Businessgypsy
Curiosity fed the dog
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2009
- Messages
- 96
FWIW, this article just published in Florida Weekly. Contains a paragraph or two from a past post of mine on this site. This link should be good next week (they delay free web content) but I've reprinted the text below:
Full-grown mouse man
by W. Dean Pulley wdeanpulley@yahoo.com
When friends hear I'm going to Disneyworld, they typically ask if I'm dating someone with children. Told I'm alone, they either take a step back or ask if I'm feeling okay. This reaction is usually borne from a foggy memory of a rushed and frantic trip with toddlers some decades back.
Floridians are generally quick to dismiss the Disney parks as overwrought traps for out of state tourists. They're ignoring a phenomena the rest of the country is recognizing: Disney excels at marketing to and providing entertainment for adults without children and solo travelers. Internet forums such as disboards.com and Disney's own D23 affinity group attest to the popularity of the parks among adults.
This shouldn't come as a surprise if you're a student of demographics. Until 2007, there were more people in the US born in 1957 than any other year — the crest of the baby boom. Those people were raised on the Mickey Mouse Club and Disney movies, and now have the freedom and resources to pursue entertainment that fits their interests. Disney began to recognize the potential of this group during the tenure of CEO Michael Eisner, who engaged famous architects and restaurateurs to outfit the Florida parks with wonders appealing to those with cultivated, experienced tastes.
For the last fifteen years, those efforts have culminated in two annual events: a Spring Garden and Flower festival, and fall's Food and Wine festival. Both events are centered in the World Showcase portion of the EPCOT park, but throughout the four parks adults of all ages can be found enjoying shows, bars (except in the Magic Kingdom) and gardens without children.
After a week of AWOL carpenters, sloppy roofers, indifferent suppliers and obstructionist officials, Disney renews my faith that things can be done right somewhere in the world. The parks are full of great examples of almost everything that brings me pleasure in life. A Disney visit is like a graduate level course in management, color theory, marketing, architecture and comparative demographics - all attended in Crocs with a beer in hand.
A weekend on Broadway or Vegas puts a real dent in the play money fund - but Disney has great musical and stunt shows you just walk into. Bumping into street performers riffing on the crowd is a blast.
If you're a fan of details, spend an hour on Mainstreet USA reading the incredible gilded upstairs windows. Besides the world-class sign art, there are clues there to a lot of history. The more you know, the more you want to know. Holidays bring out special live music acts, decorations and gardens. You can always count on the parks being tweaked by Imagineers between visits. The energy level is palpable and contagious.
Last visit I saw a Motown show, took in some fairly adventurous belly dancing, figured out how to build a cool gazebo, did a little flirting with bachelorette parties, watched a lowlands gorilla turn berzerker and drank six kinds of beer. If you prefer, you can sample a flight of premium tequilas at the cool new bar in the bottom of the Mexico pyramid. The groups with custom tees "drinking around the world" at EPCOT can be rambunctious, but extremely efficient (and unseen) security crews keep the scene light and fun.
Last but not least, couples traveling alone can engage in a little schadenfreude watching families with kids going through the inevitable mobile negotiating session. You'll count your blessings that you can go where you want and when you want at an adult pace.
The four-park seasonal annual pass for Florida residents is one of the best values around. For $275.84, you can drop in anytime except during a few heavy traffic periods you'd probably avoid anyway. Disney will split most of that into 12 no interest automatic withdrawals. Coupled with insanely cheap last minute Kissimmee hotel bargains, it's as much entertainment bang for the buck as you'll find. For the truly hardcore, Disney Institute classes and behind the scene tours are available.
Although still far from mainstream, Disney's marketing and entertainment for adults has grown exponentially in the last decade. What new direction might that success inspire? Could civic management and social engineering be in the future? That's actually yesterday's news. Disney has been collecting taxes and administering municipal services in the form of the Reedy Creek Improvement District since 1967 and founded the much-lauded town of Celebration in the mid 1990's. Maybe Eisner of one of his successors will throw their ears in the ring during a future Presidential race. Bull Mouse Party anyone?
