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

[DCLCruiseFan09]

This article is literally the best example of proving Disney's point and why they're not trying to appease those who have been coming to Disney for years. Newsflash: its because WON'T happen.

Disney is a business, not a charity. Trying to appease long time guests (often ridiculous requests) due to "How long they've been coming to disney world" always makes me laugh because no matter what they do, the "legacy guests" are never happy. They can add new resorts, new rides, new ships, new you name it and the "we have been doing this for XX number of years and this isn't what I wanted" crowd always shows up to complain while the first time guests explore and enjoy because they aren't so busy trying to compare it to everything else.

Every time they try to remove a ride for a new attraction, etc. People complain non-stop. They want new rides, but also want all of the old rides to stay (Maelstrom, Great Movie Ride, etc.)

Instead of trying to pander to the lowest money bringing group that complains the most, they are moving away to the people who spend without complaining.

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Boski]

This article is literally the best example of proving Disney's point and why they're not trying to appease those who have been coming to Disney for years. Newsflash: its because WON'T happen.

Disney is a business, not a charity. Trying to appease long time guests (often ridiculous requests) due to "How long they've been coming to disney world" always makes me laugh because no matter what they do, the "legacy guests" are never happy. They can add new resorts, new rides, new ships, new you name it and the "we have been doing this for XX number of years and this isn't what I wanted" crowd always shows up to complain while the first time guests explore and enjoy because they aren't so busy trying to compare it to everything else.

Every time they try to remove a ride for a new attraction, etc. People complain non-stop. They want new rides, but also want all of the old rides to stay (Maelstrom, Great Movie Ride, etc.)

Instead of trying to pander to the lowest money bringing group that complains the most, they are moving away to the people who spend without complaining.

Makes perfect sense to me.

I get the whole Disney is a business argument, but I chuckle when I read complaining posts about people complaining.

 

[FuzzyPeach]

This article is literally the best example of proving Disney's point and why they're not trying to appease those who have been coming to Disney for years. Newsflash: its because WON'T happen.

Disney is a business, not a charity. Trying to appease long time guests (often ridiculous requests) due to "How long they've been coming to disney world" always makes me laugh because no matter what they do, the "legacy guests" are never happy. They can add new resorts, new rides, new ships, new you name it and the "we have been doing this for XX number of years and this isn't what I wanted" crowd always shows up to complain while the first time guests explore and enjoy because they aren't so busy trying to compare it to everything else.

Every time they try to remove a ride for a new attraction, etc. People complain non-stop. They want new rides, but also want all of the old rides to stay (Maelstrom, Great Movie Ride, etc.)

Instead of trying to pander to the lowest money bringing group that complains the most, they are moving away to the people who spend without complaining.

Makes perfect sense to me.

I do not understand, with the crowds and capacity issues are what they are, why any fan would look down on the desire for Disney to add instead of replace. They badly need more of those non headliner moderate wait attractions at at least 3/4 parks.

 

[DisneyFive]

They badly need more of those non headliner moderate wait attractions at at least 3/4 parks.

Exactly why MK works so well in general, and specifically with systems like G+. Quantity of rides, and ride throughput.

Dan

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

I do not understand, with the crowds and capacity issues are what they are, why any fan would look down on the desire for Disney to add instead of replace. They badly need more of those non headliner moderate wait attractions at at least 3/4 parks.

Because at the end of the day, even when they try to add "non-E tickets" they still become E-tickets.

Example: Frozen ever after. Simple overlay for an attraction. The ride carries about the same amount of guests as it always has. That ride should, by all practical figures be a minimal wait but when you add an IP like Frozen, it changes everything.

I'd love some ORIGINAL rides/love for them to go back to the expansions like Grizzly Gulch/Mystic Point at Hong Kong.

Thankfully Tron isn't as "in your face" as the other disney IP's.

I live in Orlando. People here still refer to Studios as "MGM" and refuse to call it anything else. Disney doesn't want to spend the energy to placate the "legacy guests" because that isn't profitable for them. Even if they don't want to hear it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

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.

Not saying I disagree but, when I first started working, the majority of my paycheck was used to meet day to day needs. I didn't travel for over 10 years and was living in a small home. It's often just reality when first entering the work force.

 

[lugnut33]

Not saying I disagree but, when I first started working, the majority of my paycheck was used to meet day to day needs. I didn't travel for over 10 years and was living in a small home. It's often just reality when first entering the work force.

