Great Videos of the Rise and Fall of Disney Parks

[J-Dog]

Completely agree, no one brings up Disneys peers in these threads, just that Disney will absolutely lose guests for charging more.
agree that the hotels in Disney are overpriced, if there starts to be a shift to offsite locations, Disney will react, but they aren't at that point yet.
other than that, they have pulled some perks that aren't even offered by their peers, and are aligning themselves with the rest of the industry

I agree...somewhat. I agree that the theme park industry can and should have a barometer of what is acceptable and was is industry standards.

But the other side of the coin is that Disney is the most popular theme park in the world - by a large margin. I think that it's a cop-out excuse for Disney, who should be setting the standards, to say "well, UO is charging for Express Pass, so we're going to do it too".

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I agree...somewhat. I agree that the theme park industry can and should have a barometer of what is acceptable and was is industry standards.

But the other side of the coin is that Disney is the most popular theme park in the world - by a large margin. I think that it's a cop-out excuse for Disney, who should be setting the standards, to say "well, UO is charging for Express Pass, so we're going to do it too".

Who would do that in any other business, I'm not speaking about innovating, more along the lines of, if Disney knows they are number 1, why are they handing out a lot of perks, perks that their peers do not offer. Unless Disney thought they were specifically number 1 because of the perks i cannot see a reason why they should have kept them. Now if attendance starts to crater because of this, they can always do an about face and reintroduce them, but again if your top dog as they have been, why is it that they have to hand out the "keys to the castle", when they are running with the lead

to add to that, Disney has shareholders to answer to, and I'm sure charging for fast pass is something that they have long been pushing for

 

[Wreckem]

i dont think universal is going to overtake disney. the land that disney has that creates the bubble, is something universal just simply cant do.

i think universal is going to put a major dent in disney's profits once their next park opens, but i dont think Princess Peach can compete with all the princesses Disney has......besides, she's in another castle anyways.

Everyone is just assuming Disney is going to sit idly by and not do anything. We wont know what Disney has up its sleeves for 2025/2026 for a couple more years. All the current projects were supposed to be for the 50th, Disney hasn’t disclosed what their response to Epic Universe will be, don’t expect them to until they have to. I’d expect them to fix the part of Animal Kingdom that needs to be fixed by then. I’d expect atleast a new ride per park for the other parks once they get past the current projects.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Everyone is just assuming Disney is going to sit idly by and not do anything. We wont know what Disney has up its sleeves for 2025/2026 for a couple more years. All the current projects were supposed to be for the 50th, Disney hasn’t disclosed what their response to Epic Universe will be, don’t expect them to until they have to. I’d expect them to fix the part of Animal Kingdom that needs to be fixed by then. I’d expect atleast a new ride per park for the other parks once they get past the current projects.

I'm going to be straight up honest here, I don't care what Disney does or doesnt add, for me, there has to be an overall change in direction in regards to the massive price hikes and cut backs.

Disney is going to have to blow my mind to stop me from wondering over to other vacation destinations from now on.

It's going to be really hard for Disney to counter a brand new theme park.

 

[Tyler's Dad]

I don’t understand the people saying Universal is going to overtake Disney by adding a park. That will still be one less park and one less water park than Disney has. They still won’t have the same footprint, so less hotels to fill the parks with as well.

I also don’t get the people that complain about price for Disney. I see all of the time that people could go to Universal and get an annual pass for half the price of Disney annual passes. Well yes, there are half of the parks. Do you really not think that universal is going to raise annual pass prices significantly when they open a 3rd park?

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

I'm just as annoyed with Disney as anyone right now, but I agree that it's not going to happen.

The current "fad" of people being irritated with price hikes will fade eventually - long before the next decade. There's too many Disney apologizers and just plain nostalgic people that will continue to patronize them - much more so than Universal has ever had. And if Disney continues to add product and experiences, that will further temper people's frustration over the next few years.

And, this is also assuming that UO will add their third theme park without significantly increasing prices and/or doing any of the new nickel-and-diming that Disney is currently being accused of - how do know that won't happen?

I’m skeptical that UO can overtake Disney as well. But I hope they catch up more and put more pressure on Disney at least. Never really looked at UO before recently but I really like what they offer. It’s just a 5 day experience instead of 10 as of now.

 

[PaladinButters]

Never really looked at UO before recently but I really like what they offer. It’s just a 5 day experience instead of 10 as of now.

It's really more like 2 days. I have no idea how anybody could fill up 5 days there until the new gate opens. You can only drink so much Duff beer.

