Insane crowds, more space needed

[larryz]

Here's an interesting look at what crowds were like in mid-August 1982 at Magic Kingdom with footage of a walking tour. Incredibly good quality home video for that time also. Boy I wish it was like this today. Seems to have a much more relaxed atmosphere, and it's amazing how uncrowded Main Street is. Notice though how even back then it got a little more crowded in some of the narrow pathways in Frontierland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland (in front of Small World and Peter Pan). In regard to my earlier comment in this thread- you can see how if back then it got a little more crowded in those areas, it is absolutely horrendous today. Also remember that Magic Kingdom was the only park there at the time. It's amazing to think that with the crowd levels at MK in this video, that was consisting of most people at the resort! and now today- even though there are 4 parks- the crowds there are that much more worse!

You're getting a lot of mileage from this video, aren't you...

 

[rkleinlein]

The roof of Tomorrowland Terrace: Rooftop bar by day (allows adults to enjoy a drink discreetly) and VIP fireworks viewing and/or rooftop bar by night.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Cars trying to get to the TTC/Magic Kingdom this morning lol...(just joking)

 

[NickMaio]

Cars trying to get to the TTC/Magic Kingdom this morning lol...(just joking)

View attachment 359419

SWGE opening day......................................................

 

[Fable McCloud]

I wish they would do 2 shows a night of Happily Ever After. When I saw Wishes my first trip, there were 2 shows a night. We'd ride through the first round, then watch the 2nd and take our time leaving.

 

[NickMaio]

I wish they would do 2 shows a night of Happily Ever After. When I saw Wishes my first trip, there were 2 shows a night. We'd ride through the first round, then watch the 2nd and take our time leaving.

That would be really nice. Then the whole park would not need to sit in the hub for an hour before the only show.
When we were there this past summer it was crazy. People all over the ground. Trying to get through with a stroller was a nightmare.

 

[rickdrat]

I think that another solution to help containing the crowds beyond building more parks is to extend the hours. The hours are already pretty generous, but if instead of opening at 9:00 AM and closing at 8:00 PM, why not open at 8:00 AM and close at 11:00PM? At least then, if people complain about crowds you just could remind them how dead it would be for an EMH at 6:00AM.

Well let's not kid ourselves, it would still be crowded even if they extend hours.

The rule of diminishing returns applies here. Longer park hours for guests = reduced third shift maintenance time which leads to more frequent attraction breakdowns which leads to MORE CROWDS on the remaining rides.

 

[NickMaio]

--Longer park hours for guests - - -

Park hours have been declining over the past 10 years.....
I remember when the MK was open until 12 regular summer hours and 3am for Magic Hours in August.

 

[John park hopper]

Disney is not concerned about crowds or guest satisfaction. The more people they can pack into the parks in a shorter amount of time the parks are open means more profits plain and simple. Keeping the parks open later means they have to pay for staffing, electricity etc for less people who will spend less money. It's all about maximizing profits

 

[Trackmaster]

The rule of diminishing returns applies here. Longer park hours for guests = reduced third shift maintenance time which leads to more frequent attraction breakdowns which leads to MORE CROWDS on the remaining rides.

Who says that every attraction has to be open from rope drop to close down? They could have longer hours but rotate the schedules of the rides. That way, the midways would be less crowded at least.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Disney is not concerned about crowds or guest satisfaction. The more people they can pack into the parks in a shorter amount of time the parks are open means more profits plain and simple. Keeping the parks open later means they have to pay for staffing, electricity etc for less people who will spend less money. It's all about maximizing profits

Well that's not true at all.

In order to increase guest satisfaction, they got rid of Alien Encounter and replaced it with Stitch. And to further increase guest satisfaction, they got rid of Stitch.

Iger noted guest satisfaction goes down when the parks are too crowded. And so, many of their new pricing decisions were to encourage people to come during traditional off-peak times and discourage coming peak time.

The problem is that Disney parks are just so popular that they become crowded. More so year after year. The MK is seeing twice the number of people it was built for. Do you think they can just easily increase the park's size by two and add in twice the amount of attractions? They're spending about $8 billion dollars on the parks... why? For guest satisfaction and to handle the increased crowds.

The only other option to handle crowds is the nuclear option: Limit ticket sales for a particular park on a particular day. Imagine planning a WDW vacation and when you go online to buy tickets you find that the week you want to go has the MK already sold out. No tickets at the door. That's one solution that guests will hate. So, what's being done now is almost everything they can do short of that.

