I concur.
There’s a reason why TDR, even though it’s owned by the OLC and not Disney, now charges for Fastpass and discontinued APs entirely.
Crowds were FAR too high before so I’m happy they raised prices with the intention of bringing crowds to a sane level.
Supply and demand forced them to raise prices to drive down the insane demand for the parks, and that’s beyond the fact they’ve obviously been too greedy overall and are stalling to just allow the Epic Universe hit to happen. I think the true nickel and diming comes from excessive hotel and food costs to be honest. I genuinely think park tickets themselves aren’t too expensive. APs and other ticket pricing was far too much of a value relative to the demand.
But, there is a limit to that strategy, and I think we’re finally seeing that play out. Expanding capacity is a better long-term business strategy and it is one they’re now doing given that the parks got up to par with where the should’ve been a long time ago.
Now, it’s all about expansion. It’s very exciting.