Do you think Disney still values repeat guests?

I have had some great CM experiences - I think the only time I didn’t it was someone young at a ride, and it wasn’t ‘bad’, they were just ‘meh’
I had a couple of pixie dust moments on my last trip - but I didn’t see a bounce back offer, and I have noticed that there seem to be less ‘deals’ offered.
That is because they don’t need to - if they are hitting capacity goals on hotels, then they don’t need to offer deals to fill them, especially the lower tiers.
If the add-ons were not working, they wouldn’t be doing them, Disney will push it as far as the market will let it.
If they stop meeting their profit goals because less people are going to the parks, and the ones that do are not spending enough to make up for it - they will change strategy.
The parks are full, the hotels are full & the extra cost events are selling, unless they start to see people actually NOT coming back, in any kind of meaningful number. They will continue as they are

I don’t know about rich, but maybe in some cases. My DH and I are middle class. We have chosen to live in a modest house that meets our needs for the 5 in our family. We do not constantly buy new cars,TVs or anything extravagant because we have prioritized vacations and experiences as a family. We are frugal. Disney is not an every year trip for us, as we have other places we like to go. But we can afford to go every couple of years at this point. When we do go, we do not book a bunch of expensive extras. Maybe one special activity, such a tour or one dessert party. Maybe not even that. Now that is not to say there are people who truly cannot afford to go or that Disney is cheap. I’m saying that I don’t think Disney is marketing and looking for just rich people. I’m sure there are other families like us out there.

We are a family just like you! We go to Disney every three years, stay at value resorts, only got the dining plan this time because it was free, and are “splurging”on one special event (MNSSHP). We are by no means rich, but do keep coming back and adding a tiny bit more each trip, because it does feel magical. And many other vacations we have looked into for the same cost feel not worth it in comparison, when looking at how much you get to do. We do have concerns with the way things are trending, though, especially resort parking fees, since we drive.

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These kind of threads always make me wonder what it used to be like. We went to WDW for the first time this last November. We were there for a week and it was AMAZING! So much so that we’ve already planned another trip to WDW, one to DLR and one to UOR for good measure. I’m a little nervous about UOR to be honest because we’ve never particularly enjoyed amusement parks in the past–but while my husband mentally absorbed the fact that the Harry Potter stuff isn’t at Disney I don’t think he really got it in his gut, so we’re going to go do that. At any rate they certainly impressed us enough to get at least two more visits out of us. It flat out amazed me that we pretty much turned over our whole lives to some mega-corporation for an entire week and it worked out so amazingly well. Pretty much everywhere we went people were friendly and extremely professional and… genuine. It was magical, plain and simple. And it’s not like they had the easiest setting to do all that in–we spent a week going non-stop every waking moment surrounded, often outside, by thousands of other people, and it all went off virtually without a hitch. That’s remarkable!

As far as the money, well it’s far from the most expensive vacation destination we do. Frankly, pretty much anywhere else we go if we were to go non-stop for virtually every waking hour the way we do at Disney it would cost a great deal more than Disney does. And like others have said if they really wanted to solve even half the problems people on boards like this point out the most obvious solution would be to double the price of everything. The money sort of is what it is–as it usually is when one wants a piece of a limited commodity.

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I agree entirely with what you’ve said. I can’t even imagine how WDW could have been better years ago!

Don’t be. It’s amazing.

Well, it depends what you’re looking for. I think it has some incredible rides, but you might not be too interested in those. But the Harry Potter theming is just phenomenal, especially Diagon Alley. It couldn’t be better even if Disney had done it themselves.

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This used to be an every day occurrence. Rare to see today at Disney World. However it still done in a regular basis at Disneyland. Magic Kingdom Custodial Cast Member draws Mickey Mouse - YouTube

I think It’s still a common occurrence. I saw several remnants of them while there over the week in May and saw one being drawn live as well. And this was over the course of a week where rain was extremely common (by which I mean there might have been more but the rain “washed” them away).

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I still adore Disney World, but what I miss most is “happening upon” characters. Some of my favorite memories were rounding a corner and poof, there are Snow White and Dopey or Captain Hook and Smee or any other combination of characters. THAT was magic to me. Watching Smee “propose” to my sister and just walk off into Adventureland with her while Hook stood there and shook his head was priceless. Now, it’s all scheduled meet and greets, or characters only available during parties and much of that magic is gone for me. I understand that it helps people to know when and where to meet certain chacters, but it lost some of the magic in the process.

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Reading the response from @rebeecky made me ponder this more. It is a good question. And I guess, if I had to summarize it it one word, it would be “maturity”.

But that answer has different aspects.

For one, the truth is I’ve matured as a person. Who I am today is tainted by my years. I’m an adult now, not a kid as I was when I first experienced WDW and Epcot. Even later, as Hollywood Studios came to be, and eventually Animal Kingdom, it was all new and fresh. Now that I’ve experienced those parks several times, part of it just is that it isn’t fresh and new to me. But to someone else, it probably is.

But this leads me to the second, perhaps more important, aspect of maturity. That is, the industry of theme parks has matured over the years. I mean, when you think of where Disney started, it really wasn’t that different from an amusement park of today. Over time, however, it epitomized the idea of a theme park over the amusement. Disney gave experiences, not just rides.

Eventually, though, many of those same attractions (experiences!) have remained relatively static, whereas the rest of the amusement park industry (not to mention the creation of the theme park at Universal as competition) has moved forward. They are the ones giving us new experiences, where Disney kind of stayed the same.

More recently, Disney has started to play catch up. No longer the leader, but the follower. At the same time, the transformations and attempts to update their parks has been more about converting to some intellectual property (e.g., movie) into the theme than really giving us something unique. It feels more about a ride to advertise some movie they have, rather than giving us something completely new and fresh.

