The Happiest Place on Earth left one Canadian dad fuming over the exorbitant cost of taking his family to Disneyland.
Mario Zelaya shared his anger after spending nearly $1,200 on tickets for a recent visit to Disneyland Paris with his wife and two boys in a viral video, in which he slammed the supposed family-friendly Mouse House as a “money grabbing machine.”
“Just the tickets alone, that’s 1,100 euros, for Americans, that’s 1,200 bucks, for Canadians, that’s 1,600 dollars,” he said while revealing the bill in the background in a TikTok video that has so far amassed over 240,000 views.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
Zelaya had first bought the standard $120 per-person ticket but ponied up an additional $173 per person to upgrade to premier passes, which allow guests to join the fast lane for each ride.
“It’s crazy how overflowing Disney is. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Paris, Orlando, or California, it’s like this all the time,” he said as he showed a video of a long line for a “crappy ride” with a wait time of an hour and 15 minutes without the premier pass.
‘I made a huge mistake, I went to Disneyland in Paris. I’m almost embarrassed at how much money I spent.”
He noted that if he didn’t buy the premier passes, he and his family would have been waiting “over 25 hours” to get on the various rides.
“The crowds are just endless, my advice: don’t go to Disney,” he said, before calling Disney the “biggest money printing machine on Earth.”
Disney has enraged many of its loyal visitors by jacking up prices at its theme parks in the past year.
Over the past 50 years, ticket prices have soared by an exorbitant 3,871%, as The Post previously reported.
Zelaya’s video, which was captioned — “Here are the Disney rules: Expect crazy long wait times. If you don’t want to wait in line, expect a huge bill to upgrade to a Premier Pass. If you decide to wait in line instead because the Premier pass doesn’t cover all the rides, expect a huge bill regardless”– garnered over 360 comments.
“Such a rip off now,” one person replied. “I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of my money now. Glad I went in the early 90s when it was affordable.”
Another added: “So true, waiting an entire two hours for a lame five-minute ride.”
“Yeah, I never understood the hype!,” a customer wrote in agreement.
“My family went once and that was enough for us. It cost us about $5,000 for a family of five and it wasn’t worth it,” added another user.
Others pointed out the high price of the “bad” food, while others called the experience a “scam.”
Earlier this year, Disney CEO Bob Iger rolled back some of the price hikes installed by his predecessor Bob Chapek, as demand began to soften.
Even with those adjustments, Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., have seen a dip in attendance as prices remain high.
Disney did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
