By Robert Niles: Walt Disney World is, by far, the world's most popular theme park vacation destination, attracting tens of millions of visitors each year. But recent promotions have shown that the Walt Disney Company's not satisfied with offering leading vacation destinations. The company wants consumers to see Disney as a lifestyle brand, with which they connect every day of the year, not just at vacation time.
Photo courtesy Disney
That's the motivation behind promotions such as "Show Your Disney Side," which encourage consumers to see Disney as a ubiquitous part of their lives. More than any other entertainment company, Disney offers a wide selection of engagement opportunities for consumers. You can go to the movies to watch Disney films and watch Disney-branded channels on cable and a Disney-owned broadcast network on your TV. You can see Disney musicals on Broadway, read Disney-published books and listen to Disney's musical acts on Radio Disney. You can decorate every room of your home with Disney decor and get "Disney Bound" with Disney-inspired or Disney-licensed clothing. You can use Disney-themed servingware in your kitchen to eat food from recipes created by Disney chefs, published in Disney cookbooks. On vacation, you can visit a Disney theme park, stay in a Disney hotel, take a Disney Cruise, buy a Disney time share via the Disney Vacation Club, or if any of those destinations don't appeal to you, you can take an "Adventures by Disney"-led tour to other popular destinations around the world.
Of course, Disney's hoping that if you adopt its brand as part of your lifestyle, you'll be less likely to watch other companies' movies, TV shows, and musicals, or visit other company's hotels, theme parks, and vacation destinations. That provides Disney with a built-in marketing edge over its competition.
Here at Theme Park Insider, we suspect that many of our readers are looking for information about Disney theme parks because they're Disney fans and going to Disney World or Disneyland is part of their experience in being a fan. Others, however, are primarily theme park fans and if they're interested in Disney, they're also interested in other companies' parks, too. But we'd like to know the breakdown.
Are you a Disney fan? That's our Vote of the Week. We're not asking this as a simple yes/no question — we've provided four options so you can provide a more precise answer about your relationship with Disney.
Have your feelings about Disney changed over the years, for better or for worse? Please tell us in the comments. And, as always, thank you for being a Theme Park Insider fan!
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