I grew up in SoCal and Disney only cost an arm back then, not a leg. I visited there dozens of times as a kid and young adult, but I haven't been inside the park decades. About ten years ago, on a business trip, we all went to the House of Blues and then ambled through Downtown Disney. Itch scratched, little money spent. DH and I even honeymooned in Orlando for a week and happily managed to avoid WDW completely.
What I don't get about the whole restaurant thing is what it costs in lost park time while you're sitting on your duff eating a fancy meal. That's one of the many reasons wizard Disney markets multi-day passes. You're there for so long, you don't mind if a meal kills an hour or more, thrice daily. Dunno, a person can eat a fancy meal any time, without paying an astronomical cover charge.
And forget McDonald's marketing. Disney is an order of magnitude more insidious. You're a bad parent if you not take your kids to Disney. Talk about creating FOMO! God, even the sorry-ass Turpins took their kids there, dressing alike snd posing for pictures to prove what a big, happy family they were.