Can Disneyland find space for new fans?
What’s the biggest obstacle standing in the way of Disneyland’s growth? It could be its current fans.
Disneyland might be a California icon, but the resort faces the same challenges to growth as any longtime successful business. Sometimes, what you did to get ahead stands in the way of going further.
In a private meeting with industry reporters last week, Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum expressed the resort’s desire to relentlessly pursue new audiences. That’s not news. Every smart business wants to grow its customer base. The characters and shows that appealed to yesterday’s children do not always hit with today’s. That is why Disneyland next month is debuting a new production starring animated TV character Bluey.
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Bluey should help Disneyland appeal to new families. But millions of young adults who did not grow up with the Disneyland habit still find plenty of reasons not to visit the resort. Disneyland offers no nightclubs in its entertainment district. The parks schedule no headliner concert series like Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and the SeaWorld theme parks do in the spring.
The young adults I spoke with also cited other common reasons for not visiting: high prices, long lines and the pressure of dealing with both of those challenges.
Many of the decisions that Disney has made to maximize revenue from its most loyal fans have compromised Disney’s ability to reach new ones. Magic Key annual passholders flood the parks, allowing Disneyland to charge higher prices for daily tickets. The large crowds also allow Disneyland to charge for line-skipping Lightning Lane passes, increasing wait times for guests who do not spend extra for them.
The irony? Many of Disneyland’s most loyal fans fell in love with the parks back when variable pricing and reservations did not fill the parks every day of the year and Disneyland did not charge for Fastpasses. But there is no way that Disneyland is going to give up the many millions of dollars in revenue that these new systems deliver. The Disneyland that its current fans fell in love with is gone. So what can the resort offer to make a new generation of fans fall in love with it?
That is the challenge that Mazloum and his team faces. Disneyland remains affordable relative to other entertainment options if you commit to it. Buy a Magic Key and use it as much as you can. Hundreds of thousands of Disney adults have done that. But there are millions of potential, occasional Disneyland visitors out there who do not want any part of the Disney adult lifestyle. What is their way in?
Ultimately, that might not be the question of the moment for Disneyland leadership. More than 17 million visitors walk through the gates of Disneyland each year, with another 10 million entering Disney California Adventure. Until the parks increase their capacities by expanding their footprints and adding more attractions through DisneylandForward plans, there simply is no space for new fans at Disneyland.
Disney’s current fans are literally standing in the way of the resort welcoming new ones.
