The World's Most Magical Celebration - Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary

[MagicHappens1971]

I miss SotMK…remember when your $120 ticket included some free cards?

I loved SOTMK. I was so excited to try to the Batuu bounty hunter game for that reason. It’s fun, but not nearly as fun as SOTMK. There were times where my little sister and I would spend the whole day just playing the game. I wish Disney would bring something like that back.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I miss SotMK…remember when your $120 ticket included some free cards?

Remember when your $120 ticket also included:

- Fastpass
- a nighttime parade an MK, and more entertainment in general
- Evening EMH, even if you were staying at a Value or Moderate resort
- Longer park hours
- No reservations required
- No park hopping restrictions

 

[mikejs78]

- Fastpass
- a nighttime parade an MK, and more entertainment in general

Very true.

- Evening EMH, even if you were staying at a Value or Moderate resort

Eh, I don't see this as something included in the ticket. It wasn't available for non-resort guests for example. It was a resort perk.

- Longer park hours

This is kind of not really true. I did an analysis of this before - MK certainly has fewer hours but the other parks have more. If you aggregate all 4 parks, there are more open park hours now than any time in the last decade or so.

- No reservations required
- No park hopping restrictions

100% this.

 

[FutureCEO]

The Magic Kingdom and MGM would even be more of a madhouse (even more than now) if Disney didn't cap attendance.

 

[HauntedPirate]

The Magic Kingdom and MGM would even be more of a madhouse (even more than now) if Disney didn't cap attendance.

If park hopping restrictions were in place, yes. Funny how things weren't madhouse-crazy so often before Covid...

 

[mikejs78]

If park hopping restrictions were in place, yes. Funny how things weren't madhouse-crazy so often before Covid...

Did you go to the parks in 2019? They were crazier than now.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

What seems so unusual to me about this is that all the discussion around dealing with demand seems to be around capping attendance and little to none around increasing capacity.

I get that when demand outstrips supply by so much that part of the conversation will involve raising pricing to a point that genuinely reflects what the market will bear. It just seems that all Disney has up its sleeve are price increases, capacity caps of various kinds, and complicated algorithms to help them control and limit demand. Increasingly supply doesn't really seem in the picture.

 

[Stevie Amsterdam]

What seems so unusual to me about this is that all the discussion around dealing with demand seems to be around capping attendance and little to none around increasing capacity.

I get that when demand outstrips supply by so much that part of the conversation will involve raising pricing to a point that genuinely reflects what the market will bear. It just seems that all Disney has up its sleeve are price increases, capacity caps of various kinds, and complicated algorithms to help them control and limit demand. Increasingly supply doesn't really seem in the picture.

Would Ratatouille, Tron, FoP, NRJ, Slinky, RotR and MFSR not fall in that category? I get that GotG, FEE, MMRR and Tiana are replacing other rides, but it isn't like Disney is sitting on their hands?

 

[drizgirl]

What seems so unusual to me about this is that all the discussion around dealing with demand seems to be around capping attendance and little to none around increasing capacity.

I get that when demand outstrips supply by so much that part of the conversation will involve raising pricing to a point that genuinely reflects what the market will bear. It just seems that all Disney has up its sleeve are price increases, capacity caps of various kinds, and complicated algorithms to help them control and limit demand. Increasingly supply doesn't really seem in the picture.

I don’t get it either. People just give Disney a pass on this. People say they are just so far behind there’s nothing they can do. Well yes it’s hard when you mostly just replace stuff. This is a conscious choice not to want to pay for, maintain and operate net new attractions.

 

[drizgirl]

Would Ratatouille, Tron, FoP, NRJ, Slinky, RotR and MFSR not fall in that category? I get that GotG, FEE, MMRR and Tiana are replacing other rides, but it isn't like Disney is sitting on their hands?

They closed a bunch of stuff in DHS to make room for SW, including a high capacity many times daily show. And a seasonal but very high capacity show in Osborne lights. And how about the backlot tour?

 

[HauntedPirate]

Did you go to the parks in 2019? They were crazier than now.

You know the answer to that question. And I disagree. They may have been crazier some days, but people were free to move, without restriction, if one park was too busy. You also had parks running most/all of their available capacity in all phases - attractions, shows, food, etc. Of course, they also ramped up the marketing (and prices) for a decade-plus without increasing capacity in a meaningful way…

 

[Bocabear]

Well, the two attractions listed from Pandora came online 5 years ago in a park desperate for more offerings...At the point they announced Pandora, the park was considered a half day park by many...
The Star Wars and toy Story land Additions caused the loss of two attractions, and added some capacity to another park that had dwindled down to 5 rides...so, again they HAD to start adding attractions back to that park.
In Epcot is is nice to have Ratatouille added to the lineup in a pavilion where it actually makes sense. Other than that there is no added capacity that isn't just a replacement.
Tron for the Magic Kingdom is an addition...while they shuttered the Stitch attraction ( it was pretty awful) without any replacement...so net gain -0-...

