• Lending Tree surveyed Americans about how vacationing at Disney World impacts their finances.
• Nearly 50% of parents with children under 18 go into debt for Disney trips.
• Respondents said in-park food and beverages were the main budget-busters.

As prices soar, some parents are emptying their bank accounts for a trip to Disney. Others are maxing out their credit cards.

Disney's expensive prices have been a hot topic among parkgoers recently. They even caused Disney CEO Bob Iger to raise his eyebrows in disbelief.

Disneyland raised ticket prices in 2023 and Disney World is expected to increase costs in 2025.

So Lending Tree surveyed over 2,000 American consumers to understand just how much a trip to Disney's theme parks can impact a family's finances.

What it found is a little concerning.

"Across the 77% of theme park-going parents with kids younger than 18 who've been to Disney, 45% have gone into debt for a Disney trip," the survey found.

That's up from the 2022 Disney debt survey, which found that 30% of parents with children under 18 were going into debt.

According to the survey, parents with young children had an average debt of almost $2,000.

Despite the financial hit, 59% of parents said they didn't regret the decision.

"For so many parents, taking their kids to Disney is a rite of passage, something they remember fondly from their youth and want to experience with their kids," LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz said in a statement. "Because of those feelings, they're often willing to take on debt to get there."

Food, transportation, and accommodation are the biggest dents to parents' Disney budgets. The survey found that 65% of respondents with Disney debt said food and beverages cost more than they expected.

Disney World and Disneyland representatives did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The rising prices at Disney and, well, everywhere, coupled with stifling childcare costs, are already impacting parents across the country, leading some to look for alternatives to Disney.

One husband told BI his family decided to visit Great Wolf Lodge in North Carolina instead of their usual trip to Walt Disney World.

The husband said his children enjoyed Great Wolf Lodge more than their Disney adventures, and it cost less, too.

Have you taken on debt to take a trip to a Disney theme park and want to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at ledmonds@businessinsider.com

• Tens of thousands of women fled Texas in 2023 to get abortions out of state, data shows.
• It was the most of any state. Nationally, over 171,000 patients traveled out of state to get care.
• The state of reproductive and maternal healthcare will only get worse in Texas, one expert said.

They say everything is bigger in Texas.

That includes the number of women who had to leave the state to get abortion care, new data shows.

In 2023, over 35,000 patients fled Texas to get abortion care in another state, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research and policy organization.

Nationwide, over 170,000 patients traveled out of state for abortion care, according to the data, which Guttmacher collected to analyze the impact of the Supreme Court's Dobbs opinion in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Even before Dobbs, Texas already had a strict 6-week ban in place since late 2021.

"Texas had already clamped down on services," Debbie McNabb, a retired gynecologist based in Texas, told Business Insider. "So women had already been traveling a long ways."

McNabb said the state of reproductive affairs will only get worse in Texas, which is ranked No. 2 among states that provide the worst prenatal and maternal health care, according to an analysis of nationwide access to care by Value Penguin, a data analytics firm.

Texas is far from the only problem. A staggering portion of the country has little to no access to maternal health care. Over a third of counties in the United States are maternity care deserts, meaning they have "no hospitals providing obstetric care, no birth centers, no OB/GYN and no certified nurse midwives," according to a report from the March of Dimes, a nonprofit that works to improve the health of mothers and children.

Patients aren't the only ones leaving Texas. Medical students are, too. The majority of them report a desire to choose their residency programs based on where abortion is legal.

"We're going to get fewer trainees, OBGYN trainees in Texas, which is going to increase our maternity deserts and decrease the availability of routine OBGYN care. The other issue is we are not going to get the best and brightest residents," McNabb said, "because people are ranking the states with abortion access higher."

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore campaigned for Josh Stein, who's running for North Carolina governor.
• Moore's visit to North Carolina coincided with Stein's veterans coalition launch.
• Moore's messaging on patriotism could help Democrats make inroads with voters who've drifted away.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore hit the campaign trail last week for Josh Stein, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in North Carolina, rallying veterans to back his fellow Democrat in one of the most competitive governor races in the country.

For gubernatorial aspirants, having a show of support from a sitting governor is critical, especially in a tight race.

Moore's visit to the Tar Heel State came as Stein, who is now the attorney general, launched his "Veterans for Stein" campaign coalition.

North Carolina has one of the largest populations of active-duty military personnel in the country and serves as home to nearly 800,000 veterans. So it's natural for politicians to engage with the military community. Its influence in the state runs deep.

For Moore, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army and was deployed in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2006, patriotism and service shouldn't be relegated to one particular political party or ideology.

Beginning with Moore's successful 2022 gubernatorial campaign, he's spread that message stumping for candidates across the country. And, in the process, he's sought to keep Democrats in conversations where they need to be if they're going to be a viable party in all corners of the United States.

It's an effort that Moore feels will resonate.

"There are certain things worth fighting for, and we risked our own safety for freedoms," Moore recently told Business Insider. "Some of the freedoms are on the ballot now, including the freedom to know that reproductive health should be between a woman and their doctor."

Last November, Moore came to Virginia to stump for Democratic legislative candidates, visiting the military-heavy Hampton Roads area and endorsing veterans like Michael Feggans of Virginia Beach — who was elected to the House of Delegates that month.

"[W]e're pushing back against a lot of these individual forces who are trying to claim this mantle of patriotism and are actually restricting rights in the name of patriotism," Moore told BI at the time.

With political polarization in the country becoming more hardened by the day, Democrats have a major opportunity in states like North Carolina, where there is still a significant level of split-ticket voting.

Even though former President Donald Trump won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020, Stein won his attorney general races in the same general election.

