The Most Magical Place on Earth also Helps the Economy
The Most Magical Place on Earth also Helps the Economy
By Gabby Mouradian
Walt Disney World opened its doors in 1971 with a single ticket priced at $3.50. Now, over four decades later the price has increased to an astounding $95. Although the current price seems ridiculously expensive for just one day at a theme park, due to this extreme jump in prices Disney was able to generate $18.2 billion dollars in 2011, which worked as a ripple effect throughout Florida. (Below is a chart of the ticket price increases for the past 42 years).
According to orlandosentinal.com, Disney is “responsible for more than one of every 50 jobs in the state”. And on top of that a “report released, found that Disney’s theme-park operations in the state—which include Disney World, Disney Cruise Line and its Disney Vacation Club time-share business—account for 2.5% of Florida’s cumulative GDP”. Although many people can see that Disney is responsible for multiple jobs throughout Florida, there’s a good chance they had no idea that in 2009 Disney paid out almost $1.8 billion in compensation to more than 59,000 employees. That averages out to an annual salary of about $30,500.
It’s mind blowing to think about all of the people and money that come through Walt Disney World on a daily basis, much less yearly. In just 2009 alone “Disney purchased $2.3 billion worth of goods and services”. And due to the fact that Disney World currently owns about 26,000 hotel rooms and time-share units, the amount of guests it’s attracting is only increasing. Because of this increase, more vendors and other businesses on the property are having better sales. Even off-site businesses are booming. In 2010 Disney vacationers spent $1.7 billion at businesses not connected to Disney. (Below is a pie chart showing the amount of money Disney brings in, in its different sale categories)
Including all of the wages paid out to the employees, all of the sales Disney made, and all of the money they spent, “that amounted to a cumulative direct economic impact of $6.3 billion”. After “researchers used computer models to include additional, ‘indirect and induced’ from Disney’s operations, they said the total economic effect swelled to $18.2 billion, and approximately 161,000 jobs”.
This is a giant help to the Walt Disney World companies, and to the entire state of Florida. Although Disney hasn’t created a new park since 1998, they are working on bettering the parks that they have now, and creating hotel rooms that accommodate to larger families with little kids. It’s obvious that Disney expanding has only helped the economy. In just two years the unemployment rate in Florida dropped from 12% to 7%. There’s a good chance that due to the large amount of jobs provided throughout the Disney company, that Walt Disney World had a large impact on the unemployment decrease.
It’s not hard to see that Walt Disney World is not only a magical place to enjoy with family and friends, but also a way to help the economy and keep it on track. Without Disney World, and the Disney company I don’t think that Florida’s economy would be doing so well and that the unemployment rate would be going back down to a reasonable number. (Below is a picture of the castle in Magic Kingdom, and a statue of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse’s hand).
Works Cited
· http://www.google.com/search?q=graphs+of+disney&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=PJ9rUrJNJG6yAGY3YGYBw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=448&surl=1#q=disney+cash+grapg&safe=active&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=oa9f4IDqS82_M%253A%3BFOZduAbqf5cxIM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fstatic.seekingalpha.com%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F9%252F13%252F1020655131596133565924TakeoverAnalyst.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fseekingalpha.com%252Farticle%252F293631-disney-a-company-you-can-vacation-off-of%3B348%3B202 \
· http://blogs.orlandoweekly.com/bloggytown/rising-walt-disney-world-ticket-prices-1971-2013/
· http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-04-13/the-daily-disney/os-disney-economic-impact-20110413_1_disney-cruise-line-world-president-meg-crofton-disney-vacation-club
· http://www.google.com/search?q=graphs+of+disney&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=PJ9rUrJNJG6yAGY3YGYBw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=448&surl=1#q=walt+disney+world&safe=active&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=RfN6eBVXDxMkzM%253A%3BS101jwuqiNf8rM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpjmedia.com%252Flifestyle%252Ffiles%252F2013%252F09%252Fwaltdisneyworld01v1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpjmedia.com%252Flifestyle%252F2014%252F04%252F05%252F5-underrated-disney-world-attractions-you-shouldnt-skip%252F%3B714%3B356
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