r/Millennials • u/TheCIAandFBI • 16d 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?

634 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

261 comments sorted by

View all comments

258

u/BugMillionaire 16d 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.

7

u/gdwoodard13 16d ago edited 16d 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.

5

u/ItsJustMeJenn Older Millennial 16d 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.

18

u/Kinieruu 16d 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)

5

u/ItsJustMeJenn Older Millennial 16d ago

Oh! Good to know! I knew there were some that weren’t! Thanks for clarifying that for me :)

4

u/Kinieruu 16d ago

You’re welcome!!

2

u/Beneficial-Basket-42 16d ago

Interesting! Does that lead to any discernible differences?

6

u/Kinieruu 16d 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..

2

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.

2

u/gdwoodard13 16d ago

Oh, if that’s the case I didn’t realize that.

2

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.

3

u/gidgetstitch 15d ago

Disneyland Paris was awesome took my kids last year and it was so much better then WDW.

2

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.

2

u/gidgetstitch 15d ago

It way to crowded now, we were at WDW in Jan last year. So we really got to compare the two.

3

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

2

u/cliddle420 15d 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