Disney Offers Vision for Future of Senior Living with Storyliving Plans

Disney has become the latest high-wattage brand to make a senior living play, announcing its intentions to include 55+ housing in forthcoming Storyliving by Disney residential developments.

Just as Latitude Margaritaville communities have attracted large numbers of aging Parrotheads, I expect there will be robust demand among Disney fans for Storyliving’s 55+ options. And just as the Latitude Margaritaville model suggested new directions for senior living, the plans for Storyliving are worth examining for how they reflect the present and future of the industry.

In this week’s exclusive, members-only SHN+ Update, I analyze the Storyliving news and offer key takeaways, including:

— Storyliving combines many of the hottest senior living trends

— The Disney magic can translate to higher acuity settings

— Senior living providers should consider the lucrative potential of immersive experiences

Trends combine

Disney unveiled its vision for Storyliving on Feb. 16, announcing that the first community — dubbed Cotino — will be built in the Palm Springs area.

The plans for the 24-acre development read to me like a checklist of senior living trends that have gained momentum in recent years, combined to create a novel offering that offers one vision for the future of how older adults will live.

These trends include:

Intergenerational living:

Of Cotino’s planned 1,900 living units, only some will be designated as 55+; however, the webpage for Cotino seems skewed toward an older demographic, with its emphasis on “adding wonderful new passages to your story,” not to mention its location in the retirement haven of Palm Springs, where the median age was 55.4 years in 2019. On the other hand, arguably no other brand on the planet holds as much all-ages appeal as Disney. Disney obviously is banking on the appeal of blending age-restricted housing within an intergenerational community, and senior living providers increasingly are trying to create similar environments. These efforts include partnerships with schools, from Forefront Living hosting a Bezos Academy preschool, to Generations LLC working with a K-12 school on a new development, to university-related projects like Mirabella at ASU. Even bolder visions call for the creation of housing that appeals to older adults but is not technically age-restricted, such as The Canyons in Portland, Oregon.

Affinity group appeal:

There has been a growing recognition among senior living providers that a cookie-cutter approach will no longer suffice to serve such a large and diverse cohort as the boomers. This has given rise to “affinity” or “niche” communities, such as the Verandah Senior Living project designed with Indian and South Asian consumers in mind, or Hilltop Reserve, being developed to meet the needs of Denver’s Jewish community. Latitude Margaritaville also operates on affinity principles, appealing to those who want a Jimmy Buffett-inspired lifestyle. Storyliving obviously fits into this trend as well, appealing to the Disney fan base.

While senior living providers are limited in their ability to serve niches such as Disney fans or Parrotheads, they should be thinking creatively about affinity groups and should not be afraid to define their communities in particular ways to target specific consumers. Note that Disney intends to adapt its various Storyliving projects to fit the specific markets where they are located; boutique hotels take the same approach, and this is a trend that has been embraced in senior living by companies such as Revel, which formerly was led by one-time Kimpton Hotels President Nikki Leondakis and now is headed up by hotel industry veteran Danette Opaczewski. As Leondakis said at the SHN BUILD event in 2019: “It’s about having the courage to say, ‘This is who we are. This is who we’re going to serve.’”

Leveraging a membership model:

Disney’s Storyliving plans include a “club membership” that will enable access to “curated experiences” such as wellness programming, entertainment and educational opportunities. Club membership appears to be optional for residents; meanwhile, the general public will be able to access certain Storyliving amenities and experiences via day passes.

Membership models are also a rising trend in senior living. In some instances, they basically are a more affordable alternative to entrance fees. But some providers are offering membership to non-residents as a way to access services and amenities. Examples include Byer Square at the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, Bella Groves, as well as plans in the works from Generations, Formation Capital and their partners.

These types of membership models help support intergenerational interactions while also fostering a sense of community and potentially even exclusivity. I do think providers should note Disney’s emphasis on “voluntary” club membership, for Storyliving residents who want access to experiences and perks like an on-site lagoon — this also fits into trends seen within senior living, to support affordability and resident choice by allowing residents to pay more selectively for the services and amenities they want and need.

Senior living in a mixed-use environment:

Cotina has received approval to create a mixed-use district that Disney says will feature “shopping, dining, entertainment” and a hotel. Senior living increasingly has been finding a place in mixed-use developments around the country, with some examples including a forthcoming Atria community in a $350M project in New Jersey; an Anthology community in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; and Belmont Village’s community in Chicago’s Lincoln Common. Being situated cheek-to-jowl with hotels and restaurants not only further supports intergenerational living, but offers older adults easy access to food and cultural activities, potentially taking some pressure off the senior living provider’s culinary and engagement offerings and enabling them to charge lower prices.

