The management team at The Walt Disney Company has a plan. You may not like it, but corporate executives will swear until their dying breaths that the plan is for you. The smartest park officials ever have worked tirelessly to reduce the amount of time that you spend in line. Some of the processes that they’ve invented have done just that, albeit to the detriment of your bank account. Here are five ways that Disney has tried to control park traffic.
FastPasses
Image: DisneyDisney officials care about one factor more than any other. Surprisingly, I’m not speaking of revenue. Sure, the bottom line matters a great deal to executives, but park officials believe that customer satisfaction is what leads to increased revenue.
When someone at a Disney theme park asks you to take a survey, always say yes. This person is empowering you to speak your mind about the state of the parks, and the survey results determine a staggering amount of Disney decisions.
Over the years, Disney has learned that line queues are the bane of theme park tourists’ existence. We hate standing around doing nothing when we want to be riding our favorite attractions. Imagineers have spent countless hours attempting to eliminate theme park queues.
Image: DisneyUnquestionably the most elegant advance in this field is the FastPass. This virtual queuing system allows you to stand in one line while you get credit for standing in a different one. You can ride the attraction that you want. Afterward, you may enter the (shorter) FastPass line, saving yourself an additional wait.
From the guest’s perspective, you ride two attractions, but you only wait in line for one. It maximizes your park time, allowing you to enjoy more of Disney during a set period. From the company’s perspective, you’re a happier guest, and happier guests grade higher on Disney surveys.
Better yet, you’re not clogging up the main Disney paths while you’re waiting in these lines. FastPass has quietly given company officials more control over the behavior of park guests.
Paid Events
Image: DisneyNot every method of controlling park traffic is good for all. For example, paid events have surged in popularity in recent years. Historically, guests happily attended Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. They paid money to visit Magic Kingdom at a time when the park was otherwise closed.
Over time, Disney executives appreciated the twin benefits of this tactic. Ticketed events improved park revenue while providing deep-pocketed visitors with a better Magic Kingdom experience. Not coincidentally, the dates for these parties have expanded to the point where Halloween starts in August, and Christmas starts about two days after the Halloween celebration ends.
The company has even doubled and tripled down on the premise. Disney After Hours is another ticketed event that celebrates…nothing. It’s just a night when guests can stay after park closing for a hundred bucks.
Image: DisneyAfter a shaky start, this event proved so popular that Disney introduced a similar morning event, Early Morning Magic, which is basically just a few rides and breakfast. Later, they even added Disney Villains After Dark, which is just Disney After Hours with villains. Somehow, it costs about $25 more.
While all of these events seem like shady cash grabs, they serve a purpose. Disney extends park hours for a fortunate few. In exchange, they earn a lot more money, effectively selling multiple admission tickets to the same guests.
The customers happily pay the money for the rare opportunity to visit Disney when it’s less crowded. In the process, many of them spend less time in the parks during regular hours, thereby reducing traffic. It’s possibly an evil practice but undeniably ingenious.
Park Design
Image: DisneyNot every park can claim this, but some control park traffic through their designs. Walt Disney himself favored the hub-and-spokes style that’s familiar to park guests. It’s employed at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, among other places.
The idea is simple. One part of the park is the central hub. Spokes connect it to the various themed lands throughout the park. This method controls the flow of traffic efficiently because guests must travel set paths to reach their destinations.
Disney may entice its visitors to frequent some paths more than others by holding character greetings, musical performances, and even parades. Historically, it’s the least effective strategy for crowd control. However, the big data era has elevated the tactic into a much more potent method of keeping guests out of overcrowded areas.
Surge Pricing
Image: DisneyHave you heard someone say that Disney no longer has an offseason? While the statement is debatable, it’s based in some truth. Company officials have recoiled at the idea of less crowded times on the park calendar. For this reason, they’ve done everything possible to encourage guests to visit the parks during historically less-crowded periods.
One of the earliest successes was the Epcot international festivals, which enticed people to visit during the Spring and Fall. Later, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Points Charts rewarded members for spending their points during those same time periods.
Recently, park officials took a more lucrative stance. They started charging guests more to visit the parks during the most crowded days on the park calendar. Using decades of park data, strategists developed surge pricing as a means to deter guests from visiting during Spring Break and on major holidays. The idea is that guests must pay more to play on those days.
Meanwhile, Disney incentivizes budget-minded guests to attend Disney during the colder months like January and February and the soft spots in the schedule such as September. This strategy flattens attendance charts, bringing most days closer to the middle of the bell curve. Everyone hates surge pricing due to the price increase, but it’s an effective tactic for crowd control.
Extra Magic Hours
Image: DisneyI’ve saved this one until the end because it’s one of the least heralded forms of controlling park traffic. It shouldn’t surprise you, though. Extra Magic Hours represents a way for Disney to reward guests for staying onsite. Anyone spending the extra money at an official Disney hotel gets an extra hour of private park time. If that sounds familiar, it should.
Extra Magic Hours claims the same underlying premise as Disney After Hours, only the transaction isn’t as overt. You’re still paying more to get extra time at an otherwise closed theme park. You’re just not doing it at the park. Instead, you’re footing the bill at your hotel. Ticketed events are an evolution of that same concept.
The park traffic benefit is the same. When guests get that extra hour before or after the park is open, they spend less time inside the park during operating hours. During the grand opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disney introduced Extra Extra Magic Hours for this specific reason. The stated goal was to siphon off traffic outside of regular park hours, a plan that largely succeeded.
