So how much $$$ is too much $$$? It seems that every six months or so, there is another price increase at the House that the Mouse built. And at times it seems that the Mouse needs a bit more cheese than seems reasonable! If Walt Disney were alive today, what would he think about the rising costs of a Disney Park vacation?
Let’s start by considering why Walt dreamed up, designed, and then built Disneyland in the first place. Depending on which version you subscribe to, he first had the idea for a Park where parents and children could have fun together while watching his daughters play in a standard amusement park of his day. He wondered if there might be a way to join his family and share the memories of joyous play. There was. And long story short, Disneyland was born.
So lets keep in mind that Walt built the World’s first Theme Park so that families could have a place to play together and build memories that would last a lifetime. His bottom line was not The Bottom Line.
Do you remember how much it cost to gain entry into Disneyland in its first year? Only about an hour’s wages for the average man of the 1950’s. Care to guess how much inflation has impacted the average Disney Guest as to entrance fees today? It now costs the average man about at least a full day’s pay. If you make minimum wage, then it may cost between two and three days pay. Yikes!
So why the increase?
In all fairness, it must cost more now to run a Theme Park then it did in the 1950’s. Everything has increased in price. Utilities. Wages. Building costs. And anything else you can think of is likely much more expensive now. Could the Walt Disney Corporation survive if it dropped its prices?
One solution that I see is to address departmentalization. Yes, that’s the big word of the day! What it means is that Disney is now divided into sections that are self-sufficient and disconnected from the rest of the organization. So if one division makes an obscene amount of money (say, the movie division with a 2 Billion dollar take for just two movies in one season) it doesn’t share that surplus with another division that may be spending, and thus posting a ‘loss’ (such as the Theme Park division as it pours millions into expansion). So what does Disney the Corporation do? It cuts jobs in that Theme Park division so as to post a ‘gain’. Does that make sense to you?
Being as I spend my hard earned money across all of the Disney divisions, shouldn’t I be able to expect that they would help one another so as to keep the entire Brand solvent and progressive? I appreciate every Disney Cast Member and their contributions, and I don’t like hearing that they are downsized to balance a spreadsheet in one division!
The point: Maybe we need a little less Disney Corporation and a lot more Walt Disney!
Lee Beatens has two sides as a Writer/Artist. His writing side is showcased at the Blog called Disleelandia, and his artistic side is showcased at the Blog called The CANADIAN Kingdom. His improbable third side is showcased here.
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