Disney Doesn’t Want Lower Crowds.
Don’t believe everything Disney tells you. If the company never misled, every menu item everywhere would actually be “yummy” or “tasty.” Each new attraction would be the first-of-its-kind somehow. All upcharge experiences would be “magical” and “enchanting.” We’d still have Maelstrom, Universe of Energy, and other attractions they indicated were not slated for reimagining “at this time” shortly before announcements to the contrary.
Disney is incredibly adept at corporate communications, masterfully employing wordsmithery to obfuscate or excite fans, as the case may be. A lot of this strikes me as condescending and cloying with too much feigned enthusiasm and corporatespeak, but fans seem to eat it up.
Nevertheless, the company always stays on the right side of the marketing puffery v. false advertising line. I think most of us recognize this for what it is, and don’t put too much weight in it. We parse press releases and social media posts from Disney for the substantive details, disregarding the colorful language, and taking subjective claims with a grain of salt.
The same is true when assessing corporate earnings calls or interviews with executives. SEC rules prohibit companies from fraudulent, false or misleading statements to investors. This prevents Disney or any other company from releasing reports with inaccurate data or the CFO, for example, from making incorrect claims that analysts might rely upon.
In other words, when Disney asserts that per guest spending is up by 40% as compared to 2019, this impressive number is materially accurate. That’s pretty black and white. Then there are grey areas. A claim that hotel occupancy numbers have increased might be technically correct, even though it’s predicated in part upon rooms being taken out of the active inventory. Then there are the wholly subjective statements, such as cutting portion sizes being good for guest waistlines.
These distinctions are more difficult, but many fans intuitively understand the difference between fraud, favorable framing, and subjective commentary. Even if you don’t brush up on SEC rules in your free time, you probably have the ability to differentiate all of these types of statements and weigh them accordingly.
For whatever reason, this often does not happen when it comes to Disney’s statements about attendance. Otherwise intelligent fans take the company at their word on this, believing that Disney truly intends to reduce crowding. Maybe it’s a matter of wanting to believe. We hope that, if we’re going to pay higher prices for tickets or whatever else, at least there’s upside for us. (I certainly want to believe this!) Yet, despite ample evidence to the contrary, many fans continue to believe Disney cares about crowding. They do not.
When it comes to taking Disney at its word regarding crowds and pricing, this has been happening for decades. Literally. Back in 2010, then-chairman of Parks & Resorts Jay Rasulo stated that Walt Disney World planned to “slowly wean our guests off discounting.” Rasulo and then-CEO Bob Iger talked about ending deep-discounting on countless earnings calls. They indicated that these extreme measures put in place by Disney to prop up attendance and occupancy during the height of the recession were no longer necessary.
That line was repeated ad nauseam by fans for years. Whenever the release of a special offer was a few weeks late by historical standards or a room-only discount was 5% worse than the previous year, fans made reference to this remark. That it was finally happening, for real this time. And then, like clockwork, Free Dining and 40% off rack rate deals would roll out a few days later.
As recently as 2018, we were still addressing this comment about weaning guests off discounts when discussing the future of Free Dining. (It turns out that our prediction that “Free Dining, as we know it today, probably won’t exist come 2020” was correct, but definitely not for the reasons we expected!)
Eventually, that goal was realized. Free Dining hasn’t been offered for the last two years…due to the Disney Dining Plan being temporarily unavailable. Resort discounts have also dropped off due to a mix of pent-up demand and more limited room inventory. Probably not quite what Rasulo and Iger had in mind when planning to wean guests off discounts a decade earlier!
Back in 2016, Walt Disney World adopted seasonal pricing on 1-day tickets. Although that was effectively a price increase by a different name, the company pitched it as positive for guests: “the demand for Disney Parks continues to grow, particularly during peak periods. At the same time, we have an unwavering commitment to exceeding the expectations of all our guests.
Disney spun this as providing maximum “flexibility” and “customizability” as guests could simply choose to visit on less expensive days (tell that to teachers or students!) and save. This pricing model was billed as a way to “help spread out visitation” more evenly throughout the year. This was now ~6 years ago, but more recent press releases and comments from Disney spokespeople strike the same familiar notes about date-based pricing for Genie+ and other price increases.
Prior to the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Bob Iger mused that “maybe I should just tweet ‘It’s opening!’ and that will be enough” during an earnings call, saying that marketing wouldn’t be necessary to draw attention to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, as it would be in “incredibly popular and in-demand” regardless.