Not limited to active adult

The rise of active adult communities is another major trend in senior living over the past several years, both in terms of rental communities and — like Latitude Margaritaville and Storyliving — ownership models.

Disney clearly has identified the demographically-driven demand for 55+ housing and is timing Storyliving to tap into this growing market.

Senior living providers serving older and frailer residents might think that the trends above do not apply to them, given that an 87-year-old with chronic conditions might not be clamoring for such a lifestyle-driven product as Storyliving.

As Senior Living Foresight’s Steve Moran put it: “Disney may only want to do the 55+ part of the older population, which will mean less than if they venture into assisted living, memory care, and nursing homes. I confess the idea of a Disney-themed nursing home kind of boggles my mind, but at the same time makes me smile. The same is true when it comes to memory care.”

The thought of a Disney-themed nursing home is a bit mind-boggling — but something along those lines already exists.

AdventHealth’s Care Center Celebration (which won a Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Award) brings some of the Disney magic to skilled care. The center is located in Celebration, Florida, which is a master-planned community originally developed by Disney.

Disney’s Celebration initiative did not go smoothly, and the company no doubt will draw on lessons learned as the company pursues Storyliving projects. In any case, Disney design standards are still in effect in Celebration, to maintain the look and feel of the community. So, the skilled nursing center was meticulously designed to fit into the Disney art deco aesthetic. The care center bears design similarities to some of the Cotino renderings, with their curves, large windows and porticos. And while there are not Mickey Mouse ears adorning the walls, a spacious balcony offers views of the nightly fireworks at Disney World.

Perhaps as 55+ residents age, Storyliving communities will eventually include similar care centers. In any event, I think higher acuity senior living providers can and should be thinking about how to create a memorable and distinct experience within their walls, connecting their residents and patients with literal or metaphorical fireworks.

Lucrative potential of immersive experiences

An aspect of Latitude Margaritaville and Disney Storyliving that senior living providers should not overlook is that they are creating an immersive experience for residents.

Disney has long been a pioneer in creating immersive experiences, recently raising the game with theme park attractions like Galaxy’s Edge, which places visitors in the world of Star Wars.

The notion of actually living in such an immersive environment has caused some eyerolling; here’s what James Vincent wrote in The Verge:

“Maybe, instead of being drawn into skits with hosts dressed up as Goofy or Elsa, Disney’s ‘Storyliving’ residents will be able to take part in more grounded adventures, as staff who never break character help them navigate mid-life crises and suburban ennui. Why pay for therapy if you can turn your life into theater? A happy ending can be written for you.”

The fact is, a sizable number of consumers may thrill to the idea of being steeped in the Disney experience every day, judging by how popular theme park immersive experiences have become. Disney credited the “Rise of the Resistance” attraction at Galaxy’s Edge with helping drive a 2% attendance increase at domestic parks and 8% increase in “Parks, Experiences and Products” revenue Q1 2020, just before Covid-19 iced tourism.

Overall, the “immersive entertainment industry” was valued at $61.8 billion in 2020, increasing 19% from 2019, according to the Immersive Entertainment Industry Annual Report. Harry Potter World and the forthcoming Super Nintendo World are just two other examples of the popularity of immersive experiences. Also contributing to the growth of this industry: The evolution of virtual reality, as a means of creating more widely accessible immersive experiences.

As senior living providers think about how to evolve their offerings to appeal to the next generation of consumers, I think they should keep this trend of immersive experiences in mind.

At the least, providers should be considering the potential of virtual reality as a way to provide access to immersive experiences. (Just this week, Omega Healthcare Investors announced an alliance with virtual reality company MyndVR.)

Providers also should expect more immersive living experiences similar to Latitude Margaritaville and Storyliving to be developed, given the growing consumer appetite. This appears to be the evolution of Sun City or The Villages. Eventually, higher-acuity senior living providers might be able to build within immersive environments like Latitude Margaritaville or Storyliving. But in the meantime, providers should also be thinking about whether they can and should be creating more immersive experiences on their campuses or in their communities. The experiences may be more subtle than “Parrothead” or “Disney,” but I am confident that providers will be rewarded for more distinct and cohesive designs, menus and programming, and staff will embrace creating more fun and specific atmospheres.