There is a reason you love Disney so much; because it’s awesome. Certainly, you are aware you are not alone in making this determination. It is why pretty much every Disney Park is crowded every time you visit. Yet, no matter how amazing something is, if attempting to enjoy it is inconvenient, even overwhelming, the experience can pale, and some will give up on it. From the Eiffel Tower to Las Vegas to Waikiki disgruntled travelers declare, “Never again!” An extreme few have sworn off Disney. A few of them will even stick to it. In general and with consistency, though, Disney earns and retains your faith, devotion and patronage.
Though other tourist destinations suffer when crowds rise, Disney parks seem immune to this issue. But how is this possible? Put simply, Disney tricks their guests into thinking their parks are not all that crowded, even when they are at their busiest. Unbeknownst to guests, there are layers of Disney design elements that absorb, mask and disperse the masses that invariably fill their parks.
1. Hub and spoke engineering
Disney Crowd Management could very well be an advanced MIT degree program, and you could do your doctoral thesis on their walkways alone. Disney did not invent the Hub and Spoke, of course, they’ve just perfected it. Early Italian architects made Hub and Spoke cosmopolitan, and years later the Atlanta airport made it unavoidable. As the geographic center piece of the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and a number of their other parks to varying degrees, Disney has turned the complex system of spatial navigation into an art and science.
In the map above, and in an aerial view of most any of the Disney Parks, the layout resembles that of a wheel; with a hub at the center and walkways branching out as spokes into neighboring sections of the property. The beauty of the Hub and Spoke is how it keeps the traffic moving. The system is designed with few major intersections, thus fewer opportunities for traffic interruption or congestion.
The best examples of this design, and the Disney Resorts are riddled with them, allow you to walk off in any direction and be able to reach any other portion of the park without having to backtrack. In the Magic Kingdom, you can head right at the hub, which is the massive circular courtyard and esplanade at the castle-end of Main Street, entering Tomorrowland, and continue on through Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Frontierland, Adventureland and back to Main Street all without retracing your steps. That’s not to say you won’t want to revisit sections of the park, but the fact there is no need to helps reduce an eminent log jam like those that form on the way to, from, and through Diagon Alley at Universal Studios.
Yes, you will ocassionally, even often if you frequent particular Disney Parks at particularly festive times, find yourself imobile between the Tomorrowland Speedway and the PeopleMover, or the Matterhorn and Alice in Wonderland. For moving major masses of people throughout such a finite amount of real estate, though, there is no system better than Disney’s.
2. Interactive, efficient and just plain sensible lines
Boredom is inherent in the standing-in-line experience. Boredom leads to frustration. Disney is not in the business of either, and thus has made line management an effective priority. Disney knows the best way to combat boredom, and thus frustration, is to engage their guests and give them something to think about other than standing and waiting in line. At Disney parks guests don’t wait. When everything’s working properly, they don’t stand. From Soarin’ to Haunted Mansion to the Tower of Terror, before guests even enter the queue they are assaulted, pleasantly, by sights, sounds and sometimes smells to occupy their minds and engage their enthusiasm.
Some theme parks have colorful lighting. Other parks play music. Even the most limited of local fairs smells like livestock and fried feet. But what makes it work is Disney’s ability to blend the environment and every sensory input into a seamless, harmonious experience. At the fair you simply exchange one unpleasantness for another. Singed nose hair or a goat eating your phone will take your mind off being in line, but who wants either? At Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, or Disney California Adventure the signs and the music, and even the railings add to the experience. What’s going on around you is a distraction in a fashion, but Disney isn’t hiding the inevitability of being in line, they’re helping you celebrate the process of being part of an attraction.
You don’t just go on a Disney ride, you participate. More and more new rides, and a fair amount of the old and renovated, are going interactive. We’ve all toiled in line for roller coasters at Six Flags: the switchbacks, the monotony, the exposure and heat in too many cases. Now consider the entirely different experience of Star Tours and Big Thunder Mountain. Six Flags and Universal long ago embraced the film and comic book character theming, but no one matches Disney’s delivery. Most of Disney’s success stems from pure genius, but part of it is simple adaptability. Dumbo in the Magic Kingdom has been transformed from a beloved ride that elicited considerable aggravation from parents stuck in the heat or rain or both, in that hopelessly slow line, into a more universally beloved and relaxing attraction where adults and children together enjoy spending significant parts of their day. Where Six Flags adds a few cutouts of super heroes and mist machines, which are wonderful, Disney creates an entire playland oasis. Which brings us to the following:
3. Effectively controlled attraction wait times
Nearly every other theme park in the world understands Disney to be the gold standard in entertainment and customer service. Those that don’t are horribly mismanaged. Disney is also rather astute as it pertains to efficiency. FastPass is viewed by many to be an experiment that has failed, or is failing. MyMagic and FastPass+ could be just making it worse. But it takes an entity like Disney to even attempt something so revolutionary. Long lines are a natural byproduct of coveted rides, restaurants, even restrooms. What motivation does a management group have to tinker with something that is, by definition, popular? If you are part of Disney, your motivation is an enduring drive to please your guests. The cynical will say finances, but that’s another article.
Every aspect of a Disney attraction’s design prioritizes the highly discriminating theme park guest. Disney could easily make rollercoasters that are taller, faster and more terrifying, but Disney’s target is much more vast. Disney isn’t catering to simple thrill seekers, though they aren’t ignoring them. They are in the entertainment business, and the mission is to entertain everyone. Where it is determined they are falling short, they make adjustments.
Radiator Springs Racers, one of the newish attractions in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure is a perfect illustration. There was no doubt as to the potential popularity here, so the queue was designed with a Standby entrance, a FastPass entrance, and another for single riders. The first two are standard now, but have you considered how many seats go empty on a six-seater attraction that does not have the capacity to fill them with singles? Well, Disney thought about it a lot, and they got out in front of it. But they didn’t stop there. In Cars Land’s early days, the crush for a Radiator Springs FastPass threatened to create wholly un-Disneylike unpleasantness in the park. An alternative, easy access FastPass distribution point was quickly established away from what had become an area of congestion. Orderly lines were delineated, and to this day adequate staff stands ready to assist guests in keeping the process efficient, and thus completely Disney smooth and delightful.
No business is infallible. Disney just comes much, much close than most. Victims of their own popularity, Disney must also contend with the very high standards they set and consistently demonstrate. The perfect day that starts with the kid driving the shuttle, scanning your ticket or assisting you in the parking lot, actually began decades ago in a planning session between highly committed and likeminded designers. It continues there today, as from guests to groundskeepers, Disney is full of dreamers.
