Disney World

I moved to Florida in 1979. My first trip to Disney World was before that. My father was living in Florida and I visited him and he took my son and I to Disney. We rode the boat from the parking lot to the main theme park area. Back then there were choices as to how you wanted to travel after parking. I think it was between the monorail and the boat. The boat took a lot longer and I think that’s why it didn’t last. People are in a hurry.

Also back then the tickets were sold as A through E tickets. Each one was good for certain rides only. Or we could buy the Adventure Ticket Book, which held Magic Key Coupons (seen here in my photos – yes, I still have this coupon book). Each coupon was good for one adult admission to any “A” thru “E” attraction.

Like the good old days of narrow back roads running across the peaceful Florida landscape, a fun-old fashioned – and affordable – day at Disney is no more. As you can see, the $8.41 plus tax price tag didn’t last long. When I lived in Florida each year we saw the news that the ticket prices to visit Disney had gone up. I just read an article at Frommers about how the price has now jumped to over $100 for a single ticket. The article asks the question, “Are Disney vacations only for the rich?” At those prices, I definitely say, YES.

Besides paying to park, buying food and drink all day long, and paying $100 per person to spend a day dealing with crowds in the hot Florida sun, Disney is looking very unattractive to me. I say let the wealthy tourists keep it going. Prices will not get better, only worse. It makes me feel sad for the many families who will never have the chance to show their kids Disney World.

So is the high price of tickets a good way to weed out the poor? To make sure that your Disney trip is spent rubbing elbows with the affluent? Or is it necessary to keep visitor count down? I dislike all of this. It’s why my favorite Florida spot is the beach, or better yet, my backyard pool. I remember the days of the old rides, like the Gondola ride that carried guests across the park high above the crowds. The claustrophobic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was quite unique, and not all that impressive as I recall, except for the concept. And Discovery Island that was too much like the Zoo to fit in with the excitement of a day at Disney.

I have an idea for those who can’t stomach the idea of spending hundreds of dollars to run around a theme park or two. Take a more affordable, and less stressful, vacation and see the real Florida. Stay in historic St. Augustine, or rent a house on the beach. Visit the Keys and go snorkeling. Those are the types of vacations I like to write about here on my blog.

It seems that everyone living here in the northeastern US, flocks to Disney World and Florida any chance they can get. Most likely they do it in other parts of the country and world too since I know the tourists are from all over, but all I personally know about is here.

The television commercials show empty and pristine beaches with SUN (that’s a big thing when you live someplace where the sun barely comes up above the tree line for months). I don’t recognize the Florida I know when I watch these commercials. Did they pay people to get off the beach while they were filming?

All winter these New Englanders talk about Florida like it’s some great, heavenly, paradise where there is real (as opposed to tanning booth) and constant sunshine. Well the sunshine part is true. And if you have lots of money and spend a week or two vacationing at Mickey’s home, I suppose the paradise part is true as well. Lounging by the pool and eating food you don’t have to make yourself sounds pretty good, even if it does cost $11 for a burger.

But then there are the lines, and screaming kids, and more lines, tropical heat, more lines, sweating people, standing and waiting, walking and walking, did I mention the heat? and sunburns?…sorry.

For those of us who live there or have lived there, well, we know differently. Unless you have lots of money and live on the ocean or intracoastal, it’s just life as usual except in the heat with huge bugs and deadly snakes. You work (for very little money) and struggle to make ends meet. You do yard work in the blazing sun trying not to get skin cancer in a land where the sun finds you no matter where you go. Sweating is just a part of life, like breathing.

Relatives constantly use your home as their way to save money while vacationing, and since the weather is fairly nice year round tourists are always everywhere so stores are always crowded and so are the roads.

If you are a teacher, you know that during the course of the school year kids will come and go in your classroom as often as the wind changes direction and your classes could be held anywhere from a closet to a teacher’s lounge or most likely a “portable” because of overcrowding. You won’t have aides or assistants because there is no money for them, but you will be expected to teach kids who have come from all over the country and have all kinds of backgrounds. If you are a high school teacher you will have to know how to handle firearms. (Just kidding- barely).

We know about the hurricanes that form off the coast of Africa and watch them grow each day wondering where they will actually hit. We know that the summer rain pours down in buckets and usually has hail and tornado watches if not warnings. And the lightening is deadly and the thunder is deafening. The roads flood and the highways get backed up because of accidents.

Florida is a beautiful place to visit, but I think you’d change your mind about the paradise part if you lived there. I did have my favorite places to go and things to do, like the Springs and fishing and boating. More about that later.

(Pam lived in Central Florida for 27 years.)