Once upon a time, there were several magical places in the Land of 1000 Lakes.
In the central region of Florida, far away from the beaches and their bugs grew a cluster of kingdoms, each created to offer respite and pleasure for families the world over.
My first trip to Orlando was in 1974. The paint was still drying at Disney World; there was a minimal park entry fee, and attraction charges were per ride, ranging from free exhibitions like “The Carousel of Progress” (sponsored by General Electric) and “If You Had Wings” (sponsored by Eastern Airlines), to A-E ticket priced rides, much more like a county or state fair, giving patrons access to the restaurants, attractions and gift shops, but allowing their wallet and ride appetites to determine the ‘spend’ for each day.
When DisneyWorld opened in the early 1970s, General Adult Admission was $6.50 and an E-Ticket attraction cost 90 cents.
Though Dad purchased a family vacation home on Jekyll Island later that same year, which would dominate our summer and Thanksgiving vacation destinations for decades to come, I continued to hear the siren song coming from the Lands of Lando.
During the interim decades, Uncle Walt’s playground would gain competition, as Anheuser Busch expanded its Florida amusement park holdings from Busch Gardens in Tampa, to Sea World, Discovery Cove and Aquatica along the International Drive tourism/convention center row in Orlando.
Universal Studios, now NBC/Universal, about to branch into a second publicly traded company out of Xfinity/Comcast/NBC/Universal, would perhaps mount the strongest challenge to the growing Disney park dynasty, with a family of parks and resort hotel properties to take on the House of Mouse.
As my first born daughter Barclay reached school age, I became a Disney Dad in reasonably short order, and regular pilgrimages to the Magical Lands of Lando would often include cousins, close friends and even following her competition dance team there for a performance.
A PAUSE, THEN REGULAR RETURN
Those regular visits paused for slightly more than a decade until the arrival of her younger sister.
Perhaps my most enjoyable park trek to date, despite requiring a second-mortgage to finance, was the first trip a couple of years ago with the grandtwin Mighty Mites, both their parents (Barclay and Cody) as well as their Aunt Olivia. I still find magic in those multi-generational family gatherings.
Olivia and I just returned from the Kingdoms this week, where we celebrated our nation’s 250th birthday at Universal Studios, followed by three days at Disney and one at Aquatica.
We enjoyed parts of each place, space and day—but with now a half century invested in making these treks, I feel compelled to share some troubling observations, as the Land of Happiness seems to be evolving more into a Land of Plenty and a lesser land of have-nots.
The heat was significant on this visit. I had long ago come to prefer park visits during the holidays and winter months, where the temps are lower and with a few exceptions the crowds are lighter. But a significant birthday for Olivia came on July 1, and when asked what she wanted, this trip was the ask.
NOW A TALE OF TWO OR THREE LANDOS
The Disney Parks have the highest price points. For a three-day stay, regular retail was $179.00 per park per person, per day.
Thankfully, utilizing a combination of discounts—10% off for AARP members and $50.00 per day off for late entry at 1:45 p.m.—our per park, per day rate later became $129.00.
Parking was an additional $35.00 per day, though Disney now allows you to move between parks and parking lots without an extra charge on the same day.
We typically ate breakfast at our hotel and had lunch just before entering the parks. Olivia would typically run out of batteries in that heat about 4-5 hours later, so more often than not, dinner was back at the hotel or en route after leaving the park.
Disney has almost innumerable amenities, attractions, and sites to see, but I have seldom been all that impressed with their dining.
I took note in the parking lot, on the wrists next to the Magic Bands, and in the attire of most adult park visitors—this was a very upscale crowd, even with their sunburns, occasional heat exhaustion and community Karen’s wailing about some expectation not being completely fulfilled—at least twice in each park.
Though we have stayed on property many times over the years—and Disney offers 40,000+ hotel rooms at a wide array of price points and resorts, along with amenities like extra park hours and free use of their transportation system—we stayed at a nearby Marriott property that was convenient to all the leisure lands and where I could pay with hotel reward points.
