This D23 is uber important given their construction timelines from both a consumer perspective and a corporate one. Here's why.
If The Walt Disney Company plans to drastically raise prices like they say they will if consumer-demand remains high, they'll need to pump some real money into the parks to compete with Epic Universe, and they absolutely should raise prices as they're leaving money on the table.
However, the parks are up to par now with where they have to be, but delivering a world-class product would take another similar round. Magic Kingdom will still print money (especially with the marketable TRON and nostalgia), but the other Disney parks, with demographics more akin to Universal, stand to lose attendance if EU is very well-received. Given that Universal continues to plus the project and genuinely believes in their product there's no indication on the contrary.
After TRON is open for business this year, the only announced E-ticket for WDW is a retheme with it not being legitimate competition for Epic Universe. Disneyland has an improved Mickey Ride and the likely announcement of the Avengers E-ticket coming up.
Taken altogether, a new AK land (for rides), HWS land (for capacity), and an E-ticket Figment replacement would be a legitimate rival to whatever Universal does. I'll be happy if we get one of those three at this D23, but they're being shortsighted if they don't have plans to address all three. There will be less infrastructure work now at the parks since they've invested in that over the past decade, so I feel the ROI can be higher.
Universal in particular will seize on the opportunity if AP's are permanently done away with. They're already so limited at Orlando, but Universal's new park will have massive, deliberate, operational capacity, and without having a bona fide cultural touchstone like MK, they have an opportunity to absorb more passholders across the resort, people priced-out from Disney, and new guests without being as over-crowded as MK & HWS are.
I'm intrigued to see Universal's strategy with passholders going forward. They should push it and create more of a community feeling from a branding perspective.
Given the new revenue ILL brings in, it seems like TWDC has to want to add more rides they can charge a premium for. While they're at it, hopefully the price increases come more in the form of Genie+ than park tickets, since for the synergy purposes they claim they love, less attendance means less cross-promotion, so you want to make the parks more accessible if possible through capacity increases.
The potential for a Prime-like service the WSJ reported on might actually be a good idea. There could be some price strategy for different "trips" a year that per day would raise the per day cost while still keeping fans more loyal. While not everyone that has Disney+ is an AP much less a regular theme park goer, I think it's fair to say that basically everyone that goes to the parks subscribes to Disney+.
Although, every day a customer is not in say EPCOT, that is money that Disney is not making off of food, drinks, and merchandise even if regulars don't spend as much (or any) money on hotels or upcharges. So logically they should raise prices to a level that is sustainable with their current attendance--perhaps still under say NYE attendance which is too much--in concert with new expansions. They already have been managing crowds with demand-based pricing and operations with the reservation calendar, so hopefully management also understands this long-term as well. I would hope they have people running numbers on the cost-benefit of those things, but given their wildly variable quality control, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't.
It's important to not only keep people under your umbrella but creating new ones as well. Disney should take cues from Apple which hasn't lost sight of why people continue to buy their phones. Disney interestingly albeit paradoxically is pumping out some of the greatest attractions and experiences they've ever had while simultaneously misunderstanding not only the average consumer but the die-hard. From their marketing campaigns borderlining cringey, to the 50th not feeling like anything special, to the bottoms up redo and scattered quality of why people like DCL with the Wish, I'm perplexed at many of their decisions.
Disney could massively cut bloat from project costs, have synergy, increase prices (and revenue), and continue to grow their brand. They're a cultural touchstone for a reason, and they seem to be increasingly knocking some things out of the park and squandering their image lately, and I'm absolutely not talking about anything related to politics but about the consumer experience itself.
If Disney thinks all they have to do is throw an IP on a lamppost they won't fare well. If they understand people will come for consistent quality (Rise, FoP, CR) regardless of IP, they will do very well.
They also need to simplify Genie (the 'Plan My Day' AI nonsense), and Genie+ (the Fastpass+ nonsense). They're both painfully convoluted, so taking design cues from actual industry leaders in tech and stop trying to be pioneers in their own right would be a smart move. Disney Plus is another matter, I think they've handled it well (although I do think they're oversaturating the MCU with shows). I admire them shortening the window for Fastpasses and dining reservations, but Genie's issues can be overcome, and it costing money is not the inherent issue.
Disney is not going to fail, they can play around with pricing through discounts, but leaving money on the table is also awful business (just look at how foolish legacy automakers look compared to Tesla's margins). They've done an earnest towards raising revenue and adding headliner rides, but now, from both a capitalist and theme park goer's perspective, if they're strategic we will see marginal ticket price increases, massive Genie+ price increases with a KISS design philosophy of the apps, a streamlined cross promoting of their divisions, and also a large new slate of offerings over the coming years.
Hopefully we get a look at Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the Spaceship Earth Redo, Play!, a show or two at HWS, or maybe even an update to Peter Pan's Flight or a Stich replacement, but while necessary... except for Splash, they better not be anything more than a sideshow to consequential changes for both the company and their fanbase.
Less than two weeks to find out! Who's excited?
EDIT: Clarified this bit
Honestly, a third US resort seems like a no brainer, and I can't believe they haven't done it yet (which probably won't ever happen, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't). Given the fact that even in Orlando 30%+ of their attendance are locals, it seems like a Northeast Resort feeding off locals from NYC and Philly in New Jersey might be a genuinely reasonable idea. Texas is centrally located, but I don't think it's as well positioned given the population density compared to the Northeast if the goal is to feed off of an untapped local's market. It will require infrastructure (backstage buildings/roads), but I'm sure State/Local government would attempt to give out tax breaks and incentives more than making up that cost, and frankly, EU is practically a new resort, so if Universal can do it, I don't see why a company where 40% of its revenue comes from the parks can't do so either, that is, if it appears like an un-risky venture. Given that we don't have numbers, it's hard to say for sure, but it would be dumbfounding if they haven't at least explored the option recently. A modern Disney Park like Shanghai crossed with EPCOT's World Showcase could be extremely popular.
That being said, the rest of this post discusses the fact that Disney doesn't understand their product, they have quality control issues, overly complicate the barrier of entry, are leaving money on the table by not expanding, and are at-risk of being outplayed by a legitimate competitor. While none of this will spell the end for the company, it's poor leadership to not consider these factors. This 'new resort' paragraph is kind of random, but I felt it was worth a mention, but don't want it to overshadow the rest of my points.