guest experience

Orlando, Wednesday, 10 September 2025.
EPCOT’s 2025 Food & Wine Festival—an 87‑day marquee designed to drive F&B revenue and dwell time—has registered a notable disconnect between expectation and guest experience, with reviews highlighting weaker menu curation, inconsistent pricing elasticity, and underwhelming activations that threaten per‑capita spend. For retail and operations leaders, the most striking signal is reputational risk: steady declines in perceived product quality and experiential coherence can erode long‑term attendance and reduce the festival’s effectiveness as a revenue diversification tool. Critics point to heavy, hot menu choices ill‑suited to Central Florida weather, delayed booth rollouts, and near‑identical decor year over year; yet pockets like Harvest Hollow show that standout vendor execution still lifts guest satisfaction. This matters for contract KPIs, vendor selection cycles, thematic investment and price architecture. Expect discussions—already circulating since last Wednesday—about tightening menu development timelines, reworking activation design, and recalibrating festival ROI to protect park‑level F&B goals.

Paris, Wednesday, 27 August 2025.
Disneyland Paris announced last Monday that Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy will close in October 2025 for a major renovation, reopening in spring 2026. The most notable change: the ride will permanently drop 3D in favour of upgraded 2D projection as projectors are replaced, a shift made after guest feedback. Expect a new artist‑studio queue scene, larger‑than‑life props, refreshed media and updated ride systems aimed at improving immersion, reliability and throughput. For retail and park operators this signals continued investment in IP‑led dark rides in a constrained capex environment — a mid‑life refresh that prioritises targeted technical upgrades over replacement. Short‑term capacity loss will require operational adjustments across the resort, but offers opportunities to pilot AV, projection mapping and vehicle maintenance protocols that could set a regional benchmark. Close coordination between operations, merchandising and guest flow planning will be critical to mitigate revenue and satisfaction impacts during the closure.