But even this option included a $26 daily parking fee, in a surface lot outside the hotel. This trio of Marriot mid-market properties at Lake Buena Vista has aged reasonably well, Barclay and I stayed here during its opening summer and for several years after.
We planned our July 4th at Universal Studios, my favorite of the parks. A few minor disappointments: my favorite restaurant there, an Irish Pub in the New York City section of that park was closed for rebranding and refurbishment.
Olivia’s favorites, an E.T.-themed ride and a Live Animals On Set stage show had held most of their charm. Daily afternoon thundershowers, a staple there as long as I can remember, typically arrive before afternoon drive time, cooling off the hot pavement, bringing a slight breeze and making the heat/humidity more tolerable.
We dined at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and watched fireworks from our hotel balcony, as Disney was putting on quite a spectacle just above the treeline slightly more than a mile away. By far Olivia’s favorite is the Magic Kingdom, our day there was magical and we almost never left Fantasyland, home to the bulk of Disney Princesses and Villains.
We visited or road all the old favorites as well as chatted briefly with Cinderella, Snow White and Belle.
The latter gave Olivia a now-treasured bookmark, as both daughters love to read. We broke up the Disney trifecta with a water park day at Aquatica, a SeaWorld affiliate park.
After Anheuser-Busch was acquired by Imbev, a Belgian beverage conglomerate, the company divested the theme park division, which has since been resold twice or thrice to a series of private equity groups.
Though the aquatic mammal shows and their care seem well maintained, the rest of those parks are in apparent and visual decline.
Maintenance needs are visible everywhere, food quality is sub-par, and staffing and even safety standards are visibly only a fraction of those high-life Busch years.
CHANGE NOTED, NOT ALL FOR THE BETTER
In my years traveling the parks with Barclay, SeaWorld and particularly two dolphin visits at Discovery Cove made those parks a family favorite. Their condition today somewhat saddened me.
We purchased a Groupon for admission, more than halving the gate price (neither Disney nor the Universal Parks routinely discount admission). But the park owners still find ways to get cash from visitors. Parking was $45.00 in a large, paved, and pock-marked parking lot, offering no trams or way to beat the heat if the park was crowded.
As we picked a mid-week day, the park was only semi-crowded, but Olivia and I were now in the minority, as our fellow park patrons were primarily black and brown, and Spanish was spoken much more frequently than English.
The staff and other guests all treated us well, but I did note at Guest Services as we entered with our Groupon, that several families were paying for their annual passes—less than the cost of two visits—by signing up for monthly payment plans.
Again by comparison, the Disney parks were whiter than I had ever seen them, with more Rolexes and mothers clad in Lulu Lemon.
The Universal and SeaWorld parks were much more teen/tween-aimed and reflected a more mid-market customer base.
Of course, there are more expensive resorts all over the world...but the dividing line, based primarily on economic levels, was quite striking.
Disney recently announced in an Earnings Call that it expects 2027 will bring another hike in park admission prices, to roughly $200.00 per park, per person per day, along with higher ‘surge’ pricing on high demand holiday weekends and for special events.
A large segment of America had long been priced out of an ‘on property’ Disney Resort stay, but this may make the dream of even a park visit become only a fantasy for all too many.
As a very minor, minor Disney shareholder, I will admit it is typically the best performing stock in my modest portfolio, and I want them to be profitable, but there is something in all of this which feels a bit more Elitist with each visit, and I can’t help but think Uncle Walt is wincing more than a bit when he gazes down upon his magical lands of family wonder.
A final, redeeming magical moment during our day in EPHOT. Princess Aurora, better known as Sleeping Beauty, was walking through France in EPCOTs World Showcase area.
She had a photographer in tow, but no security or cue of other park visitors. Disney Princesses have been a lifelong fascination for Olivia, Aurora was her first.
The first full sentence Olivia spoke with me was during a walk at around age 2, when she began to sing the lyrics of “Once Upon a Dream,” from Sleeping Beauty.
I shared this with Aurora, who was also touched. She took Olivia’s hand and they began to walk and sing the tune together.
I couldn’t get my mobile out fast enough to capture that on video, but we did get a few more magical photos and memories.
Wishing the same for you and your family this hot summer of 2026.
