I have just recently (June '02) become an official Disney Nut since going on our first family vacation (DW, DD5 and me) to WDW.
I am a 37 year old married male with one child. In the town I grew up in, they closed half of the grade schools that my peers and I went to.
Now, there are additions on all the remaining schools.
Everyone around age 30-40 has or is having kids which is causing a HUGE boom in family entertainment.
I really believe that a great number of them (at least everyone I work with in my age group) is currently, or will be shortly, planning an all American trip to WDW or DisneyLand. It is a sort of rite of passage passed on by our parents and now we want to pass it on to our kids.
Last year, I bought the matching beach dresses and button down shirt for my wife, daughter and myself. We loved them and wore them at WDW and still wear them. This year, we bought the matching Aloha Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy outfits too. I have dropped around $200 buying clothes for our DD who is now 6.
When at my local (Vernon Hills, IL) Disney Store, I was bummed to not have some adult clothes to buy for my wife and me. I love the collectibles too. There seems to be plenty of them at this particular Disney Store. I thought that maybe Disney just didn't have the adult clothing line out yet but some on these boards seem to think that the Stores' are discontinuing them.
I sure hope not. Disney Stores are very unique. I really believe that a huge boom is right around the corner. My wife and I have good jobs and we can spend $4000 on our one big yearly vacation including the trip, the resort, the park tix, food, clothes and spending money. I know that my current peers are all just slightly behind me (we were married at 30 and our daughter was born just 1 1/2 years later) and their oldest kids are 3-4 years old.
My entire neighborhood is new construction suburban homes. There are no BMWs, Cadillacs, Mercedes, Saabs...just Fords, Toyotas, Chevys, and Hondas. But everyone, and I mean everyone, is around our age with kids under age 8. These people are growing into their mortgages and car payments. Each year they have a little more spending money.
Disney needs to keep their Stores.
The customers are coming...in droves!
The only thing that seems like a bad marketing ploy is that the catalog comes out and we all know to wait just one month and all that stuff will be on super sale at 50% off at the stores or in the next catalog. (Okay, we are supposed to know that. I still bought the Aloha matching outfits for mother's day and then the darn things were on sale a month later!)
I am a 37 year old married male with one child. In the town I grew up in, they closed half of the grade schools that my peers and I went to.
Now, there are additions on all the remaining schools.
Everyone around age 30-40 has or is having kids which is causing a HUGE boom in family entertainment.
I really believe that a great number of them (at least everyone I work with in my age group) is currently, or will be shortly, planning an all American trip to WDW or DisneyLand. It is a sort of rite of passage passed on by our parents and now we want to pass it on to our kids.
Last year, I bought the matching beach dresses and button down shirt for my wife, daughter and myself. We loved them and wore them at WDW and still wear them. This year, we bought the matching Aloha Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy outfits too. I have dropped around $200 buying clothes for our DD who is now 6.
When at my local (Vernon Hills, IL) Disney Store, I was bummed to not have some adult clothes to buy for my wife and me. I love the collectibles too. There seems to be plenty of them at this particular Disney Store. I thought that maybe Disney just didn't have the adult clothing line out yet but some on these boards seem to think that the Stores' are discontinuing them.
I sure hope not. Disney Stores are very unique. I really believe that a huge boom is right around the corner. My wife and I have good jobs and we can spend $4000 on our one big yearly vacation including the trip, the resort, the park tix, food, clothes and spending money. I know that my current peers are all just slightly behind me (we were married at 30 and our daughter was born just 1 1/2 years later) and their oldest kids are 3-4 years old.
My entire neighborhood is new construction suburban homes. There are no BMWs, Cadillacs, Mercedes, Saabs...just Fords, Toyotas, Chevys, and Hondas. But everyone, and I mean everyone, is around our age with kids under age 8. These people are growing into their mortgages and car payments. Each year they have a little more spending money.
Disney needs to keep their Stores.
The customers are coming...in droves!
The only thing that seems like a bad marketing ploy is that the catalog comes out and we all know to wait just one month and all that stuff will be on super sale at 50% off at the stores or in the next catalog. (Okay, we are supposed to know that. I still bought the Aloha matching outfits for mother's day and then the darn things were on sale a month later!)
