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Arvee Vivar
Professor Jackie
English 101
November 4, 2015

The Price of Fun

People travel thousands of miles, coming from different places all over the world
to witness the magic and fantasy found inside the happiest place on earth, Disneyland.
When it first opened its gates in July 1955, it was broken up in different lands and cost a
certain amount of tickets to enter each land. The price of admission started at $.10 per
ticket to enter one land and as much as $2.50 for an 8-book ticket that would allow
admission to all the lands and experience the park in all its glory. Since then, the prices
have skyrocketed and have caused an uproar in the community of fans who enjoy
visiting the park. In 2015, the price of a ticket for Disneyland costs $97 for a child ages
3-9 and $99 for an adult ages 10 and up. Although many visitors disagree, the increases
in the admission prices are necessary in order for Disneyland to operate and maintain
its facilities, avoid overcrowding to accommodate the millions of guests who visit the
park and produce revenue to make upgrades and introduce new experiences.
Disneyland has been called one of the cleanest places in the world. As guests
walk through the park, there is not a speck of gum turned black from passerbys, stuck
to any bricks or walkways. cast members actively roam the park and ensure no trash
cans are full and no bags of chips or garbage are flying through the park. Thousands of
cast members are needed to bring the magic to life, maintain cleanliness and ensure

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rides are safe an operable. Providing the payroll to support the thousands of employees
make up a sum of the cost to operate and Disney ensures their employees are happy
not only with what they are doing but as well as what they are making. Forbes rated the
Walt Disney Company as one of the top 25 companies to work for due to the great
working environment they provide which leads to motivated employees who thrive to
deliver the experience expected only from them. As published in the Walt Disney
Companys 2014 fiscal year report, it cost $9.1 billion to operate all of Disneys theme
park and resorts. The truth is, as magical as we see these parks and resorts, the rides
break down, systems malfunction and as reported, it costs a lot of money to maintain
the facade. Many of the rides, such as Space Mountain and Its a Small World to name
a few, are well advanced technologically and offer a far more immersive experience in
the art of storytelling compared to many of the competing parks such as Universal
Studios and Six Flags resorts. This is made possible by a Disney team of engineers,
known as the Imagineers, who create and invent new groundbreaking technology that
wow visitors in ways they never imagined. Due to the explosion of technology through
the years, Disneyland has grown its portfolio of rides and attractions that keep people
coming back multiple times a year and the cost of operation will only continue to
increase.
Above all the amazing rides and attractions, the guest service provided by the
cast members of Disneyland to the visitors is a world class service modeled by
numerous businesses. The satisfaction and happiness of the guest is of the utmost
importance but this can be difficult to achieve when guests are walking elbow to elbow
struggling to maneuver through the park and are not willing to wait over an hour to get

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on a ride. Families spend years saving their money to make a trip to California to visit
Disneyland and they are heavily disappointed when they are not able to experience
everything due to the issues of overcrowding and long wait times for attractions.
Frequent visitors with a season pass, or better known as an annual pass holders, visit
multiple times a week and they too cannot stand the long lines. All the money saved to
visit the happiest place on earth and most of it is spent waiting in a one hour line for a
4-5 minute roller coaster.
First introduced in 1984, for the price of $65, The annual pass was originally
conceived as a way to entice locals to Disneyland and backfill the park on slow days
when crowds were light. But with no way to limit annual pass participation other than
price, Disneyland has watched its pass holder population rise to nearly 1 million by
some accounts. (Bary MacDonald) The price has increased year by year as the
demand grew and is now up to $1,049 for an all access experience to both Disneyland
and its sister park California Adventure. The 35% price hike from the 2014 annual
passport pricing has caused a commotion in the community of pass holders. In a press
release issued by Disneyland in regards to the price increase, spokesperson Suzi
Brown said, In addition to our continued investment in the guest experience and the
expansion of our parks, our new selection of annual passes will help us manage strong
demand and continue to deliver a world-class experience, while providing more choices
for guests to select the pass that best meets their needs. (Joseph Pimentel) Guests
were outraged and accused Disney of being greedy and were only in business to take
their money. Sara Batchas article in the Daily Times shows a compilation of reactions

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from disappointed guests and state reactions such as a tweet from Sedonah Najera , I
think I can hear my wallet crying after Disney just announced their price increase.
The introduction of a new annual passport pricing and system will decrease the
amount of annual pass holders and can offer a solution to the issues of overcrowding
and long wait times. Avid guests of Disneyland may be unhappy with the big price hike,
but they too will be much happier to be spending less time in line and more time
watching shows and enjoying other attractions. As the number of pass holders begin to
dwindle down, Disneyland can offer more space for guests to comfortably make their
way around the park and experience all the magic with no overcrowding. 60 years since
it has opened, they have only expanded 3 acres with attendance reaching over 16
million guests. Alex Blasingame points out, Thats an increase of 7million guests in
effectively the same acreage, resulting in about 1/3less space per guest on an average
park day! Most importantly, for people who travel from the opposite side of the world, or
those who are not fortunate to come as often as they would like, will be able to enjoy
their vacation without having to rush through their day to try and plan out how they can
watch every show and ride every ride in the 1-2 days that they have.
Walt Disney was a dreamer and created Disneyland as a place for families to
spend quality time together to witness magic, fantasy and imagination come to life. He
also was a business man who understood the revenue that the park would bring in due
to the demand for the experiences that his company was producing. Through the years,
his team of Imagineers have continued to push the boundaries of technology and
imagination to keep the people of the world in awe and wanting more. Disneyland is a
business and it must produce revenue to continue operating and provide its employees

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with a healthy income for the handwork they provide. The demand to experience the
park will continue to grow and ticket prices is where they can produce the revenue to
expand areas and provide more room for visitors. The addition of Star Wars Land will
increase the park by 14 acres and will most certainly attract more visitors to experience
life in the galaxy far far away.
An increase in the price of admission offers the best way for Disneyland to
maintain and operate its facilities, keep the visitors happy and as well as produce
revenue as a business to continue running. No matter how old or how far they are from
California, most people dream of visiting Disneyland to watch Tinker Bell fly by as the
fireworks explode in the air shaped like Mickey Mouse, ride the teacups to spin around
until theyre nauseous and witness the fantasy for themselves. It might take years to
save the money to afford a ticket, but the choice is in the hands of the guest.This
exclusive land in sunny Anaheim, California is a hot destination known throughout the
globe. The memories and experiences that can be had is unlike anything that can be
found anywhere else, therefore the price of admission is worth every penny.

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Works Cited
Blasingame, Alex. 5 Reasons Disneyland Doesnt Want More Annual Passholders.
http://www.mousemonthly.com/how-much-did-disneyland-cost-when-it-openedcompared-with-today/
MacDonald, Brady. 7 reasons why Disneyland raised its annual pass prices.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/themeparks/la-trb-disneyland-annualpass-20151007-story.html
Mucha, Zenia. The Walt Disney Company Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year
Earnings for Fiscal 2014
https://cdn.thewaltdisneycompany.com/sites/default/files/reports/q4-fy14earnings.pdf
Pimentel, Joseph. Disneyland raises annual pass prices, introduces $1,000 pass, and
discontinues Premium pass.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-686033-pass-disneyland.html
Batcha. Sarah. Disneyland annual pass price increase draws criticism from fans.
http://www.dailynews.com/lifestyle/20151004/disneyland-annual-pass-priceincrease-draws-criticism-from-fans