Moore feels great about Stein's chances this fall. He said the attorney general shares the values veterans are looking for, especially on issues like health care and housing affordability.

"He's consistently stood up for veterans as attorney general," the governor told BI last week. "And he'll do it as governor."

• Bill Gates is optimistic about the future of American nuclear power thanks to bipartisan support.
• Gates is building a power plant in Wyoming with TerraPower, a company he cofounded.
• Nuclear energy is the largest clean power source in the US and a key to fueling AI development.

The forecast looks bright for American nuclear energy, Bill Gates says.

The billionaire former Microsoft CEO is already building a nuclear power plant in Wyoming with TerraPower, a company he cofounded.

The company intends to take its nuclear power plant online in 2030, Business Insider previously reported, and Gates is "quite confident" the project will move forward regardless of who wins the White House or the Congressional majority in November.

"Their support for nuclear power is very impressive in both parties," Gates told CBS News on "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "Of all the climate-related work I'm doing, I'd say the one that has the most bipartisan energy behind it is actually this nuclear work."

He noted the reasons each party supports nuclear "may not be identical." Republicans value energy security and exports, he said, while Democrats value both those issues and clean energy.

"Nuclear really is a special," he told CBS. "Not because it's green, there are people who don't value that part of it all, I wish they would. They value it because of the US leadership. And you really don't want the nuclear reactors around the world, made by our adversaries, because it's economically a huge job creator."

Nuclear energy is considered the largest source of clean power in the United States and is responsible for nearly half of the nation's emissions-free electricity, according to the Office of Nuclear Energy, a US government agency.

It's produced in nuclear reactors through atomic fission, in which subatomic particles called neutrons collide with full atoms, forcing them to split in two. This process releases tons of heat, which is used to boil water and produce steam. That steam is then routed through the nuclear reactor's steam system to spin turbines and produce electricity.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have worked to bolster the nuclear energy industry this year.

In March, the House of Representatives passed the ADVANCE Act, which will expand the use of nuclear energy in the United States and abroad. President Joe Biden also signed a law in March that allocates $100 million to nuclear workforce training programs at universities, two-year colleges, and trade schools.

This renewed focus on nuclear energy also comes as the development of AI surges. Tech companies like OpenAI are increasingly looking for cleaner, greener forms of energy to meet the huge power demands of their data centers.

• Disney agreed to a $9.5 million settlement with guests who purchased a Dream Key pass in 2021.
• Disney began sending out payments on June 14.
• A lawsuit claimed Disney misled guests into believing the annual pass had no block-out dates.

Disneyland guests who paid nearly $1,400 for a Dream Key annual pass can soon expect a check from Disney.

Payments from the $9.5 million settlement were sent to eligible class action lawsuit members through the mail and digitally on June 14. The settlement included over 100,000 people.

Jenale Nielsen filed the lawsuit against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in November 2021 after she purchased a Dream Key, which allows guests to make reservations at Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks without additional charge for one year.

The lawsuit said Nielsen purchased the Dream Key for $1,399 because Disney advertised it as having "no block-out dates."

"Shortly thereafter, Ms. Nielsen attempted to use her Magic Key to make park reservations to visit Disneyland. She was, however, disappointed to learn that Disney had already blocked out many days, including all weekend days in the month of November 2021," the lawsuit read.

Nielsen discovered she could make park reservations and purchase single-day passes for those dates, but they were unavailable to Dream Key holders, the lawsuit said.

"The problem was not that park reservations were unavailable, or that the parks had reached their capacity and therefore could not provide reservations to its Dream Key pass holders," the lawsuit said. "The problem was that Disney had decided to block out otherwise available park reservations so that they were only available to new purchases and were not available to Dream Key pass holders."

The Dream Key pass has since been discontinued.

Disney denied any wrongdoing but agreed to the settlement in July 2023 to avoid trial. Nielsen will receive $5,000 from the settlement.

Representatives for Disneyland and The Walt Disney Company did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Here's what Dream Key annual pass holders need to know.

Who qualifies for the money?

The official settlement website said people who purchased a Dream Key between August 2021 and October 2021 are automatically included. They do not have to opt into the settlement.

People included in the settlement likely received a notice via postcard or email explaining the details.

How much money will you receive?

Each payout could vary, but people can expect an estimated $67.41.

That's less than a standard one-day, one-park ticket to Disneyland, which starts at more than $100.

Can you be excluded from the settlement?

The deadline for objecting to the settlement or requesting to be excluded was January 15.

As part of the agreement, class members have given up the right to sue Disney for claims that were resolved in the settlement.

• Derek Jeter has a buyer willing to pay $6.3 million for his lake-front castle in upstate New York.
• The Baseball Hall of Famer initially listed the property for over $14 million in 2018.
• Named Tiedemann Castle, the property features a turret, bridge, waterfall, and fountains.

After years of trying, New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter finally found a buyer for his lake-front castle in upstate New York.

But only after he cut the sale price in half, The New York Times reported.

He tried to get $14.25 million for the lavish property when he listed it in 2018, and he tried to sell it again at an auction in 2022. It finally went into contract in May for $6.3 million, according to the Times.

Jeter's realtor declined to comment.

Nestled on Greenwood Lake less than 50 miles north of Yankee Stadium, Jeter purchased the property in 2003 for $425,000 and made it a fortress fit for a king, Business Insider previously reported. Known as Tiedemann Castle, the home is 12,590 square feet, and the property features a turret, a bridge, a waterfall and fountains, and even a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

The property has a family history, as well. Jeter's grandfather lived in the castle after he was adopted by the Tiedemann family, after whom the castle was named.

It's not Jeter's first major property sale since his MLB retirement nearly a decade ago. In 2021, he sold a 21,796-square-foot mansion in Tampa for over $22 million.