WDW removes brochures accross FL; hotels and tourism execs. furious

[seashoreCM]

In many cases a third party, often a mom and pop independent contractor, pays the hotels and restaurants to have a rack in those establishemtns and is paid by Disney and other attractions to go around and restock the racks.

>>> town and gown relationships

What in the cities of Orlando/Kissimmee, in the counties of Orange/Osceola, or in the state of Florida is Disney not paying its fair share of? If it is trash disposal, then the elimination of these brochures will reduce the burden supposedly imposed by Disney.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[DC7800]

Disney's decision to get rid of the costly brochures( they will be saving millions) is in part because most people are using computers to find out about vacation sites anyway. No matter where you live you can pull up Disney.com and learn all there is to know. Even if you don't own a computer your local library is on line and you can go there to book trips etc.
So basically I see this as streamling and doing away with the obsolete-sort of like the old pay telephones that were on every street corner but replaced by all of us using our cell phones. JMHO Seems like Disney is just going with the times.

The difference between cell phones largely replacing pay phones and online access to travel information is that while people carry their phones with them wherever they go, far fewer carry a laptop (or blackberry, etc.) around or even have the ability to access the net to find out park hours or other information. There are wonderful online resources - like Disboards and wdwinfo - but these are more often used at home before you leave on the trip. Even for those of us who do have internet access on the road, isn't it sometimes still easier to to flip open a brochure to find park hours than it is to browse around the website looking?

Brochures aren't obsolete, at least not in all applications - note the reference that Disney still distributes these to specific locations. In this case, there still seems to be a demand for at least an informational brochure. Indeed, many complaints about this decision centered on providing such factual information to guests. Most everyone has already made a decision whethor to visit Disney, but many off-site guests still need to know things like park hours, driving directions, ticket prices, and so on. You just don't need to promote the Magic Kingdom to these folks (hence the perception that the brochures are not an effective marketing tool), though you might want to promote the idea that WDW is more than just the four theme parks (Downtown Disney, Winter Summerland, etc.). It's amazing the number of people who think they know all about Walt Disney World, but don't have a clue you can play golf there.

When you check into a WDW resort you get a whole folder of "brochures" and other printed information - it stands to reason that off-site guests - in the Orlando area - would also need some of this information.

 

[Mickmse2002]

So what were we arguing about again? Disney cutting costs by reducing the number of informational brochures in most locations? Or was it the callous treatment of the "locals" by WDW in not continuing to supply the propoganda sheets? Or maybe how the brochures are actually a cost effective and useful marketing tool that hordes of traveler's use to discern the difference between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot?

I think sometimes we read too much into these things and then begin defending a position whether it really makes sense or not. I am sure I'm probably guilty of this myself.

 

[KMovies]

The brochures that we are talking about are very generic in nature. They do not give park hours as they would be outdated quicker than can be.

They are ones that show off a couple of new rides at each park. They may or may not even have ticket prices as those are subject to change at a minutes notice.

The ones that are handed out at the resort hotels do have park hours, parade times, etc (which are also available to day guests once they get to the parks).

 

[blsx3]

How often have you gone into a hotel lobby and grabbed a bunch of those brochures just for something to read on the way to your destination and said "that would be neat to see" and never stop on your way back..

it's a wasted paper,,they are not cheap to print either.

If you have noticed Disney is advertising heavily,,especially here in the northeast,,,on tv... It seems that every other commercial on every other network is running Disney commercials.

Now,,,,we are in a changing business environment,,what is going to happen is that if these hotels, outside disney's radius for a day trip, want these brochures, they will have to order them from disney and pay for them themselves.

these brochures are not cheap to print,,plus once the day trippers have them they get thrown out when they get home anyway,,,,it really does not promote anything other than disney,,,and if you are going to disney, you are going,,the brochure is not going to convince you; it's going to be a friend whose been to disney, a travel agent, or a tv commercial that's going to put you on the website.

So,,,,the tourism industry can be upset, but i don't feel that they have anything to really be upset about....Disney is not going away, just the brochures.

 

[Disney Doll]

I have never seen one of those brochures anywhere that tells me any significant info about WDW. Mostly they were colorful proaganda type things, with pictures of smiling families of all races, creeds and colors having an obviously marvelous time at WDW.

As far as WDW's impact on Florida's ecomony and so forth...my guess is that their presence in central Florida is one of the biggest draws for folks to go to that area. You may not like the fact that the "big bad corporation" has that much power, but they do. Sorry.

My advice to the local Mom and Pop hotels would be to send an employee to Downtown Disney every once in a while to pick up some brochures. They are everywhere and free.

 

[DC7800]

I have never seen one of those brochures anywhere that tells me any significant info about WDW. Mostly they were colorful proaganda type things, with pictures of smiling families of all races, creeds and colors having an obviously marvelous time at WDW

Exactly - no real need for a brochure which promotes the WDW theme parks. People already know about them and most have already decided to visit or not. Certainly the "propoganda" brochures enticed an occasional visitor, perhaps in town on business, and at least a few brochures went back home and were shared with friends (potential future WDW guests), but the whole point is they were an ineffective marketing tool, hence their removal.

But what, I would argue, there does still appear to be a need for is a more informational brochure with directions, park hours, ticket and other information a park visitor needs. Park-hours brochures have always existed, alongside the more generic theme-park brochures, but off-site only in a few select locations (Turnpike service plazas, for instance). Again, WDW resort guests get this stuff at check-in; off-site day guests need to know when the parks open and close too.

While you have people's attention (and a printed document they may hold onto for a while), giving them factual information they need, you might advertise some of WDW's lesser attractions (water parks, mini-golf, etc.) which many day guests do not even know exist. Just no need to draw attention to the Magic Kingdom when they plan to come anyway.

 

[drakethib]

Maybe the Hotels should offer to pay for the printing of the brochures.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Perhaps Disney should offer a portal where hotels can print off the brochures themselves for free. Send them to Kinko's if they want a fancier job. Of course the negative side to this is that the hotel could incorporate the brochure into something else.