News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[MrPromey]

Magic Kingdom's primary issue isn't "stuff to do" or even "stuff to eat," it's "square footage to move your body freely."

Part of which is exasperated by people wandering around waiting for their FP+/G+ attraction time (or just standing in front of the attraction entrance staring the castmember down and making people navigate around them because they showed up 15 mintues too early and aren't allowed in yet) and part of it is made worse by MK being the most complete of the four parks and probably the only one that could exist without the others.

Besides being the one everyone who knows nothing about Walt Disney World would normally think of when you say "Walt Disney World" how likely would you be to tell anyone "If you only have one day to spend, I know a lot of people like the MK but the best place to go to get the full bang for your buck for your three generations of family is (insert one of the other three parks)"?

It may be true that it's the castle park that people think of but it's also true that it's at least twice the park any of the others are in terms of things to do and appeal offered for all ages.

 

[mysto]

I don't think reducing the number of attractions is a reasonable way to limit attendance. There must be a better way.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Besides being the one everyone who knows nothing about Walt Disney World would normally think of when you say "Walt Disney World" how likely would you be to tell anyone "If you only have one day to spend, I know a lot of people like the MK but the best place to go to get the full bang for your buck for your three generations of family is (insert one of the other three parks)"?

It may be true that it's the castle park that people think of but it's also true that it's at least twice the park any of the others are in terms of things to do and appeal offered for all ages.

Eh, I think that's all true but I don't think it would change even if the other three parks were fully fleshed out. MK is MK is MK.

 

[MrPromey]

Eh, I think that's all true but I don't think it would change even if the other three parks were fully fleshed out. MK is MK is MK.

I think MK will always be the most popular (by far) and will always be the thing people who haven't been will think of when they hear Walt Disney World... and will probably be an at-least-visit-once-on-every-trip park for most people traveling to go but... I also think they could do a lot more at the other three to bleed some of that attendance, even if it's just for park hopping (which would help with all-day attendance/crowding) or for peeling off a second day MK visit.

I guess using the reservation system to force people into parks they'd otherwise not choose is their solution there, though.

 

[Disone]

It may be true that it's the castle park that people think of but it's also true that it's at least twice the park any of the others are in terms of things to do and appeal offered for all ages.

I only copied a small part of this post but I agreed with all of it. 100%.

Eh, I think that's all true but I don't think it would change even if the other three parks were fully fleshed out. MK is MK is MK.

Magic Kingdom will be Magic Kingdom, but it could not hurt to better flesh out the other parks.

According to TEA, at 6.3 million and 5.8 million respectively, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney sea are much closer to each other. The castle park, Disneyland, still wins but Disney Sea comes a lot closer to it in attendance because it is better fleshed out.

I guess using the reservation system to force people into parks they'd otherwise not choose is their solution there, though.

Again abbreviated snip, but I agree with the entire post. This part. I agree with the most. It is exactly why they will likely keep park reservation system as an " integral part of the guest experience" .

 

[MisterPenguin]

MK has 2-3 times the rides of each of the other parks. Put another 15 rides in each of the other parks and I think you'll find their popularity matches that of the MK.

 

[MrPromey]

MK has 2-3 times the rides of each of the other parks. Put another 15 rides in each of the other parks and I think you'll find their popularity matches that of the MK.

I don’t think it’ll ever be a long-term 1:1 because I think people will always see MK as a must-do where the other three will remain more interchangeable in that regard, depending on which ones have the latest new things but they could certainly narrow the gap a LOT if they’d seriously consider that approach.

I don’t think it even needs to be all rides per se - just all-day continuous attractions (which most live shows, unfortunately, aren’t) and the ones that are rides don’t have to be all e-tickets as long as the mix and integration is thought out.

But we’re talking about what they’d need to do to make guests happy. In the modern era of analytics, that doesn't necessarily appear to translate to more near-term profit for them unless there is a serious continuous attendance downturn they can’t fix with promotions.

It fixes problems we as the customers perceive there being but unless they start really losing money or there’s some major problem that results in half a dozen people being trampled to death as the crowd attempts to flee the area in front of the castle during a fireworks show in an uncontrolled panic, do they (management) even care that it’s packed uncomfortably tight most nights?

