Disney Looks To Develop Theme Parks As Clusters...

[Janet2k]

I found the following article interesting: Article Found Here

The end of it made me wonder:

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One major change among all visitors has been a shrinkage in the length of time in advance that people plan their vacations, Pressler said. The average visitor now books his vacation 30 to 45 days in advance, compared with a more traditional lead time of 90 to 120 days.

``People are playing it close to the vest,'' he said. ``It's a combination of recession -- people are making choices about where they're going to go. ... Two, they really want to understand and feel better about airline capacity and price.''
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I still have a vacation planned for several months out (October/November). I also have been trying to decide if I want to go through with another vacation that I have planned for next month. I will probably cancel next month’s WDW vacation and stick with October/November’s. What about the rest of you folks? Are you only planning things 30 to 45 days in advance? Is that shorter, longer, or the same amount of planning time as usual?

 

[airlarry!]

I'm a three month to six month guy. I like my PSes, especially at the Royal Table, and to get that you have to do it on the button.

This comment from Pre$$ler sounds like a follow-up to his comments at the shareholders meeting about using the information systems to generate repeat business through direct marketing.

 

[larworth]

I assume booking patterns will return to normal over time.

This was the first time I have heard them use the word clustering. The strategy to turn the parks into multi-day resorts seems like pretty common knowledge. Do we take this “clustering” comment as just this, or does it portend towards a recent comment they made about starting to work on some new vacation related businesses?

If they were going to add more non-theme park vacation experiences what are the most likely candidates?

 

[Safari Steve]

Skiing/mountain resort... perhaps a South American rainforest expedition package?

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Maybe you could be on the opening team for that South American rainforest expedition Steve. You already have the proper training to be the skipper. (just gotta make sure they have one of those magic boats that always end up pointed the right direction) I'm sure you could even find a place to show them the back side of water.