 

[UNCgolf]

Would Ratatouille, Tron, FoP, NRJ, Slinky, RotR and MFSR not fall in that category? I get that GotG, FEE, MMRR and Tiana are replacing other rides, but it isn't like Disney is sitting on their hands?

Ratatouille, Tron, and Pandora are adds, but TSL and Galaxy's Edge replaced things too. They were a clear net add overall, but not as much as they could have been (although the whole Backlot Tour area had to go, so it's not the same as replacing something like GMR).

They also keep closing/removing other things that help fill guest time. Streetmosphere, themed shops with unique merchandise, etc. -- EPCOT still has less capacity now, even after Guardians and Rat, than it did 25-30 years ago.

Regardless, a big part of the problem is that they sat on their hands and did nothing for nearly a decade, so they're still trying to play catch-up. Attendance didn't stop rising just because they weren't building any new attractions.

 

[MisterPenguin]

They closed a bunch of stuff in DHS to make room for SW, including a high capacity many times daily show. And a seasonal but very high capacity show in Osborne lights. And how about the backlot tour?

The car stunt show hosted 15,000 people per day, and only on days when there were three and not two shows, and only on days when it wasn't cancelled because the ground was wet.

But people barely consider a *show* as part of park's capacity because they're so ride-centric, and you want to count a seasonal walk-thru (Osborne) as part of capacity? OK. Considering how some deride the new walk-thru attraction in EPCOT (JoW) as not really an *attraction,* I'm not sure how we square the faux cityscape and Osborne lights as "an attraction" worthy of including in any capacity count.

Anyway, the two new rides in SWL, in a 10 hour day, added capacity for over 30,000 people. Then there is also SDD and Aliens, and the 50% capacity addition to TSM.

And the only *ride* that was sacrificed was Back Lot Tour, which closed on its own accord previously under the weight of DHS not being a movie studio any more.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Would Ratatouille, Tron, FoP, NRJ, Slinky, RotR and MFSR not fall in that category? I get that GotG, FEE, MMRR and Tiana are replacing other rides, but it isn't like Disney is sitting on their hands?

You do make a reasonable point that they have not been doing literally nothing in recent years to increase capacity.

To me, though, the response just looks wildly tilted in the direction of micromanaging crowds rather than anything that looks like a coordinated effort to deal with capacity issues. In that regard, they seem to have lost sight of the fact people are supposed to be on vacation when suggesting all these aps and reservation systems to help manage capacity that I can't imagine anyone would come up with if their end goal was to build an enjoyable theme park destination.

In other words, they seem to have sat down and developed a detailed plan to manage guest movements in response to capacity issues that, I would argue, verges on being indifferent to guest experience. I don't see a similar detailed plan to build capacity across the parks, more just attractions here and there in parks that generally remain under built.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

What seems so unusual to me about this is that all the discussion around dealing with demand seems to be around capping attendance and little to none around increasing capacity.

I get that when demand outstrips supply by so much that part of the conversation will involve raising pricing to a point that genuinely reflects what the market will bear. It just seems that all Disney has up its sleeve are price increases, capacity caps of various kinds, and complicated algorithms to help them control and limit demand. Increasingly supply doesn't really seem in the picture.

The window of opportunity to substantially increase park capacity was 15-20 years ago.

They decided instead to invest billions into a shell game to avoid having to do so...only to have to reluctantly build more rides anyway.

With Disney's glacial pace of construction and outrageous spending, I have no idea what it would take to truly make the kinds of capacity improvements the parks need. The new rides added over the last few years have not really addressed this as its been mostly repeal and replace. Then there's pointless construction projects like the EPCOT spine which don't even accomplish what they claim to do. They fired everyone who had the industry knowledge and skill to pull off projects like the Euro Disney capacity increase of 1993-1994, and it will likely take a major shakeup to finally end the bloated, confused mess of current WDI and its superiors.

There really is no short term solution to this problem besides capping attendance and/or raising prices further (and not just hikes here and there, but a total restructuring of admission guidelines).

 

[mikejs78]

The car stunt show hosted 15,000 people per day, and only on days when there were three and not two shows, and only on days when it wasn't cancelled because the ground was wet.

That's also assuming the stadium was filled to capacity - which it rarely was even close.

 

[brb1006]

 

[drizgirl]

Anyone want to guess what prompted them to add this a month shy of the 51st anniversary?

 

[bhg469]

That's also assuming the stadium was filled to capacity - which it rarely was even close.

That's the biggest issue with shows.. Unless its something over the top and people rave about it, it becomes something you're totally willing to miss on your visits.