That depends on how old you are. As a kid, I grew up in Orlando, and I got to go to Disney and Universal all the time. Enough that I got tired of it.

But back then, in the 90s, people still acted like civilized human beings when they went to two amusement parks. I’m just very glad that I have no desire to go back, especially considering what awful nightmare it is.

1996, a day pass for a Florida resident at Disney was $25. At Universal it was $18. Today, add a zero to the end of that, and you’ve got some idea of the amount of money they expect you to spend there. Just on the ticket.

They are a 2 hour drive from us so not extravagant trips. But I am so grateful to my mom for taking my kids with her when she traveled to Europe. Even though she never did anything like that with us, she would invite her grandkids one or two at a time to wherever she was going and her rules were "one bag, you carry it, no whining". They got to see places I haven't yet. Very extravagant and I wish she'd taken her own kids on trips like that!

When I was growing up, I had some family in LA & San Diego. One year when we visited them we ended up going to both Disneyland and SeaWorld. This was the late '80s or very early '90s and not a huge deal, I think it was just something to do to keep us kids busy. I know Disneyland isn't "the" Disney that everyone talks about so maybe I'm missing something but Disneyland was sorta underwhelming. I wasn't huge into Disney stuff anyway but I remember being kind of bored.

When we visited in 1997 we went to Universal Studios Hollywood. They had an attraction where you could get photographed in front of a blue screen and edited into a scene from Star Trek - they had uniforms and props and everything. I loved TNG and was so stoked to wear a command uniform and hold a tricorder. My uncle Ira was appalled that I chose TNG over TOS...I can still hear him saying "but that's not real Star Trek!"

What do you know now that makes you grateful?

When i read extravagant trips, i expected to go to some Carribean Islands, or hiking in Nepal or something like that. Going to some Plastic corporate identity hellhole does not seem extravagant to me, although it is probably much more expensive in terms of Costs/Experience.

It's been a long time, but I was in a dance troupe as a kid and we performed at Disney World in the late 90's. I'm not sure if they still do it, but when you traveled to perform there, they put your troupe name and the members' names in the park program for the day.

My mom and I took the tram back to the park at dusk every night we were there to get a milkshake and watch the fireworks. TBH, those were some pretty neat experiences.

DW was a neat place before it got enshittified.

Honestly the kids who get spoiled grow up to be not so nice adults. They want everything to be spoonfed.

We have season passes that give us access to all Cedar Fair parks with unlimited meals and drinks, unlimited visits all year long, and it still costs less than one trip to Disney. We often visit 7 different parks in a year, and our home park dozens of times.

Is it the murders? Its the murders.

Been a few times. You're not missing much.