 

[epcotWSC]

I don't think reducing the number of attractions is a reasonable way to limit attendance. There must be a better way.

To me, the answer is to build more. If there's not enough space for everyone, you expand. Disney just doesn't want to spend the money especially if they're not necessarily getting more attendance out of it.

 

[Magenta Panther]

I don’t think it’ll ever be a long-term 1:1 because I think people will always see MK as a must-do where the other three will remain more interchangeable in that regard, depending on which ones have the latest new things but they could certainly narrow the gap a LOT if they’d seriously consider that approach.

I don’t think it even needs to be all rides per se - just all-day continuous attractions (which most live shows, unfortunately, aren’t) and the ones that are rides don’t have to be all e-tickets as long as the mix and integration is thought out.

But we’re talking about what they’d need to do to make guests happy. In the modern era of analytics, that doesn't necessarily appear to translate to more near-term profit for them unless there is a serious continuous attendance downturn they can’t fix with promotions.

It fixes problems we as the customers perceive there being but unless they start really losing money or there’s some major problem that results in half a dozen people being trampled to death as the crowd attempts to flee the area in front of the castle during a fireworks show in an uncontrolled panic, do they (management) even care that it’s packed uncomfortably tight most nights?

To many if not most folks, The Magic Kingdom is what epitomizes Disney. Not Avatar. Not Star Wars. Not Marvel. Mickey, Donald, the Castle, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Seven Dwarfs...that's authentic Disney. I doubt that any new ride in any other park would increase the appeal of those parks until they're the equal of MK. MK will always be most popular. That's just the way it is.

 

[GimpYancIent]

To me, the answer is to build more. If there's not enough space for everyone, you expand. Disney just doesn't want to spend the money especially if they're not necessarily getting more attendance out of it.

Building more is a good thing. The trick is building more without destroying what you have in the process or obstructing / detracting from what you have with construction walls.

 

[el_super]

To me, the answer is to build more. If there's not enough space for everyone, you expand. Disney just doesn't want to spend the money especially if they're not necessarily getting more attendance out of it.

Building more attractions doesn't really eliminate crowding, or the need to have a virtual queue system. It just moves the crowds around.

 

[Trauma]

The $DIS may be trading under $90 a share by the end of the day.

They really need Avatar to deliver.

 

[Lilofan]

The $DIS may be trading under $90 a share by the end of the day.

They really need Avatar to deliver.

Have not been to a movie theatre in almost 10 years. Won’t be getting ticket money from me.

 

[epcotWSC]

Building more attractions doesn't really eliminate crowding, or the need to have a virtual queue system. It just moves the crowds around.

Isn't that the name of the game? Getting people into attractions and wide open spaces rather than packing them in like sardines?

 

[Rickcat96]

The $DIS may be trading under $90 a share by the end of the day.

They really need Avatar to deliver.

Avatar will not save them.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Avatar will not save them.

Agreed. And that's going to make Iger's purchase of 20th Century Fox look even dumber.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Building more attractions doesn't really eliminate crowding, or the need to have a virtual queue system. It just moves the crowds around.

Further attraction capacity and crowds more spread out would feel less crowded as a whole

 

[Rickcat96]

Agreed. And that's going to make Iger's purchase of 20th Century Fox look even dumber.

Disney is 109 billion in the red, throwing money in the trash on poor performing movies and D+ content (majority) They squoze too much from the parks segment and drove many away. They are drunk.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Many of us here could see this coming years ago and for anyone that thinks Iger coming back is the saving grace for Disney and the theme parks are kidding themselves

Changes need to be made in so many areas

 

[el_super]

Isn't that the name of the game? Getting people into attractions and wide open spaces rather than packing them in like sardines?

If you add a new attraction, and that new attraction ends up with a 2 to 3 hour wait, you still have crowds to deal with. No one wants to wait in a 2 hour long queue.

Further attraction capacity and crowds more spread out would feel less crowded as a whole

Attractions that are in high demand will stay in high demand. Where you see fewer people are in the smaller attractions that are generally not busy today.