What is Disney doing to its customer life cycle?

[FiestaFunKid]

I can't believe they aren't seeing the obvious change to the life cycle of a single trip.

All of these changes (higher hotel/ticket fees, but the ability to get more done at a cost) will certainly drive current 4-6 night vacations down to 2-4. Universal sees this now - customers pay up for the express pass and go for a day - or stay the min nights to get it with a premium hotel. This may cost Disney money in the long run with fewer dollars going to overpriced meals and shopping....but perhaps more importantly, it vastly cheapens the overall experience - as a Disney visit is even more rushed and crammed in. A major change from the magical week at Disney many of us experienced as kids.

 

[rreading]

I can't believe they aren't seeing the obvious change to the life cycle of a single trip.

All of these changes (higher hotel/ticket fees, but the ability to get more done at a cost) will certainly drive current 4-6 night vacations down to 2-4. Universal sees this now - customers pay up for the express pass and go for a day - or stay the min nights to get it with a premium hotel. This may cost Disney money in the long run with fewer dollars going to overpriced meals and shopping....but perhaps more importantly, it vastly cheapens the overall experience - as a Disney visit is even more rushed and crammed in. A major change from the magical week at Disney many of us experienced as kids.

I agree that it's pretty much impossible to stay a week...but for me, it's more of an issue of not having the amount of time that I want to spend at WDW. Pricing is part of that - but if I had unlimited time, I could still imagine a few days at Fort Wilderness and riding horses and taking the boats on the water. Golfing if I enjoyed that (miniature golf and the water parks would be more my speed). Then move over to Port Orleans and see Cirque at Disney Springs and enjoy the atmosphere at PO.

It still can be done...but when I'm time and price constrained at GF, I hate to spend extra time (spending extra money) driving the boats around when I could be at the pool or enjoying the resort or in the parks.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I am not a professional investor nor am I in finance. That said, my general feeling is that we're due for another correction, soon, and that, coupled with waning enthusiasm for travel after "revenge travel" occurs, ongoing COVID concerns and TSA masking and/or vaccine travel requirements, and increased costs of a WDW vacation, means the parks are going to be in a world of hurt again.

I'm not sure what you mean about revenge travel.

My take is that I think this past summer, when COVID numbers looked low, many people felt tired of being cooped up for a year, so they dared to visit WDW. Plus, they were newly vaccinated. I further think a good chunk of vacationers, esp. WDW vacationers, were people that had postponed 2020 vacations. They'd already put down a deposit or paid in full prior to WDW's closure.

COVID got real in mid-March. That weekend was both "Friday, March 13" and the infamous ""Ides of March." (March 15 - from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar - "Beware the Ides of March.") Disneyland shut down March 14, WDW shut down March 16 (announced 3/12/20, last day open was 3/15/20).

At the time, WDW dining reservations became available at the 180-190 day mark. I don't want to argue this point, but I'll venture to say in March 2020 most (many? not ALL) folks made WDW vacation plans 180 days out or more. 180 days as of 3/15/20 means most WDW reservations were booked through - get this - September 11, 2020.

Disney Springs partly re-opened May 20, 2020. MK+AK on 7/11/2020. Epcot +HS on 7/15/2020. The WDW reopening plan was announced 5/27/2020.

Even people that could go and wanted to go to WDW as soon as it reopened...more or less would have likely cancelled vacation bookings 180 days past 5/26/2020, which = through November 22, 2020. Realistically that would have been through Thanksgiving 2020. And many states were still under travel restrictions.

This is all to say, a large percent of summer 2021 WDW vacationers were likely postponement carry-overs from 2020. I think that point often gets lost in the current discussion.

Some of the people visiting WDW since July 2020 are die-hards, but many are not die-hards. If they didn't have a good visit, many won't return to WDW. Not only do people want to be entertained though, now many are also going to be paying more attention to sanitation/feeling safe and the opposite: WDW having too many restrictions/safety protocols.

Another key point is that going to WDW isn't just what happens in WDW. It is also how people travel to/from WDW: planes, trains, automobiles. People won't fly/ride/drive to WDW if they don't feel safe/happy flying, driving, taking a train, or staying in off-site hotels. In other words, even if WDW gets everything right, the people who normally drive to WDW might not drive if they don't feel comfortable staying at a hotel in Georgia, SC, and any other state along their route.

And here in 2021, catching COVID isn't the only concern on people's minds. Deep political divides are also on many people's minds.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I'm not sure what you mean about revenge travel.

My take is that I think this past summer, when numbers looked low, many felt tired of being cooped up for a year.
I further think a good chunk of vacationers, esp. WDW vacationers, were people that had postponed 2020 vacations. They'd already put down a deposit or paid in full, or had DVC when WDW closed.

That is the general understanding of "revenge travel" - that people, once cases dropped and/or they were vaccinated, made up for "lost time" or having been quarantining, and needed to get away. Now that that itch has been scratched, and many places are reinstituting restrictions such as masks or not accommodating the unvaccinated, I think that sugar rush is bound to wane.