Buying access/using that wealth openly enabled Disneyland to openly market products that quite literally lets you buy your way to the front of the line
Interesting take. I would actually go further and look at it as marking the beginning of a deliberate shift of Disneyland from a place for families to a luxury product sold to the rich.
There have always been special perks for those who could afford them, but they were generally subtle enough so “everyday” people were able to ignore them and to maintain the illusion that, yes, even though there may be class distinctions in the outside world, the Disney bubble had different rules. All of us were special and worthy of particular cast member attention and care. Each little girl was a “princess.” The stringent differences between “haves,” “have somes,” and “have nots” were somehow, miraculously, left outside of those gates (of course, if you were truly poor, then even a bare bones Disney vacation was probably out of reach for you, so all of what I’m writing here is of course relative in its own way).
Yes, there were indications that some guests were more “special” than others, but this was handled rather discreetly. If you wanted to see it, you had to look for it. There was a door to Club 33. There were VIP groups and celebrities, who got to skip lines. It wasn’t brazenly obvious, though
Also, there were ways of making one’s and one’s family’s experience even more special, even without a lot of money, by putting in sweat equity and smarts. If you didn’t have the money for Savi’s, your kids could make themselves the lightsaber discount version at Star Traders (and probably have just as much fun doing it). Planning meticulously, getting up insanely early, running for (legacy) fast passes had the potential to allow families without a huge amount of disposable cash to make their trip even more magical (while also teaching the kids that, yes, diligent research and hard work do indeed pay off).
Maybe I am simply paranoid, but the current developments make me think of a Disney headquarters strategy meeting, in which the powers that be discussed that the virus may be here to stay for a while (or, even if not, that people will probably, as a result of what we went through, be somewhat skittish when encountering pre-COVID-type densely packed peak season crowds).
So, what were they to do? One way of dealing with this problem is using the law of supply and demand, pricing out less well-to-do families (or those who save up for a once-in-a lifetime trip), and instead targeting the obscenely rich. Two birds, one stone—One, you don’t have to worry too much about people distancing safely (and/or anybody being squeamish about being densely packed, shoulder to shoulder) or about reservations running out too quickly, and, two, at the same time, you are raking in more money to make up for last years financial losses.
The Star Wars Hotel in Orlando, priced at a level that is completely out of reach for most regular families. For-profit pay-as-you-go lightning lanes. I wonder if all of this is not just insatiable, corporate greed, not just the byproduct of a society in which wealth is flaunted rather than carefully hidden, obvious only to those able to read its subtle cues, but actually a deliberate shifting of the segment of our society that Disney’s long-range planners consider their desired market.
Of course, this new elitist Disney experience could be temporary, used until the high-end market is saturated and it makes more financial sense to offer discounts and perks that appeal to the masses… I just worry that, by then, my kids will be grown, and our visits will be quite different from what they would be now.
I can’t help but think that most of the heroes from Disney’s stories (Tiana, Aurora/Briar Rose, etc.) would, were they real, as less financially fortunate individuals, actually be priced out of visiting the parks… Somehow that idea makes me sad.
But I already was used to buying MaxPass so maybe that's why I'm not as upset... I don't love it but I'm just so relieved it's not an exact replica of what Disneyland Paris has. I'm waiting to find out if we can stack rides or if we really can only have ONE reservation at a time. Then I'll see how upset I am. 
