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Thread: Disneyland Announces Ticket Price Increase

  1. #151
    Quote Originally Posted by FoodLover View Post
    ...I think Disney has concluded that APs (or at least, low-cost APs) are not the best idea at DLR.
    On the other hand...if that's indeed the case, why did they start offering no-interest monthly payments, and why do they continue to offer lower-cost pass options, and advertise AP upgrades like crazy? It seems to me that if they don't think APs are a good idea, they're doing an awful lot to try to get people to buy them... I hope that didn't sound like I'm arguing; just wondering about that side of it.
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  3. #152
    Quote Originally Posted by jcruise86 View Post
    That's the saddest post I've ever read. It reminds me of Martin Luther King's great "Letter From Birmingham Jail" where he wrote about: ". . .when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personalty by developing an unconscious bitterness. . ." He was writing about legally enforced racial barriers, but to a kid being told, "No, we can't," the economic barrier might also be crushing.



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  4. #153
    Quote Originally Posted by Tinkermommy View Post
    On the other hand...if that's indeed the case, why did they start offering no-interest monthly payments, and why do they continue to offer lower-cost pass options, and advertise AP upgrades like crazy? It seems to me that if they don't think APs are a good idea, they're doing an awful lot to try to get people to buy them... I hope that didn't sound like I'm arguing; just wondering about that side of it.
    You raise a good point! I really don't understand it either. It seems contradictory to the message that is being sent by the huge increases in AP prices.

  5. #154
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    Just returned from Disneyland and am soooooo happy with the way Disneyland handled my bf's AP! We were able to upgrade him from So Cal Select to So Cal, did not have to pay a down payment, got a block out ticket for today and were able to renew his pass so it is now good through 09/13 and pay via monthly payment option. The lines were incredibly long, but it was definitely worth the wait. Even though my PAP will increase by a lot next April, am relieved that my bf will be able to enjoy Cars Land with me a few times when it first opens!


  6. #155
    Quote Originally Posted by FoodLover View Post
    You raise a good point! I really don't understand it either. It seems contradictory to the message that is being sent by the huge increases in AP prices.
    I don't know. If all the company is thinking about is $$$, then ... if they can raise the same amount of bucks (via higher prices) off a fewer number of AP's, then not only might it be a wash financially in terms of incoming revenue, it might also lower operating costs and increase the satisfaction of those still able to visit the parks because fewer bodies will be in the parks, and correspondingly require fewer CMs to attend to them.

    The health insurance companies discovered that they could make more $$$ by being more selective about the people they are willing to insure (i.e. 1-only the healthiest, and 2-only those who can afford the higher costs), and therefore reduced the overall number of people insured. And it has worked out great for them, so far, in terms of increasing their profit.

    Disney could be following the same type of strategy: be more selective about to whom they are willing to sell APs (i.e. only those who can afford the higher costs) and therefore reduce the overall number of folks who have APs.

    I think they are taking a gamble to see what happens. If folks "gotta" have their APs (like most people "gotta" have health insurance), then their bet may payoff. Folks might grumble, but as long as they still fork over the dough anyway, it's a win for Disney. And as a unexpected benefit, the prestige of having an AP will increase, making it more desirable to a segment of the population that is attracted to prestige items and also have the $$$ to pay for them, perhaps a segment of population that was less interested in having APs before when they were more affordable. Just heard a really interesting podcast from Planet Money that explains why college "costs" are raising so quickly, and I offer here because the subject of prestige comes up.
    On today's show, we visit beautiful Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Price of one year at Lafayette: $55,688. Up 63 percent from the price a decade ago ...

