Can WDW ever get too big for its own good?

Walt Disney1955

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Will that ever happen? With rumours about a 5th gate probably as realistic as ever with Universal's new announcement there could come a time in the next 5 years where there is a 5th gate and two water parks. As it stands there are 4 parks, two water parks, Disney Springs, the Boardwalk, the resorts, etc. You can stay on site for a week and be busy everyday. This makes it a grand vacation destination, no one can deny that. If you can't find something to do at Disney World, then you can't find it anywhere.

Okay, but here is the thing. Will there ever be a point when it is too big for its own good? One thing about Disneyland is that we can all agree there is a charm and an intimacy there that WDW doesn't quite have. It is a little more quaint. But it still doesn't quite make the same volume of a vacation as WDW. Perhaps you can spend a week on site and never leave in Disneyland but that is really stretching it to find things to do for 7 days. Not at WDW though, 7 days is just right, and even then................................

But will there ever come a point when WDW is too big for its own good?
 

bryanfze55

Well-Known Member
I always do Disneyland for five days and never feel that it’s too long. The reason WDW for 7 days might feel too short while at DL it would feel too long is that WDW has four parks. So if you don’t have a park hopper, you might need 7 days to experience your favorite parks twice. But really, DL and WDW have essentially the same number of attractions.

WDW is too big in the sense that three of its four parks have less than ten rides. They need to build more rides in each park (even beyond current expansion) before considering a 5th gate. If you combine the number of actual rides at Epcot, AK, and DHS, you’d basically get the number of on-site WDW hotels. Kind of pathetic really.
 

bUU

Well-Known Member
But will there ever come a point when WDW is too big for its own good?
It is possible that the reason why we aren't seeing a 5th gate is because WDW is already big enough. At this point we have to understand that the purpose of each additional attraction is to give guests visiting the resort yet one more reason to stay on property rather than go to some other attraction in Central Florida. WDW cannot be everything to everyone - it doesn't make sense to for Disney to replicate (and therefore compete with) the Orlando Museum of Art or the Orlando Science Center. For that part of the leisure market that WDW does serve, they are already pretty close to having enough unique attractions to visit over the expanse of even the longest vacations. At some point (probably at this point), every additional attraction faces a diminishing rate of return simply on the basis of "being too big" for guests to be able to visit all the attractions that interest them (unless the guest is maniacally fixated on just one small sliver of the types of attractions you offer, of course).

I think the only thing overriding that is crowding. While WDW may not need additional unique attractions, we are seeing some really impressive standby wait times for the top attractions. That's to be expected, of course; everyone wants to experience the "shiny new thing". However, when that excessive crowding percolates down to the second-tier attractions (and that seems to be the case right now), then additional capacity might be warranted. By the same token, that can be addressed by adding capacity to an existing attraction, even perhaps by cloning it. It can also be addressed by replacing an attraction that has low utilization (either due to lower capacity or lower demand) with a new attraction that will have higher utilization. Adding a completely new attraction is a third option.

Having said all that, only an idiot sizes their operation to be optimal during times of highest demand. That's demonstrably wasteful and fiscally irresponsible. You need to project demand out over the next five or ten years of the business cycle and determine the "right" size based on that expected demand. If you expect to be heading into a recession after ten-plus year long bull market, then your current development should be sized factoring in several years of much lower demand.

WDW is too big in the sense that three of its four parks have less than ten rides.
Our family couldn't care less about how many "rides" a park has. What matters to us is "attractions" not "rides". And the only park that currently doesn't have enough attractions is Hollywood Studios, for which three attractions are currently under construction and will soon opening, filling that park out nicely.
 

Ricky Spanish

Well-Known Member
Size really isn't the determining factor.
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larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Well, we've seen three major infrastructure projects in recent years to improve traffic flow... tells me they're looking down the road, so to speak, at a time when they'll have another gate.

So, I'd say "yes," WDW can get too big, but it won't be any time soon.
 

