Basil of Baker Street
Well-Known Member
I hear ya. I hope you're right but raising prices and cutting quality/services/entertainment has been going on for over a decade all the while seeing record numbers in the parks. We shall see.
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News Disney's Magical Express to end after 2021
- Thread starter WEDway Inc & Company LLC
- Start date
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
Iger was much more subtle about it in prior years...I often wonder if the timing of Genie's launch was purposeful so he could be out of the CEO role...he's a sneaky one.
Chapek, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care one whit about subtlety or ticking off massive numbers of guests/fans.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
The quicker people realize the parks aren't the focus anymore the better. The main thing to them is Disney+ and subscribers.
Basil of Baker Street
Well-Known Member
I would argue Disney lost focus on the parks decades ago. And...crazy crowds.
Willmark
Well-Known Member
Hard to say if that typical? Maybe? Not at all?
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
This is my suspicion, though I understand why people look at the crowds who seem to pay whatever Disney asks however much Disney cuts back and assume Disney is largely invincible.
My feeling, though, is that the current management understands "The Disney Difference" when it comes to the parks as being the strength of the brand. The understanding is that the experience they're selling people is the opportunity to feel a part of a brand that provokes warm and fuzzy feelings and includes much of the world's most popular IPs more than anything else. As it's one of the world's strongest brands, they can, for example, build a fairly generic hotel, slap the Disney name and characters on it along with some nods to theming, and charge a fortune.
I don't think they are entirely wrong for the time being, but what they seem to have lost sight of is that the strength of the brand when it came to the parks was largely built on a different conception of "The Disney Difference." This idea was that the Disney brand would stand for an experience that was better than what everyone else offered in areas such as service, maintenance, creativity, and attention to detail. The current strategy seems to be based around stripping away as much of those elements on which the strength of the brand was built as they can get away with and just selling the brand in order to increase profit margins. Logic would suggest that strategy can only work for so long, but who knows.
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John park hopper
Well-Known Member
I think Disney CEO's make so much money (squeeze every dime out of the guests) they know they will be set for life once they leave the company so where is the incentive to improve Disney for the future. Thus the slow decline
Notes from Neverland
Well-Known Member
It's almost like the parks and what people love about them were created by leaders before the current group.
Basil of Baker Street
Well-Known Member
Yep. That's why the parks are suffering I guess.
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
Well, one could argue that Walt regularly visiting Disneyland and interacting with guests and experiencing the parks for himself (without VIP service) gave him a more accurate picture of what the park needed and how to market it, etc.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
Maybe not right now. That's the issue, everyone keeps looking at the now. The parks are busy mainly due to people making up for missed trips.
TikibirdLand
Well-Known Member
I'm not in that camp. I don't think I ever said that. For me, I don't understand why people keep going when all the perks and park attractions are being taken away. It would be interesting to see how many APs vs non-APs go. I understand the first group (sunk cost). I really don't understand the second group. Live entertainment is almost a given at WDW. But, it's mostly taken away. Main Street feels empty -- except for the guests, of course! The Disney Bubble was real for us. We miss the bag pickup and the ME to-and-from the airport. It was the little things that made Disney Magical. It's not anymore.
Basil of Baker Street
Well-Known Member
And if for some reason the attendance dips, they will throw out some hotel discounts, or better yet, free G+ or ILL's which they are essentially giving you "free air". Assuming dining ever come back (which I think it will), I'm not so sure we'll ever see free dining again. There is a cost involved in it. But not in G+ or ILL's. This is just my humble opinion of course.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I feel the same way, and the fact the crowds continue to show up does make me wonder whether they do know something fundamental about the market for the parks that eludes myself and a lot of the fans who come to boards like this. That said, the aggressiveness of the cutbacks, price gouging, and supposedly permanent reinvention of the park going experience in the past year has gone beyond anything I can remember. We won't know for a while what the impact of that ends up being. They wouldn't have to be morons to have over-played their hand nor to struggle to correct course if that ends up being the case. Plenty of very well-educated, intelligent people have pursued ill-advised strategies through history.
Rich Brownn
Well-Known Member
Back in the 70s when park management made some really dumb decisions (I know, I was working there at the time) a friend asked me how did Disney survive in spite of some of these insane issues. "Its easy" I said "You have 300 people making mistakes, and 12000 people covering their rear ends"
marymarypoppins
Active Member
I actually would rather Uber. My last 2 trips the line/wait has been so long that Uber just made more sense.
I bought my first house in Central Florida in 2010. I got it for a very good price.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Sold one this year for an excellent price. When in Florida you play in the waves
I've seen very little feedback on it. let us know how it goes if you try it.