In 1994, Disney officials were worried about a decline in attendance, after peaking at 33.7 million visitors in 1990. Today the number of visitors exceeds 56 million (uscitytraveler.com), and the resort far exceeds any other as the most visited in the world. But in 1994, the honeymoon period for 5-year-old Disney-MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios) was over. And, we were well into a backlash of the materialistic 80s. The economy was no longer booming, and people were tightening up.

rising ticket prices change demographic

According the the Orlando Sentinel (1994), the primary factors driving the decline were the Gulf War (and subsequent decline in international visitors) and a surge in costs. Rapidly rising prices made a WDW vacation out of reach for many families. In 1984, a one-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom was $18 and had risen to $38 (dang, that sounds nice) in just 10 years under Chairman Michael Continue reading “Looking Back at WDW 25 Years Ago – Beginnings of a Shift to Marketing Disney as an Adult Destination” →