    Nationwide, the average sticker price is more than twice as high as the price students actually pay, and the gap is getting wider. It turns out, it makes economic sense to have a high sticker price and offer lots of discounts. On the show today, we explain why.
    The reason is rather amazing: Parents think colleges with higher price tags are more prestigious, and in their heart of hearts would love to send kiddo to a "prestige" school. Then, those colleges take it one step further and offer "merit scholarships" to a certain set of kids, and both parents and kiddos are flattered to high heaven that the college thinks kiddo is so special that they are worth the kind of money offered in the scholarship (for example, half off of a $50,000 sticker price is $25,000, and the parents can privately gloat that the college would be willing to spend that kind of money on them.) But its really a marketing ploy, sadly. Some do pay the sticker price, but very few (on the podcast it sounded mostly like rich kids who had less "merit" than other students). Its just a game to get you think that you are getting a great deal on an expensive product. But apparently the net amount/out of pocket cost that is actually paid on average has really not changed so much over the past few decades (contrary to popular perception). And at the core of the pricing changes is the fact that "high price" = "prestige" in a lot of people's minds. So the sticker prices have been rising partly because parents actually want them to rise!

    I think it's really sad though, if Disney's model will be to primarily only cater to the most affluent members of society. I love this quote from A Little Princess: "I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?"

    I love how in the past, Disneyland was a place where princesses were real, and every little girl could be one. DL was the place where "dreams come true", even for little girls who live in tiny old attics. To the extent that Disney changes the price point of admissions to deny admission to the less affluent, then it will morph to the place where little girls who are already used to pretty much getting whatever they want get the AP to DL in addition to their five new American Dolls on their birthday. Yawn.

    And if that happens, I think it just might spoil the brand for a lot of folks. I think Disney is treading in dangerous territory with this.

    ETA: Just wanted to add that Disney has never been "cheap", and because of that there have been some kids who were too poor to make it in the parks. So in some ways there has always been a line in the sand, and the line is technically only shifting, so that "more" of the poor kids won't be able to go. It's all a matter of degree.

    Having said that, I know that Relationship Marketing has been all the rage in past, and companies understand that some customers are more valuable than others and it often makes business sense to limit certain goodies to only the most valuable ones. Who knows, maybe affluent families have always been secretly catered to by Disney in the past - this change just seems to make the "catering" a bit more obvious. The thought of Disney intentionally prioritizing rich kids over poor ones (it's nothing personal, it's just business) to the point that poor ones are never even able to visit the park at all still rather makes my stomach turn, though.

    There is a great deal of hypothetical venting on my part in this post though. The prices have been raised, but not necessarily to catastrophic levels, yet. I just see a trend, and don't really like where it seems to be going ...
    Last edited by Tink Lover; 05-20-2012 at 12:32 AM.

  7. #156

    Disneyland Announces Ticket Price Increase

    It's almost as if Disney didn't see what happened to Netflix and more recently, Verizon Wireless.


  8. #157

    We will have to wait and see what Disney does next summer, but as for now, the school group rates are still quiet affordable. My son is going to three different summer camps this summer, and two of them have a field trips to Disneyland and/or California Adventure. Of those one of the camps include the price of field trips in the price of the week at camp and is going on separate weeks to DCA and DL, the other priced all field trips separately, is just going to DL, and wanted an extra $80 - which included the bus and the chaperones.

    As a kid, I would usually go to Disneyland two-three times per year. Once with my family (where we packed our own sandwiches and went back to the car at lunchtime to eat them), and once or twice with some combination of summer camp, girl scouts, or church youth group. I never felt deprived and I certainly never stopped from having fun to reflect "Walk wanted this to be a park that I could be at with my parents." If anything, I was super-excited to be there with my friends.

    If it is all about the little princesses, there are ways to get your kid to Disney for less, even if you don't get to go with them.


  9. #158
    Quote Originally Posted by cstephens View Post
    The only real way to do that is to get rid of APs altogether and go back to only having single and multi-day tickets. But I expect they do get a lot of money from all the AP sales, so that's a lot of guaranteed annual money to give up.


