When did Disney peak?

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Just following on from my Lion King show thread, I rather fancy that the Lion King film was rather a pinnacle point in Disney's history; that and Fantasia!

 

[NYCgrrl]

Fantasia, surely on this end.

 

[fla4fun]

If you are talking about the company as a whole, parks and entertainment, I think the biggest peak was around 1960-1964. Disneyland had been open for five years and it was just as Mary Poppins was on the horizon. After Mary Poppins, the company took a bit of a downturn, especially after Walt died, that they really didn’t start to come out of, in my opinion, until the Disney Renaissance which began with The Little Mermaid. WDW was a help in the 70’s, but I don’t feel they hit their stride until the mid 1980’s, after Epcot had been open a few years and the resort began to grow with more parks and resorts.

 

[tvguy]

If you are talking about the company as a whole, parks and entertainment, I think the biggest peak was around 1960-1964. Disneyland had been open for five years and it was just as Mary Poppins was on the horizon. After Mary Poppins, the company took a bit of a downturn, especially after Walt died, that they really didn’t start to come out of, in my opinion, until the Disney Renaissance which began with The Little Mermaid. WDW was a help in the 70’s, but I don’t feel they hit their stride until the mid 1980’s, after Epcot had been open a few years and the resort began to grow with more parks and resorts.

They were flying high until Walt's death in 1966 for sure. The decline, IMHO started in 1984 with the Eisner years.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Iger had a wind to his back when he took over, but the Eisner decline had already started. Iger eventually exasperated it. Roy jrs passing boosted the decline too.

 

[jimmymc]

For me, its the renaissance. From 1989 to 1996, we had Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Newsies, Hocus Pocus, Lion King, A Goofy Movie, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and three Mighty Ducks movies. Then Hercules in 1997 and Mulan in 1998, but that's also when the era of bad sequels was starting.

2008 to 2014 was also strong, with Wall E, Up, Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 3, Tangled, Brave, Wreck It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Into the Woods. Ratatouille was in 2007 and InsideOut was in 2015, which are two of my personal favorites.

With the parks, I can't really answer that since I wasn't alive to see them back in the 60s and 70s. I'm not sure of the trade-off between older ride tech vs fewer crowds. From a guest experience standpoint, I think paper fastpasses were the best way to maximize your day, so I'll say that era.

 

[walt34]

Always in retrospect.

 

[tony67]

I always say Disney parks was at its peak in the early to mid 2000s - basically after the first year of the DDP is when they started the drive to maximize profit and cut quality.

For the studios I'd say the peak was probably when they bought Star Wars - its been pretty much down hill from there.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

As a PP said for me it was late 80's to mid 90's for movies and the parks.
However that's also my childhood so I have core memories from this time.

 

[ucf_knight]

I always say Disney parks was at its peak in the early to mid 2000s - basically after the first year of the DDP is when they started the drive to maximize profit and cut quality.

For the studios I'd say the peak was probably when they bought Star Wars - its been pretty much down hill from there.

I agree with this. Disney wasn't slammed busy year round like it is now and you could find for sure slow times of the year to come and enjoy the parks. There was huge value in booking a package with the DDP during this time and like you said disney started cutting back shortly after.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

I don’t think it has peaked yet. I only follow the parks so I can’t speak on the rest of their offerings but I think the park experience overall is better now than ever.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I'd like to think it's headed to another peak. ...But Disney need to be willing to return to the 'Disney level of thought and detail' of old, even if the actual details are different now.

Otherwise, I'd probably say the late 90s and early 2000s. ...Riding the wave of Little Mermaid/Lion King/Aladdin/Beauty & the Beast; with the Disney stores really standing out as something special; with the much simpler paper FP system in WDW, which people could use on the day even if they didn't know about it ahead of time; when both WDW water parks were open at the same time; when housekeeping was daily; when resort 'theming' was, arguably, stronger; when there were nightly parades and Osbourne Lights; when food and merch quality was better?/more consistent?; when there were Extra Magic Hours, Extra Magic Hours, Extra Magic Hours!!!; when there was the Magic Express; when Hollywood Studios (or MGM!) was also about movie-making... What did I forget?

 

[Tink-osophy]

I always say Disney parks was at its peak in the early to mid 2000s - basically after the first year of the DDP is when they started the drive to maximize profit and cut quality.

Well said.

We all know it's important to make a profit, but I disagree with all the cynics who say it's ALL that matters. Money has to mean something, it has to represent something - or what's it worth and how far will quality of society/life spiral?

Value is key. Disney has always cared about profit, but they also used to care, more obviously, about the value they offered in return.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I prefer to avoid the catchy, slanted titles for posts that make the OPs opinion clear. But I'll bite on this one. I think all businesses that last this long, Disney included, have high periods and low periods. Disney gets slammed for being 'greedy and only about the money'. On the other side they get slammed for not spending money on new attractions, parks and opportunities. I expect the truth is somewhere in the middle. We've been at WDW in some way since 1972 - lots of time in between trips before we started going much more in the 90s. There have been periods where they seemed like they needed to do more, and times the trips have been a terrific value for our family. To be honest, we feel they managed their way through a significant pandemic and came out the other side in pretty decent shape - much better than some companies. With all the new attractions and enhancements announced for the next few years, it'll get even better. Maybe another peak is coming with big investments in park expansion and a new park eventually!!