Who has money gets to play first?

Recently, a father in Shanghai Disneyland lost his temper and angrily confronted the "Privilege Card" issue, sparking heated discussion online. The cause was that he took his child to Disneyland during May Day, queued for 3 hours in the blazing sun, only to see that Privilege Card users were entering through the fast lane one after another from the side, which broke his patience. He felt this was cutting in line, got furious, and scolded Disneyland, saying, "Your rules are 'who has money, who plays first,' right?" He demanded a leader to come and give an explanation.

This was originally a very simple business rule, but if you start attaching values—talking about "squeezing out the living space of ordinary people" or "whether monetary privileges can come at the expense of basic rights"—then it’s no longer about reasoning but about inciting emotions.

We can imagine what would happen if Disneyland didn’t sell this Privilege Card. Everyone would compete and queue together—forget about "I’ve already spent hundreds of yuan on tickets." The key point is, within mainland China, there is only this one Disneyland. It’s not a problem with it; it’s because it’s good enough that people are eager to go. The number of people willing to spend hundreds of yuan on tickets far exceeds its capacity—everyone wants to get in. Who should get in? Everyone wants to buy a house inside the Beijing Inner Ring, but without money, how do you filter? Do you give it away for free? If 1.3 billion people are all trying to get a lottery, and whoever wins gets in, is that fair?

Without the Privilege Card, and if we still want to consider the experience of that father who queued for 3 hours, then either the park can only admit a small number of people each day—meaning this father might never get to take his child to Disneyland in his lifetime; or they have to raise ticket prices, for example, from 600 yuan per ticket to 2,000 yuan—what if there are still many people? Or, they could keep raising prices until everyone who wants to go can do so without queuing at all. Would that still be "excluding ordinary people"?

I’ve said before, any behavior that distorts the market will inevitably face "retribution" from the market. For example, if you cancel this privilege, then scalpers and line-sitters will appear—someone calls you when they’re about to get in, and you go to play. How can others prove they’re scalpers? They might say they’re family, or that they went to the bathroom halfway through the line—if you don’t allow that, everyone would have to pee and poop wherever they are.

You cannot stop it. Money is the most effective screening tool. If you’re unwilling to use money to filter, you will pay a higher price.

So, where can this kind of filtering not be used? Places that truly serve as a safety net for ordinary people, like public hospitals or similar institutions—these are basic livelihoods, so they cannot be "first come, first served" based on price (top-tier specialist appointments should still be priced higher, but basic healthcare cannot). But Disneyland is clearly a purely commercial institution. If you don’t take your kids to play, you won’t die. If your child throws a tantrum, or if you feel embarrassed or uncomfortable because the experience is worse for your child, that’s the same as not being able to afford a big house, a luxury car, the best phone, or first-class seats. It’s all the same—this has nothing to do with Disneyland.