NY Times : "Disney Is Spending More on Theme Parks Than It Did on Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm Combined"

[thomas998]

Less and less? I must be living in an alternate reality where California Adventure is course-corrected from Eisner's blunders, classic dark rides are improved with new tech, Cars Land exists and is jaw-dropping, World of Color makes the Bellagio Fountain look like a lawn sprinkler, and change and evolution are not inherently desecrations of my childhood nor my open mind. I go to the Disney Parks every 3-4 years, not every 3-4 months, or like the good man who does the Yensid Galaxy's Edge construction videos, apparently every week. I make the most of it, I consider it a privilege and a joy. When rides break down, or something's closed for refurbishment, or an older attraction has changed, I'm still at Disneyland.

My niece is in France as a Foreign Exchange Student...she just visited Disneyland Paris. She's never been to any of the Disney parks. Her first visit. My wife asked her what her favorite thing was. 16 year old kid says, "Just being there." She's 100% right. Just walking inside that environment itself is a form of joy and peace and entertainment that's unlike anything else. I know exactly what she's talking about.

You are comparing DL, and DL is much better maintained than Disneyworld. We do both parks on a fairly regular basis and over the years DL has never had the drastic drops in maintenance that Disneyworld has. If you are currently a DL visitor then enjoy it, but MK is the Knotts Berry Farm of Disney's parks and it often shows it.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I agree that Disney probably prefers a once in lifetime guest over a annual guest... but the reality is those once in a lifetime guest may also be going to other places the other years like Universal or any number of other parks... When Disney drops in quality to the point that these once in a life time guests start comparing Disney negatively to other parks they have experienced then the word of mouth will start spreading and that's going to be a problem for Disney. You can always do a short term rape and pillage of customers but eventually the word will get out and then it becomes very expensive to repair the damage.

+1
And the once or twice in a lifer is usually not going to compare the parks to 30 years ago. Unfortunately I think it will have to be the economy slowing down first. I don't think that the average rare visitors to the parks even remotely thinks wdw is like great adventures, i think if anything they'll complain about crowds.

 

[PB Watermelon]

I agree that Disney probably prefers a once in lifetime guest over a annual guest... but the reality is those once in a lifetime guest may also be going to other places the other years like Universal or any number of other parks... When Disney drops in quality to the point that these once in a life time guests start comparing Disney negatively to other parks they have experienced then the word of mouth will start spreading and that's going to be a problem for Disney. You can always do a short term rape and pillage of customers but eventually the word will get out and then it becomes very expensive to repair the damage.

Rape?

 

[larryz]

Rape?

It's a pirate thing--or rather, it used to be. Nowadays, the term should be "auction and plunder."

 

[thomas998]

It's a pirate thing--or rather, it used to be. Nowadays, the term should be "auction and plunder."

Yes... a pirate thing... But I refuse to auction and plunder... We wants the redhead.