When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge debuted to low crowds in Disneyland and then again at Walt Disney World, Iger explained this away with a laundry-list of reasons as to why guest interest was low. Iger did, however, concede that “attendance was below what we would have hoped it would be” in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge during an earnings call.
Bob Chapek stuck to spin. He claimed that Disney was happy with the crowds and that was part of the plan. “The deep secret is that we don’t intend to have lines. If you build in enough capacity, the rides don’t go down and it operates at 99% efficiency, you shouldn’t have 10-hour lines…So, 10-hour lines are not a sign of success,” he said. “It should be seen as a sign of, frankly, failure.” (Note: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has never operated at 99% efficiency and had a 7-hour posted wait time 2 weeks ago.)
Since then, it’s been widely-rumored that Disney is contemplating changes (no, not turning it into Aladdin Land!) to make Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge more appealing. A version of the land slated for the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris was also quietly cancelled. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has been an unequivocal success, but results are more mixed with the rest of the land. You can be the judge of its success v. spin–that’s not really the point of this post.
There is an old adage among attorneys: “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the law on your side, pound the law; if you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table.” I’ve always liked that expression, as it can be applied to all facets of life. With its corporate communications, Disney is often pounding on the table.
The point, which is hopefully illustrated by all of the above, is that Disney emphasizes the things that make the company look good and more valuable to shareholders, while also attempting to spin those into positives for consumers. When every other metric was abysmal in mid to late 2020, Disney emphasized guest satisfaction and ‘intent-to-return’ metrics on corporate earnings calls. (As we’ve mentioned before, there’s a reason they stopped sharing that post-Genie!)
If per guest spending is up, it’s due to the strength of Disney’s brand and the premium experience being delivered. If hotel occupancy is up, it’s due to the unparalleled storytelling power of a Disney resort. If prices are going up, it’s due to a supposedly-benevolent desire to deliver an exemplary guest experience and reduce crowds.
“If ___, then [insert hollow corporate buzzwords suggesting a positive for shareholders and consumers].” It’s a pretty simple formula, and we see it used time and time again. If Disney’s Hollywood Studios were invaded by literal aliens tomorrow and they started eating everyone on Alien Swirling Saucers, Disney would proudly tout the 98% of visitors who were not consumed by creatures from outer space as a massive win. The underlying idea remains constant: everything Disney does is good…for you!
As for why we shouldn’t take Disney at its word that the company is doing us a favor with price increases in the name of reducing crowds, quite simply, because there is ample evidence to the contrary.
Across the board, Walt Disney World attendance increased almost every single year from 2007 to 2019. Cumulatively, the increase was by tens of millions of guests, with attendance at Magic Kingdom alone climbing from 16 million to nearly 21 million guests. Animal Kingdom did even better in percentage terms, jumping from 9.5 million to 14 million–with almost all of that coming post-Pandora World of Avatar. Disney’s Hollywood Studios was to have its own coming-out party in 2020 with the completion of expansions, but that didn’t materialize for obvious reasons. Still, its attendance was up by 2 million from 2007 to 2019. EPCOT was just under that.
If the goal was to cut crowds or redistribute attendance, Walt Disney World has proven itself spectacularly bad at that over the course of the last decade-plus!
As we’ve pointed out repeatedly, higher prices do not necessarily translate to lower attendance. There are certain times of year that experience higher demand for a number of reasons–school schedules, seasonal events, weather, etc. Teachers or families with school age children can’t switch their vacation from summer break to mid-September to take advantage of lower prices. That’s not a real solution that works with the schedules of this demographic of guests, which is Disney’s core audience. They will simply pay more to visit in June or July.
Charging incrementally higher prices for these times of year allows Walt Disney World to capitalize on and profit from that inherently higher demand. That’s the goal–not redistributing attendance or whatever the talking point might be. This is the reason spring break, summer vacation, and fall/winter holidays continue to see heavier attendance than any other time of year and have not leveled off with random dates in mid-January, early May, late August, etc. Increasing prices on that quasi-captive audience is simply savvy business or opportunism, depending upon your perspective.
With that said, there are other ways to reduce crowds while increasing attendance. One would be large scale expansions that increase capacity rather than redeveloping or reimagining existing attractions. (Which typically have the opposite effect–adding demand while keeping capacity flat.) Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, and Toy Story Land are good examples of this. Even though some of those redeveloped existing real estate, they did so in a way that effectively increased capacity.