Queen of the WDW Scene

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
No. If they do open a 5th park (which has been rumored for like 15 years but has yet to happen so probably will not happen until at least after MK's 50th and Epcot's 40th) I don't think it will make WDW too big for its own good.

I do think that Disney as a company overall is already getting too big for its own good though.
Disney is pretty much taking over the world and going to become a monopoly with all of the other companies its snapped up over the years.
That is what I don't like.
 

bUU

Well-Known Member
Well, we've seen three major infrastructure projects in recent years to improve traffic flow... tells me they're looking down the road, so to speak, at a time when they'll have another gate.
Some would argue (convincingly) that those projects were "deferred maintenance" - infrastructure work that really should have been undertaken ten or even twenty years ago. I've been reading complaints about the commute along those roads for at least that long.

So those projects may reflect nothing other than Disney catching up with needed improvements
 

bUU

Well-Known Member
I do think that Disney as a company overall is already getting too big for its own good though.
I disagree that it is getting too big "for its own good" - it might be getting too big for the good of consumers, but maybe not too big for the good of Disney fans.

Disney is pretty much taking over the world and going to become a monopoly with all of the other companies its snapped up over the years.
Disney has competition on all sides, starting with Comcast/NBC Universal, ViacomCBS and AT&T WarnerMedia. When you're up against companies that are growing like those companies have grown, you had better grow, yourself, or one of those companies will eat you up. Just look at what's happened to Liberty Media. They spun off parts of the company into smaller companies and Starz got gobbled up by Lionsgate, DirecTV and Court TV got gobbled up by AT&T WarnerMedia, etc. I don't think we'd like it if Disney's studios and Disney's theme parks were broken up into pieces and gobbled up by different conglomerates.
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Any company or corporation certainly can grow too fast or too large for it to manage itself, especially if it fails to recognize what the consumer is looking for, fails to maintain the service consumers expect and are willing to pay to continue to prosper. I think just because its Disney, doesnt mean it cant stumble and have growth issues. Its entirely going to be determined by who steps into Igers shoes and how he/she controls and directs the day to day workings of the company after he finally leaves. Nothings a guarantee in business and if Disney does a major expansion, the cost and recouping of that cost will be a headache for anyone directing it. Can it get too big for its own good, sure could, but I dont think it will if managed properly.
 

Walt Disney1955

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WDW is too big in the sense that three of its four parks have less than ten rides. They need to build more rides in each park (even beyond current expansion) before considering a 5th gate. If you combine the number of actual rides at Epcot, AK, and DHS, you’d basically get the number of on-site WDW hotels. Kind of pathetic really.

Wow, never thought of that, Epcot has 9 rides. I mean, we all know Epcot is based more on shows than anything and I guess Guardians will be the 10th ride when it opens. But yeah I thought there would be more rides than that. The attractions overall are what draws us. American Adventure and things like that are big attractions. I don't know if rides use more capacity than a show. Those theatres can fit a ton of people.

I do agree that all the parks even Magic Kingdom could use more rides, even just simple dark rides would do the trick. This is what Disneyland has over MK. I was impressed with how little we were standing in line at Disneyland because if something was busy you could always go over to something next door. Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice, Mr. Toad, etc. I never waited more than 10 minutes for any of them. We rode Mr. Toad 4 times in 2 days. I remember waiting a little over 10 minutes for Small World and thinking it was a longer wait than normal. Honestly, the lines were pretty darn good there. Matterhorn would have been long but we opted for the "single rider" lines which were about 10 minutes at best.
 

SeaCastle

Well-Known Member
It's been disheartening to see how much they are chipping away at the buffers of the resorts' footprint. Going to the parks as a kid you felt like WDW was on its own planet. With Golden Oak, solar fields, road realignments, new DVCs,parking lot expansions, laydown yards you're getting face to face with the sprawl of central florida that continues to grow around it. I'm not anti growth or anti development by any means, it just feels like WDW is folding into the Florida sprawl rather than being set apart from it.
 

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