pilferk
Jambo Wildbunch Gang
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
LOL...i post this - almost verbatim - on one thread or another on a weekly basis.
Are you sneaking into my head when i'm not watching?
But the reality is this - and we have it on this thread - when we get the "cars land..or whatever...is DEFINITELY coming to WDW"...they are missing the fundamental truth. And that is that neither MGM, nor AK are meant to entertain for the day - they are meant to redirect/ funnel.
There's no economic reason to put 500 million bucks into DHS...and that's why its not gonna happen. sorry, folks.
AK...however...I believe...was cut and slashed to become a funnel. I don't think that was the original intent or what they had planned. Mainly because animals are WAY too expensive to be justified as a funnel on the ledger sheet.
AK was the first in the eisnerian budget cut disasters that highlighted his exit form TWDC. Cut it and get it open, try to trump another opening across town, say "that's good enough"
If you look at it objectively, Disney built exactly one full concept park in Eisner's entire tenure - and it was the legendary Eurodisney.
Eurodisney is a fantastic park - it really is - probably my favorite "magic kingdom"...but all the bad press was too much for eisner's ego. So he never did it again. That, combined with the "Disney's America" debacle...was enough for him. It became strict cost accounting/ revenue stream generation from there on out...and we saw four bad parks built (excluding DisneySea...but the reality is that they didn't pay for it...it was like imagineers playing roller coaster tycoon in sandbox mode...free money)
The only way Disney invests in the parks is
a) they see significant slippage to Universal over the next 3 to 5 years
b) the typically vacation duration gets longer
c) Universal announces another gate
I worry about a) (and not because of WWOHP, per se, but more because of those new value rooms Uni announced...we'll see how they price them). I think b) and c) are unlikely.
Ak and DHS have always been "it's there...so we might as go" for many travelers...but because they're on park hoppers doesn't mean they are getting ripped off.
I'm assuming there might be a typo above...and you mean't it doesn't mean they AREN'T getting ripped off?
If not, I'm not getting your point, especially given the below.
The problem is that they are on vacation...and their brains didn't make it through the airport scanners most of the time.
Agree. Can't remember if it was this thread or another...I made the same point.
On vacation, that $6 bottle of water is "Just grab it, honey...we're on vacation"
At home, that $6 bottle of water is "What are THEY THINING??" and it sits on the shelf collecting dust.
BUT...big but...the costs of those tickets and associated costs are increasing very rapidly when framed against the economic realities of the world/ united states.
Its no secret that the majority of ...americans at least...have not seen a raise and actually lost money from their pockets for over 30 years...so as they feel crunched with their stagnant earnings...does it then become necessary to start to gripe at the sacred vacation temple for not earning your money?
For the first time? Finally?
It used to be that whatever disney did was good enough and there was no question...but the world is changing, theres more out there and more people can do "cool" things outside of WDI...
When does the scale tip? Ten years ago i didn't think it was possible that it could...now...well...i'm not so sure.
We'll see. I think Disney grossly miscalculated with the AOA resort. That might be the first indication that they're having an issue accessing value for their market. There is a "vacation trinity" (lodging, food, activity...I leave out transportation because Disney has no control over that cost) of costs...and I think Disney is starting to price itself out of it's market. Given their product, and what they offer....I'm not sure they can be a super high end destination, in terms of cost to the traveler, and survive. They can be moderately high, because of the social "value"/keeping up with the Jones' that attaches itself to a WDW vacation.
But there is a certain price bracket (and I think they might be approaching it) where that social value is more of a social stigma. Combine that with the fact those folks tend to expect much more white glove service than Disney provides...and you're looking at running into trouble. Disney does not have the facilities to cater to that group (witness the 4 Seasons approach they took recently).
For other posters reading this who might get their hackles up: Keep in mind, I'm not talking about the majority of the DIS members. We (and yes, I include myself in this discussion) are the hardcore base. We're the fans. The thing is: We can't (or rather, we don't want to have to) keep WDW profitable on our own. Disney needs the "average" traveler to do that. They need your neighbors and their kids, who only think about Disney 3 or 4 times a year (when going to see the latest Pixar movie, when buying that movie on Blu-Ray, the day they call their travel agent to book their trip, and the week they spend in Orlando), to keep the money rolling in.