Will the “Bubble” Save Disney’s Summer? Disney Announcement Insights
As if little announcements would keep attention away from the opening of Epic Universe, Disney keeps dropping posts and instagrams about what’s on their docket in the next months to come. We’ll take a look at this, and give insight to what it means. Disneyland has a big 70th anniversary coming, but what of The Walt Disney World Resort? We’ll share what we’ve learned and what it means, especially in the context of a FastCompany article where Disney experts shared what it means to create the “Disney Bubble”. Then we’ll share about another time when Diagon Alley opened at Universal here in Orlando and how Disney pivoted to create a Frozen Summer. Disney needs to save summer, is this possible? We’ll look at how in a matter of weeks, Disney turned around the summer of 2014 and made come alive. Join us as we look at saving Disney’s Summer, along with Disney announcement insights.
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Insights From Announcements
- Now: Cast Previews for Epic Universe
- Now: A very impressive Epcot Flower & Garden Festival
- Spring 2025 or First Half of 2025: GEO-082 Spaceship Earth Lounge
- May 21st, Blizzard Beach will reopen from May 21st to September 7th. This will add to Typhoon Lagoon which is already open. This will be the first time since the pandemic 5 years ago that both parks were open at the same time.
- May 22nd: Epic Universe Opens
- May 27th: The Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure and Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After
- May 27th: Kid Zones in Storybook Circus, Tomorrowland with Stitch, & CommuniCore Hall at Epcot with Goofy. Through September 1, 2025. “Expect a mix of games, music, dancing, and water play to help families cool down.”
- Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away set to open Summer 2025?
- Blue Fairy
- Peter Pan & Wendy
- Frozen
- Coco
- Moana
- Encanto
- Disney Princesses & Princes–Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tiana & Belle
- Wish–Is this the new Elliott?
- Mickey & Friends–Snow White? Alice? Pinocchio?
- June 7: Muppet zone closes at Studios.
- August 28th Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Opens
- Late Summer 2025 Test Track Reopens
- August: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will close
The thing that could have saved Epcot this year is a brand new version of Test Track, but that isn’t saving Disney’s summer.
The Disney Bubble
A press event–or executive panel– came out of no where the other day. It included a panel of Walt Disney World executives (VPs and senior VPs) who spoke of “The Disney Bubble” This is not a phrase Disney has used in its marketing before. Usually they talk about staying “inside the magic”. This direct “bubble” analogy has everything to do with why you want to visit Walt Disney World and not the big competitor next door. Here is what they describe as the strength of their bubble:
- “Our Breadth is our Superpower”
- They have acknowledged that the bubble can get complicated. The Guest relations team in the park was one key solution in addressing that
- The way to make the bubble manageable is by empowering Cast Members to create Pixie Dust moments and individually interact with others.
- “We’re continuing to ideate and create ways that they can have moments and memories that will keep them coming back to property every time they come back to Walt Disney World.”
This helps us understand some of the other things going on at Walt Disney World to reinforce the bubble.
- Obviously Disney has long term major attractions coming to the parks. That will help to preserve the bubble. Also refurbishments, such as Buzz Lightyear, also matter. This is an effort to balance long-term and near-term experiences. To that end Kirk shared that roughly one third of domestic visitors have not seen Pandora – The World of Avatar. “Think about that: they haven’t seen Pandora, Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, TRON / Lightcycle Run, right? So, when they come here, all of those experiences will still be new to them,” he said. “But at the same time, we have to continue to have fresh new experiences for the guests who come more often.”
- Nothing keeps people in the bubble than Disney Vacation Club. When you’ve paid a lot of money to stay on property for the next 50 years, you have created a stronger bubble. To that end:
- Disney Lakeshore Lodge is vertical and is moving forward in a big way. It is being constructed on the former site of Disney’s River Country and is believed to have a strong water play element to go with it.
- Château de Voyage is opening up on the main level of the Hotel du Canada building in Epcot. It includes a detailed room model from the Disney’s Polynesian Village & Bungalows. Questionable about how good foot traffic will be.
- Returning to the water parks, Disney has made it possible to play for free on the first day of a Disney Resort stay.
- Supporting all this are new discounts for resort rooms and tickets to include 50% off on children’s tickets during this summer.
Saving Summer–A Frozen Lesson
Let us share a little tale of how Disney countered the last big Harry Potter opening, and how it could offer us insights for how to make summer much better here at Walt Disney World.
The message is that unless management pivots, nothing can save Disney’s Animal Kingdom–at least until big new attractions happen in the park. It jumped almost two million that first year (though it didn’t open until may, and then went a million and a quarter higher the next year, beating every American park except Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. It needs nighttime attendance.
In short, if you want to save the bubble–provide something worth staying for.
Time to Travel!
Hopefully this podcast has made you realize you need help and support in planning your next trip to Disney. David and Leah with Zanolla Travel know Disney in ways few do and they can make your next trip on land or sea an exciting one–or at least less stressful! Be sure to contact them as you explore your next vacation, whether it is a Disney theme park vacation, a cruise, or an Adventure by Disney. There is no charge to utilize their services, but it will save you enormous time getting all the details right, and with their insight you can be assured you’re going to experience the best trip possible. Contact them today!
David & Leah Zanolla
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