Welcome to Money As If, the $200 statement credit you get for opening up a no-annual-fee Universal Studios credit card that's just about enough to cover the associated park's one-day price of admission. Today's tickets:

— Jeanine

P.S. Money As If will be off next week, because I'm going to Disney World. Speaking of which …

So I was planning to preview what I'm paying for my forthcoming investigation of solo trip to Disney World, but then — oh, look! — The New Yorker published a story about adults willingly shelling out tons of money on solo trips to Disney World, and the Internet, as it's wont to do, lost its mind.

FWIW, I wouldn't classify myself as a "Disney adult." I haven’t visited the Orlando parks since I graduated high school, and this upcoming trip only came about after I realized that I had to go somewhere, anywhere, ASAP to address my worsening burnout.

Orlando became said destination after I painstakingly cross-referenced short-enough flights with Marriott locations (an attempt to fully cover airfare and hotels with my credit card rewards) and enough entertainment to ensure I wouldn't want to come home two days in because I missed Teddy and the dogs (who can't travel right now for a variety of reasons or because they’re dogs).

Maybe that's an important context; maybe it's not. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this discourse, both as an adult about to go to Disney World and someone who's childless, but not by choice.

The first one, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that no one, over 18, childless by choice, or otherwise, should have to inherently defend taking a trip to Disney World, Universal Studios, or any other theme park.

Life's too short and too hard. If cutting into a $7 dark-side/light-side Star Wars cupcake or getting a $90 bespoke tiara at Magic Kingdom makes you happy, it's a free freaking country and your freaking money, so please, by all means.

Everyone has stupid stuff they’ve spent or spend money on, including, I’d wager, old Michael J. Miraflor (of the embedded tweet ⬆️) and all the other social media users that seized the opportunity to drag people for wanting to relive their childhood, arguably one of the reasons Disney World exists.

Apologies, but, for all the nuanced takes on this issue, 99% of the discourse was just plain mean.

Of course, going into debt for Disney World — the actual focus of The New Yorker article — is a bit of a different story.

By now, many of you know that, while I'm not anti-spending, I'm certainly not pro-debt. I've also become increasingly sensitive to consumption traps, which, as The New Yorker notes, Disney and its independent adult subculture are, well, pretty much full of. (Google "Disney pin drops" if you want to quickly get up-to-speed on these games.)

So, OK, yes, if you’ve taken six trips over the last five years to Disney World and you're planning a seventh that will overdraft your bank account, maybe step back from the Mouse.

A quick aside refresher on the Money As If rules for splurging. Before buying something, ask yourself at least these three questions:

The last thing I feel compelled to address is this idea that Disney adults are driving up the price of admission.

Disney and mega-theme parks in general use complicated pricing structures that account for how old you are, how many days you're visiting, and whether you're staying at one of its properties, so it's hard to make a blanket statement on how much costs have gone up over the last decade, but online estimates suggest visitors are paying anywhere from 32% to 95% more for tickets. (And that's before you account for food, lodging, or upcharges like lightning lane or express passes.)

Disney World prices are largely a supply-and-demand thing, so I suppose you can blame Disney adults for these increases — but no more than you can blame adults with children (I refuse to say “families," which come in all shapes and sizes) who keep showing up.

Of course, while we're finger-pointing, we're ignoring the very large, very, very profitable culprit corporation at the center of this argument. Which is, you know, awfully convenient … for Mickey.

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Nowadays, most financial takes are boilerplate. These aren't.

And, finally, today, in things I would buy if, you know, I could just buy things …

I pretty much hated everything about this year's Met Gala: Jeff Bezos buying it for his wife, Beyoncé's dress somehow skipping the tailor, Heidi Klum and Bad Bunny thinking it was Halloween.

But shoutout to this custom, hand-painted Mugler dress worn by "internet personality" Emma Chamberlain (yeah, I have no idea), which bested all the weird "faux nipple” corsets trying to convey the relatively uninspired “Fashion Is Art" theme.

Balenciaga!

Got questions, comments, receipts, tips, thirst traps, etc. you’d like to share? Send them to [email protected].

_{This article is for educational purposes only. We don’t recommend or advise individuals to buy, not buy, sell, or not sell particular investments or other assets, as everyone’s circumstances are different. Also, it’s your money and ultimately up to you to decide the best use for it.}