Walt Disney World Tech News & Discussion- Magic Bands, Genie+, and more

[belloq87]

If they lose some of the lower paying customers in exchange for people who stay at a deluxe, and eat every meal in a signature, who cares?

Then what are they going to do with the value and moderate resorts? High rollers are not going to want to stay there.

That's a lot of hotel rooms.

 

[Grabnar]

Then what are they going to do with the value and moderate resorts? High rollers are not going to want to stay there.

That's a lot of hotel rooms.

Fill what they can, mothball the rest?

I think what’s most telling is what they’re building and refurbishing; high-end DVC and monorail resorts. The only addition to the moderates over the last few years has been the Gran Destino tower and that’s mainly for the conference audience.

 

[GAcoaster]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the resort next to the GF on the MK side, the Mediterranean/Venetian, and even the Reflections hotels and even a second Bay Lake Tower all fast tracked in the next ten years. Upscale rooms in the area where people really want to stay.

 

[Alicia]

I think what’s most telling is what they’re building and refurbishing; high-end DVC and monorail resorts.

They're contractually obligated to add new DVC rooms regularly, (I think like every two years). I was surprised to see it in my contract when I joined, but it makes sense as that's only way they can sell new memberships as it's based on number of available rooms/resorts.

Whenever they don't want to build a new DVC resort, it's cheaper to just refurbish a section of an existing hotel and slap on a new name.

 

[SeventyOne]

Then what are they going to do with the value and moderate resorts? High rollers are not going to want to stay there.

That's a lot of hotel rooms.

Going after more and more money from an ever-shrinking hardcore fanbase. A couple weeks ago Derek Burgan on Twitter (go follow him and read his articles on Touring Plans if you don't know the name) drew a comparison to the comics industry in the 90s. When they abandoned selling to kids in drug stores (the mass market) in order to sell collectors five different holographic covers of the same book. It's tempting if you're a C-suite exec who will be working for some other company in 5 years, but the long-term results are not pretty.

Upscale rooms in the area where people really want to stay.

Do they tho? They''ve been upgrading people in moderates to deluxe rooms, while converting deluxe rooms to DVC. (Which have a big pay-out year 1, but then effectively become value resort rooms in terms of revenue.)

Twitter and message boards are not the real world. Fans who post online about theme parks are a tiny fraction of guests.

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

TBH, I consider myself an avid park fan and for me, proximity to the parks is trumped by cheap room rates. My desire is to spend time in the parks, my room is where I sleep after being in the parks. Don’t need fancy resorts or amenities when I’m a hardcore park goer.
While it would be nice to stay in Portofino or Grand Floridian, I’d rather use my $$ in park days.

 

[MrBlonde]

I think their long term strategy is akin to mobile apps get money; aim for the whales who make up 90% of the sales, then whatever else you happen to get is a nice bonus.

If they lose some of the lower paying customers in exchange for people who stay at a deluxe, and eat every meal in a signature, who cares?

When you look at it as the economics of a mobile game, it really starts making sense. When a company becomes too obsessed with short term profits when you have a diehard fanbase in one form or another, it becomes a shell game to harvest the highest ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), similar to tech companies.

Why cater to theme park fans who fell in love decades ago when you know they'll show up, only to complain about something because that's what they do?

Plus with all of these add-ons/enhancements, their own annoying systems turn into very high margin and low cost profit centers.

As things get back to normal, the extra hours inside the parks become reasons to pay an extra $200+ a night so you can stay on property because you can miss some of the lines. They are turning time having fun into a commodity you buy there vs access to the park. Then with people having FOMO, being priced out to go as much as they used to or wanting to optimize their time there, will rather than go constantly, save up more and spend for these more premium experiences, both reducing the normal crowds which improves guest experiences all while padding the bottom line.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Not against upcharge express options since Universal has shown it could work when your park has multiple high capacity attractions and limit the amount sold.

With that said, standby queues need to change. Always been a fan of the Fallon queue where you are allowed to roam an area, sit down and relax before getting called up into a smaller queue prior to boarding/preshow. Imagine if on Hagrid's you can explore an actual forest where you try to find different creatures, relax inside a cave with seating/chargers, before getting called up and checking in to "class". Or exploring the Hollywood Tower Hotel grounds before being called up for a "library/hotel tour". Heck, add a small gift shop while guests wait. (Obviously this could be turned off whenever queues are short, just like Fallon)

 

[Grabnar]

Not against upcharge express options since Universal has shown it could work when your park has multiple high capacity attractions and limit the amount sold.

