Disney World rising prices are making frequent visitors disappointed. Phrases like ‘Not My Disney’ circulate across social media platforms to express anger.
It is no secret that no one in the larger Disney fandom loves the CEO Bob Chapek. The trajectory of the CEO’s vision for Walt Disney World heavily focuses on profitability.
With the company diversifying its projects to appeal to a broader audience, it fails to integrate any real value of change.
While the top executives at Disney corporation seem satisfied with token diversities and ineffective expansion of Disney projects, fans have caught onto the plans. They are not happy with how things are at Disney.
In the recent Disney Expo 2022, people expressed discontent when they booed Chapek off the stage during the presentation.
Disney World still stands a chance to reclaim the lost magic if they hear the fans. Let’s find out how that is possible through newer projects.
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Disney and Meta collaboration
As Facebook had announced earlier this year about its plans of expanding into the metaverse where reality and virtual reality become inexplicably intertwined, many big players in the market are trying to harness something similar to their benefits.
While people have heavily criticized the metaverse due to its ambiguous nature, Disney has been taking notes. Chapek has shown interest in taking Disney in a new direction where the products they make become more accessible to a larger audience.
But that desire has been contradictory so far, as seen from the rising prices of the theme parks, which are now as expensive as Disney cruises.
Chapek wants to blur the lines between real and virtual entertainment through his plans for Next Generation Storytelling. Disney+ is at the forefront of this business endeavor.
Not only has Disney+ become a platform where Disney-related series are quickly reaching the saturation point, but the executives at Disney are pushing the app as a lifestyle program.
The app will provide a media experience and theme-park-like experiences virtually.
Buying merchandise, exploring the theme parks, and watching entertainment will be clubbed together on the platform. All of this will be connected to the Next Gen Storytelling feature.
Is Disney+ the new metaverse?
The app provides an experiential platform where people can experience everything Dinsey. Not only will it provide a movie experience to the fans but also various experiences.
Since going to actual Disney parks has become expensive, Chapek and the others hope that Disney+ will help bring in people who can’t access the real experiences of visiting the theme parks and allow them to experience it virtually.
Two unique products are going to be linked with Disney+ in the future. 3D glasses or goggles and membership apps will feature prominently in plans.
At the same time, Chapek has expressed that he wants to introduce something more cutting-edge than 3D goggles or something akin to VR sets, both of which are not inexpensive means.
Chapek has also stated that membership apps can be linked to Disney+ in a way that will make user-experience enriching.
The membership app is under development, and not a lot is public about its product. But as far as the news goes, the membership app will bring a cohesive feature of streaming, shopping, and park-hopping through virtual means.
New Executive position
As news of Next Gen Storytelling develops, a new executive position is available at Disney. Senior Vice President of the Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences is a position the executives have added to their Rolodex. They have also appointed a person, Mike White, to this post.
The digital technology and how Disney plans to integrate that into its plans for the next hundred years have been laid out.
Chapek has reportedly refused to broker any comparison between Disney’s Storytelling project and the metaverse.
Chapek has also said that he wants to differentiate and innovate how they can further modify technology to provide unique experiences to customers.
He laid down the outline of the company’s developments that will collect relevant data from the theme parks.
This data will reflect customer habits, preferences, and tendencies and data from streaming services to combine and gain something cohesive and effective. The data will come from Lucasfilm and Marvel studios.
Disney World rising prices criticized by Just Don
YouTuber Don shared a video on his channel, Just Don, expressing his disgust with the new format. He titled his video, “I DON’T HATE DISNEY, THEY HATE ME,” and elaborated on what he feels is going wrong with Disney according to veteran fans like him!
Walt Disney World has existed for 51 years, and some people grew up with Disney. They recall the old times, the vision of Walt Disney, and how it made people’s lives happier. It is easier for a veteran to distinguish how Disney parks have evolved over the years and what has changed.
He criticized the CEO by stating that he promised to provide experiences but did is talk and raise prices. He also stated that the future of Disney is only to welcome the rich who can afford enormous prices but not the ordinary. Allegedly, this is a strategy to reduce crowds and make the experience fantastic for the select few who can pay the price!
Things have not looked suitable for Disney fans since Chapek took from Iger in 2020. There is discontent and dissatisfaction with how Disney handled the pandemic.
They laid off around 15,000 employees and fired entertainment performers from the theme parks. However, they increased executive bonuses and hiking theme park tickets.
The changes made to Genie+ and the removal of FastPasses have rubbed the fans wrongly. While Disney tries to bring everything under control, their recent failure to listen to the fans has led to the production of mediocre to mundane movies and series.
Final thoughts
Disney World rising prices affect the majority. However, the people ready to have their once-in-a-lifetime experience are happy to pay. On the other hand, they would expect fewer crowds to make every penny worth their visit to Disney parks.
Things might change in the future with the Next Generation Storytelling project. But that can never replace what it feels like to visit the theme parks physically!
