Walt Disney executives fully understand that the company must balance theme-park pricing with its ability to deliver a decent experience for visitors.
Yes, the company wants to maximize revenue, but if it stuffs every person into its parks that it's allowed to, its guests will spend their days in line. That's bad for word of mouth and in driving repeat visits.
The company does manage crowds by using demand-based pricing, but the reality is that on many days demand for Walt Disney (DIS) theme parks -- especially Disney World's Magic Kingdom -- exceeds capacity.
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To fix that Disney could keep raising prices on its busiest days, but that creates bad optics. Visiting Disney World is already beyond most family budgets, so pushing prices higher may not be the right choice.
That leaves the company with an option Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro talked about in broad terms at the recent D23 Expo: adding new attractions to increase capacity at Disney World.
Doing that is not a simple proposition as the land that's available for a logical expansion adjacent to the current park is very limited.
Disney World could grow by replacing less popular rides with lower capacities with new, higher-capacity rides, and that's certainly being considered.
But a much more radical option is also under consideration, according to Theme Park Insider's Robert Niles.
Image source: Walt Disney
Disney World Could Get Rid Of a Classic Attraction
Niles, a respected and well-connected Disney reporter, examined a map of the park and says that space behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which D'Amaro mentioned, would not be practical.
"Big Thunder Mountain is surrounded by its queue to the south, the Walt Disney World Railroad tracks to its west, and the Rivers of America to the north and east," he wrote.
"There is some available space north of the Rivers, but how would guests access that? There's no space for them to walk around Thunder on the right, and backstage facilities, including Thunder's roundhouse, push up against the coaster on the left."
Niles has, however, been told by sources that Disney is considering a more radical solution.
There is an obvious potential solution here, and if you know me from reading my work for any length of time, you will know that this long has been my nightmare. But sources have told me that is Walt Disney Imagineering is actively considering it now.
Disney could fill in the Rivers of America.
There's precedent for this: Disney did fill in a lagoon that was used for the old 20000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage. Filling in the Rivers of America would mean the end of Liberty Square Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island, an attraction that dates back to Walt Disney.
What Would Disney World Gain Filling In the Rivers of America?
While Niles has opposed getting rid of Tom Sawyer Island because it's one of the few remaining connections to Walt Disney's vision for the park, the attraction is underused. It's also not Disney-owned intellectual property, as the original Mark Twain books are actually in the public domain.
Filling in the Rivers of America would create a massive tract of land where Disney could add new attractions that would expand the park's capacity. Currently, you can access Tom Sawyer Island only via raft, making retheming the island or adding a modern ride there impractical.
Niles made clear that Disney's Imagineers may not have any other choice but to fill in the Rivers of America.
"This is the nuclear option for Magic Kingdom development -- one that would require the reimagining of nearly half of the world's most popular theme park. But the nuclear option might be the only option remaining for Imagineers as they consider how to expand Disney Parks' largest crown jewel," he wrote.