 

[Liquidice]

Competition is good for us as consumers. So whether UO overtakes Disney or not - I think Epic Universe will put added pressure on Disney to step up its game either by offering more promotions, building more attractions or both.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

It's really more like 2 days. I have no idea how anybody could fill up 5 days there until the new gate opens. You can only drink so much Duff beer.

Riding rides? I can spend 3 days at cedar point without getting bored. And universal is two parks and a lot of food options which is why I put 5 days. Universal has more coasters which I would re-ride compared to Disney with mostly experience rides I only want to ride once.

 

[FlipHipster]

Riding rides? I can spend 3 days at cedar point without getting bored. And universal is two parks and a lot of food options which is why I put 5 days. Universal has more coasters which I would re-ride compared to Disney with mostly experience rides I only want to ride once.

We're at Universal now, 7 nights and loving every minute of it. We were seriously considering adding 2 more nights but we're gonna save it for our next Uni trip in Feb. We used to do the same at WDW but now Universal is our base and we will just drive over to WDW for a day or 2 each trip. I'm not claiming Universal is "better" it's just so much more relaxing and stress free for us and everyone enjoys it. FWIW we have 2 girls (11 & 17) and neither of them really got into the princess stuff other than Anna and Elsa and maybe Ariel. We tried to get them interested but didn't force it on them and soon realized we wanted them to be into it more than they did. When given the option they choose something else. We went to DHS today to see GE and after GE and Toy Story they were done by midday. I gave them the option of hitting MK or AK but the reaction was, meh.

I could care less which one is "ranked" #1 as long as they keep pushing each other to innovate and give us cool new experiences. Hopefully we have entered a new golden age for theme parks. I can't stop thinking how lackluster GE would have been if Universal hadn't done such an amazing job with WWoHP and now Universal can't do a mediocre job with the new gate it has to be something special and that is a good thing for all of us.

 

[Revan]

I just watched these videos and did a search to see if there was any discussion. He also produced another one titled "Is Ratatouille Better than Rise" (not going to post the link); he has some very valid points and I think people should watch before commenting.

The point to all of these videos is not that Universal is going to beat Disney, but the slow erosion of quality at Bob Chapek's feet since he took the helm of the parks in 2015 and the focus on wringing out every dollar from the guest. His discussion of Avenger's Campus in another video is very interesting as is his comments on screens versus quality ride imagineering.

I'm going in November and it's been 10 years since I've been. My family (6 people - all over 21) are staying off property for the first time, I'm paying $400 a night for a 3 bedroom cottage at Margaritaville, Disney doesn't even have a comparable category - unless you are talking Grand VIllas that are going for $2k a night.

 

[Jross34]

There may be validity to the fact that the quality may decrease and a few people might stop going but disney is not going anywhere.

the title is that disney will "fall" which is just completely impossible while they have pixar, star wars and marvel and 300+ billions of dollars in market cap. Sure other big companies have fallen, but not when they were that big. It would take decades for Disney to lose relevance, and it's not going to be over a $15 fast pass and some other add ons.

 

[Revan]

the title is that disney will "fall" which is just completely impossible

Totally - it's a bit clickbaity for sure

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Two great videos that were uploaded to YouTube about 5-6 months ago. IMO, very factual and observant. The videos claim that within a decade, Universal will have overtaken Disney Parks.




Rise and Fall of Disney Parks Part 1


Rise and Fall of Disney Parks Part 2

You know, in 2014 I justified the high price of my Disney AP (at the time, $560 through AAA) by saying that there was way more to do at Disney compared to Universal, plus USO would nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING. Parking, express pass, I thought it was highway robbery to advertise a price to get in the park and then have a ton of extra fees for everything. Now a Disney AP is $1299 (I think) and there's more additional costs than ever. I did a trip to USO a couple weeks ago and came home with their AP, lol. I love Disney but even solo I don't think I can afford to renew next year. It's pretty well known they're not fans of AP's who just want to use the park entry & that's it. It'll be interesting to see how the next 18 months go. While I don't think for a second that Disney is going to "fall" any time in the next few decades, I think a big shift has started in how people do Disney & who can afford to go.

