What is going on with Disney parks?

[CampbellzSoup]

Ryan I said this before it opened and got challenged...

It’s a land with ONE ride and expensive experiences...

where’s the ride for the kiddos outside the e-attraction.

Why does Blue milk cost 9 dollars? Where is the Star Wars music throughout the land? Where are character actors in the cantina/roaming the land?

it’s a dead space with one cool attraction.

 

[EmJ]

So here’s a question. If you could sit down with Chapek tomorrow and tell him two things he could do *in the next six months* to improve the quality of the guest experience relative to the price Disney wants to charge, what would they be? I’ve heard a lot of support for a stunt show and roaming aliens at SWGE. Both sound to me.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Lots of people have made some really great points in here, particularly in regards to the very recent attendance issues and reasons for that, so I won’t bother repeating.

I’ve long thought that Disney is playing a dangerous game and possibly eroding at the goodwill, loyalty, and emotional connection they’ve built over decades which is IMO the real driver for people to visit the parks. Not new attractions, franchise acquisitions, etc. I think if there are truly attendance issues that will last it’s because in the last 10 years they’ve shifted from the long term game to the short term game. I think now more than ever they are living up to the negative ideas people have surrounding Disney, expensive, crowded, and too much work.

I think it has snowballed for years, starting with the time ADRs and therefore advanced planning became a necessity. Prices have gone through the roof, detailed advanced planning is at the very least beneficial if not necessary, tons of upcharge possibilities where there weren’t before, and many cuts that may not be noticeable to infrequent guests but still detract from that overall feel of the parks.

Personally, I don’t know if we have a breaking point if I’m being honest. We would push our trips further and further apart until it became completely out of our reach. We would cut things we don’t find necessary for a good WDW trip, A non financial breaking point for me could likely be if/when Disney changes the fundamentals of park touring by charging for FP. That could very possibly be my “parking fee” pushing me over the edge on principle alone.

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

Ryan I said this before it opened and got challenged...

It’s a land with ONE ride and expensive experiences...

where’s the ride for the kiddos outside the e-attraction.

Why does Blue milk cost 9 dollars? Where is the Star Wars music throughout the land? Where are character actors in the cantina/roaming the land?

it’s a dead space with one cool attraction.

It's one land that they though "everyone" would pay any amount to visit. So they raised all of the prices, designed $100 and $200 trinkets and then were surprised that attendance was not as expected. If your target audience is a family of four it just doesn't because there isn't something or everyone.

The only thing that I can see performing worse is the Galactic Starship because once again it doesn't have broad appeal and the costs will be prohibitive. Yeah, the concept I'm sure looks great on storyboards but will fizzle in the real world

 

[DGsAtBLT]

It's one land that they though "everyone" would pay any amount to visit. So they raised all of the prices, designed $100 and $200 trinkets and then were surprised that attendance was not as expected. If your target audience is a family of four it just doesn't because there isn't something or everyone.

The only thing that I can see performing worse is the Galactic Starship because once again it doesn't have broad appeal and the costs will be prohibitive. Yeah, the concept I'm sure looks great on storyboards but will fizzle in the real world

With the rumoured prices, it wouldn’t surprise me if this flops. They NEED ridiculously obsessed Star Wars fans with deep pockets to make it a success, one ride open or not, to me it doesn’t seem like SWGE has really drawn those people in. I think Disney might have overestimated how much people want Star Wars overload.

Not going to lie, that would make me very happy. Bring back the days where IPs weren’t necessary to make great attractions, and let the creativity of the imagineers shine.

 

[DisneyRobin]

We are visiting in November during jersey week and it will be very crowded. All of the Disney resorts have been booked solid over 2 months in advance. Flights from nj to Orlando are astronomical - $1500 rt!!

I’m a little worried about how crowded it will be.

It’s usually pretty slow in September since it’s hurricane season, lots of tropical storms and back to school time.

I think the parks are going to be crazy busy again once Columbus Day weekend comes and then Jersey week followed by the holidays.

I wish Disney could do something about the excessive crowds. The parks aren’t as much fun as they used to be when they’re so over crowded!!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

So here’s a question. If you could sit down with Chapek tomorrow and tell him two things he could do *in the next six months* to improve the quality of the guest experience relative to the price Disney wants to charge, what would they be? I’ve heard a lot of support for a stunt show and roaming aliens at SWGE. Both sound to me.

