Are you ready for some big Disney news?
The Walt Disney Company often announces major updates for future plans during events like Earnings Calls and Investor Days. We just tuned in to a similar event — the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference. If you missed this event, don’t worry! We listened in and found out some new information about the Disney parks!
Disney announced previously that they would participate in the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, which happened at 5:25PM ET on Monday, March 7th, 2022. The Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Walt Disney Company, Christine McCarthy, participated in a question and answer session during the conference.
Thanks to the questions answered by McCarthy, we learned a lot about the future of the Walt Disney Company. The topic of Disney’s theme park capacity is often discussed at Disney events and it once again came up during today’s event. When asked, “What does full capacity mean looking forward?” McCarthy revealed that the Disney parks are not currently operating at full capacity.
McCarthy added that Disney is approaching full park capacity. But she did say “We don’t want to have the parks bursting at the seams,” when asked about whether the parks are managing things differently.
Referencing Disney’s park pass reservation system, McCarthy explained, “We know how many people are going to the parks on a given day,” which has been beneficial for capacity management.
McCarthy explained that this has allowed Disney to better balance the crowds each month, throughout the week, and throughout the year.
Disney has not revealed the exact number of guests visiting the parks each day, but based on the crowds we’ve seen lately, it’s safe to guess that a lot of people are traveling to Disney World.
We’ll be keeping an eye on other events this year to learn about all the updates coming to the Disney parks, so stay tuned with AllEars!
See what Bob Chapek had to say about capacity in the Disney parks.
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What have you experienced in terms of crowds in the parks? Let us know in the comments.
I have been to the 2 parks many times and really was hoping to get down during 2022. It just is so disappointing when you read about all the additional costs and the woke changes. Just can’t get my heart into it anymore.
There definitely appears to be a big difference in how full each park “feels” on a regular basis. While all parks can be expected to feel full on days of high attendance, on “normal” days the pattern appears to be that Animal Kingdom feels much less crowded, as does EPCOT (except for festival times/areas). On these days, Magic Kingdom feels very crowded, with the Studios feeling the most crowded.
I’m convinced that capacity right now is limited by number of employees – Disney isn’t immune to the employee shortages that are happening everywhere else. However, I do agree with others that the overall experience in the parks (particularly MK and the Studios) right now is degraded to the point where some visits just aren’t enjoyable. As much as I love it, when the TTA has a 45 minute line, most rides have waits of over an hour, and the top tier rides are near or over two hours, WDW is pretty much the last place I want to be.
Never trust a Disney employee that doesn’t wear a Disney Name Tag.
The parks might seem more crowded now because there are less things to do – parades, shows, restaurants, especially character meet and greets. Fewer things to do means bigger crowds for the rest. An without those queues / waiting areas, the walking areas are more crowded.
After being in the parks Feb. 10-13, 2022, I got online to look at attendance numbers and saw they aren’t being released. I find it hard to believe that parks are limited at numbers are below pre-covid attendance. It felt more crowded than previous visits before covid, which were mid summer and fall break! Why wouldn’t they release daily attendance numbers? Haven’t they always done that throughout the years?
It’s obvious that Disney’s definition of “Full Capacity” and “Ability to reasonably accommodate everyone allowed into the park” are two greatly different things. I’ve yet to hear any of the “new” park customers say “Yeah, it was crowded as heck, but I’m gonna come back as soon as possible”. The new management style may be claiming huge success since taking over, but I’m anxious to see what the next 2-3 years has in store for them.
Right now Disney has managed to become the latest “Cabbage Patch Doll” and can name their price and availability. They need to realize, you can’t give away Cabbage Patch Dolls today. But, what do I know, I ain’t making over 200 Million a year to run the place.
I don’t believe the parks aren’t operating at full capacity. They are way more crowded than usual this time of year. THE reason we did not go this year and next year is doubtful unless crowds thin out.
I don’t know what the Disney management crew thinks full capacity at the theme parks looks like, but as someone who has been going to WDW for 50 years and DL for 25, (and am at this moment at WDW), but these parks are FULL. The only other time in my life I have seen the parks this busy is when I have gone for New Years Eve…which is literally body to body. If their reservation system is designed for them to “manage crowd levels” (rather than manage their staffing), it is an epic failure. Holy smokes.
I agree! Ibe been going since the 80’s and Ive never seem it so packed!
We just returned from WDW. The parks are extremely crowded and the wait times are ridiculous. I really don’t trust what Disney is stating these days. They say there is an overwhelming positive response to the purchasing of the new Genie+. Sure, I believe that….after all everyone wants to pay for a service that they use to get for free. (sarcasm) Let’s look at other items Disney has changed; free transportation to and from the airport; luggage check in, magic bands, real extra magic hours, reduced opportunity for yearly passes (which allowed us to visit WDW more than once a year,they have taken away Tables in Wonderland and the meal plan. And isn’t it odd…..we use to get a survey from WDW whether it was in reference to the parks, resorts, or Disney Springs. Gee, I wonder why we haven’t gotten any surveys? It is bad enough that the prices are skyrocketing, the hospitality is way down, the perks are dwindling away and the frustration of visiting parks is way up. Now we have to contend with the CEO trying to convince us that everything is wonderful when we know it isn’t.