It’s time for some Disney news, people! The company often shares important updates and news during its quarterly earnings calls as well as during events like Investor Days, so we monitor all of these happenings in order to keep you informed.
Disney Investor Day ©Disney
Today, The Walt Disney Company took part in a Q&A session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, and there were some interesting comments made about capacity at the Disney Parks.
Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Walt Disney Company, Christine McCarthy, participated in the session at the conference this afternoon. It was live-streamed over a webcast on Disney’s website. McCarthy was asked about park capacity on the call, and we have all of her remarks right here.
Crowds in Magic Kingdom
The Disney executive said that the parks are NOT yet back to full capacity, but they are coming back towards it. McCarthy went on to say that they know how many people are going to the parks on a given day, which allows them to better balance load throughout the year, week, and month.
Hollywood Studios entrance crowds
When asked if the attendance levels were going to go back to what we saw before the global pandemic began, McCarthy said no, that they are managing things differently now. On the topic of crowd management, the executive mentioned how nighttime attractions and parades and good for load balancing since people that would be in lines for rides are watching the entertainment.
Enchantment
She also said that they “don’t want to have the parks bursting at the seams,” adding that when they’re not as crowded, you’re having a better time and you’re probably inclined to spend more money.
EPCOT entrance crowds
So, even though we’ve seen major crowds in the Disney World parks lately, they are still not back to full capacity. Stay tuned to DFB for more Disney news, info, and updates.
Click here to see what Disney CEO Bob Chapek has to say about price increases in the parks
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Wait….not full capacity?! It sure seemed it first two weeks of February, was not fun! Lines were longer than I had ever seen them this time of year. When Small World has a 60 minute wait, you know its bad!
If Disney is managing the crowds for better guests experience why are wait times so long?
It was so crowded at the Magic Kingdom when we were there on Feb. 19th that I felt unsafe. If that wasn’t capacity I would hate to be there when it is!
Disney’s goal of full capacity is when crowds are shoulder to shoulder on all parks. This will generate the maximum park revenue which is always the goal of management. Clearly, Disney management cares very little of the park guest.
It sure seemed to be at capacity, would hate to see it any busier. Cast members were fantastic and really made the day special, but overall Disney management appears to care very little of the park guest.
Travelling out for two weeks in early May. Hopefully spring break crowds will be fully gone by then and it will be manageable!
at our recent visit the Parks were more crowded than I have EVER seen them. Not only are they crowded, but the service has declined so far that Disney Parks are nowhere close to being the Happiest Place on Earth. In fact all I get from Disney is “The Money Drain place on Earth” Disney is no longer affordable to the average family
My guess is that the full capacity now would be even larger than the full capacity before pandemic. Because they did not know how many people are really going to a specific park on a specific day before pandemic, so they need to set the “capacity” at a lower number than the maximum number of people allowed in the park, in case that everyone who is able to go to the park (such as annual pass holders) are going there. Now, they know exactly how many people are going to a park, so they can set the capacity really at the maximum number of people allowed in the park. This is why Disney like the park reservation system so much, they sell more tickets now and make more money!
Ok Disney we’re not stupid! Quit treating us like we don’t know what full capacity looks like! Not giving us the daily attendance numbers only shows your hiding what capacity really is. I was there for the 1999 celebration when crowds were the worst ever. But that was expected. My recent trip revealed that I probably won’t be going back anymore if we’re going to be treated like this. You can take a euro vacation for the price of staying at the Star Wars hotel for a couple nights. Seriously I’m spending my money elsewhere.
Just returned from a March 1-5 trip. I have been to Disney World more than 50 times in the last 30 years and have never seen it more crowded or had to wait in lines that long. We had a less than magical day in Hollywood studios where my grandson was not able to ride ROTR because a 2 hour wait is too long for a 7 year old; PLUS all individual lightning lane tickets were sold out to people staying at Disney hotels before the park opened. Additionally Genie PLUS could only provide 2 quality experiences for the day as most options also got used up by the crowds. ALSO, ROTR and TOWER went down during the day which caused additional issues. Genie+ took an extra$90 a day for our group of 6 and left us with a very poor user experience and left us longing for the old fast pass system…
Now we understand. The park reservation system is not for capacity balancing but only for Disney to better manage there overhead cost. How much food to supply, how many employees (used to be called cast members) to minimum staff a park and where entertainment and other extras can be cut. This always happens to a company when the accountants are put in the top executive positions.
