There doesn't seem to be any concern about what the Disney Brothers goals and wishes were for the parks.
Heck, Walt's original philosophy was for a place where a Dad could spend a day in a park, enjoying it with their kids. Now Dad's have to fork over a left lung in admission just get through the turnstiles. Wait! The turnstiles are gone now too!
About the "costing a left lung" for admission thing...that's a stale chestnut that's always tossed at Disney, but let's take a look at the admission prices from way back in the day (but we will adjust them for inflation and factor in the fact that the rides are unlimited now, but required purchasing tickets in the early days).
In 1964, admission was $5.00/person...which adjusts for inflation in 2012 dollars to around $40/person. This is back when there was also a lot less to see and do in Disneyland...but it's definitely the "good old days" that people enjoy referring back to whenever they want to say that things today are so terrible. See:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3jV5FcVqp...M4/hbiLy3cGQcM/s1600-h/dl+price+list+1_64.jpg
Back in the "good old days", that $40 (equivalent) admission would get you in through the gate and then just 6 rides on attractions...but most of the tickets were for A, B, C, and D-level attractions. You'd only get maybe ONE ride on something you'd really, really want to ride...and then you'd have to buy another ticket book.
Looks like a book with 10 more rides (once again, on A-B-C-D-and one E ticket increments) would be another $4. That's about another $30 or so in 2012 cash.
For people who are used to riding things like Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, etc. as much as they want it's important to remember that back in the "good old days" these people would have shelled out A LOT OF MONEY to buy enough E-tickets to ride the best rides in the park (back then) like this. Space, Big Thunder, and Splash weren't even around back in those days...so the things you'd be able to use an E-ticket on were very limited...but still VERY pricy.
Current admission to Disneyland is $87/day for an adult...for a one day one park pass that would be comparable to the one day one park ticket that was the only thing you could buy to get into the park in 1964. It sure seems like someone who really loves riding the E and D ticket attractions could VERY EASILY spend the equivalent of $87 or more if that person went to the park in 1964 and bought a bunch of ticket books to be able to ride on rides all day.
My parents told me about people they knew who came back from Disneyland in the late 60s with booklets of A, B, and C tickets that they never used and kept trying to sell...all because they just wanted the one or two D and E tickets that came in a booklet. You were NOT allowed to just buy an E or a D ticket...you had to buy the whole booklet. There was a sort of black market in play in the park where people would try to sell E or D tickets separately but people caught doing that were ejected.
I know it's very popular for people go say on Disney boards that it requires "selling a left lung" to get into the park today...but this is just not true if you look at the inflation costs between now and the 'good old days' and you also stop to think about the HUGE financial hit you would have taken in the 'good old days' if you needed to keep buying ride tickets to ride the best attractions.
You can ride everything as much as you want today, for free...which is a good deal!
