The Fall of Disney Parks (Part 1)| Disney Genie's Impact on Guest Experience

[Music] i hate to continue to be negative but the last few years of disney leadership really is inexcusable this is a video i've been wanting to make for a while but the announcement of disney genie and the blatant attempt to rip people off has really provoked me to write this script if you've watched my videos i criticized the new additions to the disney parks time and time again because they just don't meet the standards of entertainment and quality that disney was once known for however what i haven't really talked about is the continued degradation of the overall disney experience continuing to decline in quality while also raising prices to ridiculous levels not that bob iger isn't also at fault but ever since bob chapeck took on the role as chairman of disney parks and resorts in 2015 he has slowly chipped away at the overall quality of the experience that guests are receiving taking on the ceo role in 2020 though jpeg has in such a short period of time absolutely taken a sledgehammer to the parks policies such as the continued use of the park reservation system the cutting of hotel perks and the now soon to be implemented disney genie indicate a future of choosing money over the actual guest experience it's insane to me that the disney parks which are as popular as they are because of their legacy of unique and interesting experiences with exceptional guest service included are allowed to move away for what makes them so exceptional people spend an exorbitant amount of money on disney parks and resorts because the quality is so high and unique however if you take that away it absolutely will deter people from coming lifelong customers people who have always perceived disney as setting the industry standard are now paying higher prices for far less how do you expect to keep these people coming back bob chapeck the narrative is already changing quite quickly people love the disney parks but why stay in a disney hotel when it's ridiculously overpriced and all of the perks have been cut off-site hotels are far cheaper and the perks of a disney hotel no longer really exist there's just no incentive but better yet people looking to vacation are finding that other experiences are more affordable other experiences that also offer more fulfilling and interesting attractions while also reducing the stress of having to plan out every single second of your day i see it everywhere online people are taking notice of how the universal experience is offering more for less cost and the future of universal parks looks incredibly bright does disney really have anything interesting in its new slate of attractions i don't really think so the disney parks have been damaged with incredibly expensive but underwhelming additions and it seems that they will only continue to go down this path i'm not saying that universal parks don't have their issues but they're certainly doing a lot more to impress as of recently today i'm interested in talking about the downfall of disney as an industry leader the continued poor additions to their parks as well as the blatant attempt to rip people off for as much money as possible not only hurts general interest in the company but their relationship to their loyal consumers as well meanwhile universal parks on a rise in a way that we haven't seen before i'm interested in breaking down how they will step up to become the new industry leader over the next decade or so [Music] [Music] before we really begin if you agree with the points i made in the intro i strongly recommend leaving a like on the video and hitting the subscribe button if you enjoy my content i think as fans of the disney parks it's important that there's as much vocal criticism as possible of bob schapec and the blatantly anti-consumer changes that he's enacting at the parks and resorts do i monetarily benefit from you sharing the video sure and i'll be transparent about that however i primarily produce videos because i'm interested in the theme park experience when i see how poorly the disney parks are being changed i think it's important to get that message out there we as consumers have the power to change the narrative and highlight the many issues of poor management i hate self-promotion because i personally find it annoying but if you have any interest in creating a wider discussion about the many problems of bob chapeck i encourage you to share this anywhere you can whether it be facebook twitter or any other platform where people might be interested if people are more vocal about how poor fit jpeg is for the company we wouldn't have something like disney genie that really works as a segue into what i want to talk about first [Music] [Applause] i think it's important to start the video with disney genie why because it will fundamentally change the park experience maybe for better but i predict most likely for worse why does disney genie exist and what does it actually do well if you haven't visited disney parks lately they're crowded so crowded in fact the disney parks continue to break attendance records up until 2020 for obvious reasons disney doesn't release their numbers but the themed entertainment association or t for short uses their own estimations and are generally considered to be pretty reliable here's a quick rundown of the 2019 attendance estimations disney california adventure 9 million people disease hollywood studios 11 million people epcot 12 million people disney's animal kingdom 13 million people disneyland jumps from here to 18 million people and the magic kingdom finishes first at a whopping 20 million and just short of 21. that's obviously a ton of people and if you've been to disney over the last