https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-world-expensive-middle-class-2018-12
I remember when our kids were little in the 79s & 80s, my wife and I could easily afford to take them to Disneyland any time we wanted to.
A young family today with three kids is not getting off for less than $700 a day after tickets, food and a few "cheap" toys and hats.
I think that it's more than artificially trying to keep the crowds down; the real targets are the lower middle class and the poor.
It's supply and demand, and anecdotally, Disney has done nothing to keep crows down, in fact quite the opposite. that place is brutally crowded.
70s and 80s.
I've come to the realization that many of our companies who are run by so-called "experts" are not so well-run after. The NFL is another example.
Honestly, I have zero interest in being anywhere that crowded. I've been to Disney twice, both times during the deadest part of the year, and there were still too many people there for me.
Disney is charging what the market will bear, and in their case it will bear quite a lot. Like I said in my post about the upcoming Disney plus service, Disney is so totally ingrained into American society that not embracing all things Disney is practically child abuse. I have never met a family with children that didn't have a stack of Disney DVD's and Disney toys. If they or their grandparents have a discretionary dollar to spend, a trip to Disney is planned as if its a religious pilgrimage.
This is nothing new either. When I was child in the 60's the Wonderfull World of Color was required viewing. Back then Walt Disney himself would promote the latest happenings at Disneyland. Its incredible that they've been able to be this good for this long.
LOL
Median household income was under $62k. I don't know how many families with small children whose household income is below $62k should be spending $700/day on theme park experiences. Heck, it's hard to get by in some places with small children if your household income is $112k, which again, isn't really middle class.
The thing is that if you're raising children on $112k in many parts of the country you probably FEEL like middle class, or maybe even lower-middle class.
People may not like the movies, but they are an absolute gold mines. The real life redeux have been box office hits. And I expect frozen 2 to be near the highest grossing film ever.
Nope.
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to get Ron in Ninerland's take on all this...
Sorry about that. There was documented problem with the CF at the time I was posting. I kept getting an error when I tried to post, I'd check the thread and my comments weren't there, so I kept trying.
No worries, just having some fun
well played
This.
Too bad the airline and cruise industry haven't adopted this model.
I don't want to become the Disney defender here, but they are probably having their most profitable year (at least in box office revenue) in my lifetime. Add in the massive expansions to multiple parks around the globe and the launching of a streaming service, that will most likely take a massive bite out of the market share, and I just don't see how you can say they regressed in their professional capabilities.
Disney has spent ALOT of money in the past few years, between the IP acquisitions and the major park expansions and upgrades. It makes sense that they chose this time to raise the park prices as well as pushing out their live action remakes - which are pretty much cash grabs.
WDW hits its 50th aniversary in 2023 - that's when all the expansions should be finished. If their animation studios still hasn't produced new quality original movies by then - it time to worry.
The ROI paradigm for entertainment changed so quickly there were massive downstream impacts in terms of attracting/promoting/resourcing the talented people in those industries more than anything else (marketing and entertainment audiences are inextricably linked and were explosively fragmented). Tech cos efficiently sucked up the fragmented audiences along with most of the dollars that used to fund the "good marketing" and "good content" while scattering the "good talent" who used to do both all over the place. Btw there's still good marketing by the definition of more efficiently selling things to people, it's just not as entertaining because instead of millions spent against tv commercials in a public domain it's an algorithm, tracking pixel, or retargeting mechanism we don't see.
In some ways it's leveled playing fields for small upstarts who are smart but in other ways it killed off certain species the same way there's no such thing as a shutdown corner anymore. Big brands still spend on big marketing campaigns the same way big studios still spend on blockbuster movies the same way corners are still highly paid, but it's just a different world.
The Lion King, Toy Story, Frozen, and they are starting a massive internet streaming service soon. I'm going to have to disagree with that. They have actually been so succesful I can't believe they haven't been cited for monopolistic practices. Actually I can, this country bows down to it's multinational overlords now.
Having said that - is there any entertainment that's not ridiculously overpriced relative to a decade or two ago? Not sporting events. Not concert tickets. Movies are not cheap, but they're probably the closest thing to a "bargain" relative to past pricing. I don't know if their pricing has gone off the rails, or if they're just like everything else discretionary, priced high because people are willing to pay it.
A few weeks ago we were down there and did 2 days hitting Epcot and Magic Kingdom. All of our prior trips had been in Feb/March or November, during slow times. This was the first time I’ve been there during the summer, and I’ll never do it again. Outside of the baby rides, wait times ranged from 2-4 hours, it was impossible to navigate the stroller and if it wasn’t thunder storming it was 95 w/ 95 % humidity. That’s not even bringing up the price...
I won’t say we’ll never go back because of the convenience to my parents house, but I definitely won’t go back during peak times.
I’m amazed at how much time and $ people are willing to spend to wait in long lines for mediocre rides and poor quality, over priced food.
I caught your yoigism
Sports tickets went up because you had a lot more corporate players in the game buying tickets, driving up price.
The Lion King, Toy Story, Frozen, and they are starting a massive internet streaming service soon. I'm going to have to disagree with that. They have actually been so succesful I can't believe they haven't been cited for monopolistic practices. Actually I can, this country bows down to it's multinational overlords now.
Monopolistic? In what way? There are many other theme park options: Universal, Six Flags, Cedar Point, etc, etc.
He used a Disney credit card and racked up major points by charging his children's college tuition. Unfortunately he managed to do this up to next to last year of his one child's last year.
And he managed to buy park hopper passes when it was easier to use the last day of those of others before they started to regulate them.
Can only ponder what he has spent to date.
Something like half the people in the country don't have $5,000 to cover an emergency, and no real savings for retirement, often because they spent it on Walt Dizzy attractions or cell phones or cruises to the Caribbean or something else that they don't need.
In that way, the movie and TV businesses have never been so "successful." (Games too? I don't follow that business so much.) They produce a lot of disposable crap, but it's predictably profitable disposable crap. They're perfectly happy with that. If you're judging by artistic quality, well, they're not. They're not opposed to artistry as long as it can be achieved at a price and it doesn't interfere with returns. Nothing too risky, nothing too out-there. There more expensive the project, the safer the creative approach.
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also add the movie and marketing industries, both which have significantly regressed in their professional capabilities.
Nope.
Yup.
See, I can throw out uneducated, unfounded bullshit too!
And marketing? Just dreadful. They made better and more effective commercials decades ago.
Those who can't see it don't want to accept it.
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also add the movie and marketing industries, both which have significantly regressed in their professional capabilities.
The Lion King, Toy Story, Frozen, and they are starting a massive internet streaming service soon. I'm going to have to disagree with that. They have actually been so succesful I can't believe they haven't been cited for monopolistic practices. Actually I can, this country bows down to it's multinational overlords now.
Not to mention since they’ve acquired Fox’s properties, a reboot of Home Alone nobody ever asked for. Also a reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean among others.
But yeah, the industry has been completely on the front lines of creativity recently.
And marketing? Just dreadful. They made better and more effective commercials decades ago.
Those who can't see it don't want to accept it.
100% agree.
The lack of original ideas is pathetic.
And marketing? Just dreadful. They made better and more effective commercials decades ago.
Those who can't see it don't want to accept it.
Sorry Eric, you sound like an old man. The acting ability of today’s actors, and the amount of them dwarf what we’ve seen in prior decades. Sorry they aren’t pumping out enough WWI movies to wet your whistle.
And the marketing is working, hence the amount of blockbusters.
There’s 2 industries and you seem to lump them both together. Blockbuster which are annoying after a while and then all the other great, lower budget films with exception writing and acting.