What would Walt Disney say about the price of visiting Disneyland today?
That’s a common question asked by people frustrated by the high cost of a Disney getaway. Walt designed his theme park for families, but today’s prices discourage many working parents from considering a visit.
But I think that if some spirit ushered Walt Disney from the afterlife into 2026, he would be thrilled with the state of his company rather than disappointed. Walt would be proud that Disney is the leading Hollywood studio at the box office and the only major studio remaining that has not been taken over by an outside company.
Walt would be amazed that Disney now owns the ABC television network that broadcast his “Disneyland” TV show. He would be shocked to learn that Disney now owns 20th Century Fox, a studio whose size and reputation overshadowed the Disney film studio back in Walt’s day.
He also would be proud that his successors not only finished Disney World, but that the company how has 12 theme parks around the world, with plans for a 13th in Abu Dhabi, a growing metropolis that had a population just one third of Anaheim’s when Disney passed in 1966.
Imagine if that spirit took Walt to see what happened to WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering. A few hours spent observing today’s WDI headquarters, inspecting all the new ride systems and show technology that Imagineers have created, might have Walt asking the Boss Upstairs to allow him to spend eternity there, since that is what Walt Disney’s heaven would look like.
Walt also would be thrilled that more than 17 million visitors a year come to Disneyland, with more than 140 million visiting Disney theme parks worldwide. But I agree that Walt would be stunned to learn that the standard price for a one-day ticket now ranges from $104 to $224.
Walt Disney might be proud of what The Walt Disney Company has accomplished over the past 60 years, but I suspect he would be disappointed to see that, for many Americans, the future did not turn out to be the great, big, beautiful tomorrow that he had promised them.
Where are the new urban cores providing plentiful, affordable housing for hardworking Californians? Where are the monorails and people movers to carry them between home and work and school without traffic and pollution? Why are wealthy residents more concerned with “protecting” their neighborhoods instead of improving them by adding modern homes and schools to welcome growing young families? If Walt stood for one thing, it was progress. But the progress that a few corporations and their wealthy investors are enjoying today does not seem to be extending to working-class Disney fans.
At that point, Walt might decide that he has seen enough of 2026 and ask to be taken back to an eternal 1966. And at that moment, Walt might then understand why fans continue to spend whatever it takes to escape today through visiting the comfortable fantasy of a Disney theme park.