Essentially, the true appeal of DisneyWorld is that it is a status symbol. Going to Disney is essentially a rite of passage that signifies I am solidly middle class. Moreso, it is a culturally accepted luxury vacation that has no major social stigmas.
We need to look at who are the smartest people on Bob Iger’s payroll. The suits in the M&A department are not numero uno, though I can’t blame anyone for guessing that. Another solid guess would be their lawyers, though that isn’t it either. “Dan, is it the talking heads?” a confused reader might ask. No. It sure as hell isn’t the writers either.. No, the true cognitive engines of that company work in marketing. Anecdotal as it may be, my third-grade teacher quipped to the class on a field trip that we should tell Mom and Dad to start pinching pennies so they can take you to Disney. This event occurred in the 1990’s, and given that Disney has only grown exponentially since then, it’s safe to say that I’m far from the only one who has heard that message from a non-Disney employee. Disney has captured multi-generation American families to a truly impressive degree, and that is certainly a credit to their marketing machine.
The Disney marketing machine has worked wonders for The Mouse over the course of many decades. It has reached the point where one can openly talk about a family vacation to Disney without receiving any side-eyed stares. Saying I took the kids to Disney shows that you’re fun-loving yet sensible. Talking about your trip to Disney, more importantly, signals that I am middle-class enough to afford this luxurious vacation, regardless of if you stayed in one of their on-site budget hotels or in one of their posher accommodations. My upbringing was one in which disposable income wasn’t exactly free-flowing, thus I never visited Disney until I was a college-educated, independent and financially sound adult. Many in my inner circle have similar experiences; a Disney trip proved that we had surpassed the poverty of our parent’s (who were not at fault for their inability to afford The Mouse, to be abundantly clear).
A Disney trip (especially multiple or yearly Disney trips) is a flex, much in the same way shopping at Whole Foods or driving a BMW are flexes. However, the flex is a unique one; it’s not too much of a flex in that it wouldn’t totally alienate you from the person that you’re flexing on. Moreover, frequent trips to Disney are a status symbol for another reason; it serves as a quantifiable metric (at least in the eyes of rabid Disney fans) as to who’s the bigger fan of Disney in a given conversation. The yearly Disney visitor reigns supreme (somehow?) over the never-been or visited once or twice crowd, as if their deeper pockets signify a deeper-seeded love of The Mouse.
Contrast that with a vacation to other luxury hotspots such as Monaco or Dubai. Both locales are known for being luxury playgrounds, much like Disney. However, both of those locales have a pricing floor that prohibits most Americans from experiencing them (and to be clear, that is by design). Bringing up a vacation that you took to Dubai or Monaco is unlikely to win you any friends. In fact, most people would at best think that you are out of touch, or at worst, think that you’re a complete douchebag for mentioning these trips.
Make no mistake, Disney is a luxury vacation, especially if you are staying on-site. Once the vacationing family arrives to the Orlando airport, little is required of them in order to enjoy the vacation. One can board a shuttle to their Disney hotel, get near-constant concierge service, and never be too far from or wait for unhealthy food (ditto for alcohol). With the exception of walking long distances, a Disney trip is essentially effortless. Disney’s customer service and concierge are legendary, thus enabling a level of turn-off-your-brain pampering that solidly middle-class Americans can experience. Yes, you read that correctly; Disney is a turn your brain off trip. It doesn’t require Americans to visit another country or to speak a foreign language, nor does it require Americans to navigate a public transit system in the way visiting an EU city would. It requires no haggling with street vendors, no caution against pickpockets, or calculating currency conversions in your head. The most difficult cognitive task Disney asks of guests is some basic advance scheduling, and The Mouse can be pretty forgiving should a guest not even put in that much effort.
Disney has also become a status symbol for younger, childless couples in the last decade or so. In fact, there is even a term for it; Disney adults. It’s not uncommon to see wedding proposals (I’ve personally witnessed one), honeymoons, or even actual weddings (someone I know actually did this) at Disney nowadays. Disney’s marketing machine has removed much of the notion that Disney is just for kids. In a way, Disney has become a status symbol for Millennials on vacation, much in the same way that visiting Paris used to be.
Additionally, Disney is approachable; Disney guests are far more liable to run into a princess or a stormtrooper than they are to run into some panhandling street performer or exotic dancer. Disney banks on it’s low-shock value in other ways as well; Disney offers cuisines from other parts of the world, but there is no pressure to stray far from classic Americana. Disney will not push you outside of your comfort zone, and The Mouse knows that. Vacationing every year in notorious party cities such as Miami, Vegas or Amsterdam carry a social stigma to them. “But Dan, there’s more to Miami than nightlife and cocaine, and there’s more to Vegas than gambling, and ditto for Amsterdam and legal prostitution” a reader will say in a fit of knee-jerk reaction rage. Yes, of course I know that but the point is that those locales are most commonly associated with those activities, and despite a concerted re-branding effort from the elected leadership of those cities, the label remains. These cities should try to poach some of Disney’s marketers!
Welcome to Disney, the Starbucks of vacations…
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