The Plus Side of a Bad Economy

For Disney and its employees the bad economy has been awful. Too many people have lost their jobs. I haven’t been in the parks since December 2008 but I’m guessing there have been some cut backs there too if you look for them. I know Fatasmic has been cut back to only a couple of nights a week. Disney seems to be saving where ever they can.

There is one bright side. Many people were able to afford to go do Disney over the last few months. The discounts being offered have been substantial allowing many who otherwise couldn’t have afforded to go to Disney, take a nice Disney vacation.

In some ways I wish the economy would stay down. If it did I might be able to afford to go back in February. Right now Disney doesn’t think that’s going to happen. In my opinion the release free dining for the 4th quarter is a sign that Disney thinks the end is in site. If they believed a prolonged downturn was in sight, you would have seen an extension of the four get three free that is currently being offered through the summer.

There are some other options the Disney could throw out there and draw some people into the parks. Here are a few:

1 – Instead of free dining do a gift card. Free dining is tough sometimes. It packs the restaurants and you always end up eating more than you should. A gift card would be a nice change of pace.

2 – Free services – In many ways I think this would be the most profitable. Instead of discounting the rooms or giving free dining, make the extras free. I’m talking about horse back riding, a few rounds of golf, or take one of the mini boats out. I think that would attract some people, lower the crowds in the parks, and would be cheaper than the alternatives.

3 – Free tours – Instead of charging people for the tours include them with certain vacation packages.

4 - Add new, free, interactive classes like character training and allow the guest to be an actual character for an hour or so in the parks. This would allow you to either save on employment costs or allow for more guests to interact with a character because more of them would be out and about.