decade i'm sure that you've seen the ridiculous crowds from a financial perspective it's obviously great for disney to have so many people paying for tickets merch and food however from the guest experience standpoint it's miserable and disney knows that while disney world introduced fastpass in 1999 for some of its more prominent attractions the idea was that guests who spend less time in line were more likely to spend money on food and merch not only did this benefit disney's bottom line but it was a positive guest experience because it used a paper ticket system and worked on a first-come first-served basis when you arrived at an attraction however the system would evolve at walt disney world with the introduction of my magic plus and the magic band in 2013 if you've used the disney magic band you'll know that it works as a tap point wristband and that works for park admission and if you're staying at a disney hotel it also works as a room key and can be linked to your credit card or debit card to make purchases through the resort with this the new fastpass plus system was introduced allowing you to tap your magicband at a fastpass line for entry the new fastpass system was also done online allowing you to reserve passes for up to three attractions 30 days out or 60 days out if you were staying at a disney hotel after those three passes were used guests could continue grabbing one at a time if they were available for the rest of the day why introduce the magic band though well first its collectible nature made it a reliably selling merchandise item second magic bands could be used to link photos to memory maker also introduced in 2013. memory maker is a virtual photo program that allows guests to access and download on-ride photos meet and greet photos and photos taken by photographers around the parks it's quite expensive at around 200 for a year of access but for many people it's worth it as a better alternative to buying each individual photo taken around the parks obviously the use of a magic band incentivizes people to purchase this service third and most important disney executives believed that if people could pay through magic bans they would spend a lot more because they weren't keeping track of their financial activity this backfired completely for two reasons first you couldn't use your magic ban to actually pay for things unless you were staying at a disney resort second disney executives were extremely foolish to think that people would spend recklessly if they couldn't see their account as with debit cards or mobile pay some people spend responsibly and others do not the magicband itself didn't change the spending habits of people who manage tight budgets estimated costs seem to have the my magic plus system somewhere between 1.5 to 2 million dollars in development and rollout that's a pretty expensive investment and reportedly wasn't seen as a success within the company while profitable the cost isn't seen as worth it more importantly though magicbands changed the way people visited walt disney world with the availability of both fast passes and dining reservations in advance a whole travel agent industry was created just to navigate the system disney was no longer spontaneous and required planning and strategizing in order to do what you wanted to do visiting walt disney world became more about competing with others to grab high demand reservations ultimately leading to a negative guest experience as attendance has continued to increase demand has only made the process worse is the system a failure well kind of again it generates profit but not to the degree that executives believed it would unexpectedly though it also created a system that people have to navigate if they wanted to even enjoy their vacation in contrast i want to briefly touch on max pass at disneyland resort it was introduced as a 10 per day cost and ended at 20 dollars but it was essentially a virtual version of the paper fastpass system it was received well because guests had to be in the parks to use it and it still worked on that first come first serve rule set its success highlights how my magic plus was not a sustainable system and so that's where disney genie comes in [Music] let's circle back around to the question why does disney genie exist it's actually quite odd that disney offered its free fastpass system for so long when other parks saw how successful it was for disney they implemented their own paid versions and i'm completely surprised that it took disney this long to switch however i do see a fair number of good reasons for why the system stayed in place first the additional 60-day booking system for the fast passes incentivize people to stay at disney resorts second i firmly believe that disney strategically released a certain number of fast passes to maximize the time that people were out of lines i remember going to epcot from 2017 through 2019 on days that were completely dead and test track would still have a 90 minute wait [Music] i know that epcot absorbs its crowds pretty well but this still seems excessive disney's fastpass system is done on a 10 to 1 ratio what that means is that for every 10 fastpass parties that they send they send only one standby party this artificially inflates the way times of attractions dramatically and can be used as a deterrent to keep people out of line for example in my previous video i mentioned how i've waded through an entire queue for cementor's mine train from the actual entrance side without fast pass it's about a 40 minute wait however when fastpass is added into the equation the wait time settles somewhere around two and a half hours that's a pretty dramatic jump for the people using fastpass they're obviously waiting less in line and spending