News Disney CEO Bob Iger Addresses Disney Parks Crowding and Pricing Concerns

[DarkMetroid567]

Did you historically go? I'm fascinated by the attendance stuff, in no small part because the 2023 levels are almost 1 million less than they were 10 years ago. Has it always felt this busy, or is it something else? Speaking from a WDW perspective, It's definitely the latter from our visits.

DL still doesn’t feel like how horrific it would get in 2019 or worse, pre-Project Stardust.

DCA feels busier now though. I don’t think it’s ever been as busy as it is now.

 

[HauntedPirate]

This quote stands out to me too and it’s somewhat difficult to fact check. There is a lot of development because so many of the projects are currently non-redundant. DCL is assuredly getting wrapped up into that and DCL is basically a new resort worth of development.

But even still, it’s a bit hard to wave that metric around when you don’t have a new resort being actively built. Perhaps one (new park) is starting design.



I’m equally dubious if that’s actually ‘true’. Without being privy to something else generous being on the go. Granted 1998-2005 is a 7 year stretch, but they opened 4 parks and also 1 new resort topping it off in 2005. I’d probably say the comment doesn’t hold up to 1997-2001.

Well, we all know Bob can't lie during shareholder meetings, so it must be true.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

The off season at DL is staying in the park past 9:00 pm.

 

[Laketravis]

Yessireee! Things have never looked better!

 

[Laketravis]

Interesting spike right after market close:

 

[monothingie]

So he went the “blatant lie” route then?

Thank god he’s saving us all, huh?

He’s gone in a year at this point what does it matter, everything is awesome!!!!

 

[monothingie]

 

[surfsupdon]

Nothing is based in reality.
Shorter hours. Less perks. More closures especially related to food/bev. Higher pricing. It's so annoying. I am more annoyed I am going next weekend with my sister and am STILL excited! I am part of the problem (but we got free park tix). So that's....better.

 

[Bocabear]

*Mr Iger, how are you dealing with increased crowds in the parks?

*Iger : We built Pandora 8 years ago.

THIS!
and yeah, I know we are in a destroy and replace loop right now, but all this has been necessary after years of coasting and shuttered attractions.
I guess they are waiting to see how Epic does before anything else....

 

[Aschwenker]

I think it’s busier because they condense everything into shorter days and it’s harder to find times that have lulls like early morning and late night. My best Disney experiences have all been late night or early morning because of lower crowds.

I’d be interested in hearing if there is a difference in overall ride capacity now compared to 20 years ago though. Would be interesting to see just how that has changed over time. I imagine it went up despite the general forum perception.

I don't have all the numbers, but we can at least look at what the four WDW parks looked like in early 2005 vs. today. I'm just looking at the attractions that were opened/closed in that time.

For Magic Kingdom, this was pre-"New Fantasyland", so it still had 20,000 Leagues, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Stitch's Great Escape along with a single Dumbo and Toontown Fair. It also had the "Share a Dream Come True" and SpetroMagic parades. After 2005, it gets Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Enchanted Tales, Under the Sea, a second Dumbo, and TRON while losing the aforementioned attractions and SpectroMagic (to be replaced by Disney Starlight this summer). Taking all this into account, ride capacity probably increased at Magic Kingdom since 2005.

For EPCOT in 2005, Soarin! was about to debut, Wonders of Life was still open, and the festival circuit was a shadow of what it is today. Jumping ahead, Soarin! has a third hanger, Wonders of Life is closed, and Remy has been built. Everything else has pretty much remained the same, so EPCOT probably hasn't changed much as far as ride capacity since 2005.

At Hollywood Studios in 2005, Fantasmic! was already there, Lights, Motors, Action! was about to debut, and we had the Backlot Tour (tram only) and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Now, Fantasmic! typically has a second performance, the other attractions are gone, and we have Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge instead. The overall ride capacity at Hollywood Studios is probably close to the same because the trams and theatres could hold so many people.

Finally, at Animal Kingdom in 2005, Expedition Everest was still a year away, Camp Minnie Mickey was still around, and Tarzan Rocks! was still at the Theatre in the Wild. Since, Everest has opened, Pandora was created, and Festival of the Lion King was relocated to Africa. Therefore, ride capacity definitely increased at Animal Kingdom since 2005.

Overall, that means capacity has probably increased resort-wide since 2005. What's interesting is the overall park footprints have only changed at Magic Kingdom while every other park "expansion" was a rip and replace.

