Josh D’Amaro Speaks On Disney Data Collection And The End of the Park Reservation System
Over the last five years or so, Disney has ramped up their efforts to collect data on their guests in order to better understand trends, and meet guest needs.
For theme park fans, the biggest change has been the advent of the My Disney Experience app and the park reservation system.
Photo: App Store
Recently, however, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy has talked about how Disney is looking to further expand the way they use data, even using Disney+ as a metric to tell the company which direction to head.
Josh D’Amaro Talks Disney Parks Data
At the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference today, Chairman of Disney Parks, Resorts, and Experiences Josh D’Amaro talked about how Disney uses its data, and the benefits that come along with it.
“Yes. I mean pre-COVID, and particularly coming out of COVID, we became a lot more precise in terms of how we were thinking about our yield management strategy. And to your point, we made some pretty significant investments in software and technology to get us there. We have a reservation system that we put in place, which helps us better predict who’s going to be in the park, and how to manage that most effectively. We’re much more precise in terms of how we think about promotions and targeting, et cetera.”
Photo: The Walt Disney Company-
Josh D’Amaro (Chairman; Disney Parks, Experiences and Products)
According to D’Amaro, the more Disney knows, the better it is able to meet guests’ expectations:
“Like I said, we know who’s coming to our parks and when they’re coming to our parks, that allows us to plan our labor much more aggressively. We can be a lot more precise in our targeting of consumers and how we think about promotions and price offerings, et cetera,” he said.
Sharing Data Across The Company
One of the big initiatives for Disney over the coming months will be to synchronize the data that different branches of the company collect and share that information.
By doing so, Disney believes it can better understand its fans and deliver an improved product.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File
“From a Walt Disney company perspective and an enterprise perspective, we have quite a bit of work going on right now to synchronize the data from each of the businesses together. So that I know Phil and specifically what Phil is interested in, whether you’re an ESPN fan or you’re a Marvel franchise fan or you’ve been to the park 6 times before. Bringing that data together, such that I can talk to you — okay, so that I can talk to you in a much more progressive way that meets your needs and meets our commercial needs. There’s a huge benefit to bringing that data together and that is certainly underway,” D’Amaro explained.
Photo: Disney
Fans Push Back On Reservation System
After years of pushback on the park reservation system, Disney recently announced that it would be phasing out the process for guests with date-specific tickets.
D’Amaro explained that guest experience is still the company’s top priority, and finding ways to simplify the Disney experience is the company’s goal.
“We’ll continue to invest in technology to simplify the experience. And we’ll continue to make changes in terms of how we operate these theme parks to make it easier and more accessible for our guests.”
Furthermore, now that Disney has years of data to look at, the company understands its consumer trends better. The park reservation system, for example, has become redundant.
“So I have a pretty good idea of where guests are going to be, which parks they’re going to choose, and so we’re relaxing that guideline now to take one additional step out of the process,” D’Amaro stated.
What Disney and its fans hope to find is a happy medium. As such, Disney will continue to invest in technology, while making changes to its systems in order to make the guest experience better.
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