Extended park hours (look how much the EEMH is doing for guest satisfaction) and running attractions at full/higher capacity.

And bring back the Canadian ticket discount.

 

[umichigan10]

As a member of that generation I don't know anyone who is stretching themselves over any of these things.

Same. I’m soon to be 24, and I have a nice car within my means, and pay rent/student loan, with a little left over. Am I living in luxury? No, but I’m in a fairly good place.

Now the nugget of truth in this conversation is how people in our age bracket go to Disney going forward simply because they can’t afford it. Working for peanuts and making ends meet barely because rent is crazy high and you’re getting gouged on your loan, there isn’t a lot of room left for the mouse.

My family usually goes yearly, which is purely due to my parents DVC. I pay for my own pass, some of the food, my own plane ticket etc. If a hotel cost was baked into that you can forget about it. Even with that said, ticket prices are getting difficult for us to justify. I’m curious to see next year when my brother is looking to do a semester in England. If we/when we go and visit instead of go to Disney, I’m curious to see how much more it costs

 

[GADisneyDad14]

So here’s a question. If you could sit down with Chapek tomorrow and tell him two things he could do *in the next six months* to improve the quality of the guest experience relative to the price Disney wants to charge, what would they be? I’ve heard a lot of support for a stunt show and roaming aliens at SWGE. Both sound to me.

Park hours. That is one of my only true gripes with the changes I’ve witnessed over the last few years - and it impacts ALL of us.

We’re seeing the benefit right now with this temporary massive increase in park hours and daily EMHs. More hours, more options, spread people around, etc.

To me, it’s all about available park hours.

(And maybe bring back a MK nighttime parade too).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just completely disagree with this perspective. I would MUCH rather they do staggered/phased launches where I can enjoy things as they open rather than have to wait until it all opens at once and then fight against a swarm of people.

1. I'm coming from 2000 miles away. I come once a year, tops, and that's when it works for my family's schedule. A big opening date isn't going to cause me to delay or pull forward my trip.
2. Originally, I didn't expect SWGE to be open at all for my October trip. If it was waiting for RotR, it wouldn't be, and I wouldn't get to see it at all!
3. If RotR was open with the whole land right now and there were that many more people in the land, I probably would just skip it this trip too.

Doing it this way is getting people in and spending merch / food money now, as well as helping people like me actually see it. People who live closer may wait to come until December until it's "complete" per your theory... or maybe, just maybe, they'll come now and come later?

That really only works with the guest who can and plans to come back within a reasonable time.

I tried waiting but my husband wasn't expected to be in LA area in January so we went when I could go out and visit my husband with him being able to take a few days off but it really did impact our viewpoint with 1 ride that I already mentioned on the News Round Up thread gave my husband the same thrill level as Star Tours.

We just don't have any plans to go to DLR again in the foreseeable future and another WDW is years away for us. Yeah it does put a spin to us. But in all honesty AP holders/locals were saying some of the things we though too when we were in DLR--even they weren't impressed by the fact that there was just 1 ride and the rest for the most part was spend spend spend and it turned people off.

We all miss attractions in our trips so I'm not saying this is new what I am saying is only having 1 attraction is affecting how at least some people, not just people here on the DIS on the internet, but people in person in the land's impression of the overall feeling.

And I said this on another random thread--I really really don't want FP to be added though I know it will eventually. Not having FP on Smuggler's Run was very nice.

 

[umichigan10]

Park hours. That is one of my only true gripes with the changes I’ve witnessed over the last few years - and it impacts ALL of us.

We’re seeing the benefit right now with this temporary massive increase in park hours and daily EMHs. More hours, more options, spread people around, etc.

To me, it’s all about available park hours.

(And maybe bring back a MK nighttime parade too).

Spot on. It frustrates me that they’ve cut closing back from 12-1am in the early summer to 9-10 o’clock. Who wants to go out in the baking sun in the parks when you can go back at night and get stuff done without the heat and with generally less people.

But no, let’s charge an additional 120 bucks for the “privilege” to go to the park during that 3 hour window instead

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Park hours. That is one of my only true gripes with the changes I’ve witnessed over the last few years - and it impacts ALL of us.

We’re seeing the benefit right now with this temporary massive increase in park hours and daily EMHs. More hours, more options, spread people around, etc.

To me, it’s all about available park hours.

(And maybe bring back a MK nighttime parade too).

Yes!

