Half of theme-park visitors ages 25-49 come without kids

J

jed012788

Member
Original Poster
That statistic is courtesy of this Wall Street Journal story. It is all about how theme parks are changing their approach to start wooing adults without children. Universal is mentioned throughout the piece. The word "Disney" does not appear.

I just thought this played into a lot of what you folks often discuss around here. It's another example of Universal setting the agenda and Disney once again being behind the times.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Well, well, thanks for the heads up. We are in the middle of this very argument over at another "Orlando" theme park site concerning the FLE@theMK.
 
the.dreamfinder

the.dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
“Adults are interested if you don't play down to the little 2 or 3 year olds or talk down. I don't believe in talking down to children. I don't believe in talking down to any certain segment. I like to kind of just talk in a general way to the audience. Children are always reaching.” Walt Disney
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
dxer07002 said:
What was it that Walt had once said??? Guess the man knew what he was talking about... Too bad Disney doesn't believe in his word today...
Click to expand...
the.dreamfinder said:
“Adults are interested if you don't play down to the little 2 or 3 year olds or talk down. I don't believe in talking down to children. I don't believe in talking down to any certain segment. I like to kind of just talk in a general way to the audience. Children are always reaching.” Walt Disney
Click to expand...
Disney exec: Who is this Walt fellow and what does he have to do with anything at Walt Disney World? :confused:
 
Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

Well-Known Member
the.dreamfinder said:
“Adults are interested if you don't play down to the little 2 or 3 year olds or talk down. I don't believe in talking down to children. I don't believe in talking down to any certain segment. I like to kind of just talk in a general way to the audience. Children are always reaching.” Walt Disney
Click to expand...
lazyboy97o said:
Disney exec: Who is this Walt fellow and what does he have to do with anything at Walt Disney World? :confused:
Click to expand...

Or more like: "Your dead if you aim only for kids." ​
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But yes dreamfnder, seems like TDO is very interested in talking down to people, dumbing down things... ​
 
Beholder

Beholder

Well-Known Member
As my daughter is getting older, I often think about the prospect of going to WDW with just my wife. I like the idea of going at our own pace, seeing what we want to see, when we want. I already miss the 1-15 year old I once had, so the next few years will be hard, but expected. I am however, going to fall into that age demographic.
 
RonAnnArbor

RonAnnArbor

Well-Known Member
I have never been to WDW with kids and I do fall into that demographic in this article --
This is a trend nationwide by the way --- Up here in the great tundra of the northern midwest, Cedar Point has for years focused on the 18 - 40 year old demographic...
 
Beholder

Beholder

Well-Known Member
I think one of the advantages WDW has over pretty much all other resorts/theme parks is that they do have 4 parks that can appeal to a broad
range of people/families. MK for young and old, DHS for a slightly older, tween-teen crowd (although not fully realized), EPCOT for a more casual, mature (generally speaking) pace, and AK that appeals to a broad range of tastes and ages. Of course, none of my examples apply to everyone, but more of a broad swipe of the brush to illustrate the (perhaps) advantage WDW has. Not to mention the water parks, DTD, golf courses (big and small), boating and so on. Just an observation.
 
Lucky

Lucky

Well-Known Member
The statistic is actually about all amusement park visitors, not just theme park visitors. That's a much larger market, and I wouldn't bring my kids to some of those trashy amusement parks either. There are plenty of kids in those parks, but many of them are teenagers not accompanied by adults (and not all well behaved). Disney shouldn't do anything to weaken its reputation as having the best theme parks for families with young kids. That will remain a big market and they should keep their hold on it. It can - and already does - appeal to adults and teenagers too, without being a clone of Universal, Six Flags or anyone else.
 
Todd H

Todd H

Well-Known Member
Just spent a few days at Universal with just my wife. My sister graciously watched our four year old. It was the first trip we've been on without our son since he was born.
 
brifraz

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
I think this is a very important statistic for DW to address.

In the 90s and early 00s, I made at least 6 trips as part of that demographic. Since PI closed, we have yet to make an adults only trip. Not that we take as many trips, just now with DD every time....we make fewer trips. The few adult-oriented options we would enjoy at this point are either kid-friendly enough (Rose and Crown), not very unique (Raglan Road), or the kind of thing we'd do for a special night locally (Jellyrolls = Howl at the Moon). The options that drew us to adult-only time at DW were the unique offerings at PI. Back when it had a Jazz Club, 70/80s Dance Club, Contemporary Night Club, Beach Bar, Adventurers Club (can't generalize it) - all places we enjoy, within a block of each other with safe 'free' transportation back to our room.

We do miss that and I would hope a pencil pusher somewhere is missing our extra $$.
 

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