While "20 years ago" is a decent chunk of time since Iger became CEO in October 2005, he can't really take credit for New Fantasyland (announced 2009), Soarin! (opened 2005), or Expedition Everest (opened 2006) since those were already well on their way in development before he became CEO, which removes a fair amount of capacity from his tenure. In all, it's probably a wash and the parks have about the same ride capacity due to Iger's leadership.

 

[LSLS]

I don't have all the numbers, but we can at least look at what the four WDW parks looked like in early 2005 vs. today. I'm just looking at the attractions that were opened/closed in that time.

For Magic Kingdom, this was pre-"New Fantasyland", so it still had 20,000 Leagues, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Stitch's Great Escape along with a single Dumbo and Toontown Fair. It also had the "Share a Dream Come True" and SpetroMagic parades. After 2005, it gets Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Enchanted Tales, Under the Sea, a second Dumbo, and TRON while losing the aforementioned attractions and SpectroMagic (to be replaced by Disney Starlight this summer). Taking all this into account, ride capacity probably increased at Magic Kingdom since 2005.

For EPCOT in 2005, Soarin! was about to debut, Wonders of Life was still open, and the festival circuit was a shadow of what it is today. Jumping ahead, Soarin! has a third hanger, Wonders of Life is closed, and Remy has been built. Everything else has pretty much remained the same, so EPCOT probably hasn't changed much as far as ride capacity since 2005.

At Hollywood Studios in 2005, Fantasmic! was already there, Lights, Motors, Action! was about to debut, and we had the Backlot Tour (tram only) and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Now, Fantasmic! typically has a second performance, the other attractions are gone, and we have Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge instead. The overall ride capacity at Hollywood Studios is probably close to the same because the trams and theatres could hold so many people.

Finally, at Animal Kingdom in 2005, Expedition Everest was still a year away, Camp Minnie Mickey was still around, and Tarzan Rocks! was still at the Theatre in the Wild. Since, Everest has opened, Pandora was created, and Festival of the Lion King was relocated to Africa. Therefore, ride capacity definitely increased at Animal Kingdom since 2005.

Overall, that means capacity has probably increased resort-wide since 2005. What's interesting is the overall park footprints have only changed at Magic Kingdom while every other park "expansion" was a rip and replace.

While "20 years ago" is a decent chunk of time since Iger became CEO in October 2005, he can't really take credit for New Fantasyland (announced 2009), Soarin! (opened 2005), or Expedition Everest (opened 2006) since those were already well on their way in development before he became CEO, which removes a fair amount of capacity from his tenure. In all, it's probably a wash and the parks have about the same ride capacity due to Iger's leadership.

While not quite the 20 years which would be really interesting, we can go back 10 years and get data of at least all things at the parks with wait times. Here are the numbers compared:

Park	2015	2025
MK	35	40
Epcot	16	15
DHS	10	16
DAK	8	10

Now, here's the other interesting part. Attendance is DOWN at every one of those parks except for Epcot (2015-2023, the most recent data), which is up less than 1%. DHS is down 2.5%, MK 7%, and DAK 11%.

The other super fascinating part. Average wait times were a mixed bag between the two years (DAK actually had 3.5 minutes less wait times on average in 2015, Epcot was 7 minutes less, DHS was up 3 minutes, MK up 2.5 minutes).

All this to say, the idea of increased capacity is quite misleading by Iger. I think sure, you could probably argue the rides running at peak performance have an increase in capacity. But, that's not factoring in the amount of down times, the actual through-put of rides, how LL has affected things, nor the other things that don't have wait times which have been completely eliminated.

 

[Aschwenker]

While not quite the 20 years which would be really interesting, we can go back 10 years and get data of at least all things at the parks with wait times. Here are the numbers compared:

Park	2015	2025
MK	35	40
Epcot	16	15
DHS	10	16
DAK	8	10

Now, here's the other interesting part. Attendance is DOWN at every one of those parks except for Epcot (2015-2023, the most recent data), which is up less than 1%. DHS is down 2.5%, MK 7%, and DAK 11%.

The other super fascinating part. Average wait times were a mixed bag between the two years (DAK actually had 3.5 minutes less wait times on average in 2015, Epcot was 7 minutes less, DHS was up 3 minutes, MK up 2.5 minutes).