Full-grown mouse man
by W. Dean Pulley wdeanpulley@yahoo.com
When friends hear I'm going to Disneyworld, they typically ask if I'm dating someone with children. Told I'm alone, they either take a step back or ask if I'm feeling okay. This reaction is usually borne from a foggy memory of a rushed and frantic trip with toddlers some decades back.
Floridians are generally quick to dismiss the Disney parks as overwrought traps for out of state tourists. They're ignoring a phenomena the rest of the country is recognizing: Disney excels at marketing to and providing entertainment for adults without children and solo travelers. Internet forums such as disboards.com and Disney's own D23 affinity group attest to the popularity of the parks among adults.
This shouldn't come as a surprise if you're a student of demographics. Until 2007, there were more people in the US born in 1957 than any other year — the crest of the baby boom. Those people were raised on the Mickey Mouse Club and Disney movies, and now have the freedom and resources to pursue entertainment that fits their interests. Disney began to recognize the potential of this group during the tenure of CEO Michael Eisner, who engaged famous architects and restaurateurs to outfit the Florida parks with wonders appealing to those with cultivated, experienced tastes.
For the last fifteen years, those efforts have culminated in two annual events: a Spring Garden and Flower festival, and fall's Food and Wine festival. Both events are centered in the World Showcase portion of the EPCOT park, but throughout the four parks adults of all ages can be found enjoying shows, bars (except in the Magic Kingdom) and gardens without children.
After a week of AWOL carpenters, sloppy roofers, indifferent suppliers and obstructionist officials, Disney renews my faith that things can be done right somewhere in the world. The parks are full of great examples of almost everything that brings me pleasure in life. A Disney visit is like a graduate level course in management, color theory, marketing, architecture and comparative demographics - all attended in Crocs with a beer in hand.
A weekend on Broadway or Vegas puts a real dent in the play money fund - but Disney has great musical and stunt shows you just walk into. Bumping into street performers riffing on the crowd is a blast.
If you're a fan of details, spend an hour on Mainstreet USA reading the incredible gilded upstairs windows. Besides the world-class sign art, there are clues there to a lot of history. The more you know, the more you want to know. Holidays bring out special live music acts, decorations and gardens. You can always count on the parks being tweaked by Imagineers between visits. The energy level is palpable and contagious.
Last visit I saw a Motown show, took in some fairly adventurous belly dancing, figured out how to build a cool gazebo, did a little flirting with bachelorette parties, watched a lowlands gorilla turn berzerker and drank six kinds of beer. If you prefer, you can sample a flight of premium tequilas at the cool new bar in the bottom of the Mexico pyramid. The groups with custom tees "drinking around the world" at EPCOT can be rambunctious, but extremely efficient (and unseen) security crews keep the scene light and fun.
Last but not least, couples traveling alone can engage in a little schadenfreude watching families with kids going through the inevitable mobile negotiating session. You'll count your blessings that you can go where you want and when you want at an adult pace.
The four-park seasonal annual pass for Florida residents is one of the best values around. For $275.84, you can drop in anytime except during a few heavy traffic periods you'd probably avoid anyway. Disney will split most of that into 12 no interest automatic withdrawals. Coupled with insanely cheap last minute Kissimmee hotel bargains, it's as much entertainment bang for the buck as you'll find. For the truly hardcore, Disney Institute classes and behind the scene tours are available.
Although still far from mainstream, Disney's marketing and entertainment for adults has grown exponentially in the last decade. What new direction might that success inspire? Could civic management and social engineering be in the future? That's actually yesterday's news. Disney has been collecting taxes and administering municipal services in the form of the Reedy Creek Improvement District since 1967 and founded the much-lauded town of Celebration in the mid 1990's. Maybe Eisner of one of his successors will throw their ears in the ring during a future Presidential race. Bull Mouse Party anyone?
