Have Disneyland Ticket Prices Really Changed That Much Since Opening Day?

[DisneyFanatic12]

Ok, so I didn’t want to take too much time on this, but I hear people talk about the $1.00 price point for Disneyland on opening day all the time. While admission was only $1.00, each ride costed money. In addition there has been significant inflation.

So I did some calculations. And while they are by no means precise, they bring up an interesting point.

If you were to buy that $1.00 ticket today, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, it would cost $11.35. Now obviously, this fails to realize the value of the modern day ticket which has all rides included.

The cost per ride at Disneyland on opening day was between $0.25 and $0.35. Even though you probably wouldn’t have done every ride, if you did do every ride today at Disneyland (using the average price per ride x number of rides currently), the rides would cost you $166.82. This calculation did not include attractions, only rides, and is obviously a VERY rough estimate.

Now, if one theoretically rode every ride at Disneyland today, a single day ticket would cost $178.17. This number doesn’t even include the added value of new offerings such as fireworks and other night time spectaculars! Now, this number is not going to be completely accurate, and not everyone can do every ride at Disneyland in a day, but you are paying to be able to do every ride for a single day.

For June/July, a ticket to Disneyland maxes out at $179 for a single day ticket. A mere $0.83 different than the value you would pay if the Disneyland-opening-day-era pricing were still in place and followed overall inflation.


(For anyone looking to blindly argue, I know this number is just an estimate, and am by no means arguing that a ticket is cheap…)

 

[ArmoredRodent]

This is actually a good calculation. A couple of points to consider, however, about the early tickets (perhaps not opening day, but soon thereafter) which might change your numbers so it's more complete:
1) Not all tickets were lettered. Some guests, like California teachers, got special Magic Key tickets that got them into any ride without limit.
2) Speaking of limits, I'm not sure how you counted the lettered tickets' use when you averaged ride cost. For example, you could use all your E tickets (the highest ones) on the same ride or on different rides.

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

This is actually a good calculation. A couple of points to consider, however, about the early tickets (perhaps not opening day, but soon thereafter) which might change your numbers so it's more complete:
1) Not all tickets were lettered. Some guests, like California teachers, got special Magic Key tickets that got them into any ride without limit.
2) Speaking of limits, I'm not sure how you counted the lettered tickets' use when you averaged ride cost. For example, you could use all your E tickets (the highest ones) on the same ride or on different rides.

Yea, I’d love to come back to this when I have more time to rank the rides on a A,B,C,D,E scale and consider all of the ticket books, but I didn’t have much time…

For these calculations I just did a normal distribution for all rides, which isn’t the most accurate it could be. Great points though! I’m looking forward to calculating the (almost) exact cost it would be by ranking the rides of today for what their tier would be and whatnot when I have the time. Maybe tonight, maybe not…

The tiers will be interesting too given that execs of today would probably have drastically different viewpoints on the tier of a newer ride than most guests.