Compare this to several years ago. We got the likes of the Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest, Soarin’, Extraterrorestial Encounter, etc. Before that, we had Pirates (before it was a movie) and Jungle Cruises and Small Worlds, and such. Not that there weren’t ties to movies. Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White, etc.

I don’t know. I don’t blame Disney for doing those things (movie tie-ins). But Disney hasn’t matured the same way other players in the industry have. Even Flight of Passage, while unique, seems in more in response to Universal’s Harry Potter than being a leader about it.

Perhaps another way of thinking about it is that today it is less about experiencing something I’ve never seen before, but experiencing something I HAVE seen before. For example, rather than give us a ride that gives us France, they will give us Ratatouille. Rather than stick to Norway, they convert it to Arandel (sp?).

But, maybe this is what people want. Maybe people don’t want Mexico, but instead want the Three Caballeros (or soon to be Coco themed, according to rumors). For me, however, it has made the world a little less magical and more about business. I mean, it IS a business. But in the past, it didn’t feel like it was ABOUT business. Now it does.

Just my ramblings.

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When I am home, reading about some of the new attractions, I think about Disney being a business and all the extras that cost more money. When I am there, that all goes out the window. I still feel the same pull, fun and thrill I felt when I first went when I was 14 years old.

I don’t think Disney is a follower at all. Some of the things that make Disney work are influencing other amusement parks. Fast passes (albeit not free anywhere else), magic bands, some themed queues, shows and entertainment.

As I’ve said before, I am a HersheyPark season pass holder. They introduced a magic band type thing for one of their new water slides. You wear a disposable band, scan before you ride, and you can get a free picture by email for the slide. They have been having more and more shows and entertainment. They have a character dance party this year. They have also been improving some of their food and the variety, as well as having a dining plan of sorts. HersheyPark has Fast Track for those who want to pay, and Sweet Start for season pass holders and their hotel guests. I attribute these as influences of Disney, not Universal. Disney may have been behind in new rides, but in no way would I consider them to be followers.

You make some good points, although I’ll point out that the Fast Pass concept at Disney was introduced about 20 years ago. I was talking much more recently than that. Magic Bands are fine, but a money maker for Disney (business). When we were there almost 3 years ago now, we didn’t use Magic bands, just our tickets. Other than ONE time in Test Track (and this because we weren’t clear how it was going to work) would Magic Bands have made things markedly improved. But I do suppose your point is that it gives the illusion of experience to the end user.

Universal was historically the follower. The picked up the Disney leftovers. But then something changed when they created The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Disney was caught off guard. For perhaps the first time, Disney was left playing catch up. Universal took theming to an entirely new level. Not just matching Disney, but leap frogging over them. Disney suddenly became the follower, and they are taking years to catch up. Pandora was their response, although other than FOP it doesn’t have the same appeal. I think Galaxy’s Edge will be the TRUE response to Harry Potter.

I do as well. But I often wonder how much of that is nostalgia. For example, this year we did Universal Studios. But the time we felt most “at home” and happy? When we drover under the Walt Disney World sign and found ourselves at Disney Springs. I mean, we didn’t even DO anything except walk around and shop, yet I had that same giddy feeling. That suggests that the feeling I have is not because of anything Disney is DOING, but at what Disney has done in the PAST that evokes such feelings. Of course, we are also lookign forward to spending gobs of money in 2 1/2 years for our 25th anniversary trip to WDW. So, clearly the magic isn’t GONE by any stretch of the imagination. I just think it is DIMINISHING.

Or maybe it isn’t. After all, on that trip we will experience staying on property for the first time since our honeymoon. We will experience Pandora for the first time. Toy Story Land. Galaxy’s Edge. And if were to go just a LITTLE BIT later, we’d experience Guardians of the Galaxy and Tron for the first time.

So, Disney is trying to catch up. They are creating attractions that are bringing it to the modern era of amusement/theme parks.

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My family often asks me if I get any special ‘perks’ from going to WDW so many times (this year has been excessive, I will admit. It’s only July and I’ve been 6 times, for various lengths of stay with a variety of different people in my life). Yes, I have seen the room discounts lowering (but still splurge on Deluxe) and yes, I often purchase the extras (from Wild Africa Trek to the Dessert Parties to even the cabana by the pool). But I do get the regular ‘pixie dust’ from Disney, usually in the form of room upgrade and I don’t know if that is because of my repeat business or what. But so far this year, I’ve been upgraded for one week from the Contemporary Garden Wing to the main tower, standard room at BC to the Hospitality Suite, Animal Kingdom Lodge standard view to savannah view and the best of all, the Contemporary Garden Wing to Tower Theme Park View. And this stay, we had a knock on the door with a specialty tray of chocolates, chocolate covered strawberries and macarons with a note thanking me for my stay. I’m thinking it has to do with my being a (very) repeat guest, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

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Can we share a room? :wink:

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My mom was pretty impressed! (She got the theme park view room experience - I tried to play it off as though that is what traveling with me is always like, but even I was damn impressed, especially when the chocolates platter showed up!)

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Disney cares about profit and not guests. Just take a look at toy story land. They build an entire land with no shade in FL. Those poor caste members in the toy story costumes greet in the sun. GueST’s can’t even take refuge in an air conditioned quick service. I don’t begrudge disney their profit but make no mistake that profit not guests is most important and it will continue to be so as long as people pay ridiculous prices for the “magic”. I am returning after 10 years and after this trip it wil be 5 to 10 years before I visit again. There are MANY other wonderful vacation spots.

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