Disney has always been a company that has been split into two: Business Disney and Creative Disney.
Back when Walt Disney was alive, he was the heart and soul of the creative decisions that made the company such a controversial powerhouse. He pioneered the animated movie, helped pioneer the sound system in movie theaters, pioneered the modern-day nature documentary, and pioneered the modern-day theme park, among lots of other accomplishments. That being said, he also sent the company down financial tailspins time and time again with his risky decisions. Snow White was a big gamble, as was Fantasia, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. And let’s not get started on the craziness behind Mary Poppins.
Walt needed someone to keep him in check. Roy Disney would be the person assigned to make sure nothing went too out of control. Business Disney made sure that Creative Disney never went off the rails, while Creative Disney made sure that the brand remained consistently ahead of the curve. The overwhelming success of the Disney brand in the 20th century is because of this nice system of checks and balances.
Today however we are facing an extremely different story. Business Disney has seemingly become more powerful than ever before, which is leading to incredible profits that undeniably are taking Disney to new heights. The acquisitions of Marvel and LucasArts has definitely helped, as also the rising Florida economy, the brand remaining relevant, the exploding tourism industry, and even the rebirth of Universal Studios. And also with that, spending has increased significantly within the parks by the people visiting.
Creative Disney though……he’s not doing so hot.
Creative Disney hasn’t built a new park in 16 years. Creative Disney hasn’t built a massive (original) attraction since Everest. And if anyone says Snow White Mine Cart, they probably don’t know that the ride is shorter than the actual Heigh-Ho song that plays in the attraction itself. Creative Disney hasn’t given Epcot a new country in decades. Creative Disney hasn’t improved Hollywood Studios since Toy Story Mania---which is a carbon copy of a California Adventure attraction. Creative Disney hasn’t given Animal Kingdom anything new in years, and hasn’t expanded their nature selection since 1998. Honestly, where is South America, Madagascar, and/or Australia? Creative Disney still hasn’t created an attraction that rivals the technologically-astounding Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure. Creative Disney has been instead focusing on ways to increase spending while at the parks themselves.
Creative Disney has been finding ways to force guests to spend more money in order to receive the full experience. There are less tables in Food and Wine. These are less places to view the parade in Magic Kingdom (and Hollywood Studios when they had their Frozen parade). There are less places to view the fireworks at Hollywood. There will be less places to view the Christmas lights once we hit November. There will most likely be less places to view the fireworks at Magic Kingdom as well. All this changes once you fork over the extra cash and get your exclusive viewing locations. It has gone from Where Dreams Come True to Where Dreams Come True----But They Can Come True More Often if You Pay the Extra $75.
Disney has accidentally created war against the Florida locals and the Cast Members trying to have a good time in the parks. Cast Members still don’t have their special wristbands. Cast Members get to book FastPasses 30 days before visiting, but resort guests get 60. The locals who just want to visit for the day have to deal with longer periods of block-out dates and having to put up with less accessibility to rides and special shows simply because they don’t have to plan their day as much—resulting in limited options if you arrive in the afternoon or early evening as now nearly everything in the parks is transforming into some sort of VIP/reservation system. There are less full days in Magic Kingdom as now we have increased dates of the Halloween and Christmas parties. The spontaneity in Disney World is rapidly dying.
Creative Disney hasn’t found a way to make it seem like disabled guests are being punished at this new direction Business Disney has wanted to take. After all, a good portion of us are being forced to plan our day just like a regular guest even though the circumstances are less than regular. I took my autistic brother to Magic Kingdom and it was a nightmare having to bounce to each attraction and have to linger around because we can only return on a specific time. Try convincing a tall, 215-pound, high-functioning autistic Disney fanatic that he has to wait an hour to get in the Fastpass line to ride Space Mountain. The point of the handicap pass was to prevent the waiting that people like my brother are incapable of handling----and now you have a disgruntled mentally handicapped Disney fan in a park surrounded by 50,000 other guests in a hot day. I wonder if you can figure out how my day went….
….and go ahead, ask me if I have brought him back to the park since that day….
Creative Disney’s power has been severely diminished and reduced to the movies and television spectrum, and now the parks have become a massive shop of brands. Notice that the less the attraction is tied to a Disney brand, the more likely that it will shut down as opposed to getting an upgrade. Maelstrom went down, Backlot Tour went down, American Idol went down (the show died years ago, we all know this), Toontown went down, Camp Minnie-Mickey went down. This is all within the last three years.
Off-Kilter is gone. Mo’Rockin is gone. The patriotic drummers in the American Adventure are gone. The World Showcase Players are gone. The talking trash can is gone. And of course we can’t forget losing the Adventure Club despite heavy protests and not having the seedy reputation that was surrounding the Pleasure Island clubs. If your attraction or show isn’t attached to a movie, television show, or creation that is within the other medias of Disney World, then you are in danger.
Now, why would Disney fix this if it works? Why would Disney not really focus much on the local crowd and the hardcore Disney parks crowd if they are making money? Because the second that your wave of contemporary success disappears, you’ll have the hardcore dedicated crowd to fall back on. And if they aren’t there to catch your fall? Well…..you are in for a wild spiral.
