A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Rutt]

"If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock." Tim Cook, Apple, May 2014.

When asked why initiatives to connect African countries should matter to investors, the response was "It matters to the kink of investors we want to have". "If we were only focused on making money we might put all of our energy on just increasing ads to people in the U.S. and the other most developed countries," he said. "But that's not the only thing that we care about here." Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, Jan. 29, 2015.

"Hello Wall Street, what should I do next. How much stock should I buy back now". Bob Iger, Disney, every day.

I don't remember that Iger quote, do you have a link?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Are those potential guests typically people with or without kids? We receive the same type of questioning from our friends, but they are all generally childless.

You're right in that it's still a limited market (and one that is missing out on some of the 'whales' of vacationing), but 'families' is still not quite as limited as 'fans of Disney.'

More importantly, the 4 ships typically don't have a huge problem filling up.

 

[doctornick]

Sorry for the tangent, but there seems to be a lack of the "adult Disney" that you used to get at GFla, Contemp, PI, etc. Everything seems catered to the white, upper middle class family of four that plans six months out.

Disney Springs seems like an attempt to at least somewhat bring back some more adult options.

 

[71jason]

I went to Alaska via DCL, and I can tell you that these cruises are 80% or more ADULTS.
Most of them were above 40 years old.. and a big bunch of them were very old couples (70+ years)

Not exactly a kiddy Cruise imho.

I think both Alaska's and Panama's are more adult geared.

Again, I'm talking market perception, not reality. Why DCL has no problem selling out cruises from Canveral at twice their competitors' rates but can't seem to gain traction elsewhere. Even having been on the Dream, the only time I saw kids was getting a burger from Mater's. But that is not what many potential cruisers expect.

 

[Travel Junkie]

They're planning on unveiling all that over a future series of conferences. In the long run it probably will come across as overselling.

I agree that they there is plenty more to come, but in comparing how the 2 resorts market themselves WDW will talk about minor new additions for months or even years while DLR holds back and either announces things just before they open or after they open. Maybe I missed the blog post but I don’t remember them even acknowledging the Alice upgrades at Disneyland. If they did it was minor blogs post. The ride just re-opened one day. WDW would be talking about it for months and have a blogger cupcake party to celebrate.

 

[RayTheFirefly]

And she? had a huge Adams Apple.

Huh?

 

[Rteetz]

Only Kiss Goodnight is a Sherman song.

They said Richard Sherman wrote two new songs for the show.

 

[Nubs70]

Disney's marketing seems to be a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I don't feel they get honest feedback mostly because there's no way to get a representative sampling of the makeup and composition of their audience. There's no way to accurately survey 60k+ guests.

Sorry for the tangent, but there seems to be a lack of the "adult Disney" that you used to get at GFla, Contemp, PI, etc. Everything seems catered to the white, upper middle class family of four that plans six months out.

It would be interesting to see how they design their surveys. If they execute an honest survey, WDW could cross reference with demographic data supplied by companies like Acxiom. This would allow WDW to be in a posit where they know what their customers want and not a "customer following" market philosophy as voiced by Iger.

 

[asianway]

They said Richard Sherman wrote two new songs for the show.

Not sure who they is but Disney said one song

 

[asianway]

I agree that they there is plenty more to come, but in comparing how the 2 resorts market themselves WDW will talk about minor new additions for months or even years while DLR holds back and either announces things just before they open or after they open. Maybe I missed the blog post but I don’t remember them even acknowledging the Alice upgrades at Disneyland. If they did it was minor blogs post. The ride just re-opened one day. WDW would be talking about it for months and have a blogger cupcake party to celebrate.

There were blogger cupcakes at Disneyland last night!!!

 

[Rteetz]

Not sure who they is but Disney said one song

Ok twitter people said two

 

[asianway]

Ok twitter people said two

Shawn Slater said one. He would know

 

[Smiddimizer]

I agree that they there is plenty more to come, but in comparing how the 2 resorts market themselves WDW will talk about minor new additions for months or even years while DLR holds back and either announces things just before they open or after they open. Maybe I missed the blog post but I don’t remember them even acknowledging the Alice upgrades at Disneyland. If they did it was minor blogs post. The ride just re-opened one day. WDW would be talking about it for months and have a blogger cupcake party to celebrate.

The blogger influenza is pretty unique to Orlando (for now). I still find it frustrating that they're going to announce the rest seperately (which seems to be the case, if I'm reading into Erin Glover's comments correctly). It comes across as...well, overselling.

 

[Travel Junkie]

There were blogger cupcakes at Disneyland last night!!!

But they announced a little more than new benches last night. My point is Disneyland doesn’t make a big deal out of EVERY SINGLE THING like WDW does.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Shawn Slater said one. He would know

I understand the confusion. From the press release...

“Disneyland Forever” also features two original songs, the theme “Live the Magic” and the inspiring closing song “Kiss Goodnight,” written by Disney Legend Richard Sherman.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...ed-for-disneyland-resort-diamond-celebration/

 

[Fe Maiden]

I agree, it's relatively subtle and tasteful outside of the main lobby statues and the kids clubs. But I'm talking the perception of potential guests. When I tell non-hard core Disney fans I've sailed DCL, the two questions I get are variations on (1) isn't it all Mickey and princesses? and (2) aren't you surrounded by kids all the time?

Until DCL convinces the general public those aren't the case, I think they have a limited market that will stay centered on Port Canaveral. (Not that they don't do very, very well there.)

I am guilty of believing the perception. We're DVC owners and have 3 kids and while I know DCL gets rave reviews the fact that it's Disney is a negative. It seems like every time I start to think about a Disney cruise I see pictures of people lining up to meet Captain America for instance and it just turns me off.

I'm a long time cruiser going all the way back to Home Lines. FYI, Disney's first foray into cruising was with Premier and their "Big Red Boat" which was originally Home Lines' Oceanic.

For me getting a premium cruise experience like Disney for less and without the "Disney" is appealing. And I know for darn sure my kids aren't missing out on any fun because it's not DCL.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It would be interesting to see how they design their surveys. If they execute an honest survey, WDW could cross reference with demographic data supplied by companies like Acxiom. This would allow WDW to be in a posit where they know what their customers want and not a "customer following" market philosophy as voiced by Iger.

Well when I worked in research 10 years ago, there wasn't a way to give a negative answer on most surveys. Back then there was a very convoluted process of how the questions were written and who wrote them.

 

[ford91exploder]

but, doesnt Tim Cook gets paid by Shares just like Steve Jobs used to?
I remember many top ceos were "paid" only 1 USD, so they could get fully by shares.

No Cook gets paid in cash, You are correct in that Jobs took shares but there were a few reasons for that, Jobs needed to conserve cash after the Palmisano disaster, and Apple very much was HIS company so he wanted to own a bigger piece of it.

 

[PhotoDave219]

But they announced a little more than new benches last night. My point is Disneyland doesn’t make a big deal out of EVERY SINGLE THING like WDW does.

Marketing, yo.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Disney Springs seems like an attempt to at least somewhat bring back some more adult options.

Maybe? But since you bring it up, Jason made the fantastic observation of DTD the other night and their restaurants over here http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disney-springs-observations.895205/#post-6516448.

The problem IMO is a lack of an adults-only audience. A nice family of four with two kids is not likely to dine at the fancy steakhouse; they want to go to T-Rex/Rainforest. Put in all the fancy places you want, the main audience they cater to is not the audience for the new venues being put in.

I mean, you cant expect locals to go there because they've been alienated & essentially cut out of everything thanks to MM+.