Apologies or the lengthy note here, but wanted to offer my thoughts.
Yes, in the cold, harsh world that we live in 'magical' Disney is still going to do what's best for their bottom line and if they can take away perks and it doesn't affect attendance and revenue, it's a smart business decision. This is how capitalism works, and we can't blame them for that.
That's a simple answer and it's technically correct, but it's not exactly
accurate. What they appear to be severely underestimating is the level to which reputation and experience has been a huge part of their success within the travel and tourism industry. Disney has ridden a huge wave of prosperity over the past 20 years across the board, and the parks and resorts and
DCL have been a big part of that. What some may not remember was the era prior when Disney was struggling and didn't have near the reverence as a corporation that it has today. They did a lot of dumb things across the whole company that led to that, but the parks suffered because they lost their luster. They gained a perception of being old fashioned. They didn't have enough successful new films and characters to drive attendance. Among the general public, Disney didn't feel especially magical or classy. For many, Disney World became no more special or magical than Universal or even Sea World. It was just another theme park.
So they invested heavily in the parks and hotel properties and added perks and created a legitimately unique, 'magical' experience that loyal fans now spend boat-loads of cash every year chasing. But for everything Disney has done well to get to this point, they don't truly understand the root of what got them there. They're toying with loyal customers, trying to see how much more expensive they can make things and how much they can take away before people start to bail. The evidence of this is everywhere. It's not just increasing prices and removing perks. Look at the development of new resorts. Over the past 20 years, Disney has invested almost exclusively in the development of Deluxe resorts (or DVC additions to resorts). They've built thousands of new rooms and infrastructure for people willing to pay $500+ per night and almost nothing to service anything below that budget. It's a joke that they call AoA a 'Value' resort, considering the majority of its rooms are family suites that are $450+ per night, even at the most inexpensive time of the year.
Disney has made it clear they're no longer catering to the family of 6 showing up in the RV. For people with no limit to their budget, they provide a luxury experience and only continue to develop more ways to spend money for people willing to do it for more access and perks. And if you aren't of considerable means, they've spent the past decade trying to see how far they can stretch your pockets and reduce the experience until you decide it's not worth it.
But people love Disney World and have continued to pony up, including me. A trip that used to cost $5k now costs $8 or more.
But... they're really testing the limits and seem to be forgetting what they went through in the 90s. They've gotten overconfident and it's manifesting itself as greed. The competition is catching up. Universal struggled for a long time but it seems to be doing things a lot better now, both as far as the parks and its resorts. Offsite hotels are catching on to the demand for themed rooms and unique stays. From a DCL standpoint, RC and others are starting to understand what Disney does well and are adjusting, while they remain well ahead of DCL as far as new, innovative ships. Meanwhile, Disney is diluting the parks. There are too many properties to represent effectively and create unique experiences (Classic Disney, Princesses, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, etc.) They're plopping a Guardians of the Galaxy ride into EPCOT even though it fundamentally doesn't fit the new concept of the park (literally about
EARTH) simply because they have no where else to put it. The uncertainty around the future of movie theaters and the film industry in general threatens their ability to create new brands and properties that can do what Frozen did for them 8 years ago. They're acting like the good times are never gonna end and don't see any potential risk in losing fans and customers.
Right now, they seem impervious. They're building more Deluxe resorts and (when there's not a pandemic), packing the parks like never before. But this is a
competitive industry and all it takes is one family telling another that they tried something else and had a blast. And suddenly people who previously never thought about doing anything but Disney are going to try something new, and realize they had just as much fun, while ending up with several thousands $ back in their pocket. It's fragile territory Disney is on.
