Losing cusstomers

[prudence64]

HuH

It's an old yogi Berra quote.

 

[DizDaD7]

There has been a lot of talk about how Disney is making people upset with all the changes. Long time goers are staying home more often, because of cost, people are not staying as long.But I wonder if they have thought of the people who have not booked a trip yet. My nephew was in the area last week, and decided to head to DTD for the night. Between parking nightmares and construction, he said he would never enter Disney again. Granted they were not prepared for the crowds, and waits for dinner without reservations, but he said what a mess it all was. His kids will never experience Disney. Another family just got back. Large group. They did not like it. Wont go back. I know attendance is up. But I think they are going to loose a lot of repeat business in the next five years. We are going in Oct. Only doing two days, then heading to the beach for the week. I dont see us going back in the near future after that. I am going to wait until they get done with a lot of the construction. Hopefully all the new things will be done by the time we go back. I think they are going to see a lot of one time and done families.

Where did you find this info? I doubt it..
Again, don't know where this info is from, but it's actually cheaper than spending a week at the Jersey Shore.
I'll bet that your nephew sat in traffic on the freeway at some point, or waited in a long line to get concert tickets, or that rare I phone, or actually tried to find a spot at the mall (During XMas) season. I'm sure that that he hasn't given up doing these things altogether
See #2
So I'm guessing that they'll rather head to the local six flags or close by theme park??

Once again, to each his/her own, but barring the construction, it seems like you'll be visiting once it's done...Will this ever happen,(no Construction) probably not? Construction is something that is needed, to keep things fresh and updated, and unfortunately with a place like WDW, which is open 365 days a year*(sometimes 366)this is absolutely impossible to do when closed only... Do I hate rides being down for refurb, or walls up, and/or shops being closed, YES. But I know it's all for the better. And the tarps that they put up ( whether it be a bldg, or tree or bushes or whatever) at least it has a painted mural or what not to blend it.

As bad as the WORST CM in Disney is, I'll gladly take them over any other theme parks best worker any day....WDW just knows how to do it right, and there is no comparison(Theme park) whatsoever that can even come close to competing with them ( AT this Point in time ) . So to all the ones that will not be returning, I'm sorry to see you go, but for all the newbies that will be starting out, to the Happiest place on Earth. And finally to all the returnees, I'm sure I'll see all 1 million of you at some point or another over the next 40-50 years.

 

[DizDaD7]

It's an old yogi Berra quote.

Agh! fooled me for a minute..LoL

 

[dkrauss]

Rec

Record Occupancy rates and record attendance tell a very different story.

These types of Threads remind me of a wonderful Yogi Berra observation, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

Quoting Yogi Berra.............how appropriate!!! Love this

Doug

 

[ellie05]

I'm not so sure that repeat business is as important as you might think it is. I live in the Northeast where driving down to WDW is not a terribly attractive option. While I know plenty of families who go to WDW fairly frequently, the vast majority or families that I know who have kids in high school or college have been to WDW (if at all), once or twice. So they raised their children from birth through college and went one or two times. I don't think this is at all unusual once you separate yourself from this fan-site. Repeat guests tend not to "splurge". They already own the ears and the sweatshirts and the coffee mugs and the t-shirts. Disney wants guests who are willing to open their wallets wider. I am not suggesting that Disney is doing anything intentionally to discourage repeat guests. Their DVC sales would suggest otherwise. But while we are mentioning DVC, it is worth pointing out that Disney does nothing to discourage "renting" DVC points. Why? One reason is because Disney knows that it will make less money from those points if one family uses them for all 20 years as compared to having those points rented out for 10 of those years to first or second time guests. (They also allow renting in order to spark interest in additional sales). The bottom line is that frequent guests fall into at least 3 categories:

• DVC owners who are in it for the long haul
• Guests who are still having fun and will continue to come back; and
• Guests who feel a loss in the magic who are ready to take a break.

There is no question that this third group exists. But I'll bet that the numbers are too small for Disney to worry about. And if that third group is replaced by first time visitors, Disney actually "wins".

I'll start by saying I didn't read all three pages of this thread, but I love all the speculation of what disney wants. Here are a few industry facts: repeated guest are what the industry fights for, since they are more likely to become frequent guest and acquisition costs them money. Not everyone is going to be a repeat customer it is just how it is. Some people don't want to go to Disney ever. I don't have the numbers of how much first time visitors spend vs. repeat customers in disney, but from a merchandise stand point I am going to say not many first timers are spending $200+ dollars on handbags with disney characters on them. I disagree that repeat guest tend not to splurge, repeat guest now find the time that first timers don't have. They find there are extra tours available, different parties, all this other options which all cost extra money. Disney has an amazing retention rate with 70% return guests. The facts are simple the more you go the more likely it is that something might not go as plan in your vacation, because there is not such thing as perfection. We had a not so good trip feb 2014. We wanted to take a break, but then family wanted to go so we end up going and we had a fabulous time. With attendance number up no matter how much people on this boards complain how bad things are the numbers prove otherwise. Disney is not loosing business.

