Some interesting tid bits from disney CEO today about “normalizing” Disney World

[Just Theo]

Today Disney CEO Bob Chapek participated in a question and answer session hosted by J.P. Morgan. Some interesting takeaways about the parks.

CEO Bob Chapek predicts that more normalized operations will arrive at the theme parks by the company’s fiscal Q4 — July, August, and September.

Chapek specifically stated that the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system would remain in place beyond the scope of the pandemic.

Chapek said the company has been using the pandemic shutdowns and capacity decreases to reanalyze passholder/legacy programs.

[reaganbetter]

Bob said, that park passes are sold out for Memorial Day weekend till May 31st.
Virtual waits will still be going on past the pandemic likely for Star Wars Rise of Resistance.


https://wdwnt.com/2021/05/walt-disney-w ... gh-may-31/

[nittanylions]

I don't know how I feel about keeping the park reservation system in place beyond the pandemic. I haven't visited Disney World since the summer of 2019. I haven't used the park reservation system. I have seen that Josh and Jenna are not always able to get a reservation for a particular park. It would be terrible to have your whole vacation set up, only to be undone by an inability to get a park reservation you need. Am I overestimating the difficulty of getting a reservation?

[Just Theo]

I don't know how I feel about keeping the park reservation system in place beyond the pandemic. I haven't visited Disney World since the summer of 2019. I haven't used the park reservation system. I have seen that Josh and Jenna are not always able to get a reservation for a particular park. It would be terrible to have your whole vacation set up, only to be undone by an inability to get a park reservation you need. Am I overestimating the difficulty of getting a reservation?

I think what you say is true right now while capacity is limited. But Pre-Pandemic the parks only reached capacity on the really popular days, Christmas, New Year’s eve, etc. So I think once the parks go back to full capacity and demand goes back to more “normal times” it will be easier to get reservations on a more “normal day”

[AlexisW]

I’d note that part of the reason Josh and Jenna have trouble getting park reservations some of the time is because annual passholders are limited in the number of park reservations they can hold at a time (currently three, per here). That limits how much they can reserve park passes ahead of time, where a resort guest or regular ticket holder would be able to reserve for an entire vacation months in advance (well before availability dries up, in most cases).

Basically, as APs, they can at best reserve parks for Friday Night Live about three weeks in advance. That assumes they’re not doing any other weekend or mid-week streams, and they’re not holding reservations for anything further out, like the 50th anniversary weekend.

Hopefully things get less restrictive for APs as capacities increase, but, even if they don’t, park passes should be easier to come by on short notice when things get closer to full capacity. 100% of capacity in the parks is a lot of people; even the hordes of people at Christmas and New Years haven’t pushed any of the parks to a full-capacity closure in several years AFAIK (Disney uses a phased system to close parks as they approach capacity, and it’s been a pretty long time since they’ve had to go to the last phase).

[Happy2012]

Okay just a few thoughts on park passes.
1. It limits your ability to be spontaneous, a complaint I keep hearing about fast pass.
2. This keeps you locked into a park until 2pm. (Is the park Hopper pass worth it?)
3. Yes if you are going for a vacation you can book them well in advance but again how do I know where I want to go each day that far in advance especially if the park hours aren't even posted.
4. Thankfully I am a "planner" however I also leave room for flexibility. I feel my flexibility is 'not so flexible' now.

Lastly I question why, how is this benefitting Disney? There has to be a bottom line Chapek doesn't seem to be a guy that doesn't have a 'reason' for his actions.

[nittanylions]

Okay just a few thoughts on park passes.
1. It limits your ability to be spontaneous, a complaint I keep hearing about fast pass.
2. This keeps you locked into a park until 2pm. (Is the park Hopper pass worth it?)
3. Yes if you are going for a vacation you can book them well in advance but again how do I know where I want to go each day that far in advance especially if the park hours aren't even posted.
4. Thankfully I am a "planner" however I also leave room for flexibility. I feel my flexibility is 'not so flexible' now.

Lastly I question why, how is this benefitting Disney? There has to be a bottom line Chapek doesn't seem to be a guy that doesn't have a 'reason' for his actions.

Well said Happy2012. All valid points.

[Meridasmom]

Tokyo Disneyland has had the reservation system in place since pre-pamdemic. My husband and I were there in Aug 2019 and when our daughter (Navy stationed in Japan) bought the tickets, she had to tell them which park we were going to on which days. She bought the tix about 2 months before we arrived. While it was crowded, I didn't feel like it was WDW crowded. I think the park pass reservations personally its more off a hinderance for locals and AP than for others. I plan our trip 1.5 yrs+ in advance anyway, so I have each day planned for X park and X meal inside same park- everything else is go with the flow for us. It's still scheduling but at a minimum.

[Happy2012]

Tokyo Disneyland has had the reservation system in place since pre-pamdemic. My husband and I were there in Aug 2019 and when our daughter (Navy stationed in Japan) bought the tickets, she had to tell them which park we were going to on which days. She bought the tix about 2 months before we arrived. While it was crowded, I didn't feel like it was WDW crowded. I think the park pass reservations personally its more off a hinderance for locals and AP than for others. I plan our trip 1.5 yrs+ in advance anyway, so I have each day planned for X park and X meal inside same park- everything else is go with the flow for us. It's still scheduling but at a minimum.

I also plan a lot ahead of time as I said above and we only go every 1-2 years but I also would like to go to another park for a short time before my Epcot day since it opens later. How many 'parks' does Tokyo Disneyland have? I wonder if it is because there are so many options and you are 'stuck' in a park till 2p that it seems like it will be frustrating? We will see when we get there in September, thankfully it will only be my husband and I for this trip so we can 'check out' the situation.

[Just Theo]

I think what we have to remember with the park pass system is that right now Disney World is still operating at a reduced capacity and they are reaching that capacity almost daily which is why it’s so hard to get a reservation that isn’t a month or two out. Before the pandemic Disney World only reached capacity a few days a year. So I think we can assume as capacity rises and eventually gets back to 100% the reservations will become easier to get.

[Meridasmom]

Tokyo Disneyland has had the reservation system in place since pre-pamdemic. My husband and I were there in Aug 2019 and when our daughter (Navy stationed in Japan) bought the tickets, she had to tell them which park we were going to on which days. She bought the tix about 2 months before we arrived. While it was crowded, I didn't feel like it was WDW crowded. I think the park pass reservations personally its more off a hinderance for locals and AP than for others. I plan our trip 1.5 yrs+ in advance anyway, so I have each day planned for X park and X meal inside same park- everything else is go with the flow for us. It's still scheduling but at a minimum.

I also plan a lot ahead of time as I said above and we only go every 1-2 years but I also would like to go to another park for a short time before my Epcot day since it opens later. How many 'parks' does Tokyo Disneyland have? I wonder if it is because there are so many options and you are 'stuck' in a park till 2p that it seems like it will be frustrating? We will see when we get there in September, thankfully it will only be my husband and I for this trip so we can 'check out' the situation.

Tokyo has 2 parks- Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) and Tokyo Disney Sea (TDS). I usually describe TDS to people as a combo of our Epcot and Hollywood Studios put together. They have different lands- Mediterranean, The Americas, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, etc. They have ToT and Midway Mania, Soarin, Indiana Jones, 20,000 leagues and Journey to the Center of the Earth and several other attractions. We spent 2 days in TDS and only 1 day in Disneyland.