more time buying merch and food for the people who can't get any big attractions or who don't understand the system they're stuck with the long and inflated standby cues i'm quite sure that seeing a three-hour wait for slinky dog dash is discouraging and so what else do they have to do well they can shop or dine i have absolutely no proof that disney used their system to achieve this but i am fully convinced that this is what happens so to come back and answer the question disney genie exists to give disney more control over where you go in order to maximize your spending at the park how does that work well the new system being implemented can be confusing so let me break it down and see what it's doing you have lightning lane disney genie [Music] disney gd plus and individual attraction selections a lot of people think that lightning lane is its own separate thing but it's simply just a rebranding of the fastpass line to avoid confusion with the fastpass branding disney decided to rename that system causing well further confusion disney genie on the other hand is completely free to use it's a program designed to better control crowds at the parks by dispersing them with recommendations on where to go disney genie allows you to express your interests and will use park data such as crowd levels and wait times to recommend attractions and dining options disney genie plus is a paid upgrade to this feature for 15 a day at walt disney world or 20 at disneyland resort disney genie will give you a selection of the next available return times for lightning lane disney is essentially marketing this as a different version of the max pass system however what it doesn't include are the e-tickets with the highest demand those instead allow lightning lane access with additional up charges and those prices can vary day by day hour by hour for example you can pay 15 to have lightning lane access for a decent chunk of attractions but you'll have to pay extra per person to rise something like rise of the resistance or seven dwarfs mine train let's say that it's a sleepy thursday afternoon with low park attendance and you want to ride mine train perhaps that'll be a 10 up charge if you want to use the lightning lane however if the park is busy on a holiday weekend perhaps disney sees that demand is high and decides that they want to charge you 30 to ride it's really just a more limited version of the max pass system but with additional charges for high demand attractions you're paying more and getting less maybe this sounds fine to you though maybe you think to yourself well this sounds pretty expensive this would deter people from joining those lightning lanes and so will increase the movement of the standby cues i think that sounds like a reasonable assumption but take into account the disney genie is using park data to maximize spending for example the app might see that mine train is currently at a bit of a lower weight and so we'll use that data to send everyone in the park over there however because they have now made it artificially busier they can also charge higher prices for lightning lane and incentivize people to buy it because of how long the line is disney itself has also said that disney genie will recommend places to eat for example you've waited for big thunder mountain and its next recommendation is space ranger spin on your way there dizzy genie might recommend cosmic rays but maybe the sales for pecos bill isn't the strongest that day and so it sends you there instead you're obviously not required to eat there but for the unseasoned disney guest it's really not in dizzy's interest to recommend what they think will lead to your best experience they might market this that way but it's really an attempt to move you where they want you to go the final problem with this new system is that even if disney genie was really used to spread out park crowds better it still doesn't solve the overcrowding issues if everyone uses it a lot of people are very vocal about never paying for it but i'm sure that there are many who will if there are so many people paying for this new system then the same issue with fast pass plus arises the standby qs will come to a halt and nothing really changes except that people are now paying for what they got for free before in addition those extra up charges for the attractions with the highest demand can be stacked on top of this essentially disney genie either aims to capitalize on the capacity issues of the parks or just simply makes you pay to alleviate it regardless of how it actually operates the fact is that disney's just simply too crowded and they've done absolutely nothing to fix this why isn't disney adding a whole suite of high-capacity attractions to magic kingdom why were people eaters like ellen's energy adventure or the great movie ride replaced instead of new attractions being brought elsewhere into the parks why does the newly finished hollywood studios still feel like it doesn't have enough to do the problem is that disney only wants to do the absolute bare minimum to achieve guest satisfaction hollywood studios could benefit from a ton of new attractions and yet disney won't build them why was new fantasyland so focused on meet and greets and not more attraction heavy the answer is obvious and simple disney doesn't want to pay for new attractions and their maintenance costs sure they're building things right now but they don't appear to be in any hurry instead of actually addressing capacity issues in their parks disney genie is designed to take advantage of this problem by milking your wallet instead [Music] i've spent a lot of time highlighting the issues of disney genie because it fundamentally changes the park experience and continues to show