Commentary: Bob Iger and the inevitability of the comeback
I am not a Disney man. Yes, my children are Disney Magic Kingdom fans and yes we have visited the Magic Kingdom in the past. But no, I wasn’t a big fan of the Disney brand as a kid. I grew up in a “Disneyfied” household and it meant I had to go out every day to eat at Disney World.
But we did get to Disney once, in 1992 when my kids were about 9, 8 and 4. My son, then 18 months, had his first birthday party there. And let me tell you, we didn’t spend a night there. In fact, I had to get on a plane on the last day of our visit to go home.
I decided to make the most of the Disney experience. I bought tickets to Disneyland. I purchased a small, cheap one-way flight to Orlando. I bought a ticket to Universal Studios and I even rented a car and drove down from Connecticut to Orlando. My kids and I spent half the time on Disneyland and half at Universal Studios. It made the whole trip worthwhile.
Fast forward five years and when my son was 5 and my daughter was 2 we visited with our families a second time. This time we did our “Disney” thing and went to both parks: Disneyland and Universal Studios. And this time I was able to take my wife and mother-in-law with me to Disneyland by rental car to Disneyland and back (I had to fly in the first day of our vacation). We spent the better part of two days in Disneyland and two in Universal Studios.
My wife and mother-in-law are both Disney fans, so going to Disney in our family was special for them. We enjoyed the Disney World experience very much, but I am not a Disney man.
I believe Disney is going through a resurgence, but I’m not sure