Magic Kingdom is the best example of insufficient expansion during that time. Although New Fantasyland was a huge addition, nothing has been added since 2014 despite attendance increasing by millions more guests. Still, there are other ways to reduce crowds while increasing attendance.
Beyond physical park expansion, another option is adding entertainment. This is something that can be done on a quicker timeline, with stage shows, atmospheric acts (“streetmosphere”), parades, nighttime spectaculars, all helping to absorb or redistribute attendance. This was one of the goals of Rivers of Light and the whole Animal Kingdom after dark initiative. We’ll also soon see it play out as Hollywood Studios suddenly becomes much busier the last few hours of the day once Fantasmic returns.
However, Walt Disney World has largely gone the other direction in the last several years. Even pre-closure, entertainment cuts were occurring with regularity even as attendance increased. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios alone, here’s a list of entertainment that will not be running this holiday season: Citizens of Hollywood, Jedi Training Academy, Jingle Bell Jingle BAM!, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
If someone complains of the high crowds once Fantasmic returns and cites them as “evidence” that prices need to increase more as the only solution, kindly offer that list as a counterpoint.
The other solution is extending park hours, which increases park capacity and reduces crowds. This occurs in effect because the average guest does not stay for the duration of the operating day, but rather, a subset of it. Most people are not commando tourists who can go from rope drop to park close regardless of hours. They’ll do about 8 hours of the day on average, arriving early or staying late. Extending hours decreases the overlap–and thus crowds in the process–and allows attendees to “redistribute” crowds in a natural way.
This is a time-tested solution, and precisely the reason why Magic Kingdom used to open at 7 am during peak season dates and stay open until midnight in the summer. Even then, Main Street was busy until 1 am, as plenty of people will stay out until 2 am or later unless the weather is prohibitively cold. It’s also why Magic Kingdom used to have Extra Magic Hours until 3 am (back when evening Extra Magic Hours were 3 hours long).
Summers during the Great Recession, park hours as a whole were longer (with the exceptions of Animal Kingdom and World Showcase). Both water parks were open daily until 8 pm. The “Summer Nightastic” celebration brought special fireworks to Magic Kingdom, and nightly performances (sometimes twice) of the Main Street Electrical Parade. Speaking of parades, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom each had daytime parades back then.
Now, attendance is significantly higher (by several millions of guests per year) and regular park hours have been reduced by several hours per day–most notably at Magic Kingdom. There’s also less entertainment due to the stage shows and atmospheric acts that have been cut, as well as the loss of 3 different parades.
All of that should undercut any arguments that Walt Disney World is serious about reducing crowds. In reality, Disney has little desire to reduce attendance; they want to “optimize” wait times, staffing, and pricing to improve margins. That’s precisely why the company has reduced hours and entertainment with ever-increasing attendance instead of adding more to help absorb crowds. It’s not that Disney is inept at cutting congestion–it’s that the actual goal is yield management, and they are incredibly efficient at that!
Ultimately, this isn’t passing judgment about Walt Disney World’s approach to attendance or anything else. It’s simply refuting the misconception that Disney is doing guests a favor with price increases by (supposedly) reducing demand, crowds, improving the guest experience, or whatever else they’ve claimed. The company’s actual focus is on revenue and profits, and the maximization thereof.
To that end, Walt Disney World is trying to thread the needle by incrementally increasing prices in an effort to keep demand relatively inelastic. In short, Disney wants both high crowds and higher prices. That much should be clear by now. (If not, just look around–have you seen crowds decrease since Disney adopted this supposed-strategy in 2016?!)
From a business perspective, it’s hard to fault Walt Disney World for not leaving money on the table. While we hate all of the price increases of the last 2-3 years, it’s also obvious that Disney has pricing power and no shortage of demand right now. Why wouldn’t they continue raising prices?!
Beyond that, complaints overlook the role of the consumer in all of this. If Walt Disney World is overpriced, consumers should vote with their wallets. The onus is on all of us, if we believe we’re not receiving commensurate value for money for a product or service, to not purchase it. Complaining about rising costs while continuing to pay them does not absolve us from collective culpability.