A one bedroom crappy apartment in Ft. Myers is $1400 per month (and that's a very cheap one!). She's a 3 hour drive from Disney, so she could do a day trip. However, I'm betting it would cost her over $300 for a day trip to Disney. Plus, I would not even recommend trying a day trip to Disney because you might get there and have very little access to rides if it's busy. Not worth the chance.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

In today's featured article on wdwinfo.com, longtime DIS contributor Zoë Wood dives into her feelings about Disney's newest term for those of us Disney fans who have been around for a number of years. Ahem.

Stop by the site and give the article a read – it's worth your time and if you're feeling anything like me, it hits the nail right on the head with regards to what's going on right now.

Fabulous article, Zoe!

I've written to WSJ article authors to see if they'll explain their source for the label "LEGACY FANS." [what Disney calls “legacy fans,”]

Aside from that, clearly Josh D'Amaro is being held as a hostage by Chapek OR he's now fully on the Chapek train.

My concern, like yours, is the blatant underappreciaton for millions of longtime guests.
Ironically, though, chase only the latest trends will bite them in the end. Those trends barely last 15 minutes & newer geberations increasingly have ZERO respect for those who can't keep up...Given the YEARS it now takes WDW to build an attraction, even just a walk-thru water feature, they aren't keeping up. They create new cupcakes & cocktails to TRY to give the people what they want. It won't work forever.

They've lost the key to the future.

 

[JJZMgailey]

I've written to WSJ article authors to see if they'll explain their source for the label "LEGACY FANS." [what Disney calls “legacy fans,”]

Please share if you hear back from WSJ! I'm so happy that you thought to write to them about this.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Not saying I disagree but, when I first started working, the majority of my paycheck was used to meet day to day needs. I didn't travel for over 10 years and was living in a small home. It's often just reality when first entering the work force.

I'm probably older. But when I entered the workforce, if I lived 3 hours from WDW, I would very likely have been able to afford a day at WDW now & then....Maybe not all E-TICKET days, but I could afford it. And probably a hot dog at Casey's. With a Coke.

Wait! Now I remember I DID that...all the way from the Northeast on a Greyhound bus. For real. Stayed 3 days Poly. $43 or 44 p/nite! In the '70s. TRUE STORY!

Of course THEN is not NOW. But if a day at WDW is that much of a challenge for average folks in FLA, shame on TWDC. Shame on Chapek. Shame on the Board (& I'm a shareholder). And shame on all of us who have come to accept it all as the price of doing business.

 

[DCLMP]

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.


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

I feel like it's been a long time since Disney had huge blockbluster for young kids. One that not only made a fortune at the theatre, but also in merchandise. The last one that comes to mind is Frozen.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm probably older. But when I entered the workforce, if I lived 3 hours from WDW, I would very likely have been able to afford a day at WDW now & then....Maybe not all E-TICKET days, but I could afford it. And probably a hot dog at Casey's. With a Coke.

Wait! Now I remember I DID that...all the way from the Northeast on a Greyhound bus. For real. Stayed 3 days Poly. $43 or 44 p/nite! In the '70s. TRUE STORY!

Of course THEN is not NOW. But if a day at WDW is that much of a challenge for average folks in FLA, shame on TWDC. Shame on Chapek. Shame on the Board (& I'm a shareholder). And shame on all of us who have come to accept it all as the price of doing business.

I don't know if it's a challenge for a single person, but it is for some families. Between tickets and food your looking at least 700 dollars for a day. It's especially a lot if your struggling to pay your energy and food bills with today's inflation.

 

[raidermatt]

This article is literally the best example of proving Disney's point and why they're not trying to appease those who have been coming to Disney for years. Newsflash: its because WON'T happen.

Disney is a business, not a charity. Trying to appease long time guests (often ridiculous requests) due to "How long they've been coming to disney world" always makes me laugh because no matter what they do, the "legacy guests" are never happy. They can add new resorts, new rides, new ships, new you name it and the "we have been doing this for XX number of years and this isn't what I wanted" crowd always shows up to complain while the first time guests explore and enjoy because they aren't so busy trying to compare it to everything else.

Every time they try to remove a ride for a new attraction, etc. People complain non-stop. They want new rides, but also want all of the old rides to stay (Maelstrom, Great Movie Ride, etc.)

Instead of trying to pander to the lowest money bringing group that complains the most, they are moving away to the people who spend without complaining.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Newsflash. Disney has always been a business. And an extremely successful one at that. People always complain. You may not like it to the point you are complaining about the complaining, but it has nothing to do with the business model.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Of course THEN is not NOW. But if a day at WDW is that much of a challenge for average folks in FLA, shame on TWDC. Shame on Chapek. Shame on the Board (& I'm a shareholder). And shame on all of us who have come to accept it all as the price of doing business.

