Earlier today, former Walt Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde took to Instagram to tackle the dilemma: “should theme parks just be fun?”
Joe posits that “people must be paying this kind of money and making this kind of effort for a reward that is of higher value, more rare, and of greater impact than fun”. He goes on to say that the sensation of being transported “magically into another place or another time” is the reward that people should find when visiting theme parks.
Guests who visit Disney Parks make a large investment. According to Rohde, the product they are purchasing isn’t a character; it’s a memory. It’s an experience.
Joe Rohde recently retired from Walt Disney Imagineering. Hopefully he left behind some teammates who share his ideals.
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We can only hope the higher ups at Disney realize this before it is too late.
Are you hearing any rumors on the Citizens of Hollywood? Do you think they will return or will Disney take the corporate approach (never waste a good crisis) and budget cut them out permanently?
He’s 100% right, and this is why Disney has (historically) been unique from other theme parks.
Love Joe Rohde! Couldn’t agree more in what he said “the sensation of being transported magically into another place or another time.” THAT is exactly what I expect from Disney. Not a muted theme at a hotel, not a ride with no backstory. A true genuine experience.
Finally a Walt Disney person says what the world has been saying all along. Disney needs to go pre-pandemic normal already. It is very expensive to travel and stay at Disney. Its not worth coming with no magic. I can ride a roller coaster here in Oklahoma a lot cheaper the Disney.. come on Chapek…Put peoples money on the “worth it” path. BE NORMAL.
Found the dummy that didn’t read.
I love Disney, the expirience has always left me sad to leave. But price hikes and the removal of the annual passes has finally completely priced me out. Just as I was finally in a position to afford the Annual pass and to be able to expirience Disney more then once every 10 years…Covid happened…and now the option is gone. My poor Husband, our Honeymoon was his first time going to Disneyland and he saw the price hikes and stuff and said “Well…I will never see Disneyland again…”
You really ain’t missing much. Your better off spending that money on something with better return on investment