After nearly four years of modified operations post-pandemic, Walt Disney World is officially open. significant changes It will be held at the theme park on January 9, 2024.
recently financial statementWalt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said Walt Disney World’s 2023 performance will be “well above pre-COVID-19 levels,” with revenue down 2.1% compared to 2019. % increase. Disney’s recent balance sheet has outperformed pre-COVID-19 metrics, but executives are mindful of: The fact that profits cannot be made at the expense of the guest experience.
in Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference In early 2023, Iger commented on park admission and attendance, which are key drivers of the company’s healthy balance sheet, as directly correlated to guest satisfaction.
“We want to bring in more and more people,” Iger said. “But if guest satisfaction is going down because of crowding, that’s not going to work.”
Disney World has taken many measures to keep guests and employees safe throughout 2020 and 2021, including masks and social distancing. Over time, these and other protocols, such as requiring park reservations and restrictions on visiting multiple parks on the same day, began to impact overall guest satisfaction.
As fans clamor for change, Disney World is responding slowly and methodically.
Park returns to pre-2020 operations
Disney World vacations from July 2020 to the end of 2023 came with several pandemic-era guidelines that changed how families planned and spent their time in the parks. Most face mask requirements and social distancing protocols have been lifted by early 2022, but some additional modifications remain.
As guests asked for changes to bring the parks closer to what they were in 2019, Disney responded in important ways. For example, Disney has placed restrictions on: park hopping, or park closures, allowing guests to visit multiple parks in a day. Since park-hopping first returned in January 2021, guests were once again able to travel from park to park, but only after 2 p.m. The ticket add-on has now reverted to its previous all-day functionality. Guests are free to jump around.
Gavin Doyle Founder Mickey visit and bestselling author disneyland secrets“It’s a great sign that Walt Disney World has listened to guest feedback and provided some of the popular offerings that guests missed before the 2020 closure.” Things are missing, but overall a lot of things are back to normal.”
Doyle said the return of Disney World’s park-hopping benefits will provide peace of mind for guests as they plan their day at the parks. “For the past two years, he has felt limited by park-hopping rules that prevent him from starting his day at one park and having lunch at another park. For example, he now spends a day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. , and then you can go to Epcot and have lunch.”
of disney dining plan This is another aspect of Disney World vacation planning that is back in 2024. Popular with guests who prefer an all-inclusive feel while traveling, the Dining Plan is an add-on to Vacation His packages that allows visitors to pre-pay for meals and snacks.
Some expected changes remain
Today’s Disney World experience looks a lot more like it did in 2019 than it did in years past, but fans are still waiting for some additional changes. That includes fixes that Disney has promised to implement in Genie Plus. This digital service, like its predecessor FastPass+, allows users to reserve their one-hour return slots to reduce wait times on most rides and attractions. Although Genie Plus has a daily fee and FastPass Plus is included in your park admission, the two services are functionally similar.
One key difference with Genie Plus, aside from price, is that all reservations for the priority line, now known as Lightning Lane, must be made on the same day. In past years, guests have reserved FastPass+ return times up to two months in advance of their vacation. Doyle says this is one of his biggest changes fans can expect from his Genie Plus.
“One of the things that was announced but the date was not disclosed is that you can pre-order Genie Plus,” Doyle said. “This will make the service more similar in functionality to the previous FastPass Plus that was available prior to the closure.”
Another pandemic-era change on the way back to normalcy is Disney World’s park reservation system. The system, introduced in 2020, was originally designed by Disney to monitor crowds during a time when parks had limited social distancing capacity.
Speaking at the 2023 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Iger emphasized the balance between profitability and audience reduction, hinting at reservations as an essential tool for doing so. However, he warned: “We have to be careful about that too. [you] They may actually raise prices or include features that some consumers will see in their pricing. [as] It’s probably a little too aggressive, so that’s something we’re careful about. ”
Over time, guest feedback indicated that simply entering a theme park with features such as a reservation system hindered rather than enhanced the experience.
The most significant change to the system occurred on January 9, 2024, with guests purchasing date-based tickets no longer requiring a reservation. Date-based ticket buyers include most regular day guests, but exclude annual passholders. Annual passholders must make reservations in most cases.
Disney World is accommodating Annual Passholders by adding no-reservation “Good-To-Go” days to the calendar. Still, annual passholders are hoping the system will end for good and return to the way it was before 2020. Guests point to the lack of spontaneity as one of the most notable changes post-pandemic. Although many parts have returned to normal, these last few aspects of planning his day at a theme park are still a stumbling block for many Disney fans.
This article was created by Media decisions Syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
