Park Overcrowding, is it Disney’s Fault

[qman6975]

Disney controls how many people are in each park, each day, via the reservation system. If a park is overcrowded, isn’t that Disney’s fault?

 

[Anna131517]

Disney knows how many people they want in the park in order to maximize how much food and merchandise they sell. I’m sure the crowds are not a mistake.

 

[Stratman50th]

Yes, it's Disney''s fault. Or to put it another way, it's by their design.

 

[mom2rtk]

Of course it's their fault. And it's also their fault that 3 of the 4 WDW parks don't have adequate attraction capacity.

 

[cakebaker]

That seems super simple to me, Disney sets capacity. Whatever that capacity is, they're responsible for it. Guests have the choice to go or not go under the conditions Disney sets. We actually thought crowd levels were not bad in July when we went- busy, but not jam packed. I've seen it much, much worse.

 

[reddog21]

That seems super simple to me, Disney sets capacity. Whatever that capacity is, they're responsible for it. Guests have the choice to go or not go under the conditions Disney sets. We actually thought crowd levels were not bad in July when we went- busy, but not jam packed. I've seen it much, much worse.

I agree, we went this July and last July and both my wife and thought the crowd levels were wayyyy worse last July. This July seemed more normal like years past.

 

[cakebaker]

I agree, we went this July and last July and both my wife and thought the crowd levels were wayyyy worse last July. This July seemed more normal like years past.

Same- we went last July as well and I think even though there were probably fewer people, it felt much more jam packed because there just wasn't anything to do outside of rides - no shows, no character meets, a lot of shuttered restaurants and shops- and there was no ride system in place. It almost did us in for ever going back. We were pleasantly surprised this July, Enough that we're going back in September. I hated the thought of Genie+, but in practice, it worked like a charm- almost felt like the old Disney.

 

[OKW Lover]

Fault? Why would there be "fault" involved.

Overcrowded? I'm sure disney's definition of "overcrowded" may be different.

 

[Upatnoon]

Disney controls how many people are in each park, each day, via the reservation system. If a park is overcrowded, isn’t that Disney’s fault?

The Florida state fire marshal has rules about crowds. If Disney is violating those, they would be at fault.

If you are talking about the inability to walk on to all the attractions because of lines, that is a subjective definition of what "overcrowded" is.

With the park reservation system and higher ticket prices, Disney is doing more than it ever did in the past to limit crowds.

It's a balancing act to keep the parks "full" so revenue keeps pouring in and the guests happy.

I do think Disney needs to adjust to society becoming a lot less patient and open some more attractions. Of course, that will attract more crowds.....so a challenge. It's also made even more difficult these days by labor shortages.

 

[nursejackie]

I wouldn't say it they were at fault. In the UK during school holidays most kids friendly places are packed, and if you choose to visit during that time then crowds and long wait times are par for the course. You know before you go.

We visited Disney for 8 Christmases, when Christmas day and 26th (when we left) were crazy busy in the parks and yet we still went back time and time again.

That said, I can't wait for when we can visit during term time

 

[_19disnA]

Letting in more people means more tickets sales so it clearly isn't an accident. If people keep returning and put up with standing in 1-2 hr ride lines for the most popular rides, then I doubt anything will change. It basically takes TWO park days to do the same amount you used to be able to accomplish in ONE day. When that new Star Wars ride first opened it was sold out within 15 minutes of the park opening. Obviously, someone did a terrible job of planning the ride capacity. Am waiting to see how things go when the new Tron ride opens which is apparently a copy of one already in use at one of their international parks.

If Disney doesn't design these newer rides with the current attendance in mind, nothing will improve. It also doesn't help that many of the parks have areas with narrow walkways not able to handle current crowd levels. Some things like widening narrow walkways are easier to do then expanding ride capacity. But the last time we were at Disney, various areas of the parks were wall-to-wall people making just walking around a challenge.

We currently have ZERO plans to return anytime soon and rather spend our vacation $$$ elsewhere.

 

[supersnoop]

You know how they reduce the number of people in a park? Hint: it's not by limiting reservations. It's by raising prices. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[rwdavis2]

I think part of the problem is understaffing. At “slower” times of the year I have seen some rides partially **** down. For example, only one side of Space mountain will be running.

As someone mentioned above the lack of shows as well.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

No, it's our fault. We have a message board with close to 600K registered users. We have a worldwide population wanting to travel. We have threads complaining that Annual Passes aren't available yet ( like that won't increase demand ). Everyone wants to go there and no one wants it to be crowded once they arrive. Sheesh ......

Next time you're there and you're bummed because of all the people there realize they are looking at you and thinking the same thing and if Disney limited capacity more to reduce crowding you would be here complaining that MDE shows no availability. Every choice has a cost , pick the one you want to pay.

 

[Mts8019]

It is Disney's fault but I think there are a few other factors at play there. You still have a decent portion of the population who are just now comfortable with taking their Disney trips that they were not able to take the past couple of years. You also have the international crowds starting to make their return after not being able to go for the past two years. Add those two factors to staffing issues and you're going to have over crowding, especially with the more popular attractions. Our most recent trip to WDW was in June, while crowded, I did not think it was overwhelming at all. We were still able to do everything that we wanted to do at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom. This was with a sit down meal in the middle of each day too. I will say though that we are rope drop to close whenever we do go and I know that is not for everyone! I hope that in 3-5 years, with the addition of some new attractions, the parks will feel less crowded than they do now.

 

[Stingberg]

It's Disney's fault in the sense they've built a place a lot of people want to go to. As someone else mentioned, if you want fewer people in the parks, that's going to mean higher prices. I don't think some people truly understand how out of proportion the supply and demand is at Disney.

 

[DebbieB]

Can’t have it both ways. People complain about the reservation system, the day they want to go is sold out. Get rid of the reservation system. Then people complain it’s overcrowded.

 

[Boopuff]

It’s a combo of many things: population growth, people willing to pull kids out of school, homeschool, domestic travel, and add international travel. It’s long way from the early days of Disney.

 

[DSLRuser]

They have an entire marketing team who's job is to make sure the parks are crowded. They keep raising prices, and we still come.......so who's fault is it????

 

[nicksinger8]

Of course it's their fault. And it's also their fault that 3 of the 4 WDW parks don't have adequate attraction capacity.

I feel with AK and Epcot there is at least a lot of exploration you can do. I have kids aged 8 and 10, but without kids I think I could happily just wander around the World Showcase! But DHS is madness when I look at it - it is a park with basically quite a lot of e-ticket attractions (with RoTR, proabably the most sought after ride in the US), but they need at least another 3 mid level rides. The sort that can shift 1500-2000 an hour. It is very frustrating that I might have to skip a ride I want to do just because I can't sink 2 hours of the day into it. Have been coming to WDW since 1991 and this will probably be the first time I've had to abandon a ride. Maybe LL or Genie + will help. Have no idea how effective it will be.