Disney announces or teases a ton of attractions at D23

Do you think that an expansion of the two parks in California will put those parks in any kind of race with WDW for capacity?

I'm talking I guess about density and ride count... Obviously, on overall capacity WDW has an advantage.

36 rides at DL-MK on 85 acres / 19 rides at CA on 72 acres

DL Resort Total= 55 rides on 157 acres

WDW-MK 25 rides on 107a / Epcot 11 rides on 300a / HS 9 Rides on 135a / AK 8 Rides on 580a

WDW Resort Total = 53 Rides on 1,122 acres

This to me illustrates why DL feels magical, rich, and diverse there is so much in such little space, and although recently not as much, in better condition. I mean the fact the overall ride count is still bigger at DL by 2 is kind of amazing,

I am curious about your 4 parks in one day experience

Just me and my mum, circa 2013 -14, Me mid 30s, mum mid 60s at the time, and only major rides.

AK first at opening, Everest twice, then Dinosaur. Then Bus to HS Tower of Terror once, Aerosmith, lunch at BackLot, then Muppet 3D, ( Toy Story was in previews and Galaxies Edge a dream). We were debating not doing MK, and going straight to Epcot, but I had not been since was 12, got FP for Space Mountain, then got on Haunted Mansion, then Splash, then Hall of Presidents, rode Space Mountain on FP, Pirates was down, and Big Thunder had too long of a line so took monorail to Epcot. Mission Space first, then Test Track, Sea's with Nemo, then Soarin. Obviously no Guardians or Ratatouille, when was walking out of Soarin was about middle of Illuminations.

wahoo skipper:

Disney has 30,000 hotel rooms in Orlando and just shy of 3,000 in California...with limited room for more in California and all kinds of room for more in Orlando.

I think you are forgetting about all of those non-Disney hotels right outside the Disneyland gate.

I also think it interesting they finally realized Encanto and Indy are much better fits at the still low on-ride count AK, and that should be a priority over the "Beyond Big Thunder" blue sky from last year's D23.

Also, I'm still surprised, that more of Pixar Pier, and some of the Buena Vista St. polish from DCA have not crossed coasts to bolster HS.

But the return of Vaughn to the head of Imagineering is probably still the best Disney news this year on top of them trying to actually do Eisner's Disney Decade and not bulk at the cost.

Mulfinator:

I think you are forgetting about all of those non-Disney hotels right outside the Disneyland gate.

Then I guess we need to also include all non-Disney hotels in and around Lake Buena Vista.

Sharpe makes a good point with the density comparisons. No question that the California parks maximum make use of their space. They also have the advantage of much better year round weather so a lot more "outdoor" attractions are visible and make for better kinetic energy.

Sharpe. the explanation of your 4-park day makes me want to take a nap.

But how many of those hotels are within walking distance to the park. I count roughly 40 on the Harbor Blvd side that are within 1 mile of Disneyland. If you are basing capacity on the number of hotels Disney owns then you are vastly undercounting many potential guests. Besides DLR is much more populated with locals than WDW.

The Disney hardcore fans never seem to be happy. But why do they keep going back and spending money?

Love-hate relationships aren't limited to just Disney.

Why am I still a Browns fan?

eightdotthree:

Why am I still a Browns fan?

Oh wow. Prayers sent.

I’m a long time Chiefs fan. It’s a good time to be alive

I was born in Cleveland, and I can't believe that people still won't give up after five plus decades.

The haterfans can't not give them money, because then they would miss out and not be the first people to get online and complain. Where's the fun in that?

I’ve found it impossible to give up on the Browns. I don’t really understand why when I can barely tolerate the NFL but when I tune in I can’t help myself but be engaged.

I feel the same way about the Bears. Every season seems to start with so much hope but by week 3 it all falls apart. At least we still have the 1985 season.

Lance from Screamscape has written a great article for Blooloop - Theme park reservations & the slow death of spontaneity

His experience at WDW confirms all fears about visiting Disney in the Lightning Lane age.

I'm gonna say this loud for the people in the back: YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE THE VIRTUAL QUEUE OPTIONS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.

And you can still have a good time. And guess what else? You can govern your use of the vq options and still have some spontaneity.

Spotaneity only dies when you assume it's already dead. I don't have time to read that whole piece right now, but what I got from skimming it is what I get from his typical writing: 5% insight, 95% whining because something changed.

His "rumor" about Living With The Land is ridiculous, and I say that as someone with a very young child who adored that ride from 2013 until the pandemic. Rise hasn't had a virtual queue in a long time, leaving just Guardians and Tron, and I suspect the former won't have it much longer. It's really not a big deal. That's two attractions out of how many? Paid queueing isn't something that we ever do, but we still manage to ride stuff, maybe because we grew up when there was no virtual queueing, paid or free. And park reservations, I've been getting them day-of for more than a year.

People have planning anxiety because people tell them they must plan everything, not because you actually have to.

To be clear ... if the six of us, having spent $20k on our trip to Orlando, want to ride Guardians and Tron, we can be spontaneous - just turn up to the rides and enjoy them, without any planning or paying to do so ?

There is a lot of middle ground between showing up with no plan and planning it down to the minute. That seems to get lost in these discussions. If you’re spending that kind of money and time on a trip, I would see making plans and spending a little more money to be sure that you get on a few particular rides as relatively small sacrifices.

Jesus, why are you paying $20k to come to Orlando? (My assumption is that half of that is airfare for six, but still.) And as I said, regarding Tron and Guardians...

That's two attractions out of how many?

Getting hung up on having to click a button on the app at 7am hardly feels like having to plan all the things and not be spontaneous.

Man, when I’m on vacation, I’m not getting up at 7:00. I’m sleeping in until at least 7:30.

If you were spending that much money on a non-Disney trip (or even something less than that amount), would you engage in some level of planning? When I take a trip, there are typically certain things I want to do. Whether its going to a city/country, national park, an amusement park, etc. More true if its a first visit but even true for return trips. And many of those things require some level of planning to be sure you can do them. Doesn't mean the entire trip is planned though (and certainly not down to the second).

Took a 4 day trip to WDW in August with my wife and daughter. We used Genie+ and lightning lane each day. Allowed us to do the things we absolutely wanted to do without putting pressure to plan everything else out to maximize the trip. Did everything we wanted to do (some multiple times) and many other things that were on the "nice to do" list. Waited in regular lines in addition to using skip the line options. And still had time to spend a couple afternoons at hotel chilling out. Trip was nothing of the "schedule everything down to the second" horror story that I thought might be the case based on things I had read online.

Problem with the line skipping passes for some people I think is not that it requires you to plan everything down to the second (because it doesn't) but that it gives you the opportunity to do that. If you are a hyper-planner or have FOMO, may make for a miserable trip. But it doesn't have to be that way. For us, they were tools that gave us flexibility to enjoy the trip. Did we do everything? No way. But that wasn't the goal/purpose of the trip. And there were many people there who didn't appear to be using line skipping passes at all. And they seemed to be having a good time. And just like everyone has seen families having a miserable time because they won't deviate from their plan (after all they planned so long for this trip, paid so much, etc. it must be perfect) refusing to give the kids a couple hour break at the pool to recharge when its clear the kids are done for the day without it, Genie+ and lightning lane can apparently make certain people miserable.

Lance from Screamscape was looking do to anything he wanted to do at WDW in one day. Good luck with that. VIP passes likely won't get you there. Problem isn't with line skipping systems but with having too many things that people really want to do (if they are looking for short stays in any event). Talks about being able to wait in line for 8 hours if that is what you want to do. But if you do that, you aren't doing much the rest of that day.