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In order to fulfill her daughter's wish to buy Disney dolls and take photos with Lingna Belle, Chen Zhen was "harvested" by Shanghai Disney this summer. One day and one night cost 15,000 yuan, "this money can go to the Maldives." The cost is high, but the experience is poor. Every air-conditioned place is crowded with people who are about to suffer from heatstroke, including the washbasin in the men's bathroom, next to the urinal. The staff of "Dream Maker" were also numb from the heat. There was no fairy tale, only "work smell".

Although Disney ticket prices have increased five times in eight years and the 20% discount on Disney annual passes has been cancelled, it still cannot stop middle-class parents and children from all over the country from flocking to Shanghai. "It feels like Disney is really taking advantage of parents, as if it has determined that no matter how much the price increases, parents will still spend money."

The following is Chen Zhen’s own account:

Text |Wang Xiao

Editor|Zhang Qingsong

Operations|Killer Whale

One day and one night cost 15,000

Taking the kids to Disneyland for one day during the summer vacation is enough to spend a week in the Maldives.

This year's Disneyland seems to be more expensive than ever before. I actually had a hunch about the high cost of this trip to Disneyland, but the first thing that made me "shocked" was the Disney Hotel.

About six or seven years ago, I stayed at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. At that time, I stayed in the most ordinary standard room, which cost about 1,600 yuan, was more than 30 square meters, and had two single beds of 1.4 meters wide. The biggest highlight of the room was probably the large window in the room. When you opened the window, you could see the scenery of Disneyland. You could only see the ordinary garden view. If you wanted to see the lake view, the price would be higher.

This time I booked the same room type, but it went up to over 3,800 yuan. I checked the picture several times to confirm that it was a common double-bed room. It was said that the price would be cheaper if I booked seven days in advance, but my working hours were irregular and I was often on business trips, so it was difficult to confirm my schedule a week later. The day after I booked the hotel, I checked the price again and found that it had risen to nearly 4,000 yuan.

▲ Disneyland Hotel. Photo/Shanghai Disney Resort official website

The price of nearly 4,000 yuan does not include breakfast. If you want breakfast, you need to pay an additional 300 yuan per person. I often go to Shanghai on business trips and am familiar with hotels in Shanghai. Even the luxury hotels near the Bund only cost about 3,000 yuan in peak season, and they also include a hearty breakfast.

We didn't live in a themed room - you can take pictures with the dolls, or have the dolls tell stories before bed, but you have to pay extra. But I saw some people complaining online that the dolls' storytelling was like reading a PowerPoint presentation without any emotion, and the Mickey Mouse doll in pajamas was also perfunctory.

If I had to choose, I would definitely not choose Disney Hotel, but this is my daughter's wish because her classmate lives in Disney Hotel and can buy dolls directly in the hotel store.

What my daughter is looking forward to most is shopping. Disney is very good at hunger marketing. There are more than a dozen peripheral products in the park that can only be purchased by lottery, but they can be purchased directly in the hotel store. But even if you stay in the hotel, there are purchase restrictions. Everyone must first register with their check-in information, and the limited edition can only be purchased once a day in a room. This kind of hunger marketing gives people the illusion that "if you don't buy it quickly, you will have no chance later." My daughter bought a total of eight or nine dolls, each of which cost about three to five hundred yuan. In total, she spent more than four thousand yuan on shopping alone.

▲ Disney peripheral store. Photo/Shanghai Disney Resort official website

When I decided on the Premium Express project, I often asked for her opinion, but she always waved her hand and said, "I'm not interested in playing, I just go shopping."

I spent what I should spend and saved what I should save. I calculated that I could enter the park an hour earlier if I checked in at the hotel, and I had to leave at about 7 o'clock. It was unnecessary and not cost-effective to have breakfast at the hotel, and I could save the money for breakfast. It was acceptable to spend 4,000 yuan to stay in a Disney hotel for one night to satisfy my child's wish, but I couldn't bear it for one more night. So I decided to stay in a hotel for one night, play for a day, and then buy an Express Pass to try to play all the projects in one day. I bought 11 Express Passes, which cost nearly 1,800 yuan for one person and nearly 3,600 yuan for two people.

