I don't even understand how anyone who has a family can afford to go to Disneyland at
this point, because they keep jacking up their prices.
And something that used to be considered attainable to middle class families is so
astronomically priced at this point that I just don't understand what Disney is
thinking.
But nonetheless, let's talk about their latest price changes.
On October 11, the LA Times reported that prices are rising again at Disneyland and
neighboring California Adventure Park by as much as 9% for
single day tickets and 11% for preferred parking.
The price hikes come a year, just a year after the theme park raised daily
ticket prices up to 8% and increased daily parking rates by 20%.
The increase also comes only two months after the resort raised prices for
annual passes by as much as 16%.
All right, that sounds pretty bad, right?
But I mean we're just talking percentages here.
How bad could it be?
What are the actual ticket prices?
Until October 11, a single ticket on a peak day cost $164, that's for one ticket.
Today November of 2022, that same ticket costs $179.
A child's ticket is slightly less at 169, but that's only for children ages 3 to 9.
Anyone who is 10 or older pays full price.
Off-peak days are the cheapest time to go to Disney World.
But these off-peak times are also on non-holiday weekdays when most
kids are in school and most parents are at work, let's keep it real.
>> Yeah.
>> What are they doing?
>> So I think- >> I know what they're doing.
>> I think their whole plan now is, cuz when I was a kid, I remember my
parents took me and my brother to Disneyland several times, right?
Not in one year, but
throughout my childhood I went several times with my parents.
I think now they're thinking less is more, right?
So let's increase the prices.
Maybe they don't come repeatedly.
Maybe it's like a one time thing, but the ticket cost so much that we're earning
our money or earning, we're making our profits without getting hurt.
>> Yeah, this, I know exactly what they're doing and why it's wrong.
But I get the short term logic of it.
And that's the exact problem with the model of capitalism that we have now.
So the CEO actually talked about it publicly, and he said, look, demand is so
high that we keep increasing prices and we still have the same number of
people who are coming to the parks- >> It's insane.
>> And we don't want it to be too, too crowded since we're capping the number of
people who are coming to the parks to begin with.
It only makes sense to keep increasing the prices until you get to a point where,
okay, that amount of people will pay for it, right?
>> What? >> So and then they're also cutting costs.
So they let go of a lot of employees during COVID, and
a lot of them haven't come back.
>> Right. >> And so
one of Disney's biggest calling cards is how clean it is.
And so you go there and you have a great experience, it's a magical place,
happiest place on Earth, and Walt Disney himself was obsessed with that, right?
He'd go around the park picking up garbage behind people as they were walking, okay?
>> Wow. >> But hen you got the stock market which
is basically a greed machine, demanding higher and
higher returns every year and every quarter, what does that do?
It creates pressure for you to cut costs, increase prices,
which is exactly what they've done here.
And so when they do that in the short term their profits definitely go up.
And then remember the CEOs basically work on short-term thinking because they think
am I gonna be running Disney 10 years from now, 20 years from now?
Probably not.
>> And not only that- >> What do I care,
I care about my bonus this year.
>> And not only that Cenk, I mean the way it's all set up, right,
where they have to have the quarterly earnings, where's your quarterly earnings,
you gotta have the call with the investors, quarterly earnings,
infinite growth, infinite growth.
Which by the way is not even possible.
>> That's why I call it a greed machine because of course,
it's not possible that you have infinite growth, that every year you grow by 15% or
more, every single year.
That's totally unsustainable, right?
>> Exactly, yeah.
>> But that is the imperative that the stock market creates.
And if the machines do not do as they are ordered, well, it's of course,
the driver of the machine cuz the machine is not human, then the driver, the CEO
will be replaced until you get someone who increases prices and lowers costs.
But there is a price to be paid.
You're destroying the brand of Disney in the long run.
So when people go and now it's kind of a mess.
Some of the rides don't work.
You got garbage everywhere cuz there isn't enough employees to maintain the park and
maintain the tech end of it as well.
And so as you're getting short term profits,
you're doing long term damage because people are going home not happy.
It's not the happiest place on Earth anymore.
>> No, exactly.
And and keep in mind that you're paying a lot of money to really spend at
least 50% if not more of that day waiting in line.
>> And look, I've never gotten Disney.
Disney is a company, God bless.
I love the Marvel Comic Universe, Star Wars, etc.
And that's just my personal proclivity.
The parks, I got no use for standing in lines, not 50% of the day, 80% of the day.
>> Yeah, to be real, if you're gonna go, especially on a weekend or
something like that, you will be in line 80% of the day.
>> Of course, you will, the ride only last one or two minutes.
>> Yeah. >> And the line last an hour.
I did the math on IT.
>> Minimum hour, yeah.
>> Okay, and by the way now of course they created FastPass,
FastPass originally was meant for convenience.
You go and you get your pass, then you go then you go.
And there was also for economic reasons, cuz they noticed people weren't eating
enough at the concession stand cuz they were all waiting in line.
So they created FastPass so
you can get the pass, go eat, pay them more, and then come back.
But then greed kicked in, they're like, well, why don't we charge for
the pass pass?
You knew somebody was gonna suggest it.
And so they started charging.
>> Yeah. >> And now they've increased the FastPass
so much you have to pay $25 for one ride if it's a new ride, okay?
So now you're out like a couple of 1000 bucks if you go as a family, and
the place is a mess.
So it's a disastrous long term strategy.
But remember, Walt Disney for all of his horrible faults,
that's another long story, was a good businessman.
But he created Disney, so he cared about it, and
he was gonna stay with it the rest of his life so
he could afford to do long term thinking, that's how entrepreneurs think.
But corporate executives don't think that way,
they think I gotta get my bonus this year.
And if I wind up trashing Disney in the process, who cares, I got paid.
And that's what's happening in Disney right now.
>> It's a damn shame.