While Disney positions its theme parks as premium experiences that are focusing more and more on catering to returning fans, the company continues to miss opportunities to reward loyalty and repeat visitors. Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, is actively talking about deepening relationships with fans through plans to unify its digital and park ecosystems.
His comments on the call indicate that Disney may be considering the changes that we are hoping for to recognize repeat visitors and fandom. We dive into the specifics of how a unified data profile on consumers could unlock stronger hospitality. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including 3 Disneyland Halloween offerings starting earlier than others, and Disneyland’s new popcorn buckets and novelties for Halloween 2026 revealed.
READ MORE – 10 Secrets Of Disney’s Peter Pan’s Flight Ride That Will Change the Way You Look at It
Disney Needs to Improve Hospitality For Returning Guests
The future of the Disney company is going to be built on creating lasting fandom that stretches across the different divisions of the company. New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro emphasized during his first business appearances that the company’s success is enabled by the deepening connections to Disney fans.
“A fan who watches a Disney film, for example, or visits a park or plays a game and buys our merchandise, it’s not just a subscriber,” D’Amaro said in a recent earnings call. “They’re in a relationship with the company, one that spans years and can generate value across every part of our business.”
Disney World Ride Closure ALERTS, Major Park Changes, Secrets Revealed
Get alerts on closures, park changes, exclusive discounts, and free printables. Trusted by 100,000+ Disney fans & planners.
This week, during his second earnings call as CEO, he spoke about Disney’s use of emerging technologies. After sharing more details on Disney’s use of AI, he mentioned that one other area he is most interested in is work to unify consumer data across the company to serve fans better and drive lifetime value.
Right now, different lines of Disney’s business store the information about their customers in different places. There is no one full picture of a customer. He stated, “no one else can connect the fan experience the way that we can. Connecting all the data lets us use it.”
This new statement directly lines up with this opinion article that I had already been writing about how Disney needs to break down silos to deepen relationships with their biggest fans. Once a fan is connected to a favorite experience or product, the next step is for Disney to find a way to show that they appreciate that connection and loyalty.
More and more, the base of visitors to Disneyland and Walt Disney World is made up of loyal fans who come again and again. The Disney Vacation Club members, Annual Passholders, and locals who count their trips in number of trips per year vs number of trips in their lifetimes. These buckets of visitors are critical to Disney’s future, and Disney has a big opportunity to make these guests feel more valued and connected to the brand.
Disney is Missing an Opportunity to Recognize Returning Guests
There are small changes that Disney could make today using unified data to increase the loyalty metrics and, through that, the willingness to return of visitors.
During a media briefing earlier this year, Disney’s new head of the theme parks, who at the time was President of Disneyland, Thomas Mazloum, shared that the most positive feedback that the resort receives is about the cast members who bring the offerings to life and create real Disney “magic.” Doubling down on these positive cast member interactions could improve a guest’s intent to return. Even small increases in a guest’s intent to return can have real impacts on visitor numbers.
Through unifying customer data and building tools on top of it to recognize loyalty, Disney could greatly enable cast members. What if Disney found a way to make all of the people who visit frequently and are loyal fans of the brand feel special and appreciated more than they do today? There could be specific toolsets to allow cast members to recognize loyalty and fandom in visitors.
Mazloum has a strong hospitality background and understanding of creating systems at an impressive scale. He is the right leader to champion these efforts to enable stronger hospitality from cast members across the theme parks.
In addition to visiting the Disney theme parks frequently, I also fly United Airlines multiple times each month throughout the year. I’ve received one of their top statuses.
Throughout my travels across airports, I am thanked and rewarded for my loyalty. A flight attendant will stop by my seat and thank me for my status and strike up a conversation. A free snack box is waiting for me on the flight. I am greeted pleasantly by “Mr. Doyle” when entering the lounge. There are easy options built into the app that allow me to take advantage of flexibility when it is available. I feel valued, and I choose to book with United even when it is more expensive because of it.
Marriott treats its guests similarly across the world through their Bonvoy loyalty membership. If a guest is returning to the same hotel, the hotel has notes from a previous stay and welcomes them back. These small touches make the prospect of flying United or booking a Marriott stay far more likely.
United and Marriott have more need to recognize loyalty than Disney does because loyalty is their main differentiator in what is otherwise a utility service. In the earnings call, the Disney CEO stated that they recognize that “consumers have more options than ever for their time and yet our results show that they keep choosing to spend their time with Disney.” While Disney is confident in their ability to stand out from other options today, deepening loyalty will only help to lock in its passionate base.