The Walt Disney Company hasn’t always been well above water. Disney nearly went bankrupt a couple times and in the 1980s the company needed some drastic changes. Even in the 2001-2004 period there was some turmoil. After the last economic scare, it does make sense why Bob Iger revved up the efforts to increase spending within the parks while aggressively making high-priced purchases like Pixar and Marvel. But also in economics whatever is up must eventually come down—and depending on how many bridges you burn determines the length of the fall. Disney is slowly but surely burning down lots of Florida, Local, Domestic, and Cast Member bridges with its arsenal of new rules, sudden required planning, refusal to update most of its product (Poor Innoventions at Epcot), and worst of all creating a class system that has heavily rewarded those that have the extra money while punishing those that have just enough to get into the parks in the first place.
Best example was the Frozen parade at Hollywood Studios. Most of the event took place in front of the hat at the center of the park. There is a stage set there for everyone to see Anna and Elsa. If you aren’t in front of the hat, you will miss most of the action. Half of the area in front of the sorcerer hat was VIP, leaving hundreds upon hundreds of guests standing adjacent to the hat missing all of the action. Seeing all the confused faces of guests standing around for a dozen minutes while the VIP guests got to receive front row seats to the Frozen event was rather jarring. Now, those with extra, extra $$$ don’t even have to mingle with the rest of the crowd half the time; with their exclusive seating in nearly all of the parks.
And if you think that the hardcore and dedicated Florida crowd isn’t important, look at the Blockbuster story. If you had told me 15 or even 10 years ago that Blockbuster would go from powerhouse rental company into a business joke, I would have never believed you. Blockbuster was on top of its game, making fantastic money through its ability to rent out movies and video games to consumers. It was even defeating Netflix for the first part of the 2000s. What happened? It didn’t evolve, it never attempted to make the experience easier for consumers, created more complications for the avid customers, and it neglected to notice the rising competition from Redbox, Amazon, and the second punch of Netflix. Ultimately, the place collapsed extremely quickly.
I am not saying that Disney will go down this route, as they are much bigger than Blockbuster could ever imagine. What I am saying is that a company that relies much more on branding and marketing above the actual finished product will eventually hit snags and if it continues to upset the original hardcore audience that made you, then you might be in for lots of trouble once the temporary revenue stops streaming. Honestly, is there a plan if suddenly Universal Studios becomes the more attractive place to visit? Is there a plan if the movie industry suffers a series of flops? Is there a plan if suddenly the amount of travelers takes a severe dip?
Look at Nintendo after they infuriated the hardcore crowd: the Nintendo Wii was a mainstream smash hit back in the late 2000s and now the WiiU is getting annihilated by Sony’s Playstation 4. Apple owned the handheld music and phone market before they got lazy and now are in a massive war against Samsung. Not even McDonalds is safe. McDonalds abandoned their cheaper price and simple menu routine and now make less than Chik-Fil-A in terms of revenue per unit.
Disney World has focused more on the people outside of Florida as opposed to the people in Florida. The annual passholders still don’t get benefits of those guests staying in Disney resorts. We see increases in prices every year in the parks and yet don’t see as many deals or specials for those within the Florida borders. What it looks like is Disney wants to drain as much as they can from guests visiting for their first and potentially only time, knowing full well that a nice percentage of people that actually come to these parks will see it only once or twice in their entire lifetime.
And yes, ultimately this is all about business. I perfectly understand that all these things I am complaining and remain worried about is part of the current business practice of Disney. What I am worried about is the sacrificing of Creative Disney throughout the company’s path to the top. You can disguise lack of quality as much as you possibly can---but in the end we the consumer will notice. The IPhone used to be unstoppable, until the Galaxy came in. Nintendo used to be unstoppable until Sega (and then Sony) came in. KFC used to be unstoppable until Chik-Fil-A rose from the Southeast. K-Mart and Target used to be good competition, until Wal-Mart upped its game and now destroys so much that some cities ban the behemoth.
Disney, I beg of you: please stop the class system that is quietly separating everyone in the parks. Please stop having to brand everything and eliminate those that don't have connections to a movie or television show. Please remember your Floridian locals and hard-working cast members that would rather not see an entire month of lack of family access to a theme park. Please try to become at least the slightest bit economically-friendly and fair to those closest to you, as opposed to those closest to you in terms of net worth. Walt Disney would not at all be happy at the prospect of lines, tapes, ropes, separating everybody into different spots depending on who spent more, who planned more, who studied more, and who ultimately knows more about Disney. I know you have a business to run but please remember that it is the people that spend the money to allow for your company to run.
As a cast member working the parks I have given guests more bad news today than I have at any given moment during my entire decade-long career. With the rules, regulations, required extra spending, required extra planning, and required extra knowledge of the happenings within the parks, I have seen more unintentional punishment to those that just want to have a simple, good, carefree time.
This isn’t the Disney World I used to know. And if it continues treading down this road, I don’t know just how many people will be left once the masses give up and abandons your World. I have defended your company and the way things are run for years and years. But I am running out of excuses…but its never too late to make a change, to turn things around, to try to appeal to the homecrowd again.
Surely there is more financial blood than ever pumping through the veins of the House of Mouse. It’s just a shame that the heart has seemingly gotten smaller.
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