    I do think it's apples and oranges to compare tickets now vs. in Walt's time, because back then, it was just an admission fee and then individual prices for each ride. If they went back to doing that now, yes, the entrance fee would be minimal, but I expect people would scream at the individual ride prices.


    It's very different now than when I was a kid. Many people *expect* to be able to visit Disneyland at least once a year. I've lived in SoCal for almost my entire life, and when I was a kid, we went once every few years, and usually, it was because relatives were here from out of town, so we were kind of expected to take them. The idea of visiting even one time every year was a completely unheard-of concept for us. Disney has contributed to the current problem by introducing annual passes and having discount tickets available almost year round, so people have gotten used to being able to afford to go to Disneyland very often, but then that's contributed to the crowding problem. Disney further added to the crowding problem by allowing monthly payments on annual passes. And now, they've found themselves in a bit of a pickle, partly of their own creation.

    Very interesting food for thought this whole discussion. I have been an AP holder on and off for years and even lived in SOCAL for a year and had an AP and visited the park all the time. Some days I just walked around and it made me think about what it would have been like back in Walt's day. You could actually GO to the park and not spend much money at all and not go on the rides. I just love the architecture and the way the lands flow into each other.

    What cstephens said about the pricing now of each individual ride is so interesting and true. IF they went back to a free gate and back to TICKET books ....what would an E ticket cost? My Dad and I went to the park when INDY opened and he got to see F! for the first time. He said to me at the time ...."Wow. What do you think something like that cost with all the actors and crew and electricity and special effects and fireworks..... I would pay 25 bucks to see that!" !which at the time was probably a quarter of the park admission or MORE.

    I live in NO CAL so I always crunch the numbers to figure out if an AP will be cost effective and how many times I can come to the park. I can arrive on a MONDAY afternoon and then go to the park for a few hours if I have an AP. We always try to go for GAY DAYS and one year my sister from Oregon crunched the numbers and the calendar and it arrived within a year time so she was SO excited about having an AP that lasted for TWO YEARS> It expired on the last day of the second year of GAY DAYS and she said I'm leaving EARLY MONDAY morning so I'm not sad I can't go into the parks. That year my MOM AND DAD came to SF for XMAS so she flew down to SoCal first and we went to Disneyland at XMAS. Even at the prices today that would have been a savings AP-wise....so yup....times they are a changing.

  10. #159
    It was a good day! Malcon10t's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cstephens View Post
    I do think it's apples and oranges to compare tickets now vs. in Walt's time, because back then, it was just an admission fee and then individual prices for each ride. If they went back to doing that now, yes, the entrance fee would be minimal, but I expect people would scream at the individual ride prices.
    I am old enough to remember being told "We can't ride that, we are out of tickets." It was simply part of going to Disneyland. You got so many tickets and had to decide, do I want to ride POTC or do I want to ride Matterhorn. I remember visiting the park as a Magic Kingdom member and having the Magic Kingdom Club passport, and people wanting to know where to get it so they didn't have to buy tickets for the rides.


    It's very different now than when I was a kid. Many people *expect* to be able to visit Disneyland at least once a year. I've lived in SoCal for almost my entire life, and when I was a kid, we went once every few years, and usually, it was because relatives were here from out of town, so we were kind of expected to take them. The idea of visiting even one time every year was a completely unheard-of concept for us. Disney has contributed to the current problem by introducing annual passes and having discount tickets available almost year round, so people have gotten used to being able to afford to go to Disneyland very often, but then that's contributed to the crowding problem. Disney further added to the crowding problem by allowing monthly payments on annual passes. And now, they've found themselves in a bit of a pickle, partly of their own creation.
    When we went as a kid, we usually went once a year in the summer. It was usually combined with a trip to Marineland and going to the beach.

    I think the park has been made affordable by the use of payments. I don't remember the park being as crowded back in the 60s and 70s as it is today. People say this isn't what Walt wanted, but do they really think if the prices were lower, the park crowds would be lighter? Can you imagine turnstile closures during the whole year? Walt was a business man. He knew and understood price points. He may have built the park for parents to enjoy with their kids, but he never did it for free. He did it with profits in mind.
    Planning 3 trips at once...