With all of that said, there’s a case to be made that Walt Disney World is inflicting long-term brand damage, eroding decades of goodwill, and running the risk of alienating lifelong fans. These are all points we’ve discussed repeatedly, wondering if there will be irreparable issues once the current pent-up demand has resolved itself.
There’s also the fundamental question of whether having fewer people–and by extension, children–experience rite of passage vacations to Walt Disney World is a bad thing. (I’d argue that it is and definitely should not be the company’s strategy–it’s clearly at odds with why Walt Disney got into the theme park business.)
However, that’s all beyond the scope of this post. This is simply intended to demonstrate why Walt Disney World is not actually interested in reducing crowds. Perhaps I’m wrong, and this time Disney is super-duper serious about reducing crowds. I guess we’ll find out when Thanksgiving rolls around and Walt Disney World is either jam-packed with people or on par with a random day in September!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Disney’s supposed goal of reducing crowds? Do you agree with the company that price increases show an “unwavering commitment to exceeding the expectations of all our guests” or are they simply a way to increase per guest spending? Think there are better ways to improve guest satisfaction or addressing congestion than price increases? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Tom, this is one of the best articles I’ve read about the current management style at Disney and its effects on guest experience. Thanks for such mannered, intelligent writing. It’s a challenging time to be a fan: Disney isn’t just what Chapek is doing now, it’s literally decades of creative brilliance from legions of passionate creators. It’s hard to watch leadership make decisions that no longer feel like they strike the balance of profit & passion. Profit has always been an important part of the equation, but previously it felt like the profit was in some part there to drive new innovation and experiences for the patrons. The current strategy feels like profit & passion, minus the passion. It’s hard to watch. But these things happen in cycles. Here’s to hoping change come sooner rather than later.
@Tony, I’m hoping this comes sooner, and maybe like when Eisner came on the scene and Imagineering thought they were all getting canned over cheap offshore labor, etc. but then they soon realized he was a huge parks guy and wanted them to do what they do to keep improving things.
I can’t help but wonder if the average daily crowd size will noticeably decline after the WDW 50th Anniversary Celebration is over (March 31, 2023).
If anything, I’d say that WDW has worked very hard to increase crowds. Slow seasons are now “relatively slower than average” seasons, unexpected slowdowns are papered over with discounts (nominally lower with high inflation, but they still exist), and a lot of people have partially pre-paid vacations through DVC for at least 20 years and a lot longer for most.
As a former ride op who’s been thru the Disney meat grinder (intense even back in the “good old days” of the early 00s) I interpreted Disney’s statement a bit differently. I interpreted it to mean not per se that they wanted fewer crowds but that somebody – SOMEBODY finally realized that they’re losing money because things are as bad as they are.
That seems like a no brainer but for a company that threw their own park capacity under a bus 25 years ago to *avoid capex* that’s kind of a big deal. I took that to mean that they’re serious about continuing aggressive expansion, even in parks where it’s less of an emergency like Magic Kingdom. The mere fact that they said anything about it at all is good news. Of course, them knowing that and them doing something about it are two different scenarios.
Executives have definitely been more vocal about reducing crowds to improve the guest experience the last two years, but not in ways that differ materially from what they’ve said since 2016. They’ve also had the means to do more about it by restoring things that have been cut or dark since March 2020, and that has not happened.
I’m actually optimistic that we’ll see the big CapEx projects in DAK and MK, but there are near-term fixes that could demonstrate they mean it…and nothing.
Like I’ve said many times before, just getting the WDWRR running again would absorb a significant amount of people and help alleviate crowding as folks use it to get around the park instead of plying the crowded walkways…
It would have made sense a few years ago, but the Fox acquisition blew that strategy out of the water. Disney’s caught in the need to pay down significant debt, and reports show they are doing just that. The influx of per-guest spending and higher attendance isn’t contributing to a war chest for future big-ticket items. We are in for several more years of big announcements and quiet cancellations.
Again, that’s understandable. They made a huge purchase, then a pandemic hit. They are trying to pay down debt and strengthen the finances of Disney+ while pandemic recovery provides cover for lackluster park experiences. It’s no surprise that the parks will be squeezed for every penny in the short term until one or both of those larger issues is resolved. No amount of guest dissatisfaction will derail them from this approach. However, let’s hope the competition packs a punch, so Disney has no choice but to turn attention to the parks sooner rather than later lest they fall into a huge hole with demand.
