WDWFigment
Well-Known Member
I think Disney is doing exactly what it needs to be doing right now--big investment in new attractions and keeping things fresh and the 3 younger parks and just some freshening up at the MK. The MK does not need to attract more people--they have the after-hours parties because it is a way to make extra money without overcrowding the parks. The other three parks are the ones that have room to spare to hold more guests, so they will see much more rapid investment (rightfully) to greatly increase profits. Recent spending has done wonders at Epcot and AK, so we can expect DHS's numbers to sky-rocket with the current spending plan, which is great for Disney. The only reason they spend so much money renovating MK attractions is so they can keep up the glistening Disney image and have repeat visitors, since they know full and well that if a family from the UK comes to Disney on its first trip and has a great time, not only will they return, they will tell their friends about how great it was. Therefore, Disney would prefer to have a Haunted Mansion that really wows guests, not a dilapidated one. Disney is fully aware that they probably won't see any direct profits from the HM refurbishment, since you can't really market it, but it will keep the tourists returning. Without tacky practices like closing the MK at 7 pm on August evenings to create an expensive, relatively-unsuccessful after-hours party, the MK is pretty near its invisible ceiling on capacity. It is Epcot that has enough room to chew through probably twice as many guests per year as they currently are--think about it, they see about 10,000,000 guests a year, and many attractions are still walk on while Wonders of Life is closed and most of World Showcase remains unutilized (lots of shopping and dining, almost no attractions). The three young parks are cash-cows in hiding, and Disney seems to be coming to this realization with all the work in Epcot, moving AK toward being a park that can be open at night, and now a rebranding of the DHS.
What exactly is the confusion over tourists spending more than APs? It's a no-brainer. A week at Disney for a tourist costs a minimum of $1000 per person. 7 park days for the average AP costs SIGNIFICANTLY less. If the average AP visits parks 30 times a year on their Premium AP (which should be no problem), that's $20 a day plus the pittance the average AP may spend otherwise, since I doubt they are going into giftshops every day like a tourist. So while the average AP may spend $250 on 7 days in the park, the average tourist would probably spend in excess of $1500. Before someone questions my numbers, I am guessing $750 for the Magic Your Way Package for the week, $250 for airfare, and $500 for food and souvenirs, which I think is pretty much bare minimum for any adult.
Just as EPCOT shouldn't have attractions that are walk ons, I don't think it's going to attract more people when MK has waits exceeding an hour (or 90 minutes) for their E tickets. I'm not saying build a bunch of E tickets to take care of this problem, because that will only attract more people and keep the waits roughly the same. Instead, they should focus on some cheaper 'shows' to eat capacity. Maybe update CoP to make it a bigger draw, put more in TTA to make it a bigger draw, etc. These things may not attract more guests, but they would please the guests who are already there, and possibly make them more inclined to return (which in the end, would amount to greater attendance).