This summer, Disney ticket prices have become a hot topic. Since the park opened in 2016, Disney's ticket prices have increased five times in eight years. From the initial two ticket tiers of peak day (499 yuan) and weekday (370 yuan), it has increased to four tiers of "regular day (475 yuan)", "special regular day (599 yuan)", "peak day (719 yuan)", and "special peak day (799 yuan)". In July this year, the price did not drop below 700 yuan throughout the month. Now the ticket price of Shanghai Disney has even exceeded that of Tokyo Disney (less than 500 yuan), and is catching up with the US Disney (about 1,000 yuan).

But compared to the cost of being inside, the ticket is just a small expense.

The prices of food in the park are also very high. In the Zootopia theme area, there is a super-sized ice cream shop, and a large ice cream alone costs 208 yuan. A bottle of mineral water costs 10 yuan, and a bottle of Coke costs 15 yuan.

▲ Ice cream priced at 208 yuan. Photo/Shanghai Disney Resort official website

Some people queue up to get drinking water to save money. In some places, they have to queue up for 20 minutes to get a glass of water. Saving 10 yuan is not easy. Food is not cheap either. There is a turkey leg that is very popular. A palm-sized turkey leg costs 85 yuan. The mother in front of me asked about the price and said "oh" and left with her child.

After returning from Shanghai, I roughly estimated the cost of this trip. Just one day and one night at Disneyland cost nearly 15,000 yuan. I specifically looked at group tours in other countries. With this money, I can go to the Maldives for a week, or even travel to Europe and the United States with a group. A week-long tour for one person costs about 10,000 yuan. It would be a lie to say that I didn't feel bad.

I saw a saying that Disney is "harvesting the middle class", but even if we know that we are being harvested, we have no other choice. For those who do not live in Shanghai, if their children want to go there to play, they can only do so during the summer vacation. The rest of the time, neither the parents nor the children are free.

It was my daughter's wish to visit Shanghai Disneyland and stay at the park hotel. I spent nearly 15,000 yuan to pay for her wish. Judging from the price, Shanghai Disneyland has positioned itself as the number one amusement park in China. It seems to have determined that no matter how much the price increases, parents will spend money.

The bubble was popped

In the eyes of many people, Disney is not only a paradise, but also a gateway to a fairy tale world, but this fairy tale world seems to be becoming more and more realistic and profitable. It is difficult to move forward without spending money, and it is only less uncomfortable to spend money.

Even if you bought an Express Pass, you still had to queue up almost the entire day. Generally speaking, Disneyland opens at 8:30 a.m., and you can enter the park an hour earlier if you stay at the hotel. We got up early in the morning, and it was not even 7:30 when we took the shuttle bus to the entrance, but there were still more than a hundred people queuing at the entrance.

I made a guide before going there, and watched short videos complaining about the queues. Some people fainted from heat stroke while queuing. Some people got into fights because they cut in line. Some people queued with their children, and because they had been queuing for a long time, they were reluctant to leave and even let their children urinate and defecate on the spot. There was a news report just a few days ago about a girl who went to the toilet while queuing. When she came back, she was told that she had to queue again if she had been in the toilet for more than 20 minutes. The girl broke down and had a conflict with the staff. In fact, I understand her breakdown, as she may have been queuing for several hours.

▲ Photo/ Upstream News

August 8 and August 9 were the two hottest days in Shanghai. We stayed in a hotel in the inner city and had the U-Pass, so we didn’t have to wait in line much, but we were still stricken by the heat.

Normally I always stay in the air-conditioned room and seldom go out. Even if I just take a walk outside, I will be covered in sweat. What's more, I was in Shanghai. The perceived temperature that day was probably over 40 degrees Celsius, and I kept sweating, just like in a sauna.

Those who didn't buy the Express Pass had to wait in line for an hour and a half. I heard from some parents that the line for the Thunder Mountain rafting project even took three hours. People's faces were flushed with heat, and the staff's clothes were soaked with sweat, with a large dark blue stain on their light blue shirts.

It's really a waste of money to come here in this kind of weather. The most popular places are those with "air conditioning". The center of the Disney park is the Disney Castle, which will open the experience game of Snow White's fairy tale regularly. Each game is only 5-20 minutes long. The castle is air-conditioned. After standing in line for a long time, the most anticipated thing is to rush into the castle to blow the wind. From the outside, the castle looks very big, but when you go inside, you will find that the indoor area is very small, and you have to climb several floors to experience the game. There is no place to rest in the whole castle, so you can only keep walking.

