By Eddie Sotto
When former Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked recently if prices at the parks were going to go up further, he responded that it was “up to the consumer.” Indeed, most of the Disney audience is consumers, but in the parks, the audience that books vacations and buys souvenirs, are guests. According to the park training program: “Every guest is a VIP, a very individual person.”
No one is most important, as we are all individuals and treated like house guests. I initially bristled at this supposed gaffe and moved on.
On later reflection, I think he was actually right on the mark. Has today’s guest experience evolved to the point where we are slavishly driven by software reservation apps like Disney’s Genie+ to do as much as we can in the precious time we bought, rather than relaxing and experiencing “The Happiest Place on Earth?”
For many, it is a race to consume, as many preferred must-do attractions cannot meet guest demand, therefore driving upward consumption of paid passes that guarantee access. Some attractions will make tens of millions on Lightning Lane instant access upcharges alone.
Actually, it’s brilliant. When 1 in 4 standby guests on average (they only paid admission) can get on a popular attraction that is held out for Genie+, they either buy the app or an instant access ticket which cost upwards of $15 for a Lightning Lane. In recent cases at Walt Disney World, it’s not uncommon to see this instant access Lightning Lane ticket generating its own 30-minute line or selling out! Especially when popular rides break down, which can be frequent.
Archiving vs experiencing?
When we are consuming as much as we can, glued to a Disney app, running from show to show, might we miss something special along the way? Are we just ordering food based on how it posts on social media, archiving the day? I guess that’s part of the fun these days.
My best times at the park were when I just stopped and got lost in the magic. Do we miss the childlike fun of discovering, playing and sensing together? It’s a rare thing. Where else can you be a kid with your kids and no one cringed? That’s where the value is. It’s the shared experience. It’s ok to me for Disneyland to be expensive (as our family saved trading stamps to go once a year) as long as the product over-delivers.
If your emotional needs are satisfied you won’t complain about the cost. We could not wait to save and go back, it was truly special.
Emotional costs?
On top of all the complaining from fans about something that was formerly free, all of these changes may come at a cost that may be difficult to measure. Right now, the parks are still full and demand is high, so why worry? The system is wildly profitable, so it would be hard to scrap.
I’m hoping longer-term corporate thinking will make adjustments to its cost structure and friction points, and perhaps strike a balance of when reservations are really needed or packaged with room nights. Technology is liquid and apps can be changed and I’m sure Disney is looking at all of this. Even an eye toward creating higher capacity attractions so demand can be more realistically met? So much to consider.
Why they come back
Here’s my immediate concern and I hope I’m wrong. As a designer, you learn to respect each attraction you create as if it were very fragile, you design to elicit an emotion. Everything matters, from the colors, to the cast member costuming, to choosing just the right music in the queue.
You don’t just design architecture, you design a transformative experience within a greater context of well-being. You instinctively sense a park’s warmth when you walk in. There is a spirit and hospitable mood in a motivated cast, the guests are having fun and smiling, not anxious or wary.
It’s just a contagious party atmosphere that takes over, and guests want to be there as often as they can because it’s “The Happiest Place on Earth.” There can even be long lines but you’re ok with it as we are all in the fun together.
The happier alternative
One of the park’s most successful attributes is its ability to provide an alternative to the divisive and toxic world we live in, by immersing us into another world, one that exudes a sense of well-being among other guests.
In Disneyland, we don’t divide the “haves” and “have nots”, we’re all too busy having fun screaming on Big Thunder. We’re all in the dark “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” sharing the fireworks together as collective 8-year-olds. For a day, we are all Mice. Mickey Ears look great on any noggin.
However, when I see attractions carved up into multiple lines where a family has saved all year only to stand by and see others pass them or go on something they can’t, we remind ourselves of the stratified world we paid to escape. Kind of like that all-you-can-eat brunch, but you are on standby by for the lobster and bubbly while others indulge. Try doing that ride after ride.
Disney apps vs the real world?
All of this reminded me of a story Disney Legend Dick Nunis tells of Walt Disney taking the Reverend Billy Graham on the Jungle Cruise in 1964. After they got off, he said to Walt: “What a fantastic world, What a world of fantasy!”
Walt looked at Graham and said, “Billy, look around you, All the people, all nationalities, all colors, all languages- all smiling, all having fun together. Billy, this is the real world, the fantasy is outside.”
I think Walt was on to something, and I’d hate to lose that. Anxiously awaiting what will come, it’s a new day.
