Did you encounter a long line at Disneyland? Leave it to the plebs to deal with it. Now you can skip past with walk-up access and head on into any popular attraction no matter how crowded the place is. This privileged experience comes as part of Disneyland Resort VIP tours’ offering, starting $2,975 for a seven-hour minimum duration and covering up to 10 friends. One former cast member even called this a peek into the way wealth has transformed the American Dream.
Before he was brokering whopping financial mergers or setting up a private equity firm in silicon valley, Christopher Varelas was an employee at Café Orleans at Disneyland in the ‘80s. He got back from a fun day with the family and related the VIP treatment, about which you can read in his new book titled “How Money Became Dangerous: The Inside Story of Our Turbulent Relationship With Modern Finance”.
An excerpt which was published in Business Insider shows Varelas admitting to feeling guilty when he entered Pirates of the Caribbean via the exit, white the rest of the people stood in a humid queue waiting their turn. There was a concierge guiding his group for the six or so hours it took them to enjoy the rides. The family even got front-row parade seats when they went to the park, and this was without the need to claim a curb about an hour in advance.
“The Disney VIP hostess is just one manifestation of a growing societal trend,” writes Varelas. “As increasing numbers of people become wealthy, they look to spend that wealth, accumulating all the material things one could want. But what to do with their excess wealth? More and more often, they spend it on better access—the other line.”
For Varelas, that desire for access and exclusivity presents itself in many forms, such as the recent scandal regarding college admissions. The “yearning”, he says, has ousted old-timey values of merit.
A simpler view was given by PopSugar, who put out a story last year discussing if VIP tours are worth it. Per guest, according to a break-down, it cost over $100 for a single-park ticket. Meanwhile, with the way prices are now, it now costs $297.50 for a person to get a VIP tour while in a group of 10 people.