  11. #160
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    After a couple of days of angst, here is how it boils down for me. Everyone's situation is unique on how they approach the now more expensive Disneyland Resort.

    I can honestly say that the latest price increase will most likely have altered my future plans with trips to Disneyland forever. My wife and I, over the last several years, would buy a park-hopper package, go on our trip, then convert the park-hoppers to annual passes before we left. And once you have that annual pass in hand, you immediately begin thinking about your next trip, and maybe the next trip after that to gain maximum value from the expense of the purchasing the annual pass. Three trips to Disneyland in a twelve month period (and our trips are usually for 5 or 6 days at a time)? Disney would have loved us since we always ate at the park and my wife, well, loves to....shop Disney. The annual pass we normally buy is now $469.00, up over $200 from when we first got into the annual pass routine. I don't plan on ever spending $469.00 (or more) for an annual pass unless, as they say, my ship comes in or I win the lottery or something (hard to do when you don't play though).

    I think from this point forward, my wife and I will park-hopper our trips. We will not convert the hoppers to annual passes. We will plan a trip for a select number of days. I think we will also take the option where if you just visit one of the parks on given day instead of "hopping" you can save a bit more. Disneyland loses out on this a bit not that they really care what I think. Instead of 2 or 3 trips in twelve month period, we may be good with just making one. The pressure is off to "need to go to Disneyland to use of our annual passes". We'll go when we are good and ready.

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  12. #161
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    Quote Originally Posted by currence View Post
    We will have to wait and see what Disney does next summer, but as for now, the school group rates are still quiet affordable. My son is going to three different summer camps this summer, and two of them have a field trips to Disneyland and/or California Adventure. Of those one of the camps include the price of field trips in the price of the week at camp and is going on separate weeks to DCA and DL, the other priced all field trips separately, is just going to DL, and wanted an extra $80 - which included the bus and the chaperones.

    As a kid, I would usually go to Disneyland two-three times per year. Once with my family (where we packed our own sandwiches and went back to the car at lunchtime to eat them), and once or twice with some combination of summer camp, girl scouts, or church youth group. I never felt deprived and I certainly never stopped from having fun to reflect "Walk wanted this to be a park that I could be at with my parents." If anything, I was super-excited to be there with my friends.

    If it is all about the little princesses, there are ways to get your kid to Disney for less, even if you don't get to go with them.
    As a local elementary school teacher, I can say we cannot afford to visit Disneyland for a field trip even with their "discounted" prices. It is still way too much money for our families to afford. We went the past two years and it was a huge struggle for the kids to fund-raise enough money to visit Disneyland. We will be visiting Knott's Berry Farm this year where the price of a ticket with lunch is $36. A way better value for our students! It makes me sad, since our school is literally 10 minutes away from Disneyland.

  13. #162
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    Not to get people riled up all over again...but has anyone checked the prices for the AP program at WDW?
    The FL resident prices are far lower than our prices...really makes you go, "hmm..." They offer a local options such as weekday visits and/or after 4 option.

    http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/


  14. #163
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    Quote Originally Posted by abkb76 View Post
    We will be visiting Knott's Berry Farm this year where the price of a ticket with lunch is $36. A way better value for our students!
    Of course, "value" is in the eye of the beholder, and there's no disputing the actual monetary difference in what it costs to go to Disneyland versus Knott's, but it's also a *very* different experience between the two parks.


    Quote Originally Posted by abkb76 View Post
    Not to get people riled up all over again...but has anyone checked the prices for the AP program at WDW?
    The FL resident prices are far lower than our prices...really makes you go, "hmm..." They offer a local options such as weekday visits and/or after 4 option.
    Yeah, there's been mention of the discrepancy between the DLR AP prices and WDW AP prices. However, that's mostly a function of the WDW prices not having been raised yet. I expect their price increases will be announced shortly as well, especially with all the new Fantasyland stuff coming soon.

