Disney Headlines for March 28th, 2024
This week, we’re gonna ignore all the noise and focus on the happy.
Yes, you can take a break from all your Disney doomscrolling to celebrate summer at Walt Disney World and the 2024 D23 Expo!
We’re wearing our love of the Mouse on our sleeves in the latest set of Disney Headlines.
Disney’s 2024 Traffic Strategy
The subject of Disney expansion has come up a lot recently.
We know that Disney will commit as much as $42 billion to improving the various parks, resorts, and Disney Cruise Line.
Disney will spend that money because its current supply cannot keep up with its demand.
Taking the Econ 101 class out of it, more people want to go to Disney than the parks can currently hold.
Recent Disney changes have all factored that constraint into their creations.
Meanwhile, when Disney expands the parks, which could start soon, it’ll have an eye on increasing supply.
In other words, the new themed lands — and maybe a fifth gate at Disney World/third gate at Disneyland Resort – will allow more guests.
Unfortunately, such long-term solutions aren’t happening anytime soon.
Even if Disney breaks ground on the Animal Kingdom changes soon, none of the new stuff will likely arrive before 2026-2027.
That…won’t help Disney this summer. So, Walt Disney World will help itself by offering some limited-time entertainment options.
Theoretically, park officials can do this sort of thing anytime they want, and it’s definitely a strategy that has grown more popular lately.
I suspect that the success of the Cavalcades functioned as proof of concept for such limited-time entertainment options.
When Disney takes this approach, it can persuade some guests to skip popular attractions and stay off the main park paths.
In the process, attraction wait times become more manageable, and there is less crowding/bottlenecking at places like Cinderella Castle.
The reductions can sometimes be challenging to identify, but they’re happening, which explains why the courtyard isn’t always mobbed.
So, you can understand why Disney hosts temporary off-path entertainment for guests. And that brings us to…
A Summer Plan
Disney has already indicated that it expects Walt Disney World to experience a massive summer.
Over the next few months, people will find reasons to split hairs about the crowds, as always.
But Disney can tell from its hotel bookings and admission ticket sales how big the summer will be.
Then, Disney offers discounts from there to entice others to attend on specific dates, ones that management forecasts as less crowded.
In short, over the past few years, Disney has mastered the art of efficiently maximizing crowds.
By achieving that goal, the parks rarely seem overly crowded, but it’s also rare when we track relatively empty days.
Disney knows the summer crowds are coming, though. In fact, management had gotten really good at tipping its hand.
When Disney Genie+ prices skyrocket, you know projections call for massive attendance.
I mention this as proof that Disney’s crowd forecasting is next-level, and that brings us to the summer plans.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios will siphon traffic off the streets by hosting a limited-time character greeting with Joy.
That experience will temporarily entice thousands of guests away from Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
Similarly, EPCOT will provide a half-hour distraction for guests sitting and waiting for the new show, ¡Celebración Encanto!.
Meanwhile, Animal Kingdom will host a 30th anniversary for one of Disney’s most beloved films, The Lion King.
So, those three parks will provide distractions for guests, keeping them out of attraction queues and main throughways.
In case you’re wondering, Magic Kingdom doesn’t need anything like this due to its sheer volume of attractions.
The Best Idea
However, you won’t find Disney’s best summer distraction at the parks.
Instead, Disney has adopted a bold approach to lower in-park traffic this summer.
For the first time ever, Disney Springs will host Disney Dreams That Soar, a nighttime drone presentation.
By offering that exhibition, Disney will convince some guests to leave the parks early rather than stay for the fireworks.
Also, people lacking theme park admission for the day can watch a Disney show for “free.”
I’m using free in quotes because Disney can easily monetize Disney Dreams That Soar.
If guests visit for the drone show and then shop, drink, and dine before/after it, Disney can turn a profit.
So, this strategy invites people to leave the parks, thereby reducing crowds for the standard nighttime presentations.
And Disney can also benefit financially from providing tourists and Florida residents with a new reason to spend the night at Disney Springs.
Strategies like this underscore how much smarter Disney has gotten about crowd management.
Employing Disney Springs to control in-park crowds is *chef’s kiss* brilliant.
A Quick Note about D23
Disney has revealed additional details about the 2024 D23 Expo, which you can read here.
We’ve covered the story at MickeyBlog and will continue to do so as the date approaches.
Here’s why you should pay more attention than usual, although I fully understand why you’ve learned to tune it out.
In recent years, Disney has employed D23 as a kind of an audience survey for potential expansion ideas.
The D23 event doesn’t feel like that at all. Instead, we’re pointing directly toward the type of event we haven’t had since at least 2017.
Disney probably won’t announce Animal Kingdom and Disneyland expansion plans at the Annual Shareholder Meeting.
Yes, CEO Bob Iger could do that, but that’s a testy date where they might prefer to focus on more pressing matters.
I don’t expect a DisneylandForward announcement to occur immediately after the Anaheim City Council’s vote, either.
So, August becomes the target date for the first wave of reveals about this $60 billion expansion Disney has promised.
The timing of Disney filing that Animal Kingdom paperwork doesn’t strike me as coincidental.
Management apparently wants fans to know that they’re ready to go to work. That’s the Headline we’ve all wanted for ages now.
Disney is finally ready to start new projects and build again after spending all its time since the start of 2020 finishing previously started attractions and lands.
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Feature Photo: Disney