Despite the performance of The actions of the Walt Disney Company, all is not going well in the company. Throughout the pandemic, Disney has used the promise of its streaming service, Disney +, to keep investors on board with steadily rising stock prices. This was despite almost every other facet of the business that has been closed or significantly downsized. Now, however, Disney + is in trouble maintain growth with still double the number of subscribers needed to match Netflix. To support revenues and inventory vitality, Disney appears to be looking to its Parks division to help lift the load. It might be good for Disney, but it’s definitely not for potential Disney park customers.

A quick review of waiting time through Walt Disney World reveals that crowd levels are indeed increasing rapidly for the happiest place on Earth. The increase in attraction wait times coincides with an inside source telling us that Disney is breaking a hard 70% capacity limit and switching to a fluctuating system that uses other metrics to determine whether guests should be allowed. or not in the park. Yet while guests pay to enter a more crowded theme park, most of the live entertainment is still dark around Disney World. As Disney increasingly looks to pack parks, this will only increase wait times for attractions that can only move a set number of guests per hour.

Disney is looking at parks to help company-wide revenue prospects not only through capacity increases, but also in reported fees for previously free services. We reported exclusively on Disney’s plan to integrate the old FastPass system into a monetized Genie app, and it was announced very soon after how much the company was looking to charge. Honestly, it took us by surprise due to the amount of money. While we expected a nominal fee addition or added benefit to luxury resort guests, the new Disneyland Paris Premier Access Program customers pay around $ 20 per person per trip to get a FastPass. In total, a family of four wanting to use a FastPass three times a day will end up paying around $ 240 more than their regular ticket. An additional $ 240 per day for previously free service is a hell of a lot. Worse, with no limits placed on them, the very wealthy can browse the attractions over and over again without waiting while other families sit in queues. We’ve pointed out here at Pirates and Princesses that this basically exists not as a perk, but rather as a punishment for those who can’t afford the service.

Two additional forces seek to further increase the costs of Disney parks for potential customers.

First, despite a media account to the contrary, Black Widow is on its way to becoming one of the lowest grossing Marvel movies since Disney bought the comic book studio. Unlike those sites claiming that Black Widow is breaking records, the film is actually performing at the lowest screenings by Numbers. We’ve covered in detail how Disney is handling the narrative surrounding the film – and indeed, with great success – but that doesn’t change the math situation. Disney was supported before the pandemic in part with huge Marvel and Star Wars blockbusters, often grossing hundreds of millions of dollars in pure profit. Black Widow can only break even.

The second driving force for Disney to increase Parks profits is the inflation situation. The surge in the cost of goods and services rose again in June, this time above 5% for the first time since the economic crash of 2008. Of particular concern have been cost increases for small businesses, a major source of supply and sales for Disney. This makes it increasingly likely that the Walt Disney Company will look to dramatically increase park prices to match its own increases in spending on labor and goods.

If you are up for a trip to Disney World or Disneyland, it becomes obvious that the sooner you go, the less it will hurt your wallet.

Let us know what you think of the comments below. Are you planning to go to the parks in the next few months to avoid the rising costs?