 

[JoeA]

There has been a lot of talk about how Disney is making people upset with all the changes. Long time goers are staying home more often, because of cost, people are not staying as long.But I wonder if they have thought of the people who have not booked a trip yet. My nephew was in the area last week, and decided to head to DTD for the night. Between parking nightmares and construction, he said he would never enter Disney again. Granted they were not prepared for the crowds, and waits for dinner without reservations, but he said what a mess it all was. His kids will never experience Disney. Another family just got back. Large group. They did not like it. Wont go back. I know attendance is up. But I think they are going to loose a lot of repeat business in the next five years. We are going in Oct. Only doing two days, then heading to the beach for the week. I dont see us going back in the near future after that. I am going to wait until they get done with a lot of the construction. Hopefully all the new things will be done by the time we go back. I think they are ogin gto see a lot of one time and done families.

Construction is temporary often leading to improvements. Don't understand why anyone would say "never" because of this. Sorry, but to me that is extremely short sighted.

 

[MrInfinity]

I also don't feel the cost has gone up much. Yeah a token amount, but really when we went in 2010, we were 4+1 baby. In 2012, we were 5. In 2014, we were 5+1. And now in 2015, we're 6. So what is really leading to our higher cost... the incremental raise of a few dollars for the park tickets? Nah. It's that our family has grown every year. And our tastes expand as we want to try more expensive things. First trip -- we didn't do hardly any extras. By the 4th trip we're trying more restaurants and novelties.

I didn't find parking at DTD to be bad even during the construction. It was no worse than parking at a busy mall. Black Friday parking at a mall dwarfed parking at DTD in terms of difficulty.

Construction is a lose/lose. If they don't do it ppl will complain about no development. If they do, they'll complain about construction. For me, I love construction. It is adding new. Now we did avoid the Poly last year. So we altered our plans a little to deal w it, but that's all. We had a great time revisiting the CR instead.

As to the CMs, Bathrooms, etc, there is just no comparison here. We have so many awesome memories of CMs being awesome that it's just crazy to think of rude CMs being the cause for someone not being happy w Disney in general. And I get that from a lot of ppl. Everyone I talk to says Disney World is just different than any other theme park. It really is. In a great way!

If you're that disgruntled with it, some time away might rekindle the love! We only go every 1-2 years, so we are not getting burned out. We're also really looking forward to the plans in place... Pandora at AK and Star Wars at The Park Soon to be Formerly Known as HS... will be huge. We're gonna go back for Pandora in '17 and SW whenever that opens. Can't wait! The real trick is... do we try to fit a trip into 2016 knowing Pandora won't be open yet... Hmmm....

 

[kmoore7]

Well I guess I'll put my two cents in. My first trip was in the mid 80's with my girlfriend. We went back for our honeymoon in '89. Remember 20,000 Leagues? We have been back 5 times with our 5 children since 2000. We love WDW but I honestly don't think we would go every year. Cost? I have posted before that it's honestly cheaper to take my family to WDW than it is to stay at the Jersey shore. That being said, I've given serious thought to DVC so we could go every-other-year. It's not a perfect place to stay, but it's still Magical for us. We hope that feeling never goes away

 

[fanoftigger]

When I was a kid, my family couldn't afford a big vacation every year and definitely not multiple times a year. So a trip to Disneyland was huge and sticks out in my memory.

My husband and I are fortunate because we can afford a nice vacation every year. We have a 3 year old son, his 2nd trip to WDW is later this year. It will be at least 2 years, maybe longer, before we return after 2015. Not because we're unhappy with the changes or because we don't have fun. Our reason is there are many incredible places to see and we want to visit them!

The cost of a week at WDW does play into the decision to go or not. Just because we can afford it (staying in a Value)doesn't mean we want to spend that much on a vacation. We are driving and staying a week at the beach in the Ft. Walton Beach area for significantly less than a week at WDW.

 

[Laketravis]

Disney has an amazing retention rate with 70% return guests..

I've often wondered what percentage of guests were first timers vs. repeat visitor, and this is the first time I've ever heard an exact number. Where did you find it?


.

 

[loves to dive]

I've been going with my son for over 30 years. When we started we would go every other year only because I'm a single mom and we wanted to stay on site in a deluxe so it usually took me 2 years to save up. We would always take long weekend trips to other places, we love to travel and experience different things. As my son grew up, got engaged, got married, joined the Navy, things changed. He and his wife weren't able to take as many long weekend trips with me so I started travelling solo to places. I always had my go to long weekend spots, I'm from Georgia so places near home - Jekyll Island, Savannah, NC, etc. Last year I decided to take a long weekend for my birthday so I started researching prices and low and behold, it was less expensive for me to go to DW for 4 nights 5 days than any of my usual solo standbys so I came to DW solo. I came back in Sept. for F&W, again solo and knew we were planning on coming in Dec. for DS's birthday so I crunched the numbers and it was cheaper for me to get an annual pass since I also knew we would most likely be back again in Sept. of 2015 for F&W, which happened to be our regular every other year trip month. So I got an annual pass. I'm coming back in May for 5 nights, 6 days, again solo for F&G and still plan on the Sept. trip. So that's 2 trips in 2014 and at least 2 that I know of in 2015. Yep, this long time guest is cutting back.

