It is, and easy as walking up to any of the coke freestyle machines (which are both inside and outside all over the place at the parks). Free filtered COLD water and ice.
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A Spirited Perfect Ten
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
It is, and easy as walking up to any of the coke freestyle machines (which are both inside and outside all over the place at the parks). Free filtered COLD water and ice.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Again, the audience we are talking about is locals... are they going to DTD because they are Disney fans, or because they are in the market for the products/services being sold?
But that's just it... if you see it as 'just a mall', why do I have any affinity to keep returning to THAT mall. You have alternatives, you have other choices, and customer preference is going to be shaped by their experiences. The very nature that you say "its just a ..." validates the notion I am talking about. It's not something worth having strong feelings about.. so when given alternatives, it takes far less to actually turn you off a product.
The smaller the attachment to something.. the less it takes to give it up. People will tolerate more for something special... the more commodity it is, the less they will tolerate negative experiences.
If you have many grocery stores in your area, and they service you roughly the same, are you going to go out of your way to visit the one you had bad experiences at last time you tried to get there? No, you'll avoid it... even without confirmation the old problem still exists. It's just a black eye that store will have in your memory, and when given a CHOICE, you will likely steer away from it. That's a STIGMA or a REPUTATION the place has in your memory. That is a hurdle the place needs to clear to convert you back to a regular customer or to at the least, stop avoiding them.
Its why people advertise "under new management" - they are trying to get people to give up their old notions about something and give it a second chance. DTD has been building bad blood with the local customer base. How will they get people to give them another chance?
Simply relying on "time heals all wounds" doesn't work so well if you are in a commodity market.
flynnibus
Premium Member
It's the balance of 'if the good is worth the bad...' and the battle of getting the opportunity to even make that choice.
People don't stop going to the MK because they had a single bad CM interaction... because the MK is hard to replace. It takes a lot more 'bad' to offset all that 'good' and there are few alternatives. When we are talking about a shopping center... there are alternatives, the 'good' may not have such a huge lead... meaning it doesn't take a ton of bad to sink the ship.
I go back to my grocery store analogy... they are commodity and hence it doesn't take much for you to write one off and simply prefer another. Even something as simple as "its really hard to get in and out of that parking lot" can turn customers off... or "I hate that traffic light..."
Disney Springs needs a lot of 'good' points in their bank and SHOULD have a clean break if they want to break people out of a stigma of simply saying "DTD was such a PITA to get in/out of" and knowing they had alternatives.
bad reputations are hard to shake...
Katie G
Well-Known Member
This likely won't be a big issue. The parking garage is already utilizing "smart parking" which has the amount of spaces available per floor/row displayed as well as open spaces having a green light over them so they are easy to find. You won't need to travel up and down rows to find a spot. The I-4 ramp will give you the option to go into the garage or into the surface lot right next to it, and other surface lots & the East garage will be used with people arrived from other locations besides 1-4. In addition to pedestrian bridges so traffic lights function for cars only, I think it will be a much better traffic flow when complete.
hopemax
Well-Known Member
For my local parents, they want to be able to pop in and out quickly. They would always park in the lot behind Team Mickey now the Co-op and usually go to Earl of Sandwich, pin store, Christmas store and Art of Disney.
As long as that lot was open, I could talk them into going to pick up stuff. Now that its closed and the prospect of getting from the parking garage to that area... They want nothing to do with it. I finally suggested an "alternative" which has worked out, but as long as there is a long walk from the parking to the stores they want to pop into, they are going to be unhappy and will most likely stay away.
As long as that lot was open, I could talk them into going to pick up stuff. Now that its closed and the prospect of getting from the parking garage to that area... They want nothing to do with it. I finally suggested an "alternative" which has worked out, but as long as there is a long walk from the parking to the stores they want to pop into, they are going to be unhappy and will most likely stay away.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Lunch there is cheap and unlimited tasty cake is a perk
Katie G
Well-Known Member
You can park at the Casting Center across the street from the Marketplace side. Probably the closest you can park to those stores and it really isn't a long walk. They have CM at the intersections to keep people safe when crossing and the pathway brings you right next to World of Disney
GoofGoof
Premium Member
When @71jason and @PhotoDave219 were talking about locals having resentment I assumed it was specifically towards Disney and specifically for creating a situation that's frustrated them now during construction. Looking at it like Disney again screwing over locals. If that's the case then it's not just a commodity or just a mall. It's more personal. It's resentment towards Disney as a company or particularly WDW.
