Excuse Me, “Legacy Fans”? We Might Just Be Disney’s Only Way Forward.

[Pickles516]

I think there’s a lot more need for parents to go out of their way to “expose” (that sounds so odd in this context) their kids to Disney than in the past. They are so big now, with Marvel and Star Wars under their umbrella, but everything else grew too.

Absolutely. Movies and animated features in general aren’t impressive to kids anymore. When I was little I’d sit through a Disney movie, and then watch it again and again. Nobody could touch their characters, their production quality, and their music.

Kids now seem to want characters and stories that are born from online communities, YouTube channels and games. They’re really into these content creators that can slap together passable visuals with a cheap laptop. It’s just a completely different market.

 

[DCLMP]

Nope it wasn't. Sharing a public pool with 100 people is not the same thing as sharing a private pool with 35 people, but you have to pay for one of them and not the other.

Since when is 35 people in a pool private? Who the heck would pay for that.

 

[DCLMP]

You missed my point in what happens now that the kids aren't really into Disney anymore.

What got my kids into Disney was there movies like Cars and lion King. The movies they've put out lately are complete garbage and so is Disney plus.

 

[Pickles516]

What got my kids into Disney was there movies like Cars and lion King. The movies they've put out lately are complete garbage and so is Disney plus.

I don’t think the quality of the movies is the issue honestly. I liked Encanto, Luca, and Turning Red. On the SW side of things, The Mandalorian was really good and Biba Fett was enjoyable to me. D+ gets all the Marvel stuff which is hit or miss, but has enough good stuff to carry it’s weight probably. I think kids just don’t really go for what they used to. A lot of kids won’t even sit and watch a movie regardless of the quality.

 

[Boski]

I think they’ll just change the experience based on whatever gets that generation invested. Gen Z and younger millennials value things differently and spend money differently.

A good example of this can be seen in the gaming industry. Companies don’t really release complete video games anymore- they release what are essentially vehicles for downloadable content via micro transactions and make absurd amounts of money. A “video game” called Star Citizen crowd-sourced like $350m over the past ten years and ***still is not an actual game***. Disney could pitch a really great attraction and have the whole thing paid for before they even broke ground on it.

You can see it in how streaming services gauge the success of their tv series - they know within about a month from a series’ release whether it will have a second season based on how quickly people binge the season, how many people re-watch it, and(most importantly) how many new subscribers they gained as a result of the show’s release.

People make millions playing video games, playing with toys, playing board games, and scratching lottery tickets on YouTube and twitch due in no small part do the interactive nature of those platforms.

Disney will learn to adapt to the new generation(honestly, I think the new generation is being manufactured to consume media and experiences in this way). When the author of the article says “oh well Disney how can gen z afford Disney if they’re facing a housing crisis!? Huh!? They can’t! Ha!” She’s really not making the point she thinks she is because that’s not how this new generation spends, and Disney knows it. They’re biding their time and moving toward this new model.

Maybe Gen Z maybe can’t afford a mortgage, but they can afford to pay $5/month for five years in the hopes that Disney’s new crowd-sourced attraction will be everything they’ve ever dreamed of. They may not have 401k’s and pensions, but they can spend thousands, one little micro transaction at a time to upgrade their Magic Band Ultimate Platinum Avatar or whatever.

30 years from now, Disney parks will probably be unrecognizable in terms of how they generate revenue, and by that time I’ll be a senior citizen, and most legacy fans will be dead or infirm. Disney will not weep for them.

If Disney attempts this they'll fail. It will take them far too long to catch up and by then the entire market will have shifted again.

 

[lugnut33]

That and I don’t gen Z is going to have an easy go of it. Most of them can’t even afford rent or a mortgage these days much less a vacation. Sad times.

Great point. My daughter loves Disney and constantly says she wants to go to Disney. She now lives only 3 hours away from the parks, but I highly doubt she'll ever be able to go due to the cost (even for a day!). She has a decent entry level job, but rent is sucking up a good portion of that paycheck.

 

[jimmymc]

I disagree cause IMO a lot Gen Z and younger don't have the same love the older legacy fans of Disney fans have. They aren't going to go bankrupt or anything. I think it won't be as popular as it is now or in years past.

Something I think has happened recently is that a lot of millennial and gen Z Disney fans are becoming fans as young adults. They may have been there once or twice as a kid and didn't think anything of it, but then they go for college or a bachelorette party and suddenly they see the magic in it that was never there as a kid. This is exactly what happened to me. Disney was just another theme park, on par with places like Busch Gardens and Cedar Point, until I went after college and was able to appreciate the differences.

Most of Gen Z are still too young to book their own expensive vacations, but give them some time and they will easily backfill the leaving "legacy fans".

 

[jimmymc]

What got my kids into Disney was there movies like Cars and lion King. The movies they've put out lately are complete garbage and so is Disney plus.

You're putting Cars over Encanto, Coco, or Soul? That's a bold claim and I would guess is the minority opinion.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We are living in a new Gilded Age. The similarities are obvious. It isn't just Disney, companies left and right keep cutting corners while raising prices. Another clue is that we are again living in an age of yellow journalism.

 

[DCLMP]

You're putting Cars over Encanto, Coco, or Soul? That's a bold claim and I would guess is the minority opinion.

