thesilversiren | Dear Disneyland… (Reply)

Dear Disneyland,

Thank you for helpfully sending me one last issue of your Annual Passholder magazine, asking for my family to renew our passes. However, I think it’s time we part our ways.

I got my first annual pass when I was in high school. We’d gone to Disneyland (my parents, sister and I) for Father’s Day. While buying our tickets, my dad lingered at the booth and when he came back, informed us that he’d bought us all Annual Passes. We went fairly often, for birthdays and just because we had a free weekend.

We said good-bye to the Main Street Electrical Parade, at our first passholder event. We even were there on that disastrous night when you trotted out Light Magic for passholders. I’ve never seen a line at City Hall like that one! (For the record, LM wasn’t that bad. It just had bad costumes and the impossible burden of trying to be as good or better than the MSEP)

I stopped renewing my pass when I started to work at Disneyland. No need for one, then. But my parents kept theirs, and we still went into the park often. Dining at restaurants we’d never visited before, shopping in stores that my parents would have only browsed in before.

Case in point. I started visiting the Jewel of Orleans (back when it was the estate jewelry store) regularly. That’s where my fiance and I found my engagement ring. I went back many times, and if I’d found something I really liked, probably would have bought it.

When I left Disneyland’s employ, I got an annual pass, and went for the most expensive one. I admit, I’d become accustomed to going into the Park whenever I wanted. My parents kept theirs and once I had my son, she’d take him into the Park weekly, often coming back with a trinket. Usually I’d meet them in the park after work to go on a couple rides. It was nice, having the freedom to do that.

I went often with my husband and kids, marking my birthday with a meal of Monte Cristo sandwiches at Cafe Orleans.

But we just can’t go anymore. Aside from my husband’s demanding job that often takes him into the office on weekends, I could probably start taking my two boys (4 and 2) to the park on my own. But I knew that in renewing our passes, we’d soon be paying for four. Four annual passes. Even if we’d downgraded to the Deluxe level passes, that’s still $1200.00 we’d be paying a year to enjoy the park.

I understand that prices need to go up. I defended Disneyland’s ticket prices when they topped $40, as being necessary for keeping the Parks maintained and for cast members to be fairly compensated. But it seems odd that when wages haven’t been going up in the country, and when more and more people are finding themselves out of work that you would raise your prices. It’s what everyone else is doing, I’ve seen mentioned in papers from Disney representatives. But right now, it costs $72 for an adult to enter ONE of the theme parks. For only $25 more, they can visit both parks. What a deal! It seems unconscionable that when state minimum wage and federal minimum wages haven’t raised in the last decade that you could raise your tickets by $30. I’m sure that the hike is due to the construction at California Adventure, but really, finding a way to afford those ticket prices would only negatively impact the way I visit Disneyland. No more would I feel comfortable in sitting down for a few meals or souvenirs for the kids. All that extra money that I had budgeted for those splurges would have been going to make up the difference in the renewal fee.

I wanted to find a way to budget this. The monthly payments is a nice gesture, but let’s be honest. If I’ve learned anything from our financial world, it’s that monthly payment plans are intended for those larger (but necessary) expenditures. Like car payments. For all the recreational stuff, if you can’t find a way to pay for it in one lump sump, you probably shouldn’t do it. On the site it seems like it’d be so little. Under $20 a month for the Deluxe pass. But for my family of four, that’s $80 a month. Doesn’t seem like such a little expenditure now.

I wouldn’t have written this open letter if it hadn’t been for one last thing I’d seen about your new ideas on even more ways to maximize your profits. The last straw? It was finding out that the Halloween fireworks show would only be viewable if a ticket was purchased for Mickey’s Halloween Party. While I can sympathize that it must be frustrating to have traffic become backed up around the Park, or have to staff the front gates for a sudden surge in guests entering the Park just before the fireworks begin… this is the first I’ve ever heard that a fireworks show at Disneyland would only be available to private party guests.

It’s a shame. I’d been looking forward to going to see Halloween Screams, but now? I just can’t bring myself to buy a ticket for the event, when my kids are both small enough that they might not even really enjoy it.

I hope that you come around, Disneyland. I love visiting, I truly do. I just don’t like feeling like I’m being gouged. I think that for what we’d budgeted for renewing passes, we’ll get memberships to zoos and museums and have some fun and learn a little.

Sincerely,
Whitney

Effective August 5, 2010, Disneyland has raised their admission yet again. While it’s a $3 raised rate for admission, it’s anywhere from $10-$30 of a hike for annual passes. A single park adult ticket is now $76. The Deluxe annual pass is now $329, and a Premium pass is now $459 (Though actually, the Premium pass increase equals the AP parking rate increase, so it’s not as bad of a deal).

I still stand by my belief that these ticket prices shouldn’t be this high. While park attendance is up, Disneyland has run a two year promotion where guests could get in on for free on their birthday- which encourages families to go. Removing those freebie tickets, park attendance would likely be at or lower than they typically were when the economy was stronger.

And raising the prices before the release of a new land at DCA and prior to the return of Star Tours just seems a bit premature.

Originally published at American Whitney. You can comment here or there.