Disney no longer 'the Happiest Place on Earth', poll shows

Malcontent around Walt Disney World continues to grow. Amid concerns the children's park has gone woke, prices are also rising to the point that some of its most loyal fans say "the Happiest Place on Earth" is completely losing its magic.

According to a study by gambling company time2play, the most loyal Disney lovers say there is one specific thing that keeps them from visiting Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando more often than any other: the price.

Furthermore, almost 50% of respondents of the survey said they postponed a Disney World trip in recent years due to the spike in price.

When the rope first dropped on the Magic Kingdom's grand opening in 1971, the price of a single-day admission was just $3.50, today, a one-day ticket to a single Disney World park varies in price from $109 to $159 per day. 

If we were to adjust that price to today's inflation, that would be $22.61 today, acccording to Koala calculations, a company based in Brooklyn that connects vacationers with timeshare owners online, which calculated the prices and concluded there has been an average price increase of 7.4% each year since the park opened.

To put that into perspective "a minimum wage worker today visiting a single Disney World park on the cheapest of days would have to work 15.03 hours to afford admission, an increase of 586% since the park first opened."

Prices are even higher if the same person wanted to visit the park on a high-demand day. In that case they would have to work 21.90 hours, a massive jump of 900% since 1971", the study explains. 

According to Disneydining.com the hotel and ticket prices to Disney have risen roughly $1700 since 2019. 

The gaming website time2play surveyed 1,927 "Disney World enthusiasts" and their findings also show 92.6% of respondents believe that the cost of a Disney World vacation is out of reach for the average family.

To top it off, 66.9% of Disney lovers who responded to the survey admitted that the Disney experience wasn't the same if they didn't pay for extras like the Genie+ service, which allows you to shorten your wait time in lines with light-up lane passes for $15 per person.

It's often these perks that increase the price of Disney to the point where some have said it almost feels cheaper to go to Europe than to travel to Orlando, even for many Florida residents.