A ways back, my wife and I took our four kids to Orlando to visit Walt Disney World, Disney waterparks, and Universal Studios. We were with another family whose kids were almost the exact same age as two of ours, and let me tell you, we had a freakin’ blast over the course of four or five days.

Sure, it wasn’t cheap, but we saved up for it and Hoovered up every discount we could get our hands on, and if I do say so myself, we planned it brilliantly.

But that was then—and this is now, and I wouldn’t even take the family to Disneyland for a day here in California anymore because even without the airfare to Florida, I would still need to take a second mortgage out on my home.

This would be before we even had a single snack or bought a single souvenir:

I was thinking, even though my kids aren't so little now, it would be fun to relive some @Disneyland memories.

Oops! Never mind. We'll head to the beach. pic.twitter.com/SQpzVSErJn

— Bob Hoge (@Bob_Hoge_CA) October 18, 2023

$1,554?! Yeah, not happening.

Now, I don’t mean to dump just on Disney here—after all, they’ve already got enough problems—but it’s the perfect symbol of a trend that has earned the name “Funflation.” It’s just gotten too damn expensive for many people to afford theme parks, concerts, even movies:

The rising cost of fun is becoming a drag.

Ticket prices for live entertainment events, from Taylor Swift concerts to National Football League games and high-season theme-park visits, rose at a startling rate this year, triggering a phenomenon that analysts have dubbed “funflation.” 

Families coughed up large sums saved during the pandemic to attend live events and parks this year. Friends treated themselves to memorable performances. Mothers took their daughters to stadiums packed with friendship-bracelet-clad concertgoers to see Swift’s Eras Tour.

Now, some Americans are feeling tapped out.

Maybe you could take your family out for that old family pastime, skiing? I remember when I was a kid, tickets were $6 at one of the top mountains in the U.S. Whoa, that seems to have changed too. Bear in mind that these prices are per person, per day.

Peak 23/24 lift ticket prices at American ski areas:

$299: Park City, Vail, Beaver Creek
$289: Deer Valley
$279: Palisades Tahoe, Steamboat, Breck
$269: Northstar, Keystone
$259: Heavenly, Mammoth, Copper
$255: Jackson
$249: Big Sky
$244: Snowmass, Aspen, Aspen Highlands,…

— The Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast (@StormSkiJournal) September 20, 2023

That's almost $1,200 for a family of four at Park City—for one day on the slopes, never mind the food, the lodging, and the travel. In my teens, meanwhile, I attended a fair amount of concerts ranging from Santana to David Bowie to Queen (yes, even the Grateful Dead), and tickets simply weren’t that expensive. I don’t remember the exact price, but this Reddit thread shows that many people were routinely paying under $20 for decent seats to see top bands in the early to mid-'80s.

But now if I want to go see U2 in Vegas, tickets range from $327 to $8,282 on the date I searched. Granted, they’re playing the new Sphere arena, which is supposed to be spectacular, but still. The good news is that I could get a beer for a mere $18. Think I'll skip Taylor Swift also because the average resale ticket for her concert as of August was $1,619.

Think I’m just a cheapskate whiner who doesn’t want to shell out for premium entertainment? Well I’m not alone:

Nearly 60% of Americans say they have had to cut back on spending on live entertainment this year because of rising costs, according to a Wall Street Journal/Credit Karma survey of about 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted at the start of September. Some 37% of respondents said they can’t keep up with the rising price of events they want to attend, while more than 20% of Americans say they are willing to take on debt to continue to be able to afford their favorite entertainment activities.

Bidenflation has caused prices for everything to go up, from groceries to fuel to cars, but the price to go out has really shot up:

The cost of admissions and fees rose faster than the prices of food, gasoline and other staples in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey. Those rising costs have continued this year.

“Anything live, anything experiential is just going through the roof,” said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, a Bank of America analyst who labeled the dynamic as ‘funflation’ in a September research note.

I could go to a movie… but if I buy six tickets at approximately $15-20 apiece, get some popcorn and sodas (and I need my Red Vines), suddenly I’m out a hundred bucks. Or I could spend $4 to stream it and we could all watch it in the comfort of our living room.

I’m willing to spend that kind of dough to see Top Gun: Maverick in theaters because that’s where it needs to be seen, but many other movies—not so much.

Live entertainment can be truly spectacular, there’s no doubt about that. (Just go see the Rolling Stones live if you don’t believe me—they can still blow out a stadium. And to be fair, my wife bought me U2 tickets a few years ago and they did not disappoint.) 

For many Americans, however, they’re simply priced out of the market and are finding that BBQs, beach days, and watching streamers from the couch can be awfully fun too.