While that’s a factor, Disney has a LOT of resources in the bank. They don’t need to cut everything back to pay off these acquisitions. The planning to buy was a long-term deal, and the more recent Marvel and Lucasfilm empires are raking in the moola. When I was a CM in the DCP way, way back in 92, we figured out that they made at least a quarter million in profit every day it rained just on selling the banana yellow Mickey ponchos in the three parks (no DAK yet) at what was I think about $6 each back then. Their biggest hurdle still is finding reliable labor.
Good to see that you have found a way to do Disney your way. Yes, the insanity of the last few years has been frustrating and disheartening. Ride breakdowns have increased significantly in my opinion, returning shows have been watered down (Festival of the Lion King for example), and I won’t bend to buying Genie+. We have started eating off property due to the increase in price and decrease in portions. There are lots of choices that are very appealing along 192 corridor. I just want to be able to hop on Walt’s train and ride around MK again. It’s been way too long. That said, I so look forward to something good happening.
As others have already mentioned, the real kick in the gut for me is not the higher prices. I don’t like it, but i understand it. Disney is a business after all, they are going to do what the market allows. It’s the raising of prices WHILE cutting services, entertainment, etc. I can remember my first trip to WDW only 11 years ago. The parks and the experience are not even remotely the same. There is no excuse for that in my mind.
I am a long time reader of Tom Bricker’s blog. I live in New York and I am a retired teacher. My family and I have always loved going to Disney World and made the trek to Florida at least twice a year. Now that Disney feels that it is okay to raise prices it has become more difficult for us to afford to go. The price to stay at a value resort on property with tickets to the themed parks is way too expensive. We found that we could stay at a value resort at Universal Studios to be so much cheaper that we decided to spend our money at Universal instead. In fact the cost of a 2 bedroom suite with park tickets at Surf Side resort was very cheap in comparison to a suite at a value resort in Disney. Guess where we are staying. Not Disney. The crowds and wait time for attractions have not changed either. Disney needs to get their act together if they want to get families back. I see Walt’s dreams slipping away.
“Beyond that, complaints overlook the role of the consumer in all of this. If Walt Disney World is overpriced, consumers should vote with their wallets. The onus is on all of us, if we believe we’re not receiving commensurate value for money for a product or service, to not purchase it. Complaining about rising costs while continuing to pay them does not absolve us from collective culpability.”
Bingo. Complaining while continuing to shell out your money does nothing. All those “Most Expensive Day Ever” shirts walking around the parks may make you feel better, but you are only continuing to contribute to it.
I’ve touched on those shirts before, as a canary in the coal mine (this was back in ~2018) about how guest perceptions could come back to bite Disney during a recession.
I also think the shirts are absurd. Spending more money on a t-shirt you’ll wear once to…complain about spending so much money? Tell me you’re financially irresponsible without telling me you’re financially irresponsible.
Very brave article.. Bravo!
We were the “Disney family.” Even paid off a direct DVC purchase, but got a full refund during the 30 day trial period several years ago. Thank goodness.
We visited East coast and West coast—Anaheim is an especially easy visit from Colorado. We love Disneyland. 2-3 Disney visits a year, often week-long, always “in the bubble.” We pulled the kids out of school lots of times to go to Disney. We had so many great birthdays at Disney.
But now we haven’t gone in over a year. And despite the distance to Florida, we now are Universal Orlando season pass holders.
We have no plans to return to Disney. No doubt we can still afford it. But we’re not going. Disheartening.
Thank you for the blog—I read several times a week. But that’s all I’m willing to give Disney now.
I’m still sticking with the Brickers. Thank you!
This is one of the most honest and best written posts I have read about Disney. Everything you say in this article is so true. Disney’s goal is to maximize its profit. They don’t really care about the customer experience unless it hurts their revenue. As long as people are willing to pay more and more for less and less, this is not going to stop. After all, a fool and his money are easily parted, and Disney knows this.
Fundamental principle – something that can’t last forever won’t.
Yes, the company is probably over the moon with the cash that’s being pulled in – artificial scarcity + increased prices + pent-up demand has made their pandemic recovery look great, even if not “ideal”.
I’m in the “priced out” category – a family with a 10-year history of annual passes prior to Covid, everything the parks have done since reopening has indicated they’re not interested in my money anymore. There’s a sucker borne every minute, and they’re content with milking those folks right now.
