Theme Parks and Crowd Strategy

There are many places across the planet that is filled with crowds. Popular cultural sites such as Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower are almost always busy. If you’re heading to a big festival you can be sure there will be many other people in attendance. It is also seasonal based; cozy cafes are more likely to fill up in winter while ice cream shops and parks tend to see increased attendance in summer. For many of these places, there is little that can be done to limit crowds. This can also hold true with other popular locations, such as theme parks. But some theme parks are taking a swing at limiting overcrowding while still maximizing profits.

For example, Disney recently announced the rollout of seasonal prices. This means that a single, day pass will change in price depending on if it is a “peak” “regular” or “value” day. Visitors are able to look at a calendar in advance of a trip to see what type of price they will have to pay to get in. The goal of this is to spread out visitors to the park more equally. This has been met with both praise and criticism. Some welcome the chance to spread out the visitors, while some call the decision price discrimination, stating that it’s just another way for Disney to raise its prices. A few months prior to this, Disneyland announced an increase in their prices and the elimination of some annual passes. This was another attempt to control crowds. By changing the seasonal passes, it allows pass holders to visit less often, or to visit as often as they want at a higher price.

When the crowds are already in the park, theme parks often have strategies to try and manage them. Universal, for example, keeps posted signs up alerting attendees of line wait times. This can encourage guests away from busy zones until the lines become more manageable. Parks may notice certain areas becoming overcrowded. If a line gets too long, costumed characters may be sent over to act as a distraction. If a restaurant is too busy, additional registers may be opened.  For some lines games are set up along the way to distract people as they wait.

Crowd management is all about keeping crowds happy. If the crowds can’t be lowered, theme parks are doing all they can to spread those crowds out and keep their customers happy.  

Managing Crowds with Prices

It is common to control crowds with crowd control barriers, security, and signage, but one method that is often forgotten about is crowd control due to pricing.

It’s a method that is often only implemented by large companies that have already found a loyal audience. This strategy for crowd control is usually only used for one reason, which is that the venue or event is already overcrowded.

Overcrowding causes serious problems for venues and events. First off, it is a safety concern. Too many people can lead to injuries because of jostling, overheating, and more. Secondly, if the crowding is too bad it makes it difficult for emergency responders to get to the people who do need aid. Overcrowding also makes the event or venue unpleasant for customers. It leads to long wait times and difficulty navigating from place to place.

This is why some companies and events attempt to control the crowds with prices, and in some cases it can be very effective. Take a look at Disney as an example. Disneyland recently announced that there will be price increases at their park, along with the elimination of some annual passes with the addition of new ones. The most expensive pass available is the Signature Plus pass, which will cost individuals $1,049 and is valid every day of the year. This is $270 more than the Premium pass cost, which had the same perks before it was eliminated.  Annual passes are often a big contribution to overcrowding. Disney has been forced to take action due to a large overcrowding problem that leads to them closing the gates to new visitors on days when the park reaches capacity, leaving customers unhappy and Disney losing money.

A strategy such as this is not limited only to very large companies such as Disney. This is implemented by all sorts of organizations and events. For example, Anime Central, an anime convention in North America, has started to raise prices as the crowds grow every year. This three day convention is the third largest anime convention in North America, with a reported attendance of over 29,000 in 2014. Years ago, when attendance was between 10,000 and 18,000, badges to the event could be obtained for under $40 if attendees bought early. For the 2016 event the cheapest option is $48, increasing up to $70 the closer to the convention you get. In addition, hotel prices have gone up for the next year as well. It is widely speculated that this is an attempt to keep attendance level instead of increasing further. Anime Central sells out an average of four or more hotels in the area, and with that many people in one place crowds get difficult to manage. For the 2016 convention when the room block for two of the hotels was opened they both sold out in under 12 hours, with one hotel selling out in less than one hour. Unless the convention wishes to put a cap on attendance like Comic Con, the only thing they can do is raise prices to try and keep crowds down.

However, using price increases as a form of crowd control is a delicate balance. There will always be people who are willing to pay the price for a popular event or attraction, but if you raise prices too much at one time you may turn away a lot of other people. If you plan to employ this type of crowd control do so with caution.   

Disney Controls Crowds with Price Increase

There has been recent speculation that Disneyland’s recent price increase to $96 has less to do with inflation of prices, and more to do with crowd control.

The Disney parks are certainly not lacking in demand. Every year the parks get a great amount of visitors. So many that there are already people who choose other parks over them to try and escape the crowds. The increase in the daily price plus the elimination of several seasonal pass options has people asking if Disney is trying to reduce traffic to their parks.

This is particularly true of local residents, who are more likely to visit the parks multiple times a year. Eliminating the SoCal Pass will require residents to pay much more for a Premium Pass, or drop down to a cheaper pass that gives them less access.

It may not be an orthodox type of crowd control, but a company such as Disney can afford to do it. If attendance at the parks were to drop too much, prices could be adjusted. However, it seems unlikely that attendance would drop enough for that to happen. Instead it could be that Disney simply wants less crowding, and the price hike and elimination of a popular seasonal pass could be a way to get that.

Only time will tell if this method was effective. Regardless of the price hike though, crowds are sure to still be strong at all Disney parks this summer. It’s unlikely that a price increase would put a stop to that.