Bob Chapek Interview: "We have much more demand than there is supply"

The_Orient_of_Express:

What we will not bend on is giving somebody a less than stellar experience in the parks because we jammed too many people in there”

I know I’ve had a less than stellar experience because too many people were jammed in those parks. Quit lying to yourself Bob.

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

For what it's worth, the hoops you have to jump through these days to be sure of riding specific attractions (boarding groups, et al) sap my enthusiasm for visiting.

I'm sure I'll be back at some stage, but as I'm not going to have enough days to do everything on my next Florida trip I've decided to prioritise Peppa Pig above The Mouse.

ApolloAndy:

But you're paying quite a bit more for the pixie dust than you would going to Cedar Point, a national park, Washington DC, or a tourist trap like Branson or Pigeon Forge.

Are you though? Outside of the daily admission everything is comparable or even cheaper. A room at Hotel Breakers is $300+. Decent rooms off the resort are $200+. A Courtyard Marriott in Pigeon Forge is over $300, or even more depending on the weekend.

Demand is still crazy high. The entire Universal Resort is sold out next week…

I don't think those are necessarily fair comparisons. Breakers is within walking distance to the park. What's the rate at off-Point hotels? There is also a very wide range of potential rates in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Seviereville, all of which are in play for a GSMNP trip.

Amusement parks are an unusual business in that it's really hard to expand supply in response to increased demand. And Disney is an extreme example of that - even as they have built more parks in Florida, it just seems to attract the same customers for longer, rather than accommodating more customers.

And it's even worse if you're thinking about Magic Kingdom, the Ur-Disney experience. I would venture that nearly all tourists from outside Florida include MK in their itinerary. I think a while back I speculated on what would happen if they somehow cloned MK on the other side of Bay Lake (first thing: zillions of youtube videos from Disney freaks pointing out the differences between the two parks). But even if it were feasible, would it make business sense? The cost would obviously be astronomical. And you can't profitably add a park just to handle the extra volume on peak days. (Of course, as noted here, they're all peak days now.)

WDW opened 16 years after Disneyland. It's now been more than three times that long since WDW opened, during which time the US population has increased by more than 50% - but there's no Walt Disney Universe in Texas or Seattle or wherever. Whereas if Starbucks gets crowded they'll open another one across the street.

You want walking distance?

I paid $279/night at Swan Reserve over Spring Break for an EPCOT view room. Walking distance to both EPCOT and Studios, plus the Boardwalk and all the restaurants/bars/entertainment that comes with it.

Boardwalk is usually our preferred property, but $279/night vs $700-$1100 can't be beat. Plus, the Swolphin properties are deluxe category, so you get the "magic hours" that come with it.

Brian Noble:

Breakers is within walking distance to the park. What's the rate at off-Point hotels?

The Holiday Inn Express is $230 this weekend. Last month my wife and I stayed at Sawmill Creek because it was the cheapest quality hotel we could find at over $250 a night.

Art of Animation is $280 this weekend.

hambone:

(Of course, as noted here, they're all peak days now.)

This is a major deterrent for us. It was just six years ago that we purposely went during non-peak time (using a WDW crowd website that I don't recall), and it was spot-on.

I don't enjoy being at parks when they are just mobbed. Can I still have a good time? Of course. I don't mind when it happens to us at CP because we're there a lot and have done it all, and it's just whatever.

But WDW is just too much of a thing to roll the dice and ask for some Facebook thoughts and prayers that we get lucky with a not-so-busy stretch of days. And I know, Genie + and Lightning-Whatever (lane?), but that's also a new thing and I don't feel like watching the 17 videos of how to use it, when I had just gotten the handle and the quirks of the 3 Fastpasses resort guests got. Then there's the dining and the meal plans and the reservations...

Even typing it out it just sounds all too exhausting to get the four of us there.

Maybe it's just the mood I'm in. It's not the money, it's the minutiae of making the trip happen.

And I also totally get that for some people all that planning is actually fun.

Genie+ really isn't that bad. Just think of it as an unlimited supply of Fastpasses (though you can only use it on a specific ride once a day) but you don't have to stop at a machine to take advantage of it. As soon as you scan into a ride line you can go on the app and book your next ride. And then, you can pay for certain rides with the Lightning Lane ($17 per ticket when we rode Rise of the Resistance in California) if you absolutely MUST do it.

If you want value and convenience on WDW property now I would point you to Pop Century. The ability to get to the Skyliner (and therefore easy access to Epcot and the Studios) is a game changer for Pop...in my opinion. If you could get from the International Gate to the main gate without walking through Epcot (in order to get to the Monorail) that would be even better.

In the future I would not be surprised to see a Skyliner leg from Epcot to Coronado and then on to Animal Kingdom. Coronado is a great property but access to Skyliner would really kick it up a notch and AK is the only park that doesn't have mass transit outside of busses.

