Great point by Lee here ... and one that we talk about frequently, but I wish people from the 'Disney is just making a smart business choice and giving folks what they say they want crowd' would read and think about and let sink into the very fiber of their fandom.
I disagree.
For nearly the first thirty years of its existence, that is exactly the way Disney ran it's parks. The whole was greater than the sum of it's parts. It allowed for a real antique shop in Liberty Square and a safari shop in Adventureland. Was Disney making less money back then? Nope.
It was about 12-15 years back that a team of MBAs came on board and decided that every single location on property had to function as it's own business. If the location then wasn't able to meet the revenue goals set for it, it was either closed (Elephant Tales) or changed (Christmas Shop).
And the concept of retail as show died very quickly with it. How many folks walk through the Adventureland flea market/outlet mall and even realize that there once were a half a dozen unique shops and that they're walled off and used for storage of pirate swords and as offices now?
How many people get that the MK wasn't all about selling the Disney BRAND, but transporting people to different times and places and selling merchandise that told the story? And do those same folks get that the lands are basically meaningless now. Might as well be a Six Flags with nicer attractions and facades.
If show matters, then you need to have shops that may barely make money or even show a paper loss.
Of course, with all those 500-pounders in their ECVs, can you imagine if the antique shop still existed?
Maybe we should all just accept that we live in a Walmarted nation and be happy at the Walmarted World of Disney?
The result has been overall negative in every way.
Yes, a higher percentage of the locations are hitting their goals, but only by selling the same merchandise as other shops and cannibalizing their business. Financially, for the company as a whole, it is a wash.
For the guests, they have lost many unique locations (Magic Shop, for instance) in favor of yet another location to sell a Grumpy sweatshirt or a silly Goofy hat.
THIS!
Having pins and vinyl and Tink hoodies in every shop does NOT increase the amount of money spent on said items. If you don't want them, then you aren't buying even if ''that's all we have'' ... or if your quota is one Goofy tee, you aren't going to suddenly buy 16 because you see it 16 different places.
They do not get this at all.
The only place Disney is making more money, arguably I'd say, is by not creating more product and not buying more from different vendors.
But destroying retail at the MK hasn't resulted in people buying Donald hats from people who never wanted one before.
A smart business person would recognize that the parks should be looked at as one giant enterprise, not a collection of small stores, bars and restaurants. The profit will remain the same, and still allow for unique and fun guest experiences. Is Disney making any more money now that PI is closed? Nope. Was the Magic Shop or Elephant Tales a drain on company finances? Nope
I guess it just makes for a cleaner spreadsheet somewhere...:brick:
I've said it before, how long until some pencil-pusher looks at something like the Electrical Water Pagent and decides that since it doesn't directly generate revenue, it should be discontinued? That is the direction we are headed with the current model.
Who cares? No one will have time for that with their entire days planned out a year in advance with X-Pass.
