It was all started by a mouse

Walt Disney World is a huge corporation or a conglomerate actually.  They have theme parks in Orlando,Fl, Anaheim,CA as well as Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo.  They own other entities such as ESPN, Touchstone Pictures, and Pixar just to name a few.  Walt Disney is a brand name now and his family has no involvement with or influence over, the company.  I am sure Walt Disney the man, would be very upset to see the cost of tickets, the shameless expensive merchandising, and the astronomical food prices but the one thing that sums up the spirit of him is our military discounts.  Currently if you are active or retired military you are eligible for a 5 Day Water Park Fun N More Pass for free.  You can also get up to to 5 similar passes for your family at a deeply discounted rate.  These passes enable you to have 5 days unlimited access to all the parks as well as the ability to hop between the parks and you are also given 5 fun days as well which mean you have access to the water parks like blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon, as well as the golf course and downtown disney.  In all you have 10 days at Disney that for military is for free and for their family or friends is relatively inexpensive and you have until the end of the year to use up all your complimentary days so they don't have to be used consecutively.  I think the discount is in the spirit of what Walt Disney is all about.  He wanted this to be a place where the average family could come and spend a great time together, and while that may not be true for the average blue collar family anymore, at least it is true for our servicemen and women, who in my estimation cannot be appreciated enough. 

Not Your Average Vacation Destination

There are many stories of families saving for over a decade so they could bring their kids to Walt Disney World.  I see them on a daily basis, and sometimes I see some who are on their last dollar.  I once had a guest who was determined to buy season passes for her and her children whom she brought up to the booth with her.  She was very sweet but obviously very concerned about spending all that money.  An annual pass for a Florida resident is $359.00 and $316.00 for a child.  You are considered an adult if you are at least 10 years old. A child is between 3-9, and anybody under that age is free.  So she has two children with her and her grand total for one adult and two children is going to be $991 plus 6.5% sales tax which makes it $1055.42.  She goes back and forth over her options, and I explain everything the ticket entails and I try to encourage her to purchase a cheaper pass which is our seasonal pass but she doesn't like the idea of blackout dates.  The bottom line is nobody in their right mind wants to be in any of the parks on those blackout days because its like being in the most popular nightclub in town.  The funniest and somewhat sad conversation then ensues between her and her young ones.  She starts to talk about how they came all this way, and that they have been talking about this for so long, and looking forward to it, and how its such a dream that she wasn't going to let their deadbeat dad and his missing child support payments get in the way.  It was so odd but actually not shocking to see.  She then proceeds to pay me with three different credit cards which as she mentioned was apparently maxing out.  I process the payments , give her and her children their passes, and this lady who economically definitely didn't seem to have it all together, between the child support payments that might never come, and her lack of available credit, proceeds to thank me profusely as if I did something magical in taking her money.  I had the impression it was these tickets or her light bill and she went for the tickets!  I just hope her kids don't want any merchandise when their in the parks and I definitely hope they don't get hungry, because you pay top dollar for both.  I just truly hope she finds that deadbeat dad.