Disneyland too pricey for Wheatland

Higher fuel costs to reach the "happiest place on earth" have hit the Wheatland High School senior class trip to Disneyland — pushing the price for each student to $525.

"It's just sad," said Patty Agles, a school counselor. "There's nothing you can do about it."

"That's kind of a rite of passage for seniors," Agles said of the trip.

Tuesday night, Wheatland Union High School District trustees were told about the sharp drop in the number of students going May 29, a trip the school district started in 1973.

"In the past, one of our problems was accommodating all of the students," said Emily Dawson, a trustee for the school district. "We're all feeling this domino effect from the grocery store to the gas station."

Only 42 students out of the 130 in the senior class will participate in the trip that traditionally has involved more than half of seniors. Last year the trip cost $459 and attracted 79 seniors, Agles said.

Ticket prices to Disneyland haven't risen, Agles said, but fuel costs have spiked for the charter bus that students take.

"We don't typically comment on anything having to do with a recession," said Disneyland Resorts spokesman John Nicoletti, not the Yuba County supervisor.

"Typically we don't see a huge shift in attendance based on gas prices," Nicoletti said. "I don't think there's a place for us in this story."

Wheatland senior Marcos Diaz, 17, said he'd planned on going on the senior class trip but decided instead to spend the $525 toward his housing costs at the University of Southern California, which he'll attend in the fall.

"I'm going to be living down there," Diaz said of the Los Angeles area.

He was "not too worried" about missing the trip.

Wheatland senior Alex Pinto, 17, will take the Southern California trip — which includes visits to Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Studios as well — but said some students plan a camping trip instead.

Is it worth $525 to go see Disneyland?

"It better be," Pinto said.

Robert Coe Jr., president of the Wheatland High school board, said the district needs to consider a less expensive senior trip. "You hate to offer up something that half of the students can't afford," Coe said.

Disneyland has provided the end-of -the-senior-year visits by high schools for about 35 years, said Tammy Bradley, group travel specialist with Recreation Connection in the Bay Area.

"Boy, have they got it down," Bradley said of the resort's success.

The senior class at Marysville High School will travel May 15-17 to Disneyland and Universal Studios, one day less than Wheatland, in Southern California and costing each student $309.

"Three hundred dollars is about my limit," said teacher Angela Stegall, who'll help chaperone the event involving 92 students out of a senior class of 198.

Many consider the trip the last big organized event in their senior year, Stegall said.

"It's a big deal," she said. "It's kind of like they're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel."