Disney's Battle Plan

[lrodk]

The Orlando Sentinal has an article today which quotes Michael Eisner, Bob Iger, and anaylsts from such firms as WitSoundview. In it, we get hints of things to come(including discounts and ad campaigns) with regard to how they'll be changing their marketing scheme from the upcoming celebration. On one hand, Eisner promises that there won't be further layoffs, which puzzles me in the wake of hourly cutbacks. Anyway, the article says it all. Here's the link:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...p22.story?coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism

The general message is that they're pretty deperate to give guests an excuse to want to come back, which I think will be quite evident in the weeks to come in the form of special packages and discounted tickets. I think that bodes very well for those of us who subscribe to the idea that they'll be announcing significant expansion plans at WDW in the coming months. This, IMHO, is the only way they'll be able to create a buzz to support future tourism travel to the resort. A major investment today will pay off for them down the road, and I think they finally realize that. The celebration in and of itself will not be sufficient. I believe that Walt's 100th B-day Celeb will prove to be the weakest year-long celebration to date(in comparison to the Millenium and 25th B-day Celebration). Of course, the problems with our economy canot be discounted, nor the effects of the bombing last week. But once that's put to rest, I think we'll begin to see lower numbers across the board. The tell tale sign will be special offers/packages during otherwise normally busy months.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Thanks for posting the article. It is quite informative.

Maybe if not lowering rates, they will not increase them like APs! I am hoping for that. I have heard that the parks are empty, but we're going on Halloween and I bet there will be plenty there! No one's cancelled their ps's with Cindy's CB.

I wonder if they will offer something for DVC (Y&BC)? Even VEP?

It will be interesting to watch, wait and see.

 

[johare]

I think they need to bring back the Epcot after 4 pass for residents and make it affordable. When they had those passes we'd go there nearly every other weekend, hit one or two attractions and then drop $50+ on dinner somewhere in the orld Showcase.

 

[wdwguide]

When did they get rid of Epcot after 4?

 

[johare]

When did they get rid of Epcot after 4?

I think they dumped it a couple years ago. Hopefully Disney will get rid of the "Play 4 Days" passes and bring back the Epcot After 4 as well as some of their other decent Florida resident deals.

 

[wdwguide]

It was still available earlier this year. Benefits and Entitlements are still listed on the Disney web site, although the pass itself is not. I'll have to check on that!

 

[johare]

If I remember right they were still allowing renewals earlier this year, but haven't offered the Epcot after 4 to new purchasers since right before the millenium celebration.