But I’m convinced a reckoning is coming. Depending on what economic predictors one is interested in, we’re looking at a recession coming screaming in – maybe as bad as 2008, maybe worse, maybe marginally better. They’ve spent the last year and a half doing nothing but giving the middle finger to their most devoted fans in order to milk everyone else for every cent possible. That can’t last forever, so it simply won’t. If the suckers stop paying, and they’ve run away their strongest supporters, what’s left? I’m trying to figure out what level of “discount” it would take for my family to jump back into the Annual Pass group – something on the order of a 20% decrease in AP price with no park reservations required and G+ included I think is my bare minimum, and I’d bet my house and all of my savings that will never happen.
This will catch up eventually – right now, the earnings report is all about showing dollar maximization post-pandemic. But this business model is unsustainable – it can’t last forever, so it won’t. What’s next is going to be entertaining to watch from the sidelines, even if it’s sad that my family is unable to enjoy the magic we did before.
I find it interesting that several people mentioned the lack of cleanliness. A clean environment was the hallmark of Disney. We found that the deluxe we stayed in looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in a month. Arrow on the elevator was broken. A disgrace. Back to the topic one thing they took away that really impacted our visit with respect to crowds was the lame half hour early entry. The extra magic hours were actually beneficial. Oh and the ridiculous amount of ride breakdowns disrupted any plans we had. We are done.
That is exactly why it was so dumb to stop all construction during the shutdown. The company had plenty of cash reserves to keep going, and construction workers would’ve gladly kept pushing forward. Being able to work all day with no guests in the parks was an enormous wasted opportunity to complete new stuff but more importantly, perform long-term maintenance on all attractions.
The absurd crowd levels would be a lot more bearable if the attractions were all running closer to 95% or better.
Another great post, thanks for my “fix.” My diehard Disney loving family decided to vote with our wallet this year and we did a week at Universal instead this summer. I do miss the Disney parks and the magic, but from what I’ve been reading for the past year and a half (our last trip was last summer, just before g+ and overall it just wasn’t as magical as the dozens we’ve taken in the past), seems like the tipping point has been reached for us (we’re a 5% Target Redcard Disney Giftcard hack kind of family, lol, we can afford to go, but definitely need to do it as cheap as possible). I’m not paying more for less magic. I hope someday we will go back, but I’m not sure, especially with a potential recession on the horizon, the value isn’t there. I enjoy Disney World via these blog posts now, thanks again for all you do!!
I always love reading your posts and found this one to have a different tone to it. I loved it! Disney needs to be called out on their business practices and how they can be deceptive. I know they are in it to make money, but they have changed the whole experience for us. We went in October 2020 and the crowd levels reminded us of Disney of old. Granted reduced hours and entertainment options hampered the trip a little, but we knew what to expect. If I could pay higher prices and be guaranteed reasonable crowd levels, I’d have no complaints. We recently went for two days and it was insane. People everywhere and nowhere to get away and have a little break. The magic feeling was gone. We felt like we had to purchase genie+ in order to enjoy attractions. (Our Disneyland experience with Genie+ should have taught us a lesson. Incredicoaster had a 35 minute posted time, ended up being 120 minutes because genie+ line kept streaming people in, complete mismanagement) So disappointing. We have been DVC members for 10 years and are seriously considering selling it. Kids are grown up and the parks seem stale, too slow to change enough to make a difference. If we keep the DVC, it will be because we are hanging at the pool at the resort, no parks unless there is real change and a return of Walt’s magic.. But, if you see a small contract GF in January…could be me. Keep the great articles coming. And like you, I may have rambled a little.
Excellent post, and a good reminder not to hold my breath waiting for a return of the quality/value proposition I remember from Disney.
Not much to add to previous comments. Like many others, we simply don’t go to Disney as often or stay as long as we used to. This is not a consumer protest, just a subtle recalibration of our vacation time, budget and preferences.
Spot on Tom! I’m so sick of all this nonsense and treating us like we’re idiots. Bottom line is, we get less for more. Hotels are rundown. Trash everywhere in the parks. Service is poor. CM’s seem miserable. Lines are insane. Don’t get me started with G+! As a DVC owner with two direct contracts, I’m about done.
