The Economy

Not hopelessly scarred, but a little debt is more often than not worth it when creating memories they’ll cherish forever.

 

There are plenty of stops between “Blow it out at Disney” and “stay home and paint the fence.” At a certain point you might as well take an overseas trip for the kind of money the Mouse charges for the soup to nuts treatment.

 

That's probably my biggest beef. For what you spend at Disney, you could take a very nice vacation elsewhere. We have a friend who is Disney addicted, goes probably once a year on average. It's not like it changes much. Makes no sense to me.

 

Or buy your music-loving wife a piano and watch her get pleasure out of it every day five years later.

 

The next street over from me was a 100-year-old+ house that was so ugly that it hadn’t seen better days because there were none. Someone bought the house, decided to try to renovate it, and the house caught fire during the renovation. Entire interior was destroyed.

After demolition, there was a new house rebuilt on the property. Instead of ugly, the owners made the exterior look like some sort of art deco design. Nice fancy interior. But it’s a small property of less than 3,500 total square feet. The house itself is not even 1,100 square feet.

No front yard, as it was filled with stones to make a driveway to fit maybe two cars. Backyard is basically a cubicle.

They asked $450K to start, and it eventually sold for $380K after 6 months on the market. Still an insane price.

 

We’ve travelled to Ireland twice and the Keys since our last Disney trip. We’ve spent less each time than a Disney trip would cost and have enjoyed them infinitely more.

 

Of course on streaming. Just pointing it out because it became profitable a quarter ahead of expectations. Just a random nugget on giant company.

My main point is that if theme park revenue continues to drop, Disney will adjust the operation to increase revenue, either by making it cheaper or more exclusive (expensive).

I last went to Disney World in the 1990s. Fun but not what I want to spend my entertainment money on. Many people obviously love it. Going into debt to go there is their choice. A dumb one if you ask me, but I bet some will say the way I spend on travel is dumb too. To each their own.

 

I haven't been to Disney since either '97 or '98. I don't have kids. I know they've gutted most of the old school Disney rides and attractions that I would have enjoyed in my childhood, so I don't know how much I'd get out of going back. My wife wants to go because she has been in longer than I have. I'm sure we'll enjoy it, but I'm more of a Davy Crockett than Frozen kind of guy.
I will treat my wife to a ride on Space Mountain while we are there.

 

Standing in line is something I loathe with every fiber of my being, so I'm not a Disney World or any theme park kind of guy. But I'm sure I spend more on eating out when I travel than most folks. That's what I like to do. I will just note that for Disney World money, you can have a fine time in Paris, where many famous attractions do have lines, but are not so expensive. Ditto for London, LA, Barcelona, and yes, New York, to name a few random places I've been.

 

I'm honestly surprised a libertarian would be so judgy on how people live their lives.