Since I have the records and with some of the complaints about the new pricing policies, I thought I would look back over the years. I have receipts from 1986 on and many of these were for peak periods such as over the 4th and during the Xmas season. Also we have gotten APs since around 1990 which never included the water parks or P.I. so there were standard APs. Before 1990 we got room/dining pkgs but I can't break out them as to Adult, Child and Site costs or what was included in the dining portion. I also used an inflation calculator I found and won't try and go into how it works, but it sounded reasonable for this level comparison. I imagine there might be a specific inflation index for entertainment, but I didn't bother trying to find it. The following lists by year the Site costs and AP costs for the indicated years and the numbers in the parens are inflation adjusted to 2007 dollars and includes the estimated 4 tier rate for our upcoming 16 Dec 2007 thru 25 Jan 2008 before taxes. Also, the time is indicated along with the split rates when they started doing that so.
1986 - $30 ($56) Aug
1987 - $32 ($59) 4th July
1989 - $39 ($67) 4th July
1990 - $39 ($60) Xmas, Adult passport $174 ($268)
1991 - $42 ($64) Aug
1994 - $47 ($66) Aug, Adult passport $194 ($271)
1995 - $58 ($79) Xmas, Adult passport $233 ($317)
1996 - $52/$40($69/$53) 4th July
1998 - $62/$37 ($78/$47) 4th July, Adult passport $278 ($350)
2000 - unk/$44 (unk/$52) Xmas, Adult passport $328 ($398)
2005 - $94/$48 ($100/$51) Xmas, Adult passport $420 ($448)
2007 - $55/$91/$47/$46 plus taxes, Xmas, Adult passport $477
Thus while everything is getting more expensive, when you look that MGM didn't open until 1989 and AK in 1998 those facts should go into looking at some of the passport values since prior to 1998 that was only for 3 parks. IMHO the costs now are not so out of line with what WDW has cost in the past when you take in the continued development of WDW and additional rides/attractions such as Everest, BTRR, Splash Mtn, HTT, RRC, Mission Space, Test Track, Soarin, Primeval Whirl, the stunt/car show at MGM, Osbourne ligts, the many iterations of FW at EPCOT, 3 iterations of the 3-D movie in Imaginations, Millenium Park, and probably a bunch I can't remember right off hand.
Enjoy
Larry
1986 - $30 ($56) Aug
1987 - $32 ($59) 4th July
1989 - $39 ($67) 4th July
1990 - $39 ($60) Xmas, Adult passport $174 ($268)
1991 - $42 ($64) Aug
1994 - $47 ($66) Aug, Adult passport $194 ($271)
1995 - $58 ($79) Xmas, Adult passport $233 ($317)
1996 - $52/$40($69/$53) 4th July
1998 - $62/$37 ($78/$47) 4th July, Adult passport $278 ($350)
2000 - unk/$44 (unk/$52) Xmas, Adult passport $328 ($398)
2005 - $94/$48 ($100/$51) Xmas, Adult passport $420 ($448)
2007 - $55/$91/$47/$46 plus taxes, Xmas, Adult passport $477
Thus while everything is getting more expensive, when you look that MGM didn't open until 1989 and AK in 1998 those facts should go into looking at some of the passport values since prior to 1998 that was only for 3 parks. IMHO the costs now are not so out of line with what WDW has cost in the past when you take in the continued development of WDW and additional rides/attractions such as Everest, BTRR, Splash Mtn, HTT, RRC, Mission Space, Test Track, Soarin, Primeval Whirl, the stunt/car show at MGM, Osbourne ligts, the many iterations of FW at EPCOT, 3 iterations of the 3-D movie in Imaginations, Millenium Park, and probably a bunch I can't remember right off hand.
Enjoy
Larry
