2According to a recent article published by SFGate, one former Walt Disney Company Imagineer believes that the Theme Park operator has become a victim of its success and has made it impossible to please Disneyland Resort Guests visiting the parks in Anaheim, California.
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According to Guests and experts, visiting “The Happiest Place On Earth,” more popularly known as Disneyland Resort, has become a nuisance in recent years. We all see the countless complaints throughout social media that Disney Parks are either too expensive, too logistically complicated, or too overcrowded to enjoy anymore. However, the public and Disney’s most loyal Guests are not the only ones to recognize this; former Walt Disney Imagineers have also taken notice.
Last November, many Disney Fanatics and superfans were overjoyed to hear that Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek was ousted by the board of directors to be replaced by his former mentor and predecessor, Bob Iger. Sure, Disneyland Resort has seen some loosened restrictions, such as longer park-hopping hours and a relief in ticket price hikes, but with all that being said, the experience is still not the same as it was pre-pandemic. There still seems there is still much more that can be done.
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According to former Disney Imagineers, there are some changes that Disney could make to help enhance the experience. For instance, during SFGates’ interview with Jim Shull, he would suggest that Disneyland could be better served if the Resort was more upfront about the cost of add-ons like Genie+, which he sees as a simple way to enhance Guest satisfaction. He would add that “right now, they have dynamic pricing on Genie+, but I don’t think they post the price until the day of. For planning purposes, they should have a calendar for not less than 72 hours in California and probably at least a week in Florida, so people can plan to budget and not be surprised today.”
Currently, single-day ticket Disneyland Park Guests can add Genie+ for $30, but Magic Key Passholders can only purchase it when they enter the Park. This makes planning the day for Disney’s most loyal visitors more difficult. However, Shull doesn’t see the price itself as the issue but the dynamic pricing that makes it harder to budget as the issue.
Another former Imagineer, Tom K. Morris, would tell SFGate, “I think it boils down to being victims of their own success.” Morris would go on to explain in his interview that “Over the decades, the parks have only become more popular, despite all the changes in society, the problems created by the pandemic, and the tendency for social media to focus on the negative. Any griping that you hear is mostly about the problems caused by the Park’s own popularity and not the content.”
Here is where the problem lies with Disney Parks in general. As the company continues to become increasingly popular, a price increase is one of the only ways it can control crowds. However, it eventually reaches a point where you can only hike prices so much. Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to fixing the issues.
What do you think Disneyland Resort should do to make it easier to enjoy a visit to the Disney Parks? Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment below.