Attraction Capacity Expansion

[co10064]

This week I have been visiting WDW and the parks have been extremely full (with park pass reservations sold out nearly all week). Although I have heard (or at least, some have speculated) that the reservations have been sold out due to lack of staffing and not necessarily lack of attraction capacity, the situation got me thinking... beyond adding new attractions (which I personally would desire to happen), could more capacity be added to existing attractions?

Disney added a third theater to Soarin' and a third track to Toy Story Mania in 2016—both of which seemed like one-offs at the time of the projects.

I have wondered if any other attractions, particularly popular attractions such as Flight of Passage, have room for similar capacity expansions down the line.

I know Disney has no plans to expand attraction capacity like this anytime soon, so my question is more along the lines of... if they wanted to spend the money, where could it be physically possible? Is there room, say, to add more "theaters" to Flight of Passage?

 

[Married5Times]

a third track to Toy Story Mania in 2016

there are 3 tracks?
I thought originally there was the one then another one was added thus, making 2 total.

Flight needs another theater to seriously bump the capacity. All in all it would have been extremely cheap if they would have done it during first construction. Stupid planning.

 

[Kamikaze]

there are 3 tracks?
I thought originally there was the one then another one was added thus, making 2 total.

The original two load back to back, its quite obvious there were two there. Then they added the additional one with TSL.

 

[Married5Times]

thanks for the clarification

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

I'm fairly sure adding two more theaters to FoP would be feasible. And I think it would markedly improve DAK's guest satisfaction ratings.

 

[PattyBell]

They could expand the attractions with more waiting time, like: TT, Snow White coaster...

 

[danlb_2000]

I'm fairly sure adding two more theaters to FoP would be feasible. And I think it would markedly improve DAK's guest satisfaction ratings.

Adding more theaters would require enlarging the building and there really isn't much room for that short of building a whole second copy of the attraction in the parking area.

 

[vikescaper]

Instead of adding additional theaters for things like FoP, I would much rather them add in additional attractions. Like a third ride for Pandora.

 

[danlb_2000]

Instead of adding additional theaters for things like FoP, I would much rather them add in additional attractions. Like a third ride for Pandora.

Yeah, Pandora has two area for potential expansion, would be nice to see a third attraction.

 

[doctornick]

Yeah, Pandora has two area for potential expansion, would be nice to see a third attraction.

Or fourth…. Personally I’d like to see another ride and a “walking trail”.

 

[JoeCamel]

Or fourth…. Personally I’d like to see another ride and a “walking trail”.

At this point the only way you are going to get a walking trail is if it leads to a gift shop

 

[Djsfantasi]

At this point the only way you are going to get a walking trail is if it leads to a gift shop

What a brilliant idea!

 

[Worldlover71]

As much as I love Columbia Harbour House, I wonder if there would be enough room there to build a second track for Peter Pan. There should also be enough room to clone Pooh in Fairytale Hall. Both those waits can be brutal. The princesses could be relocated to a new structure where the Merida M&G currently stands.

 

[erasure fan1]

If anything, they should demo the speedway and Tom Sawyer Island. Add two complete new lands to magic kingdom. I wouldn't want them to add capacity to existing rides. Make all new ones. Unfortunately Disney is so far off pace on this one, they would need to add multiple, multiple attractions and lands to all the parks. And we know that isn't in the cards.

 

[Married5Times]

I wonder if there would be enough room there to build a second track for Peter Pan.

a second track on a ride like that............. what do you mean? Are you saying building an entirely new second Peter Pan ride with the exact same show elements?

 

[Grumpy4196]

I wonder if there would be enough room there to build a second track for Peter Pan. There should also be enough room to clone Pooh in Fairytale Hall.

Instead of cloning existing rides why not try something novel, like building new attractions. I agree with moving Princesses out but put Mr. Toad back in instead of cloning Pooh.

 

[Andrew25]

There are ways to increase capacity both through attractions and just overall improvements.

At the Magic Kingdom, they need both additional attraction capacity AND adjusting current land space for better efficiency. The Town Square theater project would benefit traffic flow and expanded the potential for additional stores/dining in that back area of Main Street. Tomorrowland only has 1 major E-Ticket, with a 2nd one with poor capacity coming online soon. (Get ready for Tron's average wait-time to be 240 just like FOP). Speedway would be better used for Fantasyland and Tomorrowland improvements/expansions.

Epcot has terrific capacity... but less than 50% of it is efficiently used. The "core" attractions are really only Rat, Frozen, Test Track, SSE and GOTG.

DHS has decent capacity, but lacks in walking/seating space.

DAK... lol

I think most of us who say that Disneyland (the park not overall resort) is better than WDW parks, is because you walk a few feet between major attractions.


Also, a lot of recent queues have been designed ridiculously small - Seven Dwarfs, Rise, ToT, etc., and it takes away from walking space.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I can't speak to exactly what is occurring right now at WDW, but in the past, some attractions had some ability to increase capacity without building anything new at all, at least on some days, and especially during specific times of day, such as morning and evening.

The parks have also long had the ability to add soft attractions like extra character greets and things like scavenger hunts. While maybe not the kind of 'attraction' option you are perhaps thinking, they do appeal to at least some park goers. in years past, a plus of holiday weeks was that they often bought out some rare characters, and they would be stationed in unusual places.

There is also plenty of potential to increase the number and appeal of the resort activities offered.

 

[Worldlover71]

Instead of cloning existing rides why not try something novel, like building new attractions. I agree with moving Princesses out but put Mr. Toad back in instead of cloning Pooh.

The OP was asking about adding capacity to existing attractions like they did with Soarin. I think most of us would love additional attractions.

 

[Worldlover71]

a second track on a ride like that............. what do you mean? Are you saying building an entirely new second Peter Pan ride with the exact same show elements?

Yes, that's what the OP was asking about. I'm not endorsing the idea, just theorizing on what is possible.