How would you avoid the crowds in parks and how should Disney do it?

[old lady]

I would start early and return later but that is me. If I were Disney CEO, I would make more parks in other U.S cities to avoid too many people go to one place.

 

[asheleycs]

Well, the best way to handle crowds is to raise prices, which is obviously not a popular idea! But Disney could definitely find the sweet spot where prices are high enough to reduce crowds and generate similar revenue. I'm actually quite surprised they haven't raised them more dramatically. They have had success at spreading crowds throughout the year, but the crowds at certain times negatively influence their product (and thus its perceived value).

 

[johnnydakota]

This is purely my opinion but... Getting Disney quality parks in other parts of the U.S. is nearly impossible. Possibly in Texas but with other states, the parks would be seasonal and probably only open 6-8 months of the year. This would do a couple of things: Cause a bunch more people to head to these parks and make those parks really crowded and lessen attendance at the other parks causing cutbacks. Disney's America was a concept from the 90s and due to reasons that can be researched, it never happened. Disney Quest was kind of supposed to be a similar idea of having property in other places but I think the one in Chicago lasted like 2 years. I know it's not quite the same as having a full fledged theme park but, yeah.

 

[ols386]

I would do rope drop and stay for several hours, then return to my resort. Problem is, I don't make it back to the parks later that day or in the evening.

If I were Disney, I would keep the parks open until the wee hours of the morning everyday. (I'm kidding....sort of.)

 

[tsme]

I agree with asheleycs, raise park ticket prices, plus raise values & moderates. The deluxes are already obscenely expensive for what you get. Or maybe raise tickets prices, but offer $10 off if you are staying at one of their onsite hotels for a minimum of the same amount of days as you have tickets for. Example: 4 day tickets = minimum 3 night stay would give you $10 off. Of course people would try to cheat it & book a room, buy the tickets, then cancel. Not sure how to avoid that. Maybe add cancellation fee which would be equivalent to the discount, I guess.

 

[Dr. Cynthia Lair]

I would start early and return later but that is me. If I were Disney CEO, I would make more parks in other U.S cities to avoid too many people go to one place.

Interestingly, this was an idea that Walt had not long after Disneyland opened! It was called "Project Satellite" and the idea was to have smaller-scale parks throughout the country to reach a larger audience.

There is a fantastic Disney History Institute podcast devoted to this topic! http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/2017/03/project-satellite.html