What can or should Disney do about the crowds?

[Traveler Steve]

Yeah. Disney's America was a terrible idea. (I live in Northern Virginia). From what I heard at the time, not only did that idea cheese off the locals interested in history, more to the point Disney's usual arrogance came up against the equal, if not bigger, arrogance of the lawmakers and politicians that live here - and when that happened, there was NO chance of Disney ever winning.

Rather, they should have done is build another Magic Kingdom. Note - before I go on, I agree with all the above, Disney isn't going to do this, they don't see crowding as a problem. BUT - as an interesting "what if" philosophical exercise, this is what they could do -

Pick somewhere like Texas. Plop down another Magic Kingdom. Maybe a lake, start off with 2 hotels right next to the entrance. But take the best ideas of past successes. If Star Wars Land proves to be widely successful, make that one of the new lands right off the bat. Avatar Land seems to be a success, put that in, too. People like the Epcot food and wine, so create a Disney Springs-like shopping area right outside the park and call it "Festival of Nations!". Stores, some sit down restaurants, but primarily a lot of the world cuisine booths scattered around. And make this open year round.

I sure would have liked that up here in VA, but if Disney builds that somewhere else, I would go.

 

[DisneyLover1217]

I think hiring more CM's would help too. Even on days that aren't really busy seem busy because they purposely have less workers on slower days, which just causes slow day lines to be just like busy day lines. There are certainly things they can do, but won't as previous posters have said because they could care less that there are 2 hours lines because none of TPTB are waiting on them.

 

[NeuroCindy]

Hunger games, only victors get to enter the parks.

 

[disneysteve]

Hunger games, only victors get to enter the parks.

Forget the ferry and monorail. From now on, you need to swim across the Seven Seas Lagoon to get to the park. That should cut down on the crowds. If the gators don't get you and amoeba don't kill you, you will have a short wait for the Mine Train.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I'm in for a Monster Truck type scooter bash 'em up - winner (ME!!!!) gets to run over the losers on their way in! Tow Maters ain't got NUTTIN' on ME, honey!!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Hunger games, only victors get to enter the parks.

Disney Trivia - gotta know the basics of Disney history to get in

 

[ChrisFL]

I think hiring more CM's would help too. Even on days that aren't really busy seem busy because they purposely have less workers on slower days, which just causes slow day lines to be just like busy day lines. There are certainly things they can do, but won't as previous posters have said because they could care less that there are 2 hours lines because none of TPTB are waiting on them.

This is true. One thing I notice when I visit Tokyo Disney is the sheer amount of CM's everywhere. Attractions where you might see only 2-3 CM's in WDW have what seems like a dozen....and since they can spread the workload they're less stressed and more happy, which easily comes through in their demeanor, it doesn't have to be as forced as CM's at WDW.

Also, cleanliness of the restrooms, maintenance of the attractions all require a lot of CM's. WDW's size is it's biggest blessing and possibly it's biggest curse when they have to hire 60,000+ people to keep up with all of it. I say sell off or license out some of the hotels, let them hire non CM's to staff those hotels and focus on the theme parks and high end resorts more.

 

[Trenacker]

Most Florida parks need more attractions, especially high-capacity, long-duration attractions.

Why not leverage an existing property like Captain EO that's sure to please veterans and newcomers both?

One of my favorite stops at Hollywood Studios is now Walt Disney Presents. Surely Disney has got costumes, props, and artifacts to populate additional walk-through exhibits? Let them empty out into small theaters showing 10-15 minutes of classic Disney films from the 1950's-1990's like Blackbeard's Ghost and Genius--offerings not readily available to audiences these days, and sell DVD copies on the way out the door.

Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios could use additional sit-down restaurant options. The latter is ripe for inclusion of a deluxe, high-energy restaurant to contrast with the Hollywood Brown Derby. A restaurant themed on the Obi Wan Club, with 1940's big band flair, could anchor the rear of Echo Lake, especially once the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular gets replaced.

EPCOT World Showcase is in big need of new pavilions. Brazil seems like an obvious next choice considering the high number of visitors from that country in Orlando generally and WDW specifically. I don't think Disney Springs has a churrascaria restaurant yet, so slot one in. Use Wall-E to tell an environmental tale focused on Amazon conservation. I've also been surprised by how much real estate has been left vacant in Future World. Disney should partner with SONY to bring a Playstation showcase back to EPCOT. Create a game unique to the parks based on the Sugar Rush Racers in Wreck-It Ralph.

Consider building the once-planned Future World Transit Authority PeopleMover in Future World. A long, slow ride like that would help draw guests back from the center and far end of the park.

