Why is suggesting solutions/options/ideas such a negative thing?
It isn't so much that suggesting ideas is a negative thing, but rather that when those ideas cost more money than we are already spending to go on vacation that people feel like they are getting burned. There is already a feeling of "those with the most money win" throughout this country, so that the idea that if you have plenty of money to spend, you can just buy your way to the front of the line, makes the "masses" feel burned. I think most people feel that once you pay to get in the door of a theme park, the attractions should not cost more money to enjoy (unless you are going back to the old system of no admission fee but tickets for each ride). If you charge me $100+
per person to get in the door, then greet me with 60-120 minute lines for every attraction meaning I can only enjoy 6-10 attractions before your park closes, UNLESS I spend an extra $100
per person to buy fast passes to get into more attractions, then I am feeling REALLY burned up about the experience.
If on the other hand, I feel like you are investing
some of the profit that I have provided you to improve my experience, then I feel like everything I have paid for is worth my money. Right now, this is not the scenario playing out at WDW, the first one is, and it is infuriating. It also has to do with the perceived value of the investment that is being made. Nearly a billion dollars to add two rides to AK? That seems ridiculous. You're spending less than 10 times that to get an entire theme park in Asia. How about we find a way to not so drastically overpay for the experience, how about we blend E-ticket attractions with other level attractions for a better overall experience. If you only want e-tickets, get a 1- or 2-day park hopper and split your time with US and IOA. I would rather have the complete experience that WDW can offer with attractions of all levels.
Take these magic bands and realize that the lines are longest for e-tickets and family attractions. Have you seen the line for Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Small World, etc? They are some of the longest in MK, roughly equal to Space M, BTMRR, and SM at most times.
One of the problems is that many people want different things, or at least think they do. What we all want, is to enjoy our vacations without feeling like we spent the whole thing in line or getting rooked for our hard earned dollar.
My solutions are:
1) to spend around $2.5 billion at DHS spread across 10-12 attractions of varying complexity levels, probably over 2-4 years. Expand animation courtyard with more things for kids and adults to do that are just "playing", provide a short "how to" movie that is 5-10 minutes long, add a small theater with old Disney cartoons that run continuously or every 10 minutes, etc. Expand entire Lucas area with both Indy and Star Wars attractions (2-4 total). Expand
Pixar place with 2-4 attractions from Monsters, Incredibles, Up, Brave, WALL-E or Cars. Expand Muppet presence. Add some type of Roger Rabbit attraction. My kids just saw this movie and LOVED it. Come up with an additional attraction or two from Disney vaults - like Herbie, National Treasure, Santa Clause, Bolt, Princess and Frog, Tangled, Tron, or Wreck it Ralph.
2) to spend around $1.5 billion at EPCOT spread across improvements and new attractions over 2-4 years. Energy and IMagination need near complete overhauls. We need the WOnders of Life pavilion to return, even if somewhat different than its original incarnation. Some type of Horizons needs to return. That was a great concept and is sorely missed in EPCOT. Many of the countries need small types of attractions to make it more than a dining extravaganza. Canada needs a log flume tour, Japan could use the oft talked about bullet train ride, Italy would be fantastic with a tour of their cultural identity in some type of boat ride/arial tour, or a Pompeii "adventure", would America be better with an Imax tour of our biggest natural wonders (Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Hoover Dam, etc.); Germany with a train ride through their castles and countryside, or a matterhorn style mountain ride, and France with a countryside tour by "truck" or omniomover.
3) to spend another $750 million in AK to expand more small rides for families and kids. Mine love the carnival area, but it is still a little intense for my smaller kids. We still need 4-6 small attractions in this park.
4) to spend another $500 million in MK to expand TOmorrowland and Fantasyland (again). There is still a need for more attractions to balance out the number of visitors in this park.
With time, I can come up with more concrete plans if Disney is really interested. However, at around $100 million for a really good attraction, and $250 for an E-ticket, Disney is spending more than just about anyone in the industry for improvements. Some of that is worth the cost, some, not so much. Even if you average $150 million per attraction (I include shows in this), I think you can make huge improvements to these parks (including in capacity) with around a $5.5 billion investment over 5 years. Easy to say, I know. I do realize that is around 2 years of profit for the entire Disney company, so it isn't likely. However, these improvement costs should be getting set aside every year so that it is more palatable to the annual budget. Then you can move forward spending around $500 million each year to upgrade and maintain the facility rather than needing these massive overhauls.
Is this where I also put in for the monorail to visit all major parks?