Between all the parks, the shows, the attractions, the restaurants, the hotels, and the extra stuff, does WDW have too much to maintain at the highest level?
I am a Disney apologist, but can see certain aspects of the theme parks in particular floundering.
Attractions need paint, maintenance, updating, and general improvements. As Disney has expanded, parks seem to have taken a backseat to other profit generators like ESPN, ABC, motion pictures, etc. This partially makes sense because of the huge fixed costs associated with running a theme park and it being one of their lower margin businesses.
I think they do a phenomenal overall job. However, I can't help but wonder if the quality of the parks would improve if they didn't have SO much in them.
Perhaps they never should have opened Animal Kingdom if they couldn't do it properly, for example.
Then you wonder, would you rather have a poorly maintained Splash Mountain or no Splash Mountain at all? Would you give up Animal Kingdom if they put that money into improving refreshing EPCOT to a true image of tomorrow, completely refresh (not plus) Magic Kingdom, and expand/finish Hollywood Studios?
With Shareholders and the business aspect to running the parks, everything they do always has an opportunity cost. It seems this is a larger emphasis on their philosophy than before. It used to be there was no expense spared to make the theme parks as enjoyable and magical as possible. I think Disney still maintains that culture to a certain extent, but it has been lost in the name of expansion.
While this has given us more attractions and additional theme parks, I think it has partially taken away from the Disney magic and overall quality of the product. We talk about Disneyland having a bit higher standards and I think it's largely because it's done on a much smaller scale. Less land, fewer attractions, and fewer competing interests.
Thoughts?
I am a Disney apologist, but can see certain aspects of the theme parks in particular floundering.
Attractions need paint, maintenance, updating, and general improvements. As Disney has expanded, parks seem to have taken a backseat to other profit generators like ESPN, ABC, motion pictures, etc. This partially makes sense because of the huge fixed costs associated with running a theme park and it being one of their lower margin businesses.
I think they do a phenomenal overall job. However, I can't help but wonder if the quality of the parks would improve if they didn't have SO much in them.
Perhaps they never should have opened Animal Kingdom if they couldn't do it properly, for example.
Then you wonder, would you rather have a poorly maintained Splash Mountain or no Splash Mountain at all? Would you give up Animal Kingdom if they put that money into improving refreshing EPCOT to a true image of tomorrow, completely refresh (not plus) Magic Kingdom, and expand/finish Hollywood Studios?
With Shareholders and the business aspect to running the parks, everything they do always has an opportunity cost. It seems this is a larger emphasis on their philosophy than before. It used to be there was no expense spared to make the theme parks as enjoyable and magical as possible. I think Disney still maintains that culture to a certain extent, but it has been lost in the name of expansion.
While this has given us more attractions and additional theme parks, I think it has partially taken away from the Disney magic and overall quality of the product. We talk about Disneyland having a bit higher standards and I think it's largely because it's done on a much smaller scale. Less land, fewer attractions, and fewer competing interests.
Thoughts?
i believe that disney has the best theme parks in the world and the quality is unmatched :sohappy: i love you disney!:kiss: but then agian thats just my opinion :animwink:
