One of the unintended consequences of systems like Disney's is that it disincentivizes having large families. This is largely true of all aspects of the economy, but paying $40-60 per person is likely feasible for upper-class families of 4. But what about a family of 7, like mine? Fortunately, I have a well-paying job, but an additional $400 per day ($2,000 if I spring for the LLP) on top of the parking, accommodations, tickets, and food becomes difficult, if not impossible, to justify. This is the definition of a first-world problem, and it was my choice to have a large family, but it is a knock-on effect of all of these add-ons.
Disney is an interesting example to work from. Walt Disney was a great man and a visionary who built new movies and parks that no one had imagined before but that everyone thereafter loved and needed.
Here from a biography of Walt Disney, "He visited county fairs, state fairs, circuses, carnivals, national parks. He studied the attractions and what made them appealing, whether people seemed entertained or felt cheated. His most depressing experience was seeing Coney Island. It was so battered and tawdry and the ride operators were so hostile that Walt felt a momentary urge to abandon the idea of an amusement park. His spirit revived when he saw Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen; it was spotless and brightly colored and priced within the reach of everyone. The gaiety of the music, the excellence of the food and drink, the warm courtesy of the employees--everything combined for a pleasurable experience. 'Now this is what an amusement place should be!'"
I just went to Disney and had this exact experience. I’m a PMC member and affluent enough that I just sucked it up and paid it. But, I shook my head the whole time muttering, “how would my poor working class parents have afforded this when they took me 30 years ago?”
I think that the title of your post could apply to an overall look at what America's economy is like today vs 30 years ago. It is useful to examine our economy from the perspective of GDP. For reference, I would suggest that you read chapter 3("The Priority")of the book "Growth" by Daniel Susskind. It covers the history of the concept of GDP which originated only with the onset of WWII. The following activiites are considered part of our GDP: A) Income from running a brokerage trading meme coins. B) income paid to influencers on Facebook and TikTok C) Advertising on Facebook C). Fees for real estate brokers. The sad fact is real stuff (that is the stuff you need to live and breath is only 15 % of the GDP. https://prosperousamerica.org/u-s-manufacturings-shrinking-share-of-gdp-and-how-to-catch-up/. Agriculture is less than 1 % of US economy https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/chart-detail?chartId=58270#:~: I suggest that you advocate for a week with no social media that has an advertising(ie attention grabbing) incentive to show what is important to people (even though they do not know it)
Amazing analysis. Your first few paragraphs only re-convinced me that I will never, ever take my kids to Disney. My dad was passionate about not taking us to Disney as we grew up, and I intend to uphold what is now a family tradition. Lol.
Great piece, Oren. I recently started a new marketing and PR biz premised on offering a return to personalized, non-automated service where when you call or email you get me, not a bot or endless automated emails and no way to speak to a real person when there is a problem.
Efficiency for the profiteer is at the expense of the consumer and the snotty managerial class thinks we all have no choice. They are wrong and eventually these geeks will not be able to hide under this fake indifferent sales model because the majority of them are lazy and have no social skills. The pendulum will swing back eventually in spite of so-called efficient high-tech. Humans are not robots.
My son took his family to Disney World ( they stayed off site), thinking it would be like Disney of his childhood. No planning ahead, just thought he would buy a ticket at the gate like we did when he was a kid. He said the whole experience was a stressful nightmare, not fun at all and way too expensive. They lasted one day, and went to other non- Disney places for entertainment in the area for the rest of the week. Such a shame. He has a large family and is not wealthy.
Thank god the US is chock full of spectacular lakes, mountains, beaches, and even other non-Disney amusement parks so I never need to waste my savings or vacation time visiting the rat.
This has been life, in the Lighting Lane, for the painfully few Latin Americans who’ve been able to afford it. For the rest, it’s mostly a series of ever deeper “shitholes” :-/
If you wanna learn about inequality, come to Panama.
That’s actually were a live most of the year, and believe when I tell you, Panama has gotten worse. We’re in a virtual tie with Brazil and Colombia for first, depending on the measure, but it’s freakin brutal either way
A couple of years before Disney introduced their app, I took a trip where I made the conscious decision to not use my phone while in the parks, to be as present as I could be with my wife and kid. I bought a point and shoot camera, left my phone in my hotel room, and I think had one of the best vacations I’ve had there, because I was most focused on my family. The fact that this is something which is literally impossible to do now due to the ticketing system is enormously depressing to me. Due to the expense, we’re not planning on going back, but even if we could afford it I probably wouldn’t due to the complexity. I already have enough to do during my work week, I don’t want my vacation to be another version of work, and that’s how Disney feels like it’s made the parks. An experience of being nickeled and dimed for sure, but also one where having a good experience is constant, stressful work rather than relaxation.
Your observation that all of America’s economy is turning into this is a good one, as I process receipts for my FSA, check to see how best to manage my medical care, try to figure out how to deal with the fact my son’s orthodontic costs have exceeded his lifetime benefits for this and where I can get tax benefits to pay for this thing. It’s all constant, overwhelming work to try to maximize what you can get out of the system.
I wish they would just price the tickets high enough that there were fewer people in the park and all the lines were shorter. Once I pay I don't want to have to keep thinking about shit. If its too expensive I can just not go.
Thank you for these important lessons about how easily bad leadership can devalue an asset. Why does this Mickey Mouse example remind me of the mini-me Muskrats’ mishandling (focusing on USAID because it’s investigating Starlink rather than federal procurement) of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real progress on government efficiency, effectiveness and fiscal common sense?
So essentially, in order to have an enjoyable Disney experience, one must either:
A) have f-you money to buy the uber-pass
B) designate at least one member of your group to be a full time master planner while at the park plus commit hours to researching all the insider tricks and pre-planning, basically sacrificing their personal enjoyment for the rest of the group
C) not actually plan to get on any particular rides
Actually showing up and having an experience that is enjoyable AND spontaneous rather than neurotically pre planned is apparently not possible any more.
Fastlane etc. originally made sense as a way to wait in line without physically being in line, allowing higher utilization of all rides and improving the experience for guests. But of course parks couldn’t resist enshittification by gamifying and monetizing the fastlanes.
The obvious answer is that they are simply letting in too many people for too few top-tier rides, and they ideally ought to build more rides, cap attendance lower, and raise base ticket prices. Maybe implement a ticket lottery like the most popular national parks.
Instead they seem to be on a path to enshittify until demand collapses.
Clearly there is a lot of pent-up demand for Disney theme parks, raising the question of why they don’t build more. It seems much of our whole economy has become an exercise in squeezing and manipulating customers rather than serving them. Selling a new experience or product costs money and capital, while dinging them with extra fees and costs after they’ve paid the upfront cost is pure profit.
Well, when you consider the whole pricing model of Disney is but a reflection of income being distributed away from the broad middle and toward the increasingly fat right tail of the distribution, investment in new theme parks becomes a little harder to justify.
Same phenomenon with housing...we build fewer homes overall and the ones we do build tend to be upmarket.
One of the unintended consequences of systems like Disney's is that it disincentivizes having large families. This is largely true of all aspects of the economy, but paying $40-60 per person is likely feasible for upper-class families of 4. But what about a family of 7, like mine? Fortunately, I have a well-paying job, but an additional $400 per day ($2,000 if I spring for the LLP) on top of the parking, accommodations, tickets, and food becomes difficult, if not impossible, to justify. This is the definition of a first-world problem, and it was my choice to have a large family, but it is a knock-on effect of all of these add-ons.
Large families like yours are essentially extinct amongst the middle classes, and will continue to do so unfortunately
Disney is an interesting example to work from. Walt Disney was a great man and a visionary who built new movies and parks that no one had imagined before but that everyone thereafter loved and needed.
Here from a biography of Walt Disney, "He visited county fairs, state fairs, circuses, carnivals, national parks. He studied the attractions and what made them appealing, whether people seemed entertained or felt cheated. His most depressing experience was seeing Coney Island. It was so battered and tawdry and the ride operators were so hostile that Walt felt a momentary urge to abandon the idea of an amusement park. His spirit revived when he saw Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen; it was spotless and brightly colored and priced within the reach of everyone. The gaiety of the music, the excellence of the food and drink, the warm courtesy of the employees--everything combined for a pleasurable experience. 'Now this is what an amusement place should be!'"
The excessive complexity of life exacts a price of its own.
Even Disney has fallen prey to the ubiquitous enshittification that is plaguing our lives nonstop.
I just went to Disney and had this exact experience. I’m a PMC member and affluent enough that I just sucked it up and paid it. But, I shook my head the whole time muttering, “how would my poor working class parents have afforded this when they took me 30 years ago?”
I think that the title of your post could apply to an overall look at what America's economy is like today vs 30 years ago. It is useful to examine our economy from the perspective of GDP. For reference, I would suggest that you read chapter 3("The Priority")of the book "Growth" by Daniel Susskind. It covers the history of the concept of GDP which originated only with the onset of WWII. The following activiites are considered part of our GDP: A) Income from running a brokerage trading meme coins. B) income paid to influencers on Facebook and TikTok C) Advertising on Facebook C). Fees for real estate brokers. The sad fact is real stuff (that is the stuff you need to live and breath is only 15 % of the GDP. https://prosperousamerica.org/u-s-manufacturings-shrinking-share-of-gdp-and-how-to-catch-up/. Agriculture is less than 1 % of US economy https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/chart-detail?chartId=58270#:~: I suggest that you advocate for a week with no social media that has an advertising(ie attention grabbing) incentive to show what is important to people (even though they do not know it)
Amazing analysis. Your first few paragraphs only re-convinced me that I will never, ever take my kids to Disney. My dad was passionate about not taking us to Disney as we grew up, and I intend to uphold what is now a family tradition. Lol.
So, what is the "unique" experience for kids--how to get as ripped off as much as possible and families will spring for?
Great piece, Oren. I recently started a new marketing and PR biz premised on offering a return to personalized, non-automated service where when you call or email you get me, not a bot or endless automated emails and no way to speak to a real person when there is a problem.
Efficiency for the profiteer is at the expense of the consumer and the snotty managerial class thinks we all have no choice. They are wrong and eventually these geeks will not be able to hide under this fake indifferent sales model because the majority of them are lazy and have no social skills. The pendulum will swing back eventually in spite of so-called efficient high-tech. Humans are not robots.
My son took his family to Disney World ( they stayed off site), thinking it would be like Disney of his childhood. No planning ahead, just thought he would buy a ticket at the gate like we did when he was a kid. He said the whole experience was a stressful nightmare, not fun at all and way too expensive. They lasted one day, and went to other non- Disney places for entertainment in the area for the rest of the week. Such a shame. He has a large family and is not wealthy.
Thank god the US is chock full of spectacular lakes, mountains, beaches, and even other non-Disney amusement parks so I never need to waste my savings or vacation time visiting the rat.
This has been life, in the Lighting Lane, for the painfully few Latin Americans who’ve been able to afford it. For the rest, it’s mostly a series of ever deeper “shitholes” :-/
If you wanna learn about inequality, come to Panama.
Or Mexico City.
That’s actually were a live most of the year, and believe when I tell you, Panama has gotten worse. We’re in a virtual tie with Brazil and Colombia for first, depending on the measure, but it’s freakin brutal either way
A couple of years before Disney introduced their app, I took a trip where I made the conscious decision to not use my phone while in the parks, to be as present as I could be with my wife and kid. I bought a point and shoot camera, left my phone in my hotel room, and I think had one of the best vacations I’ve had there, because I was most focused on my family. The fact that this is something which is literally impossible to do now due to the ticketing system is enormously depressing to me. Due to the expense, we’re not planning on going back, but even if we could afford it I probably wouldn’t due to the complexity. I already have enough to do during my work week, I don’t want my vacation to be another version of work, and that’s how Disney feels like it’s made the parks. An experience of being nickeled and dimed for sure, but also one where having a good experience is constant, stressful work rather than relaxation.
Your observation that all of America’s economy is turning into this is a good one, as I process receipts for my FSA, check to see how best to manage my medical care, try to figure out how to deal with the fact my son’s orthodontic costs have exceeded his lifetime benefits for this and where I can get tax benefits to pay for this thing. It’s all constant, overwhelming work to try to maximize what you can get out of the system.
I wish they would just price the tickets high enough that there were fewer people in the park and all the lines were shorter. Once I pay I don't want to have to keep thinking about shit. If its too expensive I can just not go.
Thank you for these important lessons about how easily bad leadership can devalue an asset. Why does this Mickey Mouse example remind me of the mini-me Muskrats’ mishandling (focusing on USAID because it’s investigating Starlink rather than federal procurement) of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real progress on government efficiency, effectiveness and fiscal common sense?
So essentially, in order to have an enjoyable Disney experience, one must either:
A) have f-you money to buy the uber-pass
B) designate at least one member of your group to be a full time master planner while at the park plus commit hours to researching all the insider tricks and pre-planning, basically sacrificing their personal enjoyment for the rest of the group
C) not actually plan to get on any particular rides
Actually showing up and having an experience that is enjoyable AND spontaneous rather than neurotically pre planned is apparently not possible any more.
Fastlane etc. originally made sense as a way to wait in line without physically being in line, allowing higher utilization of all rides and improving the experience for guests. But of course parks couldn’t resist enshittification by gamifying and monetizing the fastlanes.
The obvious answer is that they are simply letting in too many people for too few top-tier rides, and they ideally ought to build more rides, cap attendance lower, and raise base ticket prices. Maybe implement a ticket lottery like the most popular national parks.
Instead they seem to be on a path to enshittify until demand collapses.
I'm quite confident they have run lots of complex pricing algorithms and have landed on this one as the most profitable for them .
Clearly there is a lot of pent-up demand for Disney theme parks, raising the question of why they don’t build more. It seems much of our whole economy has become an exercise in squeezing and manipulating customers rather than serving them. Selling a new experience or product costs money and capital, while dinging them with extra fees and costs after they’ve paid the upfront cost is pure profit.
Well, when you consider the whole pricing model of Disney is but a reflection of income being distributed away from the broad middle and toward the increasingly fat right tail of the distribution, investment in new theme parks becomes a little harder to justify.
Same phenomenon with housing...we build fewer homes overall and the ones we do build tend to be upmarket.