Yep. Times change. Population and air travel and everything else has made it easier to get to Florida and made access to the parks cheaper and easier for everyone. That would normally be a good thing, but the actual capacity of the parks is generally fixed... you can't keep cramming an unlimited number of people into the parks.
If they'd actually tried to address this, I'd consider your argument here but point to one of the four parks that doesn't have unused expansion pads and/or shuttered attraction space that, as far as we know, isn't under development.
And lets not forget that if Universal can find the space half way across town from their existing parks at lord knows what prices to build a new park, Disney surely could within the continuous body of land they already own.
They certainly haven't had trouble finding space to build DVC, have they?
I'm aware of the "if they build, more people will just come" rebuttal but please hold that until the end of this post.
Through continued inaction, they've made supply low relative to demand and at least for part of it, you'd have a difficult time convincing me wasn't intentional. (though the snowball may have gotten bigger than they expected, faster than they expected)
They talked publicly about improving guest satisfaction in the parks with FP+ and they talked publicly about reducing crowds with their new variable pricing model because, of course you're not going to tell your fans these things are really attempts to squeeze more money out of them but here we are and the results suggest that what they told the fans is not what they were internally looking to accomplish in any way.
So again, when supply is low and demand is high... what's supposed to happen?
Disney keeps the park prices artificially low to foster good feelings toward the brand as a whole. You could try making the case that there is still a negative impact from the overcrowding, but that doesn't seem to be dramatically impacting the brand (or attendance).
I don't think that's what they're doing
at all.
As others have repeatedly stated, their profits don't come from park admission. They come from the crap people buy once there and as others have also pointed out, the top 10% aren't idiots. Cheap overpriced crap from China is cheap overpriced crap from China. They're only going to buy so much of it and just because they can afford to spend more on landfill and middling food doesn't mean they see the value in doing so if Disney tries to up the price to help offset the difference in volume.
Disney would have to spend considerably more on their experiences, merchandise and food to cater to a smaller audience that they wouldn't be able to so easily spread costs across.
They'd have to spend a
lot to make money this way with no real guarantee the pivot would work.
I'd personally prefer a system without private parties and Genie+, where wait times are closer to what I remember them back in the old days... but I realize I am being outvoted here.
For the record, they could reduce the flow any time they wanted. Quit advertising for a year and focus that money on improving the resort experience. I mean, if people coming is what it is and they have no control over it, why waste all that money on entirely unneeded advertising?
What was
this stupid thing even for?:
Disney is bringing a Walt Disney World experience to a busy tourist area along the popular I-4/International Drive corridor in Orlando.
www.wdwmagic.com
Make no mistake, Disney is actively pushing the crowds we're seeing and then
feigning concern.
forums.wdwmagic.com
( maybe forecasting more can drive to WDW )
www.latimes.com