    And yes, WDW has a different Florida residents program, but that's really because the demographic of visitors is different between WDW and DLR. WDW's guests are more tourists, so they want to encourage more local visitors. DLR is mostly locals based, though "locals" probably includes northern California and some of the surrounding states as well. If they offered the same type of resident AP program at Disneyland as they do at WDW, Disneyland and DCA would be overrun moreso with locals than they are now.
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  15. #164
    Quote Originally Posted by abkb76 View Post
    Not to get people riled up all over again...but has anyone checked the prices for the AP program at WDW?
    The FL resident prices are far lower than our prices...really makes you go, "hmm..." They offer a local options such as weekday visits and/or after 4 option.

    http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/
    Supply and demand.

    There is very little demand for WDW APs. They aren't even printed on card stock - they use the same paper that a one day ticket uses. Most WDW pass holders don't even live in Orlando, they live three hours south in Miami. There is even a Disney theme park merchandise store in Miami for buying pins and other theme park collectables without having to drive to Orlando. WDW prices them as they do to meet demand. They have to offer things like the Epcot After 4pm pass in order to entice people to go. Disneyland doesn't need to incentivize like that.

    In Los Angeles, demand is far, far higher and the APs are priced accordingly. I'd be shocked if there are even 200,000 WDW annual pass holders.

    And as somebody who has been a pass holder to both, having lived in Miami before LA, there is no comparison. Disneyland packs not many fewer attractions in 1/20th the space and 1/2 the parks, offers more affordable and higher quality food and is kept in far better shape and upkeep. Disneyland APs also have much better discount perks (IIRC no food discounts at WDW).

  16. #165

    Okay, I am as stunned as the next guy over the price increase, but I have to say the MLK comparison is out of hand.

    I had parents who were born during the Depression. Dad worked hard to support us. Mom worked hard running the household on a strict budget. I grew up watching Disney every Sunday on ABC and Mouse Club reruns and got in on the ground floor of the MMC reboot in the seventies and was All About the Mouse, believe me. I had schoolmates that would go to Disneyland frequently. We went once. We saved up and planned the trip and went, once, when I was seven, and that was that.

    There is nothing wrong with telling kids "we can't do that (insert non-essential item) because we can't afford it." Zero. I heard it plenty of times as a kid, and frankly, it made me better at budgeting and realizing true value. Disneyland is a luxury, and I grew up very well aware of that fact. Disneyland is not health insurance, it is not bread, it is not a warm safe place to sleep at night. You will not get polio if you don't go to Disneyland as a child. You will not grow up unable to support your own family if you cannot afford to go to Disneyland as a child.


  17. #166
    Quote Originally Posted by leota's necklace View Post
    but I have to say the MLK comparison is out of hand.

    Surely it was facetious.
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  18. #167

    I hope so. It didn't strike me that way, but I will leave it to dban3 and jcruise86 to answer.

    I certainly agree that poverty is a burden on a child. I just don't think that not going to Disneyland is the thing that defines poverty.


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    Quote Originally Posted by personnext View Post
    Supply and demand.

    There is very little demand for WDW APs. They aren't even printed on card stock - they use the same paper that a one day ticket uses. Most WDW pass holders don't even live in Orlando, they live three hours south in Miami. There is even a Disney theme park merchandise store in Miami for buying pins and other theme park collectables without having to drive to Orlando. WDW prices them as they do to meet demand. They have to offer things like the Epcot After 4pm pass in order to entice people to go. Disneyland doesn't need to incentivize like that.

    In Los Angeles, demand is far, far higher and the APs are priced accordingly. I'd be shocked if there are even 200,000 WDW annual pass holders.

