tlmadden73
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2014
and I think it is fair to ask is Disney the "all American Family Destination" or is it more of a luxury item already? If you look at the categories that Disney data scientists examine, the LOWEST level of income group are people in the 50th-87th percentile. So they don't even consider half the country and the vast majority of the groups examined are in the top 20% percentile (there was some overlap)
And I think what Len is asking and a lot of the discussion around is: Is this what Disney should do - or overtime are you making the population of people willing to stretch their vacation budgets for Disney smaller and smaller by not enabling a broader group of people to get the "Disney experience", to build that loyalty that they can pass on to the next generation
Disney, heck, any major vacation with a big family is a luxury. It all depends on what type of experience you WANT (and can) afford.
The fact remains that Disney is in Florida. A long drive or plane ride away. Just GETTING there is expensive for your "average" family no matter what the pricing/policies are at WDW itself.
Things need a sense of "luxury" to drive demand. BECAUSE Disney IS seen as a luxury, it makes people desire it more, get excited for it and spend money on it. It works for brand-name clothing all the time. . I mean how many people drive past (and never go to) Busch Gardens, King's Dominion or Six Flags Over Georgia to get to WDW?
Because Disney is so expensive, sure, you may not get as many "yearly" visitors for big trips, but you will still get people coming 2-3 times while they have children at home and that will probably be enough to get them hooked. (I only went 3 times (for 1-3 day trips) as a child and I am hooked).
And just like any luxury item - you rarely will see a price drop because then it won't "feel" superior to the other products (even though it is) and so demand could actually DROP. Instead you'll just see promotions to lower the cost if they feel they need to. The higher the prices, the bigger promotions you can have and thus "tricking" the consumer into thinking they are getting a huge deal.