Sure, if you drink the Kool-Aid, and go to Disney every day for a week, and don't park hop, you can pay less. But I couldn't stay all day at any park except the MK. And if I only have 3 rides there with no wait, I sure as hell won't be staying all day. And frankly, I'd go crazy if I went to a WDW park every day for a week. I'd get bored. Especially knowing all the other incredible rides less than 10 miles away.
Disney has been coasting. They have been able to because of what other posters have said. Many folks will just keep throwing them money, based on memories. Heck, I've been going there for 40 years, and have plenty of memories. But I don't like redoing the exact vacation over and over. And WDW has really become that. It's so stale.
Not to mention that attendance numbers quoted sure didn't help. When they aren't adding rides, and attendance increases, that means quality of visit will suffer. If that gets bad enough, someone will be stupid enough to approve a billion dollars on a ride rationing program.
And sure, Disney owns Star Wars, and has for more than a year now. And still haven't announced a damn thing related to it. And if rumors are correct, their failing ride rationing program is a big part of the cause.
Universal bought rights to Potter, and announced a huge land soon after, and built the damn thing in less time than Disney has built a kiddie coaster. They also built Transformers, a whole other Potter area almost, a fully realized Springfield. And have plans for big things in Jurassic Park that will likely open before anythign Star Wars related does. I wish Universal had bought them. They would be half way done with their Star Wars land.
Disney has gotten tens of thousands of my dollars over my lifetime. And got a bunch last year at
Disneyland, the far superior park, imho. But they have lost their way.
They don't push the envelope anymore. Their last big coaster, Everest, is decent, but then the big payoff is broken, and will never work again. I think Dinosaur was the beginning of WDW's spiral down. Disney took one of the greatest rides on the planet, to this day, and totally copied it. We're talking copying a ride that more than a decade after it opened is still a huge draw, having an hour wait most of the time. A ride that has a clone that also has an hour plus wait all the time. However, WDW's copy is essentially a walkon all the time because its concept and execution was so poor. And is now based on a movie that probably 90% of the people riding it don't even know existed.
I would LOVE for them to announce a Star Wars land with some amazing E ticket ride. But they just don't make amazing E ticket rides anymore. That is what Universal does now. The last state of the art E ticket Disney built in the states was probably Indy. I realize many people think Soarin' is some amazing ride, but I just don't get it. It's neat, but hardly incredible, and worth a long wait. And Radiator Springs Racers is just a really expensive dark ride with a low speed finale.
And yes, some folks don't go for E tickets. But they are in the very small minority.
And we'll see how many people go for rides pretty quick once everyone starts getting a lot fewer.
Jason