The foundation for Disney to connect consumer data is there because people use the same Disney ID email for logging into the various accounts across Disney Plus, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, ESPN, Hulu, and more. Now, this planned data integration can unlock deeper knowledge about every consumer across offerings.
In Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, Danny Meyer, the founder of Union Square Cafe and Shake Shack, writes that he encourages all his employees to be looking for stones to turn over. It’s his belief that the small comments or actions that patrons at his restaurants make can be revealing for the restaurant to deliver better service during that visit or a future one.
Meyer writes in his book: “The more information you collect, the more frequently you can make meaningful connections that can make other people feel good and give you an edge in business. Using whatever information I’ve collected to gather guests together in a spirit of shared experience is what I call connecting the dots. If I don’t turn over the rocks, I won’t see the dots. If I don’t collect the dots, I can’t connect the dots.”
Disney has the benefit of lots of rocks already turned over about guests through the data collected over the past decades. They just need to act on it. There are so many exciting opportunities to improve the experience.
Disney should be actively using the information they have from guests to allow cast members to make deeper human connections with them. This could be done in a way that feels like caring hospitality instead of data overreach. Based on the information shared during the call, teams at Disney are actively working on unifying the different profiles and separate pieces of information into one account. They could then add a layer of AI on top of the consumer data to give information for cast members to create winning interactions with guests.
Imagine. Disney could know the last time you ate at a certain restaurant. Rather than having a server ask if you have eaten with us before, they could start by saying, “We see that you love the California Grill. Thank you for making this restaurant part of your Walt Disney World traditions.” Or, when you arrive at the Pop Century never having been to Walt Disney World, the cast member should be able to say: “Wow! You’re a Disneyland Magic Key Holder. Is this your first time at Walt Disney World?”
Perhaps in the future, when I am checking back in at Disney’s Grand Californian, I could be greeted with a “welcome back” or a “we appreciate you choosing to stay on property with us; we want to make your stay special.”
Today, I don’t think I get a happy birthday message from Disney. Getting some digital or physical recognition from my favorite place, where I spent many of my earliest birthdays, could be a meaningful part of that day. It would also make me lovingly think about wishing to be back at Disneyland. Taking it further, what would it cost Disneyland to send the top-spending Magic Key Annual Pass Holders (pass holders scan a pass at checkout for a discount) a happy birthday letter or gift every year? “We know it’s your birthday coming up. We’d like to send you a gift. Thank you for being a loyal fan of the Disneyland Resort.” Or, what about automated character calls on your birthday?
Another small one. When I arrive at a restaurant without a reservation, and they ask me for my phone number and my name. What if my name was auto-filled based on my phone number?
These are all examples of how hospitality and tech improvements can be tied together to reward loyalty and reduce friction.
READ MORE – We Visit Disney Parks Weekly. You Really Don’t Want to Forget These 10 Things During Your Disney Vacation.
This is just from the theme park side too. Looking at Disney Plus, they also know what you watch and what your family likes. They know what sports teams you care about.
Right now the programs offered by the Disney Vacation Club and Disney Cruise Line seem to be the strongest of any at the company. The Disney Cruise Line Castaway Club is the only program across the company that actively rewards increased visits. Could this kind of program expand across the offerings? Disney has its Disney Visa Card rewards, but it hasn’t been set up to be a real business driver or to deliver as a solid credit card. Should there be an Amex-level Disney credit card?
There is a disconnect between the passion and amount of money that a guest spends at the theme parks and the way that they are welcomed and recognized at the parks.
The comments that D’Amaro made on the call directly hit on this opportunity. I believe strongly that if Disney welcomed its most dedicated visitors with the excitement that he talks about them on the earnings call, their spending and loyalty would only increase.
Do you visit the theme parks often? Have you ever been thanked for your Disney loyalty? Is there any change you would make to my recommendation to Disney?
Don’t Miss the Latest Disney News
Don’t miss the latest Disneyland and Disney World news from Mickey Visit. Join the FREE Mickey Visit newsletter that over 100k readers receive every single week. Mickey Visit is here to help you save money and experience more during your Disney and Universal vacation. See the Mickey Visit guide to Disneyland and the Mickey Visit guide to Disney World for tips.