 

[John park hopper]

AE was very popular, They got rid of it because MK was not the right fit. There are really no slow times at Disney any more. Ever plan on going to a concert or sporting event and the tickets are all sold out. Plan ahead just like you have to plan FP and dining reservations

 

[networkpro]

Shouldn't this more accurately be described as insane crowd levels or is the OP more concerned with the mental inability of the guests to be civil to each other ?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Shouldn't this more accurately be described as insane crowd levels or is the OP more concerned with the mental inability of the guests to be civil to each other ?

Still amphibolous, since you can be referring to the level of insane crowds. Got to go with "insane levels of crowds" for precision.

Personally, I'd rephrase it: Insane levels of insane crowds.

 

[Tanna Eros]

South America doesn't make a lot of sense, while the cost of land would be low, the reality is you just don't have enough people with the disposable income to make it work and would rely on people flying in from other continents to give them enough visitor traffic. People assume there are a lot of people in Brazil with enough money to support a park based on the number they see in MK... But most of the Brazilians you see in MK are once in a life time visitors where the parents have to save a lot to send their kids on the trip. The fact is there number of people in South America that have incomes equivalent to your average MK visitors is low, well below what you need to support a park.

Best place for a new park would probably be Texas as the US seems to have enough people to support a park and Texas has weather in some parts that would no require you to shut down during the winter. Going into the midwest I can't see many people willing to go to a theme park when the temps are below freezing, our daughter did a school trip in Missouri once where they did a theme park during an unseasonable cold spell, riding a rollercoaster in the cold isn't enjoyable at all.

Weather would be a problem in the Midwest. Cedar Faire has Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, and they are just now starting a winter event only for a few weeks near the end of the year, and that excludes rides. They must shut down for winter for the most part.
The maintenance of the rides has to be more stringent because of the wet produced by winter.
I agree with you on the idea of a park in Texas, but I wouldn't attend a Disney Park in the Midwest. You'd have good workers, but you'd also have horizontal icicles on your face from one of the rollercoasters. Midwesterners also like their rides big and scary.

 

[Trackmaster]

Weather would be a problem in the Midwest. Cedar Faire has Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, and they are just now starting a winter event only for a few weeks near the end of the year, and that excludes rides. They must shut down for winter for the most part.
The maintenance of the rides has to be more stringent because of the wet produced by winter.
I agree with you on the idea of a park in Texas, but I wouldn't attend a Disney Park in the Midwest. You'd have good workers, but you'd also have horizontal icicles on your face from one of the rollercoasters. Midwesterners also like their rides big and scary.

Kind of a crazy, off the wall idea, but I was thinking that a major theme park in Montana, Idaho, or Whyoming could work. Hear me out.

You have a lot of indoor rides, where the wear doesn't matter at all. You have some outdoor rides that can operate in the summer. And you make the park a ski resort when its cold enough. Imagine hopping off the slope, stepping out of your skis, and hopping on a dark ride. Imagine skiing in between the supports of a coaster that you'll get to ride in a few months. Imagine taking the gondola for your run in the winter, and for transportation in the summer.

 

[danyoung56]

Still amphibolous

??? Did you just make up a word?

 

[MisterPenguin]

??? Did you just make up a word?

amphibolous meaning: Capable of multiple interpretations; ambiguous - OneLook

www.onelook.com

"I shot an elephant in my pajamas," is an example of an amphiboly.

 

[danyoung56]

The stuff you learn . . . . .

 

[Heppenheimer]

Kind of a crazy, off the wall idea, but I was thinking that a major theme park in Montana, Idaho, or Whyoming could work. Hear me out.

You have a lot of indoor rides, where the wear doesn't matter at all. You have some outdoor rides that can operate in the summer. And you make the park a ski resort when its cold enough. Imagine hopping off the slope, stepping out of your skis, and hopping on a dark ride. Imagine skiing in between the supports of a coaster that you'll get to ride in a few months. Imagine taking the gondola for your run in the winter, and for transportation in the summer.

Sounds like the aborted Disney Mineral King Ski Resort. If Disney ever considers this kind of thing again, I imagine it would be something similar to one of their Vacation Club properties, rather than a major theme park resort. It would need to be in a location with consistent snow conditions year-to-year, which pretty much limits the choices to the high Rockies, the Adirondacks, northern New England or even the Laurentians of Quebec. The amount of visitors needed to support a year-round Disney-quality theme park would require a convenient nearby major transit hub, thus eliminating most existing North American ski locations from consideration, which tend to sit in rather isolated regions.

That being said, Mont Tremblant near Montreal is so extensively themed, you'd think it was almost begging to be purchased and further developed by Disney.