I can tell you exactly what they can do: Build more park. And more ways of getting into/out of the park.
Disney is very, very wealthy: A private electric train loop for park ingress/egress would not break their bank.
Beyond just more of everything to match demand, and rides that service more people at once etc, perhaps disney could try half day passes that activate at noon, or extending the amount of time people can stay at the park on limited passes so people don’t feel so pressured to stay so long each day?
This whole thing looks to me like they either didn’t plan for enough growth,
or they didn’t get their time sinks for the average park goer…synched.
“It’s getting so that the scariest ride is the admission price.”
–Don Addis, cartoonist and St. Petersburg Times columnist. The scary thing is he made that joke about thirty years ago.
Isn’t it past time for Disney to choose to operate its parks, attractions and intellectual properties as a worker-owned cooperative?
This is why I just hate that new law which requires every American to visit a Disney park twice a year.
Damn the GOP congress for passing it, and double-damn Obama for not vetoing it.
They’ll have to go upwards or downwards if they want more park space in Anaheim… unless they can buy out the surrounding hotels and restaurants (or have the city magically clear out the surrounding land through eminent domain or something).
Then the next time the copyright period is extended to cover the Mouse, you can blame all their workers.
Eventually they will have to bite the bullet and shift over to a reservation system for admission. Which will drive up prices even more, causing the whole disney park experience to be priced out of the reach of most people. Which seems a perfectly appropriate, perfectly American solution for such an iconic American institution.
Why Disney hasn’t been gentrified out of the reach of the rabble before now is the real question. It seems almost un-American that in 2016 such a prominent part of the US cultural landscape would still be open to the hoi polloi.
If you want to drive visitors to the off peak time dropping the price somewhat more enticingly than “value” ticket will fall to $95 from $99 currently.”
Seriously, if you want people to use your park at that time drop it to fifty or something…
124$???
How much is a beer in Disney Land? (german, have to ask)
Disneyland is doing away with super-discounted annual passes for California residents, as I understand it. That should do a bit to help with overcrowding, especially on weekends.[quote=“Randy_Rhoads, post:10, topic:74430”]
How much is a beer in Disney Land?
[/quote]
Not expensive. Beer isn’t too bad. A water? $3.
I don’t know, Disney must have more information than any other company in the world on entertainment spending habits, so I presume they’re making this change with at least some data suggesting the prices matter. Also, I don’t know how many LA area residents day-trip to Disneyland Resort, but I’m going to guess it’s a non-trivial number - because who else buys 1-day tickets? Especially in Orlando?
For most of 2007-2012, I spent one weekend a month, minimum, at Disneyland Resort (I travelled to SF for work every three weeks, and then spent the weekend in DLR trading pins). Without a doubt, Dinseyland Park (what everyone thinks of as “Disneyland”) was crazy at night, but I knew how to get around and mostly miss crowds. Cars land at California Adventure was superbusy, but well designed, Aside from never getting on the main attraction there, I did manage to eat and shop in the area without issue.
Walt Disney World in Florida though, has way more room and way more options to deal with crowds. Epcot during the food & wine festival is nuts, and the Magic Kingdom at night is crazy, But the fastpass+ system means that with a little planning you can spend very little time in line.
The problem is, I’m a veteran at this stuff. How do you get occasional visitors to think ahead about how they navigate the parks? It’s in their best interest, because believe me, the people who don’t plan spend most of their time waiting, while the same families who spent as little as a few minutes picking fastpasses or looking at hours and pre-booking meals have a way better experience in the parks.
Go to Tokyo Disney for the experience without the insanity. Bonus: visiting Japan.
Outside of Japan, the Disney experience has always been a horror for me. It’s so American it’s un-American. I can’t stand it. The crowds, the veneer of manufactured happiness. It turns my stomach, and I spend the entire time wondering how soon I can leave. I haven’t been able to put in words exactly why the place bothers me. I find Hershey Park almost tolerable, and Busch Gardens was very nearly enjoyable. But I utterly despise Disney.
So far the answer seems to be “armies of cast members with iPads to help people looking baffled”. I think it’ll be a real challenge to transition people into a system where you’ll have a way easier time dealing with crowds/lines if you either pre-plan or have a smartphone with you (preferably both). I fear for my parents if they go back anytime soon. It’s gotten so busy that I can’t imagine going during peak times.
I’m pretty damn happy when I’m there, so that’s not always a veneer. I guess it’s not for everyone.
I wonder if a 20% hike is enough to make a difference in attendance? My family doesn’t go very often and when we do go, there are so many other expenses involved (airfare, restaurants, hotel) that a 20% bump on park tickets wouldn’t make any difference in that decision.
Found it:
Drinking through Disney World is pretty easy as alcohol is in pretty much all the parks. Hell, the Food & Wine Fest has beer gardens and drinking stations set up, and Animal Kingdom has a large open-air bar. But there’s no alcohol of any kind to be found at Disneyland Park.
Is it better on LSD?
Seems irresponsible and risky …
Maybe it’s time to consider a third park. Now that they have one on each coast, they could build one along the middle of the country. Somewhere near a city with a good airport. San Antonio, maybe? The climate is temperate enough that they could operate through the winter.