I totally understand guests comments regarding park capacity, their frustration and annoyance at having to wait in line for 60 minutes for the popular rides especially as Disney says they are not at full capacity yet.
I visited the parks pre pandemic, we went for 2 weeks in April 2014 and again for 2 weeks in July 2017. we NEVER had wait times under 60 minutes for most rides – all the mountains, speedway, soaring, test track, space ship earth, mission to space, the great movie ride (as it was then) toy story mania, the safari… all the big ones really had 60 – 180 min wait times plus! (240 mins on occasions) The only difference was then we had the free fast passes but the stand by wait times were still always over an hour every day even with free FF!
I’m sorry to say lovely people that long wait times are not something new. Not in my experience anyway!!
Agree with the comments above. We were there 2 weeks ago and it was insane. We have gone every 2 years for the past 8 and this trip was by far the busiest. Definitely shoulder to shoulder, long wait times everywhere and limited Mobil food availability times. It seems they are taking more things away (dining plans, free fast passes, etc) than bringing their guests increased options and ease.
It is interesting that park capacity is near record levels, but I do not see them shutting down park entrance like I have seen in years past. Park capacity used to be a situation where they would turn cars and guests away from entering Disney property in FL. Have not seen that lately, but have experienced that a few years go…
Full Capacity is set by government regulation, how many people can octuply a given space safety , Has nothing to do with actual ride capacity, which is overwhelmed when the Parks are so overcrowded at there ridiculous notion of full capacity.
Agree with all but Karen! Yes, there were busy times pre-pandemic, but there were also months like January and February when the lines were NOT all 60 plus minutes. Those days are gone for awhile until we all reset. I wish someone would call out these Disney executives when they make these statements and ask if by “capacity” they are referring to the attendance on Christmas week? I think they are. For that reason, we haven’t been to Disney since March 2020 and probably won’t return until Genie Plus is fixed and crowds start to decrease. Hopefully that will happen in a year or two. My true wish is that they would do away with Park Reservations and no Park Hopping until 2 pm, but don’t think that will happen. I really wish for the Disney of 5 years ago!!!
We are planning to be at Disney World April 30th through May 7th. Staying offsite but very excited. Will be the second time for my 6 year old granddaughter!
As a Florida resident and an annual passholder for a long time, I frequent the parks often. I have been going since the 1990s and I can never remember a time when the parks were so overcrowded. The Magic isn’t as “magical” as it used to be because now you can barely move in the parks and wait times are insane even to use the bathrooms! I realize that this is a business and that the goal is to make money, but when people can’t enjoy the concept of the business because almost everything is a hassle during their visit, people will stop attending and go elsewhere! You are also eventually going to overprice yourselves to the point where your average family can’t afford to attend. I also realize the company has to recoup the losses from the shutdown period during the height of the covid pandemic, but emptying the pockets of your visitors is a bit much especially when parks are so overcrowded and can’t be enjoyed to the fullest because of crowds and costs. Seems admission prices go up every month! I have the option as a Florida resident to pay my annual pass monthly which is a great way for me to attend as often as I want. Now I am in no way saying this option should be open to anyone outside of Florida. That would certainly overcrowd the parks even more!! I actually thought the park reservation system would control the amount of people on any given day and be able to spread out the crowds a lot better, but I don’t see that happening. I have the Weekday annual pass for the fact that crowds are less during the week, but even now that is not the case. We go up every month usually on Wednesdays or Tuesdays and it’s almost as overcrowded as the weekends. Seems like your park capacity is out of control. I love Disney World and will never stop going, but it seems I am enjoying the experience less and less each time. Your prices are always going up and as I said, soon your average person will not attend because they either can’t afford it, or if they can afford it, their park experiences of overcrowding and high prices they will no longer find it worth the cost and the hassle of a less than a great “magical” experience during their visit because of overcrowding and very long wait times!
We just came back and it was most definitely not a magical experience. There is no customer service, lines are long. Everyone is grumpy. You get the feeling of” it’s a privilege for you to be here” rather than thank you for coming. We have gone 5 times since 2016 and this was the worst. Won’t be going back for awhile.
Just adding to what folks have already said, but my recent Disney trip was the absolute busiest / longest waits I have seen in my 20+ years of visiting Disney World on a regular basis. Saw lots of frustrated guests. Genie+ was not effective. Ended up caving and paying more for two “fancy rides” to avoid long waits. Hard to have a magical experience when you’re being price-gouged around every corner. I’m interested to see how park levels end up next year, after the 50th anniversary celebration ends and most people have taken vacays previously canceled by the pandemic.