Oh yeah

 

[Jrb1979]

Something I think has happened recently is that a lot of millennial and gen Z Disney fans are becoming fans as young adults. They may have been there once or twice as a kid and didn't think anything of it, but then they go for college or a bachelorette party and suddenly they see the magic in it that was never there as a kid. This is exactly what happened to me. Disney was just another theme park, on par with places like Busch Gardens and Cedar Point, until I went after college and was able to appreciate the differences.

Most of Gen Z are still too young to book their own expensive vacations, but give them some time and they will easily backfill the leaving "legacy fans".

I disagree. I work with a lot Gen Z and Millennials, maybe it has to do with living in Canada, but most have no interest in visiting Disney. It's not due to money, they just aren't into the IP. I went a year before Covid and I have been going since I was a kid. While I had fun, it didn't have that magical feeling it used to have.

 

[DCLMP]

Great point. My daughter loves Disney and constantly says she wants to go to Disney. She now lives only 3 hours away from the parks, but I highly doubt she'll ever be able to go due to the cost (even for a day!). She has a decent entry level job, but rent is sucking up a good portion of that paycheck.

I could not afford to buy my house at today's prices.

 

[jimmymc]

I disagree. I work with a lot Gen Z and Millennials, maybe it has to do with living in Canada, but most have no interest in visiting Disney. It's not due to money, they just aren't into the IP. I went a year before Covid and I have been going since I was a kid. While I had fun, it didn't have that magical feeling it used to have.

I am a later millennial and there is definitely a huge market for young visitors. It's now socially acceptable to visit without kids, which I think was a barrier in the past. Younger people also travel more in general, which has been pushed with the rise of low cost airlines. Even people with no particular interest in the classic movies will visit to see things like Epcot and Galaxy's Edge. There may be fewer people decorating their homes and offices with Disney merch, but there are definitely more young adults at least trying a Disney vacation.

 

[Jrb1979]

I am a later millennial and there is definitely a huge market for young visitors. It's now socially acceptable to visit without kids, which I think was a barrier in the past. Younger people also travel more in general, which has been pushed with the rise of low cost airlines. Even people with no particular interest in the classic movies will visit to see things like Epcot and Galaxy's Edge. There may be fewer people decorating their homes and offices with Disney merch, but there are definitely more young adults at least trying a Disney vacation.

There are some young adults trying a Disney vacation I don't think it's as many as you think. I also don't think many will become legacy fans. Personally I think many will be one and done. IMO if they want to go after that age group they need a lot more thrill rides. It's where Universal excels.

 

[DisneyFive]

As I said, Disney fans would absolutely melt down if Disney implemented such a thing.

It would be a very sad day for our family if Disney implemented the pricing of Universal's Express Pass. It would simply be the end of our visits to WDW. It would price us out immediately because we just won't visit without a system like FP or G+ in place. We did the standby-only thing last summer when G+ wasn't available, and it was a disaster. There's many reasons why the pricing of Express Pass wouldn't work at WDW, but it's been discussed ad nauseum already in other threads so no reason to rehash that here.

You're putting Cars over Encanto, Coco, or Soul? That's a bold claim and I would guess is the minority opinion.

Count me in as another who likes Cars far better than the movies you mentioned. Also a huge fan of Ratatouille. To each his own. I really didn't care for Encanto. Soul was just o.k.. Coco was good. Couldn't stand Seeing Red. etc...

Dan

 

[Smugpugmug]

I am a later millennial and there is definitely a huge market for young visitors. It's now socially acceptable to visit without kids, which I think was a barrier in the past. Younger people also travel more in general, which has been pushed with the rise of low cost airlines. Even people with no particular interest in the classic movies will visit to see things like Epcot and Galaxy's Edge. There may be fewer people decorating their homes and offices with Disney merch, but there are definitely more young adults at least trying a Disney vacation.

I do agree with the bolded part especially. On my past few trips, I have noticed way more groups of adults without kids visiting the parks. In general my Gen Z friends do not care about Disney parks but if they were to go, the only park they would consider is Epcot due to the food and alcohol. The main reasons they won't do a full Disney trip is due to hearing about how awful Genie+ is and the massive crowds.

 

[jimmymc]

I do agree with the bolded part especially. On my past few trips, I have noticed way more groups of adults without kids visiting the parks. In general my Gen Z friends do not care about Disney parks but if they were to go, the only park they would consider is Epcot due to the food and alcohol. The main reasons they won't do a full Disney trip is due to hearing about how awful Genie+ is and the massive crowds.

I think Gen Z is just a little too young to have the "loving Disney as an adult" phase. I would think most millennial teenagers also didn't like it until they were out of college, which Gen Z is just starting to do.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I think Gen Z is just a little too young to have the "loving Disney as an adult" phase. I would think most millennial teenagers also didn't like it until they were out of college, which Gen Z is just starting to do.

I guess so. My friends and I are in that weird age range where we're in the cutoff between millennial and Gen Z. Those of us that didn't grow up with Disney don't care and would rather do other vacations. Only 1 of my friends has a child and she has no desire to take her kid to Disney after hearing about Genie+, crowds and paying more for less.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

Disney undoubtedly has a tough job to maintain appeal to all ages.

 

[RoseGold]

On my past few trips, I have noticed way more groups of adults without kids visiting the parks.

Totally agree, post Covid. Even the meet the princess line seems to be all adults.