TinkerBelle_325
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2001
So here is an interesting exercise for those of you claiming that Disney has been pricing out the middle class for the past few years.
I was curious, so I looked at median income and ticket pricing over the years.
In the 70s,
A Ticket $0.10 ($0.67 today)
B Ticket $0.25 ($1.68 today)
C Ticket $0.50 ($3.35 today)
D Ticket $0.75 ($5.00 today)
E Ticket $0.80-0.90 ($5.25 - 6.00)
7 ride ticket book $4.50/4.00/3.50 ($30/27/24) so approx $3-4 per ride in today’s money when there was only a single park and a small pool of rides (much like Shanghai Disney now)
Here is the median household income and the average cost for a family of 4 (2 adults, one teen, one child) to spend 1 day in a Disney theme park in 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021. The income information is from the US Census Bureau and the ticket prices are from AllEars historical ticket pricing page. All tickets are base (for 1971 and 1981 this is general admission + lowest price ticket book, for 1991 and beyond it is a 1 day ticket with no add ons like park hopping etc)
1971
Median income = $9000
1 day for family of 4 = $27
That is approx 0.3% of the median household income
1981
Median income = $22,000
1 day for family of 4 = $61
That is approx 0.27% of the median household income
1991
Median income = $30,000
1 day for family of 4 = $119
That is approx 0.4% of the median household income. First major jump, but WDW now has 3 parks at this point.
2001
Median income = $42,000
1 day for family of 4 = $182
That is approx 0.43% of the median household income. Even though there are now 4 parks, we don’t see a large jump
2011
Median income = $50,000
1 day for a family of 4 = $320
That is approx 0.64% of the median household income. Between 2001 and this point, Magic Your Way tickets were introduced.
2021
Median income = $79,000
1 day for a family of 4 = $458
That is approx 0.57% of the median household income. This is the first decrease we’ve seen in percentage of income since 1982.
So in the 70s and 80s a single day at Disney (a one or two park property) was about 0.3% of annual income for the average family.
In the 90s and early 00s, that increased to about 0.4%. The 10s were the most expensive time to visit as far as % of household income and the 20s see our first decrease.
Just some food for thought when we say that Disney is getting totally out of line. The property has grown over the course of 50 years. The ticket prices have increased and it certainly costs more proportionately to go now than it did in 1971, but WDW then and WDW now aren’t an apples to apples comparison.
I was curious, so I looked at median income and ticket pricing over the years.
In the 70s,
A Ticket $0.10 ($0.67 today)
B Ticket $0.25 ($1.68 today)
C Ticket $0.50 ($3.35 today)
D Ticket $0.75 ($5.00 today)
E Ticket $0.80-0.90 ($5.25 - 6.00)
7 ride ticket book $4.50/4.00/3.50 ($30/27/24) so approx $3-4 per ride in today’s money when there was only a single park and a small pool of rides (much like Shanghai Disney now)
Here is the median household income and the average cost for a family of 4 (2 adults, one teen, one child) to spend 1 day in a Disney theme park in 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021. The income information is from the US Census Bureau and the ticket prices are from AllEars historical ticket pricing page. All tickets are base (for 1971 and 1981 this is general admission + lowest price ticket book, for 1991 and beyond it is a 1 day ticket with no add ons like park hopping etc)
1971
Median income = $9000
1 day for family of 4 = $27
That is approx 0.3% of the median household income
1981
Median income = $22,000
1 day for family of 4 = $61
That is approx 0.27% of the median household income
1991
Median income = $30,000
1 day for family of 4 = $119
That is approx 0.4% of the median household income. First major jump, but WDW now has 3 parks at this point.
2001
Median income = $42,000
1 day for family of 4 = $182
That is approx 0.43% of the median household income. Even though there are now 4 parks, we don’t see a large jump
2011
Median income = $50,000
1 day for a family of 4 = $320
That is approx 0.64% of the median household income. Between 2001 and this point, Magic Your Way tickets were introduced.
2021
Median income = $79,000
1 day for a family of 4 = $458
That is approx 0.57% of the median household income. This is the first decrease we’ve seen in percentage of income since 1982.
So in the 70s and 80s a single day at Disney (a one or two park property) was about 0.3% of annual income for the average family.
In the 90s and early 00s, that increased to about 0.4%. The 10s were the most expensive time to visit as far as % of household income and the 20s see our first decrease.
Just some food for thought when we say that Disney is getting totally out of line. The property has grown over the course of 50 years. The ticket prices have increased and it certainly costs more proportionately to go now than it did in 1971, but WDW then and WDW now aren’t an apples to apples comparison.