America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of reach

Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by themodelplumber on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @10:32AM (#32152075)

I've noticed that my friends who like Disneyland are "accept no substitute" types. They will even talk down Legoland.

So I wonder if it's even meaningful to them to talk about alternatives at all. Many of them are mainly visiting that one special place for sure every year, so it's not too terrible to save the money either.

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Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by brewdad on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @11:31AM (#32152990)

It's these types that the park caters to and a significant part of why Disney can charge so much more than a "comparable" theme park. Personally, I've done the theme park thing as a kid and later with my kid and have no interest in going to one ever again. My county fair is this weekend. It's free and less than 2 miles from my home. I doubt I'll attend this year but do go about every other year. That's plenty of that atmosphere for me.

Now get off my lawn.

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Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by bobthepanda on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @12:48PM (#32154454)

I will say that because they are permanent as opposed to occasional, theme parks have more selection in terms of rides like roller coasters or any sort of water rides. And there is a whole world of difference in affordability and hecticness between Disney and something local like Hersheypark.

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Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by hardtke on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @12:20PM (#32153964)

My family is going to Dollywood this summer during a visit to Tennessee. A one day ticket is $84, but a 3 day ticket is only $114. So, yes, Disneyland is "accept no substitutes" pricing.

I would argue that Disneyland should be even more expensive. As Yogi Berra once said (paraphrasing) "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." People that simultaneously complain about Disneylands price and the crowds are delusional.

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Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by ImPostingOnHN on Thursday July 21, 2022 @01:41AM (#32176148)

> People that simultaneously complain about Disneylands price and the crowds are delusional.

perhaps in a simplified model of the world in which the only way of allocating limited resources is via a pure free market, and we assume that there's no way to satiate more demand

just off the top of my head for the latter: an online pre-sign-up and scheduling system with phones or wireless wristbands that assigns you times for your preferred rides, should help level demand and avoid bottlenecks, and thus increase throughput, and thus increase turnover, and thus increase daily attendance capacity

essentially MRP but the people are the materials and the rides are the workstations

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Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by jdmichal on Tuesday July 26, 2022 @12:42PM (#32240642)

Uh, so... That's basically Disney World right now. You must reserve your visit to the park, and there's a paid system (Genie+) to compete for ride times without waiting in line.

And there's a really good video someone did on the evolution and systems engineering behind the Genie+ / FastPass system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjZpBq1XBE

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Re:America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of... by dylan604 on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @12:56PM (#32154617)

I went to Dollywood as a kid. One of the "attractions" was fishing out of a literall barrel for perch IIRC. that's the memory that stuck with me. not the singing and the dancing and other things. fish in a barrel. can't make that up

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