What Disney World's outrageous prices say about our unequal economy

It's a rich man's world after all

Mickey Mouse
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In a recent Washington Post piece on how Disney World "left the middle class behind," there are two points worth contemplating side-by-side. First, in 2014 dollars, the price of a ticket rocketed from $20.46 in 1971 — when the Orlando theme park opened — to $105 today. And second, the park's business is booming: Visitors hit a record 19 million last year, and admissions revenue has grown 10 percent every year for the last decade.

It would seem leaving the middle class behind is very good for the bottom line.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.