Survey Reveals Bleak Future for Disney Fans—Unless You’re Among the Wealthiest

Every year, Katapult, the international guest experience design company, releases its survey on theme park trends and guests’ wants/needs. This year’s survey looked at the impact of guest behavior and how theme parks can change over the next five years to meet that need.

According to the survey results, guests are looking for more immersive lands based on pre-existing intellectual properties and want to live permanently in a theme park or resort.

These results are great news for uber-wealthy and younger theme park guests but terrible news for older Disney World guests who want less IP and poorer guests who can’t afford to quit their jobs and move into a park.

Robbie Jones, insights direct at Katapult, said, 

The megatrend of ‘living leisure’ is starting to take hold as consumers in their everyday lives demand more out-of-home entertainment. While for superfans, living in theme parks is a genuine dream and ambition, for the majority, we see this trend driving surging demand for more themed overnight stays, and leisure on local high streets.

Disney World has already started living in themed communities with Disney Golden Oak. Located just four miles from Magic Kingdom, these homes can cost millions.

With guests clamoring for in-park/resort living, Disney could charge tens of millions of dollars to guests for the opportunity to live with the Walt Disney World Resort. With Disney’s desire to monetize every aspect of the park and an open tract of land near Magic Kingdom, anything is possible.

Another disturbing trend poised to continue is using IPs in the parks. According to the survey, 65 percent of Gen Zers (born between 1997 and 2012) have “imagined themselves entering the worlds of the television shows they have watched.” This comes when this generation starts earning disposable income for the first time.

Jones continued: 

With over 1.3 billion people having SVOD (subscription video on demand) services, and a growing desire for bricks-and-mortar experiences as part of the brand’s omni-channel – it is no wonder the location-based entertainment industry revenue alone is set to exceed $4 billion by 2030.

Disney has been at the forefront of using its IP in the parks rather than creating rides around original storylines. This has also become one of older Disney fans’ main complaints about park updates.

If this survey is any indication, theme parks will continue to push their IPs and cater to their wealthier guests for the foreseeable future.