I think it actually cost exactly $40. I might be thinking of Knott's Berry Farm though, another park we go to. YES! Lego are insanely overpriced and they are super stingy with the amount of pieces they give you. I actually was about to 3d print a giant bucket of legos for my kid. He is getting tired of running out constantly when trying to build anything.

Were they that expensive when we were kids?

I really don't think so. And if they were, they sure gave a lot more pieces. I remember having a huge box of them and never seemed to run out. I also bought my son a rather large metal pail of Lincoln Logs which I was really dissapointed to see when I opened it that the pail was mostly empty. How much can it possibly cost to fill a can with cheap wood?