Disney Parks...No Longer Family Friendly?

Are we literally at a point in time where we can say that the Disney parks here in the US are no longer the family friendly destinations that they once were? And if true, does Disney even care? Some news that came out recently would lead you to believe Disney does NOT care. Below are some reasons we are asking this.

For starters...Disney has become embroiled in today's culture war. Since covid, Disney has made it a priority to hire and showcase individuals who prefer to be anything other than what they were born to be. For a lot of families, seeing men with hairy legs and beards dressed as women is not what they prefer to see when taking the children to what was once "the most magical place on earth." And no one can blame them. A family theme park should not have to be a place where you constantly need to explain why that female castmember is trying to grow facial hair or why that male castmember is wearing lipstick and pantyhose.

In addition, Disney started to strip away some of the perks that made things easier on a family such as Disney's "Magical Express." Magical express was one of the parks that helped offset some of the already high costs of attending the WDW resort. A family that had to shell out a lot of money already for airfare could at least save money on transportation once they reached Orlando. And up until recently, booking deals such as "free dining" were eliminated as well .

But the final straw that may have just broken the backs of families was Disney's latest announcement of price hikes at the parks. To visit one day at WDW during peak season can cost upward of $200 per person. That is before any purchase of lightning lanes or food or resort room stays etc. So a family of 4 will have to absorb $800 just to visit one park one day. This pricing move has now officially priced out a lot of middle class American families. Disney's point of diminishing returns may have finally been reached, in our opinion.

But what is really sad about all of this is it seems Disney doesn't really care. That may shock you but let me tell you why. Disney Corp has repeatedly shown over the past 5 years that they are only interested in the profit they are going to report to their shareholders and making sure they hold their political line on social issues. Perks being stripped while prices continue to rise is a sure indication of that. But it also appears that Disney is shifting it's focus away from families and now more towards those in the upper tax brackets of society. Disney parks are becoming a play ground for the wealthy and the woke and adults with no children.

Their resort focus has been on adding more room space while drifting further and further away from the theming that made them so famous and attractive to parents with small children. Just take a look at the Polynesian Resort additions and you can see what we mean. Off peak season will cost between $650 (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and $1200 per night (Grand Floridian) average. So a family of 4 will end up spending well over $7000 for a 5 night stay in a deluxe resort and over $4500 for their cheapest resort options (i.e. Pop Century). That is before food and lightning lanes and souvenirs and any airfare costs that might have been incurred.

The average amount of money that a family of 4 has spent so far this year is between $5000 and $8000 and that includes airfare, lodging, food, tours and souvenirs. Once you add in food and airfare to those Disney numbers above, you can see that Disney is outpacing that average. Add in those costs and families in deluxe resorts will be spending well over $10,000 and families on more of a budget will be spending close to $7000 for a 5 night stay.

Again...what does this all mean? It means that a lot of average families with kids will either go and just make it a much shorter trip or they won't go at all. We used to encourage our cients to at least make it a 5 night stay so they can visit one of the 4 WDW parks per day and usually we recommended 5 days of tickets so someone could go back to their favorite park again and visit some of the attractions that they missed on their first visit. Those 5 night trips used to cost a family between $2500 and $3400 including the tickets, food and ground transportation (Disney's Magical Express) back in 2010. Those costs have more than doubled for the budget-minded family.

So is there in any good news in the foreseeable future for what once was the happiest and most magical place on earth? Possibly. Unfortunately once prices go up in places like this, the chance of them coming down is almost 0%. But what we are now seeing is some small subtle changes being made. Disney has brought back airline check in at the Pop Century Resort. That has sparked the rumors that Disney may be toying with bringing back Magical Express. We are seeing more and more "deals" being offered presently than in the last 5 or so years (such as free dining) which tells us that future sales have not been as strong as maybe they were planning for. And when have you ever seen Disney run so many TV ads? They are running pretty regularly these days. Will a drop in attendance be the cause of Disney changing courses? Or do their TV ads tell us they are now trying to position themselves as a destination for the adults? Time will tell but for now it seems Disney has moved on from being the domestic destination of choice for parents with kids and is putting their focus elsewhere.

I hope Universal Orlando is paying attention and sees some of the failures of their biggest competitor. Opportunity may be knocking for them. We shall all see soon enough.