With that said, standby queues need to change. Always been a fan of the Fallon queue where you are allowed to roam an area, sit down and relax before getting called up into a smaller queue prior to boarding/preshow. Imagine if on Hagrid's you can explore an actual forest where you try to find different creatures, relax inside a cave with seating/chargers, before getting called up and checking in to "class". Or exploring the Hollywood Tower Hotel grounds before being called up for a "library/hotel tour". Heck, add a small gift shop while guests wait. (Obviously this could be turned off whenever queues are short, just like Fallon)

You’re asking for technological innovation and a fairly substantial investment from a company that just launched a land with a Spider-Man ride that’s both worse than their 20+ year old competitor’s use of the IP and worse than the only other digital shooting gallery ride in the same park, while simultaneously indefinitely delaying their E-ticket that is itself (allegedly) a re-skin of another of their rides.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

You’re asking for technological innovation and a fairly substantial investment from a company that just launched a land with a Spider-Man ride that’s both worse than their 20+ year old competitor’s use of the IP and worse than the only other digital shooting gallery ride in the same park, while simultaneously indefinitely delaying their E-ticket that is itself (allegedly) a re-skin of another of their rides.

Oh I know, that's why I mentioned the gift shop idea. Sell you the web shooty thing while waiting.

 

[MurphyJoe]

I'm wondering with Disney Premier Access if Rise of the Resistance wasn't conceived as a primarily Premier Access attraction (due to its limited hourly capacity and amount of cast members it requires to function), but management had cold feet about putting a paid system into place at the time; let alone a paid system for their newest hot attraction. Something like selling access until the 1 pm boarding group run, then let the masses fight over the remaining seats.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So as reported on the Disney Dish, Disney is testing new Lighting Pass and LIghting Pass + attractions access plus more virtual lines and boarding groups. This sounds miserable.

7 Ways Your Wait in Line at Disney World is About to Change | TouringPlans.com Blog

I'm working on the first printing of the 2022 Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, which goes to print in October and

touringplans.com

 

[Grabnar]

So as reported on the Disney Dish, Disney is testing new Lighting Pass and LIghting Pass + attractions access plus more virtual lines and boarding groups. This sounds miserable.

7 Ways Your Wait in Line at Disney World is About to Change | TouringPlans.com Blog

I'm working on the first printing of the 2022 Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, which goes to print in October and

touringplans.com

This just sounds unpleasant.

I can get the Six Flags and Universal options where you have either 1, or unlimited, entrances to the faster lane. I even understood the Disney FP+ options (despite their best efforts to make it as terrible as possible).

With the exception of maybe Genie, this sounds like it's going to be a huge flop.

 

[belloq87]

To expect the average guest to be able to understand all of that would be insane.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

To expect the average guest to be able to understand all of that would be insane.

I wonder, if with Genie, this is a feature not a bug.

 

[MrBlonde]

I wonder, if with Genie, this is a feature not a bug.

For those saavy enough or comfortable spending money on their phones, it turns every line into an upsell opportunity. Between notification of waits, flash pricing based if a express line is short, etc. It allow them to try to wring every dollar from your Apple (or Google) Wallet.

 

[Jerroddragon]

You have to ask, at some point will people just not go?

I doubt it because the parks seem to always have lines but man, its insane even if I had a kid, I'd just find other things to do besides Disney Parks.Whats the point of me spending 150 bucks to get in just to have to wait in lines all day and do maybe ten rides, half of them aren't even E tickets.

 

[Grabnar]

You have to ask, at some point will people just not go?

I doubt it because the parks seem to always have lines but man, its insane even if I had a kid, I'd just find other things to do besides Disney Parks.Whats the point of me spending 150 bucks to get in just to have to wait in lines all day and do maybe ten rides, half of them aren't even E tickets.

It's going to be really interesting when EU opens. I think Disney's in for a rude awakening.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

You have to ask, at some point will people just not go?

It won't happen immediately, but once this is rolled out and people go i can see them say "well lets just not go/go to UOR/go to the beach" instead.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Classic example of short term profits over long term satisfaction.

And they aren't even trying to ply people with new attractions, just the same rides we've known about since 2017, with little knowledge on what the future holds for the resort.