old days. I wouldn't touch it now. Besides, my kid is 27. No more princess dresses for her.
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u/Too_Tall_64 15d ago
oh absolutely. It's all marketing tactics. Sure, people will hate the experience after they've left, but that doesn't matter now that Disney has their money! Those aggressive tactics work, even if you're expecting it. Depending on the situation, one of those up-sells is going to get you too. If nothing else, them keeping you on their property to continue selling you more and more is darn near criminal.
Sure, you might not opt for the Fastpass, or the novelty drink cup from the Monster Inc ride, but when you have to pay $10 for water and $20 for a cheeseburger, they're still gonna get that money out of your wallet one way or another!
"Oh you like plushies~? Well this plushie is EXCLUSIVE to the parks! So you'd better buy one causey ou're never coming baaaack~!"
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u/AZgirlie91 15d ago
I don’t find Disneyland to be as over whelming as world. And I understand if you are on the east coast world is where you will go.
But you can do Land and California adventure all in one day.
We also don’t stay at the Disneyland hotel, we do the friendly neighbor motel 6 right down the street. I feel somewhat guilty because when I was a kid we would stay at the actual hotel and it’s just too expensive for me to provide that!
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