What’s the most important part of Disneyland’s new Pixar Fest?

Maybe you like the new fireworks show, or maybe you prefer the return of Paint the Night and the expanded Pixar Play Parade. Maybe you’re into all the special food that Disney rolls out for an event such as this. Or maybe you’re one of those fans who likes to line up and buy every new popcorn bucket that Disney puts up for sale.

For me? I think the most interesting thing about Pixar Fest is its slogan – “Celebrating Friendship & Beyond.”

What’s the big deal with the slogan? You might think that Disney created Pixar Fest because putting on a festival provides a cheaper way to lure people into the park than building a big new ride. Or that Pixar Fest gives Disney an opportunity to promote what has become one of the company’s most popular and lucrative brands. You would be right with both of those assumptions. But I think the event’s slogan reveals a motivation even more powerful for the company than either of those two other reasons.

Theme parks long have been associated with family getaways and vacations. Many of us first visited Disneyland or Walt Disney World as children, when our parents hauled us there on a weekend or summer vacation. But the United States has been in a baby bust for 20 years now. Sure, a lot of families with young children still visit Disneyland, as anyone who’s been stuck in a crush of strollers can tell you. It’s just that Disney couldn’t keep pushing its attendance to infinity and beyond if it didn’t expand its market to include other visitors.

Including, well, friends. Just because millennials aren’t getting married and having kids at the same rate their baby boomer parents and World War II-generation grandparents did doesn’t mean that Disney has to give up on them as potential customers. Don’t have kids? No problem. Now come to Disneyland with your friends.

The brilliant thing about “celebrating friendship” is that it’s demographically inclusive. People can have friends at any age. You never outgrow it the way you do childhood or the “kids at home” phase of parenthood. “Celebrating friendship” means that you never have to outgrow going to Disneyland.

Oh, and that tag of “& Beyond” means that couples, families and kids are still welcome at Disneyland, too. It’s not just a call-out to Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase. Pixar movies idolize friendships that feel like family. That makes them the perfect vehicle for a campaign to encourage fans to keep coming back to relive the joy of a family visit to Disneyland … but with friends if their family is not available.

America’s changing demographics present a real challenge for theme parks, led by Disneyland, which opened when baby boomers were children and their parents were looking for new, fun places to take them. I’ve heard from several people in the industry that they expect elderly visitors to outnumber toddlers in the very near future. Other than maybe Legoland, parks can’t aim just at families with small children and expect to keep growing anymore. Theme parks need to find ways to keep fans visiting after they grow up, even they don’t have children of their own to bring to the parks.

With Pixar Fest, Disney isn’t just promoting one of its brands. It’s further promoting the idea that theme parks have grown beyond their roots as a family vacation destination. Come celebrate friendship or whatever you want, Disney is saying. Just come do it at Disneyland.