I’m the one who takes their kids because I loved it so much as a kid. But I’m over it – it’s not fun anymore. Too crowded, too complicated, too expensive. This is coming from someone who pays for the deluxe hotels, pays for all the extras like dessert parties, after hours but with them taking away all the incentives – like free fast passes, magical express (with kids in car seats – this was a huge one for me). And add the overcrowding with nothing done to combat it – extra entertainment, more busses and monorails running, it’s not a good experience. I remember as a kid the monorail being such a fun experience, and now you wait forever to be squished against a zillion people . Now I only want to stay at the contemporary so I can walk to Mk and not have to use their transportation. And last time I was there, it was dirty and things were falling apart and not kept up to the Disney standards. We have a trip coming up but instead of a week , it’s only 3 days and most likely our last. For the price, we can go to Europe or Hawaii
As usual your insights are right on point. But since Cheapik took over corporate greed and downright price gouging is in high gear. As a DVC member I’ve felt this when Bob decided to redistribute the points to what weeks you could go. So now, after spending about $45,000 for 200 points so I could stay 7 nights at Bay Lake in mid-September I can only stay 6 nights. Thank you Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that now starts in mid August. So to compensate we do only stay 6 nights but we will not eat at some of our favorite places because the prices are so out of line that I can’t justify it anymore. I’m talking Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey’s, Toni’s on Main Street and Skipper’s Canteen, just to name a few. So we now take more advantage of our full kitchen in our DVC room to eat breakfast and any other meal we can. Can we afford those places, absolutely yes, but am I willing to get fleeced with poorer quality and smaller portions, NO! Chapik has already stolen part of my vacation with his greed and as a result with one less day to be in a park we are spending a LOT less per vacation. I’m not going to allow his to sell me crap food for the most expensive prices anywhere. Well, Universal was right up there too but we got around that by eating at the City Walk places. If the Dining Plan comes back I won’t be buying it because the quality vs. portions vs. price make it a bad bet. As for ticket prices increasing on “busier days” that’s just outright gouging. Why not just double the ticket prices during the holidays?! Do I still enjoy coming to Disney for vacation? Yes but it’s hard to get past the obvious greed anymore. I think once the revenge travel phase gets over there will be less people wanting to come back because of how ridiculously expensive it has gotten over the last few years. Yes, Disney can up the price of everything it wants but at some point people will vote with their wallets and just stop coming. Not all but hopefully enough to show them that these high price increases can’t continues without consequences. The reputation that took 50 years to build is very quickly being torn down. For first time visitor they won’t see what we see and miss. I just hope that there is still enough of the magic left for them.
Pat, very well said.
One of the reasons it feels more crowded is that people are not waiting in lines. Genie has contributed to this. In the case of MK, people are going from one side of the park to the other to make their ride time. Hurry up, rush rush. Then you need to look at the decrease in ride/show capacity. HS and EP are good examples of this. Remove something and replace it with less ride capacity. Then add in ride down time. Since Disney doesn’t release their attendance numbers it’s difficult to tell how much more crowded they are as compared to how more crowded they feel. And that is a problem that Disney has failed to solve.
“One of the reasons it feels more crowded is that people are not waiting in lines. Genie has contributed to this. In the case of MK, people are going from one side of the park to the other to make their ride time.”
While it’s true that virtual queues do this–effectively allowing people to be in two places at once–Genie+ replaced FastPass. It’s hard to say what the utilization is between the two services, but my guess is that it’s pretty close to 1:1. (Honestly, I never thought that would be the case. I’ve been shocked by the adoption rate of Genie+.)
Otherwise, totally agree with your points!
I’ve visited WDW at least once and many years twice for the last 25 years. After paying over $400 for two After hours party tickets last December for my 60th birthday I am skipping this year. The party was very disappointing and the level of cleanliness was not up to “Disney” standards. I am not going to keep paying more and more and getting less and less.
I went to Disney World 4 months to the day after total knee replacement surgery and walked 12 miles. I am a die hard Disney fan and not going this year has contributed to my depression. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
“I am a die hard Disney fan and not going this year has contributed to my depression. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.”
I can only speak for myself, but I think there are different ways of doing things so as to avoid both the insanity and the depression of not doing things you otherwise enjoy. Focus on the things you love, try to keep costs low, resist FOMO, etc.
For example, I absolutely love “beating the system.” Right now, one of my absolute favorite things at Walt Disney World is having a great runthrough during Early Entry or after crowds die down in the afternoon. It used to be that I’d focus on photography during these times of day–but now I have a blast finding “successful” ways of touring the parks without buying Genie+ (which is why there have been more and more posts like this–I love doing them!).