Many people were so tired that they sat on the floor or stairs while the story was being told (game background sound). They were not allowed to sit for too long because the staff next to them would constantly urge us to move forward. After more than 20 minutes, the sweat had not yet subsided and we had to go out to line up for the next project.

▲ Tourists queuing at Shanghai Disneyland. Photo/ Visual China

There are few places for tourists to rest in the park, and some places that should have chairs do not have them. There are no chairs in the tourist service center, and if you don't have business to handle, you can't just go in and "use the air conditioning".

What I don't understand the most is that some restaurants don't even have chairs. I originally wanted to take a good rest during lunch time, but after waiting in line for half an hour to enter a restaurant, I found that there was only a place to order food. It took a total of more than ten seconds to order food, which was equivalent to only using the air conditioner for more than ten seconds, and I had to eat under the scorching sun.

Disney also has some measures to deal with the high temperature. There are shields when queuing, big fans blowing all the time, and cold air spraying from time to time on the head, but these measures are useless in the face of Shanghai's high temperature of nearly 40 degrees. All the places where there is a little air conditioning are sitting with parents playing with their children, and even people are resting in the toilet. Once, when I went to the toilet, I saw a man sitting in the open space between the urinal and the sink. His face was sunburned and he kept fanning himself with his hands. He was still sitting on the ground resting until I came out.

In addition to buying dolls, one of my daughter's main goals this time was to interact and take photos with Lingna Belle. This was also the item for which we waited the longest in line, for more than an hour. On social platforms, I saw some people even queued for six hours.

I don't really understand why it takes so long to take pictures with the dolls. Especially when I saw a lady of my age, she treated Lingna Bell as a spiritual support. She kept telling Lingna Bell about her recent troubles, and at the end she hugged Lingna Bell tightly and said, "You have to be well." I was going crazy when I heard it. People nowadays don't worship Buddha anymore, but have they started to worship Lingna Bell?

▲ Lingna Bell. Photo/ Visual China

Now Disney dolls have become "fan circle". There are also many complaints and controversies on social platforms. For example, some people think that dolls will spend more time interacting with big fans. The videos of big fans make netizens feel that dolls are particularly beautiful, but in reality, it may be a simple interaction, and the dolls and "keepers" will hint at leaving, and they will feel disappointed.

Although I cannot empathize with people investing so much emotion in dolls, I can understand that not only children but also adults yearn to temporarily escape from the fairy tale world and find healing.

But my experience this time was really bad. I didn't feel much of the fantasy, but the embarrassment of having my bubbles burst happened frequently, and it was even a bit cruel.

For example, what people praise the most about Disney is the dedication of its staff, who work hard to create a beautiful world and get people into the show. However, under the high temperature and high traffic, the staff are also full of "class atmosphere". Although the puppets have to be replaced every once in a while, some puppets are still so hot that they are listless, and their hands are even shaking when signing autographs.

From time to time, there are photos of "puppets" fainting from heat or exhaustion. When you think about the fact that they are just workers with low incomes, it seems a bit cruel to see them performing hard in thick clothes. How can they get into the role?

The weather was too hot, and the float parade was reduced. For those who don't like to play the attractions and just want to feel the atmosphere in the park, Disney's floats are what they look forward to the most. The characters in the fairy tale will stand on the corresponding theme cars and drive through the streets. People stand on both sides of the street, and the animated characters sing and dance and interact with tourists. I remember when I came here before, the float team was very long, with many cars.

▲ Disney float parade. Photo/ Visual China

But that day, from the morning, the radio had been repeating the announcement that the parade would be shortened. Although I was prepared, I still felt a little disappointed when two floats whizzed by. I waited for half an hour, and one minute was gone.

I see that netizens have a lot of opinions. They think that you should either cancel the float and lower the price, or arrange the float at night, or install a small air conditioner inside the doll costume. In short, you should not let users bear the losses directly, and there is no expression of opinion at all.

It is said that there are thousands of scalpers active in Disneyland every day. I have also seen people carrying two large canvas bags to buy dolls, or claiming that they can lead people to cut in line.

At Disneyland during the summer, you’ll see people queuing up with sweat on their foreheads, and puppets trying to stay alert and interact with each other mechanically in the scorching heat, but you won’t see the princesses and princes in fairy tales.

Fairy tale kingdom or consumption kingdom?

