Disney Tourists: Playing Along Since 1957

By: Hannah Burbach

5/19/17

Surveys1 (Photographer). (2012, July 7).

Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com

Welcome back, fellow Disney enthusiasts! If you read my last article, then you’re well informed of a few theories behind the Mickey Mouse ears: the American Dream, societal hierarchy, lack of freedom, etc. But, let’s be honest here, theories are good, you know, in theory, but the real question is: do they apply to real life? I set out to answer that question and carried out my own primary research on this topic because I wanted to see if my results correlated with Johnson, Pike, and Wright’s ideas. I wished to know if people seemed to follow Disney’s mannerisms of crowd control or if the attempts to manipulate thousands of people fail.

Methodology

I made a survey through Google forms, like any self-respecting undergraduate student would, and sent out it to family and friends, with 18 gracious responses. The survey was basically trying to find if people succumbed to Disney’s control, such as buying food within the parks and watching the parades. It also includes Disneyland because, for this particular area of research, both are managed in the same way. In the survey, I asked the following questions:

• When was your last trip to Disney World/Disneyland?
• What do you feel when you are in a Disney park?
• Do you watch the parades when they come around? Why?
• When you went to a park, did you bring your own food or did you purchase it inside the park? Why?
• Did you purchase souvenirs while inside a Disney World/Disneyland park? Why?
  Have you ever used Fast Passes for a ride?
• Have you ever stayed at a Disney World/Disneyland resort? If so, did you use their transportation services to get to and from the parks?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, how would you rate your experience at Walt Disney World/Disneyland?

10/10 Recommend Disney Parks

Generally, most of the participants said that they were excited and happy and amazed while in a Disney park, and all of those who responded as such rated their experience as an 8/10 or higher. Only one participant seemed to have had a bad experience, saying the park made them feel stressed and rating their trip as a 2/10. Translation: Disney World and Disneyland are great places… okay, no. That’s not the actual translation. The real one is that people feel all these emotions in response to the Disney environment while completely unaware that they are being manipulated both economically and regarding their mobility from place to place within the park.

Parades, Restaurants, Souvenirs – Oh My!

As I stated in my previous blog post, the parades in the center of the parks are one of the major ways the park managers maintain order. A ton of tourists flock to the bright lights, the dancing, and the music, leaving the outer rings of the parks relatively empty and the lines for the rides significantly shorter. Three-quarters of individuals answered that they sometimes or always watch the parades as the come. One responder’s answer perfectly sums up how the parade version of crowd control works: “Not the whole parade, but I stop by and watch it sometimes because the crowds gather around and it's hard to walk from ride to ride when a parade is ongoing.”

DisneyDreamz (Photographer). (2009, May 15). Retrieved from

http://www.flickr.com

Another way that Disney World and Disneyland generate a lot of income is by opening non- chain, thematic restaurants. Almost all of the survey participants said they both ate food at those restaurants and also brought food in. The reasoning for eating in the parks: it’s all a part of the experience. This is a true statement, as the waiters and waitresses dress up and act the part and the internal environment is specific to the area of the park. For example, when my family traveled to Disney World when I was eight, we were all about the thematic experience. One restaurant I remember is Pecos Bill Café, located in Frontierland in Magic Kingdom. The food was all Old Western-style and the waiters dressed in cowboy boots and hats. But, we also carried our own food into the park because the grub is EXPENSIVE! This is a personal example, but it is a trend I noticed in my observations while I visited Disney World and also in my survey.

Natlee75 (Photographer). (2014, May 17).

Retrieved from http://flickr.com

Similar to the dining, buying souvenirs is a part of the package. Kids love to buy that perfect pirate necklace in Adventureland or that adorable Ham Pillow Pet™ waiting outside Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (that second example was me… two years ago… when I was a 17-year old junior in high school). Adults aren’t exempt from the trap either; they can’t wait to purchase a sweatshirt or ball cap to commemorate their time. Again, 14 out of the 18 participants recorded that they bought a souvenir from Disneyland or Disney World at one time or another. In my opinion, one person gave the perfect answer that sums up everyone’s souvenir-buying experiences while in Disney: “I’m a Disney hoarder.” We, as consumers, see one thing and eagerly grab it, and then we want more and more because when it comes to Disney souvenirs, the more the merrier. But, allow me to be frank, the same souvenirs are waiting at the friendly neighborhood Target for a significantly cheaper price. Yet, for some reason, people are made to think that the souvenirs at the parks are somehow more special or more legitimate even though they’re not. That’s the Disney mind games, for you.

The Perfect Utopia

With all these structures in place, Disney World and Disneyland are essentially the perfect Utopia: they function economically on their own and each person follows the patterns and unspoken rules. My results simply support the ideas that Johnson, Pike, and Wright presented because people do behave as though they are being controlled a certain way, even if they don’t realize it. And this information may drive someone to despise the parks for taking away their freedom, but I doubt it because everyone likes to lose control for a little while and not have any worries. Like my good pals Timon and Pumba like to say: Hakuna Matata.