All this to say, the idea of increased capacity is quite misleading by Iger. I think sure, you could probably argue the rides running at peak performance have an increase in capacity. But, that's not factoring in the amount of down times, the actual through-put of rides, how LL has affected things, nor the other things that don't have wait times which have been completely eliminated.

Thanks for pulling the numbers.

For me, the elements of the last 10 years that have made the parks feel more crowded, even if attendance isn't up, are the reduction in park hours, elimination of most extra magic hours, the increased emphasis on fireworks extravaganzas over other nighttime elements, and the rip and replace strategy of overhauling entire lands over the course of years.

Reducing park hours and eliminating extra magic hours concentrates the people who are there into less time. So, the overall reduction in attendance is probably offset by the number of hours the parks were open. Gone are the days where MK was open from 9AM-1AM all July and August.

It also used to be that late nights were less crowded, but the combination of the parks closing at 10PM or earlier, the fireworks coinciding with park close, and the emphasis on fireworks instead of nighttime parades leads to more people in the parks all trying to do the few things there are to do at night.

Finally, the rip and replace strategy means the "fewer" people who are there are sandwiched into a smaller relative area.

 

[Cristin]

Returning Fast pass +
Returning Magical Express
Returning Extra Magic Hours as a unpaid event

TOTALLY AGREE!

 

[John park hopper]

Bob says everything is wonderful as he goes to the bank --just keep, paying my price increases and diminished perks

 

[RobbinsDad]

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This quote stands out to me too and it’s somewhat difficult to fact check. There is a lot of development because so many of the projects are currently non-redundant. DCL is assuredly getting wrapped up into that and DCL is basically a new resort worth of development.

But even still, it’s a bit hard to wave that metric around when you don’t have a new resort being actively built. Perhaps one (new park) is starting design.



I’m equally dubious if that’s actually ‘true’. Without being privy to something else generous being on the go. Granted 1998-2005 is a 7 year stretch, but they opened 4 parks and also 1 new resort topping it off in 2005. I’d probably say the comment doesn’t hold up to 1997-2001.

It could be true - especially factoring in DCL

But even without it:
- whether expansion to existing parks or a 3rd gate, Disneyland Froward is pretty equivalent to a new park
- plus the other stuff being worked on for DCA (Avengers, Coco, Avatar, etc)
- then have MK, DHS, and AK with pretty substantial work (plus still TR and BTM going k )
- hav pretty major work/expansion to Disney Studios/Adventure at Paris

There is quite a bit going on

 

[BrianLo]

It could be true - especially factoring in DCL

But even without it:
- whether expansion to existing parks or a 3rd gate, Disneyland Froward is pretty equivalent to a new park
- plus the other stuff being worked on for DCA (Avengers, Coco, Avatar, etc)
- then have MK, DHS, and AK with pretty substantial work (plus still TR and BTM going k )
- hav pretty major work/expansion to Disney Studios/Adventure at Paris

There is quite a bit going on

I subsequently listened to the presentation and the original quote in the recorded video was about how they have a breadth of investments occurring across their entire worldwide portfolio unlike they’ve ever had before.

Iger I think botched the quote in the Q&A. Because yes, even Paris is shockingly getting capital and it is pretty spread around right now. So in that weird metric I think they are right with an asterisks to what they were claiming. Which is that every park and wider resort, in their portfolio, has active projects, including DCL. Which is historically a bit unusual at this scale the company now is.

As you mention though, it’s likely reflective of a chunk of major things behind the scenes. Discussions on major expansion for DLR and Shanghai in particular.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Do we know what day he was in the swamps recently? Kind of curious to go look at wait times that day.

I thought someone posted that they were there the same day, but I'm not going to be able to find that post.

 

[Lilofan]

he's worth his weight in gold, but he gets an annual salary of ten times that.

The Board who were all recently reelected set up the CEO salary and bonus compensation plan. Bob thanks them.

 

[Gillyanne]

Do we know what day he was in the swamps recently? Kind of curious to go look at wait times that day.

I thought someone posted that they were there the same day, but I'm not going to be able to find that post.

I remembered seeing a post too, found it in the DVC lounge thread. Says Monday (the 17th)

Bob Iger was on property on Monday (For real he was). Maybe he was at the new DVC lounge changing the mix ratio on syrup to water down the soft-drinks on the freestyle machine.

I think he was adding the green dye to the beer and upping the cost by a couple of bucks also.