 

[FigmentIsTheBest]

It is sa


It is sad...Disney has definitely lost a lot of it's magic. Over crowded parks to stressed out CM's. A lot has been lost when Eisner left. I forgot to mention the horribly sterile look of the Polynesian lobby.

The New Polynesian Lobby... When Imagineering goes on Vacation.

 

[clambert1273]

I will say that from the perspective of a family that just took their very first trip there, it was amazing to us. We normally cruise 2-3x per year and while it was cheap, it wasn't cheap after I paid my bill LOL We took what we would spend normally and decided that since my 7yo is ALL THINGS princess that we would surprise her with a trip to Disneyworld (which she has been begging for). We can now afford to take these kind of trips multiple times per year if we choose (if only I had that much vacation time lol). When we were younger, we would barely have money for groceries much less a trip so for many years we never took vacation (sad really ).

My husband (even though he hates Disney) has already brought up that he wants the kids to see it during Christmas (shoot. me. now) and I had to slow him down lol I told him "maybe we should plan that for NEXT Christmas" ... He knows we enjoy it and will opt to continue going here. If it wouldn't have been for these boards, I wouldn't have known how to save on rooms, tix, or even how to plan the trip! If people want to hate it and leave - see ya. ALL trips are what you make of it - period.

 

[Shmily01]

Ultimately, there may be some that see what Disney is doing and decide not to come back, but personally, we love the place! That doesn't mean that I love everything about what they are doing but it doesn't stop me from enjoying my vacation with my family. I understand that we pay a lot of money for the trips and that we have expectations about what should and shouldn't be, but to be honest...as other people have pointed out, your trips is what YOU make of it. If you don't want to deal with what Disney is doing, then don't go.

 

[JanaDee]

Oh, relax! It's a joke. Sheesh.

No, I really don't think it is. That sentiment has been repeated many times over when this topic comes up.

As far as the OP goes, our twice-a-year trips for the last 9 years are over. We've chosen to spend our vacation dollars elsewhere. For many reasons, Disney no longer holds the appeal it used to for us.

 

[Cormoran]

If people want to hate it and leave - see ya. ALL trips are what you make of it - period.

thanks for the kind words.

 

[JJsmama]

I'm curious to know: what is all this lost magic of which many of you speak? I have been almost every year for a week for the past 10 years -- in the summer even-- and it doesn't feel less magical to me. The only times things annoy me at WDW, it is the behavior of other guests. That is not the fault of the company. And why is it that Disney is doing something "wrong" just because so many people like it that it gets crowded?

The only thing that has lost some magic for me is that the dumbed- down food... I admit that. I think MDE is a great innovation and we feel that FP+ really takes some stress OUT of of day. We love it.

I and all my kids 16-7 still love it and don't want to miss a year. Last year was our first on Spaceship earth. I don't know why... But when our faces popped up on those cartoon bodies, we had the biggest laugh of the whole week. There continues to be things there that delight and surprise us.

 

[DisneyFive]

I'm glad our first trip was back before the whole MyDisney Experience (or whatever it's called) started.

We felt like we did a lot of planning for our first trip in 2010, but that pales in comparison to what is needed now with the introductions of FP+. I'm not really sure how our first trip would have turned out if it was in 2013 or later. Fortunately we know WDW well now, so FP+ isn't so intimidating. I can imagine a lot of first timers feel overwhelmed with the planning now. ...the problem is, if they don't plan, (and so many don't) the negative impact is much worse now. Standby lines are longer, and same day FP availability is at a whole different level (drastically lower) than a few years ago when everyone was on the same playing field when entering a park!

Dan

 

[JanaDee]

Well I guess I'll put my two cents in. My first trip was in the mid 80's with my girlfriend. We went back for our honeymoon in '89. Remember 20,000 Leagues? We have been back 5 times with our 5 children since 2000. We love WDW but I honestly don't think we would go every year. Cost? I have posted before that it's honestly cheaper to take my family to WDW than it is to stay at the Jersey shore. That being said, I've given serious thought to DVC so we could go every-other-year. It's not a perfect place to stay, but it's still Magical for us. We hope that feeling never goes away

We just returned from 6 days at an all-inclusive in Mexico. Just for fun, I priced out a trip to Disney for DH and I...excluding airfare, it was $1100 MORE for that same time at Disney vs Mexico.

 

[ellie05]

I've often wondered what percentage of guests were first timers vs. repeat visitor, and this is the first time I've ever heard an exact number. Where did you find it?


.

http://www.helpscout.net/blog/disney-customer-experience/

This is the most recent info I found. There are some other pages but it was older information.