Reopen the Wonders of Life pavilion. Reshoot Cranium Command with an updated cast headlined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Body Wars can return almost as-is. Then add a new attraction based on Inside Out.

 

[wariokartel]

Opening a 5th parking probably wouldn't have the effect that people think (see induced demand). Maybe temporarily there would be relief, but then people would catch back onto less crowded times and start packing in the parks again. In fact, the excitment around a 5th park might actually make the crowds WORSE permanently.

The idea of making another park in the middle of the country sounds good, but have a high liklihood of being a bad business decision for Disney. In Florida, when they get guests to come they can sell them 4 parks, either with an upsold ticket or staying multiple days. When those multiple days are in their hotels you compound the benefit that Disney gets. If you opened a single park, in let's say Texas, you are potentially cannibalizing WDW in order to feed a park that has only one park and fewer Disney hotels. There is less incentive for guests to book longer stays and you can't upsell Park Hoppers. Additionally, buying the land needed for hotels and parks in a place that makes sense for another park would be way more expensive than using the land they already own in Florida.

They could redo or revamp some less popular attractions to improve throughput or popularity. Swiss Family Robinson, Enchanted Tiki Room, Tom Sawyer's Island, Country Bear Jamboree are MK examples that come to mind. For as crowded as the park is, whenever I am at MK all of these attractions have little to no wait or are struggling to fill capacity. I understand that these are classic Disney atteactions that people love, but you cannot say you want to keep less popular attractions and reduce crowds. People need somewhere to go. This would probably hit induced demand at some point as well.

My gloomy outlook leads me to think the only way crowds lower is if people are priced out of coming at all. Disney parks have just become too popular to people across the world and it doesn't look to be slowing down.

 

[isabellea]

I haven’t read the whole post but maybe do EMD (day instead of hour) for resort-only guests? Each park would be reserved for resort-only guests for 1 day/week? Obviously, only 1 park per day would have that so the other 3 parks would be accessible to offsite guests.

 

[Retroecho]

One other option is to exponentially increase Duffy's presence at each of the four parks, thereby drastically reducing the crowds at those parks.

Awwwwww poor Duffy the stuffy bear

 

[disneysteve]

I thought I'd check back in with this thread. My wife and I are finishing up the first week of our 2-week visit to Walt Disney World. We arrived on Monday. The crowds weren't terrible - until yesterday. Between it being Saturday, the next to last weekend of F&W, a race weekend, and the start of Jersey Week, the crowd level shot up tremendously.

We tried to drive over to Epcot yesterday around 11:30am. The roads leading into Epcot were backed up for probably a mile in every direction. It was nuts. We ended up parking at the TTC instead and taking the monorail to Epcot. Fortunately, we were only planning to have lunch and head out because we would not have stayed. I actually know 3 people (1 local, 2 not) who went into the park intending to stay and left very quickly because of the overwhelming crowds. One of them said it was as bad as New Year's Eve.

For anyone who thinks the crowds really aren't that bad, here's a prime example of how bad it has gotten. I'm sure a lot of people turned around when they encountered the traffic and others who made it to the park turned around and left because of how insane it was there. You just can't have fun and enjoy yourself when it is that packed.

And it isn't just Epcot. Another podcaster posted that there was a 45-minute line to order at Woody's Lunchbox at DHS.

Something's gotta give at some point.

 

[hertamaniac]

Something's gotta give at some point.

Sorry you're encountering difficult crowd levels. With SWGE nearing the 1 year target date, I would have thought this would have been a slow(er) time to visit (re: AP purchases/renewals).

As you might know, the weather this week is expected to climb back up so that might keep some opportunistic folks from going to the parks all day.

 

[disneysteve]

We are regular visitors so the overcrowding was annoying but not vacation-ruining. But what about the family that followed the “rules” and booked their dining 180 days ago and fast passes 60 days ago unknowingly choosing yesterday as their Epcot day? Then it turns out that even getting to the park is a huge ordeal and once inside the place is a madhouse. What will their take home impression be? Are they going to be eager to come back and do it again? Or will they be telling anyone who will listen to stay away?

Has Disney World simply gotten too popular for its own good?

 

[sking5844]

They already have ways to avoid the crowds via paying a hefty sum. If you go for a week you can do all the early morning magic and after hours events to avoid the crowds. You basically are paying double the ticket price because you have to have a regular day ticket to even take part in these events. It does however work to avoid the crowds if that is your main goal. We are going in early December and doing two early morning magic events and would probably do an after hours if our kids were older and could stay up that late.