disney's disregard for guest experience for many people this is the final straw among many other changes over the last few years to the disney parks before we continue though i want to reiterate the central theme of this video which is that as disney parks and resorts decline universal comes in to take their place for example when theme parks in florida reopened after the 2020 shutdown they enacted a series of safety measures including limiting park capacity at disney parks they implemented a reservation system for multi-day tickets and for annual passes at universal it was simply a first-come first-served basis and if a park reached capacity only people who bought tickets were allowed admission both systems weren't great but were understandable considering the circumstances however now that vaccine availability is easy to access in most parts of the united states disney and universal ease their capacity restrictions and yet disney still has a reservation system and only allows park hopping after 2 pm there are two reasons for this first knowing the data on park reservations indicates crowd levels and so gives park operations an idea of how many people they will have to staff second the reservation system allows disney to spread out those crowns for example when remy's ratatouille adventure opens october 1st 2021 disney can potentially limit the number of reservations open to pass holders perhaps disney thinks that people who will purchase a ticket to be there will also spend more on merchandise and food in the park whereas passholders may only show up to ride the ride and then just leave later i'm not saying that this is actually the scenario that's playing out but disney is fully capable of running things this way the reservation system while not the worst thing to have can still make a trip to the parks a headache you're not allowed to do what you want to do instead letting disney's data dictate that for you however with universal parks there's simply nothing like this you're allowed to walk into whichever park you choose from here i'd like to segue into universal's version of fastpass known as express pass universal system isn't the most straightforward as there are different tiers to choose from but the fundamental difference between it and disney is that universal express pass works for every single attraction other than the newest additions like hagrid's or velocicoaster universal express is also prohibitively expensive and have looked at past prices on peak days that go for 300 a person that sounds like a ridiculous rip-off but it's actually great for the guest experience first if you want to pay a ridiculous sum of money to skip the lines you can do so however because the cost is so prohibitively expensive it limits the number of people actually purchasing the service and so allow standby queues to stay shorter and move more consistently i think that's a great trade-off in addition i believe that universal doesn't use the same ratios as disney sending one standby party for every 10 fastpass instead it seems that universal attractions tend to just alternate between the standby and express lines also allowing the standby cues to move more quickly i can also tell you that it's well worth it while it may be expensive i've used express before and have never waited more than 20 minutes for any single attraction in my opinion this is the system i think disney should have went with if you want to pay to skip the lines you can do so but it also creates a far better guest experience for everyone else by keeping the standby cues constantly moving i was even advocating for this when disney still used fast pass plus because of how ridiculously long the lines would be inflated using the free system ideally i think that park should get rid of line skipping altogether but that's unrealistic if you're going to have a system like this universal express has proven that parks can make massive profits while also creating a better experience for everyone else i think it's also important to note that the three premier universal hotels which are the hard rock portofino bay and royal pacific also include unlimited universal express for the duration of your stay for the price of a disney moderate resort you could be getting a deluxe experience at universal with express included which is a ridiculously good deal i've decided to split this video into two parts because as i was writing the script i realized it would be far too long to be digestible in this first part i broke down disney's fastpass system and how disney genie changes it for the worst i've also just talked about it in conjunction with the reservation system and compared it to universal's express pass making the argument that it's far better for the guest experience essentially this first part is really just concerned with breaking down how bad disney genie is for the guest experience in part 2 of this video essay i'm interested in discussing other aspects of disney's anti-consumer policies such as essentially trimming away all the perks of staying in a disney hotel i'm also going to be talking about the overall decline of disney theming in its resorts last the majority of the video is going to be dedicated to the rise of universal parks and how this will be the reckoning for the extremely poor leadership of disney if you're interested in seeing part 2 of the downfall of disney parks i recommend helping this video by hitting the thumbs up button as well as subscribing with the bell notification to be alerted when that video drops next week you

Channel: Poseidon Entertainment

Views: 352,536

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Id: OdgEWudqR1U

Length: 24min 56sec (1496 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021