 

[Jrb1979]

You know, in 2014 I justified the high price of my Disney AP (at the time, $560 through AAA) by saying that there was way more to do at Disney compared to Universal, plus USO would nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING. Parking, express pass, I thought it was highway robbery to advertise a price to get in the park and then have a ton of extra fees for everything. Now a Disney AP is $1299 (I think) and there's more additional costs than ever. I did a trip to USO a couple weeks ago and came home with their AP, lol. I love Disney but even solo I don't think I can afford to renew next year. It's pretty well known they're not fans of AP's who just want to use the park entry & that's it. It'll be interesting to see how the next 18 months go. While I don't think for a second that Disney is going to "fall" any time in the next few decades, I think a big shift has started in how people do Disney & who can afford to go.

I think by "fall" the video is talking more about the shift going on. More people are opting for USO instead of Disney.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

I think by "fall" the video is talking more about the shift going on. More people are opting for USO instead of Disney.

Makes sense to me! I'm not local but I live in Atlanta so one 45 minute $30 Spirit flight & I'm in Orlando. I'm not going to pay $300/night to stay at Caribbean Beach, or book fireworks parties, or pay for fastpasses, or do character dining when I'm there for 2 nights. That takes my weekend from $300-$400 to $2000 and that's definitely not something I can do.

 

[jpbothwell]

I just watched these videos and did a search to see if there was any discussion. He also produced another one titled "Is Ratatouille Better than Rise" (not going to post the link); he has some very valid points and I think people should watch before commenting.

The point to all of these videos is not that Universal is going to beat Disney, but the slow erosion of quality at Bob Chapek's feet since he took the helm of the parks in 2015 and the focus on wringing out every dollar from the guest. His discussion of Avenger's Campus in another video is very interesting as is his comments on screens versus quality ride imagineering.

I'm going in November and it's been 10 years since I've been. My family (6 people - all over 21) are staying off property for the first time, I'm paying $400 a night for a 3 bedroom cottage at Margaritaville, Disney doesn't even have a comparable category - unless you are talking Grand VIllas that are going for $2k a night.

His point about Disney using IP to hide a poor user experience is spot on. Up until the late Eisner period, Disney was a creative company, but they haven't created a lot of their own IP since then with the exception of Frozen and Moana, etc. Their real growth has come from acquisitions, i.e. Pixar, Marvel and Lucas Film. When it comes to the parks, they have taken these cherished IPs and slapped them on some poorly conceived or cheaply produced attractions that do not deliver a traditional Disney-level experience. They think the IP is enough to attract visitors who will then shell out big money for merchandise and so far it has been working. However, the Disney brand was developed over decades and is founded on the public's love and nostalgia for these beloved characters and stories. They risk tarnishing that brand through the current strategy.

We really need another "Save Disney" campaign. Where is the heir to Roy E Disney? Everyone who grew up with and loves Disney and the parks has to demand more. Everyone saying its a business whose mission is to make money does not understand the company or its heritage, and it is the most annoying comment, right up there with "if you don't like it, than don't go!" Roy E Disney said it best when he stated, "The Walt Disney Company is more than just a business. It's an authentic American icon, which is to say that over the years it's come to stand for something real and meaningful and worthwhile to millions of people of all ages and backgrounds around the world." He went on to say that it was creativity and creative people that was the source of its success. Chapek and Iger are not creative people. Their goal is to squeeze every last cent, and the life, out of everything that was created before them. The profit motive should not be the driving force of this company. The history of the company has shown that if you create something worthwhile and give something to people they love, the money will follow close behind.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

As long as Disney has exclusive attention of little girls with Princess dress and makeup, they will rule the theme park universe. As a father of 3 girls and 5 female grand children, it is never even a question on where we are going. I have 2 male grand children, but guess where their mother wants to go (she is in her mid 30's)--clue it is not Universal. Disney hooks them when they are young and the nostalgia keeps bringing them back.

^^ This.

I have 2 and 4 year old little girls and and a wife who may as well BE a Disney princess, plus we live 3 hours from Disney.

If we are going to a theme park, it's going to be Disney for now. Those nostalgia hooks are strong.

Before kids, we were more Universal people. When we did go to Disney, it was usually EPCOT and Animal Kingdom.

 

[goofy4prez]

never going to happen

Sears and Kmart execs used to say the same thing about some pie in the sky dreamer in Bentonville Arkansas, who dreamed of being the largest retailer in the world. There is a great Proverb; Pride goes before the fall.

 

[dd316]

If Disney keeps going on the same path they are going on, it damn sure will. You can only milk you customers so much before they revolt. Genie is a perfect example of this.

Everything Disney has done over the years comes with a perfect example of customers revolting, yet people keep on paying and going. For every person that says they're not going back, 10 more open their wallets a little wider.