If it's just a commodity and just a mall then why would anyone have lasting resentment. You might avoid the place during construction and shop at another mall or eat somewhere else for now, but once the construction is done and the new offerings are open what would stop you from going back (just like I will with my local mall)? It makes no sense to hold a grudge over something if you have zero emotional attachment to it.
Lastly, the construction and massive expansion is what's creating a bad situation. Yes, it's an inconvenience right now, but it's moving towards a better end product. I think most people can recognize that the major inconvenience that exists today will be resolved when the work is complete. If I have a bad experience at a grocery store because of bad service I'm not going back until I know the problem is resolved (by replacing the staff or changing management). In this case the problem will be resolved when construction ends and we all know there will be plenty of local news coverage showing the completion of the project.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
And you get to play Frogger - the real version!
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I played that game last summer and I didn't even need to book a FP in advance
. I thought I read somewhere they were building a pedestrian overpass in that area. If that's true...good, it's needed. Actually they probably should have built that first.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It is not an issue of need, but of want. Just because people people know where the empty spaces are does not mean they want those spaces or will not hold things up trying to get a "better" space.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
With you in the role of frog...
tribbleorlfl
Well-Known Member
Good Lord, that game was so hot. It didn't help they ran out of the bottled water they expected fans to buy.
Katie G
Well-Known Member
The latest in interactive thrill rides...
flynnibus
Premium Member
I don't think people look at as personal... just simply about 'is it worth it'? The simple adage of 'leaving a bad taste in your mouth...'. Retail is heavily based in preferences and perceptions. Topics that can swing greatly... lets be honest, the stuff we are talking about here are not utility, necessity stuff. The place needs to create DRAW.. and the past experiences can hinder that.
Its not about holding a grudge, but simply not having enough Pro to outweigh the established Con. The 'pro' is something you might be taking a risk on.. the 'con' is something you've previously experienced, so you trust. This is the type of crap people try to overcome in retail/service/etc. It's much harder to break someone free from their past bad experiences than it is to get them to take new chances.
Yes, but with all things being equal... would you even go back in the first place? Or would you go out of your way to go back? That's the thing here... were aren't dealing with unique or need driven stuff... it's a retail experience that there are alternatives. It's simply about baggage DTD is accumulating that later they will have to convince people to jetison. That's not always easy.. the best way to beat it is overwhelm with Pros, so eventually the cons are forgotten. Does Disney Spring have that overwhelming list of pros?
Unless they get some consolidated push... good is always going to be eaten away by either still incomplete stuff or simply fatigue. No one will promote the 30th story on a new store opening at DTD... and any story about an early opening will be balanced with the incomplete stuff. I sure hope Disney is getting enough alignment to make that big splash.... trickling small areas at a time and 2-3 stores at a time will dillute the relaunch.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I disagree on the press coverage. They made a news story out of a parking garage opening. Disney never misses the opportunity to pimp out even the smallest of new offerings. They will hype each individual progress point and probably have a grand opening event once everything is done? The Orlando Sentinel and local news channels will cover it. People will know when construction is done.
Bottom line is there are some locals I'm sure that have written off DTD and will continue to not go when it's DS. There are some locals who love DTD and will definitely go back when DS is fully open. There is a large group in the middle who could go either way. Will the draw of new restaurants and stores be strong enough keep them coming back? We will see. I think for most of the middle group they will at least go back to check the place put once it's fully open. If they don't go back again after that it won't be because of parking and traffic conditions now it will be because they don't think what's there is worth going back for.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Mainly because it was the first major element opened. Will it be the same for the 30th element? That's what I mean by fatigue and why the news cycle has to be managed and your PR planned. Dillution and fatigue are real PR problems... I've not seen anything about the DS details from Disney to even speculate how this will really open. I'm not optimistic.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
They aren't having a grand opening for every store. That would be overkill. I do envision they will have some sort of fanfare when the whole thing is done. At a minimum they will have their PR machine pump out stories to the local media. Some of the bigger restaurants on the Landing may also get some press when they open. They may do that independent of what Disney does.
FigmentJedi
Well-Known Member
Remember how the ending of JIYI was nothing but a bunch of random stuff flashing everywhere while Eric Idle and Figment arbitrarily declared you creative geniuses? I just found a full reel of that material. Between this and the "You don't have an imagination, we need to stimulate your mind with our stupid experiments" opening, I think the message of Imagination 2 was "You need to be high as a kite to be creative because you cannot come up with anything on your own".