Among the six Disney parks around the world, Shanghai Disneyland may be the most profitable one, but it seems to want to make more money. Disney's IP marketing capabilities are really strong. My children and classmates are all super fans of Disney dolls.

When we were young, we got to know Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse from watching cartoons, but now Shanghai Disney has directly created a Lingna Belle that can also make many people obsessed. Through short video dissemination and hunger marketing, Lingna Belle has become the reason for many children to go to Shanghai Disney.

▲ Lingna Bell. Photo/ Visual China

Actually, I took my daughter to Disneyland when she was three years old, but at that time we just walked around the park and couldn’t play many of the recreational facilities. My daughter never mentioned Disneyland over the years, and she didn’t seem to be interested in amusement parks. But before this summer vacation, she suddenly asked to go to Disneyland during the summer vacation, and she started whispering in my ear more than three months in advance.

I didn't want to go to Disney at first, so I asked her if she wanted to travel abroad to Japan, Europe, etc., but my daughter flatly refused. I then tried to change Shanghai Disney to Hong Kong Disney, but my daughter also refused and insisted on going to Shanghai Disney.

After a detailed chat, I found out that Shanghai Disney was recommended to her by her classmate. Her classmate went to Shanghai Disney, bought a lot of dolls and gave them to her. The classmate also stayed at the Disneyland Hotel.

I give my daughter 1,000 yuan every year to buy things that I don't agree with but she still wants. She can also choose to save it and not spend it. If she saves it, I will pay her an extra 10% interest every month. My daughter's shopping desire is not high, she rarely makes clear demands, and she hardly touches this pocket money. I once joked with her, "Spend some, I can't afford the interest."

This trip to Disneyland was the biggest expense my daughter had made in recent years. She paid 2,000 yuan out of 4,000 yuan, which was half of her savings.

For middle-class families, a trip to Disneyland is not cheap. Although the cost of this trip to Disneyland may only account for half of the monthly income, in real life, there is another way to calculate this account. For a middle-class family with a monthly income of 50,000, they must first deduct the fixed expenses of the mortgage and car loan, which may account for 30,000, and then deduct 10,000 for living expenses, leaving 10,000 in cash flow per month. Therefore, it may take three months to save up for this trip to Disneyland.

▲ Shanghai Disneyland. Photo/ Visual China

Before going to Disney, my daughter and her classmates signed up for a study tour. It turns out that the money spent on my daughter this summer alone is about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. I give out year-end bonuses every year, but since I had a child, I have saved them and used them specifically for my daughter's travel expenses. After two trips a year, it costs 70,000 to 80,000 yuan.

Sometimes, I can’t understand the meaning of some study tours. The gate of Tsinghua University is the only way for me to go to and from get off work every day. I often see a large group of children queuing at the gate of Tsinghua University at noon. Opposite Tsinghua is the Old Summer Palace. The line stretches from the gate of Tsinghua University to the Old Summer Palace. The children sit on the ground to rest. It is a huge crowd, which is very shocking.

Every time I see this, I wonder: Why is this happening? They can’t enter the campus, so they just take a photo at the gate on a hot day. My brother has signed up his children for this kind of study tour, which includes a special item of taking photos at the gate of a famous school, and after taking the photos, they will give a canvas bag of not very good quality as a souvenir.

But I still signed my daughter up for a study tour, mainly because I wanted her to go out and play with people of her age. Wherever her classmates go, my daughter goes with them. Children are very smart and will definitely not sign up for a study tour that only takes pictures.

▲ Study tour group. Photo/ Visual China

I am not the kind of parent who pushes her child too hard. It is enough for her to get into a 211 university, which will ensure that she has a certain competitive advantage in the future and a stepping stone when looking for a job; and for her to have more life experience and go out more to see more.

The so-called experience does not necessarily mean that she should learn something, but I hope that she knows that there is a bigger world out there.

This time I took her to Disneyland, hoping that the child could go out for a walk. Because children nowadays are easily addicted to their phones, and the weather is hot, so they don't want to go out and would rather play with their phones at home. Disneyland is also a place she is willing to go.

Maybe Disney is targeting parents like me, who feel pain but have no choice. But if the experience remains poor, I think people will stop paying for so-called "sentiment" sooner or later.

(Chen Zhen is a pseudonym)

References:

[1] This summer, Disney is “harvesting” middle-class parents

[2] Positive connection with "Working with Lingna Belle"

(The article is original by Daily People, any infringement will be investigated)