Disney seems to be in trouble at WDW.
Seems to be management decisions and people who need to be changed.
All of a sudden Disney had to start building which in my mind means they let things stagnate too long and are now in catch up mode. Wasn't just a project a year it was bam here comes a bunch of stuff. That's catch up style building.
They said they wanted to force out the poor people by using higher prices so that the parks aren't so crowded. I don't believe that at all, just an excuse to raise prices but I think what they said has come true. I'm sure they thought people would just pay and Disney could cram as many people in as possible into the parks. I bet one day park tickets have dropped off a cliff. Many on here don't think that is a problem but the world of high spenders who stay at WDW for a week at a time is limited.
Disney manufacturers approach to theme parks is terrible. Straight from an accountant. Accountant think like this. Everything is time and money, give people as little as possible for as much as possible. Acceptable wait times would be the best example. If people on a holiday will wait an hour per ride then when the park is slower make them wait an hour a ride because that is acceptable to them. Send people home to save on labor. That doesn't work when you look around and the park is half full yet you are waiting as long as you would during spring break. People understand that and don't like it. Go to get a burger and only 3 lines are open when their are 10 lines that could be open? That will make people angry.
I think WDW has many problems:
- It's their crown jewel but it isn't treated like that nor managed like that.
- It's used at their sacrificial lamb when the new CEO wants to build his "legacy" somewhere overseas.
- The people running it don't understand the overall theming of the resort. Right now they just place things wherever and call it a day.
- They only update when they absolutely have to. This leads to them playing catch-up at places like DHS or Epcot.
- To make up for losses they look for new ways to nickel and dime people. Cabanas, after hours parties, more and more party nights (selling the park twice). It's all about today's spreadsheet and nothing about the overall experience.
- They outsource technology. They used to be the ones developing all of the cool ideas or at least bringing them to fruition. Now it's off the shelf stuff with standard Disney AAs. 20,000 Leagues was for innovative than TLM..
All of these problems are intertwined. Each are a cause or effect of another.
With regards to the lines. Based on everything I've seen, Disney is likely erring on the side of cost-cutting with labor. That said, other parks do this, too. The problem is that you have this weird point on a coaster where if you ran two trains they're running mostly empty but if you run one train then you end up with a crappy line and that line can change dramatically through the day and, at the same time, you don't want to add/remove trains all throughout the day. You want to keep that at a minimum.
From what I've experienced, on slow days the coasters will run with 1 train and maybe later, if the crowds build, they'll add a second train. It sucks, but it makes sense.
One thing that may happen in the future: When Universal builds on the new land and then, if they're smart, they connect their properties with something like an elevated tram system, it's going to look
really bad at Disney because even though the distances are greater at WDW (5+ mi vs 1mi at Universal), all people are going to be thinking is: "This is so convenient. I can get on this tram and go to wherever I want to go at Universal even though the properties aren't connected!" They're not going to care that it's 1mi vs 5+mi. They're just going to see the convenience/neat-bit of it.
If Universal goes buses then that won't happen. It'd be a good way for Universal to sting WDW, though, especially considering the history of WDW with Monorails/Peoplemovers being the future.
Also, unlike WDW.. Universal could probably get away with one large loop. Even hitting some of their smaller properties along International Drive.
