lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Have you seen how much Google and Facebook make? Selling consumer data is huge business. NextGen is Disney’s Oath.
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News Chapek FIRED, Iger New CEO
- Thread starter Chef Mickey
- Start date
Rich Brownn
Well-Known Member
You know what Wall Street hates more? When a company makes less
SourcererMark79
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Anyone else quickly scan the title and see Bob..Stepping down and hope it's Chapek!
el_super
Well-Known Member
With NextGen, Disney was never going to get much beyond knowing when people needed to use the bathroom in their park.
All those email addresses they have collected from app downloads and AP sales though.... that's probably the real gold mine. They all seem so eager to answer those email surveys they get.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I don't particularly disagree with this as part of me shrugs my shoulders when all of these things I don't like happen and people keep showing up in droves, driving profits every-higher. The only slow motion car crash that I remember playing out as a lot of us online thought it would was the original DCA, but that was more than two Bobs ago.
The reason I think much of the recent changes may have a longer term effect is for the amount of planning and nickel and dimeing that go into a WDW vacation, which were already turning me off. I don't know who would enjoy that. Then again, what do I know, maybe they have figured out what they can get away with and it will all work out. If they can keep cutting back on what they offer and charging higher prices without hurting their brand or business, on some level it might be their responsibility to do so. I won't go, but others are welcome to it.
el_super
Well-Known Member
That did make me laugh.... except I will point out Iger was President of Disney before DCA opened.
The reason I think much of the recent changes may have a longer term effect is for the amount of planning and nickel and dimeing that go into a WDW vacation, which were already turning me off. I don't know who would enjoy that. Then again, what do I know, maybe they have figured out what they can get away with and it will all work out. If they can keep cutting back on what they offer and charging higher prices without hurting their brand or business, on some level it might be their responsibility to do so. I won't go, but others are welcome to it.
On a personal level... yeah I hate the hyper-planning aspect of going to WDW. I have literally made trips ONLY because I got a dining ADR 6 months out that I really wanted.
I hate how complicated it has become, and would much prefer that they just took the old school route of raising prices to control capacity/crowds, so things like advanced ADRs and Fastpass reservations were unnecessary.
But if they raise prices, people would still be upset here, just arguing something different.
It's probably in Disney's best interest to appeal to the widest possible range of people, and still be attainable to mid-income level families, than to just price everyone out who isn't a super fan. I get that it's a compromise and with most compromises, both sides come away with wins and loses.
the.dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
The WDW guest, particularly the one who can afford to stay on property, is a very valuable consumer.
Let’s take an example that was told to me back when MM+ was in its early days. Imagine a new Test Track post show is filled with short and long range RFID beacons. A family a four, two college educated professional parents who make $100k+ each with a 6 year old daughter and an 8 year old son gets off Test Track and spends 20 or so minutes looking at the various exhibits in the post show. GM has access to customer data on consumers like Mom and Dad, but not so much the daughter and son. These children are incredibly impressionable consumers. They may not be buying a car for another 10+ years, but they are forming their impressions of cars and on GM’s various brands and vehicles. Let’s say one of the two children lingers at one of the displayed cars, maybe an EV or a concept car, Disney/GM now have RFID data from the magicband she’s wearing indicating that she lingered at this particular car. In marketing lingo, this is engagement. This is why companies spent money for years to be in the Disney theme parks. But with the data collection, in this scenario, it gets better. You have a postshow that can be used by marketing and product development to do focus testing in a receptive environment with some of your most valuable current and future customers. In addition, you don’t just get that single interaction data point, you get to build a customer profile that can be added to. This model family travels to WDW every 2.5 years. So the data becomes richer because new information is added from each interaction. You could even get super granular to determine how much money Mom and Dad have to spend on a new car if you have their resort info plus their past stays.
This was the kind of thing Disney wanted to do with NGE and MagicBands. Data mining children is incredibly valuable and insightful to marketers and companies, but COPPA and how this behavior looks made it a no go in the US and Europe.
BTW, Universal Beijing is doing something similar with Alibaba at that resort.
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el_super
Well-Known Member
Yeah it all makes sense from a business perspective, but it isn't the only thing that NextGen was working toward, and it makes it seem like the whole thing was a failure because the law changed.
The parks desperately needed to adopt technology and changing the culture toward that was difficult and costly to do, but certainly not wasted. It's become an integral part of the experience for some people... so much so they are complaining now that it's being taken away or adjusted. That's a sign of success.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Businesses generally don't spend even more money to adjust something they just spent a huge sum of money on if it's a big success.
The fact that they did make such a drastic change essentially tells you how Disney viewed it.
el_super
Well-Known Member
Change is necessary. If it was a complete failure, why wouldn't they just drop it instead of spending more money on it?
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
Because they aren't willing to admit they're addressing the problem in the wrong way. Shuffling guests around and manipulating guest behavior will never be sufficient to hide the fact that they don't have enough hourly capacity for the number of people they want to let into the parks. And further complicating the problem...they don't want park attendance to drop, either.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Because going standby only is untenable due to a severe lack of capacity. The original system didn't work the way they hoped, so they're trying something else (that also brings in additional revenue).
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
That is also proving to not work, lol. (They aren't really trying something new at all, if we're being honest.)
No, Bob Weis is stepping down as WDI President . His replacement is Barbara Bouza who was hired from outside Disney.
Rteetz
Well-Known Member
She isn't brand new. She has been with Disney for just over a year already.
That's new for an exec and stepping into a President role? Looks like Weis's days were numbered .
Rteetz
Well-Known Member
Yes it is but Weis also isn't getting younger. When one is nearing that retirement age I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't want to pick up and move his whole life for what may only be another couple years in this role. His new role will allow him more flexibility and less responsibility I would think.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch .Bob stepping down sounds better than being laid off.
Rteetz
Well-Known Member
Whatever you want to believe.
TeriofTerror
Well-Known Member
My daughter sent me this, so I make no claims about its veracity. I just thought it was an interesting share.
