Cory Doctorow on Crowds at Disney Parks

[Cabius]

I found a rather interesting series of essays (still in progress) by Cory Doctorow, looking at the crowds at Disney Parks and how Disney's policies over the years have changed what guests expect from a theme park and created the monster we know and love (and hate) today.

I thought I'd share it here and see if it sparks discussion!

Part one: what "a day at Disneyland" used to mean

Part two: how Disney got rid of ticket books and changed the game

Part three: all the solutions just make things worse

Part four: surge pricing as monopolistic money grab

Part five: maybe just lie to guests?

I would summarize his argument (so far) as follows:

• The shift from ticket books ("Disney is largely about atmosphere, and if I go on 8 rides I got my money's worth") to all-you-care-to-enjoy ("I must ride every single attraction or I'm missing out") utterly altered the way guests see the parks, creating more demand to ride as many rides as possible.
  
  
• Adding more rides worsens the problem of excess demand, drawing more crowds and adding more things to every must-do list.
  
  
• Disney has rolled out many increasingly complex solutions to the problems they've created (FastPasses, Boarding Groups, etc.) but they are inevitably used to the advantage of savvy repeat visitors, and leaving once-in-a-lifetime guests frustrated.
  
  
• Disney has been able to capitalize on all of this by grabbing shocking sums of money, but that reinforces the problem of guests demanding to get their money's worth (by riding every single attraction every day).

I'm definitely interested to see how the series wraps up. I don't agree with everything in this series of essays (I think he goes overboard diving into Walt's personal psychology or feuds with Roy) but it's a fascinating perspective, and I think is really insightful as to the challenges facing Disney today!

(Of course I think you solve all of this by making another WDW in Texas...)

 

[Chaitali]

Really interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Wow! Cory is old school internet - 2001! I knew him way back when (before influencers were a thing - and blogging was new). Fascinating read. Thanks!