Photo by Dan Heaton

Disney’s theme parks are more popular than ever right now, and the off-season has vanished. We’ve all seen the photos of massive crowds packing the parks in early February. What happened to the slow time? Has attendance increased that much? Why haven’t the many ticket price increases discouraged guests from visiting? These are all good questions, but they sidestep possibly the most important reason that parks feel different today.

It’s easy to look at the hordes as a reflection of popularity. More people are definitely visiting the parks, but it’s not that simple. When Disney increases ticket prices, the knee-jerk reaction is to defend it by citing the crowds. I would argue that Disney’s recent choices for attractions and operations have played a key role. FastPass Plus has also dramatically changed how standby lines function. Finally, Disney has brilliantly marketed the slower months to draw more guests (especially international ones).

My focus in this article is the impact of capacity on how we experience the parks today. There is a diminished focus on keeping up the supply with the demand from current leadership. They are definitely investing serious dollars into the parks, yet the expansions don’t solve the problem. It’s a tricky situation with no easy solution but is definitely worth investigating.

Photo by Erin Heaton

What Exactly Is Capacity?

Most fans have heard the term capacity, but it’s easy to dismiss it as just another technical aspect of attractions we love. Essentially, a ride or show can entertain a certain amount of guests per hour. When the demand for an attraction exceeds that number, a wait occurs for the people beyond the hourly total. In the days before FastPass, it was pretty easy to figure out this number — assuming full operations. Having multiple lines changes things. Even so, an attraction’s capacity still plays a huge role in its wait times.

Beyond impacting the wait, capacity also impacts many factors in the full park. If more guests are enjoying attractions, they aren’t overloading restaurants or clogging paths. When a park’s capacity doesn’t keep up with attendance increases, the guest experience gets worse. Even people eaters like The Haunted Mansion (2,400 guests an hour) can’t keep up with growing demand for the parks over the long term.

Another pitfall is looking at wait times as the sole determiners of popularity. A good test case is Frozen Ever After, which only can serve about 1,100 to 1,200 guests per hour. When compared to Spaceship Earth, which can take double that number, you could surmise that Anna and Elsa are a lot more popular due to longer wait times. In reality, the two attractions may be a lot closer in terms of demand than we suspect. This doesn’t mean no one likes hanging out with Anna and Elsa. It just underscores how we often diminish capacity as a factor.

Photo by Dan Heaton

But What About All the New Attractions?

I’m definitely not here to complain about the expansions Disney is adding to the parks. They’re spending a ton of money in the next few years! The Ratatouille and TRON attractions bring new capacity to the parks, but those are the exception. A majority of these additions replace existing attractions that closed. So the overall capacity is flat or even decreases in some cases. At best, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway would match The Great Movie Ride’s huge capacity. That is a very optimistic projection too.

It makes sense that Disney would want to replace older attractions with new experiences. The issue comes with the added demand from those high-tech attractions. More people want to visit, and the park attendance rises. That’s great! But what will all these new guests do? It seems like Disney’s Hollywood Studios should have more capacity given the openings of Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land. However, the additions were not designed to handle a large number of guests.

When Disney invests hundreds of millions (or even a billion) dollars into an expansion, I’m stunned by the limited capacity. The model of two attractions inside a themed land fails to compensate for the added demand for those expansions. Even a slow-moving boat ride like Na’vi River Journey maxes out at about 1,400 per hour, which falls well short of “it’s a small world” or Pirates of the Caribbean. That secondary attraction needs to be the people eater to compensate for Flight of Passage’s numbers. Both are excellent attractions, but they need a lot more help.

Photo by Erin Heaton

A Closer Look

When you really dig into the numbers with the recent additions, there is a trend that helps to explain the long lines and full parks. Let’s take a look at the estimated capacities for Disney’s recent additions:

Alien Swirling Saucers – 600

Flight of Passage – 1,280 to 1,440

Frozen Ever After – 1,100 to 1,200

Na’vi River Journey – 1,080 to 1,440

Rise of the Resistance – 1,300 to 1,700

Slinky Dog Dash – 1,440

Smuggler’s Run – 1,700

None of the recent additions go beyond 1,700 riders per hour, which is in the middle when you look at the entire attractions lineup. Now let’s take a look at some classic Disney attractions:

Kilimanjaro Safaris – 3,000

Living with the Land – 2,445

People Mover – 3,600

Spaceship Earth – 2,400

Space Mountain – 2,000

Splash Mountain – 1,800

I’ll admit that I chose the best examples in the second list to make my point. I’m citing these examples to show that even with a roller coaster, log flume, and more, Disney has delivered attractions with large capacities. There have always been rides like Dumbo and the Fantasyland dark rides that don’t match these numbers, but there was a focus on capacity. This diversity of options ensured that certain lines were quieter.

Photo by Dan Heaton

The Balance is Crucial

A super headliner like Flight of Passage is a great addition. Taken on its own, the capacity around 1,300 could still work. Disney probably should have added more theaters, but that move isn’t cheap. One reason that we saw such long lines at Flight of Passage when it opened was the lack of enough big draws in the rest of the park. Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest are incredible, but they also aren’t new.

What saves Disney’s Animal Kingdom are its serene walking trails and other exhibits that can entertain guests. Even so, that park is falling short with its overall capacity. The situation is rougher at the Studios, which has excellent headliners but not enough complementary attractions. Epcot opened with a bunch of slow-moving Omnimovers with huge capacities. Most of those attractions are gone, however.

Another reason for the lower numbers is the shorter ride time for many recent attractions. World of Motion had a ridiculous amount of guests on its vehicles at one time. Test Track also uses the large pavilion, but its capacity is much lower. I love thrill rides and quick attractions; the trick is maintaining the right balance. The attendance increases make the variety even more crucial to avoid a total mess in busier times.

Photo by Dan Heaton

A Challenging Road Forward

I know that it’s easy for me to sit at home and talk about choices that Disney should make. I’m sure that capacity is discussed regularly when leaders consider new attractions. What concerns me is the overall trends when you look at the guest experience in the parks today. How can Disney create a better environment to warrant the higher ticket prices? The crowds are still going, but even the biggest fans may become skeptics at some point.

Let’s imagine Galaxy’s Edge with a People Mover-like attraction gliding above the land. Disney could remove thousands of guests from the paths and provide a great time. What if they added a popular draw to a different section of the Studios? Giving 5,000 guests an hour something more to do what drastically change the park. A third attraction in Pandora could have a similar impact on the Animal Kingdom.

I’m just playing armchair Imagineer here, but that doesn’t negate the key point. One of the best ways for Disney to combat the rising tide is adding capacity. They don’t need E-ticket attractions either. In fact, the gains might be offset by demand in those cases. I’d like to see more out-of-the-box thinking from Disney. There are ways to solve this problem without spending billions of dollars. Capacity is a valuable tool that deserves more attention from everyone. Let’s change the conversation!

Thanks to Tim Grassey at WDW Theme Parks for the capacity numbers, which all are located on this page at his site.

Photo by Dan Heaton

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