Orlando Flame Date : 17-Jul-90 From : Dale Malone To : Rick PearrowSubject : Mutant Disney Ninja Leggetts
RP was replying to a message originally to Fred Leggett
RP> .... You are not in the minority, however I feel RP> Disney will charge whatever they wish because they
RP> can get it. ...
I really suspect you have never run a business. You don't charge what you wish, you have to strike a balance between what you would like to get, what the market will bear, and what competition you have.
RP> People aren't going to just stop going due to a higher
RP> ticket. I agree, the admission in itself is way too much to
RP> pay, but if a business continues to rake in a profit, they
RP> will continue in thier ways.
If a business does not “continue to rake in a profit,” that entity will cease being a business and become a memory. It's employees will all be terminated and this conversation will be moot.
The real problem here, is not what they are charging, because if they charged too much, they would have no one visiting there. The problem is lack of good Yankee competition.
But, then they spent 100s of millions of dollars to create the attraction and not a lot of other businesses can match that outlay of funds.
The ones complaining about how an employee is treated, seem to forget that that was the magic that created the Magic Kingdom in the first place. In the late 1950s, it was amazing to see smiling faces on people while cleaning horse droppings off the bricks of Main Street U.S.A., and to go to a shooting-gallery in Frontier Land and not have to suffer a barker's taunts, was a blessing and a pleasant surprise.
The pride and lasting accomplishment of Walt Disney was his foresight, and his refusal to crumple under those that wanted to make a quick buck.
He built Disneyland as a monument to his dreams, but I will guarantee
you, that he planned to “rake in a profit!”
He insured that some 30 years later, his project would still be running, by two
simple expedients:
1) He looked to the future, and his visionary ability is still a
subject for textbooks today (not everyone thought that putting a multi-million
dollar “playground” in an area much removed from Los Angeles, and in the midst
of orange groves, and right in the vicinity of Knott's Berry Farm, was a good
idea, nor did they think that spending all the extra millions of dollars for
the marvels of technology that are below-ground, out of sight, were even
feasible.);
2) He demanded, and got, a smiling face and a knowledgeable
employee for every task in the park. He again spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars on costumes, scripts, and “etiquette” classes, so that the visitors to
his dream would not be faced with the vinegar dispositions that were
commonplace in carny's, the closest parallel to his innovative venture at that
time.
For those reasons his dream has endured. For those reasons, the profits continue to be “raked” in. For those reasons, millions around the globe have been able to share, if only for a week, or even an afternoon, a peek into a better world.
The genius of Walt Disney is in the subtle seeds planted into your subconscious by a visit to his parks.
Written by Dale E. Malone, Any
comments to offer me?
The Great & Wonderful Kahuna wants to know!
Last
modified: April 26, 2009