I mean we all want to pay less but they’re not going to roll anything back, IMO. One of my biggest gripes that majorly impacts experience more than any one ride is the decrease in hours and artificially increasing waits by not running attractions at full capacity.

Imagine that, Disney added 2-3 hours to 3/4 parks operating hours and crowds became less dense throughout the resort and the day. Who knew that could happen!

 

[TheMick424]

Despite the recent news about entertainment cutbacks and the Powell resignation, I wonder how worried Disney really is. They haven't released any discounts for the new year yet, and continue to raise prices on up-charge events like the dessert parties (I suppose to counteract the lower attendance). I'm a huge Disney fan and a DVC member, so I guess I'm not the best gauge. We only go once a year or every-other year, so our travel patterns haven't changed that much...yet. Disney should care about brand loyalty and a positive guest experience to encourage future revenue. But in the end, they are striving to meet current earnings expectations (however out of whack they might be) and increase shareholder value, sometimes cutting off their nose to spite their face.

 

[leafyeon]

For us, Disney has gotten to a point where they are so good at crowd distribution (with the carefully scheduled RunDisneys, opening hours, limiting ride capacity, hotel/dining discounts, etc.) that there is never a slow time in the parks which you can plan in advance for. It's just not fun for us to go if it's too crowded, particularly if it's too hot. Every trip seems to require the 180+ whatever days in order to plan the whole experience, and being a slave to ADRs and pre-planned Fastpasses all day is just no fun (to us).

They clearly spent far too much on Galaxy's Edge, and are trying to recoup the costs elsewhere. I think that was a mistake -- the fanbase is just not big enough, and I'm not sure the fan demographic matches those who like regularly attending theme parks. Most of the most ardent Star Wars fans I know are older fans who grew up with the original series, and who are not crazy about the new Disney stuff. I didn't really see that many younger kids in Galaxy's Edge, and I'm not sure the millenial-or-younger generation grew up with Star Wars as much as some of the older generations. But perhaps I am totally wrong...

 

[IanDLBZF from MCMagic]

Despite the recent news about entertainment cutbacks and the Powell resignation, I wonder how worried Disney really is.

Sounds like they may be heading towards bankruptcy....

 

[Mome Rath]

What would I have them do? 1) Don't do any more rate hikes for a while and keep up and finish what they've started/announced in an oldschool Disney way and 2) improve their housekeeping. Patience and time would fix most other things from my POV.

 

[EmJ]

For us, Disney has gotten to a point where they are so good at crowd distribution (with the carefully scheduled RunDisneys, opening hours, limiting ride capacity, hotel/dining discounts, etc.) that there is never a slow time in the parks which you can plan in advance for. It's just not fun for us to go if it's too crowded, particularly if it's too hot. Every trip seems to require the 180+ whatever days in order to plan the whole experience, and being a slave to ADRs and pre-planned Fastpasses all day is just no fun (to us).

They clearly spent far too much on Galaxy's Edge, and are trying to recoup the costs elsewhere. I think that was a mistake -- the fanbase is just not big enough, and I'm not sure the fan demographic matches those who like regularly attending theme parks. Most of the most ardent Star Wars fans I know are older fans who grew up with the original series, and who are not crazy about the new Disney stuff. I didn't really see that many younger kids in Galaxy's Edge, and I'm not sure the millenial-or-younger generation grew up with Star Wars as much as some of the older generations. But perhaps I am totally wrong...

The Millennials grew up on Harry Potter. Gen Z is maybe the SW sequel trilogy?

 

[verleniahall]

I don't think the ecconomy is that bad - even with the price increases - we are paying about 12K (maybe a little more - we keep adding things) for our two week trip over new years

 

[skier_pete]

I wonder if there's a bigger economic problem afoot. I work for a Fortune 100 company - and they seem to have started making really bad decisions based literally on the "now" that are in my view damaging to both the near term and the long term. Disney may be doing the same thing - corporate overlords are so into keeping the numbers up they don't seem to think of the consequences. Disney was forced to raise minimum wages by 30%, so they had to respond equally with profits, rising prices to the point of ridiculous over the last few years while still cutting some offerings. It's not like they aren't going to pay for the choice eventually and maybe that point is now...

 

[firefly_ris]

The Millennials grew up on Harry Potter. Gen Z is maybe the SW sequel trilogy?

I was in high school at the time of the first Harry Potter movie, or close to done high school somewhere in there.... I think I'm on the "old" end of millenials at almost 36 though... ?