This week I went to Disneyland for the first time ever. While waiting in line for Splash Mountain—part of a tightly planned schedule my boyfriend created to maximize my experience—we had an interesting conversation about the psychology of visiting the happiest place on Earth. He couldn’t remember who conducted this research study, but I found it so fascinating I feel compelled to discuss it here.
Walt Disney, he said, created something brilliant primarily because it gives the illusion of diverse experiences contained under one umbrella brand. In addition to exploring a variety of fantasy lands, a Disney guest can also experience the western frontier, New Orleans Square, Hollywood, and the remote jungles of Africa and Asia. He can ride a steam-powered locomotive, a monorail, a double-decker bus, and a horse-drawn streetcar. One day and $94 later, he feels he’s seen and experienced more life than he’d likely fit in the average year. Perhaps this is why Disney’s parks outperformed the rest of the company in the first quarter of 2009—and despite Disney’s overall decline in net income, park attendance in February was still up over that time in 2008. (more…)