A friend and I hit the Wisconsin state fair a few weeks ago. We went specifically to ride the Zipper. Turns out the Zipper lady passed away, so no Zipper this year.

We purchased $60+another $10 of tickets. Turns out, every "big" ride was almost $7 each. The Gravitron, haunted house even the Monkey Mazes were considered big rides. Not even a big spin guy, the Gravitron was awesome. The long line moved crazy fast. The ride was long, everything was clean with lots of nice new led lights, fog, etc. Turns out, that ride was dang good and the fun and laughter we had was worth about $7.

The place was packed, but relatively free from annoyances (as opposed to a SF park, for example). The employees were clean, well groomed and very attentive to everything. Not sure if I'm making a good point, but we got our moneys worth, it was a blast. The Monkey Maze was great too!

I was overjoyed to know I could still handle a Gravitron. No flipping over anymore, though. It's not allowed.

hambone:

Amusement parks are an unusual business in that it's really hard to expand supply in response to increased demand. And Disney is an extreme example of that - even as they have built more parks in Florida, it just seems to attract the same customers for longer, rather than accommodating more customers.

And it's even worse if you're thinking about Magic Kingdom, the Ur-Disney experience. I would venture that nearly all tourists from outside Florida include MK in their itinerary. I think a while back I speculated on what would happen if they somehow cloned MK on the other side of Bay Lake (first thing: zillions of youtube videos from Disney freaks pointing out the differences between the two parks). But even if it were feasible, would it make business sense? The cost would obviously be astronomical. And you can't profitably add a park just to handle the extra volume on peak days. (Of course, as noted here, they're all peak days now.)

WDW opened 16 years after Disneyland. It's now been more than three times that long since WDW opened, during which time the US population has increased by more than 50% - but there's no Walt Disney Universe in Texas or Seattle or wherever. Whereas if Starbucks gets crowded they'll open another one across the street.

hambone:

The cloning MK thing is an interesting idea. I imagine they would have to do some sort of load balancing thing just to keep the crowds equaled out. You wouldn’t want one park at 25% capacity and the other at max capacity.

but yea, theme parks basically expand supply by adding new ‘e-ticket’ attractions which typically increases demand. Vicious circle

You don't need to clone the park, you just need another gate with more compelling stuff, or more compelling stuff at the existing gates. That's why attendance at the other parks is higher, too.

Would adding another park increase overall demand (more guests) or space out the crowds more?

It feels like there is no cap limit to the demand for Disney

I was going to say something similar. But, it may be that there is no cap limit for the Magic Kingdom moreso than the other gates. It is the granddaddy (at least in Florida) and I think there are both Floridians and non-Floridians who will make a Disney trek that will, more often than not, include the Magic Kingdom and a couple of the other parks. I don't think it is as common for folks to visit Disney and visit gates except the MK.

That rule doesn't apply to locals (which I think are distinguished from Floridians in general). I do think there are plenty of locals who will skip MK while making it a point to venture to Epcot (for the festivals) or to the other two parks.

That was my thinking - adding other parks (or better things in other parks) doesn't reduce MK attendance (much), because for your typical midwestern family, visiting Disney World is visiting the Magic Kingdom. So if MK had 10 million visitors the year it opened, and US population has increased by 50% since then, you would expect it to have 15 million visitors now, in spite of there being three other parks plus Universal.

Obviously expanding capacity in the Magic Kingdom with Tron rides helps. But there's still only one Main Street. Unless you clone it. (But even then, I would think large numbers of people would insist on the "real" Magic Kingdom.)

But... The real Magic Kingdom is in California.

I’ve visited Disney during times like race week and others that draw crowds that aren’t necessarily full of families. And during those times I’ve definitely found EPCOT to be the busiest of the parks. Which leads me to assume that adult parties in on a single day ticket didn’t necessarily choose MK for their visit.
I’ve attended as a guest while my partner was at Disney for a meeting/convention. Attendees are offered tickets and parks other that MK are more often chosen, especially for those that don’t have kids/grandkids with them. Or golf days are scheduled with no park days whatsoever.
However I’m quick to recognize that MK is likely the busiest of all the parks.
I’m always amused when I hear fellow Ohioans say things like “We had the kids so we didn’t do those other parks, we just went to The Main Disney World park.”

MK might be the highest concentration of strollers anywhere in the world.

Raven-Phile:

But... The real Magic Kingdom is in California.

Correct. And if y'all want a range of hotel pricing within walking distance of a theme park, DLR is the place to be. Disney can still be done on the cheapish. You can still buy Disney gift cards at Target with your Red Card, bring your own food into the park, etc. Sure it's getting more expensive but everything else is too.