Great article! I just read this snippet from the 1956 interview:
"By the time this article comes out, I'm raising [adult ticket prices] to two dollars because I'm adding all these new rides. And to extend my ticket book to take care of the rides, I'm putting this to ten rides for two dollars. Figure it out. It averages twenty cents a ride, doesn't it? It would cost an adult three dollars and a junior two dollars and fifty cents to get in and get ten rides. If they don't want that, they can pay their buck and pay their fifty cents for their kid and they can come in. They can sit on the park benches, take up the space, dirty up my toilets, litter up the street. They can do all of that if they pay their dollar-fifty. They can ride as they want to. They can sit around and hear my band; they can visit my free shows. They can do all that and more for their dollar-fifty."
I got to wondering what that translates into in 2012 dollars. A website called dollartimes says that $3 in 1956 is equivalent to $25.26 today. I find this very interesting! I'm not sure if it is fair to compare the Disneyland park of 1956 to today's park as far as the value for a dollar vs. the available entertainment/technology, etc., but it is interesting. I also think Walt's defensive response to the gripes about higher prices is interesting. I can imagine Walt saying this very non-PC answer today and irking-off many - lol.
To your point, Kevin, the fact that he didn't want alcohol in Disneyland and considered Disneyland the ONLY Disneyland, he might have been surprised it took them over 40 years to start serving alcohol in the Magic Kingdom, since it's not really Disneyland.