As a human being who works hard and does considerable research ahead of their travels, I can assure you that I feel no shame about the money I have spent and will spend at Disney Parks. Or money spent anywhere really.

 

[DisneyFive]

I feel like it's been a long time since Disney had huge blockbluster for young kids. One that not only made a fortune at the theatre, but also in merchandise. The last one that comes to mind is Frozen.

Funny you mention that. I was scratching my head as well trying to think of any REALLY good Disney movies lately.

Hard to believe it's been NINE YEARS already since Frozen released!

Sadly the loss of John Lasseter was a major, major blow. Not getting into the reasons behind it all, however he was an unbelievable talent when it came to writing and producing truly meaningful and memorable movies for Disney and Pixar animation studios.

Dan

 

[Jrb1979]

Funny you mention that. I was scratching my head as well trying to think of any REALLY good Disney movies lately.

Hard to believe it's been NINE YEARS already since Frozen released!

Sadly the loss of John Lasseter was a major, major blow. Not getting into the reasons behind it all, however he was an unbelievable talent when it came to writing and producing truly meaningful and memorable movies for Disney and Pixar animation studios.

Dan

Agreed and IMO if that doesn't change its going to hurt them in the long run. People go to Disney for the IP not the rides. I can tell you right now that if rides like Guardians and Rise had no IP attached to them people wouldn't be as good impressed with them as they are.

 

[DCLMP]

As a human being who works hard and does considerable research ahead of their travels, I can assure you that I feel no shame about the money I have spent and will spend at Disney Parks. Or money spent anywhere really.

Same here. I've never regretted a Disney vacation. I actually still enjoy the parks. There may come a day where I'm priced out or feel it's not worth the money I'm not there yet. If I was a Disney shareholder I'd be concerned if they were counting on Disney plus to ride them through the recession. A lot of the content is not family friendly and some of don't right disturbing. It's going to turn people off.

 

[Miffy]

Funny you mention that. I was scratching my head as well trying to think of any REALLY good Disney movies lately.

Hard to believe it's been NINE YEARS already since Frozen released!

Sadly the loss of John Lasseter was a major, major blow. Not getting into the reasons behind it all, however he was an unbelievable talent when it came to writing and producing truly meaningful and memorable movies for Disney and Pixar animation studios.

Dan

Zootopia (2016) is Disney's 4th-highest-grossing film ever (per several sites I checked: $1.024 billion), yet Disney did zero to exploit this movie's popularity. The movie is practically begging to have a fantasy train ride made from it.

Coming in at #8 all-time (2018) is Ralph Breaks the Internet, another really terrific movie that Disney didn't follow up with in the parks. But this movie made merely (hah!) $529.3 million, so maybe Disney considers that a failure!

 

[DisneyFive]

I too don’t like the term “Legacy Fan”. It insinuates moving on.

Certainly, we Legacy Fans don’t want to move on from Disney, so that only leaves the other option… Disney moving on from us. So do they 1) want to somehow push us aside, or 2) take us for granted (we’re guaranteed sales)?

My wife and I are solid Gen Xr’s. We are at the age where we now have much more earning power and more disposable cash (even with two kids’ college tuitions). I wonder what target audience Disney would go after if it WASN’T Gen X and older, i.e. the legacy fans? I could see perhaps the later age groups of the Millennials (mid 30’s to 41), but that’s a narrow window and anything younger just doesn’t have a lot of disposable income yet.

I know I was 37 before we even considered going to WDW. We were just focused on other things before that… buying a house, raising the little kids… maintaining and furnishing the house, there just wasn’t a lot of extra dough on the table. So who IS Disney going after? Obviously they want the big spenders, spending more per day, but the only age groups in general that can afford that kind of thing ARE the legacy fans, right?

I don’t see Gen Z having much impact at all yet. It’s only the later half of the Millennials and older that I see having the capacity to fork over the cash for a significant Disney vacation.

• Generation X (born 1965–1980), Ages 42 - 57
• Millennials (born 1981–1995), Ages 27 - 41
• Generation Z (born 1996–2010), Ages 12 - 26

The whole term “Legacy Fan” just confuses and saddens me. Hopefully we get more clarification soon.

Dan

 

[Jrb1979]

Zootopia (2016) is Disney's 4th-highest-grossing film ever (per several sites I checked: $1.024 billion), yet Disney did zero to exploit this movie's popularity. The movie is practically begging to have a fantasy train ride made from it.

Coming in at #8 all-time (2018) is Ralph Breaks the Internet, another really terrific movie that Disney didn't follow up with in the parks. But this movie made merely (hah!) $529.3 million, so maybe Disney considers that a failure!

As good as those movies are, they have never been represented in the parks much if at all