    And as somebody who has been a pass holder to both, having lived in Miami before LA, there is no comparison. Disneyland packs not many fewer attractions in 1/20th the space and 1/2 the parks, offers more affordable and higher quality food and is kept in far better shape and upkeep. Disneyland APs also have much better discount perks (IIRC no food discounts at WDW).

    I see your point but I would argue that although some high quality food can be found in both DL and WDW , on the whole the majority of food offered in both resorts is pretty mediocre. I don't see where DL has it over WDW in that regard.
    Last edited by AVP; 05-20-2012 at 11:31 AM. Reason: Fixed vB formatting

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    I just think they should offer an AP that is truly for locals only, one that perhaps is for admission for after 4 p.m. as they do for WDW and/or a weekday only option. The price difference between WDW and Disneyland just really is outrageous to me.


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    Quote Originally Posted by leota's necklace View Post
    Okay, I am as stunned as the next guy over the price increase, but I have to say the MLK comparison is out of hand.

    There is nothing wrong with telling kids "we can't do that (insert non-essential item) because we can't afford it." Zero.
    I completely agree.
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  22. #171
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    Quote Originally Posted by cstephens View Post
    I completely agree.
    I don't. Sorry.
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  23. #172
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    Quote Originally Posted by leota's necklace View Post
    Disneyland is a luxury, and I grew up very well aware of that fact. Disneyland is not health insurance, it is not bread, it is not a warm safe place to sleep at night. You will not get polio if you don't go to Disneyland as a child. You will not grow up unable to support your own family if you cannot afford to go to Disneyland as a child.
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  24. #173
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    Quote Originally Posted by leota's necklace View Post
    Okay, I am as stunned as the next guy over the price increase, but I have to say the MLK comparison is out of hand.
    Quote Originally Posted by MidwayManiac View Post
    Surely it was facetious.
    Quote Originally Posted by leota's necklace View Post
    I hope so. It didn't strike me that way, but I will leave it to dban3 and jcruise86 to answer.

    I certainly agree that poverty is a burden on a child. I just don't think that not going to Disneyland is the thing that defines poverty.
    I agree. It didn't strike me as sarcasm. Being able to go to Disneyland cannot possibly be compared to segregation. What about all the commercials to "Come to the game" for whatever team plays in your area, or the commercials for Princess Cruises, or for Nike $200 sports shoes, or <list goes on>...

    Kids learn what they are taught. If they are taught that they deserve everything they see on TV, it caters to the "MEMEME" society. As parents, sometimes we have to teach them they cannot have everything they see.
    Planning 3 trips at once...

  25. #174

    Now that my oldest is in middle school and we are limited to when and how long we can go to DL because of school and sports, I think we are priced out of a DL annual pass. I'm a bit dumbfounded about the 5 day max on PHs though.


  26. #175

    dban3, I'd love to understand your thinking on that.

    I grew up, if it's not obvious, during the status-crazed Eighties. I went to a private school because my parents both worked in various capacities at the school (in addition to their actual jobs) so we could afford it. I was regularly told I could not do or have things that the other kids did, and that was because their parents owned car mega-dealerships or were members of huge law firms and had money to spend, and we did not. At least, not on stupid jeans with special stitching, not on polo shirts with certain embroidered animals, not on ski vacations to Tahoe, and not on yearly trips to Disneyland.

    After a brief period of feeling Less Than, I realized that the kids who thought that sort of stuff defined us as people and our roles in society were, well, idiots.

    Now, it helps immensely that I come from a place of certain privilege as a middle-class white chick, and I fully recognize and acknowledge that fact. And hey, I dunno, maybe the little girl who sleeps in a car at night and whose only hot meal is the one she gets at school is only truly made aware of her circumstance when she realizes she doesn't have family photos with people in costumes with rubber heads, and that will be the final straw that crushes her spirit.

    Not Going to Disneyland is not Real Poverty, is my point. Is there an MLK analog to Godwin's Law?


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