We’re Going to Disney World!
By Jan Larson (01/02/06)
Actually, we already went to Disney World. My wife and I just returned from a week in Orlando that included a couple of days spent at Disney’s meccas of capitalism.
For readers that have visited any of Disney’s theme parks in Orlando or Anaheim, my tale will ring familiar. For those that haven’t, I can only say that there is virtually no place that one may visit where so many will spend so much while smiling the entire time.
We spent one day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, one at Epcot and the better part of two days at the non-Disney Universal Studios theme park. The one thing that I learned immediately as we drove past the electronic signs along the highway on the way to the parks was that if you love crowds, Christmas week is the time to go to Orlando. I can only imagine the dismay that parents with excited young children in the car must have felt to read the awful news, “Magic Kingdom full” on their way to the Magic Kingdom.
The people that operate the Orlando-area theme parks are masters at handling crowds. Vehicular traffic is carefully directed into well-organized parking lots. Trams come by often to whisk patrons to the front gate where the second dose of reality hits when admission tickets must be purchased. (The first dose is the parking fee.)
From what we could tell, there are few ways to get any sort of discount into either the Disney or Universal theme parks other than to sit through a time-share pitch. If one has a spine and the ability to say “no” a few hundred times, the savings on park admission can make the hour or so spent listening to a high-pressure sales pitch well worth the time. In our case, we saved nearly $200 over the posted prices at the gate.
Once inside the gates, of course, everything is free unless you count the food, drink and time waiting in lines. Disney has a free “fast pass” system that allows patrons to bypass the long lines at the expense of requiring a more rigid plan to one’s day at the park.
Universal, every the capitalists, has done Disney one better. Universal offers (for an additional $37 per day) an “express pass” that lets the patron simply bypass the long lines and get on the ride or into the show. Universal also offers a “meal deal” (for $19 per day) that allows for unlimited pizza, burgers, etc.
If one were to show up at the gate of Universal and purchase park admission, the express pass and meal deal, it would cost approximately $120 plus tax. Where I come from, that seems expensive, especially if I were paying for four or five admissions. Both companies have various multi-day, multi-park, hotel and meal plans, but no matter how you slice it, even a one day trip to any of the Orlando theme parks will set one back more than a few simoleons.
While it is expensive to go to a Disney or Universal theme park, they were all crowded. Why? Simple. Despite the price of admission there is a lot to do and a lot to see at each of these parks. In other words, they are fun! People vote with their feet and both Disney and Universal offer a product that people want. All three of the parks we visited were immaculately clean. They all offer attractions unlike anywhere else and all have something for everyone.
There were a lot of foreign tourists in Orlando last week, especially Europeans, and it was very common to overhear conversations in languages other than English. It struck me as somewhat ironic considering that while the European press lambastes America at seemingly every turn, the European public flies to Orlando.
Maybe the best way to win “friends” around the world isn’t through diplomacy among politicians but to simply invite everyone to Disney World.
Copyright ©2006 Jan A. Larson All rights reserved.
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