News Disney CEO Bob Chapek reiterates his belief that park reservations are now an essential part of Disney's theme parks business

[Laketravis]

These are essentially the same parks that 20 million (?) people went to 10 or 12 years ago, and I think most of us preferred the systems in place then as opposed to now.

Yet despite billions of dollars of effort to address "capacity" over that period of time, park and attraction access only seems to become more and more restrictive in response to cries of ever increasing demand.

Has attendance really climbed that much over the years? My impression is that it hasn't.

 

[bcoachable]

All they had to do back in 2006 (or whenever) was to build out the parks properly… they wouldn’t be in this pickle of having to worry about capacity, and would be making MORE money with higher attendance
Edit to add- it’s still the best option moving forward - if they can find the peeps still willing to work in the parks

 

[JoeCamel]

I agree. That would be way worse.

maybe they are trying to get more people to buy hoppers...

They should build a railroad.......

 

[HauntedPirate]

I’d argue they never treated people the same because they’ve always offered a premium experience via Club 33 and VIP guides.

Club 33 and those who can afford VIP guides are still getting an experience far above the experience of those who use Genie, Disney has just created a new lower class that didn’t exist before.

It used to be the rich got the premium experience and everyone else got the normal experience, now the rich still get the best experience, the upper middle class get the normal experience, and the average joes get a poor experience.

Another example of Disneys progressive ideals at play. They talk a good game but don’t walk the walk.

Club 33 doesn't impact 99.999% of guests. VIP tours didn't impact 99.999% of guests. I have no problems with those. Fireworks viewing locations, parade viewing locations, "premium" upcharges, Genie-... that kind of stuff does impact most guests. They create a caste system of have's and have-not's. That is the problem, amongst a host of other things.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

As I mentioned elsewhere, more changes are possibly on the way in an attempt to fix the system.

Dated one park, one day tickets. No reservation needed since you reserve when buying (see Paris)

Other media, potentially hoppers and resort packages with tickets, and also ticket add ons, will also be date based when purchased. Sales will stop for a given day when a limit is reached.

Prices for all the above will vary depending on day / date and park.

Hopping limits are likely to be removed for various admission media.

These changes could be implemented in the near term.

Someday…we’re gonna have to discuss what that means…

 

[Lilofan]

Walt and Roy, Eisner and Wells… Disney runs best when it has a creative guy and a money guy.

Chapek is clearly the money guy but there’s no dreamer to balance him out, it’s funny everyone seems to realize Disneys formula for success except for Disney.

Why can’t Chapek hire execs smarter than him in these creative areas and build his team with this talent ?

 

[Disney Analyst]

As I mentioned elsewhere, more changes are possibly on the way in an attempt to fix the system.

Dated one park, one day tickets. No reservation needed since you reserve when buying (see Paris)

Other media, potentially hoppers and resort packages with tickets, and also ticket add ons, will also be date based when purchased. Sales will stop for a given day when a limit is reached.

Prices for all the above will vary depending on day / date and park.

Hopping limits are likely to be removed for various admission media.

These changes could be implemented in the near term.

Simplifying the system is good. I personally still have no issue securing my dates in advance / selecting a park, as an out of country tourist, that is how I usually travel as it is.

Opening up Park Hopping will be a big help.

It's mostly AP's and CM's still type of system negatively impacts, as it surely changes their habits.

 

[marni1971]

Someday…we’re gonna have to discuss what that means…

We both know what this means.

 

[bcoachable]

We both know what this means.

THIS concerns me….

 

[dreday3]

We both know what this means.

A new popcorn bucket?

 

[nickys]

No, you'd buy
Day 1 - MK - Sept 1
Day 2 - DHS - Sept 2
Day 3 - AK - Sept 3

etc

Instead of '3 day pass', then a second process to try to make reservations for the days you bought.

I don’t see that happening. Not for multi day tickets.

 

[JoeCamel]

Why can’t Chapek hire execs smarter than him in these creative areas and build his team with this talent ?

Ego?
I dunno why?

 

[mattpeto]

I don’t see that happening. Not for multi day tickets.

At the very least, I see them adopting what Disneyland ticketing is doing: booking park pass reservations at the time when you purchase your tickets.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Why can’t Chapek hire execs smarter than him in these creative areas and build his team with this talent ?

People like B.C. do not want anyone around them that can upstage them.

 

[Lilofan]

People like B.C. do not want anyone around them that can upstage them.

Disney Institute by Disney Springs advertises we walk the talk in teaching companies about Leadership Excellence and Building Teams . Wow the irony.

 

[SteveAZee]

I don’t see that happening. Not for multi day tickets.

I already map out what parks I'll be in on various days, mostly so I can get the ADR's I want. I may be in the minority on this. I also try to match up to which parks are predicted to have lower crowd levels.

 

[aaronml]

I don’t see that happening. Not for multi day tickets.

Agreed. Why bother removing the park hopper restrictions also if they are doing this?

Seems like maybe they are shifting away from tightly managing per-park capacity, and instead moving towards managing resort-wide capacity? That might get messy though if some guests (e.g. APs) still have to make per-park reservations.

Also because Park Pass in its current form has allowed TDO to spread out guests across the parks as they so desire, rather than guests just going to whichever park they prefer to be at.

This would be a welcome change IMO if they indeed go this route. Would be nice not to have to plan which park you are going to months in advance.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

Disney Institute by Disney Springs advertises we walk the talk in teaching companies about Leadership Excellence and Building Teams . Wow the irony.

Set aside all the customer service stuff. How can anyone look at the Epcot Communicore/Cosmic Rewind/Tron development as examples of effective leadership.

 

[nickys]

I already map out what parks I'll be in on various days, mostly so I can get the ADR's I want. I may be in the minority on this. I also try to match up to which parks are predicted to have lower crowd levels.

In the UK we can buy tickets over a year ahead. Making me book the parks at that point is ridiculous.

 

[updownandsideways]

Indeed. Disney is not pitching WDW at high rollers by any means. For a start, there aren't enough of them to fill all those hotels and theme parks and, secondly, they aren't even trying to offer a product of a standard that would compete with what they can get elsewhere for their money. They may be trying to knock those at the lower financial rungs off, but for the most part they're just trying to see how much extra they can ring out of their existing audience, which is not the jet seti

I'd bet dvc spends the most money since they are the most invested in disney